Re: Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019

**sanderson** 5/10/2018, 3:14 pm

Tomatoes can be addictive, not eating them, but growing them! Wink

**trolleydriver** 5/10/2018, 7:49 pm

sanderson wrote:Tomatoes can be addictive, not eating them, but growing them!

+1

I've started several plants of 12 different varieties. I expect to be giving away some of those transplants. Very Happy

No_Such_Reality 5/11/2018, 12:23 pm

Yesterday i was doing some cleanup around the yard and looked at my gutters under the tree that i need to trim back.

What did Mother Nature do? She planted a tomato in my gutter. Its about 6 inches tall with three beautiful branches and a fourth on the way. Growing in the decomposing leaf litter only being watreed by the morning dew.

I cleaned out my gutters in November before the rainy season. The tree loses most of its leaves around January.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/15/2018, 7:31 pm

No_Such_Reality wrote:Yesterday i was doing some cleanup around the yard and looked at my gutters under the tree that i need to trim back.

What did Mother Nature do? She planted a tomato in my gutter. Its about 6 inches tall with three beautiful branches and a fourth on the way. Growing in the decomposing leaf litter only being watreed by the morning dew.

I cleaned out my gutters in November before the rainy season. The tree loses most of its leaves around January.

So you planted it, right???? flower

**Turan** 5/15/2018, 7:41 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:
No_Such_Reality wrote:Yesterday i was doing some cleanup around the yard and looked at my gutters under the tree that i need to trim back.

What did Mother Nature do? She planted a tomato in my gutter. Its about 6 inches tall with three beautiful branches and a fourth on the way. Growing in the decomposing leaf litter only being watreed by the morning dew.

I cleaned out my gutters in November before the rainy season. The tree loses most of its leaves around January.
So you planted it, right????

Have you ever tried to do those hanging tomatoes? This case seems like a natural, though I guess it would mean the gutter staying blocked.

I gave my own unplanned tomato a string today. It is blooming.

yolos 5/15/2018, 8:51 pm

A couple of tomatoes are getting large.

Brandy Boy
Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Tomato24

Better Boy
Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Tomato25

**sanderson** 5/16/2018, 3:59 am

hammock gal 5/16/2018, 8:46 am

yolos wrote:A couple of tomatoes are getting large.

Brandy Boy

Better Boy

yolos, those of you with long tomato seasons cannot imagine how jealous those of us up north are of you!!! I will not see tomatoes like that for a long time. All I can do is drool over your pics. drooling

Can I ask what kind of strapping you're using to attach your tomatoes to their stakes? It looks wider than the clippy things I'm using, which I think may not be so good for the stems. Please enjoy one of those beautiful tomatoes for me when they're ready. Very Happy

yolos 5/16/2018, 11:05 am

hammock gal wrote:
yolos wrote:A couple of tomatoes are getting large.

Brandy Boy

Better Boy

yolos, those of you with long tomato seasons cannot imagine how jealous those of us up north are of you!!! I will not see tomatoes like that for a long time. All I can do is drool over your pics. Can I ask what kind of strapping you're using to attach your tomatoes to their stakes? It looks wider than the clippy things I'm using, which I think may not be so good for the stems. Please enjoy one of those beautiful tomatoes for me when they're ready.

Yes we have a long season but we also have mega diseases that start real early in the season. My Brandywine Tomato already has early blight even though I have done everything imaginable to try to keep from getting the disease (every year). So in a month or so I will be looking at your northern gardens and marveling at how green and lush your tomatoes look. Mine will be diseased and drooping from the heat and humidity.

The strapping that you are seeing is Velcro. See following picture. The image on the left is the Velcro but I also use the strapping on the right which is a very thin plastic. One of my favorite means of securing tomato to a trellis or cage are those tomato clips. But I have been out of them for over a year and every time I try to order them on-line I am confused by all the different kinds and sizes so I just say heck and use what I can buy locally.
Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Velcro10

Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Velcro10

No_Such_Reality 5/20/2018, 9:58 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:
No_Such_Reality wrote:Yesterday i was doing some cleanup around the yard and looked at my gutters under the tree that i need to trim back.

What did Mother Nature do? She planted a tomato in my gutter. Its about 6 inches tall with three beautiful branches and a fourth on the way. Growing in the decomposing leaf litter only being watreed by the morning dew.

I cleaned out my gutters in November before the rainy season. The tree loses most of its leaves around January.
So you planted it, right????

Oh yes, transplanted to the garden and gave it a nice mulch mound from its home in the gutter.

I was worrid about transplant shock but it seems to be doing well.

hammock gal 5/20/2018, 10:25 am

yolos wrote:
hammock gal wrote:
yolos wrote:A couple of tomatoes are getting large.

Brandy Boy

Better Boy

yolos, those of you with long tomato seasons cannot imagine how jealous those of us up north are of you!!! I will not see tomatoes like that for a long time. All I can do is drool over your pics. Can I ask what kind of strapping you're using to attach your tomatoes to their stakes? It looks wider than the clippy things I'm using, which I think may not be so good for the stems. Please enjoy one of those beautiful tomatoes for me when they're ready.
Yes we have a long season but we also have mega diseases that start real early in the season. My Brandywine Tomato already has early blight even though I have done everything imaginable to try to keep from getting the disease (every year). So in a month or so I will be looking at your northern gardens and marveling at how green and lush your tomatoes look. Mine will be diseased and drooping from the heat and humidity.

The strapping that you are seeing is Velcro. See following picture. The image on the left is the Velcro but I also use the strapping on the right which is a very thin plastic. One of my favorite means of securing tomato to a trellis or cage are those tomato clips. But I have been out of them for over a year and every time I try to order them on-line I am confused by all the different kinds and sizes so I just say heck and use what I can buy locally.

Thanks for the answer, yolos. I always worry about the ties being to hard edged, and what would happen if the stem presses too hard against it. I used to use strips of old panty hose, but who has those any more? thinking

I may try the Florida weave, but again, I worry about bending those stems. What won't we do to protect our tomatoes??? Very Happy

hammock gal 5/20/2018, 10:51 am

I have to confess. I am a tomatoholic. Some people can plant one or two tomato plants and be perfectly happy with them. Not me. I can never get enough. Which led me to disobey one of the SFG rules. I planted 5 tomatoes in four SFG squares. On both ends. So that's ten plants. Oh, and one extra in the middle. And one in a pot. Last year I had a tomato jungle, and it looks like I'll have one again this year.

I was really trying to keep it simple and just have one SFG bed, but I think I need another. Just for tomatoes. What a Face

I don't know if there's a 12 step program for my problem, but if there is, I'm not going! There are so many wonderful tomatoes out there, how can anyone narrow it down to just a few? Some of my plants are from seed, and it will be a long time before they bear any fruit, but one of the plants I ordered has flowers and you can't imagine how happy that makes me! Very Happy

**Turan** 5/24/2018, 3:49 pm

Hammock Gal, I think you need buckets Laughing

That way you can grow as many tomato varieties as you want and not try to keep them to a 4x4.

I was gone for a week and came home to tomatoes that needed their strings. So yesterday I got them all tied to the roof of the greenhouse and started winding them. The tomato plant from the cutting is blooming and has a fruit set already.

**sanderson** 5/25/2018, 1:07 am

I wrap the buckets with aluminum foil to keep the Mix cool and dark. Hi, my name is Sanderson, and I am a tomatoholic.

hammock gal 5/25/2018, 9:03 am

Turan wrote:Hammock Gal, I think you need buckets That way you can grow as many tomato varieties as you want and not try to keep them to a 4x4.

I was gone for a week and came home to tomatoes that needed their strings. So yesterday I got them all tied to the roof of the greenhouse and started winding them. The tomato plant from the cutting is blooming and has a fruit set already.

LOL, Turan you're right! I do need buckets. Lots of them. I'm a soapmaker, and I've saved the pails that 50lbs. of coconut oil came in, so I can use those, it's just to find the right spot. It's tricky to find a spot that gets enough hours of sun in the back yard, with big trees all around. I've got to start exploring the possibilities of the front yard. I'm glad to hear that your tomatoes are doing so well. With fruit appearing already, you'll be eating them in no time! Very Happy

**sanderson** 5/27/2018, 1:07 pm

It is so hard to let go of suckers. Sad

Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Tomato21

yolos 5/27/2018, 2:45 pm

sanderson wrote:It is so hard to let go of suckers.

+1

Roseinarosecity 5/27/2018, 5:39 pm

hammock gal wrote: I planted 5 tomatoes in four SFG squares. On both ends. So that's ten plants. Oh, and one extra in the middle. And one in a pot. Last year I had a tomato jungle, and it looks like I'll have one again this year.

Yikes! I am having trouble with 3 determinates in 3 squares! I have been snipping away but I usually don't grow determinates so I don't know if my pruning will affect the tomato production.

Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Three_10

Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Three_10

**sanderson** 5/28/2018, 3:06 am

countrynaturals 5/29/2018, 1:09 pm

These poor babies are coming along beautifully, despite my deplorable neglect. Sad

Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019 - Page 2 Tombab10

**Turan** 5/29/2018, 11:01 pm

It looks people are having some good problems~ tomatoes desiring to grow and fruit despite what ever.

I went out this morning after brushing my teeth to buzz the tomato flowers. There are a couple fruits set now on the sucker I planted. Under the tomatoes is a forest of self seeded marigolds, that is going to look nice when they start blooming.

**sanderson** 5/30/2018, 3:28 am

I bought an electric toothbrush a couple years ago, but I can't use it. Now, how can I re-purpose it . . . thinking

farmersgranddaughter 5/30/2018, 8:33 am

In years past, I planted tomatoes, sat back, and depended on pollinators to do their thing. This year I'm trying some of the things I've recently heard about. Yesterday I sprayed the plants with water/Epsom Salt solution to promote production. I just saw a video this weekend about using an electric toothbrush to distribute pollen and was glad to see it mentioned in this thread. That's next on my list.

This is the first year I've used stakes instead of cages. I like the spring clips as I can easily adjust them as needed.

There are blooms on the Romas and Cherry tomatoes. The Better Boy is lagging behind though.

yolos 5/30/2018, 11:14 am

farmersgranddaughter wrote:In years past, I planted tomatoes, sat back, and depended on pollinators to do their thing. This year I'm trying some of the things I've recently heard about. Yesterday I sprayed the plants with water/Epsom Salt solution to promote production. I just saw a video this weekend about using an electric toothbrush to distribute pollen and was glad to see it mentioned in this thread. That's next on my list.

This is the first year I've used stakes instead of cages. I like the spring clips as I can easily adjust them as needed.

There are blooms on the Romas and Cherry tomatoes. The Better Boy is lagging behind though.

Best thing I ever used to pollinate tomatoes was the electric toothbrush. When you rest it on a flower stem at the right time of day at the right time of blooming, if you look carefully, you can actually see the pollen flying from the bloom. Real cool.

**Turan** 5/30/2018, 12:30 pm

For me, buzzing the blossoms has the greatest effect early in the season. It helps get that early set of fruits. I went through my notes comparing first ripe fruit dates over the years and cross checking for references here for what years I buzzed the tomatoes. It looks like, in my garden conditions, that using an electric toothbrush back to buzz the flowers results in first ripe fruits being 2-3 weeks earlier, mid July rather than first two weeks of August. I always hope for ripe tomatoes by the Fourth of July, I see that that has only happened when I grew Stupice but it might happen this year with the cutting I rooted.

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Tomato Tuesday - 2018 & 2019