Giant tomato diary

[Jared77]

Don't believe him, jared, he's feeding them BIG K cola, thats why they're so huge!!

Oh good thats a relief and here I thought it was photoshopped!

edited for spelling

 

[MontyJ]

Darn, my Big K cola secret is out...

Hey Monty, what is the reason for stopping all fert. applications when they start to blossom? Do you find they just don't need any more at that point?

Usually by the time they bloom I can see how the plants are growing. If they are doing well, as these are, I don't want to upset the balance during bloom. Adding N at this time could slow the bloom by increasing vegetative growth. Also, the plant doesn't need additional P because the roots are obviously doing very well to support a plant this size with this rate of growth. Additional K shouldn't be needed during bloom if watering has been adequate, but it may need a boost later in the season, as the plant gets larger and the weather gets hotter. If the plant is showing signs of water stress, like midday wilting (more a softening of the leaves than an actual wilt), and I know water is adequate, I will give a small shot of K. Finally, these plants will only be allowed to set a few fruit. I will remove all other blooms so the plant can only focus on those few, so it needs fewer nutrients.

Remember, this is for competition plants only. I treat the regular tomatoes very differently.

 

[bj taylor]

this tomato nutrition is interesting. you obviously know a lot monty. I have a book that is specific to growing tomatoes in north central Texas. I try to follow it pretty closely. he seems to know what he's talking about (he has since passed). he recommends feeding nitrogen (ammonium nitrate) every 7-10 days in what is called the Texas pot method of fertilizing and watering. I get a lot of vegetation like what you are talking about. right now I have a large amount of tomatoes developing & new ones coming on more slowly.
we're getting into hot time now & the tomatoes will shut down before long & I won't keep them going through the summer. it's just too long & too miserable to try to do that. considering that we have a fairly narrow window for tomatoes before the temps get too high for the blossoms to set, I don't think the nitrogen is necessarily a bad thing in this setting.

 

[MontyJ]

I have never heard of the Texas pot method. If you have very sandy soil, replenishing the N may be necessary since it will leach fairly readily. My soil is clay based, so it has a much higher CEC and can therefore hold more N. You have to do what works for your area.

 

[the1honeycomb]

MOnty what do you do for blite and fungus??
Can't spell sorry

 

[MontyJ]

MOnty what do you do for blite and fungus??
Can't spell sorry

I spray. Believe me, I am not a chemical free gardener. I use a rotation of Chlorothalonil (Daconil), Myclobutanil (Immunox), Captan, Copper, and Maneb (Maneb is sometimes hard to find, but you can still find dusty cans sitting on shelves here and there). The key is to never use the same one twice in a row. Using the same one over and over will only lead to resistant varieties of fungus.

I don't use insecticide on the tomatoes, or any flowering plant for that matter. I just don't have that much insect pressure. I will spray the broccoli and cabbage on a regular basis as long as I see those little white butterflies floating around. On those crops, the risk to the bees is minimal.

 

[MontyJ]

It's time for another giant tomato update.

Three of the four plants have disappointed me by going double. That means they have two main vines instead of one. It a fairly common occurance with this variety which is one reason I don't like it for this type of growing:



Here is the vine I have high hopes for. It's a single main and very heavy:



It has already had a nice fruit set in the perfect spot, right on the main, but the recent rain caused it to burst:





Fortunately, there are still blooms on that stem:



And if all else fails, I have the sink fruit:



A sink fruit is simply another fruit on the vine that is used to cushion changes in water flow in the plant. It helps to soften the blow to the competition fruit by taking some of the water. In this instance, it just wasn't enough to save the original fruit shown above.

And I have a couple others I am watching with interest:



Otherwise, the plants are healthy and have been trimmed off the ground. It's the season for early blight with the warmer temps and lots of rain.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Beautiful plants! Tomatoes are my favorite thing in the garden, for many reasons... one of them being the scent of their leaves. I bet your garden smells FANTASTIC!!!

 

[vfem]

They're great Monty! Are they the brandywine types you are growing? The leaves are huge themselves.

I have picked quite a few tomatoes already, but this rain has plagued us with blight, luckily I have a second planting of tomatoes and if I loose the first I am going to do a 3rd planting in a week or so.

Anyways, I have a tomato fertilizer I like to start mine out with, and so far I don't have to side feed, but I do occassionally water with the fish emulsion. That seems to be all they need. (All this rain I haven't bothered to water at all... so much rain I have several split tomatoes myself. Boooooo)

 

[MontyJ]

Vfem, these are a variety called Delicious. I do have some Brandywines growing for canning though.