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Garden Gate:  Tomatoes Still Have Not Set On!!  |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 14 2005 : 10:12:33 PM
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I keep checking my tomato plants for any sign of fruit...plenty of blossoms and no fruit yet! They seem nice and healthy in my veggie garden. My sweet corn is tasseled nicely, the beans have set on, but no tomatoes! Should I give them an extra shot of composted cow manure or something else? I am dying for some tomatoes!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jul 14 2005 : 10:24:28 PM
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Where are the bees? They usually help with pollinating the flowers! Mine are starting to set on fruit right now... the Early Girls especially, two others are slower and just now blooming. Are you watering them deeply? Maybe someone else will know some tricks.
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2005 : 10:57:29 AM
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In the years when the bee population is suffering as it is this year you might need to resort to a tomatoe set spray. I have been told that our honey bee population in the USA as a whole was cut in half by a virus this past winter. We lost one hive and very nearly the other two. We are now also encouraging the orchard mason bee to take up residence here by putting out a lot of special boards drilled especially to encourage them to lay their eggs here for us.
I am also told that tomatoes need a cubic yard of root space per plant and plenty of deep watering. Mine come on but have a hard time ripening as we have had so few sunny days this year so far. Even my friend with the huge green houses full of beautiful heirloom tomatoe plants has lots of tomatoes but they are not ripening.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2005 : 11:07:43 AM
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Hi Jenny -- if you've got flowers you'll eventually end up with tomatoes. Here in the Pacific Northwest we're used to not having tomatoes until August. I rescued an Early Girl tomato plant from the store yesterday for .99. It has a few blooms and I know it's late too plant but I'm going to anyway.
I always plant my tomato plants deep because they will root from wherever the stem is below the dirt. It makes for a stronger support systems for the plant. I read an article that said if you want early tomatoes to buy the biggest plant (1 gallon) that you can get, with lots of blossoms, and some fruit setting. I'm sure lots of you start yours from seed but that's way too many tomatoes for our family of three so I buy my plants.
Kay - Living in Beautiful Washington State
North Clark County Farmgirls and
Sisterhood of the Traveling Art |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
Posted - Jul 21 2005 : 09:39:19 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by therusticcottage
<Snipped for focus>
I always plant my tomato plants deep because they will root from wherever the stem is below the dirt. It makes for a stronger support systems for the plant.
<Ditto>
Several years ago, a friend told me about setting tomato plants down horizontally in the soil and, if necessary, securing them with giant bent-wire "pins." It's tricky to do this without snapping the plants off near the base, so be careful! Plants will shoot up all along the main (buried) stem. I've used this method often since then, and every time, I get many vigorous plants for the price of each single "starter" plant. I nip a few of them as they appear so they don't crowd each other out and get into tomato wars over available soil nutrients. Surprisingly, all these secondary plants don't seem to deplete the parent plant; all are equally (and abundantly) productive.
I started doing raised beds for my tomatoes, with the intention of switching off every year with the beans and basil because you don't want tomatoes growing in the same spot year after year. Frankly, I forget why. Can anyone enlighten me?
Also, I started using soaker hoses in the raised beds because we're having a dry summer. (Last year, everything rotted in the ground from too much rain -- argggh!) Almost all my different kinds of tomatoes are splitting before they get ripe enough to pick and eat. Never had that trouble before. I understand this has something to do with the timing of rain, so I'm thinking my soaker hoses might be causing trouble. Any advice from tomato mavens? (I'm in rural northern Virginia, BTW.)
Rosemary
Kay - Living in Beautiful Washington State
North Clark County Farmgirls and
Sisterhood of the Traveling Art
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DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Jul 21 2005 : 10:28:20 AM
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I'm in the Pacific NW as well and it's imperative that we rotate tomatoes year after year because of blight caused by our humidity. I can't grow tomatoes outside at all, so now I have two greenhouses and switch between tomatoes and peppers/eggplant each year. One variety that does seem somewhat blight resistant is T&T Seeds "Big Beef".
One main cause of cracking tomatoes is letting the plants dry out too much and then watering. Soaker hoses are great as long as they don't get the plants wet...again, this will cause blight. Try and keep the ground evenly moist. I water thoroughly and very deeply every 3 days or so.
One thing that really helped with the tomato watering chore this year is I cut plastic pails into 6" rings and sunk them about 2" into the ground around each plant when I transplanted. This works like a charm to concentrate the water down to the roots instead of running all over the place!
Diane - on sunny Vanc. Island
Live a good and honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time. |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - Jul 21 2005 : 10:54:11 AM
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I have two tomatoes on my plant!! They are still small and green but at least they are there!!!
Kay - Living in Beautiful Washington State |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jul 21 2005 : 11:04:38 AM
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I have a gazillion yellow blossoms! Sure can't make a BLT out of those!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
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FarrarFarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
330 Posts
Lynda
Frohna
Missouri
USA
330 Posts |
Posted - Jul 22 2005 : 07:54:59 AM
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I have a question about tomatoes, too. I have lots of tomatoes on the vine, however, they are not turning red. We planted them around the end of May, first part of June. And we bought the bigger plants and put them deep into the ground. They are still good healthy plants and have quite a few green tomatoes, but they have been on there for about 3 weeks without turning red. Is this the normal length of time it takes for tomatoes to turn?
It's been a while since I've grown tomatoes, so I don't really remember the time frame. I was beginning to think maybe I haven't done something I'm suppose to in order to help them along. I've heard a few other people say the same thing about thier tomatoes, so I was wondering if anyone here had any suggestions or could lend their expert advise. Thanks so much for your every-ready help.
God bless you this day in abundant measure.
IN His hands,
Lynda |
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Fulminous
Farmgirl in Training
40 Posts
Deb
Maine
40 Posts |
Posted - Jul 22 2005 : 08:18:51 AM
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| Try cross-pollinating with a q-tip, it has worked quite well in the past. |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 10:36:43 AM
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Girls!!! I finally have some tomatoes setting on! I have about 25 plants in the ground so that should give me plenty of tomatoes for my needs...Blanching and freezing, making my own marinara sauce and freezing! YUM!!!! And plenty of "kitchen sink" tomato sandwhiches where the juice dribbles down your chin! I sprinkle a little sugar on my tomatoes, learned this from my Grandpa George when I was little.. I also have some sugar baby watermelons set on and some cantelope! But no pumpkins
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
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Fulminous
Farmgirl in Training
40 Posts
Deb
Maine
40 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 06:05:05 AM
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| I LOVE sugar sprinkled on my tomatoes! I guess I find more people who prefer salt. I learned from my Grammie to do this, it was one of my favorite things to do at her house, we would go out to the garden with a sharp knife and the sugar bowl. I would always return with a large handful of zinnias selected by Grammie to make a boquet for my Mom. |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 08:55:01 AM
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Because my tomatoes are in my little greenhouse, I gently shake the plants every time I water. This is supposed to help pollinate them, I "read it somewhere", and I have gobs of ripening tomatos. I grow them in 8 to 10 gallon pots in a greenhouse because our summers are cooler and damper than tomatos like to be. Ever since I've started growing in a greenhouse I've had great crops of tomatos. This year I've also got several pots of basil in the greenhouse. Yum!
Nancy |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 11:55:14 AM
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My brandywine have not set yet but are finally blooming. Hope the sunny weather keeps up a while here. Next year I am using a make shift green house for them so I can have fresh tomatoes too, sooner than this at any rate.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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Whimsy_girl
True Blue Farmgirl
576 Posts
USA
576 Posts |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 2:43:24 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by therusticcottage
I have two tomatoes on my plant!! They are still small and green but at least they are there!!!
Kay - Living in Beautiful Washington State
Thats funny!! We are both in Washington and both only have 2 little tomatos!
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. James Stewart in the movie HARVEY |
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Garden Gate: Tomatoes Still Have Not Set On!! |
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Tomatoes Still Have Not Set On!!
