Tomato Plants

I have a feeling you are overwatering. I know the soil is dry, but you should only water once a day at most (generally, the rule is every 2-3 days), and always water in the morning if possible. They need the wet/dry cycle to maintain proper roots and to avoid disease and rot.

Also, try to water slowly with a dripper if possible. If that is not possible, give them a little water (1/2 to 1 cup or so) let that soak in for a few minutes and go back and repeat until the soil is good and moist.

Good advice from MoreTahnRhetoric, and I will add little except to say that yes: tomato leaves can dry up without killing the plant. As long as you are getting fruit to ripen, you are golden (or ruddy, to keep the metaphor going).

Also, you can trim any unsightly dead stems and leaves without causing significant harm to the plant. Some tomato growers actually prune their tomato plants throughout the life cycle to force the plant to push all its energies into a few select stems.

Personally I go for tomato plant quantity over plant quality, since I have a very large double lot, and I end up with plenty of good quality tomatoes. When my tomatoes start looking unsightly I just use the lawn mower and blaze through the patch a bit. Tomato plants can take quite a bit of abuse, and I have seen plants lose half their stems and still produce fruit.

My plants are a total let down this year. It is my first year growing tomatos, but Im failing at it.

One plant is very sick with a rot that destroys the tomatos by the time they are red. The others just are not really producing.

On the other hand my pepper plants are doing great. I think next year Ill plant soy beans...

I'm sooooo sick to tomatoes already. I've eaten them, pickled them, given them away and I'm still have some rotting on the counter because my plants have gone nuts.

Mmm, how can you be sick of maters? I just had to run to store last night to buy white bread so I could have a proper BLT! Not sure what I will do with the rest of the loaf, lol.

Very healthy tomato crop this year, and very tasty

Can't wait til my mom's romas come in. I'm all excited about making fresh sauce!

We have two tomato plants and both of them are sad this year. :(

Kimono, your tomatoes need calcium. Next year, get some tomato Miracle Gro, it rocks the tomato house. we've got 5 kinds of tomatoes in a tiny space and they are all loaded...we're eating them everyday and giving them away by the bag!

I totally agree with pinching back, it makes any plant better. pinch the tops when they are about 3 feet tall and get all the lower branches and suckers off after the top flowers. pinch back stems to 2 or 3 sets of flowers and keep them that way. we water once a week and hit em with 1/2 strength fertz the first month then regular strength every 2 weeks up until about Aug 1 then stop. we're growing in unammended clay and they're STILL loaded.

also, stay away from those upside down bags, that's the stupidest thing ever. you are working against gravity and the plant knows it and hates it and is very successful at proving you an idiot. get the largest pots you can handle and plant sweet potato vines and marigolds around one tomato plant per pot. you might need to water large pots twice a week but if yer watering everyday, your pots are too small.

Annie, you got a receipt for that sauce? I fail at winging it.

Nana, I have some and will try it. I was using another fert and the tomamtos are just horrible.

By the time the tomatos are red, the bottom of each and every one of them is rotted out.

yah, that's it, blossom-end rot, calcium deficiency. you'll be good to go next year. :)

I will try and recover them asap - lets see if I can save the plant and fruit.

Seperately, did you know that the tomato plant is from the nightshade family and the vine and leaves are poisonous?

Yes, green vines and stems possess (in varying quantities) the toxic alkaloid atropine. This is especially problematic with small children and animals if they decide to eat the bitter-tasting tomato greens (green tomatoes contain lesser, but still significant, amounts of atropine).

Speaking of critters, here is the greatest threat to my tomatoes:

Pictured is Shadow, a small terrier mix we adopted last month. He has developed quite a taste for tomatoes, and he snags several per day to munch on.

I'm loving our tomatoes this year. We have a couple heirloom plants that are so delicious.

This has been a pretty good topic, if I do say so myself. I really like this board and we should all be proud of how we help each other. I have to remember to post a "Let's Grow Some BLT's" on the board next spring. This is a lot more fun than a garden dedicated site that gets too technical.

Thanks for all the help...

I've got to agree with nana about the upside-down pots for tomatoes. The plants do know what gravity is, and do grow against it regardless of physical orientation. By the time the plant loads up with tomatoes, the main trunks are so bent that you're taking a big risk with the plant with stress when the branches bend back down.

Invest in a few tomato cages, if you're worried about spread or load.

Nana --

Last year, I just peeled and seeded the tomatoes, chopped them just a bit (I like them chunky), and cooked them with some fresh basil.

This year, I plan to follow this recipe, since I saw the technique on TV, and it looked incredible: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Special_Features/ci.Spaghetti_With_Fresh_Tomato_Sauce_And_Basil.custom

I was lucky enough to travel through Italy some years ago, and have not since had fresh spaghetti sauce like I did there. I'm hoping this recipe will come close.

And since tomatoes tend to come in by the bushelful, whatever I don't use immediately goes into plastic freezer bags and into the freezer. In the winter, I mix it with store-bought jar sauce and cooked ground beef for spaghetti, or spice it up for chili.

HistoryMike, thats a cute picture!

I've never tried to make homemade sauce. My favorite is Prego three cheese, is there a recipe out there that anyone can give me to make it homemade but not taste like crushed tomatoes? (I love raw tomatoes, but not cooked - go figure)

I love how Shadow goes for the ripe ones! Smart dog. Cute pic.

totally cute doggie

Aww. Shadow is such a cutie. Thanks for the photo. I have never had dogs that liked vegetables or fruit, so I am thankful for that in terms of them eating my crops. But woodchucks have consumed all the green tomatoes in my yard this year except a few plants that are closer to the house. Those tomatoes are huge, probably because my downspout gushes rainwater to the soil in that area. Really enjoying sweet corn in the last few weeks at Andersons Market on Sylvania Ave. near King. Top notch.

Since everyone seems to like Shadow, here is another picture; he is a cool little dog who follows me around all day long:

Kimono, you can't save them this year, nothing will reverse that now. best to pick them and compost them. don't plow them under, the seeds will probably sprout all over the place (they may still sprout in your compost heap, in fact, I got great Potatoes from some rotten ones I composted one year, lol). you will want to start fresh with some nice heirlooms or something next year, so get as much of the old stuff out of the way as you can.

Renegade, put a barrel under that downspout!!!! I've got 3 and will have 4 more by spring rains, got to get some 55 gal drums out on Rt20 and do it up right, I only have 33 gal trash cans now, not enuff. My house water is 100% more than what I was paying in Toledo, and last month it was 200%, NOT using city water for the garden anymore!

Annie, thanks, I LOVE Tony, I'm gonna try it and report back.

nana, Toledo Grows is doing a program in the Old West End right now and we've gotten a rain barrel for only 25 bucks. Very excited about it!

Question about the rain barrels: don't mosquitoes grow in them??

no, annie, you always have a lid on it. the rain comes thru the downspout into a hole that's cut into the top of the barrel. I have plastic screening wrapped around the end of the drain that's shoved in teh hole. you have to pulll teh drain out and clean the screen periodically. I had maple trees growing in my drains this year, lol, but no bugs can get in or out.

Len, how big is it and can other people get some? I called in teh spring about ones for $40 thru the Extension Service but they never called me back! I figured I spent $60 each making my own so I def want to get a better price somewhere!

also, check youtube, they have awesome vids from everywhere on how to make rainbarrels, if you want to go your own way! :)

nana, I think it's 50 gallons? Maybe you can try calling Toledo Grows about it. My husband picked it up, and mentioned they were testing the program out in the Old West End with plans to offer it elsewhere.

Just minutes after moving on to another browser window I came across this. Great article, but has the contact info for Toledo Grows at the bottom:

http://www.toledo.com/index.php?src=news&refno=822&category=Frogtown+Features&prid=822

You might well obtain free rain barrels by calling local zinc- and chrome-plating companies and obtaining permission to haul off a couple for free. They often get shipments of innocuous chemicals (acids and bases, largely) in 55gal metal and plastic drums. These drums are mostly smashed or cut up, and dumped. If you ask nicely, they might even wash them out for you.

thanks, GZ!

yippie!

I yippied in the wrong thread. sorry!

thanks, TL!
thanks, upso (lol)

I just found holes im my tomato plants like last year. It's a fungus in the roots. Most don't make it. Crap.

There is something so completely satifying about climbing into the garden, (have to keep the fruit and veggie burglars out) plucking a fresh ear of corn, stripping it, and eating it right there, raw. So good, so delicious. My other staples (tomatoes, cukes and peppers) I like to wash and chill, but there's something about fresh, just off the stalk corn. And right now, the time is right...at least in my back yard.

Nice pic historymike :) my dad has a new pup that loves to grab low level cherry tomayos from his vine too. Great rid in this thread will have to bookmark this for next year.

Advice not rid, typing sucks at times on this Touch.

There are always plastic drums/barrels on craigslist. You can get them for about $10-$15 each. If you're handy, you can cut one end off, install the spout, and make a simple wooden lid.

dipping sucks, there's always water in the bottom you cant get that gets really nasty as sediment decays. there are tons of videos on youtube with many options for making them with spouts, no need to dip.

I called the Lucas Soil and Water Conservation District and got my name on the list for 4. I was told they are gonna start making them soon and for $40 with all teh hardware you can't beat it. 800-547-0272.

I started this thread with concerns that I'd killed my tomato plants. Well, that's not the case. My potted plant on the deck has about 30 or more tomatoes and they're ripening well. Same for my plum sized cherry tomatos. The plants themselves look awful. I was told the reason for this is because the plant has used itself up and all the plant energy is going to the fruit. Our growing year is 2-3 week ahead of time and I suspect this is what happened all along. I've learned a lot this year. No more tomatoes in hangers. Next year the hangers get red peppers or strawberries.

"Renegade, put a barrel under that downspout!!!! I've got 3 and will have 4 more by spring rains, got to get some 55 gal drums out on Rt20 and do it up right, I only have 33 gal trash cans now, not enuff. My house water is 100% more than what I was paying in Toledo, and last month it was 200%, NOT using city water for the garden anymore!"

I hear ya, nana. I am definitely going to get some rain barrels for next year. I've been collecting the rain water in very inefficient containers to use on my planted seeds last spring. Going to do it the right way next year.

Good for you, rch! I bought my 'maters at the Farmers Market this weekend and made quite a tasty sauce.

actually, rhc, just dump the damn things, if they are the ones where the plant grows out the bottom. you can't fool Mother Nature! :D