Drew
Hahaha, I found that out about the wind and forgot about it when I put them out for a couple of days around 3 weeks ago under my deck and we had strong winds! Some of them were doing the drunken stupor and looking like they were hung over! It got cold again and brought them back into them basement and put a couple of fans running in the room for the last 2 weeks. Peppers and tomatoes are a small sideline distraction for me here. My bro is the garden vegetable grower…not me!
btw…I never have tried starting them as early as I did this year.
Mine got hit by frost, I lost some. So I started more tomatoes. My peppers I only lost a couple, and they take too long. This warm weather should make them explode. So I’m having a strange year.
I suppose they could go in the ground sooner, before they get too big. But, I haven’t had an issue with them not transplanting well, regardless of their size. I do harden them off for about a week, a few hours more every day, first in shade, then a bit more in the sun.
I also take prob excessive pains when I do transplant them, I dig a deep hole, put a tsp of Tomato Tone, plus a bit of Epsom salt, cover that with some dirt. I take off the bottom branches of the plant, and bury it deep, as the stem will root as long as it’s in contact with dirt.
Most of the time, they take off and grow into huge plants, some of them struggle to grow, but I think it’s the variety most of the time. They look wispy or leggy, but do produce some, not like the bigger plants, but still a little bit.
This year, I didn’t plant seeds until the first of April, because I actually don’t want the seedlings getting too tall and leggy. And, because of that, they’ll go in the ground around Memorial Day. We had a freeze last year on May 16th, and this year we had a frost on the 8th, so they might be going in the ground later, but at least they’ll be safe from freezes.
Cool…sounds like its working for you. You sound like a very careful grower. I’ve always found tomatoes to be really tough and I just plop them right out of the container and directly into the ground with no hardening, no gently breaking them in, no Tomatoe Tone, etc. I bury them right up to the first leaves, whether that means putting 3 inches or 18 inches below the dirt. And they have a;ways grown into huge healthy plants (unless I don’t put them in full sun…they really seem to want sun). But again, that is not to say that my way of just taking them from planter directly outside into full sun and plopping them in the ground is a good thing. Sounds like you and others here are more conscientious growers. No matter what, they are a fun thing to grow I think, and I don’t even much care for tomatoes believe it or not!
Next year i’ll save my money and buy the plants at Sam’s Club for $17 that have almost ripe peppers and tomatoes on them
Mine are doing ok in the ground…this heat has helped a lot. They still aren’t nearly as big as i thought they would be at this point (i started them months ago)…must have been because i never put them under lights…just window light.
I have damaged many that way, didn’t kill them, but close. You must have awesome lights. Once the wind alone almost wiped out my crop. This year is was frost that set them way back.
Anyway I’m more careful now, learned my lesson. Yet I still mess up! Argh! Dolt!
I have been planting these delicate flowers from seed, and I keep forgetting where they are and stepping on them.
If I read you right, you threw in a little Homer Simpson there? Any show that is still popular after 28 years on the air, has to be good! Family Guy and American Dad are awesome too!
ANYWAY…you very well be right, perhaps I just don’t get the wind and other things that are causing you guys to have to baby your tomatoes so much. And to be clear, while I have certainly planted them as small as 4 inches or so, that is unusual and risky for me. The ,man who lives across the street makes a little float bed every year. He uses those Styrofoam planting trays (made for tobacco which is popular here so you may not know what I’m talking about). Each of them have a tiny little “pot) about 1 inch by 3/4 inch. He fills the trays with potting soils, seeds them, and floats them in his water bed and adds a little fertilize to the water… The “pot” portion of the trays has a tiny hold in the bottom of each one so water can seep in and the roots can get out into the water. You just cannot imagine how big and healthy those plants get with the tiniest little root ball you’ve ever seen (again, a little less than 3/4 " x 1” ). He also covers his whole bed with plastic and puts a light buld in it so he can plant while its still cold- even below freezing.
While I’m talking about his set up, its actually the way almost everyone around here does tomatoes (since they all grow tobacco and have the beds, Styrofoam planters, etc. I’m lucky enough to get most of my plants from him. Those trays hold 50 plants each I think. Anyway, the plants I get are USUALLY about 12-15 inches tall, bushy,. thick stems, etc. So I’m able to just dig a hole, drop them in, cover about 10 inches of stem, and I’m done until sticking time. I do the same things if I buy plants at walmart or whereever. But now that I think about it, both walmart plants and those waterbled plants are much tougher than small plants you guys have grown completely indoors in small cups or trays. So my ability to just plant and forget (for a while) to the care you guys are taking is probably not fair. My plants are bigger and tougher that what ya’ll are planting, and in a sense they have been “hardened” by being grown in outside beds. So the more I think about it, we are deling with 2 very different kinds of plants at set-out.
Yeah mine are getting smaller at plant out every year, as I start later and later these days. I never had one 15 inches tall, ever at plant out. Some are 2 inches. 6 or 7 at most.
ok. so we aren’t so far apart after all. But Bob’s looked to be larger than the size you said you plant yours at, and he said he wasn’t go to put them out for another 2 weeks. That would make them considerable larger than what you and me both have said we put ours in the ground (again, I’ve done it as long as 15 inches but that is rare and uncalled for. mine are usually 5-10 inches and -like you- I’ve planted them at the size his were in the photo. Since he seemed to be having some issues with them under the lights and all, I just wondered why he didnt just plant them out.
Again, this sounds a little like I’m bring critical of his techniques or decisions and I certainly am not. His plants look healthy to me and he knows what he’s doing, but because its a little different from me (and to some extent, you it sounds) I was just curious about why.
I know you are a big tomato guy, but I can’t remember if you’ve tried black beauty or not? I just planted a few more seeds today (yes, its getting late for seeds here). THey are just such a fun thing to give people and show around. People who care less about gardening still get excited about those things because they are so dramatic looking.
One final question, Drew. In a recent post by @speedster1 he mentioned using san marzano tomatoes to make pizza. Many professional chef’s prefer these for italian dishes and I see them mentioned on cooking sites all the time. I’m just curious if they are actually a lot better than Roma’s (you showed some impressive Roma’s in a photo a while back) and/or if they are as good as their reputation. Have you grown them? What do you think?
Kevin, I was always under the impression that the best San Marzano tomatoes are grown in San Marzano Italy and must be in compliance with Italian laws and standards. Sort of like how Tequila can only be made in Tequilla Mexico.
I could be completely wrong though. I suspect that San Marzano region of Italy likely has a specific soil profile that makes it perfect for this type of tomato. Most of what I’ve read about growing San Marzanos here is US is that its just any other type of tomato and doesn’t exactly stand out.
You inspire me to push the envelope, as maybe I am being a little too cautious. It would be nice to fuss less over them, that’s for sure.
I have not tried enough San Marzano tomatoes to give much of an opinion I do know that they must be grown in that region to be called that, and I don’t know many tomato varieties where the name is on the can of sauce. So San Marzano are considered exceptional, IF grown there. Much like Vadalia onions. Something about the soil there.
My experience is they are not easy to grow here, and is why I would rather grow the pastes. Marzano is a paste. Drinking Budweiser has ruined my palate! (just kidding, i actually drink dark beer, if I drink beer, I’m a vodka guy). It’s worth trying them, I have friends who will not eat any sauce unless it’s made with San Marzano. My crazy Italian friends, most of my friends are Italian. I refuse to pay those prices for a can of sauce. Huntz works for me.[quote=“speedster1, post:50, topic:10926”]
could be completely wrong though
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Thank you both, @speedster1 and @Drew51 for that great information- I didn’t know any of that. information and found it interesting, but it doesn’t sound like I need to rush out and plant any San Marzanos!
BTW, Drew, I knew you were kidding about the Budweiser and that you are a vodka connoisseur because I was really impressed with your infused bottles. I am dying to make some fruit brandy myself but don’t want to break the law. I recently saw a micro-distillery that hangs their bottles in their pear tree and sticks the baby pear into the bottle so it grows inside it. When the pears are mature, they take the bottles down - pear and all. Then they make pear brandy and pour it right over the pear in the bottle. The alcohol keeps the pear from spoiling. I don’t know why, but I thought it was really neat. They said its funny to see people marvel over how they fit the pear into the bottle; and that almost no one guesses they grew it in there. haha.
I’ve read a lot of taste tests and, at least when it came to canned tomatoes, the US grown San Marzano tomatoes always beat the Italian San Marzano tomatoes in taste tests. Do not buy into the EU scheme of branding every food by region. There is really no special Italian magic that makes their tomatoes taste any better. Ironically, often regular ole canned tomatoes (not some specialty brand) win these taste tests.
I have problems growing San Marzano tomatoes where I live (Richmond, VA) because their thick, bushy growing habit does not do well in the hot and humid Southeast. There are, IMO, better paste tomatoes out there in terms of taste, disease resistance and yield.
At my son’s wedding last October he served made in Michigan spirits. All the Alcohol served was made in northern Michigan. He is embracing his new place in Kalkaska.
I kept one bottle, almost gone, this stuff is 100 proof and kicks your butt! This is a product from Black Star Farms distillery in Traverse City.
Yes, I love the taste of Hunts sauce, and is all we use to make sauce besides any sauce I made myself. I do add home grown often fresh herbs and spices. I don’t grow a ton of plants so I only ever get less than a dozen quarts, it does not last very long.
Hunts though is not really a regular brand. They have over 50 years experience, and grow their own cultivars that were bred just for their various products as a basis for sauce I find their tomatoes top rate. It’s my bar for my own sauce. I rarely get above it. Still need to experiment more. usually my sauce consists of numerous tomatoes frozen because we had too many to use fresh. Every other year I grow tomatoes, just for sauce. This year though I cut down to only a few paste types., well two! I constantly make fresh type salsa, and serve them sliced with cheese on toast. the simple things in life…
Look at that! I can’t believe you had one of those on hand. Exactly what I was talking about. You know, I’ve tried to grow a pear in a bottle 3 years in a row but I’ve had bad luck. Either the pear gets something wrong with it and dies/falls off or the wind causes the bottle to become dislodged and the pear breaks or bottle falls or whatever. Its not easy!
I had the same problems with SM here. My plants were always very bushy, short (compared with other varieties), dense plants. They also were the first to get disease, prob because of this trait, and our muggy weather. The fruit has very good flavor, but the disease suspectability meant that we didn’t include it in our rotation this year.
We’re not growing a lot of paste like 'mater’s this year, we’re instead including more Beefsteak type plants, mostly reds and pinks, but also some yellows and purples.
Wow! That is Romeo Drew? How do I get seed? Man I could use a great paste type in my greenhouse for my Urban Farm for sure. Those are really impressive.
The first year I grew my own plants under lights, they got to be big plants, some over a foot tall. That’s because I started them in March and by the time it got warm enough, they were quite big. That was two years ago. Last year I started a bit later, and they were pretty big, but didn’t go into the ground until Memorial Day week.
Looks like that’ll happen again, but the plants shouldn’t be as big as before. I’ll prob start hardening them off starting next week, as it’s supposed to rain some this weekend.
I gave my tom plants some liquid fert a couple days ago, and some look a bit better, but the others still have those pale green leaves, with some purple underneath. Really don’t look that great. Don’t know if it’s the soil I used, or if I’m not watering them properly or whatever. I went a different direction this year, with starting them in a different mix, and and using a different potting soil, guess I’ll have to go back to my usual combos next year.
In my opinion what turns them around is warm sunny weather.
They are hard to find. I got fake ones before, then found a guy on Amazon selling them independently. I was skeptical, but they turned out to be the real deal. The fruits have few seeds, hardly any water, and all meat. If I remember correctly they grow like typical pastes, wispy foliage, slow to start, explode once established and happy. Two people asked me for seed, I may be able to get you 4-5 seeds, maybe not? I have to dig them out yet. I will soon, let you know. The guy on Amazon is gone now. I have no idea where to get them? Same with Cow’s Tit, which i better grow out next year! Not sure what these are? from same year I grew Romeo and Olpalka, probably Olpalka, that one is two fruits fused.
