lj39
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New to gardening - questions on Legend tomatoes

Hi folks,
I am a first time gardener (well..just about), and had some questions on a Legend tomato plant I had transplanted back in late May, in fact it was the Thursday prior to Memorial Day.

My plant has been growing ok, but I'm not sure if it is really doing well or not. It's about 4' to 4'1/4" high and pretty bushy. The weather in the past few weeks has been pretty hot - mid to high 80's and low 90's. The plant is outdoors in a 4' x 10' patch next to my house, and gets quite a bit of sun/heat. I had been watering every two-three days around the base, but have been considering watering more often.

I didn't realize I had an early-season plant until a couple of weeks into June. (I know... I should have checked!!) So, I'm wondering if my plant will survive the rest of the summer. I haven't seen any fruit whatsoever, and am not sure what else to do. (Btw...I have a Heirloom/Brandywine that is a couple of feet away from it that is doing pretty decent - were planted the same day).
Sorry for the length of this post, and thank you in advance!
lj

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

When you said you haven't seen any fruit, has it been flowering and then the blossoms dropping off without setting fruit (do a forum search for blossom drop) or has it not blossomed at all?

Here's a nice article about your tomatoes:

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=449&storyType=garde

Highlights are that this is a determinate tomato bred for cooler climates.

"With mid-May planting of transplants, the first Legend fruits typically ripen at the OSU Vegetable Research Farm outside of Corvallis by about Aug. 1, with an early peak of production."

But to be ripe next week, you would definitely have to have good sized fruits now. It may be that it's just been too hot for it where (ever) you are.

lj39
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Hi, thanks for the reply!

Yes, my plant had flowered right on schedule, but the initial first wave had all dried/dropped and I was wondering if I would even see anything from my plant at all. (This being because it has been hot lately, and this being a fall/cooler-climate variety).

On the good side, after searching through the forums, (which I did before my original post, btw), I thought it might be ok to up my watering due to the hotter weather - which is only going to get hotter this week. For the past 2-3 days I have been watering every day, and I think I may have salvaged things..in fact I think I see one 'mater JUST starting..that or it's an oversized blossom. (It's just under the size of a marble, but still covered in the flower-opening).

I was a little worried since my Brandywine is chugging along and outperforming the Legend (five little greenies and another two about ready to pop out and look tomato-like).

Overall, I think I just hadn't adjusted my watering schedule to the hotter weather, and I might be ok. One final question though, a couple of my leaves on the outer sides are a little fried and crispy-ish, can I remove 'em or would it be better to just leave 'em on?

Thanks again in advance!

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rainbowgardener
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Yeah... if you type blossom drop into search box in upper left of most pages you will find a lot about that. It is a stress reaction--the plant sheds the flowers to go into survival mode. Under-watering and/or too much heat can do it, as well as other conditions.

If your usual climate is very hot, for next year you might look into tomato varieties that have been developed for heat tolerance. They have names like sunmaster, solar set.

Glad it's working out better for you now. You can remove the dried up leaves as long as you don't take too many. One of the things leaves do, even dried up ones, is provide some shade for the fruits. Tomato fruits directly exposed to hot sun can get sunscalded.

lj39
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Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:49 pm

Ah..didn't think about the shade provided by the leaves..(probably since I don't have any fruit yet..as least not to speak of). I'll just leave them on then...

I thought of another question in regards to the plant being a determinate: If I do actually start seeing any fruit out of this guy, (which I would think be when the temperature gets back down to low 80s/70s), will it be all at once..and then done? Or will it come in a few final waves? Since I've upped his water-intake I'm seeing newer branches and a little bit more height, so I am curious as to how much more it's going to grow....

anyway...



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