What tomatoes will you grow in 2018?

Hello,I think the best time to thin your tomatows down is when they 've got their first true leaves.

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I sometimes use both, but yeah the sooner the better. they should just pull out.
I did keep some with my peppers, and now I have all these peppers. I figure some might not make it. I will give away some. I usually transfer early, but that’s me.

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I never pull excess seedlings out. I just use a pair of scissors to trim them level with the potting mix. Less chance of damaging the other seedling’s roots.

edit: This year I’m using 4" root pruning pots with my tomato starts. I’m letting the seedlings get to 2nd or 3rd leaf before I pick the winner. If I was in smaller cells I wouldn’t have waited as long.

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Yeah that’s safe, they pull out easy though. I like the idea of bigger pots, but don’t have the room. My figs got kicked outside for my peppers, and they will go in the cold frame when I up pot the tomatoes.

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My seedling have grown well but I have a question. It’s beautiful weather here and Ive introduced them to draped sunlight and the out wide warmth. However, Ive noticeded that the undersides of the leaves are purple. I’ve read this could mean a few different t things. Including needing fert. Needing phosphorous, or growing in too cold could Conditions. I bottom watered with fox farms soluble fert at seedling strength a few days ago.


It can be cold or other stress. Mine are always like that. I don’t baby them much. probably should.
Like right now it’s 36F outside and my peppers are out there in the cold frame. No sun so it’s cold in the cold frame. I want them stressed because the next few days are cold, and I can’t give them much light. A little stunted will put them in a holding pattern. All indoor lights and windows are taken. When i bring them in they will be in the dark. They were only out 5 hours today, so not much sun hit them. It was 100% overcast the whole time. Tomorrow looks the same, high 38.

Mine are this year and I think it has to do with cold temps, even setting in the bay window there just isn’t enough sun this… “spring”. I got by not using lights the past three years and thought I had it figured out but the purple underside seemed to almost happen over night. I don’t think it’s a huge deal, I also hit them with some 1/2 strength liquid fert.

It’s 28 degrees and little ice pellets are blowing sideways here, and the deck is covered now… mind you I’m not complaining - they had forecast 3-5" then upped it to 5-8", then back down to 3" and now less than an inch I believe.

Anyway I had 20 toms last year and that was just way too much for us and our adult kids, so I’m cutting it back some this year.

Last year we grew San Marzano, Brandywine Sudduth, Neves Azorean Red, Rose De Berne, Wisc "55"Gold, Beefsteak, Big Beef, Big Boy, Sun Gold, Sun Sugar, and Sugery. (Multiples of SM, BW-S, and NAR)

We always grow San Marzano so this year we’ll have that, along with keeping Brandwine Sudduth, NAR and Big Beef. I may go back to SS 100’s instead of the Sun Sugar, the bride seems to like red cherry toms better in salads (I may still sneak a gold one in there too though). Also figure to put in an Early Girl just to have something earlier. And of course if I can nurse along the couple of Romeo’s that germinated (that I got from you Drew) I WANT one of those to make it pretty badly!

But heck, if we don’t get some decent weather we may be buying everything…

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Anthocyanin on the leaves and stems of most tomatoes indicates cold temps. It is usually harmless if that is the only symptom. If the leaves start yellowing and turning dry, they spent too much time below 40 degrees and the stems have shut down nutrient flow. This is variety dependent to a large degree. Kelloggs Breakfast for example will show purple stems and yellowed foliage when other varieties look the picture of health. High anthocyanin tomatoes have purple stems and leaves regardless of temperature. Indigo Rose, Indigo Cherry Drops, etc are examples.

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My toms are still OK, I’m in the process of up potting them, all still under strong lights. I have strong enough lights to keep them from growing skinny. Looks like we have about a week of crappy weather then spring starts making itself known. Everything is late this year with my stone fruit. I don’t think I’m going to see flowers till May.

Not sure about the temps but they’ve spent 99% of their time in my. Finished basement under grow lights. 65-70 degrees.

These are my tomatoes and peppers a week ago. Looks OK,can use more sunlight.
IMG_20180408_090556054
IMG_20180408_090521194

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I see you rolled newspaper up. Is the bottom wide open and elevated for root pruning?

What sort of tape did you use?

Pretty neat!

Dax

I swear I cannot find the seeds you send me. I’m going to have to get more. Save me some from this years crop. I bet as soon as you send them, I will find them! That Murphy guy, probably that mayhem guy too! I will send you some unique heirlooms in return.

I’m not growing much this year because of limited room and time.
I like to grow strange looking tomatos from time to time and I’m growing Ananas Noire this year, first time. This is not my photo. Probably a bear to tell when ripe! I grew some greens a couple years ago. Also growing Sun Green this year.
Ananas-Noire-or-Black-Pineapple-Tomato-5

This tomato appeared in a Pineapple tomato patch and was developed
and stabilized by Pascal Moreau, a horticulturist in Belgium. It was first
introduced in the SSE 2003 Yearbook by the late Luc Fichot of Falisolle,
Belgium (BELG FI L), who got the seed from his friend, Pascal Moreau.

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No, these are closed bottom paper pots that can be transferred from one container to other. I recycleed catalogs from seed companies, nurseries,etc. (they are right size for making paper pots).
Steps:
I just find the right diameter glass bottle, or jar (one end open, one end has flat bottom) , then lines up one side of the rectangle shaped paper’s longer side (length) with the jar’s bottom end(or whatever the depth you want the paper pot to be, Just to make sure the paper’ width is longer than the depth of the paper pot ), roll the paper , not too tight.
Then tuck all the paper on the other end into the mouth of the jar. Secure pot side with small piece of tape before taking the jar out of the pot. , any tape will do.
Take the jar out of rolled paper pot and insert the bottom end into the rolled paper pot and give a good pressure to flatten the crunched paper at the pot’s bottom from inside to self interlock the bottom of the paper pot.

There are several benefits of using paper pots besides being green and recycling.1) save mone from buying plastic seedlings tray, not much, but a penny saved is a penny earned. 2) when it is time to plant them, I can plant the whole thing in the soil with minimum roots disturbance. 3) when paper pot gradually dissolved into soil, they provide food for the earth worms.4) it is very easy to change the size of the paper pots.

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Did you or anyone else here ever try Cherokee Green. I bought some tomato rootstock seed from Tomato Growers and they sent me a packet of these as a bonus. I’ve planted a few (one of several I’ll try grafting with), but any reviews here might help me decide whether to plant 1, 2 or 3 or them.

I just put some from '17 (that I used in this years seed-tray) in an envelop that’ll go out to you tomorrow. All that I planted germinated and I thinned to singles but they’re good seed.

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I love it. Thank you.

Dax

Cool, thank You! yeah tomato seeds are good for a long time, years and years, thanks!

Zen, never tried them! With that name, they have to be good!

That’s really clever. I really like the reuse of waste material.

Ditto. I have seen that done before. I have to try it as right now I’m using pots I don’t like, all my good pots are full. I use newspapers to light my charcoal, the glossy pages should be skipped, but now I have something to do with them! Every year I tell myself to limit the tomatoes I grow, but every year I seem to have more! So many came up, I didn’t want to waste the young plants. i did reluctantly scrap 5 of them.