Tomatoes -2010 - discussed on CNBC

cc: I am planning on having a tomato-tasting-party. I planted 6 seedlings of different varieties from our tomato-lovin' friend. 4 survive, and I have one from my daughter's nursery school.

I planted WAY too many tomatoes -- about 30 plants, 25 different varieties -- so I know some have been dropping their blossoms, but many are doing just fine. Overall, no clue.

My big issue this year is that I hardly used any plant food -- it seems evil, or "cheating" as one fellow gardener put it. Unfortunately, though, neither my balcony nor my community garden plot lends itself to making good compost and being all organic and stuff. So plants are much smaller than previous years, and generally unhappy.

On the upside, I can see my beautiful river view while sitting on my balcony bench this year ... last year it was completely obstructed by a wall of green.

ccc, you're quite welcome. Who's Marc H?

marc haines (sp) commentator on cnbc - said bc of the weather his tomatoes weren't setting. I'm growing the east hampton this year so luckily the temps have been under 90 so we have lots of tomatoes but I'm getting diseased form over watering - my dad won't turn his sprinkler down. Alan try Great Big tomatoes compost or some fish liquid food - it's really good. What's wrong with plant food?

10023 - fun tomato tasting party - what will accompany those tomatoes? fresh blood mary's or wine? Alan I'm only growing a few varieties bc I just used whatever was in the apt to do the seedlings. Doing the marglobe, enchantments, beefy boy, san marzano redorta, one tomatoberry, one striped german, one other big heirloom - I didn't plant these till late June though so no tomatoes yet. I also had a wall of plants last year of all greenery but alas no balcony.

You city folks grow tommies? Multi-talented, you are.

I like 'em: in a salad, on a sammy, with a nice moozie and glass of red wine.

nyc10023: Hope I get invited to your party. I'm brushing up on the toddler-talk, in prep.

I grew them last year in earthboxes on my balcony. I moved the boxes out east this summer and they are better than in the ground. It's easy if you have the space and the sun

Maybe easy for you, cccharley. I don't even have any house-plants.

I get my tommies at the Union Square Greenmarket. Then, I gotta be careful while slicing them.

Tried Tomatillos this year. They are 5' tall and almost 6' wide (yes, dominating my terrace), but dropping blooms like nuts and bearing no fruit. My gal at the UnSq Farmer's Market tells me that 4 hours over 104 degrees can cause mass bloom dropping, same with a string of nights over 75 degrees. So, the hot weather is nor helping. Oddly, my tomatoes are doing just fine.

nyfineman, are you sure they're not bearing fruit? They (no offense if you already know this!) produce their little empty paper balloons first, and then the fruit grows inside the "paper" until it fills it and breaks it open. But the blossom-dropping thing is likely too.

Also, as I recall, they're generally late. You'll have way more than you want soon enough, I think.

alanhart- I hope they produce big time. Never can have enough green salsa! I have a bunch of the empty baloons, but also some that have dropped. We'll see. Hope you are right!

I've no fruit yet except on a yellow pear. I started with a very reasonable 3 plants: one little, one mid, one big, but then I got greedy and took 6 plants from Alan Hart. (Hubby: You're going where? To collect something from some guy you met on the Internet???) 2 plants I regifted, 2 are on my south-facing terrace and 5 plants are in the Hudson Valley, where Late Blight has been spotted again this year. I've got my fingers crossed and hope the yellow leaves on one beefsteak are from lack of consistent water (Hubby won't let me leave the pump on during the week, so I can only water on the weekend.) Some are lush and some haven't even set blossoms. Haven't seen any blossoms fall. Yes, Alan, fish emulsion is very good! But stay away from general fertilizers with too much nitrogen - that's what causes all foliage and no fruit.

cccharley- How is the growing out there is EH? I have a place out there, but only make it out there a couple of days a week. Between the deer and especially moles, I have had no luck. I'd also have to pay someone to water them. I can see how you might have some over-watering issues. Been a strange year out there. Swamp Road has actually been swampy for a change and plenty of flash flooding which can overdo it.

Alan- I hear ya on going overboard. I bought a seed packet of assorted hot peppers in the spring and of course all 24 seeds I planted took! So, let's just say Home Depot got plenty of business from me this year, and I have Hot Portugals coming out of my ears!

I'd definitely have NO tomatoes without a fence. I have a raised bed and metal mesh extending 4" down below that. As for watering, if you water very well once a week and deeply mulch (six inches of organic material) the tomatoes hold their own. The only problem is if it rains a lot in September, they crack.

You can buy a little ~$15 programmable watering timer, hooked to a soaker hose (Home Depot or Lowes) or hooked to a cheap DIY drip-irrigation system ( http://www.dripworksusa.com/ ) , that will solve half of your problems. By you, I mean YOU, not me ... no water source on balcony, and community-garden hose bibs are shared, so out of luck on both counts.

No advice regarding varmints.

I'm getting cracking because I've been negligent about watering during these freakish dry heatwaves, then I overwater.

NYF - so far the season is great. If you use earthboxes in the beginning you only have to fill them once a week. If you aren't out there you can also invest in an automatic watering system they have for the boxes and then you never have to fill them by hand. Weather has been perfect for tomatoes. Our cucumbers are starting to go crazy too. We have a fence around the backyard so don't have any animal problems - we do have chipmunks this year so they may grab a few or eat the ones that drop. I think they're cute.. No mole problem this year. Maybe my dad did something to get rid of them. A few years ago he was filling holes with spearmint chewing gum. It was so funny - like caddyshack.. They were relentless

5 plants, 2 from seedlings and 3 from plants. So far only 2 fruits, but plenty of blossoms. My friend in Brooklyn has hundreds of fruits already on his 5 or 6 plants. Very jealous.

Put 12 seeds in back in FEBRUARY. All came up, all but one full of fruit. I've never tried it before but now I'm the truest believer in winter sawing. Anyone else tried this?

when did your friend plant out? I didn't plant out till memorial day. Got my first 2 ripe enchantments last week.

Alan - you winter sow right?

What is that?

Am I the only person (and no I don't expect to hear from straight men on this) who thinks Marc Haines is Hot? I mean he's no Mike Francesca but watching Marc has on occasion kept me on CNBC when my fingers on were itching for ESPN on the remote. Wish I can say it did me some good.

Liz: contrary to most opinions here on SE, I am a straight-ish woman and Marc Haines is not hot. Mark Ruffalo, HOT.

Marks - Ruffalo v. hot, Haines not even lukewarm.

Truth — it's exactly what it's called. You saw in winter, best before the last frost. I don't know why it works but it does.

One woman's hot is another's not.

Probably something to do with evolution.

Marc is witty though Can't imagine cnbc without him

Wait a minute - you sow in winter in pots outdoors, or indoors?

Outdoors. In pots. In winter. Yep.

Yes, I wintersow (outdoors) in little mini-greenhouses made from yogurt containers, then transplant. I'd never try to start seeds indoors again, for anything but those few hot-weather loving plants that really can barely get started until it's too late (eggplant, rosemary) ... but indoor-started seeds love life less.

messy but informative website (plus free heirloom tomato seeds w/SASE): http://wintersown.org/

cccharley - as for tomatoes dropping blooms and not setting flowers:

Blossom Drop

This condition is usually caused by low night temperatures...

[Which I think we can exclude as a cause in one of the hottest Julys on record, so:]

Other possible causes for blossom drop are magnesium deficiency and fungal infection. Epsom salt is a good source of magnesium. Dilute a tablespoon of Epsom salt in a gallon of water, and spray the plants as needed.

http://www.gardenguides.com/426-tomato-problems.html

I have relatives who swear by Epsom salts for helping flowers to set fruits. I thought they were nuts but looked it up on the web and there seem to be a lot of people who believe in this.

I planted my money tree seeds last year, and there were lots of green shoots followed by a nice little sapling and a few blossoms, but still no money-fruit? What gives, Alan??? How am I going to be able to buy tomatoes this year?

I know about blossom drop -I'm not having it this year. We have tons of green babies on the vine but I'm not growing in the city this year. That 10 degree difference on LI makes a big difference. btw I used epsom salts last year. May add a little this year. Alan feed your poor babies and don't be a tomato martyr

cccharley, I did, but a bit late in the game.

inonada, the problem is you're not using enough money-tree seeds -- you'll never keep up with your fellow farmers. A good agricultural collective like Countrywide can lend you 33 times the number of money-tree seeds you already have, leaving you extra money for the big-screen teevee and maybe a boat, and then you'll have such a good stand of money trees that you can pay Countrywide back, borrow 33 times what you THEN have, and wind up with a forest of money trees.

Money trees are much better when grown from young but already established plants.

wow with this season I can't believe I didn't plant a money tree either. I would have oodles of pennies by now. I'm always too late to the game

I planted those upside down tomatoes and my life has not ben the same since.

Everything is just so....................upside down.
Scuffed up the ceiling in the livingroom...
Lost all my change from my pockets...
my bifocals arent working...

The bathroom is a nightmare!
the good news....
I'm fu*king up much less!

Oh, you people are making me want to eat more tomatoes -- I don't care how you sow 'em.

I just bought some orange cherry tomatoes at the eeco farm - they are outrageous. Lots of early blight on my plants but some are starting to load up - 2-3 weeks till harvest

bruschetta party? i'll chop the garlic. and hand-shred the basil.

hey there - call me. Yes Bruschetta sounds great - rainbow colored

still upstate. call tomorrow?

let's do a bruschetta party, would be grand. love rainbows.

cccharley, those might be 'blondkopfchen' ... I have seeds if you want to try them next year.

I'll try them next year however I went to a nursery near my parent's house that had every heirloom under the sun so I'm thinking I may not do seedlings and take the easy way out next year. I planted a striped german which is rainbow colored but I don't think it will fruit till October at this rate - didn't plant till the end of June.

well I guess SE doesn't want these discussions. Where shall we go? Gardenweb? They are vicious over there