EVERYTHING I Wish I Knew When I Started Growing Tomatoes
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Date: 2024-07-12
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Comments and reviews: 20
rasserfrasser
Blossom End Rot Query - I still think blossom end rot is a bit of a mystery. I've had a bit of it this year with my bucket jungle of Roma VF plants but it's not under watering. Not to troll, I'm a total (yet very avid) noob, but it almost seems like (to me) it's something that's in the development of the stem, like a potential or progressive anomaly that presents itself once there are challenging conditions.
I say this because my problem is minimal, and not based out of what people talk mostly about online which is watering and calcium. I have well water and use it liberally and have been giving my plants a healthy amount of bone meal over the past month for their development. And again it's only a minor breakout. So I find the results interesting, but I don't feel like the problem is behavioral or pest-related so it'd have to be something to me that is singling out the stem in the evolution.
Both small breakouts were about the middle of the plant, each on one end of the container set. Neither plant stands out as being super weak or strong.
Thanks for posting such a comprehensive video on the subject.
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Blossom End Rot Query - I still think blossom end rot is a bit of a mystery. I've had a bit of it this year with my bucket jungle of Roma VF plants but it's not under watering. Not to troll, I'm a total (yet very avid) noob, but it almost seems like (to me) it's something that's in the development of the stem, like a potential or progressive anomaly that presents itself once there are challenging conditions.
I say this because my problem is minimal, and not based out of what people talk mostly about online which is watering and calcium. I have well water and use it liberally and have been giving my plants a healthy amount of bone meal over the past month for their development. And again it's only a minor breakout. So I find the results interesting, but I don't feel like the problem is behavioral or pest-related so it'd have to be something to me that is singling out the stem in the evolution.
Both small breakouts were about the middle of the plant, each on one end of the container set. Neither plant stands out as being super weak or strong.
Thanks for posting such a comprehensive video on the subject.
reply
bobalman
The big takeaway I have this year is giving more water than I was comfortable with in the past. Almost 2X the amount of water. I have raised beds with great drainage, but maybe poor retention. The other thing is permanent shade cloth for tomatoes and peppers. The difference is astounding! Eggplants are in the sun and seem to be very happy with that. This is the first time I have had vibrant green tomato vines with abundant fruit ever, and the weather has been brutal in Santa Rosa CA (9b. My whole garden has benefitted from more water as far as I can tell. I have been terrified to over-water, but it seems, as far as I can tell, I shifted the watering too dry so I underwatered the whole garden. The cantaloupes are going for it. They are really benefitting from black plastic tiles( I am using used black interlocking floor tiles. Man, there is nothing like a fresh ripe cantaloupe from the garden!
reply
The big takeaway I have this year is giving more water than I was comfortable with in the past. Almost 2X the amount of water. I have raised beds with great drainage, but maybe poor retention. The other thing is permanent shade cloth for tomatoes and peppers. The difference is astounding! Eggplants are in the sun and seem to be very happy with that. This is the first time I have had vibrant green tomato vines with abundant fruit ever, and the weather has been brutal in Santa Rosa CA (9b. My whole garden has benefitted from more water as far as I can tell. I have been terrified to over-water, but it seems, as far as I can tell, I shifted the watering too dry so I underwatered the whole garden. The cantaloupes are going for it. They are really benefitting from black plastic tiles( I am using used black interlocking floor tiles. Man, there is nothing like a fresh ripe cantaloupe from the garden!
reply
epic_gardening
My homemade Tomato cages, 6yrs old are done. I bought 16ft L x 5ft W cattle
panel. Cut it in half too 2, 8ft pcs. Attached them to 7ft t posts in a 4x8 raised bed.
3 tomato plants up each side. We are growing 3 San Marzano's and 3 Rutgers. So
should be plenty of room for a few, orderly suckers. Right
Now the fun part. Each plant has 6-8 growing stems weaved up through the openings
in the panels in the shape of a fan. All other suckers above getting pinched. So, at
ground level 3 plants on each side, at panel level, it looks like 3 Menorah's. Takes
almost daily attention training each grow stem, but so far worth it. Clusters everywhere,
over 40 Tomato's started on each of our 3 San Marzano plants and still blooming as they
are trimmed and woven upward. Yeah, gardening can be fun.
reply
My homemade Tomato cages, 6yrs old are done. I bought 16ft L x 5ft W cattle
panel. Cut it in half too 2, 8ft pcs. Attached them to 7ft t posts in a 4x8 raised bed.
3 tomato plants up each side. We are growing 3 San Marzano's and 3 Rutgers. So
should be plenty of room for a few, orderly suckers. Right
Now the fun part. Each plant has 6-8 growing stems weaved up through the openings
in the panels in the shape of a fan. All other suckers above getting pinched. So, at
ground level 3 plants on each side, at panel level, it looks like 3 Menorah's. Takes
almost daily attention training each grow stem, but so far worth it. Clusters everywhere,
over 40 Tomato's started on each of our 3 San Marzano plants and still blooming as they
are trimmed and woven upward. Yeah, gardening can be fun.
reply
tavanasibgatullah
Kevin, I've been watching your videos for a long time and have learned so many things from you that I follow everyday.
One thing I would disagree with you is about harvesting tomatoes before it is fully ripe. You might be right that the flavor is already developed when it starts to show colors. But, I have tried to harvest early and I have harvested vine ripe, the sugar content is just not the same! I mostly tried it with sungold and super sweet 100 variety. They were so sweet when vine ripened, but if ripened on the counter, they are not as sweet. I haven't tried with larger tomatoes, I just cook them or eat them without even noticing! lol. But this year I will try again to figure out if really vine ripened tastes different or not
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Kevin, I've been watching your videos for a long time and have learned so many things from you that I follow everyday.
One thing I would disagree with you is about harvesting tomatoes before it is fully ripe. You might be right that the flavor is already developed when it starts to show colors. But, I have tried to harvest early and I have harvested vine ripe, the sugar content is just not the same! I mostly tried it with sungold and super sweet 100 variety. They were so sweet when vine ripened, but if ripened on the counter, they are not as sweet. I haven't tried with larger tomatoes, I just cook them or eat them without even noticing! lol. But this year I will try again to figure out if really vine ripened tastes different or not
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epic_gardening
I’m learning so much from you! Thank you so much! I totally messed up my tomato seedlings this year! I started more than I was capable of maintaining. When it was time to up pot I lost track of the variety. I wanted lots of Roma tomatoes for canning sauce. I ended up with way more seedlings than I had room for! I couldn’t tell what type of tomato I ended up with and because nobody I know near me grows food I couldn’t even give them away. So sad! Anyway long story short I ended up with one Roma and 20 Sun Gold. I got the seeds from you. Way too many and need to figure out how to preserve them. I understand that you can’t count on memory and need to prepare labels in advance and put in pots immediately! Lesson learned!
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I’m learning so much from you! Thank you so much! I totally messed up my tomato seedlings this year! I started more than I was capable of maintaining. When it was time to up pot I lost track of the variety. I wanted lots of Roma tomatoes for canning sauce. I ended up with way more seedlings than I had room for! I couldn’t tell what type of tomato I ended up with and because nobody I know near me grows food I couldn’t even give them away. So sad! Anyway long story short I ended up with one Roma and 20 Sun Gold. I got the seeds from you. Way too many and need to figure out how to preserve them. I understand that you can’t count on memory and need to prepare labels in advance and put in pots immediately! Lesson learned!
reply
savinginstyle
I battled blossom end Rot in containers for a couple yrs. I've done all the Googling. I was giving adequate water consistently. Then i read that sometimes when u get blossom end Rot it could be that you have enough calcium in that container it's just the plant is having issues absorbing it correctly. I read that adding nitrogen fertilizer could help. So got liquid nitrogen fertilizer by fox farms and Rot Stop liquid calcium. I lightly watered. Mixed tge Rot Stop, put that on and then mixed the fox farms nitrogen fertilizer and put that on after. It has definitely been helping very well. My new growth doesn't have blossom end Rot. This is tge only thing that has helped. Egg shells, consistent watering etc that never helped.
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I battled blossom end Rot in containers for a couple yrs. I've done all the Googling. I was giving adequate water consistently. Then i read that sometimes when u get blossom end Rot it could be that you have enough calcium in that container it's just the plant is having issues absorbing it correctly. I read that adding nitrogen fertilizer could help. So got liquid nitrogen fertilizer by fox farms and Rot Stop liquid calcium. I lightly watered. Mixed tge Rot Stop, put that on and then mixed the fox farms nitrogen fertilizer and put that on after. It has definitely been helping very well. My new growth doesn't have blossom end Rot. This is tge only thing that has helped. Egg shells, consistent watering etc that never helped.
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stephaniegee227
We had to change course early as my large tomatoes just didn't do well as starts. So I put out a ton of Roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. My cherry tomatoes have wildly exceeded my expectations in both production and flavor. Two cherries were in a Greenstalk and one in a jumbo container. The Romas are a mix of in ground and container. I have worked hard this year to prune those bottom leaves & crossing stems to improve air flow in our heat/humidity. I'll never have picture perfect tomatoes, but even with a heat index at 110, we have Romas coming in with that pruning and a shade cloth.
reply
We had to change course early as my large tomatoes just didn't do well as starts. So I put out a ton of Roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. My cherry tomatoes have wildly exceeded my expectations in both production and flavor. Two cherries were in a Greenstalk and one in a jumbo container. The Romas are a mix of in ground and container. I have worked hard this year to prune those bottom leaves & crossing stems to improve air flow in our heat/humidity. I'll never have picture perfect tomatoes, but even with a heat index at 110, we have Romas coming in with that pruning and a shade cloth.
reply
hunterriley6037
So you suckered me into growing some of my own food 3 years ago and since you got chickens made me want to get them. I need a basics on Chicken raising videos like all the knowledge you know plus some. Maybe do one if those videos where you introduce other chicken farms from around the country. Could be a mini series. Also you could talk about growing plants that you can feed your chickens and make the perfect food mix for your chickens and how to feed so many chickens in the smalls square space garden. So I can start a chicken garden to feed my chickens all year long.
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So you suckered me into growing some of my own food 3 years ago and since you got chickens made me want to get them. I need a basics on Chicken raising videos like all the knowledge you know plus some. Maybe do one if those videos where you introduce other chicken farms from around the country. Could be a mini series. Also you could talk about growing plants that you can feed your chickens and make the perfect food mix for your chickens and how to feed so many chickens in the smalls square space garden. So I can start a chicken garden to feed my chickens all year long.
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diyblindguy
Great tips. You've covered all the tips that cover the US. I'm inland on the central coast of California and sunburn and large temperature swings are my nemesis in the garden. I only prune to keep the tomatoes out of the the pathways. I need all the leaves I can get to keep the sun off the tomatoes. In our micro climate the temperatures can swing from the 50s in the morning to the 100s in the afternoon. The harvest every year has been great. I encourage everyone to plant different varieties and discover the ones that work for them and their garden.
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Great tips. You've covered all the tips that cover the US. I'm inland on the central coast of California and sunburn and large temperature swings are my nemesis in the garden. I only prune to keep the tomatoes out of the the pathways. I need all the leaves I can get to keep the sun off the tomatoes. In our micro climate the temperatures can swing from the 50s in the morning to the 100s in the afternoon. The harvest every year has been great. I encourage everyone to plant different varieties and discover the ones that work for them and their garden.
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michellehenson12
The Sungolds that I grew from Botanical Interests seeds did this weird thing where they ripened from the shoulders DOWN, instead of from the blossom end UP. If picked with ANY green left at the blossom end, that area never ripened, but the shoulders overripened and became mushy. Is this normal for Sungolds First time growing them.
I will say, once I dialed in the best time to harvest them, they are sweet and delicious (in the raw state. I found that when cooking them, they disintegrated and all that was left was bitter skins.
reply
The Sungolds that I grew from Botanical Interests seeds did this weird thing where they ripened from the shoulders DOWN, instead of from the blossom end UP. If picked with ANY green left at the blossom end, that area never ripened, but the shoulders overripened and became mushy. Is this normal for Sungolds First time growing them.
I will say, once I dialed in the best time to harvest them, they are sweet and delicious (in the raw state. I found that when cooking them, they disintegrated and all that was left was bitter skins.
reply
only_folls
for a small bushing type like the yellow patio choice I feel like a conical cage is good like maybe even the only exception to the rule and by small one, one that only has two tiers and spikes to which then you might have to supplement with bamboo later if it takes off. the reason why I like those is for numerology and my C name and the dark green color of the ones in my local store. if you are bad like me and miss days you can bend the plant some into and over the tiers which is nice but listen to the pros not me.
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for a small bushing type like the yellow patio choice I feel like a conical cage is good like maybe even the only exception to the rule and by small one, one that only has two tiers and spikes to which then you might have to supplement with bamboo later if it takes off. the reason why I like those is for numerology and my C name and the dark green color of the ones in my local store. if you are bad like me and miss days you can bend the plant some into and over the tiers which is nice but listen to the pros not me.
reply
1CelloOne
Hi, I live in Northwest Florida and planted mortgage lifter tomato seeds. I have four plants that are very tall with only two producing tomatoes. The tomatoes on the two plants have grown to full size but they are still green and have been green for the last 15 days. Is it too hot for them to turn red Also, the blooms have stayed on the plants a long time, I don’t think they will be producing any additional fruit. Thank you for your knowledge and videos!
reply
Hi, I live in Northwest Florida and planted mortgage lifter tomato seeds. I have four plants that are very tall with only two producing tomatoes. The tomatoes on the two plants have grown to full size but they are still green and have been green for the last 15 days. Is it too hot for them to turn red Also, the blooms have stayed on the plants a long time, I don’t think they will be producing any additional fruit. Thank you for your knowledge and videos!
reply
kelleyforeman
It's interesting how different varieties perform differently in different climates and soils! I suggest trying lots of varieties to start and learning which you like best. Of course, you'll want to grow different varieties every year because it's so much fun! I'm in the Midwest and my favorite indeterminate varieties are Purple Calabash, Green Zebra, Cosmonaut Volkov, Pineapple and any of the Brandywine variants. Happy tomato growing!
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It's interesting how different varieties perform differently in different climates and soils! I suggest trying lots of varieties to start and learning which you like best. Of course, you'll want to grow different varieties every year because it's so much fun! I'm in the Midwest and my favorite indeterminate varieties are Purple Calabash, Green Zebra, Cosmonaut Volkov, Pineapple and any of the Brandywine variants. Happy tomato growing!
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justtus
An experiment where you grow a tomato on the ground like a squash or a pumpkin would be cool, since in the wild they would grow horizontally along the ground in a bush style, maybe it's easier for the plant to transport nutrients and water compared to being vertical.
Perhaps burying the vines like you would a pumpkin might also boost yields since tomatos root on the entire stem so easily it seems obvious.
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An experiment where you grow a tomato on the ground like a squash or a pumpkin would be cool, since in the wild they would grow horizontally along the ground in a bush style, maybe it's easier for the plant to transport nutrients and water compared to being vertical.
Perhaps burying the vines like you would a pumpkin might also boost yields since tomatos root on the entire stem so easily it seems obvious.
reply
geotubedude
Please purchase a proper post pounder for Jacque. The sed geo hammer is a versatile tool for sure, but setting T-posts is not a first- or second-tier application for this every-day-carry. I've used mine in many unconventional ways, but couldn't sink a T-post in my dense clay soil if I had all day!
Thanks for the concise tomato guide and the non-eponymous title. Good move. Cheers!
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Please purchase a proper post pounder for Jacque. The sed geo hammer is a versatile tool for sure, but setting T-posts is not a first- or second-tier application for this every-day-carry. I've used mine in many unconventional ways, but couldn't sink a T-post in my dense clay soil if I had all day!
Thanks for the concise tomato guide and the non-eponymous title. Good move. Cheers!
reply
procaliadventures
I have so so many tomatoes, at least half of my varieties are from botanical interest, it’s a thing of beauty, but now what do i do with all the tomatoes And they are 100% organic, at least 200 tomato plants in full force, hundreds of pounds of tomatoes ready for harvest now i need some helping hands to share the bounty.
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I have so so many tomatoes, at least half of my varieties are from botanical interest, it’s a thing of beauty, but now what do i do with all the tomatoes And they are 100% organic, at least 200 tomato plants in full force, hundreds of pounds of tomatoes ready for harvest now i need some helping hands to share the bounty.
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epic_gardening
I'll note some indeterminate varieties perform better in a weave vs a single leader method. San Marzanos don't seem to be as vigorous in vertical growth for example and would do well with a weave. Amish paste on the other hand does swimmingly with single leader and would probably overwhelm a weave method if unpruned
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I'll note some indeterminate varieties perform better in a weave vs a single leader method. San Marzanos don't seem to be as vigorous in vertical growth for example and would do well with a weave. Amish paste on the other hand does swimmingly with single leader and would probably overwhelm a weave method if unpruned
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epic_gardening
I am doing everything you said and so far NOTHING! I was told that the blossoms drop because it is too hot 92-95 degrees. So I am just trying to keep them alive for TWO MORE MONTHS when the temperature goes down. All this seems a waste of time and money when I can buy beautiful tomatoes for $1. 28 /lb.
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I am doing everything you said and so far NOTHING! I was told that the blossoms drop because it is too hot 92-95 degrees. So I am just trying to keep them alive for TWO MORE MONTHS when the temperature goes down. All this seems a waste of time and money when I can buy beautiful tomatoes for $1. 28 /lb.
reply
addisonblu5191
Kevin, between you and the Garden Hermit, I've learned everything I need to grow tomatoes. I feel so confident about the process now. I have 14 healthy tomato plants this year! You don't know what that means to me. I couldn't keep one alive until last year. Thank you from a Serial Plant Killer.
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Kevin, between you and the Garden Hermit, I've learned everything I need to grow tomatoes. I feel so confident about the process now. I have 14 healthy tomato plants this year! You don't know what that means to me. I couldn't keep one alive until last year. Thank you from a Serial Plant Killer.
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kinexkid
I was very pleasantly surprised to see you in Ethan's video he just uploaded on tomatoes! I always felt like you two both break down ideas in the same easy to digest way for people who are new to the subject, but also provide a lot of nuanced details for those of us who are already in the know.
reply
I was very pleasantly surprised to see you in Ethan's video he just uploaded on tomatoes! I always felt like you two both break down ideas in the same easy to digest way for people who are new to the subject, but also provide a lot of nuanced details for those of us who are already in the know.
reply
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