True. Yet the plants in question reflect rather than absorb the green subspectrum. The 6500K black-body radiation model most closely matches (least residue measure) sunlight utilized by these plants.
I would agree, it reflects green (else leaves would be another color, we are seeing the reflection), and red is more for flowering and not needed for vegetative growth. Often plants reflect red too, red leaved plants of course.
This is a common sales pitch to sell extra bulbs to indoor pot growers.
i have also seen red plastic to put under tomatoes to improve productivity
any comments on this?
i would wonder if a red lightbulb put in a growbox for flowering
or a green lightbulb put in a growbox for vegetative growth would help them grow better
i am of course talking about red and green tinted bulbs and not spectrum
This is one of the misconceptions I cautioned about above. It turns out that about 70% of the green spectrum can be used by photopigments in the photosynthesis process. Plants need green and yellow spectrum as well as red and blue. Yes, I know all of the older research says red and blue. Do some digging.
I think of it as continuous distribution in the electromagnetic spectrum – not singular blue and red bands. A common misunderstanding by amatuer growers (not you) is the utilization of red is primarily heat and outside human visual perception.
Is it too late for sowing seeds? I am going to build a small raised bed and anticipate growing maybe 6-8 tomato plants. I’d like to try some of the varieties you all are talking about. Here locally all I find are your common beafsteak and rutgers varieties. Where is a good place to purchase tomato seeds where I don’t have to buy them in bulk?
I don’t plan to process anything. I just want great sandwich slicers and good cherry tomatoes. What are your suggestions for mid-atlantic, raised bed, disease resistent? I don’t really care what color or how cool they look, I just want plants that grow well and taste great.
I’m so impatient sometimes. After cruising some seed sites on the web I came across seedsnow.com. They offered $0.99 sample packs and dfree shipping so I ordered the following. Many of these are varieties I’ve seen talked about here. We will see how it goes.
I have no idea what’s the right time to sow seeds in your climate, for me sowing is usually 2-3 months before tomato seedlings will be planted in the ground.
Last year, I ordered seeds from www.sampleseeds.com and www.rareseeds.com. This year, I used some remaining seeds from the last year and ordered new ones from tatianastomatobase.com.
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Going to try and get this thread back on topic. Very impressed with the knowledge of some of the members here on lighting though.
I have just sown seeds of the toms I will be growing this year. The list is very short because this year my garden is much smaller and my orchard is much bigger. I will see how it works out before I make a decision to till up more yard. I have 11 varieties but will plant 20 plants.
Cherokee Purple
Livingston’s Beauty
Purple Brandy
Malakhitovaya Shkatulka
Omar’s Lebanese
Super Choice
Targinnie
Black Pear
Cosmonaut Volkov
Sungold
Indian River
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Of those, Cherokee Purple and Omar’s Lebanese are arguably the best of the bunch. Malakhitovaya Shkatulka is a good tomato as is Livingston’s Beauty. Sungold is in a class of it’s own though I grow HIbor which is an open pollinated tomato that does not have the Solanum Habrochaites smell. I won’t grow Black Pear.
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Solanum habrochaites, a Potential Source of Resistance Against Bactericera cockerelli: https://academic.oup.com/jee/article-abstract/107/3/1187/826163
You know it’s never too late to add tomatoes. I’m not growing a lot this year either.
I now have most of my favorites so in future years the new plants will be 2-4 new ones, with about 14 I like to grow.
I grew Sungold one year and wasn’t too impressed. But I hear so many nice things about it. I think I’m gonna give it another try this year.
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Most of these I have grown before, the new ones for me are
Livingston’s Beauty
Malakhitovaya Shkatulka
Targinnie
Super Choice
I liked Black Pears taste but I’m growing it for it’s abundance of fruit because I am going to can them whole. Omars and Sungold get grown here every year. I have around 50 varieties of cherry toms in my collection and a few good ones including Snow White, Black Cherry, Green Grape, Helsing Junction Blues just to name a few but sungold gets grown here every year because they are like candy. This is going to be the first year that I have not grown at least 30 varieties. I like apples more than tomatoes so i’m good with fewer toms.
Darrel, up for a trade?
what are you interested in?
Heirlooms only. beefsteaks mostly but slicers and canners are good.
I haven’t planted mine yet, but that is by design. I usually plant them in peat pods, then to drinking cups, then to the garden. This year to save time and work, I’m planting them in the pods in a couple weeks, and then direct sowing them in May.
We haven’t even turned our garden plots yet, it’s still too wet to get the tractor out. It;s not supposed to be too rainy next week, so maybe then.
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From reading some of the favorites on this forum,Black From Tula,Pink Berkeley Tie Dye,Kellogg’s Breakfast and Sun Gold,which I grew before and a free packet,Dagma’s Perfection. Brady
Quick question. My seedlings are doing great. I can see the beginning of their true leaves. Most have at least 2 seedlings but in some cases 3 per container. When is the best time to thin these down to one plant per container? I assume the quicker I get rid of competition the better the remaining seedlings will grow?