Fireweed
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First Tomato plants - leaves hanging

We planted our first tomatoe plants in mid March. Somehow all the leaves are hanging down and the plants grow in curls. They are Tumbler F1 Hybrid (Trailing). They are still indoors, but have been transplanted to bigger pots (12 inch). The already have blossoms, but something doesn't look quite right. As we don't have any experience we are looking for advice. Thank you 😊
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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I think there are two issues going on here. One is the pot you described as “12 inch pot” is likely to be still too small and the curling down leaves indicate plant is suffering from inadequate/uneven watering during this leaps-and-bounds growth phase. I believe you need at minimum 4 gallon actual volume container (approx 1 cubic foot)

The other, and this is the likely reason for the droopiness, is that the Tumbler series, as the name might already imply, was developed for hanging basket and balcony planter to grow in sprawling, draping style. This kind of tomato has extra-flexible stems/vines and will not grow in the upright manner expected when supported in a cage.

I’m going to try to show by example with excerpt from one of my posts — if you click on the up-arrow link next to my name, it will take you to the original post — look at the November 18 post right after this one for another example of what I’m trying to describe:
applestar wrote:
Sat Aug 10, 2019 10:55 pm
Today, I compared Shimofuri F6 fruits from VG.SIP-front left (FL) and VG.SIP- front right (FR).

[…]
… FR plant had better variegation and slightly better disease resistance, and perhaps a bit more compact growth habit that I was hoping for, since I want try to select this line to be a patio container/hanging basket variety with sprawling determinate vines that would drape down from the edge of the container. I decided to save the FR seeds and not the FL seeds.

Image

[…]

.....

Here is an earlier detailed description of the FR — another point in its favor was that it had matured and started producing about 2 weeks earlier:

Shimofuri F6 VG.SIP-FR 2019

PLANT DESCRIPTION
- Good variegation in stems and calyces, Purple/pink stems
- keeps var in part sun location, but new growths in full sun lack variegation
- non-dwarf long internodes (*would love to try crossing with a micro-dwarf*)
- determinate heavily loaded trusses with sprawling vine habit may be trained to hang down
- SUSCEPTIBLE TO SEPTORIA AND EARLY BLIGHT especially after loaded with green developing fruits

[…]

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TomatoNut95
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is it warm enough outside where yo are that you can put the plant outside? Tomatoes need full sun to be happy. Also, I agree that a 12" pot is not big enough. Tomatoes need a lot of root room. Tomatoes do not do good in pots too small, trust me; seen it. They get spindly and sickly looking and almost constantly need water.

Also, when it comes time to fertilize your tomatoes, be sure not to give it too much nitrogen. Too much nitrogen promotes leafy foliage and decreases fruit prodduction. If you use water soluable Miracle-Gro ferttilze like I do, be sure to read the N-P-K numbers on the box. The regular Miracle-Gro in the yellow box has too much nitrogen in it for vegetables. I use the MG Tomato Food, or Bloom Booster in which the nitrogen number isn't as high. If you choose to grow organically, MG offers an organic fertize (though expensive) which is pretty good, only if you don't use it for an extended period of time, the fertize goops up like peanut butter, ha-ha!

Fireweed
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Thank you! I will organize bigger pots. We left some of the smaller plants without a support and they still grow straight up somehow. The plants cannot go outside yet. We are building a greenhouse, but at night is is still pretty cold here. Close to 0°C. We started the seedlings way too early... Next year we know better

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TomatoNut95
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I have a greenhouse as well, except mine is a store-bought plastic piece of garbage. Please share pics of your new greenhouse when you are finished. I also have the tendency to start seedlings too early or too late. I always start my tomatoes from seed unless I come across a store-bought transplant that interests me.

Fireweed
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Here are some pictures of our greenhouse. We still have to build a window and paint the shelves, but we are getting there 😊
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TomatoNut95
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@Fireweed, that is absoulety gorgeous! A real piece of art! Makes my greenhouse look like a piece of plastic garbage....

What kind of heat are you providing?

Fireweed
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No heat other than the sun. That's why the plants haven't moved out there yet... hahaha... it's very warm during the day but too cold at night. But I guess in a couple of weeks we should be fine. We are very far up north, so almost 20 hours of daylight in the summer and not a lot of cold nights. I guess our growing season will be shorter but intense. Also, it is a 10mm poly, so it is rather thick and keeps the warm pretty good.

We had the greenhouse build by a very talented carpenter. We knew we wouldn't be able to build it ourselves, so we just gave a hand and let the master do his magic. Totally worth it. Next year we might put plastic sheets instead of the poly. Depending on how this season goes. Also, we know people who have insulated floors and wood stoves to start the greenhouse season earlier, but we will take it step by step and year by year :)

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TomatoNut95
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I have to provide a heater and on super cold nights, I use foam insulation boards to help hold in the heat. That is a lifesaver when Frost is predicted or when temperatures dip into the 30's and 20's. Texas weather is completely unpredictable, it can be hot one day and cold the next. One day a couple years ago it was very warm and sunny. Overnight the temperature plummeted and it snowed.



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