I’m up to 10 trays of tomato and pepper seedlings started so far and will do about 10 more trays tomorrow. My oldest plants are 4 to 5 inches tall. I also have some true potato seed and some coastal redwood seed started with about 25 plants emerged so far for the redwoods.
11 Likes
I’m trying Japanese trifele, a Chinese red, and a Russian variety this year along with my usual San marzano and hillbillies. also started a few wild cherry, which are my snack when I’m out working on the garden.
the late Feb starts are getting big. the trifele don’t seem to mind rough handling, my partner took care of these for a while and even up potted some and he is not cautious at all.
mid March, up potted
late March
starts not moved into bigger containers yet.
I’ve also got Siberian giant, early Willamette and a few black slicers, even though I don’t like those so much.
hard to get photos to scale here but the earliest ones are almost 9" tall.
what varieties do you grow? I like indeterminate best and mostly grow those, I like a trickle through the season. excepting the paste tomatoes which can be either, I just freeze those until I have enough to make a batch of sauce or salsa
4 Likes
This year I only started 4 types: Pineapple, Paul Robeson, Hungarian Heart, and some unknown torpedo-like saved seed that were particularly juicy. Two years ago I tried all dwarf plants in an effort to not have to stake/cage them as much, but didn’t notice much of a difference.
I have 3 questions for all you tomato-growing experts, due to my experience that past few years which include these issues:
- a huge jungle of plants up to10 feet tall that became inpenatrable; I had to go in on hands and knees!
- Low fruit ratio to plant size
I not only stake or cage my tomato plants, but have to put some kind of fencing around them as we have deer that think our yard is their personal dining room.
So my questions for you:
- What type of tomato cage or staking do you find the most effective?
- Do you trim/top/cut back your tomato vines?
- What fertilizers or soil amendments do you find most effective for plant health and fruit production?
Thank you for sharing your expertise!
1 Like
Florida weave for training, wire cages are a good alternative. I never prune or cut back tomatoes. Fertilizer is nuanced by your soil type and climate. Generally, you need high P and high K and moderate N. I’ve had excellent results using rabbit and chicken manure. When you have too much vine and too little fruit, it almost always is because of too much nitrogen.
1 Like
I have two trays, started last month. They all are doing well and of course this time of year I’m dreading potting them up versus the temptation to plant out (I’ll err on the side of caution and wait until May). A lot are new to me as this is the first year I have a ton more space available to me so I went through my seeds to start things I’ve had but never tried. My tried and true include Sun Sugar, Big Beef, and Super Sweet 100. I also rely on a bunch of dwarf tomatoes (Rosella Purple is a favorite), but this year will be trying more of the bigger indeterminate heirlooms.
1 Like
Just getting mine started. Mostly I’m growing out tons of seeds from my favorite one from the “Wildling Panamorous” mix from EFN. It was an orange tomato that started the season making small spherical tomatoes, almost seedless, and ended the season with bigger more slicer type tomatoes like this, with a nice fruity taste:
I’m curious to see how much variation its seedlings will have. I have about 30 of them at this size currently, though I’ll probably only end up growing about half of them out:
Happy to see you sell tomato plants mail order. Next year will order Stump of the World plants from you.
I am.mostly trying out new stuff. We’ve always liked Black Krim and Russian Black, so I want to see how other blacks and greens taste in combo with our climate.
Trials:
Black Indigo Apple
Indigo Pear Drops
Indigo Rose
Brad’s Atomic Grape
Lucky Tiger
Ananas Noir
Emerald Evergreen
Sungold Select 2
Voyage
Compost pile volunteers (
)
Oldies:
Purple Calabash
Red & Yellow Wild Cherry
1 Like
well, two rows in, one to go.
all indeterminate I’m pretty sure. they got the cattle pen and the fencing to climb up. winter squash in the left, tomatoes center and right
Most of my tomatoes have been started since February/March, but finally getting some good production. Been super hot though, and most of them have not been happy.
I got:
Cream Sausage
Everglades
Midnight Snack (survived and produced through winter)
Gobstopper
Pink Thai
2 different Cherry/Everglades crossbreeds
and some random slicer picked up from the corner stand.
The Gobstoppers and Pink Thai are starting to ripen up. Excited to taste those. All these are more or less trials to see what I’ll be growing alot of in the future. The only one I know for certain I’m keeping is Everglades, I know they can stand the heat and humidity and they produce tons of little currant tomatoes. The rest the verdict is still out.
Taking the starts outside today due to effectively room temperature conditions, cloudiness, and barely a gentle breeze. Looking forward to getting these growing outside, but also reevaluating how much space I want to dedicate. I have about 50ish after giving a good amount to a friend. 50% are dwarf varieties.
1 Like
I’m trialing some Dwarf Tomato project selections and comparing SIPs vs putting small ollas in grow bags. I’m finally starting to see real production, but it’s also already getting hot during the day. Will move my starts up a week or two next year (and not burn my seedlings with too intense lighting, that set me back about two weeks).
Dwarf Mint Streak is the star so far
Dwarf Eagle Smiley is doing well in a half-full bag of leftover mix
Fred’s Tie Dye is the laggard. The one in the SIP has way more vegetation but so far is fruiting about the same when comparing SIP vs grow bag/olla
3 Likes
my amish paste tomatoes have some kind of leaf issue. I planted them with a bit of compost, potash, and bone meal, kind of sideways so more roots would grown from the stem. they are growing fine as far as I can tell, but their leaves are curled and deformed. I planted them the same day, with the same amendents, as I did a different tomato variety, husk cherries, and tomatillos, none of which are showing similar issues. Any ideas what it might be, and how to fix it?
We’ve had this couple times when hit with a heatwave + dry wind combo. Increase irrigation? Tomatoes cannliterally swim in water (roots only).
Maybe, but its been a fairly wet spring here, and its only gotten hot within the last day or two. I think all new growth since I’ve planted them in soil has been like the picture.
Amish Paste has the “wilty” gene which makes leaves show an abnormally wilted/twisted phenotype. It can also be from various leaf curl viruses which are usually spread by leaf hoppers. It can be from spraying with Chlorothalonil. I see evidence of feeding on the leaves and suggest spraying with pyrethrum. You will know in a few more weeks if there is a serious problem. Also, a general purpose fertilizer is needed based on leaf color. Figure out what you have to fertilize with. About a tablespoon of 13-13-13 per plant or equivalent is needed. I would give them a shovel full of chicken manure near the stem and covered over with dirt because I have chickens and they produce a lot of manure.
Excess water is very bad for tomatoes. Roots die quickly in anaerobic conditions which standing water can cause. For short periods, it may not be a problem. Long term, standing water is seriously bad news. Also, growing tomato plants are easily killed by pathogens in the soil such as rhizoctonia. Excess moisture is one of the causes of high levels of such pathogens.
1 Like
I’m starting to see flowers, so I guess I will know in a few weeks if the fruits have issues. They are in a mounded bed, so I dont think they are overly wet, but it has been a wet spring I guess. I have chickens as well, and actually mucked out the coop and run last weekend, and put a shovel or two of manure around them, so with any luck that will help. Thanks!
1 Like
Update. No fruit developing yet. I suppose its still a little early here, but I may try manually pollinating a few to see if anything develops. All leaves still have the same mutated look to them.
the weather has stunted most of my tomatoes but a few are putting on flowers. I gave them some fish fert and calmag since they’re in ragged soil.
the brandywine look worst, the Siberian giant and the trifele are doing best.
I am growing Pink Tie Dye, Carbon, Cherokee Purple, Dark Star and a few others. I’ve got some green tomatoes and a fair number of blossoms. Usually don’t get tomatoes here until late July.
This week I made a trellis by bending a cattle panel, Cut off the last wire on each end so I could stick prongs in the ground. Used one t-post as anchor. Can put plants through the squares on side or tie them with twine to top. We’ve had some windy storms and it seems solid.
1 Like