Tomato Grow-Off.

[Tom Bri]

I just squash those into the soil, and the next year hundreds of tomatoes grow up.

Do you live in a relatively warm area? I think mine would sprout then get killed in a cold snap, or be tiny. I grow inside from seed so that I can have decently sized plants around May when the last frost danger is about over.

Northern Illinois. Below zero F is common, sometimes down to 20 below F. Doesn't seem to hurt the seeds any. Last year, after weeding a lot out, there were probably >50 tomatoes growing all over the garden, in the corn, the beans, beets, carrots, everywhere. So many that I didn't bother trying to save any of them if they encroached somewhere I didn't want a tomato.

The early sprouts may get killed by frost, but there are always more coming up all spring. They appear to be lagging behind transplants, but they catch up once they get going.

[RetiredAt63]

I do get volunteer plants, but here the issue is length of growing season.  If I depend on the volunteers I may never see a ripe tomato.  This is the same reason I plant my seeds a bit early and they get leggy while inside and I re-pot into something tall so the adventitious roots are already grown when I move them outside. I know I could just plant them in a trench as Tom Bri suggested, but then again there is the extra time they take to grow those roots.  If they already have them I have gained some extra growing time for them.

I find volunteers here work better for flowers, since I am not worrying about ripening time. Things like Cosmos are planted once, enjoyed for years.  I just move the volunteers to where I want them.  They grow so fast that there is not much difference between them and seeds started ahead.  Lupins I just let go to seed, gather the seeds when I trim the plants back, and scatter them where I want new plants the next year. 

[Tom Bri]

I do get volunteer plants, but here the issue is length of growing season.  If I depend on the volunteers I may never see a ripe tomato.  This is the same reason I plant my seeds a bit early and they get leggy while inside and I re-pot into something tall so the adventitious roots are already grown when I move them outside. I know I could just plant them in a trench as Tom Bri suggested, but then again there is the extra time they take to grow those roots.  If they already have them I have gained some extra growing time for them.

I find volunteers here work better for flowers, since I am not worrying about ripening time. Things like Cosmos are planted once, enjoyed for years.  I just move the volunteers to where I want them.  They grow so fast that there is not much difference between them and seeds started ahead.  Lupins I just let go to seed, gather the seeds when I trim the plants back, and scatter them where I want new plants the next year.

Ontario, yes, I can see why that might change the thinking. Figure two weeks less growing season for every 100 miles further north. Late frosts are murder on tomatoes.

[RetiredAt63]

I'm in, I have 2 Mortgage Lifter tomatoes up.  They are my keepers, the rest that come up will be give-aways.  I also have Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties of All Time by Craig LeHoullier out from the library - hope to learn lots about tomatoes.  Especially growing the big ones.

[Le Poisson]

So this envelope showed up in the mail yesterday...

[RetiredAt63]

Oooh, good.

So this envelope showed up in the mail yesterday...

[Le Poisson]

Yeah - but after your comment about turning on the oven with the seeds inside, I'm a little afraid. I may try something a little different.

Also, there was a perfectly good rubbermaid under-bed tote (with a broken lid) at the curb yesterday. Looked like it was made to start seeds in! Who would throw out such a thing! Snagged it! I think I'll plant it with starts for the tomatoes and cukes, then fill the remaining space with lettuce etc. Its pretty huge!

Yesterday at lunch the Master-gardeners put on a sale so I went in all excited. It ended up being local nurseries selling crap I wasn't interested in, and farm shares which I have never been able to make work economically (I like the idea, but the $$$ don't work out). Anyway - not a single tomato in the place. And no tips for growing big ones except to buy the right varieties.

[RetiredAt63]

This is straying into general gardening, but I find I shop at garden centers less and less, at least for vegetable transplants. Much more fun, less expensive, and I get the varieties I want, when I grow my own.  I have already learned something from Epic Tomatoes - he says tomato seeds are good for up to 10 years, I have found 5 is about my limit - so I can obviously do a better job of storing them.

And the seeds I sent you are 2015, I found they had fast germination, better than this year's Roma seeds.

[FerrumB5]

I'll try pruning this year for the first time. Last year a lot of "energy" went into suckers as I was quite busy and didn't have much time to prune.

[Eowyn_MI]

Tomato starts are growing fast!  I already have a stash of aged horse manure to apply once they get planted outside.  What does everyone else use for fertilizer (besides liquid gold)?

[RetiredAt63]

I have some aged mushroom compost and some aged sheep manure.  And I was told by a fiber processor that the really disgusting parts of a sheep fleece (the parts you really don't want to wash and process  :-0  ) make great mulch/fertilizer.  You can often get that at a country fair with a sheep shearing demo.  Just bring a garbage bag or 3.

I have been known to use dog hair for a mulch/pest deterrent.  More on beans though.

[jordanread]

I use a mixture of soiled straw from my chickens (Nitrogen) added into my kitchen scrap compost. Recently, I also added (apparently way too much according to this article) ash from some wood I wanted to get rid of.

[Le Poisson]

A wee bit of a setback here. Well 2 setbacks. One is 8 and the other is 4. Their intense interest in the tomato seedling has lead to the inevitable smothering of a number of plants. I have a depleted supply of seedlings to select for the most vigorous.

Need to start these mortgage lifter seeds. Pronto.

[dandypandys]

I live in FL and I am getting a bumper crop of cherry toms at the moment, eating them every day. One of the ones in the pic weighed 40gr on my not so accurate scale. It is a red cherry/large fruited from seed
This pack of seeds I am going to try next as it is one of those late blight resistant types :) which will be better i hope, as the humid weather here is a problem. I use fish fertilizer.

[Le Poisson]

If there was a prize for being the first entry, you would win it. Instead I award you 507 points. you can redeem the points for good feelings.

Congrats on being the current point leader.

[RetiredAt63]

ENVY!!!! so bad.  My plants have a couple of true leaves now, and will get planted in about 5-6 weeks.

I live in FL and I am getting a bumper crop of cherry toms at the moment, eating them every day. One of the ones in the pic weighed 40gr on my not so accurate scale. It is a red cherry/large fruited from seed
This pack of seeds I am going to try next as it is one of those late blight resistant types :) which will be better i hope, as the humid weather here is a problem. I use fish fertilizer.

[Le Poisson]

The challenge: Which Mustachian will grow the largest tomato of 2016.
Join by responding to this thread with your tomato type.
Enter a tomato by posting a pic of it on the scale. (Pics or it didn't happen)

(Note this is not about yield or bumper crops. It is about one. single. tomato.)
Contest Ends on New Years Eve.

Current Leaders:


Division One: The Biggie Large Award - (Largest Tomato by weight of any type)
Current Leader: NO TOMATOES REPORTED

Division Two: The Biggie Small Award - (Largest Cherry Tomato by weight)
Current Leader: dandypandys - Jasper Cherry Tomato - 40grams (1.41 ounces)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Entrants:
Jordanread has planted some Indigo Rose in raised planters.
Jon Snow has Big Beef in raised beds with all natural fertilizer
Kudy has tomatoes in 4' X 8' boxes
Backyard Feast - San Fran Fog
Éowyn MI - Mortgage Lifter & Kellog's Breakfast Tomatoes
rockeTree - 4th of July in raised beds
Duchess of Stratosphear - tomatoes
Golden Sam - Cuostralee
Cressida - whatever is on sale at the garden centre.
Mountainbug - Cherry Tomato
G-dog - Goldmedal in raised beds
dandypandys - Tomatoes of purging effect.
Zamboni - hoping for a miracle with Romas.
horsepoor - Bared Bore (My wife talks about me that way too)
geekinprogress - And orgy of Cherry Tomatoes
FerrumB5 - Beefsteak - there's the beef!
Mmm_Donuts - Container gardening tomatoes
Retired@63 - Cherry tomatoes of undisclosed variety
Lookilu - Big-Ass Rainbow.
Rural - Black Cherry - the funkiest of tomatoes
SAfAmBrit - Cherry Toms. Romas. Maybe a big plant! Maybe a hybrid! maybe a turnip!
dycker1978 - Tomatoes to be determined.
Prospector has Cherokee Purples about to be transplanted in slap-together earthboxes (see following post).


BREAKING NEWS

Our competition sponsor (there is no sponsor) has announced a prize (there are no prizes) for a SECOND division - Cherry Tomato growers... the largest cherry tomato shall be crowned "Biggie Small"

[dandypandys]

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

[FerrumB5]

When is the cutoff date for the "award"? How do we adjust for down-under folks that could be growing stuff when it's 40 below here in IL and when WE are growing stuff while they are in winter?

[RetiredAt63]

I'm in for the big tomato challenge, my Mortgage Lifter has sprouted.

[Le Poisson]

When is the cutoff date for the "award"? How do we adjust for down-under folks that could be growing stuff when it's 40 below here in IL and when WE are growing stuff while they are in winter?

Cut off date is Jan 31, 2016. Everyone has time. (I hope)

[backyardfeast]

Well, I know that I said I was going to be conservative and pot up my plants in the greenhouse for another month.  But after this weekend's cool, rainy weather, apparently we've passed the "cold" spell that was expected. The forecast is on my side over the next 2 weeks, so I've decided to go for it:  The Tomatoes Will Be Out in the Garden (under row cover) this week!

It is one.month.early.  But the overnight lows look good (8-10C), and under cover the highs of mid-teens will be in the toasty low-twenties.  The roots will stretch and get some more nutrients (I plant them in trenches as per Retired@63, with chicken manure and homemade fertilizer, then drip line irrigation and mulch).

The garden is a massive, wild jungle at the moment, with everything needing to be done all at once.  Aack! 

Let the PNW tomato season begin!

[Primm]

When is the cutoff date for the "award"? How do we adjust for down-under folks that could be growing stuff when it's 40 below here in IL and when WE are growing stuff while they are in winter?

Winter here (at least where I live) has a mean maximum temperature in July (the coldest month) of 21.9C (71.4 F). I appreciate the concern, but I think we're good. ;)

[Le Poisson]

Damn all you people planting stuff out already!! I still have kids offing what seedlings I do have. The bigger they are, the more likely the kids are to pluck 'em.

[Frugal Lizard]

When is the cutoff date for the "award"? How do we adjust for down-under folks that could be growing stuff when it's 40 below here in IL and when WE are growing stuff while they are in winter?

Cut off date is Jan 31, 2016. Everyone has time. (I hope)

Some altered time state you engineers know something about that I don't?

[Le Poisson]

Sorry - Dec 31 2016. New Years eve. I need to go back and check what I put in the first post now...

[Eowyn_MI]

I live in FL and I am getting a bumper crop of cherry toms at the moment, eating them every day. One of the ones in the pic weighed 40gr on my not so accurate scale. It is a red cherry/large fruited from seed
This pack of seeds I am going to try next as it is one of those late blight resistant types :) which will be better i hope, as the humid weather here is a problem. I use fish fertilizer.

Lucky!  Here in MI, cherry tomatoes won't start getting ripe until mid-July at best.

[SAfAmBrit]

My cherry tomatoes have started ripening - alas the biggest one I have remembered to weigh before I devoured it is 16g (0.6 oz). We had 3 days of rain in Vegas including hail so my tomatoes took a bit of a beating. They sure do taste good though!

[horsepoor]

Alright people,  my tomatoes went in the ground today; they were about 16" tall and had roots all around the bottom of their gallon pots.  July 4 is the best I've ever done for a ripe tomato, but we're having a warm spring, so I'm hoping I can beat that this year.  The big'uns won't start coming in until August though.

[Rural]

I thinned out a multitude of volunteers today, I think all Black cherry, but if ones a Cherokee Purple, well, lucky me. This is why I only grow heirlooms.

[Frugal Lizard]

Took my seedlings to my neighbours greenhouse and they are looking so good and healthy that I want in this competition for the cherry tomatoes - I am growing Mountain Magic, black cherry, dark orange and yellow pear. 

[Le Poisson]

Took my seedlings to my neighbours greenhouse and they are looking so good and healthy that I want in this competition for the cherry tomatoes - I am growing Mountain Magic, black cherry, dark orange and yellow pear.

Consider yourself considered.

I am having some woeful luck with the seeds from R@63 that I baked. As in no results. But then my zuchini haven't sprouted either. Dunno what's going on.

[Le Poisson]

My cherry tomatoes have started ripening - alas the biggest one I have remembered to weigh before I devoured it is 16g (0.6 oz). We had 3 days of rain in Vegas including hail so my tomatoes took a bit of a beating. They sure do taste good though!

Missed this somehow. You have earned the "Participant" prize. Was it delicious?

[Rural]

I have no way to weigh a tomato and don't intend to buy a gadget I don't need just for this competition, so either I can measure diameter with calipers (which I already have) or I can bow out of the contest.

[G-dog]

Hardening off plants this week for planting soon.  Crossing my fingers..

I also started some tomatillos - and have blooms on one variety (not yet transplanted)

[Le Poisson]

I have no way to weigh a tomato and don't intend to buy a gadget I don't need just for this competition, so either I can measure diameter with calipers (which I already have) or I can bow out of the contest.

Cheapskate option for weighing a cherry tomato:

A pencil, a popsicle, and 2 beers.

1. Eat popsicle.
2. Glue the pencil to the centre of the popsicle stick (be precise)
3. Drink the beers.
4. Glue the bottle caps to either end of the popsicle stick to form cups.
5. Place tomato in one cup
6. Referring to the US Mint's website (or mint of your country of origin) find weight of various coins.
7. Place a combination of coins on your balance to match the weight of the tomato.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

(If anyone actually does this, I want photos)

[Rural]

I have no way to weigh a tomato and don't intend to buy a gadget I don't need just for this competition, so either I can measure diameter with calipers (which I already have) or I can bow out of the contest.

Cheapskate option for weighing a cherry tomato:

A pencil, a popsicle, and 2 beers.

1. Eat popsicle.
2. Glue the pencil to the centre of the popsicle stick (be precise)
3. Drink the beers.
4. Glue the bottle caps to either end of the popsicle stick to form cups.
5. Place tomato in one cup
6. Referring to the US Mint's website (or mint of your country of origin) find weight of various coins.
7. Place a combination of coins on your balance to match the weight of the tomato.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

(If anyone actually does this, I want photos)

Hey, this I can handle! Will need a creative Popsicle stick alternative since I don't do sugar, but we have no shortage of small scraps of wood or beer caps around here. Back in the game!

[jordanread]

I have no way to weigh a tomato and don't intend to buy a gadget I don't need just for this competition, so either I can measure diameter with calipers (which I already have) or I can bow out of the contest.

Cheapskate option for weighing a cherry tomato:

A pencil, a popsicle, and 2 beers.

1. Eat popsicle.
2. Glue the pencil to the centre of the popsicle stick (be precise)
3. Drink the beers.
4. Glue the bottle caps to either end of the popsicle stick to form cups.
5. Place tomato in one cup
6. Referring to the US Mint's website (or mint of your country of origin) find weight of various coins.
7. Place a combination of coins on your balance to match the weight of the tomato.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

(If anyone actually does this, I want photos)

I love that!! My plants are tiny, but alive. No more snow expected, so hopefully I'll put them into the garden in a couple of weeks. I might transplant the Indigo rose this coming weekend. The rest of my tomato plants are all the Cherokee's prospector sent. 75% germination rate seems like it would be totally valid if I knew what the hell I was doing. I'm currently at about 60% germination rate, and the other half just killed a mint plant (those things are like weeds!!). Neither of us have a clue this year. It's still fun.

[Le Poisson]

You killed mint!?!?! Document your technique and sell books on it. We've been battling the neighbour's mint for 5 years.

I could *probably* transplant to outside now, but I'm afraid of the weather. I may move the strongest plants into the earth boxes and nudge them slowly toward the door. I probably won't move them out for another few weeks yet. Around here May 24th is go day for planting outside.

[jordanread]

Well, we want some to put around the chicken run. It smells good, plus I use a lot for tea. We couldn't find any seeds at the store, and then it turns out that someone at the SO's work was trying to get her mint under control. She brought some in a mason jar. The GF overwatered. We tried to plant it outside 2 days ago. It does not look like it survived, but I'm hopeful. I also transplanted a bunch of weeds from the front yard to the backyard, just to add some green. I have weird 'gardening' problems.

[rockeTree]

Don't count that mint out yet, bet it'll bounce back :-)

Looking forward to weighing tomatoes against shiny pennies pics!

My tomatoes are out, no room for bigger pots inside and it was def time for bigger pots. Mornings are a degree or two cooler than I would like but so be it! This way the peppers can have another week or so on the windowsill...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jordanread]

Don't count that mint out yet, bet it'll bounce back :-)

I certainly hope so.

[FerrumB5]

Those 8 tomatoes that I planted out look very sad :( it's been chilly here, they are all leaves down, not good color etc
Any suggestions? It will be warmer this week

[Le Poisson]

Ferrum - have you tented them over at night? If not, you may want to. Just put anything at all over them at night to let the ground warm them while the air is cool. Be sure to remove the covers in the morning.

[FerrumB5]

been doing this for 3 nights - thin blankets

[backyardfeast]

I've really got to get some photos organized, but I got the main tomatoes (7 plants) out a few days ago, and bought 4 more from the nursery.  Don't think I've got any heavy types, as I'm favoring early varieties this year.  DH brought an extra one home from store yesterday :), a Black Krim.  I told him it would be tasty, but that we might not get to eat it this time.  He admitted it was an 85 day variety! Hah!  (I err on the side of 65-75 days)

DH has the dripline set up, so I'm ready to mulch.  And last night I noticed a few flowers on one of the plants! May 4th--that has to be unprecedented on the coast.

I'm not covering them so far, and the forecast is warm, so this may be the 2 year where my tomatoes need no coddling...

[Jon_Snow]

Well, speaking of tomatoes...got a truckload (with squash, peppers, lettuce too) heading over to the island garden with me as I speak. The cab of my truck is crammed full of greenery...is it possible to get drunk from the aroma of tomato plants?

I realize now I not growing any varieties likely to win a "size" contest...if I see something like this in a nursery maybe I'll get one more...but I'll be hard pressed to use up what I've got going currently. Better learn to preserve this year!

BYF...the night time temps are not to cold for my babies? ;)

[jordanread]

Well, speaking of tomatoes...got a truckload (with squash, peppers, lettuce too) heading over to the island garden with me as I speak. The cab of my truck is crammed full of greenery...is it possible to get drunk from the aroma of tomato plants?

I realize now I not growing any varieties likely to win a "size" contest...if I see something like this in a nursery maybe I'll get one more...but I'll be hard pressed to use up what I've got going currently. Better learn to preserve this year!

BYF...the night time temps are not to cold for my babies? ;)

I thought the Big Beefs were going to be hugely sized? And while I don't need to take a ferry or a truck from my dining room to my backyard, I wanted to participate and feel cool like JS.



To be honest, it probably took more effort to put it in the bike than it would to plant it. Ah well, planting is a thing to do with the SO.

[Le Poisson]

Them's some nice looking plants guys! Mine are only about half the height!

[Jon_Snow]

I thought the Big Beefs were going to be hugely sized? And while I don't need to take a ferry or a truck from my dining room to my backyard, I wanted to participate and feel cool like JS.

I realized well after I bought this years tomato seeds that last years BEHEMOTHS were NOT "big beef" but rather some sort of "beefsteak" variety. Ah well...

And JR...trust me on this...you are COOLER than I'll ever be. It's just a fact.