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lakngulf
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Plant a Bunch!

Some time back hendi_alex offered that one of his methods to avoid tomato soil issues was to "plant a bunch" and expect some to die. Sounds like his soil in SC and mine are similar. Most of my tomatoes are just plugging along, healthy, green, blooms and fruit.

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But I have had three plants to get to the tennis size green tomatoes and begin to wilt. I still suspect Southern Bacterial Wilt because they are beautiful one day and gone the next. I know it is going to happen so some, so it does not bother me like it used to......Plant a Bunch

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And this one is just beginning the process
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hendi_alex
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Interesting how they can be right in there together, and one get hit with the two on each side not even noticing.

Most of my tomatoes look pretty good so far this year. But it has been cooler than normal and dryer than normal. It has been raining for a few days now. I'm wondering what will happen when the sun pops back out. That is always a critical time. I'm hoping win the sun comes back that temperatures will be down for a few days, until things dry out. I'll spray with neem oil today and maybe tomorrow, hopefully that will help at least a little.

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Cola82
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I'm starting to wish I hadn't pinned all my hopes on just two plants. Amazingly, the four tomatoes I gave my mom are looking amazing--stout, lush, healthy--and my two, originally the best of the bunch, are now getting spindly with wilty, yellow spotted leaves. :(

ETA: of course, in fairness to me, I did have to tell her not to plant three of them to a five gallon bucket and to get better potting soil. But still!

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jemsister
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If I had some bucks to spare I'd get a couple more plants as insurance. Planting just one is a bit of a gamble. :P

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ReptileAddiction
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Last year I had just one due to a lack of space and I got 4 cherry tomatos off it. This year I have one That is getting huge and the first tomato is full sized and I am just waiting for it to ripen and there are a bunch of flowers and a few little fruit! Everyday I go out and look at it it is bigger. I do plan to plant some more though soon. I have such a long growing season that I can afford to plant them this late.

imafan26
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Were these all the same variety of tomatoes? When I plant tomatoes, I plant different varieties. Mostly because I am always trying some new ones and I have so many existing diseases that I know of. I try to select varieties I know have basic resistance to start with.

The soils here are rife with nematodes, humidity so need resistance to 3 strains of fusarium and verticillium wilt, heat tolerance, now yellow curl virus was a problem last year. The hardest thing is to find tomatoes that have good disease resistance and taste good too.

Since I can only plant about a dozen tomatoes at a time. I only grow a few varieties at a time, but I do plant back up plants in case some of them don't work out. If a variety works but not even the birds go after it, I is not a keeper. If something fails, I might give it a second planting just to make sure it wasn't something I did or the weather. If it happens again, I move on to something else. If something works out I will plant it over again, but that will mean that I have one less new tomato to try.

Some of you are lucky or just plain inventive that you can grow so many tomatoes in the space you have.

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lakngulf
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This year I have planted several plants in some rich soil on the farmland that I hunt. I used cattle panels to support the plants. These are pictures from today. They are looking good. Maybe I am "fussin'" too much over my home tomatoes. These are remote and have to fend for themselves. They are doing well.

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lakngulf
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I am trying to thwart the blight with this plant. It was loaded with fruit and went limp with wilt. I am trying to give it some shade and hopefully, the tomatoes can ripen.

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This plant is just down the row from the wilted one. I hope it stays healthy

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applestar
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That really must be disheartening when a plant goes down. I hope you get some fruits from the wilted plant.

I do see a blushing one on the good plant so ripe fruits are not too far away.

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hendi_alex
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We've lost a couple of plants already.

This one is ready to go, have just been waiting on the few last fruit to ripen before pulling the plant and putting in a replacement.

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The plant in the planter below died, was pulled and was replaced last week. Keeping lots of replacements in the ready helps to keep the harvest from being impacted too much when a plant is lost to disease. As you can see, with a fresh plant, the spot is still adding to the stream of ripe tomatoes.

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All plants in the replacement nursery area are still looking good. Most of the larger plants were heavily pruned, so that they don't get overly stressed from growing in the relatively small 3 gallon pots.

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I stopped planting tomato seeds near the end of May, but at that time or a little earlier, started making cuttings. Some of the cuttings have already gotten quite large. This batch was just started about two days ago. Evidently they have already started putting out roots, because the plants no longer wilt during the heat of the day. To make cuttings, suckers or tip growth is snipped off about six inches long and cut just under a leaf node. All leaves and flowers are removed except for a few at the very tip. The plants a placed in potting soil perlite mixture, just leaving the top 1-2 inches. They are place in shade of the potting bench and are kept constantly moist. The plants are usually moved into the sunlight after about a week.

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lakngulf
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My "bunch" of tomatoes is producing some good maters. Slow to ripen this year, but prospects look great.

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Ugly Brandywine, only ugly in looks...these will make a great sandwich
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The pasture project is looking great. Also slow to ripen but LOADED
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lakngulf
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hendi_alex wrote:I stopped planting tomato seeds near the end of May, but at that time or a little earlier, started making cuttings.
hendi_alex, I have never tried the "cuttings" method, but will now that you have give some good instructions. Have you ever tried putting them in water first until they root?

Here are some Fantastic plants that I have for "later maters". Have never grown them before, but I posted some tomato pictures on a Tractor forum and a member said they were great. I am giving them a try, the plants are healthy, but may not be able to withstand the July and August temps around here. I do plan to try them again next spring

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JayPoc
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lakngulf wrote: hendi_alex, I have never tried the "cuttings" method, but will now that you have give some good instructions. Have you ever tried putting them in water first until they root?
I did this for the first time this year. I put the cutting in a bottle of water for 3 or 4 days. The tiny rootlets were about a half inch long or so. I then put the cutting in a solo cup with my regular soil/compost mix. The things is doing wonderfully well.

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Cola82
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I did the same as Alex and they're growing beautifully now. I didn't want them to develop brittle water roots, so I took them out of the water as soon as I saw the little root nodes sticking out.

Just putting them directly in soil they withered pretty fast and hard, so I think putting them in water for a few days was the best option.

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hendi_alex
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I have equal luck with starting the cutting in water or directly in the soil. When starting in soil, one has to trim all but a few small leaves near the tip and keep the soil constantly moist for a week or more. Prior to developing roots, these cuttings can't stand any direct sunlight at all or they begin to wilt.

It seems the process takes a little longer in water, but many more leaves can be retained on the cutting, just stripping growth from the bottom third or half of the stem. When starting cuttings in water, I also move them to soil almost as soon as tiny roots start to show.

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Cola82
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Whoops, I was building off of Jay's post. Sorry Alex. :oops:



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