Look what's growing in the tomato patch

Comments

  • Megan Venturella
    Megan Venturella Posts: 678 ✭✭✭✭

    Oh, yum!!!! I can't wait for tomatoes!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Me too, and peppers, and cukes, and red noodle bean, and black corn, .......😂

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    Wow those are some huge tomatoes! I struggle with large tomatoes. I can usually grow the little ones by the bushels though. I have dark galaxy and San Marzano #2’s going right now. Those are the largest ones I have been successful with.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @gardneto76

    Is the struggle the size of the plant? If so, try cattle pannels for really good/strong support.

    Or Paul Robison a med dark red tomato and very tasty.

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz the tomatoes just always stay super small! I have not tried them in a few years. The last time I did mortgage lifters and the plant just struggled and stayed small. Then the leaves all shriveled and looked burnt from the sun. I now shade everything in the summer & have learned to start larger tomatoes sooner. You see I grew up in Michigan and could grow large tomatoes with no problems. Here in the desert t takes a lot more prep and work.

    if I was lucky enough to get a tomato they were the tastiest quarter sized tomatoes ever. 🤣

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @gardneto76

    when you have time, and if you like, what is your growing zone, and tell me step by step how you start and grow your mater plants because I might be avle to help you improve your outcome. If not at least you will have some new ideas for growing them.

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz

    Somehow I never responded to yours question! I am so sorry. I live in zone 9a. Most of tomatoes were done in containers. I seem to have the biggest problem getting them started. In the past I have re-used the 6-pack trays you can buy veggie starts in. I have refilled them with any gardening dirt or potting solid I had around. No I didn’t wash or sanitize the containers 🤣 as I am terribly lazy. I would then pop a whole with my finger I. The middle and throw anywhere from 1-3 seeds in. Sometimes I would water daily, sometimes only when I remembered.

    As you can see I had set myself up for failure. I am trying to be better about when and how I start my tomatoes, plants in general honestly. I did not plant any large tomatoes this year, but I know with my zone I should start them in the beginning of January, and place them in the greenhouse. It is just a small pop together one, but it works. My biggest challenge with the green house is... I am the only one opening and closing the zippered door and I have to leave early in the morning before it warms and get home after the sun has gone down during this cold month. If we get a hot day, I have cooked a few plants.

    Anyway, I am trying to be more careful about not bury the seeds to deep, and keeping them moist enough but not to wet, and using a seed starter with just a small amount of compost in there. I am also using Larger new pots this time to start my seeds so they can retain moisture better than those tiny things. I think my own inconsistencies is the problem, but if you have any other thoughts, ideas, or suggestions I will gladly listen!

  • sallyhoward
    sallyhoward Posts: 106 ✭✭✭

    Wow they are huge

  • MissPatricia
    MissPatricia Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    I am about to start tomato seedlings, three varieties. Am trying to have more diversity. Besides, I have discovered that there is a great difference among varieties. So this year I am planting more varieties of different vegetables. Someone installed cattle panels for me. This year I am going to prune the tomatoes to one stem and grow them on the cattle panels. Really excited. Plan to plant much more than I have in the past so I can share. I am in zone 7b, I think

  • 7207chablis
    7207chablis Posts: 46 ✭✭✭

    This year I will grow only small tomatoes. They give so much more than big ones! For the big ones I got only maybe 10 for each plant. For the small ones, hundred of them.

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    @chablis this is just a guess but for you to be getting so few larger ones it sounds like your soil has too much nitrogen in it. When you have too much nitrogen you will get beautiful bushes but very little fruit blossoms.

    Another problem you could be having is too few pollinators. If you are low in pollinators, your blossoms will not get pollinated which means less fruits. If that's the problem you need to either increase the pollinators wanting to come to your garden or you can hand-pollinate each blossom.

    For most of the small tomato fruiting bushes, even a hundred fruits is a small amount.

    @gardneto76 another suggestion for you to try to get your fruits to be larger, you mentioned you get lots of fruit but no size. When your plant is full of fruits the plant itself has to use all of its energy to maintain and try to grow all those fruits. So, harvest some of them (almost daily) if you can and reduce the volume of fruits on the bushes. As the count goes down, now the bush can use its energy to "grow" a smaller quantity of fruits. By giving the plant kesser quantities, it can now put its energy into trying to maintain fewer fruits so you will see an increase in size.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @greyfurball My brother-in-law starting gardening for the first time (at 51) and got tomatoes for his greenhouse. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that because of the enclosed space of the greenhouse he might have less pollinators, so he might have to have "sex" with his plants. Even more confusion when I handed him a small paint brush. It was so funny! I still tease him about it.

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    @torey yes I can relate to your comment with your brother because when I was first told how to hand pollinate fruiting plants it was explained that way to me also.

    When the individual told me it was necessary to have sex with each blossom, I thought they were nuts. Your comment therefore brought me back to the anxiety/laughter I had that day. She could tell from my face I really did think she was a fruitcake!

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    @greyfurball any ideas on how to handle the tomatoes rotting on the vines? My newest issue. Not sure if it is from all of the rain we have had lately or the plant just being to bushy and wouldn’t let the air flow through. I have picked some of them while they were jus slightly pink and they rot before ripening. The one thing I have noticed is tiny spots or dots on the tomatoes almost like someone is poking them with a pin. That then turns into the rotten spots. This is only on my San Marzano’s and not on the galaxy tomatoes growing in the same bed.