16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

They ARE fun. I have at least a dozen volunteers growing all around my back yard. In the past, I used to discard any split toms by just chucking them over my shoulder. Had a couple pop up last year but this season they're sprouting all over the place. Most seem to be cherry or grape tomatoes. My prolific sweet 100 cherry tomato plant is currenty experiencing a fungal issue. I'll do what i can, but knowing that I will be overwhelmed with cherries later in the season, I'm not too too concerned.

We'll see what develops.

Sorry I'm so late in responding! Thank you everyone for the advice! I have left it there and need to find support for it. It's huge already and is making lil tomatoes. I will let ya know what they turn out like. Now I have tomato plants popping up all over the place one in my petunia bed and I last counted over 100 seedlings coming up under my sunflowers. A friend is coming to take some most will need to be pulled. Half way wish I hadn't planted anything there now haha. Another is coming up across the yard by a fence in a random spot. So funny! And yes such a fun surprise!

But a zone 8 climate, assuming that is accurate for your location, can often harvest well into late November. Even here I harvest ripe fruit until end of October.
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I have lived in the area now for about 3 years and don't know of such climates.
Seattle metropolitan ares to the north, has a similar temperature to April, in the month of October : 46F to 60 F.(per Accu Weather). Sure, nothing will be killed by the frost but things like tomato can just sit pretty at best. On top of that it will be rainy 2 out of 3 days.

Snipping flowers is a personal option.
So, back to subject: OP's decision to call a season by the end of September (as far as tomatoes are concerned) make sense to me. I will do the same.

My my, I look forward to the smal unriprnd green fruits, they make the best pie! And green tomato relish.

Slim

"To Me", when somebody says a tomato is "Great Tasting", that does not tell me a lot, (great tasting compared to what)?, so I welcome any "Creative Tasting Posts" that our knowledgeable folks here, care to offer!

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Gary, you shouldn't think that I disliked your wine comparisons, I did not, or I wouldn't have gone ahead and given those crazy wine descriptions of mine, but yes, I'm a wine drinker, from time to time, but I don't think that there are many who are who post here who could relate to wine comparisons. I could certainly be wrong about that,though.

When talking about great tasting, I agree, compared to what?

What one person loves another person will never grow that variety again, which is the problem in being asked what are your best tasting varieties.

There are so many variables that go into taste that it's almost inpossible to rate tomatoes bc taste is personal, perceptual and even has a human genetic factor.

I know it's popular to ask for a person's best tasting ones, but I agree with you, again, compared to what:

Which is why I, for one, never post what I think are my best tasting ones, never have and never will, since best tasting is a moving target and changes, for me, from year to year.

I have less problems responding if someone asks about a certain category of varieties for a certain reason/purpose and if I have time would consider doing that. .

So I'll be curious to see what other kinds of creative comparisons folks come up with.( smile)

Carolyn, who also thinks it might help to say all time best tasting versus what I grew last year, what I've tasted so far this year, etc.

Since most traffic lights have 3 lights, I guess we best "add the caution (Yellow) light".

So Here She is, "in all her Splendor".

Kelloggs's Breakfast.

"KB" has been 2nd in production to only the Green Giant.
KB & GG have produced the biggest 2 tomatoes I've grown this year, (so far)!
Each has produced a 1.4 Lb tomato.

Taste wise, I would compare it to the Cuostralee, but since I only had the Green Giant and the KB on the plate , we will compare them, (as best I can).

"To Me", if you took the Green Giant and attached a spigot to it and drained out
about 90% of the acid, then you might be close to the flavor of the Kellogg's Breakfast.
(This is "NOT to say the GG has too much acid though").

This is also not to say, KB is "overly sweet".
It still has many of the other flavours in it that we associate with great tomatoes,
just not much acid,similar to Cuostralee in that regard.

The KB is very juicy with perhaps more seed pockets than GG, alto not a lot of seeds.
It is thin skinned and you don't really notice the skin when you eat the tomato.

In fact, I'll tell you something "interesting" about KB.

I've been growing tomatoes for 10 years now, (not an expert by any means), ~~~~but~~~~~I've grown many different kinds, (again not in "Carolyn's League"),
but here's the interesting thing!!!

In all those years, my wife has never said,
"we have to buy that tomato again, next year".
But she has said,
"We must buy another Kellogg's Breakfast, next year".
She has even repeated that msg, several times.

So, "To my wife", that is a very special tomato.
She likes the Green Giant too, so it's not strictly a "Low acid high sugar thing"~~~~
but to be honest, I have no idea why she feels as she does about that mater,
but how many guys, (even my age), have "totally figgered out Women????? (ROFLMAO)!!!

Gary

It said "one gallon feeds 10 square feet",
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I am not sure about that. Not tomatoes.
If you water just 1", a 10 square feet area will need over 6 gallons. Even if you apply just 1/4". you will need 1.6 gallons for 10 square feet. An average tomato plant in ground should need a minimum of one gallon per time. In a bucket you can use half of that (because of small root/soil volume.

There are many more other fertilizers that are far kinder to the planet and living things. Your $$ is your support to the cause...

I haven't picked any of my Brandywine tomatoes either, They are slow going an don't produce as much fruit as some of the others but they are worth the wait, Zone 6 PA.

I believe that using an electric toothbrush on my plant's flowers aided my production this year ...

Does it have the exact same growing conditions as the other plants? Is it being shaded by the others? Did you plant it initially in a peat pot? Sometimes the roots don't grow out of those and end up growing around and around in the pot. Mine is a robust plant and just setting fruit now, but then I planted out late.

Hi, I am haveing the same issue, mine were grown from seeds, I have used the same bed every year, over the winter I till in good compost and horse manure (aged and chemical free) I had a horrible deer attack, the other plants had all been 5 ft and thriving lots of fruit, deer took them all down to about 14 inches, except the Russians, which were and still are about that high. Not in a peat pot. I planted them all at the same time, and even the ones in a different bed are the same. Could it be the seeds were too old? They were a gift and I did not look at the date.

Here you go - all the discussions on how to root cuttings.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooting cuttings discussions

Dave, just what I was looking for.
Thanks again,
Steve

Caryltoo, yes, it is correct brix number does change with temperature, weather etc. so one looks more on a trend as opposed to one single specific number. Brix widely used in winemaking I am told.
As for Rodale comment, many organic gardener's views and opinions as well as lawmaking policies were formed by readers of Rodale publications. I would put myself into group of biological gardeners, i.e. I would prefer not to be limited by " things of only natural origin" in my applications but using things around garden wisely with respect to living things in the soil and air.

Good luck Linda! I'd love to see your results at the end of the season!

Hi Carolyn,

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.. Let me start by saying that Elaine Ingham was one of the pioneers of the soil food web so she's always the go to. She didn't write "Teaming with Microbes" but does include it on her web page (soilfoodweb.com) as a resource. To quote a section of the description: "When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life. But there is an alternative to this vicious circle: to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web"

Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis wrote "Teaming..." and a follow up "Teaming with Nutrients." Now if they're endorsed by Elaine I'm sure we can count their work as empirical or at the very least reliable.. An excerpt from chapter 20 (TWM) pg 172 discusses osmotic shock - describing how the high levels of salts in synthetic ferts literally burst the cell walls of soil microbes due to the higher salt concentration of the fert and the natural osmotic response.

It's an excellent read and I'm confident that you'd thoroughly enjoy it.. Be well =)

Here is a link that might be useful: Teaming with Microbes

I do use synthesized fertilizer but also use a lot of different manures, compost and other organic amendments along with it. So That should help to keep the microbes happy . -:)
I cannot see the microbes with the naked eye, but I see a lot of earthworms, (mushrooms in the spring) in my garden. So I am not feeling really guilty.

It can be done. It would be helpful to have borrow extra coupl of hands too.

ONE way is to sacrifice the old bucket. to do this you will need a good sharp knife:

1- Prepare a new container wit 3-4" potting mix at the bottom.
2- cut the bottom of the bucket (~ 1 inch)
3- Now lift the plant in the bucket/with the bucket, (leaving the bottom behind) and place it in the new container.
4- Cut the bucket length wise and remove the piece/s.
5- fill soil around the root bulb up to the previous level or higher if there is room.

That's exactly how I have been transplanting the ones in the big, flimsy plastic pots that I can cut with scissors. I wondered if someone could do that with a bucket, but I think I would end up cutting myself. It looks like there are multiple ways to do this if I really need to in the future. As I said, this is a yellow pear plant I'm not attached to, but for future reference this is all good information.