Tomato Grow-Off.

[horsepoor]

So today I found a 1+" fruit on my Barred Boar, and a ~1/2" fruit on Stupice.  Won't be long now (though it always feels like ages)!

[pekklemafia]

I hope I'm not too late to the game... I'm up in Alberta in zone 3, so tomato transplants just went in the garden a couple weeks ago. I've got:
- mortgage lifter (probably the best contender)
- Amana orange
- Sunny boy
- gardener's delight (cherry)
- yellow pear (cherry)

I've also discovered a bunch of wee tomato seedlings scattered throughout the garden, likely from my compost. Mystery tomatoes are the best kind :D

[RetiredAt63]

My tomatoes aren't in either - we have had nights anywhere from 20 to 10 C lately, and it is dry.  Sometime this week.

I hope I'm not too late to the game... I'm up in Alberta in zone 3, so tomato transplants just went in the garden a couple weeks ago. I've got:
- mortgage lifter (probably the best contender)
- Amana orange
- Sunny boy
- gardener's delight (cherry)
- yellow pear (cherry)

I've also discovered a bunch of wee tomato seedlings scattered throughout the garden, likely from my compost. Mystery tomatoes are the best kind :D

[Le Poisson]

I hope I'm not too late to the game... I'm up in Alberta in zone 3, so tomato transplants just went in the garden a couple weeks ago. I've got:
- mortgage lifter (probably the best contender)
- Amana orange
- Sunny boy
- gardener's delight (cherry)
- yellow pear (cherry)

I've also discovered a bunch of wee tomato seedlings scattered throughout the garden, likely from my compost. Mystery tomatoes are the best kind :D

You are added. May the compost be with you.

[Frugal Lizard]

All tomatoes are planted out.  Some are blooming.  All are standing up straight and getting nice dark green leaves. 

[Tris Prior]

Oh, why not. There's no way I'll win - my large varieties tend to make smaller-than-average tomatoes. I blame our relatively cool summers. Even my Mortgage Lifters last year did not make big ones. They sure were tasty though.

Anyway, I've got like 13 or 14 different varieties, most of which are either cherries or from past experience don't make very big tomatoes. I think the ones most likely to make a whopper tomato are probably Cherokee Purple and Big Rainbow.

So far only one of my plants (the Roma) is blooming. Probably about half of them look like they're about to make flowers, though.

Looking forward to drooling over everyone else's ginormous tomatoes!

[Le Poisson]

Oh, why not. There's no way I'll win - my large varieties tend to make smaller-than-average tomatoes. I blame our relatively cool summers. Even my Mortgage Lifters last year did not make big ones. They sure were tasty though.

Anyway, I've got like 13 or 14 different varieties, most of which are either cherries or from past experience don't make very big tomatoes. I think the ones most likely to make a whopper tomato are probably Cherokee Purple and Big Rainbow.

So far only one of my plants (the Roma) is blooming. Probably about half of them look like they're about to make flowers, though.

Looking forward to drooling over everyone else's ginormous tomatoes!

You're added, you understated individual.

[Tris Prior]

Nice! My 4th of July doesn't even have flowers yet. False advertising? Last year it had ripe tomatoes on July 18, which is still early for these parts. Oh well.

[rockeTree]

Never tried it before so we shall see. Now wishing I'd planted a Cherokee like you though too...


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[Le Poisson]

I have open blossoms on my Cherokees. Tied them back today using scraps of fabric from an old sheet to scraps of bamboo cut from the espalier. What I spent on seeds and rubbermaids I'm making up for in recycled everything else.

[jordanread]

The SO and I are pretty sure we're not winning this year. Hail, coupled with the fact that we really have no freaking idea what we're doing makes for a fun gardening experience. But we're still chugging along. We have leaves, and I'm happy with that for the first real year doing this. Prospector, we going to do this next year too?

[Le Poisson]

The SO and I are pretty sure we're not winning this year. Hail, coupled with the fact that we really have no freaking idea what we're doing makes for a fun gardening experience. But we're still chugging along. We have leaves, and I'm happy with that for the first real year doing this. Prospector, we going to do this next year too?

I can barely think ahead to next Tuesday - you think I can figure out next year?

[Mikila]

How delightful!  I'm growing Cherokee Purple, True Black Brandywine, Black from Tula, and Homestead.  The handful of smaller varieties I'm growing I won't  bother to enter in the contest.  Hoping to get a great harvest to preserve.

After building a diy 5ft fence, we hauled in black dirt from the city- 3 loads at $5 per truckload.  So far, so good!

[Frugal Lizard]

Ha - gardeners planning next season already! 

[Le Poisson]

How delightful!  I'm growing Cherokee Purple, True Black Brandywine, Black from Tula, and Homestead.  The handful of smaller varieties I'm growing I won't  bother to enter in the contest.  Hoping to get a great harvest to preserve.

After building a diy 5ft fence, we hauled in black dirt from the city- 3 loads at $5 per truckload.  So far, so good!

you are counted among the many, esteem yourself above the rest!

[geekinprogress]

I've got my first cherry tomato flowers!  Pretty exciting considering how terribly my plants have been doing this year.  It's early, though, as my mother has been reminding me :) 

[Tris Prior]

I saw my first wee green tomato starting today! It's on the Roma, so that's not going to win any size contests. Still - a tomato! June 6! That is early for here!

[kudy]

My plants are quite happy - no fruit yet, they are still too small.

[horsepoor]

http://web.archive.org/web/20101218050351/http://tomatosite.com/index.php?NT=Cultivation&RE=Truss_Timeline

This is a pretty cool pictorial timeline of tomatoes forming and ripening.  Looks like I'm about 30 days out!

[G-dog]

First ripe tomato picked today:
Husky Cherry Hybrid - 24g

Already a bigger cherry tomato, but FIRST RIPE TOMATO.

This is a variety my husband bought and planted. Several plants are blooming and setting fruit, but at least two of my heirlooms are still pretty small and not yet flowering. I started them from seed in March, and transplanted to the garden with the rest. Their interior growing conditions may have been suboptimal as I did not have enough bigger containers to transfer all in a timely manner as they grew. Live and learn!

[Le Poisson]

First ripe tomato picked today:
Husky Cherry Hybrid - 24g

Already a bigger cherry tomato, but FIRST RIPE TOMATO.

This is a variety my husband bought and planted. Several plants are blooming and setting fruit, but at least two of my heirlooms are still pretty small and not yet flowering. I started them from seed in March, and transplanted to the garden with the rest. Their interior growing conditions may have been suboptimal as I did not have enough bigger containers to transfer all in a timely manner as they grew. Live and learn!

24 grams is quite nice, but not big enough for the Biggie Small Award. you're halfway there!

Our Cherokee Purples are quite hardy, and loads of flowers, but too early for fruit.

[Tom Bri]

Noted today that several of the volunteers are flowering. No way to know if they will be large or small tomatoes.

[FerrumB5]

Cherries are showing a lot of small fruits. Yay! Found a few volunteers here and there in the garden, killed 3 of them that decided to pop up in a flower bed... 1st world problem :)

[Rural]

Cherries are showing a lot of small fruits. Yay! Found a few volunteers here and there in the garden, killed 3 of them that decided to pop up in a flower bed... 1st world problem :)

Yep. I weeded out two that were competing with my cucumbers.


Waiting for the first black cherry to ripen on the volunteers. Lots of little tomatoes and a couple are nearing full size.

[FerrumB5]

Left to right: better boy - beefsteak - cherry. Expect cherry to go well over 6 ft, and their main stem will be trimmed when they reach 6. Already working with 3 stems max. It's debatable whether one single stem or 3-5 is better. I'm trying 3 in main raised bed and will try max 2 for extras that are in somewhat worse soil
Birds are eating my better boys!! :(

[Cressida]

Hello, tomato experts. Does anyone know what might be wrong with this plant?

tomato

It's affecting more and more leaves, but the cherry tomato next to it looks just fine.

[FerrumB5]

some kind of a fungus. not a sunburn. any other plants around it affected? if yes - it might be in the soil, if not - i'd take this one plant out before fungus spreads and just plant a new one. this time of year you can start from a seed outdoors with no problem

[Tom Bri]

some kind of a fungus. not a sunburn. any other plants around it affected? if yes - it might be in the soil, if not - i'd take this one plant out before fungus spreads and just plant a new one. this time of year you can start from a seed outdoors with no problem

Concur. It generally isn't worth trying to cure a sick plant, as they spread the disease around to others nearby. If you DID want to save this one for whatever reason, try spraying it with a weak bleach/water mixture a few times a day. One capful of bleach to one liter water. That helps with most bugs too.

[Le Poisson]

Hello, tomato experts. Does anyone know what might be wrong with this plant?

tomato

It's affecting more and more leaves, but the cherry tomato next to it looks just fine.

Have a read: http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-blight-early.html - I'm not saying its what you've got, just a thought.

[G-dog]

This doesn't look fungal to me, it looks either like sun scald or insect damage (leaf miners or thrips).
These are white spots with really well defined edges, and there looks to be holes in the middle of each spot. But I don't see any leaf death.

Powdery mildew is a fungus that causes some white areas, but the edges are more diffuse. Other fungi tend to cause yellowing our browning in patches with lots of cell deAth, and may have symptoms on the stems too.

Try searching on tomato leaf disease white spots and check the images and descriptions for best fit to your plants.

[Le Poisson]

This doesn't look fungal to me, it looks either like sun scald or insect damage (leaf miners or thrips).
These are white spots with really well defined edges, and there looks to be holes in the middle of each spot. But I don't see any leaf death.

Powdery mildew is a fungus that causes some white areas, but the edges are more diffuse. Other fungi tend to cause yellowing our browning in patches with lots of cell deAth, and may have symptoms on the stems too.

Try searching on tomato leaf disease white spots and check the images and descriptions for best fit to your plants.

Good points. Have you tried looking on the underside of the leaf for tiny bugs like aphids? My tomatoes look like nothing special, but I have some good apples coming in.

[Cressida]

Thanks, everyone. The photo DH took turns out to be not ideally representative. I looked at the other leaves and googled "sun scald" and that looks like the culprit. Which makes sense because it was 95 degrees the day I purchased and planted it. I did try to keep the container in the shade, but apparently not carefully enough.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it's been overcast ever since. Not much I can do about it now, I guess. We'll see how it fares.

[Tom Bri]

Thanks, everyone. The photo DH took turns out to be not ideally representative. I looked at the other leaves and googled "sun scald" and that looks like the culprit. Which makes sense because it was 95 degrees the day I purchased and planted it. I did try to keep the container in the shade, but apparently not carefully enough.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it's been overcast ever since. Not much I can do about it now, I guess. We'll see how it fares.

If it's sun scald, the plant should recover. A few overcast days is probably what it needs. They toughen up pretty fast. Just like humans get a tan. Keep it watered, and maybe some shade on the next few really bright days.

[Tris Prior]

I had many sun-scalded tomatoes and peppers last year and they all recovered. The new growth should be ok.

My Cherokee Purple, in addition to putting out normal-sized blossoms, produced a blossom that is easily 4x the size of a normal tomato flower. WTF? This thing is enormous. Maybe it's going to make a really really big tomato?

I'm really scared for my garden today, actually; they're predicting tornadoes, 2-inch hail, and 80-mph winds during the evening rush tonight. I hope all my plants survive the pummeling that they're going to take. Nothing I can do about it. :(

[Le Poisson]

did they survive? We had a strong weather forecast a few days ago, but the worst of it missed us.

[Tris Prior]

I have no idea; they're in a community garden 20 minutes away from home by public transport. The storms went well into the night and were too severe for walking to the train, and I didn't get up early enough to check on the garden before work. I'll have to go look this evening after I get off work.

[horsepoor]

First ripe tomato today... barred boar about 5 ounces. No pic because we already ate it.  So good, can't wait for more!

[Tom Bri]

Yanked out a half-dozen tomato plants roots and all, to give to a neighbor. They were taking over the garden and had to go elsewhere. I was just waiting to find them a good home.

[Rural]

The hornworms have arrived, sigh.

[Tom Bri]

The hornworms have arrived, sigh.

What do you do about them? Not sure what hornworms are, actually.

[Rural]

The hornworms have arrived, sigh.

What do you do about them? Not sure what hornworms are, actually.

 Pure green evil is what they are.


 I don't seem to be able to insert a picture today without crashing my browser, so here's a link to a good shot: https://goo.gl/images/sQUnFe

 Usually I'm pretty hardcore about avoiding even the organic pesticides, but they were so bad last year that I'm considering spraying with BT. Also, it was climbing up on a ladder to pull off tomato hornworms that led the worst of my back injury last year, so I have a bit of a grudge.

Here's a link to more info: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/pest-control/organic-tomato-hornworm-control-zwfz1304zkin.aspx?PageId=2#ArticleContent

[Tom Bri]

The hornworms have arrived, sigh.

What do you do about them? Not sure what hornworms are, actually.

 Pure green evil is what they are.


 I don't seem to be able to insert a picture today without crashing my browser, so here's a link to a good shot: https://goo.gl/images/sQUnFe

 Usually I'm pretty hardcore about avoiding even the organic pesticides, but they were so bad last year that I'm considering spraying with BT. Also, it was climbing up on a ladder to pull off tomato hornworms that led the worst of my back injury last year, so I have a bit of a grudge.

Here's a link to more info: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/pest-control/organic-tomato-hornworm-control-zwfz1304zkin.aspx?PageId=2#ArticleContent

Ah. I've seen those, or something like them. Usually in the broccoli-family veggies though, not tomatoes.

[Le Poisson]

Just back from a camping trip to discover a half-dozen or so Cherokee purples of about 1-1/2" diameter. Yay. Looks like I may have some tomatoes this year after all!

[Tris Prior]

My garden mostly survived the bad weather - only lost the snap pea and that was mostly dead anyway due to the heat. Some blossoms and branches broke off but nothing else is dead. Hooray!

Turns out that the freakishly huge flower on my Cherokee Purple is indeed producing a freakishly huge tomato. It is very wide, though still small and green. Going to try and post a pic.

[rockeTree]

Looks like you will be in the running :-)

So far I am not but I do have, on this the third of July, my first ripe tomato, 9 grams of Baby Boomer Cherry!


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[SAfAmBrit]

Whilst I was one of the first to enjoy my tomatoes, I will not be the last. Unfortunately we have 2 weeks of sustained 110 + weather (did you know 116+ tomatoes will literally cook on the plant and burst? - I do now) followed by a vicious storm and my tomato guzzling is done. I didn't produce anything big but they were sure tasty while they lasted!

[G-dog]

First larger tomato harvested - 178 g, about 3" diameter. Not huge, but a very nice size tomato. Thus was from a grafted hybrid, the tag is hidden under foliage right now, but I think it was Big Beefy or something similar.
Sad news, its unripe neighbor decided to jump off the vine too. Just starting to get a red blush, but I think it is far enough along to ripen on the counter.

[FerrumB5]

Suspicion: it might be that seeds were messed up my beefsteaks are regular better/best boys tomatoes. I don't see any indication (yet) that they are steaks... sigh

[Le Poisson]

Our tomatoes are literally cooking in the earthboxes. I haven't done a soil temp probe, but everything is looking decidedly wilty back there.

[Tom Bri]

Our tomatoes are literally cooking in the earthboxes. I haven't done a soil temp probe, but everything is looking decidedly wilty back there.

Try covering the container with something to block the sun so the soil doesn't get too warm. A sheet of cardboard propped up against it might help. Also, fill the rest of the tub with loose mulch, right up to the brim.