I had one of the gizmos for doing the upside down growing, and it basically had some rubber foam at the bottom with a big X-shaped cut in it. THe idea was to thread the roots through the foam, flip it over, and fill the container with soil.
The big problems were watering it (my wife (girlfriend at the time) couldn’t really get at it easily on her apt. balcony) and that despite not being anywhere near actual soil, it got the early blight and croaked just as quickly as the in-ground ones.
But, to reiterate what others have said, the primary keys to good outdoor tomato growing are:[ul]
[/ul] [ul]
[li]Good watering- 1" a week is good [/li][li]A decent amount of fertilizer - I’ve had good results with 10-10-10 and 13-13-13, but people get results with cow manure and other organic things too.[/li][li]Lots of light[/li][li]Warm temperatures, but not HOT temperatures. My tomatoes shut down in about mid-late June, and don’t kick back in until late September.[/li][/ul]
One more thing; to avoid blossom end rot, make sure you water consistently. If you don’t, calcium uptake will be screwy, and you’ll end up with blossom end rot. A drip system is probably ideal for this, but involves some work.
I’ve always bought seedlings to plant, but this year started my own. I’ve got them in Jiffy Peat pots (just put the whole thing in the ground), sitting near a east facing window. I’m not doing anything extra as far as lights, etc, and they have come up nicely. I’ll probably plant them mid-May, which is when I’ve planted them before. I also started watermelon and three different kinds of pumpkins-so far so good!
I’m in Zone 5b. I usually check the weather the forecast the week of May 15th. If all looks good I plant that week. Never before.
Last year I planted my 'maters in these. I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with! Needless to say, I had lots of 'mater sandwiches, sauces, slices, and tomatoes went into every salad. That’s after giving away half to friends and family.
I’m in the same zone as Mykonos.
I have no idea what zone that is, but I do feel very Greek when I grow and eat my tomatoes.
Wanna dance?
No Wimmen!
The chaos goes mute.
The third paragraph under “Instructions For Planting”. It says:
“You can use sphagnum moss, newspaper, coffee filters, etc.” You just pack it around the stem. Once the seedling gets established it’ll hold itself in by the roots. I like moss, cause it’s cool stuff, but any of those things will do. Used coffee filters are good too, and the coffee residue is mulch in itself. Be gentle with the roots.
Read the whole thing carefully. We’re taught to speed read everything, and to scan, which is fine, but you do miss details.
Good luck. I’m hoping you get a good yield.
Perhaps there is a different definition of “seedling”, rather like James Fenimore Cooper’s “saplings” that have Indians climbing them. I imagine the tomato plant is large enough to have a root ball larger than the 2" hole.
I stopped by the hardware store today. I swear I have a man-crush on the guy who runs it - he knows everything about everything. He told me to put my seedlings in a cool spot until transplanting - it keeps them from getting leggy.
Trim back a lotta leaves and fruit. The fruit needs hot, dry, sunshine. And you do NOT want to eat 200 tomatoes. No one likes tomatoes that much. Fewer fruit means more healthy fruit.
Also, as they near full size and want to ripen, cut back on water.
I’ve never grown vegetables, as I grew up in Tucson where plants don’t exist. I live in Cleveland now, which is apparently “Zone 5b” according to that map thing. We have a lot of squirrels (I love them! I would choose squirrels in my yard over a garden if I had to pick between) and deer in our yard. We have a large screened porch and I was wondering if that hanging bucket method would work on a porch like that? Since it seems you can grow herbs on the tops of the buckets, which is the other thing I would want to grow, this would be ideal if it would work… I just think that if I put it outside it’d get eaten by the wildlife before it had a chance.
(I really adore watching the deer and squirrels in the yard. We have a Squngee hanging from the tree in the front yard. It’s awesome.)
Okay. I’m brave enough to pick up the worm, but I don’t know about all those little white things.
Anybody know if the hornworms will bite as a defense?
Can someone tell me why MY tomatos plants produced really small tomatoes last year? The Early Girls mostly made 2 1/2" tomatoes. The Brandywine’s made 3" tomatoes. In previous years, they’d be almost or better than double that size.
I gave them lots of water, lots of love. Miracle Grow every week. I know if there’s too much nitrogen, you won’t get fruit, which isn’t my problem. What causes small fruit?
This year I tested the soil. Ph was about 6.3, which I’m told is fine. Nutrients look good, too. How do I get better, bigger fruits?
mangeorge says:
Forget bigger. Go for smell and taste. Of course, the tomatoes should grow to the size for their breed, but the sizes you mention sound good to me. Always pick when ripe, not before. You can smell them on the vine, they should smell strongly of tomato.
Shake them, you should hear the seeds rattle around inside.
Well, don’t get me wrong – the tomatoes I did get tasted great. But the yield was not what I was expecting. 2 1/2" Early Girls are cherry tomatoes, and 3" Brandywines are tiny! I grew 8 plants, and got maybe a full shopping bag of tomatoes off the whole bunch. I’m used to having buckets-loads of tomatoes from that many plants.
Yup, fifty braconid wasps! (or whatever other critters lay their eggs on hornworms, which have the 'pillar for their first meal and then grow up, have wild insect sex, and lay more eggs on hornworms)
mangeorge I don’t think so, this was the first page I found looking for that pic and it doesn’t give any warnings. So, mostly harmless?
squeegee what was the weather like? I’ve grown three plants in the Solanaceae family (tomatoes, eggplants and bell peppers) and none of them produce well if the weather ain’t just right, particularly nighttime temperatures.
Cherry tomatoes! Please, never throw any of your cherry tomatoes at me.
Okay, I got out my ruler. 2 1/2 inches is a little small, but still okay. It’s the yield thing I don’t get. I have a personal predjudice against Miracle Grow. Isn’t that stuff high in nitrogen? If your plants were of normal size, it sounds like maybe your flowers weren’t setting. Did you notice many on the ground? Somebody upthread mentioned what is needed for that problem.
“Flowers” ain’t right, is it? Enlighten this old man, please.
Wait a minit, I seen to remember something about overwatering causing flower drop.
Anybody?
Please explain if you do.
(or whatever other critters lay their eggs on hornworms, which have the 'pillar for their first meal and then grow up, have wild insect sex, and lay more eggs on hornworms)
