Baby toms - first time from seed

**llama momma** 4/29/2013, 6:19 pm

Despite my first time starting tomato seeds, it looks like their survival instincts were stronger than my inexperience and fear of killing everything. I was hoping for nine to survive, here is just some ofthe 24 heirlooms! Cool

Baby toms - first time from seed 4-29-110

audrey.jeanne.roberts 4/29/2013, 6:22 pm

You're going to be giving away TONS of tomatoes, LOL! Good job Very Happy

bwaynef 4/29/2013, 7:57 pm

Congrats! What varieties are you growing?

I counted today and I've got 72 tomato plants that I don't have room for. All but 3-4 are heirloom.

bnoles 4/29/2013, 8:01 pm

Salsa and roasted toms are the first things that come to mind, that is after a big ole BLT Very Happy

Nice work LM

**llama momma** 4/29/2013, 8:19 pm

bwaynef wrote:Congrats! What varieties are you growing?

I counted today and I've got 72 tomato plants that I don't have room for. All but 3-4 are heirloom.

Thanks a bunch audrey, bwaynef and bnoles -- wow 72 is an awful lot!
I have 9 varieties, black krim, blue berry blend, hillbilly, italian heirloom, jaune flamme, solar flair, ukrainian purple, weissbehaarte, and something Josh called a giant ugli. This is my experiment year, never had any of these before.
And what kinds do you have??

audrey.jeanne.roberts 4/29/2013, 8:52 pm

I only use my toms for salads, so I have Romas, Cherry tomatoes and later this summer I'll plant an Italian version A'Grappiola (I think) that is good for harvesting the entire stem and keeping over the winter in the garage or shed. They can be brought out and ripened on a window for winter tomatoes.

Windmere 4/29/2013, 9:13 pm

I also underestimated how many of my tomatoes would successfully germinate and grow to young adults. I only have 17, but that's still much more than I had hoped for. All of mine are Black Krims.

jazzycat 4/29/2013, 9:20 pm

It seems several of us had the same "problem" of planting more seeds than was needed thinking they wouldn't all come up, and then having an overabundance of plants. I've given away about 50 plants. Tomatoes are very forgiving. Very Happy

You have a nice looking crop there llama momma. Solar Flare is also one of the varieties I'm growing (I'm growing 10). Perhaps we can compare notes on how well they do in our different climate zones. Smile

bwaynef 4/29/2013, 9:49 pm

[quote="llama momma"]

bwaynef wrote:
Thanks a bunch audrey, bwaynef and bnoles -- wow 72 is an awful lot!
...
And what kinds do you have??

I've only got room for these 11 plants:
Olena Ukrainian
Black Krim
Neves Azorean Red
KBX
Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye
Porter 'Charles Herring'
Pervaya Lyubov
Big Beef F1
Cherokee Purple
Arkansas Traveler
Jaune Flamme

I grew the list below to be given away: (I don't have all of these varieties still.)
Jaune Flamme
Casino Chips
Marglobe Supreme
Stump of the World
Beauty King
Black from Tula
Japanese Trifele Black
Garden Peach
Kellogg's Breakfast
Lyuda's Mom's Lg. Red Ukrainian
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Green Zebra
White Wonder
Brandywine OTV
Brandywine Red 'Landis'
Gary O'Sena
Big Beef OP
Homestead
Prudens Purple
Weisnicht's Ukr.
German Johnson
Hillbilly
Razzleberry OP
Austin's Black Cherry
Virginia Sweets
Tiny Tim
Uncle Charlie's Sweet 100s
Big Beef F1
Moneymaker
Beefsteak
Mortgage Lifter 'Estler'
Rutgers
Opalka
San Marzano
Marglobe Supreme
White Wonder
Costoluto Genovese
Green Giant
Yellow Pear Cherry
Red Cherry Tomato
Sekai Ichi
Marianna's Peace
Black from Tula

jazzycat 4/29/2013, 10:04 pm

bwaynef, do you mean to say, you grew all of those different varieties for the specific purpose to give them all away? That is very charitable of you. Smile

bwaynef 4/30/2013, 10:08 am

jazzycat wrote:bwaynef, do you mean to say, you grew all of those different varieties for the specific purpose to give them all away? That is very charitable of you.

That's precisely the reason. Before you go thinking I'm a saint, I'm getting something out of the deal. The deal is, I get 1 or 2 tomatoes from each plant they get. That way, I get (re-)fresh(ed) seed supply and don't have to grow them all myself. As mentioned earlier, I've only got room for 11 plants in my SFG, though I'm probably going to find a few spots in the ground or in pots for a couple more.

Its a lot of work to get them to this point and find homes for them all. I'll certainly have to take that into consideration before I do this again. I'll almost definitely NOT start 180 tomatoes from seed again any time soon.

bwaynef 4/30/2013, 10:12 am

I didn't think about it when I posted. Didn't mean to take over the thread. Back to LM.

Did you start these in Mel's Mix? Did you grow them under lights? Have you hardened them off yet? How do you plan to get rid of the extras?

(I'm jealous of the Black Krims a couple of you mentioned having. I sowed 3 seeds. 1/3 germinated. When my (6 y.o.) daughter went to plant it I told her to remove the low branches. She snapped the main vine right above a bottom branch. I kept the plant, and it IS growing, but I opted to replace it with a Black from Tula. BKs are my favorite though.)

Windmere 4/30/2013, 10:24 am

bwaynef wrote:I didn't think about it when I posted. Didn't mean to take over the thread. Back to LM.

Did you start these in Mel's Mix? Did you grow them under lights? Have you hardened them off yet? How do you plan to get rid of the extras?

(I'm jealous of the Black Krims a couple of you mentioned having. I sowed 3 seeds. 1/3 germinated. When my (6 y.o.) daughter went to plant it I told her to remove the low branches. She snapped the main vine right above a bottom branch. I kept the plant, and it IS growing, but I opted to replace it with a Black from Tula. BKs are my favorite though.)

Bummer about your main vine. I feel for you. I bought my Black Krim Russian Heirloom seeds from Amazon.... The seller was "Hirts." 1.89 and free shipping (for 30 seeds, but I actually got more than 30). Germination rate was just about 100%.

I planted them in Jiffy seed starter pellets. Seeds got indirect sun in kitchen window box. Then (after sprouting) I took them out for direct sun during the day... brought them in at night because of frost. I babied them by doing that I guess... but the resulting 17 plants are going strong!

**llama momma** 4/30/2013, 10:40 am

bwaynef wrote:I didn't think about it when I posted. Didn't mean to take over the thread. Back to LM. No Problem I'm guilty of that more than I want to admit! I get caught up in a chatty mode and off I go!
Did you start these in Mel's Mix? Nope, they began in soil blockers with Johnny's 512, then up potted them into MMix. It's where they are going to wind up anyway so I decided they might as well get use to it. Did you grow them under lights? Yes, t8 flourescents. Have you hardened them off yet? Not till I see the temps straighten out and stop scaring me,lol. I don't want them supersized and still stuck in the house. How do you plan to get rid of the extras? I'm not sure yet

(I'm jealous of the Black Krims a couple of you mentioned having. I sowed 3 seeds. 1/3 germinated. When my (6 y.o.) daughter went to plant it I told her to remove the low branches. She snapped the main vine right above a bottom branch. Ouch, kids are such a hoot, I'm sure it made perfect sense to her...I kept the plant, and it IS growing, but I opted to replace it with a Black from Tula. BKs are my favorite though.) Good to hear. This year I tried all different colored toms, red, striped, white, black, and purple. Very indecisive, catalogs made me crazy with too many choices. So next year my 'dream catalogue' would consist only 2 or 3 choices per vegetable!

R&R 1011 4/30/2013, 10:52 am

llama momma wrote:Despite my first time starting tomato seeds, it looks like their survival instincts were stronger than my inexperience and fear of killing everything. I was hoping for nine to survive, here is just some ofthe 24 heirlooms!

Haha, LM, 24 must be the lucky number because Ive got 24 tom plants looking just like yours. I dont have enough room in my SFG either, so Im giving a few away to a friend and will plant whatever doesnt fit in the SFG in the ground.

How's the rest of your garden doing? I transplanted my broccoli last week and getting ready to transplant my onions and lettuce probably today.

**llama momma** 4/30/2013, 12:21 pm

R&R
Ha-- we both have 24 toms, lets hope it is a magical number! My gardening friend already has her toms so I am going to put the extras in buckets and in the front flower bed I suppose. Read somewhere that heirlooms may be superior in flavor but not always as productive..?? If that's true then I might as well keep all the plants and see what happens. I do have a couple tables at the farmer's market if I get buried in the dang things!

The broccoli and lettuce needs to go outside, I need another person or two to get everything done outside and inside, falling behind between outdoor fun and the blessed indoor chores tongue

R&R 1011 4/30/2013, 1:15 pm

Ive read the same thing about heirlooms not being as productive. Im falling behind as well. I hurt my pinky toe pretty bad over the weekend, so didnt get outdoors. My house is a mess, but will get it done today. I still have my other 12x4 box I need to build. I need an extra set of hands as well!

And I just saw that something started to dig up my strawberry roots so I need to figure out an inexpensive way to cover the big boxes.

edfhinton 4/30/2013, 5:45 pm

R&R and Llama momma,

This is funny. I planted too many tomatoes too and also have exactly 24 plants. I only planned to plant out 10 (4 cherry, 4 roma, and 2 beefsteak), so we'll be using pots and giving some away as well.

Let's all hope 24 is a lucky number!

-Ed

**llama momma** 4/30/2013, 5:54 pm

C'mon Ed that's too funny Laughing

Guess this makes the three of us, 'The 24 Club' !!
Think I'll play this as one of my super lotto numbers...

javaaddict 5/1/2013, 9:59 am

Your toms look great!!! Smile

This is the second year I've sprouted them inside and grown my own plants, it's going much more smoothly this time. My romas are a little leggy but they'll be fine.

I planted black krim's last year and they were HORRIBLE. Sad

I don't know if I just got a bad package of seeds from SSE or what? The plant, vine, leaves, everything looked healthy, but they just produced these horrible, rotting fruits that I couldn't salvage. So I'm done with that variety, at least for now.

I have brandywines, big rainbows, mortgage lifters, and romas for this year.

And I'm considering very strongly committing the major sin of setting them in in the next few days. Weather on the 10 day looks OK - lows in the mid to high 40's and that's OK for them. I'm working on toughening them up over the next few days, we'll see how they do.

Do you know of any heirloom plant exchanges in the area? I'd LOVE to do that, so I could get a few single varieties of new ones just to try - maybe it's something we could consider in the future...

**RoOsTeR** 5/1/2013, 10:14 am

I planted black krim's last year and they were HORRIBLE. I don't know if I just got a bad package of seeds from SSE or what? The plant, vine, leaves, everything looked healthy, but they just produced these horrible, rotting fruits that I couldn't salvage. So I'm done with that variety, at least for now.

That's to bad. They are a wonderful tomato! I loved mine last year and they produced great yields. I wonder what the problem was?

**llama momma** 5/1/2013, 2:02 pm

R&R
Hope your toe is better and your strawberry cover works out quickly and inexpensively.

Javaaddict
Thanks, and to answer your question re: heirloom exchanges, sounds like a great idea but no, I haven't heard of any such thing. I bet if you join a local garden club you'll find it that way. I just joined a local garden club so if I hear of an exchange I'll let you know.

R&R 1011 5/1/2013, 2:16 pm

Im getting ready to head out now and plant my lettuce. My toe is much better. I am, however, paranoid about the swollen lymph node in my neck. Stupid ticks make me so paranoid!

I tried to find a garden club around madison county and couldnt find anything online. I saw they had a master gardeners class for mad. county, so there has got to be some gardeners around here.

Im starting to harden off my toms. I put them out for a bit yesterday.

Java- Id love to do a plant swap.

R&R 1011 5/2/2013, 9:29 pm

Well, may not be so lucky with my 24 now. My 2 yr old attacked my 24 with one of her toys today, and broke off a lot of stems. I hope my tomatoes pull through. Who knew the biggest pest Id have to watch for lives in my house?

LM- Your avatar of tulips looks lovely. I had some purple and red/ white ones come up in an old bed, but my 2 yr taz. devil pulled off all the flower heads.

What kind of repellent repels 2 year olds from plants and flowers? Twisted Evil

chjbr63 5/2/2013, 10:49 pm

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