Help me grow some TOMATOES please!

[ZEROPILOT]

Once again a tortoise has grown a perfectly healthy, grape tomato producing tomato plant in his enclosure. I assume as an insult to my gardening talents.
I can not keep this tomato plant in that enclosure out of fear for the poisonous leaves. So.
I've removed the plant. And placed the root section into a pot of water in indirect sunlight.
So far so good.
But I've been here before. And every other attempt forward fails.
How much sun?
How much water?
What am I doing wrong?
Logic says to place the potted plant back in the same location that it was growing in previously.
My new pot is a large, 8 gallon. I have about 3" of pebbles in the bottom for drainage and I have another probably 13 or 14 inches of potting soil in the pot.
What do I need to do to keep it from dying like all of the others have?

 

[jeff kushner]

I worked on a farm 11, 12 and 13 yrs old during the summers. 10hrs a day/7 a week @.50 an hr

The plants look strong, just no buds or flowers yet.


You will likely need "surrounds" to keep out rabbits, deer and whatever you have down there.
The biggest issue should be your wildlife, the maater's should be fine, just don't let them dry out God should do you about right down there for rain and full sun AWAY from fences & decks, where they are in the airstream and they will be fine.

What's potting soil? LOL If it were me, I'd find a spot w/topsoil several inches deep, plant them. I know you have space, do you have a safe place where the little guys won't get to them? Tomatoes grow in dirt, hoed for weeds, with a little 10-10-10 tossed around them and dusted once for tomato bugs. That's all we did and we had bumper crops of Jetstar, the very year they first came out! LOL

A deck or close to a fence environment is VERY hot, even up here in MD. Kerry did what you are doing and she got 4-5 2" tomatoes off the plant, others never ripened. The potting soil may be too porous, I don't know though, I've never used it.

Others will have great ideas too.....I listened to the Farmers at the Pulaski Fruit/vegtable market....there a tons of ways to get things to grow seemed to be what I got out of it!

Good luck Ed!

 

[Tim Carlisle]

I grow mine in a greenhouse, so the conditions are probably better than if you try growing it in your house. Mine get 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. I water them just enough to get the soil good and damp, let it dry out, water again, rinse and repeat. I give them 1/2 turn about every few days so that the sunlight gets evenly distributed. I experimented using plain old tortoise poo for fertilizer. They did "ok", but nothing fantastic. I only use 20/20/20 fertilizer spikes now. They seem to do best with that. Temp control is also important. I try to keep them right between 68F and 75F, so I have to sit them on the floor of the greenhouse. For stakes, I just use sticks from the yard. An 8 gallon pot should be plenty big enough. I use 5 gallon pots and they do well in those. Wish I had pics of last years' crop to show you. Some of my tomatoes were softball-sized. I haven't started any this year yet.

 

[Cathie G]

Once again a tortoise has grown a perfectly healthy, grape tomato producing tomato plant in his enclosure. I assume as an insult to my gardening talents.
I can not keep this tomato plant in that enclosure out of fear for the poisonous leaves. So.
I've removed the plant. And placed the root section into a pot of water in indirect sunlight.
So far so good.
But I've been here before. And every other attempt forward fails.
How much sun?
How much water?
What am I doing wrong?
Logic says to place the potted plant back in the same location that it was growing in previously.
My new pot is a large, 8 gallon. I have about 3" of pebbles in the bottom for drainage and I have another probably 13 or 14 inches of potting soil in the pot.
What do I need to do to keep it from dying like all of the others have?

I would just plant it in the new planter. I once planted what was labeled a beefsteak from Lowe's. As it turns out it was a grape tomato plant. Every since, in that same spot I can't grow any tomato plant because they wind up being little tomatoes. It doesn't matter what type I plant the tomatoes are deformed into little tomatoes. Tomatoes are weird plants. I wouldn't suggest a grape tomato plant ever unless it's planted in a flower pot to begin with.

 

[SinLA]

I always felt tomato plants were a great way to spend a ton of time to save a few pennies for a mass amount of food that no one can possibly eat anyway

 

[Cathie G]

I always felt tomato plants were a great way to spend a ton of time to save a few pennies for a mass amount of food that no one can possibly eat anyway

Unless you have big ones and know how to can. And then there's fried green tomatoes.yum.

 

[Tim Carlisle]

Unless you have big ones and know how to can. And then there's fried green tomatoes.yum.

You and my wife would get along supremely. She LOVES fried green 'maters.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I worked on a farm 11, 12 and 13 yrs old during the summers. 10hrs a day/7 a week @.50 an hr

The plants look strong, just no buds or flowers yet.


You will likely need "surrounds" to keep out rabbits, deer and whatever you have down there.
The biggest issue should be your wildlife, the maater's should be fine, just don't let them dry out God should do you about right down there for rain and full sun AWAY from fences & decks, where they are in the airstream and they will be fine.

What's potting soil? LOL If it were me, I'd find a spot w/topsoil several inches deep, plant them. I know you have space, do you have a safe place where the little guys won't get to them? Tomatoes grow in dirt, hoed for weeds, with a little 10-10-10 tossed around them and dusted once for tomato bugs. That's all we did and we had bumper crops of Jetstar, the very year they first came out! LOL

A deck or close to a fence environment is VERY hot, even up here in MD. Kerry did what you are doing and she got 4-5 2" tomatoes off the plant, others never ripened. The potting soil may be too porous, I don't know though, I've never used it.

Others will have great ideas too.....I listened to the Farmers at the Pulaski Fruit/vegtable market....there a tons of ways to get things to grow seemed to be what I got out of it!

Good luck Ed!

There are flowers and grapes on it.
Probably 30 flowers and 4 or 5 small, green tomatoes.
I know they're grape tomatoes of some sort. Because they're all I ever toss into the pens.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I worked on a farm 11, 12 and 13 yrs old during the summers. 10hrs a day/7 a week @.50 an hr

The plants look strong, just no buds or flowers yet.


You will likely need "surrounds" to keep out rabbits, deer and whatever you have down there.
The biggest issue should be your wildlife, the maater's should be fine, just don't let them dry out God should do you about right down there for rain and full sun AWAY from fences & decks, where they are in the airstream and they will be fine.

What's potting soil? LOL If it were me, I'd find a spot w/topsoil several inches deep, plant them. I know you have space, do you have a safe place where the little guys won't get to them? Tomatoes grow in dirt, hoed for weeds, with a little 10-10-10 tossed around them and dusted once for tomato bugs. That's all we did and we had bumper crops of Jetstar, the very year they first came out! LOL

A deck or close to a fence environment is VERY hot, even up here in MD. Kerry did what you are doing and she got 4-5 2" tomatoes off the plant, others never ripened. The potting soil may be too porous, I don't know though, I've never used it.

Others will have great ideas too.....I listened to the Farmers at the Pulaski Fruit/vegtable market....there a tons of ways to get things to grow seemed to be what I got out of it!

Good luck Ed!

The ground here in Florida is sandy. Rocky with lots of Coral. The grass grows in the top inch or two. This isn't great dirt. It's fill. From when this area was a swamp.

 

[Cathie G]

You and my wife would get along supremely. She LOVES fried green 'maters.

What's cool is they can also be canned or tray frozen 😊 and put in freezer bags.

 

[Cathie G]

The ground here in Florida is sandy. Rocky with lots of Coral. The grass grows in the top inch or two. This isn't great dirt. It's fill. From when this area was a swamp.

Stick it in a big flower pot with rich soil and enjoy them on your salads etc.for a good long time. Or as a snack 😋

 

[wellington]

In Chicago we just plant in potting soil, water regularly about every other day and we get tomatoes. We do better with the cherry tomatoes than any of the bigger ones, but we don't really put a lot of effort into them.
Ours are in full sun from late morning to about 5 p.m.

 

[Cathie G]

And oh yea volunteers are probably the healthiest. One year about 30 years ago I had a bunch of those so I didn't even plant any tomato plants that year. As it turned out there was a drought that year. My volunteers did fine but most people's tomatoes didn't.

 

[Blackdog1714]

I have quit trying to do Tomatoes. between weather/water/fertilizer/pollination and FN squirrels no MORE!

 

[COmtnLady]

If the plant showed up inside, you have to "harden it off" to put it outside. That means only put it outside, in a shady area, no direct sun yet, for twenty minutes the first day or two, then the next day or two for thirty, then a bit longer the next day or two after that. Plants can get sunburned just like people do, so need to be eased into being outside. Once they've had a chance to toughen up, then they LOVE full sun.

Water every other day (unless it rained pretty well and they already have their water). Or if its really hot and dry, once a day. Tomatoes like water. Don't put it into any container that doesn't drain though. The roots will rot if they can't get away from too much water. About a cubic foot of soil is best.

If you eat bananas, press/lay the peels on top of the soil around the plant but not touching the stem. They like something from the peels and will be happy.

They originated in the Brazil area a bazillion years ago, so won't make fruit (only leaves) if it gets below 55F at night.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

If the plant showed up inside, you have to "harden it off" to put it outside. That means only put it outside, in a shady area, no direct sun yet, for twenty minutes the first day or two, then the next day or two for thirty, then a bit longer the next day or two after that. Plants can get sunburned just like people do, so need to be eased into being outside. Once they've had a chance to toughen up, then they LOVE full sun.

Water every other day (unless it rained pretty well and they already have their water). Or if its really hot and dry, once a day. Tomatoes like water. Don't put it into any container that doesn't drain though. The roots will rot if they can't get away from too much water. About a cubic foot of soil is best.

If you eat bananas, press/lay the peels on top of the soil around the plant but not touching the stem. They like something from the peels and will be happy.

They originated in the Brazil area a bazillion years ago, so won't make fruit (only leaves) if it gets below 55F at night.

My enclosures are all outdoors. And this plant was in a shady area where there is often standing water.

 

[COmtnLady]

Great. Hardening off is tedious. You lucked out! Yay!

Volunteers are so much hardier, bet you have a bunch of 'matoes before you know it.

 

[jeff kushner]

OKay Z, these fine folks have taken away all your excuses......lol.....if you can't grow them now, it's you buddy, it's you!

teasing of course.....good luck!

 

[yagnyang]

Living in Utah, I've observed that the last frost tends to occur in May and June, creating the perfect environment for cultivating delicious tomatoes. Moreover, indeterminate tomato varieties require support. Use stakes, cages, or trellises to keep the plants upright and promote better air circulation.

 

[yagnyang]

Plant these crops between April 15 and June 15 to avoid frost or extreme heat. April is best time for indoor planting; May and June are ideal for outdoor gardening.