Florida weave has saved my corn plots more times than i can count. I had so many heartbreaking mornings going outside after a hard rain and wind then seeing all my corn laying on the ground. A good Florida weave has saved my corn more times than I can count.
Plant deep, plant early. Hogwash. We live in Maine, last avg frost date is first week of May. Traditionally, gardens get planted Memorial Day weekend. First frost avg end of September. That's 4 months, 120 days. Plenty of time to grow tomato's. Especially if started ahead indoors. One year, a 4x4' bed of garlic planted previous fall was a complete failure, 3 out of 60 germinated. Wasn't happy. I planted, direct sewn, 10 Roma determinant seeds 1st week of June, 2 per placement spaced like the five on a dice. They all germinated, thinned them to just 5 plants. Best harvest ever. 70+ pints of tomato sauce in the pantry by Labor day.. Again, from seed! I still do start plants indoors, but they never go in the ground until after the 15th of May and still have time to can what we need. Oh yeah, we got 8"s of snow yesterday. Not quite tee shirt weather yet. lol
Yeah I really enjoy your videos and all I use to grow were indeterminate tomatoes but this year I’m planting all determinate. Makes more sense here in the south
I had a lot of blossom end rot in my tomatoes last year. I read somewhere that people drop in a Tums tablet into the soil with each plant as Tums contains Calcium. Cheers from Ottawa, Canada 🍁
I read an article by some universities that said BER was more likely due to inadequate watering since calcium only moves in the water. Thanks and Cheers from Texas!
Planting deep is not so much about size or early harvest vs shallow planting. It’s more about health during the heat of summer and water intake. Moisture level is more stable and available deeper. And roots stay cooler when top soil bakes at 100+ the roots are cooler.And you tapping into unused nutrients that’s stable and readily available. But we didn’t have drip irrigation or fertilizer injections. Unlike y’all got 25 ft of top soil. We hit black clay gumbo at 5 inches. If no rain the tomatoes could handle some stress for the moisture holding capacity with deeper roots. And in Midsouth not uncommon to get tomatoes up until thanksgiving. When y’all are done in July.
Well, I am a firm believer in calcium in the form of Gypsum for my raised bed tomatoes and peppers. One hand full twice a growing season around the plants alleviates the threat of B.E.R and a 40 lb bag is only $7.00.
I live in east central Minnesota you are exactly right that little tomato plant will catch up. Here in Minnesota and do just fine here also. Just started my seed a few days ago. I grow roadster, Bella Rosa, jet star, and celebrity and big Zach up here and have good luck
In central FL and planted 2 each Red Snapper, Defiant and Sun Gold 4 weeks ago. Put some crushed egg shells, mixed in some black kow and planted them at an angle burying 8 to 12 inches with leaves under the soil. Picked first small Sun Gold tomat today eash plant has more than 50 fruit set. Plants are 2 to 4 feet tall.
Kellogg's Breakfast, Terra Cotta, Ruby's Green, German Johnson, Paul Robeson are a few that are already in the tomato buckets and looking great. I have other varieties too. 26 plants this year.
Hiya, Martha! I've always wanted to grow Kellogg's Breakfast, but I have never found anyone with plants. Are they as rich and sharply acidic as I have been told, or are they like every other yellow tomato, sort of not acidic. Thanks!
@@lancer525 I start with seeds. I don't find them extremely acidic but are not sweet either. I prefer a slightly acidic tomato over sweet. I find them to be balanced and delicious. A beautiful tomato as well.
I totally agree about those Purple Tomatoes. I planted 3 seeds and only 2 came up. One is finally getting a couple leaves on them after almost 4 weeks and the other one still just has it's first 2 leaves. They sure have a LONG way to go before I can put them out in the ground.
Travis, you got that right on those purple tomatoes. It took a REALY REALY long time to get growing for me. I planted 6 seeds and all 6 sprouted but they were really slow to get started. As of right now, my largest one is 6 inches tall while my other indeterminant varieties I planted at the same time are at least 3 feet tall and have around 3-4 fruit sets.
Im trying Agri-thrive this year. Saw immediate results with young tomato and cucumber transplants. Works with hydroponics too! Looks to be a good product at a reasonable price. Thx
@@waynespringer501 thx for info. Cost meets my price point, considering small backyard hobby garden and hydroponics. MasterBlend price is about the same.
I’m trying a new for me way of growing some indeterminate tomatoes this year. I’m growing some up a cow panel. Gonna prune to 2 main stems and give it a try.
Travis, I bought a pack of those purple tomato seeds after you first showed them on here. I agree, they are the least vigorous tomato seeds I’ve ever tried to grow. I planted 5 and 1 sprouted about a week afterwards and then a week later 1 more sprouted. 2 out of 5 is not good germination rates. They seem to just sit there not doing anything with their first leaves for a week or more before pushing out a true leaf too. They are finally starting to grow a little bit but are very slow starters so far.
I’m going to be starting the Roadster and Red Snapper seeds I bought from you, and labeling them with the field stakes :) I can’t wait to see how they grow up here in 5b.
I bought your Red Snapper and Roadster. Hosinator from pops. Trying to go for more determinates since we've been suffering from late bright wiping EVERYTHING out and being too wet. Trying to get in there and out of there earlier if possible. But, I also have a few my usual favorites as well. Will try your Cowhorn Okra and Supremo Cucumber. Bought some more MaxPack from Pops. That worked the best last year. Still tweaking the formula here.
I push my transplants hard under lights and up pot tomatoes, peppers eggplants. Start in 50 cell flats, upped into party cups, then 1gallon pots or bags. I have to do this to beat the summer heat. This year I have New Girl, a very strong improved early girl that sets big trusses of pretty fruit and is VERY fast, listed as 60 days. Granadero is a semi indeterminate Italian type paste variety, also very vigorous, already 3 lines of Florida weave, plants 3 feet tall and setting lots of fruit. Last horse in the barn is Edox, which I know Travis grew last year and it didn't perform, but I trained it to single stem and I have never seen anything like the hundreds of trusses loaded up.
My guess is that your soil life was healthier with the organic fertilizer and that increased nutrient uptake. Also organic fertilizer is slow release and may have given a more stable nutrient environment.
I'd say you are pretty much on target. My understanding is that those synthetic fertilizers don't benefit the soil biology... and in some cases can even hurt it. My other understanding is that calcium isn't typically "plant ready" it needs to be broken down by the soil biology in order for plants to use it. This is also why poor watering (under or over) which greatly affects your soil biology also is the leading cause of blossom end rot.
Travis, out of the sixteen purple tomato seeds, ten sprouted, two are vigorous, five are weak, and three, planted later, are just sprouting. The weak ones have very small cotyledons, as though the seeds were not mature when harvested. The two purple tomato plants that are vigorous look better than most other varieties though.
You know you’re right about that. When I first started gardening years ago I would get blossom end rot a lot when I used synthetic fertilizer. But now that I’ve gone organic I don’t really have it much anymore. Maybe just a few tomatoes as opposed to many that had it.
Jeff from East Tennessee. Let’s see! I got Red Snapper,Lemon Boy, and yes Big beef plus!! Growing some other Tomatoes for coworkers and I will stick a few of them in too! First time with Red Snapper. Going to plant a lot of them. Here in Tennessee, it gets a lot dryer as we get into summer! I’m going to make my second planting bigger than most years!! Last year it was like swamp gardening during early summer!! Disease just went wild in my garden! So this year I am going to spray my tomatoes! A least until I see tomatoes!! I had a lot of tomatoes last year but not like I wanted!!
Hey Travis could you please show how you run your water from the well and how you set up your irrigation system please sir and where is the best place to purchase the equipment, so tired of running long water hoses and using sprinklers? Watching from SE Ga I'm in vidalia onion country!
Wow, germination rate on the purple awful. Ty for showing it. I wish we would stay above freezing to plant. Gonna plant out onions finally today, so getting there 😀 great video Travis Totally agree that bigger tomato transplants don't mean better. The larger they are, the harder they are to tend to until transplant. As far blossom end rot, watering key. Drip had changed that for me.
Travis, have you ever thought about filming and interviewing the professionals growing vegetables? Most have it streamlined and rather foolproof, especially as most grow tomatoes here in South Texas from seed 1/4 inch deep and sometimes a second crop from just volunteers. Of course, you need to stay up to date on diseases and pests or they can wipe out a crop overnight. Keep up the great videos.
I’m planting my determinate tomatoes in straw bales this year. I’ve never grown anything in straw bales. So I’m going to experiment with it. Wish me luck!! 😬
Wondering how often you water with the drip tape? I've never used one on tomatoes because they'll never grow a proper tap root if they don't learn to find water for themselves ... I water them once a week if needed and i flood them out when it's dry or just a little if rain is on the way. Nice to see you haven't given up on the indeterminates ...
My tomato and pepper seedlings are looking bad this year. Only thing I did different from past years is put them in a greenhouse. I’m assuming maybe it was too hot. I did plant the 60 or so best looking ones and they have taken off nicely after a week or so of looking pitiful.
I was doing great today until I discovered a broken head bolt in a diesel truck engine. Getting the broken end out of the block is going to be torture.
I think you will like those ox-hearts. Not because they are the absolute tastiest or biggest, though they are good. Rather since you are in GA you should see them hold up under the heat there better than others
There may be a connection to BER and too much synthetic fertilizer. Nutrients competing with one another or maybe the plant out growing it's ability to take up calcium at the same rate its growing.
Hi Travis, I just planted my tomatoes this week, Bella Rosa, Super sweet 100, Big Beef, and this year I’m trying Roadster (on your recommendation) and Simplicity, a disease resistant determinate that looked interesting, have you ever tried it? I planted them by using an organic fertilizer (Espoma Tomato Vegetable) and some home made worm compost, and plant my plants about 6 inches deep. I sometimes get a few with BER at first then they’re beautiful.
Hey Travis. First, I love your video's. Secondly. I am about to plant my flowers in the garden. Zinnias mostly, with some Sunflowers. Should i fertilize with my nature safe 8-5-5?
BER - my personal experience is that with consistent deep watering and choosing strong varieties, it’s not an issue other then a few of the earliest fruits. I don’t worry about testing or supplements My tomatoes in 2024 - - cherry: sungold, sun peach, sweet million - paste: fresh salsa, Roma grande, plum regal - slicers: grand marshal NEW, Mountain Rouge, Red Snapper, Virginia sweets, BHN589 For me the red snapper is by far the best producer and resilient. It produces a large picture perfect tomato with a good taste and is a determinate The mountain rouge is by far the best tasting tomato I’ve ever grown and one that produces as well. It’s a pink indedterminate variety and taste so good and out produces any variety I’ve tried that has an equal taste and that includes the heirlooms Also I grow my plants from seed and I don’t have transplant shock. I plant mine in the ground when they are about 7 inches tall from top of the plant to the Root bottom of the seedlings .
I've noticed that my San Marzano paste tomatoes suffer more blossom end rot in the beginning of the season than other varieties. We'll see how my Cherokee Purple tomato does this year, I planted it in a pot instead of the garden so I have more control over it.
There's very little natural calcium in soils in the upcountry. The soil is naturally acidic and needs calcium to raise the PH. I don't have a problem with blossom end rot unless I let the plants go to long without water. Around early June, I use pine shavings to mulch the plants. I like the pine shavings because you can put them inside the cages pretty easily around the base of the plants.
Travis! Help! I've got a question. I've got a situation with my tomatoes that I have never seen before, in almost 20 years of gardening. I don't have any idea what to do about it. I planted two tomato plants, One Ball's Beefsteak, and one Old German, about two weeks ago. They were given to me by another gardener, and were only about 4 to 6 inches in height when planted. About the size of the one in the pink-red pot in your left hand at the beginning of this video. The concern I have, is that they both have blooms starting to form. They're approximately 14-16 inches in height now, and I have no idea what to do. I've never had a tomato grow and develop this rapidly, even though my planting process is exactly the same as it always has been. The only difference this year, is I purchased a pickup truck load of compost/topsoil from a local seller. normally I use my own compost and soil from around my yard, but this year I built two raised beds, and needed to fill them, so I went out and bought a truck bed's worth of soil. Same fertilizer in the hole, same 3 to 4 inches of straw mulch, and I am amazed, because these things are three times the size they were when I put them in the ground two weeks ago, and both are starting to bloom. I have never had that happen to me before this fast, and I don't know what to make of it! I think it might far too early in the season to let these develop into fruit. Should I remove them? Would it damage the plants, long-term, if I did? As far as I know both are indeterminate, so they should continue to produce for the rest of the time I can keep them alive, but I am worried they're too young to fruit right now. Am I overthinking this and should I leave them alone, or should I nip the blooms to let them grow more before they start to set fruit? I'm up between Waynesboro and Augusta, for what it's worth. Help!
Hello Travis, I was wanting to get some cages for my red snapper and roadster tomatoes. Do you have a place that has good cages at a good price? Or do you suggest the Florida weave for those plants?
My garden is prone to blossom end rot, I buy a spray from my local co op store that saves them in that case. You spray the whole plant. So if you do see it you can nip that asap 👌
The reason I plant mine deep in a hole is because they are easy to cover on nights near freezing. I get an early start and fill the hole as the plant grows. Also my water table is low and so my plants and do much better in the south Alabama heat. I can actually hit water at about 3 ft with hole diggers ( if it's wet)
I recently was watching a channel talk about how you could take rootstock from a disease resistant variety or a heat tolerant variety and then graft a tomato of your choice aka heirloom variety and like magic you then have a tomato that tastes great and have great disease resistance or heat tolerance to your area, anyway I'm not sure if this would work but perhaps it could be worth a try?
If the soil is loose / sandy type soil burying deep works... If your gardening in hard clay soil, Its better to till/loosen the soil & "Lay Them Down" plant them horizontally! The roots can spread thru the loose soil. The sun will draw the plant up & they will grow vertically...I plant about 130 plants a year, in secession. I use t post and fence wire stretched down each row...
Diggin them in deep doesn't make sense if the soil 6"+ deep was something you just covered and took a no-till/no-dig approach with. Though that probably improves the deeper soil with time. My understanding with the rot is its most likely either watering habit or a bad ph soil. I sprouted some cherry tomatoes from the fridge. Will see what I get. I haven't grown tomatoes yet :P Our deck has something like cattle panel on the rails so I plan to let em go wild all over it from containers.
if i get BER, it's late in season, when soil calcium is depleted, which prevents good water infiltration, no matter how much i water, as we usually have no rain most summer. now it poured down, and veggie plot was soggy for many days, so i put several bags of hydrated lime into soil, to help dry it up and make better soil. Earlier i did sprinkle some dolomite lime, and watched the soil get even tighter. I forgot that dolomite lime has far too much magnesium compared to calcium. btw the crops that still have growing and perenial borders that also got hydrated lime, all doing fine. i dont need to raise ph, but calcium needed. for indoor plants i made calcium acetate (hydrated lime + double strength vinegar) for a neutral ph calcium feed. the ultimate lazy determinate tomatoes are low growing bush type that require no support. they dont sprawl too far.
All that lime probably has your soil pH extremely alkaline which is far outside of a tomatoes growing conditions which prevents it from uptalking the calcium and nutrients. For adding calcium, without skyrocketing your pH, use Gypsum
@@waynespringer501 : yes, temporarily increased ph however, all plants are loving it, rather than being adversely affected. looks like base saturation calcium is more important than ph. some of the best lemons in the world grow on limestone. go figure.
I bought a pack of those purple tomatoes. I had heard that about the vigor being lacking. I hope that pack of 10 seeds will end up being enough. Did you get all 10 to germinate? Do you have any tips for getting them off to a good start?
@@LazyDogFarm Did you germinate them indoors, or direct sow? If indoors did you use a heat mat or just use the ambient temperature in the room? Was there anything different you did with the 3 sucessful ones than the ones that didn't make it?
Pro Tip: Don’t plant tomatoes deep. Instead, you should trench them with the top of your plant coming out of the ground at about a 45 degree angle. There is science behind this method and it has to do with soil temperature. When you plant tomatoes deep, you’re not going to get great root development below about 15 inches because the soil temps that deep aren’t warm enough. This is even more relevant the farther north you are growing. When you trench, your whole stem in that trench is within the top 15 inches and you will have better root development across the whole stem. Also, if you’re behind on getting stuff in the ground, just plant them normally. Both deep planting and trenching will slow the plants initial progress down until they get established, so if you’re already behind just plant your tomatoes normally.
was wondering if you ever just let tomatoes sprawl? I have let them sprawl in a 10x10 plot with no pruning and I got a bumper crop with the down side of having to go Easter egg hunting to find them all (at least they are red). But I find the lower vines prop the collapsed tomato up enough to keep fruit off the soil, and also root when pinned down by the weight of the plant. I would like to do cages and trellises but its just out of my budget , would it really increase my yield that much?
I'm in 9b and one single tomato broke at planting and now sprawling on sturdy bottom limbs. really too late to stake it or pinch to a single stem. Looks like it will make maters just fine 😊
This is kind of how they operated in nature. Growing in the forest near the floor and sometimes taking over trees. People grow vertically mainly to use space more efficiently.
@LazyDogFarm just by adding compost? I see people doing the leaf method I can't wait on that. I have sandy white soil even tilling over time turn back sand
I know u r a biologist…I save all my egg shells throughout the yr. I crush & add them to my soil every fall. I have been told that I’m wasting my time because it takes forever for the shells to break down & add calcium to the soil. Is this true?
It takes a long time. I just found some 2 yr old egg shells in one of my raised beds that got there from adding some compost. I think grinding them to a fine powder would speed up the process though.
Cages are too much work for me. I use 8 ft long cement rebar for tomato stakes. Tie plant to stakes with hay bale twine. Plant deep this gives plant a lot of extra root TN is 100° dry as desert with 1 rain per month June to Oct. I irrigate tomato plants every day this washes away calcium and causes BER = blossom end rot. Wood ash is about 30% calcium I give plants wood ash once a week need it or not its better than BER. I don't like to remove suckers the extra plant growth shades tomatoes from sun burn. August I trim my plant remove a lot of deal limbs and too many limbs. I get about 35 lbs of potatoes from each plant. We have 6 plants this year 35x6=210 lb tomatoes is plenty of us. Too much nitrogen will give you very tall plants with fewer tomatoes. I fertilize each tomatoes with 1 table spoon of 6-12-12 once a week all summer. A 50 lb of fertilizer at Farmers Co-op or other farm supply store is $20 for 50 lbs of 6-12-12 fertilizer. 5 lbs of organic cost $25. I space my plants 18" apart crowded plants shade each other this prevents sun burn in TN hot 100° weather. My plants are often 7 ft tall by Aug 30. I cut off all the old limbs if you notice after tomato plants produce tomatoes in a certain location all the limbs at that location die. Cut off all the dead limbs the dead limbs can get blite that will spread to other parts of the plants. White color plastic spoons make good plant markers you can write on the spoons with black marker. I also plant my tomato plants on the east side of a big shade tree so plants get fun sun all morning then shade from 1 pm to dark the hottest time of the day. My laser thermometer shows tomato leaves are 135°f at 2 pm this is too hot for tomato plants. Shade after solar 12 noon plants never get hotter than the air temperature.
HELP!!! When is it too late to start tomato seeds? A mouse or other critter got into my greenhouse and literally ATE my tomato seedlings. I’m in NW Georgia, zone 7b (although they’re trying to tell us now we are 8a). Can I start seeds now and expect to have plants ready to go outside in late May? I’ve had good luck planting out at that time but I usually start much earlier and have bigger plants to put in the ground.
that's weird, my purple tomatoes are better looking than any others i have, even tho they were planted about ten days after the rest, they are literally twice the size.
The answer to this is solely dependent on your local growing conditions. Those in northern climates should not deep plant as the deeper soil is to cool to make the plant thrive. Those in the deep south have to plant deep if they want their plants to survive until frost as the top soil temps get too hot and fry the plant roots, the only way the plant survives is by having roots deep enough to not have scorching hot soil. If you notice Trav, states his indeterminates get fried and have to be pulled in the heat of the summer. He doesn't plant deep, and he aggressively prunes them to where there's almost no plant leaves shading the soil underneath the plant.
@@FloraM44 I feel like my last response was rude, but what he did was to maintain the natural soil line. He did not plant them any deeper than what they already were. If you use a peat pot, he said leave the peat collar but plant them an inch deeper so the pot doesn't dry out. He would still pinch off all the lower leaves and only left the top 2, but still not bury that part. He does till winter rye 2 feet deep and digs a transplant hole 1 foot deep and 2 feet wide. This is probably why he can get away with not needing to plant deep because there's no compaction, and the roots can travel far fast. Somewhere someone mentioned, he dug 4 feet deep, but I didn't find it in the book. He used to hold the record for the tallest tomato as well at 28 plus feet.. He has a strange method of leaving 18 suckers. Notill growers channel uses single stem and mentioned they got one 34 feet tall but they are in a hoop house with ideal conditions. You can find Charles Wilberts' book for free on archive titled How To Grow World Record Tomatoes.
@@masteraus66 Thank you for the info! I didn't find your response rude for what it's worth, but I'm also interested in anyone who has anything to share about growing tomatoes 😊 That's really interesting about leaving it at the natural soil line, but having the transplant hole dug and pre-filled. Probably not something I'll end up trying, but I might try planting at different depths just to see for myself if I have any different results. Last year I had over 140 plants, because I love to try so many different kinds. They don't get massively tall though - I'm not sure if I'm stunting them somehow or if it's the weather the last couple of years which hasn't been great for them (long cool wet Spring, wet summer, like 2 weeks of scorching sun lol) Anyway, thanks again for recommending the book - I'll check it out!
Florida weave has saved my corn plots more times than i can count. I had so many heartbreaking mornings going outside after a hard rain and wind then seeing all my corn laying on the ground. A good Florida weave has saved my corn more times than I can count.
Plant deep, plant early. Hogwash. We live in Maine, last avg frost date is first week of May. Traditionally, gardens get planted
Memorial Day weekend. First frost avg end of September. That's 4 months, 120 days. Plenty of time to grow tomato's.
Especially if started ahead indoors. One year, a 4x4' bed of garlic planted previous fall was a complete failure, 3 out of 60
germinated. Wasn't happy. I planted, direct sewn, 10 Roma determinant seeds 1st week of June, 2 per placement spaced like
the five on a dice. They all germinated, thinned them to just 5 plants. Best harvest ever. 70+ pints of tomato sauce in the
pantry by Labor day.. Again, from seed! I still do start plants indoors, but they never go in the ground until after the 15th
of May and still have time to can what we need. Oh yeah, we got 8"s of snow yesterday. Not quite tee shirt weather yet. lol
Yeah I really enjoy your videos and all I use to grow were indeterminate tomatoes but this year I’m planting all determinate. Makes more sense here in the south
I had a lot of blossom end rot in my tomatoes last year. I read somewhere that people drop in a Tums tablet into the soil with each plant as Tums contains Calcium. Cheers from Ottawa, Canada 🍁
Calcium nitrate, every other feeding, solves the problem, Tums are chemicals as well
Need to try watering them in with fish fertilizer it will completly do away with transplant shock IT IS AWESOME
I always have my first few tomatoes get blossom end rot and then get beautiful tomatoes the rest of the season.
I read an article by some universities that said BER was more likely due to inadequate watering since calcium only moves in the water. Thanks and Cheers from Texas!
Planting deep is not so much about size or early harvest vs shallow planting. It’s more about health during the heat of summer and water intake. Moisture level is more stable and available deeper. And roots stay cooler when top soil bakes at 100+ the roots are cooler.And you tapping into unused nutrients that’s stable and readily available. But we didn’t have drip irrigation or fertilizer injections. Unlike y’all got 25 ft of top soil. We hit black clay gumbo at 5 inches. If no rain the tomatoes could handle some stress for the moisture holding capacity with deeper roots. And in Midsouth not uncommon to get tomatoes up until thanksgiving. When y’all are done in July.
I’m planting my parents Tomatoes 🍅 today. 53 plants total.
I planted 40 paste tomatoes and 8 slicer tomatoes yesterday in my raised beds. I am in Arkansas and it’s starting to really get warm.
Well, I am a firm believer in calcium in the form of Gypsum for my raised bed tomatoes and peppers. One hand full twice a growing season around the plants alleviates the threat of B.E.R and a 40 lb bag is only $7.00.
I live in east central Minnesota you are exactly right that little tomato plant will catch up. Here in Minnesota and do just fine here also. Just started my seed a few days ago. I grow roadster, Bella Rosa, jet star, and celebrity and big Zach up here and have good luck
My purple tomatoes are all doing great. They all sprouted, and they all are the same size as all the other 16 verities.
Mine are just as vigorous as can be expected
In central FL and planted 2 each Red Snapper, Defiant and Sun Gold 4 weeks ago. Put some crushed egg shells, mixed in some black kow and planted them at an angle burying 8 to 12 inches with leaves under the soil. Picked first small Sun Gold tomat today eash plant has more than 50 fruit set. Plants are 2 to 4 feet tall.
I notice you're not shaking those plants near as hard you were the bonnie plants in last video😂
I planted six of the purple tomatoes on 13 March and now they’re 6 inches tall five out of six germinated just fine and they look great.
Kellogg's Breakfast, Terra Cotta, Ruby's Green, German Johnson, Paul Robeson are a few that are already in the tomato buckets and looking great. I have other varieties too. 26 plants this year.
Hiya, Martha! I've always wanted to grow Kellogg's Breakfast, but I have never found anyone with plants. Are they as rich and sharply acidic as I have been told, or are they like every other yellow tomato, sort of not acidic. Thanks!
@@lancer525 I start with seeds. I don't find them extremely acidic but are not sweet either. I prefer a slightly acidic tomato over sweet. I find them to be balanced and delicious. A beautiful tomato as well.
Here in NW Alabama, it’s going to get down to 39 degrees tonight. So I’ll be planting this coming week.
Much appreciate this video Mr T! 😊
I totally agree about those Purple Tomatoes. I planted 3 seeds and only 2 came up. One is finally getting a couple leaves on them after almost 4 weeks and the other one still just has it's first 2 leaves. They sure have a LONG way to go before I can put them out in the ground.
Travis, you got that right on those purple tomatoes. It took a REALY REALY long time to get growing for me. I planted 6 seeds and all 6 sprouted but they were really slow to get started. As of right now, my largest one is 6 inches tall while my other indeterminant varieties I planted at the same time are at least 3 feet tall and have around 3-4 fruit sets.
Spot on Brother 👍🏽
Im trying Agri-thrive this year. Saw immediate results with young tomato and cucumber transplants. Works with hydroponics too! Looks to be a good product at a reasonable price. Thx
I was using it, but this year they raised their price almost 50% so I will be switching to something else.
@@waynespringer501 thx for info. Cost meets my price point, considering small backyard hobby garden and hydroponics. MasterBlend price is about the same.
I can't wait for my Turkey Creek tomatoes. ❤❤❤ starting seeds this weekend🎉🎉
Nice tomato planting Travis😊
I’m trying a new for me way of growing some indeterminate tomatoes this year. I’m growing some up a cow panel. Gonna prune to 2 main stems and give it a try.
Travis, I bought a pack of those purple tomato seeds after you first showed them on here. I agree, they are the least vigorous tomato seeds I’ve ever tried to grow. I planted 5 and 1 sprouted about a week afterwards and then a week later 1 more sprouted. 2 out of 5 is not good germination rates. They seem to just sit there not doing anything with their first leaves for a week or more before pushing out a true leaf too. They are finally starting to grow a little bit but are very slow starters so far.
great job brother , you make it real simple !!
I’m going to be starting the Roadster and Red Snapper seeds I bought from you, and labeling them with the field stakes :) I can’t wait to see how they grow up here in 5b.
I bought your Red Snapper and Roadster. Hosinator from pops. Trying to go for more determinates since we've been suffering from late bright wiping EVERYTHING out and being too wet. Trying to get in there and out of there earlier if possible. But, I also have a few my usual favorites as well. Will try your Cowhorn Okra and Supremo Cucumber. Bought some more MaxPack from Pops. That worked the best last year.
Still tweaking the formula here.
I push my transplants hard under lights and up pot tomatoes, peppers eggplants. Start in 50 cell flats, upped into party cups, then 1gallon pots or bags. I have to do this to beat the summer heat. This year I have New Girl, a very strong improved early girl that sets big trusses of pretty fruit and is VERY fast, listed as 60 days. Granadero is a semi indeterminate Italian type paste variety, also very vigorous, already 3 lines of Florida weave, plants 3 feet tall and setting lots of fruit. Last horse in the barn is Edox, which I know Travis grew last year and it didn't perform, but I trained it to single stem and I have never seen anything like the hundreds of trusses loaded up.
My guess is that your soil life was healthier with the organic fertilizer and that increased nutrient uptake. Also organic fertilizer is slow release and may have given a more stable nutrient environment.
I'd say you are pretty much on target.
My understanding is that those synthetic fertilizers don't benefit the soil biology... and in some cases can even hurt it.
My other understanding is that calcium isn't typically "plant ready" it needs to be broken down by the soil biology in order for plants to use it.
This is also why poor watering (under or over) which greatly affects your soil biology also is the leading cause of blossom end rot.
Trav, why did you stop growing Kellogg's Breakfast? You got me started on it, now it's the only beefsteak I grow!
One of the best tasting tomatoes there is and grows well for me
It's a really good one. No reason for not growing it. I just like trying different stuff.
Travis, out of the sixteen purple tomato seeds, ten sprouted, two are vigorous, five are weak, and three, planted later, are just sprouting. The weak ones have very small cotyledons, as though the seeds were not mature when harvested. The two purple tomato plants that are vigorous look better than most other varieties though.
You know you’re right about that. When I first started gardening years ago I would get blossom end rot a lot when I used synthetic fertilizer. But now that I’ve gone organic I don’t really have it much anymore. Maybe just a few tomatoes as opposed to many that had it.
I think the synthetic stuff suppresses natural soil bacteria and fungus which make calcium available to the plants.
@@danielmansour7230 I think you’re right.
Jeff from East Tennessee. Let’s see! I got Red Snapper,Lemon Boy, and yes Big beef plus!! Growing some other Tomatoes for coworkers and I will stick a few of them in too! First time with Red Snapper. Going to plant a lot of them. Here in Tennessee, it gets a lot dryer as we get into summer! I’m going to make my second planting bigger than most years!! Last year it was like swamp gardening during early summer!! Disease just went wild in my garden! So this year I am going to spray my tomatoes! A least until I see tomatoes!! I had a lot of tomatoes last year but not like I wanted!!
Hey Travis could you please show how you run your water from the well and how you set up your irrigation system please sir and where is the best place to purchase the equipment, so tired of running long water hoses and using sprinklers? Watching from SE Ga I'm in vidalia onion country!
Here you go: th-cam.com/video/H6D6mWcPziE/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared
Wow, germination rate on the purple awful. Ty for showing it. I wish we would stay above freezing to plant. Gonna plant out onions finally today, so getting there 😀 great video Travis
Totally agree that bigger tomato transplants don't mean better. The larger they are, the harder they are to tend to until transplant. As far blossom end rot, watering key. Drip had changed that for me.
I had blossom end rot in the past but since I started rotating Hoss 20-20-20 and calcium nitrate fertilizer it’s been a thing of the past!!
Travis, have you ever thought about filming and interviewing the professionals growing vegetables? Most have it streamlined and rather foolproof, especially as most grow tomatoes here in South Texas from seed 1/4 inch deep and sometimes a second crop from just volunteers. Of course, you need to stay up to date on diseases and pests or they can wipe out a crop overnight. Keep up the great videos.
I’m planting my determinate tomatoes in straw bales this year. I’ve never grown anything in straw bales. So I’m going to experiment with it. Wish me luck!! 😬
Wondering how often you water with the drip tape? I've never used one on tomatoes because they'll never grow a proper tap root if they don't learn to find water for themselves ... I water them once a week if needed and i flood them out when it's dry or just a little if rain is on the way. Nice to see you haven't given up on the indeterminates ...
Assuming no rainfall, usually every other day once it gets hot outside.
My tomato and pepper seedlings are looking bad this year. Only thing I did different from past years is put them in a greenhouse. I’m assuming maybe it was too hot. I did plant the 60 or so best looking ones and they have taken off nicely after a week or so of looking pitiful.
Why did you decide to stop using the conduit trellis system? I just bought all the stuff to do it this year after watching your videos from last year
I think those indeterminates will do better without all the pruning that the conduit method necessitates.
Great. Thank you.
I was doing great today until I discovered a broken head bolt in a diesel truck engine. Getting the broken end out of the block is going to be torture.
Don’t feel bad I had bad luck to. My hot water heater died. So now no hot water and no money.
I think you will like those ox-hearts. Not because they are the absolute tastiest or biggest, though they are good. Rather since you are in GA you should see them hold up under the heat there better than others
I forgot to ask how often you use agrothrive on your planted tomatoes or if you do and do you sidedress more coop poop later on tomatoes? Thanks!
Usually every couple weeks on the AgroThrive. And yes, I might sprinkle them with a little more Coop Gro every now and then too.
There may be a connection to BER and too much synthetic fertilizer. Nutrients competing with one another or maybe the plant out growing it's ability to take up calcium at the same rate its growing.
Hi Travis, I just planted my tomatoes this week, Bella Rosa, Super sweet 100, Big Beef, and this year I’m trying Roadster (on your recommendation) and Simplicity, a disease resistant determinate that looked interesting, have you ever tried it? I planted them by using an organic fertilizer (Espoma Tomato Vegetable) and some home made worm compost, and plant my plants about 6 inches deep. I sometimes get a few with BER at first then they’re beautiful.
Hey Travis. First, I love your video's. Secondly. I am about to plant my flowers in the garden. Zinnias mostly, with some Sunflowers. Should i fertilize with my nature safe 8-5-5?
Sure. Won't hurt them at all.
BER - my personal experience is that with consistent deep watering and choosing strong varieties, it’s not an issue other then a few of the earliest fruits. I don’t worry about testing or supplements
My tomatoes in 2024 -
- cherry: sungold, sun peach, sweet million
- paste: fresh salsa, Roma grande, plum regal
- slicers: grand marshal NEW, Mountain Rouge, Red Snapper, Virginia sweets, BHN589
For me the red snapper is by far the best producer and resilient. It produces a large picture perfect tomato with a good taste and is a determinate
The mountain rouge is by far the best tasting tomato I’ve ever grown and one that produces as well. It’s a pink indedterminate variety and taste so good and out produces any variety I’ve tried that has an equal taste and that includes the heirlooms
Also I grow my plants from seed and I don’t have transplant shock. I plant mine in the ground when they are about 7 inches tall from top of the plant to the Root bottom of the seedlings .
Orientals use Trichoderma powder , making soil minerals bioavailable to roots. Claim not all mycorrhizae works the same. Worth a try.
I've noticed that my San Marzano paste tomatoes suffer more blossom end rot in the beginning of the season than other varieties. We'll see how my Cherokee Purple tomato does this year, I planted it in a pot instead of the garden so I have more control over it.
I’ve found that the San Marzeno tomato variety is one of the worst for BER
There's very little natural calcium in soils in the upcountry. The soil is naturally acidic and needs calcium to raise the PH. I don't have a problem with blossom end rot unless I let the plants go to long without water. Around early June, I use pine shavings to mulch the plants. I like the pine shavings because you can put them inside the cages pretty easily around the base of the plants.
Can also be insufficient water or boron deficiency
Travis! Help!
I've got a question. I've got a situation with my tomatoes that I have never seen before, in almost 20 years of gardening. I don't have any idea what to do about it. I planted two tomato plants, One Ball's Beefsteak, and one Old German, about two weeks ago. They were given to me by another gardener, and were only about 4 to 6 inches in height when planted. About the size of the one in the pink-red pot in your left hand at the beginning of this video.
The concern I have, is that they both have blooms starting to form. They're approximately 14-16 inches in height now, and I have no idea what to do. I've never had a tomato grow and develop this rapidly, even though my planting process is exactly the same as it always has been. The only difference this year, is I purchased a pickup truck load of compost/topsoil from a local seller. normally I use my own compost and soil from around my yard, but this year I built two raised beds, and needed to fill them, so I went out and bought a truck bed's worth of soil. Same fertilizer in the hole, same 3 to 4 inches of straw mulch, and I am amazed, because these things are three times the size they were when I put them in the ground two weeks ago, and both are starting to bloom. I have never had that happen to me before this fast, and I don't know what to make of it!
I think it might far too early in the season to let these develop into fruit. Should I remove them? Would it damage the plants, long-term, if I did? As far as I know both are indeterminate, so they should continue to produce for the rest of the time I can keep them alive, but I am worried they're too young to fruit right now. Am I overthinking this and should I leave them alone, or should I nip the blooms to let them grow more before they start to set fruit? I'm up between Waynesboro and Augusta, for what it's worth.
Help!
I plant tall transplants in a 3" deep trench covering all but the top. the top bends up in a day or so.
Hello Travis, I was wanting to get some cages for my red snapper and roadster tomatoes. Do you have a place that has good cages at a good price? Or do you suggest the Florida weave for those plants?
My garden is prone to blossom end rot, I buy a spray from my local co op store that saves them in that case. You spray the whole plant. So if you do see it you can nip that asap 👌
The reason I plant mine deep in a hole is because they are easy to cover on nights near freezing. I get an early start and fill the hole as the plant grows. Also my water table is low and so my plants and do much better in the south Alabama heat. I can actually hit water at about 3 ft with hole diggers ( if it's wet)
I bought some Cow Pea seeds to plant in the raised beds. TH-cam calls them cow peas (black eyed peas). Are they blackeyes?
There are many different varieties of cowpeas. If they're blackeye peas, they'll look like a dried black-eyed pea you see in the grocery store.
I recently was watching a channel talk about how you could take rootstock from a disease resistant variety or a heat tolerant variety and then graft a tomato of your choice aka heirloom variety and like magic you then have a tomato that tastes great and have great disease resistance or heat tolerance to your area, anyway I'm not sure if this would work but perhaps it could be worth a try?
It can be done. But grafting tomatoes is a pretty delicate process.
Oh, I also like to know what kind of cucumber do you use cause mine don’t do very well. I’m probably using the wrong kind.
I live in Georgia too. I live in the Augusta area and I was wondering, what is your choice for tomatoes?
Red Snapper and Roadster are my favorites: lazydogfarm.com/collections/plants-seeds
If the soil is loose / sandy type soil burying deep works... If your gardening in hard clay soil, Its better to till/loosen the soil & "Lay Them Down" plant them horizontally! The roots can spread thru the loose soil. The sun will draw the plant up & they will grow vertically...I plant about 130 plants a year, in secession. I use t post and fence wire stretched down each row...
Diggin them in deep doesn't make sense if the soil 6"+ deep was something you just covered and took a no-till/no-dig approach with. Though that probably improves the deeper soil with time. My understanding with the rot is its most likely either watering habit or a bad ph soil.
I sprouted some cherry tomatoes from the fridge. Will see what I get. I haven't grown tomatoes yet :P
Our deck has something like cattle panel on the rails so I plan to let em go wild all over it from containers.
if i get BER, it's late in season, when soil calcium is depleted, which prevents good water infiltration, no matter how much i water, as we usually have no rain most summer.
now it poured down, and veggie plot was soggy for many days, so i put several bags of hydrated lime into soil, to help dry it up and make better soil.
Earlier i did sprinkle some dolomite lime, and watched the soil get even tighter. I forgot that dolomite lime has far too much magnesium compared to calcium.
btw the crops that still have growing and perenial borders that also got hydrated lime, all doing fine. i dont need to raise ph, but calcium needed. for indoor plants i made calcium acetate (hydrated lime + double strength vinegar) for a neutral ph calcium feed.
the ultimate lazy determinate tomatoes are low growing bush type that require no support. they dont sprawl too far.
All that lime probably has your soil pH extremely alkaline which is far outside of a tomatoes growing conditions which prevents it from uptalking the calcium and nutrients.
For adding calcium, without skyrocketing your pH, use Gypsum
@@waynespringer501 : yes, temporarily increased ph however, all plants are loving it, rather than being adversely affected. looks like base saturation calcium is more important than ph.
some of the best lemons in the world grow on limestone. go figure.
I bought a pack of those purple tomatoes. I had heard that about the vigor being lacking. I hope that pack of 10 seeds will end up being enough. Did you get all 10 to germinate? Do you have any tips for getting them off to a good start?
I only got 3 to germinate
@@LazyDogFarm Did you germinate them indoors, or direct sow? If indoors did you use a heat mat or just use the ambient temperature in the room? Was there anything different you did with the 3 sucessful ones than the ones that didn't make it?
Pro Tip: Don’t plant tomatoes deep. Instead, you should trench them with the top of your plant coming out of the ground at about a 45 degree angle.
There is science behind this method and it has to do with soil temperature.
When you plant tomatoes deep, you’re not going to get great root development below about 15 inches because the soil temps that deep aren’t warm enough. This is even more relevant the farther north you are growing.
When you trench, your whole stem in that trench is within the top 15 inches and you will have better root development across the whole stem.
Also, if you’re behind on getting stuff in the ground, just plant them normally. Both deep planting and trenching will slow the plants initial progress down until they get established, so if you’re already behind just plant your tomatoes normally.
Im in north Georgia, and unfortunately, I can't grow over 4 to 5 oz tomatoes. It rains too much, and they always split.
was wondering if you ever just let tomatoes sprawl?
I have let them sprawl in a 10x10 plot with no pruning and I got a bumper crop with the down side of having to go Easter egg hunting to find them all (at least they are red). But I find the lower vines prop the collapsed tomato up enough to keep fruit off the soil, and also root when pinned down by the weight of the plant. I would like to do cages and trellises but its just out of my budget , would it really increase my yield that much?
I'm in 9b and one single tomato broke at planting and now sprawling on sturdy bottom limbs. really too late to stake it or pinch to a single stem. Looks like it will make maters just fine 😊
This is kind of how they operated in nature. Growing in the forest near the floor and sometimes taking over trees. People grow vertically mainly to use space more efficiently.
I’m trying some Jet Star tomatoes this year. You have any experience with them?
I didn’t like their taste .
Never tried them. The disease package for them isn't that impressive IMO.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, overwatering tomatos can cause end rot as well? :)
Inconsistent watering is supposed to be the problem . I get a few early then it goes away .
Northerner here. You get me every time with the gin trash ... Not bottle gin lol cotton gin 😂
I heard those purple tomatoes weren’t available from Baker Creek! I tried to get some and they said not available.
Hey Trav😊
How long did it take to get soil like that?
3-4 years
@LazyDogFarm just by adding compost? I see people doing the leaf method I can't wait on that.
I have sandy white soil even tilling over time turn back sand
I know u r a biologist…I save all my egg shells throughout the yr. I crush & add them to my soil every fall. I have been told that I’m wasting my time because it takes forever for the shells to break down & add calcium to the soil. Is this true?
It takes a long time. I just found some 2 yr old egg shells in one of my raised beds that got there from adding some compost. I think grinding them to a fine powder would speed up the process though.
Do y’all sale tomatoes in trays already started?
We don't. Just seeds for some of the varieties we grow.
Hey I have one more question. Is 20-20-20 ferti lome all purpose water soluble the same as y’all’s 20-20-20?
I noticed my purple tomatoes are behind other tomatoes but all came up will see maybe threw 20 bucks away 😂
Cages are too much work for me. I use 8 ft long cement rebar for tomato stakes. Tie plant to stakes with hay bale twine. Plant deep this gives plant a lot of extra root TN is 100° dry as desert with 1 rain per month June to Oct. I irrigate tomato plants every day this washes away calcium and causes BER = blossom end rot. Wood ash is about 30% calcium I give plants wood ash once a week need it or not its better than BER. I don't like to remove suckers the extra plant growth shades tomatoes from sun burn. August I trim my plant remove a lot of deal limbs and too many limbs. I get about 35 lbs of potatoes from each plant. We have 6 plants this year 35x6=210 lb tomatoes is plenty of us. Too much nitrogen will give you very tall plants with fewer tomatoes. I fertilize each tomatoes with 1 table spoon of 6-12-12 once a week all summer. A 50 lb of fertilizer at Farmers Co-op or other farm supply store is $20 for 50 lbs of 6-12-12 fertilizer. 5 lbs of organic cost $25. I space my plants 18" apart crowded plants shade each other this prevents sun burn in TN hot 100° weather. My plants are often 7 ft tall by Aug 30. I cut off all the old limbs if you notice after tomato plants produce tomatoes in a certain location all the limbs at that location die. Cut off all the dead limbs the dead limbs can get blite that will spread to other parts of the plants. White color plastic spoons make good plant markers you can write on the spoons with black marker. I also plant my tomato plants on the east side of a big shade tree so plants get fun sun all morning then shade from 1 pm to dark the hottest time of the day. My laser thermometer shows tomato leaves are 135°f at 2 pm this is too hot for tomato plants. Shade after solar 12 noon plants never get hotter than the air temperature.
HELP!!! When is it too late to start tomato seeds? A mouse or other critter got into my greenhouse and literally ATE my tomato seedlings. I’m in NW Georgia, zone 7b (although they’re trying to tell us now we are 8a). Can I start seeds now and expect to have plants ready to go outside in late May? I’ve had good luck planting out at that time but I usually start much earlier and have bigger plants to put in the ground.
Better late than never!
that's weird, my purple tomatoes are better looking than any others i have, even tho they were planted about ten days after the rest, they are literally twice the size.
Charles Wilbert, who has the world record for the biggest tomato harvest of 1368 lbs from 4 plants, recommends AGAINST deep planting.
The answer to this is solely dependent on your local growing conditions.
Those in northern climates should not deep plant as the deeper soil is to cool to make the plant thrive.
Those in the deep south have to plant deep if they want their plants to survive until frost as the top soil temps get too hot and fry the plant roots, the only way the plant survives is by having roots deep enough to not have scorching hot soil.
If you notice Trav, states his indeterminates get fried and have to be pulled in the heat of the summer. He doesn't plant deep, and he aggressively prunes them to where there's almost no plant leaves shading the soil underneath the plant.
@@waynespringer501 Charles Wilbert the world record tomato grower achieved the record in Alabama and did not plant deep.
Did he plant them to the first true set of leaves or not deeper at all?
@@FloraM44 I feel like my last response was rude, but what he did was to maintain the natural soil line. He did not plant them any deeper than what they already were. If you use a peat pot, he said leave the peat collar but plant them an inch deeper so the pot doesn't dry out. He would still pinch off all the lower leaves and only left the top 2, but still not bury that part.
He does till winter rye 2 feet deep and digs a transplant hole 1 foot deep and 2 feet wide. This is probably why he can get away with not needing to plant deep because there's no compaction, and the roots can travel far fast. Somewhere someone mentioned, he dug 4 feet deep, but I didn't find it in the book.
He used to hold the record for the tallest tomato as well at 28 plus feet.. He has a strange method of leaving 18 suckers. Notill growers channel uses single stem and mentioned they got one 34 feet tall but they are in a hoop house with ideal conditions.
You can find Charles Wilberts' book for free on archive titled How To Grow World Record Tomatoes.
@@masteraus66 Thank you for the info! I didn't find your response rude for what it's worth, but I'm also interested in anyone who has anything to share about growing tomatoes 😊
That's really interesting about leaving it at the natural soil line, but having the transplant hole dug and pre-filled. Probably not something I'll end up trying, but I might try planting at different depths just to see for myself if I have any different results. Last year I had over 140 plants, because I love to try so many different kinds. They don't get massively tall though - I'm not sure if I'm stunting them somehow or if it's the weather the last couple of years which hasn't been great for them (long cool wet Spring, wet summer, like 2 weeks of scorching sun lol)
Anyway, thanks again for recommending the book - I'll check it out!
I bet you'll be making lots of sandwiches out of that Oxheart plant. One of my favorite varieties.
You will like the Cherokee carbon , much more productive compared to Cherokee purple.
Cool
OMGMO!
Do you go through and take the Robert off
Well i wont watch this i feel gmo is going to ruin heirloom
Travis how many days did it take you to sprout those purple tomato seeds. Mine still haven't sprouted and it's been over a week and a half?? Thanks
Took mine a couple weeks.