Tomato Produce Greenhouse SFG

From what I can tell. It looks like "Early Blight"
Early Blight normally shows up on older leaves with irregular brown lesions surrounded by yellowing tissue. High temps and high humidity will cause it spread rapidly. Over head watering and lots of rain can also cause it to spread.
Early Blight is caused by a fungus called Alternaria solani. The fungus survives on infected debris in soil.

treatment--- no over head watering.
clean debris off top soil.
Spray fungicide.

And clip off those yellowing brown leaf tips to help prevent the fungi spores from
spreding and throw them in the trash can.

Thank you..... I am watering from misters that are low (about 8" off the ground) but we had torrential rains here not too long ago. Off to go clipping now!

always sweep your top soil clean of any veggie debris. the possibly infected leaves and old tomatoes that fall to the soil will infect fruits next year. I say--sweep it clean to be sure before you turn the soil under for new planting.

Good info, thank you for sharing it. It's all going into a contractor bag, not my compost bin!

Wow... those daybiters are out in force! I used long pants/sleeves, gloves, and a hood, and they still managed to munch on me.

I will be working in the greenhouse this week.----now that I have most of my
sfg beds moved and growing.
I will try to take pics as I work--just to have something to post.
The beds for the tomatoes are not going to be picture perfect
this year. We spent all our extra money buying a home--(mobile home).
and furnishings.
so---for now the beds will be without a border but will have commercial
ground cover around them.

I have to clean the gh floor first---pull up grass that has taken root
on top of the ground cover.
My thoughts are to cut the existing ground cover in the size of the
long beds that I need. then tiller the beds. Add some soil amendments which should raise the bed slightly-----then I should form a trench down the center of the bed
and plant the tomatoes on each side of the trench. the trench is for fertilizing and
watering.

I have seen other square foot gardeners do this same thing in the yard and
used a clothes line to tie their toms up with. Called the clothes line method.
clothes lines= those old fashioned T clothes lines that has become extinct since
the new age clothes dryer came along.

Happy Gardening

CarolynPhillips wrote:everyone will have to forgive me, i really am obsessed with growing tomatoes.
I think I have about 200 tomato pics.........

Totally forgiven, but none needed !!!! I love your set up, and cant wait until we have a green house. That is our goal to sell our produce seasonally, and tomatoes all year round. People love tomatoes and to have them year round would be fun.

Your set up is so nice and neat!! I do like the sfg block beds. Im quite impressed with the growing of all those tomatoes with two vines per plant. I want to do this, the time and effort to prune is something that is important Im sure.
Keep sharing your pictures!!! We love them, it encourages us on to our goals. I am definitely encouraged with your sharing.
Ha-v-v

thank you very much Ha-v-v

Pruning is time consuming--but not as aggravating as it may seem.
If you choose two days out of the week to spend about 1hour pruning--the job is
always done-----and that time is estimated with about 700 vines. Pinch the suckers
when they are young and throw suckers in a bucket and while you are there--wrap the vine around the twine. And every day , about 11 ish am, go through the greenhouse and give each vine a little shake to help pollination.
Tip: try to wrap vines around twine in late evening when vines are more flexible---they are nice and Crisp in the morning and snap/break easily. (which kinda works out great
for those who have a day job and can only tend to them in the evening)

oh yeh, I took pics of my messy grassy greenhouse yesterday while I was cleaning in there. It has been about 6 weeks since I went in the greenhouse and the grass took
over like a jungle. Dang....
I will post pics here shortly=====of my mess.

I don't think I have seen folks post their mess before the finished project..--

This project is a mess cause--my excuse is hour home burned and I just didn't care.
but never mind the home. I care now.

The entire floor was covered with grass---between all the pots that were in there.
I pulled out over 200 pots and put that used soil in sfg beds.
I still have a tons of potted soil in the greenhouse that have to be removed.

I pulled up most of the grass yesterday------worked on it for 8 hours. I was so tired
and ITCHY. Plus it was very hot in there.
I had 8 pallet tables in there that I pulled out--except one.
I did have one small powerful fan by my side at all times.
The side wall poly was constructed to come off during Hot weather. But with it
being so close to Fall---I left them up.==except the center sections on both sides.
The side wall Poly comes off in 3 sections --each being 25 foot sections. (easy to handle) It's just me working on this----hubby hates gardening but doesn't mind
harvesting and selling the produce.

Truck bed full of grass and weeds---mostly grass.---I added more to that pile later.
Lucky me--I get to do this again today. the really dreaded fall clean up.

and--because income is so limited right now---I have decided to use a border around
the beds---cheap for now------Landscape Timbers.

Okay, first of all your tomatoes are absolutely beautiful! What a lot of time and work you put in and your tomatoes appreciate it. I'm new to SFG - have done a small traditional garden twice in the past and am just loving the SFG method - can fit so much more - carrots, beets, spinach, two lettuce varieties, swiss chard, squash, beans, peppers, tomatoes & am getting ready to plant the peas.

My question is what do you mean when you say 2 vines? Your plants look so huge and full it's hard to believe. Do you leave the normal branches on and just pinch off everything except 2 suckers? How do you determine which suckers to pinch off & which to keep? I'd be interested to try it next year.

Again, great pics! Thanks.

Are your landscape timbers pressure-treated?

The landscape timbers are treated and contains less than
20% copper. No arsenic. Safe for food consumption. Certain home and garden
treated wood is now safer than it use to be. (by law)
BUT----- I figured my income and I can get
concrete blocks. Sorry to change my mind mid-stream---but--I rather
use blocks anyway. I hate wood beds.

Newgloves::: two vines per plant =
Let the main plant grow pruning off all suckers except one---which will
then give you two vines per plant. You can choose which ever sucker
you want to keep as your second vine BUT--
If you have grown tomato plants for a while and understand how they branch
off , then you will be able to understand what I am about to say:
About 18 inches up the main vine---the vine naturally forks into a Y giving you
another very strong vine. It is said that those two vines(the main vine and the additional one at the Y) will produce the most tomatoes on a tomato plant.
You can tell a difference between regular suckers and the Y sucker. The Y sucker starts out thicker and sturdier than all the lower suckers and does not branch off at a leaf node where all the others do branch at a leaf node.

Call me wishy-washy.
I been getting excited about growing tomatoes in the ground in the greenhouse.
My husband has suggested that I not do that right now. I only have two weeks
to build 3 4ftX64ft beds using concrete blocks.. I have to make them level and the ground is a slight slope.---I still have to finish cleaning and pretreating the greenhouse ground--and surrounding area with fungicide and insecticide. Tomatoes have to be transplanted in 2 weeks. I don't have enough time. Hubby suggested that I wait until I have enough time to build the beds.
( Summer for Fall crop 2011) I won't have time to do it for Spring crop cause I have the other greenhouse that I grow and sell plants in along with 400 hanging baskets.

I will grow them in 4 gallon pots. (so heart broken) I hate to even say it.

The word is already out that I will have ripe tomatoes in Dec.
It will be embarrassing if something goes wrong. So scary financially.
Mice have already eaten 32 tomato seedlings. I grew extras but I getting
down to my loss limit. I need at least 386 plants... I need those sticky mice traps to catch the culprit.

Bad, bad mice. Too much to do, not enough time. Dang. I am driving to AL in Dec and getting some Christmas tomatoes.

Question: I thought tomatoes were daylight length sensitive. Do you use lights or do they just work out OK?

Yikes, Carolyn! Can you hire a cat or three?

I am so absent minded. I been cleaning and thinking I have two weeks to have gh --- since a week ago. I don't have two weeks. I have 9 days left to have gh ready.


I don't know if I will have enough sunshine or not. It really depends on the weather. Normally I only grow fall tomatoes for myself in a southeren exposed sunroom with tinted windows. I don't have that sunroom anymore and I started these tomato plants 3 weeks later than I ever had before. So I have been assuming that If I could grow them in a tinted sunroom and have tomatoes at thanksgiving, surely i can grow them in a fully exposed greenhouse and have tomatoes by Dec. Right?

in 9 days the tomato plants will be 4 weeks old.
I am in a rush because I need to transplant 386 plants before
they outgrow their 3 inch cups.
Then I have to put up 772 10ft twines. (2 each plant) All before they
start blooming and falling over. They will start blooming at
7 weeks old this time of the year.

What I use for fertilizer:
A mixture of
20 pounds of 13-13-13
3 pounds of epsom salt
4 pounds of calcium nitrate
8oz of micro-nutrients.
after mixed----1st week use 1 tsp per plant/pot
2nd wk use 2tsp per plant/pot
3rd week and there after -use about 1 tbs per plant/pot each week

19 days old from sow date----to the right is a bare section thanks to the mice

Lots and lots of work! Hang in there. I hope you have a good masseuse.

Absolutely facinating !! You have the most beautiful tomato plants I have ever seen!!

Thats just amazing.

Tempted to quit annoying job and drive up to help out with growing 'maters

I was just thinking the same thing, acara, LOL! I could even bring a cat or two along.

The greenhouse is clean now. That Was Not Fun !

Been sprayed with Fungicide and diluted Bleach.
The bleach will also help kill some insects-----safe cause I don't have any plants in there yet.
I already have new pots----so I don't have to bleach and clean those---wouldn't have enough time to anyway. I spent about 40 hours cleaning out that greenhouse.
I guess I can finish a few SFG beds in the back yard tomorrow.
In two days, I start breaking down soil and putting it in pots --getting ready to transplant. Filling the pots will take me about 5 days.(give or take)

cleaned out.

Camprn....what does "masseuse" mean?

Carolyn, a massuese is a female who can give you a massage. Sounds like with everything going on and your deadlines, you cetainly could use a good massage and a moment of relaxation.