Tomato growers?

[Rubber Chicken]

I just planted some,

- Tappy's Heritage
- Golden Sunray
- Black Russian
- Cherokee Purple
- Pineapple Tomato
- Principe Borghese
- Indigo Rose
- Sungold (cherry)

*Hopefully* i can get a reasonable yield and get some nice pictures.

Good luck.

 

[Green Squall]

Well god damn!! I guess I won't be enjoying tomatoes this year. Literally every plant in suffering from blossom end rot. I have never seen this problem in tomatoes before. I believe it's from a calcium imbalance from what I've read. BUMMER.

 

[resinryder]

It's calcium. They make a spray for it. You can use calmag at about 5-10 ml/gallon on em too. Spray them with Epsom salt also if you want.
This year I committed the cardinal sin my father always told me not to do. I put a small handful of aig lime in the planting hole. I've pulled over a hundred lbs of em and have not seen the first sign of blossom end rot.


As a side note, I made homemade catsup the past 2 days. 35-38 lbs after all said and done cooked down to 6 and 1/3 pints. Ain't much but it taste damn good

 

[Green Squall]

Thanks resin, I might just try that. I have some spare cal mag I can use.

I admit I love ketchup, so a homemade version sounds mother watering.

 

[MountZionCollec]

Somewhere around 200' in tomatoes.

 

[pashio]

Just out of curiosity: Is anybody manipulating light (covering the plants) to make them flower earlier or this doesn't work with tomatos?

 

[KONY]

It's calcium. They make a spray for it. You can use calmag at about 5-10 ml/gallon on em too. Spray them with Epsom salt also if you want.
This year I committed the cardinal sin my father always told me not to do. I put a small handful of aig like in the planting hole. I've pulled over a hundred lbs of em and have not seen the first sign of blossom end rot.


As a side note, I made homemade catsup the past 2 days. 35-38 lbs after all said and done cooked down to 6 and 1/3 pints. Ain't much but it taste damn good

Whats aig?

 

[Betterhaff]

Ag gypsum.

 

[resinryder]

Whats aig?

Agricultural Lime. Sorry bout that. Just noticed it said aig like instead of aig lime.

 

[resinryder]

Making a pot of spaghetti sauce today from about 20 lbs. Fresh basil, thyme, oregano, onions, garlic, and and assorted seasonings.

 

[Betterhaff]

Agricultural Lime. Sorry bout that. Just noticed it said aig like instead of aig lime.

Sorry, my bad, didn’t mean to put words in your mouth. I have used both. I used to grow extra tomatoes in containers, never had the heart to throw away the starts once the plots were full. Always had a problem with blossom rot in pots, probably due to leaching. Addition of lime or gypsum seemed to remedy that.

Spaghetti sauce, great way to store the excess. Always make a bunch and freeze, as well as plain tomato sauce and freezing paste tomatoes whole.

 

[Moonjuice5050]

Fermented Bloody Mary mix is easy to make and delicious

 

[resinryder]

Sorry, my bad, didn’t mean to put words in your mouth. I have used both. I used to grow extra tomatoes in containers, never had the heart to throw away the starts once the plots were full. Always had a problem with blossom rot in pots, probably due to leaching. Addition of lime or gypsum seemed to remedy that.

Spaghetti sauce, great way to store the excess. Always make a bunch and freeze, as well as plain tomato sauce and freezing paste tomatoes whole.

No sweat bro. I added gypsum a couple years ago as I started the beds on desert soil. Was the first thing I added before I started building up the beds. It's a good additive if needed.

 

[Green Squall]

My tomato crop suffered greatly this year from the calcium problem but seemed to correct itself without doing anything. I harvested enough to eat, grind/freeze and even made some tomato powder!

 

[Shukriya1]

Red Brandywine

Red Brandywine

I grew one plant, which yielded 11 fruit or various sizes. Next Year I plan to do 4 of these plants in my greenhouse, basically using same methods as Cannabis. Plus growing Tiny Tim and another I forget name.

 

[Lone Wolf]

anyone have experience selling heirloom tomatoes?

if so, how do you go about selling them, and what kind of prices do you get per lb?

 

[Lester Beans]

anyone have experience selling heirloom tomatoes?

if so, how do you go about selling them, and what kind of prices do you get per lb?

The best way is to find a good quality farmers market to vend at. A roadside stand on a fairly busy road will sell some 'maters as well.

Heirloom tomatoes take some extra diligent work to keep the plants healthy, supported as heirlooms are generally indeterminate, and the yield can be low.

If you plan to grow a large quantity your best bet is to purchase grafted plants or graft them yourself. The rootstock will have disease resistance and add vigor, whether vegative or generative, and increase yield without taking away from the scion's qualities.

Feel free to pm me if you need more info. I can drone on about tomatoes for hours lol.

Happy growing!

 

[Rubber Chicken]

Has anyone ever grown tomato plants under fluro lights through winter, and trained them to keep them small somehow?

I am just thinking of having some short but well developed tomato plants to put outside once the last frost has passed.

Just curious if it would work ok to top and train a baby tomato to get dense roots etc ready to burst alive in early spring.

Thanks.

 

[MicroRoy]

Has anyone floressenn tomato plants under fluro lights through winter, and trained them to keep them small somehow?

I am just thinking of having some short but well developed tomato plants to put outside once the last frost has passed.

Just curious if it would work ok to top and train a baby tomato to get dense roots etc ready to burst alive in early spring.

Thanks.

I have started from seeds six weeks before planting time.

Just keeping them close to the lights
with a small fan.

These were under t/8 floressent. Four blubs.

I potted up one time. They were still compact when I moved them outside. I let the lights burn 24 hours a day.

 

[Lester Beans]

6-8 weeks head start indoors for tomatoes. You don't want to start too early as they will freak out when they go out and struggle to set fruit.

In 6 weeks they will be good sized plants if done properly. Start in flats. I use round 50 spot flats. They release better from the rounds IMO. Also the 50 spot flats have bigger cells and that prevents early rootbound issues. Pot up to 4" pots. Keep flours low or use a greenhouse. Then plant outside.

Big big important task is fertilizing with a high P nutrient upon transplant. And plenty of calcium from fruit set on.. As they get close to ripening, be stingy with the water to preserve flavor and discouraging cracking.