Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I purchased a tomato plant, about a foot tall, put it in potting soil and even added ground eggshells. This happens every year. Something just eats away at the leaves (like a moth eats at fabric). I put Sevin dust one year, that just killed the plant. This year I put marigolds around it. I did see two caterpillars, dark brown with white stripes, on the ground a few mornings ago.
By monroe95 from Kissimmee, FL
Well I had a tomato plant once and it was in my front yard. Every day when I came out in the morning there was snails all around it. So I put a thick layer of salt on the ground around the pot and replaced it every so often. It worked really well!
I have large green tomatoes on the vine, planted from pots. How can I tell when they are ripe or will they turn red? I am a beginning gardener.
By Frank W from Anaheim, CA
When they are bright red - they are ripe! (But don't fail to look up great recipes for fried green tomatoes if some fall off the vine or you pick a few too early). Pluck and enjoy!
Good luck with your new gardening venture. You'll go through valleys and mountains for several seasons of learning curves, but you will never be disappointed with a great harvest. :) Just keep asking questions if you don't know the answers! Good luck and great eats!
Something is wrong with my newly planted tomato plant. I planted them in Miracle Gro potting mix. The edges of the leaves are turning brown and the leaves are curling up. The center of leaves are still green. I need help fast. What is wrong and how to fix?
By Bonnie from Eastpoint, FL
Tomato leaves rarely just stay bright green all the time. They will have some leaves that curl up and turn brown. Mine are doing that right now and are producing tomatoes as fast as I can pick them.
When is the best time to plant tomatoes?
Hardiness Zone: 9a
By ANTHONY from Riverside, CA
Here is a link to a planting chart for zone 9:
www.thevegetablegarden.info/
I'm having so much trouble growing tomatoes. Just when the plant is bearing lots of them, it seems to shrivel up like it's not getting enough water and the leaves turn yellow then black. The tomatoes are smaller in size, split open and rot on the vine.
Hardiness Zone: 6b
By Marie from Hampton, TN
Get a package of Epsom salts at the local Walmart, drugstore, grocery, farm and home. It is great for the tomatoes. When they start blossoming they are short of the magnesium sulfate and this is the easy way to do it. Follow instructions on package or go to Google for gardening with Epsom salts. This ends the blossom end rot as well.
Is it ever possible to grow tomatoes inside your home? Has anyone done this? What were the results, problems, etc?
I start my 'inside' tomatoes late in the season, about a month ago, and just brought it inside tonight. It's about three feet tall or more and blossoming. I will have to pollinate it myself with a paint brush. I have a large 'shop' light over my long dresser for the light which I leave on at least 14 hours.
Why are the tomatoes I am growing under lights so gangly and have so little fruit?
My guess is that the lights are either not strong enough, or placed too high above the plants, or both. (They should be as close as they can be without burning the plants--and moved up as the plant grows.) I don't know the exact numbers, I suspect a little online searching can get you the wattage you need, as well as the distance they should be from the plants.
As for no fruit--unless you have pet bees, they may need a little help pollinating! Use a clean small paintbrush to collect some pollen from the blossoms and move it around inside the blossom. I also know nighttime temps. must be above 65 for fruit to set, so if the room they're in gets colder than that at night, you may want to move them.
Good luck; winter tomoatoes would be nice! Maybe someone who knows more will add more!
My tomatoes are producing well, but a lot of the smaller vines coming off the main stems seem to be drying up and dying where they come off the larger vine. I have been pruning them away, but it just continues.
I feed them Miracle Gro Tomato plant food every 2 weeks and I have no problem with the blossoms setting and growing just the smaller stems drying up and turning brown.
I have the tomato plants growing in oak barrel halves and used potting soil to grow them in.
By Debbie R
My husband brought home a healthy plant. After about 2 or 3 weeks there were small black bugs. Which I thought was from the heat. I rinsed the plant with treatment, those stems that had yellow flowers dyed. So, it looks very healthy, yet every time a flower blooms the stem holding (small flower stem) turns yellow and dies. I just can't get any tomatoes. All leaves look healthy, never experienced anything like it. Help us please.
By Tracy from Manchester, PA
Can tomatoes be planted next to blueberries?
By MIMI
I just planted a few Yellow Pear tomato plants and don't know how much water to give them. How often, how much, and when do I need to fertilize them? Thanks.
Hardiness Zone: 9a
By Carole Lyn from Cuero, TX
Check out these photos.
This is some of our tomato harvest. They are wonderful to eat on a sandwich and make a great sauce to eat fresh or preserved. Family and friends also eagerly wait to receive some of our bounty, as no tomato tastes as good as a home-grown one. It amazes me to think they began as a small blossom.
These are BetterBoy tomatoes being grown in 5 gal. buckets. Silly me, after pulling all the ripe ones, I think of taking a picture. There are tomatoes at 5 ft., 6 ft., 7 ft., and 8 ft. At 9 and 9½ ft. there are blooms.
These tomatoes are growing like gangbusters, but early in the season the vines were weak looking and the tomatoes gnarly. I took them in because the nights are getting cold and because I noticed the skins were showing cracks. They look pretty with my aloe vera by the window.
My husband planted this one tomato plant he received from my sister as a birthday present and it grew to over 9 feet tall and had a span of at least 16 feet. The plant yielded an abundance of tomatoes and there are many on the plant to still ripen.
These tomatoes are better than candy! There is nothing like a fresh-picked tomato.
A fun bee plant poke stands guard over the first tomatoes of the season. I'll give the green ones to mom when they get big and plump because she loves her fried green tomato sandwiches. The red ones I'll keep for topping my vegetarian hamburgers. This is the first tomato plant I've ever grown and I'm sure the bees have helped it along!
Use your fingers to quickly and easily remove these suckers before they start to compete with the main plant for nutrients. This is a page about how to remove tomato suckers.
Some gardeners have good luck using buried PVC pipe with holes drilled in it to water their tomatoes. This is a page about watering tomatoes underground with PVC pipe.
Even though the tomato is the most popular garden crop in the US, there are some important things to keep in mind to ensure the best crop possible. This page contains tips for tomato growers.
When our tomato plants start growing like crazy, I invented this holder made from a clothes hanger to keep the tomato plants from escaping the garden. Cut the wire into 6" pieces. Using pliers, curve into a U shape and curve both ends. Place U shape around straying tomato vine and attach to tomato cage. Do this to all vines to clean up the garden area.
It is fun to share photos of our garden produce. Whether it is to brag a bit about the abundance or to share a photo of a misshapen, weird, funny, or uniquely shaped tomato; gardeners often enjoy seeing pictures from like minded folks' home veggie gardens.
Tomatoes need to be protected from frost and cool temperatures. A plastic tent can help keep them warm and give them a head start on the season. This is a page about making a little hothouse for starting tomatoes.
Giving young tomato plants a start following this method is easy and allows you to move them into the garden with little stress. This is a page about starting tomatoes in coffee cans.
