Grow More Tomatoes With These Easy Tips | 18 Plants Feed Family of 4 for a Year
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- Опубликовано: 7 май 2019
- Learn how to plant tomatoes the best way in this video. With these tips done at planting time you'll be growing disease free tomatoes and increase your yield. With these tips we get a year's worth of organic tomatoes for a family of four with just 18 tomato plants- heirloom San Marzano Lungo. 👇👇👇 for FREE Organic Tomato Growing Guide link
Download my FREE tomato growing guide (including seed saving bonus section) here melissaknorris.com/tomatoes/
You'll learn:
*how to know if it's your soil that's lacking nutrients or the way
you're watering
*what the color of your tomato leaves are telling you about their
health
*what nutrients to add specifically to end blossom end rot
*how to plant tomatoes in the ground (different than most other plants) for a *stronger root system
*how you can avoid blight from the get go
*my favorite go to tomato variety
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How to Plant Tomatoes the Best Way - Only 18 Plants for a Year's Worth of Food 
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Let me know in the comments if you've ever had any of these troubles with tomatoes or these diseases. Are you growing tomatoes this year? Did you snag my free tomato growing guide with the seed saving bonus here melissaknorris.com/tomatoes/
How did you determine it was a male tomato plant? :-)
Terrible problems with blossom end rot, including my peppers too
It’s like you answered all my major issues from this past summer. Ha! Thank you so much. You are like a tomato goddess!
Thank you for the tips! We live in the PNW and last year was my first successful year growing tomatoes. I was bummed to hear you say not to plant them in the same spot, because I finally found the perfect space with the right amount of sun. Can I amend the soil in some way to be able to plant in the same spot and not have the worry of blight?
I remember my grandmother used to plant tomatoes, adding into the hole a rusty nail, a (real copper) penny and a couple paper matches torn out of a book of matches. She had incredible success! I remember at the end of the season, we would dig up the items and save to reuse the next year. Sometimes the nail would have basically dissolved. Waste not, want not!
Love this channel probably the best on RUclips period 👍🏼
I have had blossom end rot and as it turned out, I was overwatering. Also, last year I had beautiful tall tomato plants, but few fruiting blossoms. I discovered that if I pruned the lower branches and all the suckers, more air was allowed circulated through the plant (i.e., more pollination) and I got more fruit.
When it comes time please show it is how you preserve all your tomatoes and the different ways that you store them. Video very informative thank you for putting in the hard work doing it.
Nice video Melissa! I've had blossom end rot and blight on my tomatoes at times. But when I'm diligent and add eggshells, compost, and epsom salts and half an old banana I usually don't have too many problems. I add the banana because there was an article I read about an elderly man that grew amazing tomato plants every year and he always did that at planting time. I'm encouraged by your yield with 18 plants. My space is somewhat limited (aka never enough for me! haha) so thanks for stating how many plants you grow. It gives me a goal to try and reach.
I've decided to plant tomatoes on my patio this year instead of in our raised bed garden. Due to our daughter heading off to college in the fall :( I'm simply not going to have the time to preserve a much larger harvest. So, with this intention, I'm trying three plants each of the heirloom varieties of the minibel and the betalux. I am hoping these will be perfect for taking from patio to kitchen to enjoy fresh during this summer since they are smaller. Thank you for your video!! Always enjoy the expertise and knowledge you share!!
I plant my tomatoes on their sides. I removed almost all but the very tops. I put in Epsom salt, mix it in, then plant the tomato. I learned this from Dick Raymond, "joy of gardening". I then put mulch to help prevent soil from touching the leaves. I noticed last year where I did not get the soil covered I had issues with blight.
I do much the same. Root plus 5 or 6 inches under the dirt to get warmth from the sun to the roots. Likewise I take off all the lower leaves to avoid them touching the ground. The plant grows vertical in 24 hours, but I can water the root ball, not the base of the plant.
Good tips for tomatoes. I learned them the hard way lol.
I love your info about blight! Its just confirming that its time for me to switch to drip
Yes, I am having issues. This is my first year. I feel blessed to have found your videos, thank you so much! I have been harvesting some tomatoes daily average of 5. But they’ do not look like the leg slicing heirloom tomatoes I planted. My family says I must have mixed up my seeds but that isn’t possible. They’re small and almost always have cracks. I just started picking them with a bit of green. When I wait they crack. We also had the rainiest summer, nearly every evening. I haven’t watered for 2 months. I will continue to watch, like and save your videos for the answer.
My favorite tomatoes are Brandywine & I really like one I tried a few years ago called Anna Russian. I love the flavor of brandywine and have never made sauce or paste- usually salsa & stewed tomatoes. The Anna Russian is also a beefsteak tomatoe that’s kinda heart shaped - it comes to a slight point at the bottom. It has good flavor as well. A number of years ago I had trouble with my seedlings and so when a bunch of volunteers came up, I used those that year. In the mix, probably from grocery store tomato seeds in the compost, were a red grape tomato and yellow cherry. They are both very sweet and I now grow some of each every year. They are both so prolific that I really only need one of each plant & end up with so many that I’ve resorted to cutting them in half & dehydrating them for “sun dried” tomatoes. It works great because of their small size for throwing into recipes without having to cut them up smaller.
Those are the 4 varieties I grow every year. I occasionally grow a smaller, quicker ripening variety, but I’ve not found one with as great a flavor as my brandywine & Anna Russian.
I occasionally have gotten blossom end rot, but hardly ever. And I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten blight. But I do practice crop rotation, even in my smallish 30x14 garden.
Exactly, I grew the exact amount and production for ten year's when I lived in NY. I have retired to Florida ten years ago and the growing season here is hard to get used to. Also one thing different that I did was to bury the water leaf branch (the first bottom branch) it turns into root. And plant up the next branch. Then pinch that branch off and coat the area of the stalk where it was removed with mud (water and top soil) to help prevent shock. I also water all my transplant root ball's in the hole with "SUPERthrive". A cap full per gallon of water to prevent transplant shock.
I may have over planted tomatoes. I’ve had such a difficult time in the past that I started a variety... yellow pear, blueberries, and a red cherry variety along with Dr Wychies, Paul Robeson, Costalutto Genovese, Stupice, German Pink, red zebra (I think). I may have 50 plants!!! Can’t believe they’ve survived this far. I’m hoping to can most of all of my tomato items this year and things are looking good so far. I’m just east of Seattle and thrilled to have tomato/garden advice from someone in my neck of the woods. Love your channel and your podcast.
@BrandiReyna howdy neighbor!! So nice to meet you and that is a lot of plants, high five! I process the majority of ours with canning. I do have a blog post here on how to can tomato sauce if you need a recipe/tutorial :) melissaknorris.com/make-can-tomato-sauce-waterbath-pressure-canning/
I’m learning a lot from you Melissa. thank you!
Thank you for making this video Melissa. I crowded my plants a bit this season.. so I’m dealing with a few of these issues.
I just found your channel. New subscriber liked👍 hello from Kentucky mountains U.S.A. Happy 2020 gardening.
Thanks for the great video
Hello Melissa. I'm growing several tomato types from seed: Cherokee purple, Wisconsin 55, Better Boy Yellow Pear, Supersweet 100, Celebrity & Bonnie Original. New varieties are Black Krim, and San Marzano. Can't wait till the weather warms up so I can plant outside.
Great video. Thank you for sharing. I have used my suckers to grow new plants in The Philippines. I have used Epsom Salt for blossom end rot. I have also used egg shells. I have used the mittlighter system with some success. We grow in rice hulls and sand. Believe it! I love the challenge of growing tomatoes from seed. God bless America.
Love the San Mariano too! First time I made my own spaghetti sauce and it was awesome. Trying a superSauce Hybrid from Burpee along with the San Mariano this year.
"Oh man, I wish I had taken it deeper" Subscribed!
Your channel reminds me of when I used to read Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living.
I really enjoy it!
Beautiful Lady!!
Wonderful Channel!!
Smart Lady!!
Very good video, young lady, Liked the garlic harvest one also THANK YOU,,
Thank you @tilmon hensley are you gardening this year?
I usually get blossom end rot. I have learned even more than I thought I knew. Thank you, Melissa!
so happy to hear you learned some new things and this year hopefully you'll be blossom end rot free!
good video
Your Awesome
I'm growing San marzano Lungo #2 also this year. And several different tomatoes. I'm growing Cherokee purple...hamson...roma....jet star...red Brandywine and cherry. Last year I grew in containers....it was a big flop. So last fall with my Dad's help we built several raised beds. My biggest is 12 × 24. The bed is 4 feet wide with a 4ft walkway up the middle. It's shaped like an oblong U. I drawer out what I wanted and figured all the boards. It came out perfect. We filled with mulched leaves, steer and horse manure. I bought a cultervator attachment for my battery Ryobi. It's a beast. Let me just say....my arms are toned...lol. I enjoy gardening so much. I'll be canning for the first time. My goal is to fill at least half if my jars. So if I can fill 116 pints and quarts from my garden this year, I'll be very happy. Thank you for sharing you videos and awesome information. By the way....I'm growing peppers....6 kinds. And several brassicas. If I could grow all year long I would but, I'm in zone 5a.
I've planted tomato plants "up to their chin" for years. Break off lowest branches and throw right into the bottom of the hole (they usually don't produce anything but a sucker stalk anyways). Just trim lowest branches off the ground again while growing. Also old school tips: hardwood ash from wood burning stove/fireplace and plant on top of the head of a large pan fish (whole bream work just as good). Many old timers used to pile fence row cuttings and such on their seed beds and burn it and turn it in before planting plots.
Hello from England. Although your growing conditions are different from mine we do have common problems, blight on tomatoes being one of them. In the UK blight is a major problem when growing outdoor tomatoes but we have been fortunate to have had dry summers for the last two years and as blight is an airborne disease and spreads easily in damp humid weather I have not had a problem with it. We have two good blight resistant varieties now available to amateur gardeners and they have both performed well in my garden for several years.
I have just found your channel and I am thoroughly enjoying it so keep up the good work!
Hi Mike, I find your comment interesting because, people I knew while living in Germany, spend hundreds of Euros, by building greenhouses to keep their tomatoes away from the rain because they believe if they get rained on, the plants will die from blight. Is that the common perception, that their plants will die if they are exposed to the air and water in Europe? I grew tomatoes outside, next to the building with no problems, other than the neighbor kids, picking the tomatoes before I did.
Is it the belief on the continent, that plants from the Americas, (tomatoes. potatoes. squash, beans, sweet corn and peppers) can only grow, "under cover"?
Hi Richard, Blight is an airborne fungal disease and is particularly prevalent when we have wet and humid conditions for several days. In my part of England, which is South West Hertfordshire about 30 miles outside London, if blight occurs it usually arrives around the first two weeks in August. We have a free national blight alert service which is primarily designed for farmers but can be used by anyone and this sends an email warning if the prevailing weather conditions are likely to increase the chances of blight developing. I have been growing tomatoes for forty years in my present home in a greenhouse and outside and in that time I have only once had blight on my greenhouse tomatoes. Thank goodness for blight resistant varieties!
@@mikeross4 Thank you for the reply. I have another question for you-Do you have the Tomato Horn Worm Moth in the UK?
We of course end up with more tomatoes than we can eat in the late summer, we've found that they freeze just wonderfully. My wife is Peruvian so we eat a lot of sauces, and a few delicious garden tomatoes mixed with the nasty store-bought ones make all the difference.
This is a thorough and informative video that is provided to us for free….I just want to know who the horrible people are that hit the dislike button this video?
We had issues with blossom end rot this past season. We grow our tomatoes in containers, in a small greenhouse. I used five gallon buckets in past seasons, and our tomatoes did great. We grow Early Girls because of the short growing season here in Wyoming. This last season, though, I thought I would try wicking tubs, using cattle mineral tubs. I planted them with Sustain, Sea Mineral, Epsom Salt and Ag Lime, and for some reason, we had a lot of blossom end rot. I think I may include calcium when planting them here in about a month, and then feed them with some kind of calcium product. Have also thought about going back to the five gallon buckets.
My understanding with clay soils (like I have) gypsum will also help "unlock" the calcium in the soil to help the plants take it up.
I have good soil in a raised bed and only get a decent harvest. The Roma did the best I got a few pounds from a few plants
Thank you so much for this video. I have been following you now for a couple years. I did not see the high tunnel info like you said. Maybe it is not there any more. Did you say after the video? Here in Florida we are constantly fighting something. There is one thing. Our humidity or rainy season . I am getting white powdery on underside of leaves. And little white flying things. Any ideas
Thank you, Melissa! So informative, love your videos and getting your book! What is your opinion on pruning bottom leaves as the plant grows, so they don't touch the ground, is that a good idea? Or does it stunt the plant in some way? God Bless You!
I always prune the bottom leaves as the plant grows and some of the sucker shoots in the middle and top
I've never had "blossom end rot" thus far🤞🤞🤞I save all my eggshells (calcium) all year long, pulverize them when washed and dried and dump a couple cups of the shells in each hole when I plant them. I've also read to put a fish head in each hole as well, yuk! Haven't done that yet. Has anyone used fish heads before? I am planting Early Girl and Goliath plants this year.🤞 Thank you Melissa for a video well done.👍
I put egg shells, fish parts (not just the head), rabbit manure, and used coffee grounds in the hole, cover with aged compost and then plant them deep. My tomatoes have never grown better! Going to have to check on Epsom salt.
Absolutely. It works fantastic. But.....I'd walk out the next morning and the plants were dug up and there had been foul play. Happened 2 or 3 times (after replacing the plants too.) I was blaming a squirrel. No. Turned out to be my darned dog. She couldn't resist the fish smell. So just beware of your critters. LOL
Caterina Platt adding garden lime will prevent animals from digging up your fish, BUT it will probably have an effect on your PH level so use with caution
I've had blight on tomatoes before and it really sucks, but you can treat and prevent it. You can put mulch down which helps prevent it and to treat it as long as you catch it early, cut infected leaves off and spray it with a little bit of non scented hand soapy water.
ONG!
I messed up and planted my peppers with my tomatoes this year. They are growing great and blooms are on both. What should I do?
Tomato, Tomarto, let’s call the whole thing off! Ha ha. Greetings from England 🇺🇸🇬🇧
Try laying them down and should got that next leave too and pulled that dirt on up
If you want to container plant the tomatoes what size is best? How deep does the container need to be?
Thank you!!!!
Hi Melissa , I'm having to grow my cherry tomatoes in pots this year ,due to a move this Summer . I simply have to grow tomatoes !! I have an old wash tub to plant them in. (Two?) What can I do to help the soil in the tub be the best for my cherry tomatoes? Please help !! BobbiLynn
for the soil you can never go wrong with adding in compost and then a great well balanced addition is organic tomato tone amzn.to/2LuGAo0 *affiliate link you can add around the drip line during the growing season. The bag gives directions for amount and how often and is great for container growing, it's already been formulated for tomatoes. :)
My crop was washed out by bottom end rot last year. How do I add calcium?
What do you do for blossom drop and pollination?
I don’t live in a place I can have a garden so I wanted to plant some tomatoes in a flower pot. What is the beat soil to add to my pot? My soil is all red dirt which isn’t good plant soil.
I just planted yesterday and forgot to add Epsom salt to the holes. Can I sprinkle some around the plant instead? Thanks!
Yes, just work it in well to the soil and apply along the drip line of the plant or where the water will seep in to push it down to the roots
Melissa K. Norris - Modern Homesteading .
Plant: "Full sum"
Me: Well Houston has plenty of that. This plant should be good here.
Plant: *3 days later* Roasted to a crisp.
Me: How?! You were okay when I went to sleep!
Yep. "Full sun" in Texas is 6 hours except that this year I think it is more like 3 hours.
Some people put a whole egg into each hole and just crack it a bit? have not been vdery succesful but will try your method next season
If I had blight do I need to do anything to the soil before I plant
You can plant it all the way up to the top crown of leaves too :)
Hi Melissa! Great video! I'm in central North Carolina and I think we're about a month ahead of you here. My plants are in the ground a month now. Coincidentally I have 18 tomato plants too, in three 4x12 raised beds. All but one of them is thriving, just put cages up because they're between 1.5 to 2.5 feet tall already, and green fruits all over the place! But I'm stumped by the one runt. Unexplained failure to thrive, but pretty sure I would recognize blight and this isn't it. Very slow growth at the top, leaves slowly shriveling and eventually turning brown near the bottom. I don't think it's a mineral deficiency because the other plants in the same bed are doing great. Any ideas?
Hmm, if the other plants are doing fine in the same bed that does make it a bit more puzzling. As the leaves shrivel are they turning color, any type of pattern first? The slow growth sounds like a nitrogen deficiency so you could put a small amount of organic tomato tone amzn.to/2LuGAo0 *affiliate link or an organic nitrogen fertilizer around the drip line and see if that helps to improve things.
Thanks! I have some mild “vegetable food” left (I think 2-2-2 maybe?) so I’ll give that a try. Also a few days ago I dug it up and loosened the root ball and put it back in deeper like you mentioned in the video. I’ll let you know!
@@glendoki yes, keep me posted, fingers crossed!
@@MelissaKNorris I think we may have turned a corner! About 3 inches of healthy-looking growth at the top of the plant this week. Thanks so much for your help!
Have another question..so when you water with the fish emulsion water, I assume with watering can, approximately how much water are you using per plant ? Am trying to gauge how much I might need of mixture poured into my pots..direction on bottle gives amount of emulsion to use per square foot..little difficult to figure square footage of round pot..trying to keep from over watering them but at same time give them what they need of the water mix. What I normally do when watering from top is gauge amount of standing water against the "head space" that was left in pot when filling with dirt when it is no more than 1" I stop watering.
I've been doing about a circle of water about 4 to 6 inches around the stem and let it get about an inch high and then move onto the next plant. Not exactly science but it seems to be working well.
@@MelissaKNorris Thanks that was more help then you might think..that sounds the same or really close to same as I water my pots when top of soil watering
Hi Mel, the advise I follow is: water your plants (once a week) with enough water for it to stay on the the surface of the the ground for about 1 minute before it is sucked into the ground, but that is for newly transplanted trees and plants, as far as seedlings go, I stick my finger in, and if it doesn't feel moist at the planting depth, I give them a drink.
@@richardfrank9317 thanks Richard that the way you water is how I have always watered wasn't sure if that would be different with the fish emulsion
Next time you have to separate tomatoes like that loosen the soil a bit then dip the roots in a bucket of water and shake them around a bit until all of the dirt is off the roots and then slowly pull them apart.
HELP! I have too much nitrogen in my soil- my tomatoe leaves are very lush and green but I only have 1 little tomatoe growing. What can I do/ add to the soil to lower the nitrogen levels?
Also, my husband built me a large raised garden bed(it's 2ft off the ground) and in it, I'm growing 2 tomatoes, 1 cucumbers, and 6 banana peppers in Virgin soil, not covered. This is the first time I'm hearing about blight & not planting night plants in the same soil. Does this mean my plants are doomed? Is there anything i can do to save my plants? Thanks for ur help!!
My San Marzano,s always seem to get blossom end rot on the first tomatoes that come on but later ones don't seem to have it?
possibly change in watering or if they were in different soil (started in doors) when young perhaps.
I have heard that as tomato plants grow, they often become more able to take in calcium, which is why the problem goes away.
mulch and eggshells
Do you need to bake your egg shells to dry them out or just dry them on the counter and then powder them?
nope
I pinch all the leaves off except the very top ones and then I bury the plant depending on how tall it is. If tall like yours I bury them sideways. If not that tall I just bury them up to about 2-5 inches from the top leaves.
I have had blight. I live in the Midwest. I also believe I have a fungal infestation in my small garden.
Blight is such a pain, good air flow and no overhead watering will help immensely. :)
Hi Melissa and thanks for your great videos! I have lots of clay in my soul but I've tried to amend it with work castings and manure. My tomatoes get yellowing of the lower leaves about mid way through the season. I live in Pennsylvania. The yellowing then travels up the main stem. What causes this? Thanks for any information.
Kelli
If it's just yellowing part way through the season then likely they're running out of nutrients at that time. You can apply an organic liquid fertilizer when you water or work in some organic tomato tone amzn.to/2LuGAo0 *affiliate link around the drip line during the growing season. You could do a soil test too to see what your levels are, here's a link on soil testing at home :) melissaknorris.com/how-to-test-soil-ph/
Thank you so much Melissa! I am fairly new to gardening and I have not been fertilizing at all throughout the growing season. Duh!
If you are getting your manure from someone that feeds "Round-up Ready" grain to their animals, it is because the round up passes through the animal and still has the strength to kill your garden. The yellowing is the first sign your garden has been exposed. Depending on the area that you are in, it could also mean you need to eat more bananas and put the skins in the garden. Might want to get a soil test to see if you are lacking nutrients or a herbicide is present.
Do you have a way of collecting rainwater?
No, we typically have so much rain year round we've never collected it
How much sauce and salsa does your family do in a year? Depending on how often these items are eaten may depend on how much needs to be grown, too, right? I am starting tomatoes from seedlings this year and debate how many to do. Last year I had 12 plants that didn't produce a ton snd needed ul buying 3 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes to make just some of the sauce we go through and thats not salsa, either. Based on that,, I'd need to plant like 40+ plants? Just wondering how to figure it better. I guess if I do too much I can always give away.
I too have this issue!
a year's supply of tomatoes from 18 tomatoes!!!!! you cant be Greek, though you do look it. Love the channel
Hi, How old was your tomato plant in this video?
I transplanted my plants. Why do you think they’re turning yellow??
What is a similar tomato to the one you prefer that I could grow but in zone 8?
You can totally do the San Marzano Lungo in zone 8!! But if you can't find it another great option is a paste tomato like Roma or Amish paste for salsas and sauce making.
Hey y'all zone 6b
Hey Lisa, Tomatoes love the heat, you can grow anything you want in zone 8, but be sure to mulch them so they don't dry out between watering's and cause "blossom end rot". Also, don't overwater, too much water and you lose flavor, you are in a great "tomato growing zone" they will be the most delicious tomatoes grown anywhere in the world! While they are growing, water them, but as they mature and ripen, don't water and you will be be a legend with truly epic tomatoes!
are you planning it inside the greenhouse? Or are you blocking the wind?
What if your garden can't be rotated due to lack of space/land? Our garden is all we have (not even a quarter acre) and tomatoes are one of our main "things".
Make sure there was no disease, if they come down with blight then it will be there and infect the next year's planting.
Why not plant nightshades with tomatoes? Just wondering, because we did that this last year and we are amateurs, lol.
I've grown tomatoes forever in containers & in the ground & never had any trouble until this year. They're in containers & the leaves are a light green / silver colour. I thought I was overwatering, but we had a week of almost constant rain & they took off. I got a bunch of tomatoes & then the plants went right back to the way they were. Anyone have any ideas?
How was the flavor of the tomatoes you got?
Frank, with global warming we are now seeing new pests spreading into the U.K. that were not here before, but that particular one is not one that I have heard mentioned - yet!
to each their own but that could have been planted about 5 inches deeper easy
Peroxide has worked great for me on getting rid of blight.
How do you use it?
Before you plant your tomatoes lay them on their side for a day out in the sun then plant them in a trench.(stronger root system) the too much nitrogen part isn't accurate, if you have a strong healthy plant and not very many blooms/fruit just add extra epsom salt and bone meal to promote fruit growth. Great video/info for beginners though (:
How do you apply these amendments after the tomato is planted? Do you mix it with water or put it on the soil in granular form? TIA for helping.
@@grammysgrub8870 work it in the soil around the base of the plant
@@growyourgreenthumb9581 Thank you very much! I've moved to a different part of the US and am establishing my first garden in this area. I'm having a Murphy's Law kind of year. It seems I need to add more amendments and I'm learning the best way to do so. I appreciate your response.
@@grammysgrub8870 you're very welcome and I meant to tell you to use "organic amendments" I mainly use blood meal, bone meal, Epsom salt, worm castings and I water everything once a week with a little bit of fish tank water.
Love all of your videos and newsletters..what is your thoughts on using bone meal for calcium..I have used it off and on a lot through the years on different things..also this year I seem to be getting blossom end rot on newly formed green Roma tomatoes and on my Ruetger heirloom while they are around medium size and green. I added Epsom salt and bone meal when planting BTW they are in large pots planted and watered deep..The blossom end rot on the green ones has me baffled..have had it in past on rising or ripe ones but never green ones..I use an open end tube with holes up and down buried in the pot to down by roots, it as main watering system..I am not having this issue with my patio or yellow tomato..all were planted the same way in same soil..appreciate any answers or suggestion you might have..
Hey Melody bone meal does have calcium and the Epsom salt has magnesium, both are helpful. Deep watering is exactly what I'd recommend and it sounds like that's what you're doing. Containers are always a bit trickier in my opinion and I find I have to add nutrients more often. You could have the soil in those pots tested or add in some more bone meal and Epsom salts to see if that helps. How often are you watering?
@@MelissaKNorris I basically keep those tubes full or almost full at all times..the water will stay in them unless the soil starts to dry then the dry soil will pull out only enough water that it needs..then it will water from top to bottom unless the lower soil is still wet enough it then it will water o that point..basically it is a permiation (sp) type of system..I at least check the soil finger length deep once a week..if soil seems to be dry I will top water..just to make sure that dry soil doesn't suck the moisture from the soil around the roots..When I do that, which hasn't been too often I wait to refill tube to full until top watering soaks completely in as any excess water will run back into tube instead of "drowning" the roots....the plants look healthy and are setting on enough fruit..if we get ample rain once soil is wet enough the excess rain will fill the tube..unfortunately due to our weather in Illinois this year I didn't get things planted until almost middle of June which is about a month late for me..then it turn really hot but was diligent about the watering..I started using this system last year and seemed to work a lot better in the containers then top watering had in the past(hoping the inch or so top watering was keeping deep roots wet enough but not too wet) Using old method I seemed to get blossom end rot after the fruit started really turning..that's why I decided to try this watering method...also I have noticed this year, especially with the Romas, the fruit is extremely small compared to previous years and what it should be that is why I myself was wondering if it was lack of nutrients although when mixing my soil for my containers I have always used a combination of thirds..one of garden or "old"soil, one of new composted top soil, and one of Miracle Grow garden soil with the time release fertilizer(this portion usually turns out to be a little more than a third as I usually end up adding in a little more after mixing if it looks like there isn't enough of the fertilizer through out it..I have found this mixture works well in years past..so I was wondering what about adding in fish emulsion during one of the up coming watering if that would help with the issues I am having?
As long as there's sufficient calcium in the soil it's either over or under watering on the blossom end rot. I personally only water deeply 1 or 2 a week so perhaps those ones aren't drying out enough. You could test one container letting it dry out a bit more than the other and see if it makes a difference. With containers I always do a fish emulsion every 2 to 3 weeks.
I have had a hard time for the last 3 years with horn worms. It took me 2 years to figure out what was eating my tomatoes and last year I was out there every day picking them off. YUCK.
Manual removal of them is best but you could try a dusting of food grade diatomaceous earth too
@@MelissaKNorris where can I get that?
@@tammymoodypcdirector this is the bag I ordered amzn.to/2VcF9Kq *affiliate link
@@tammymoodypcdirector Just remember though, DE (diatomaceous earth) will kill off your pollinators also so try to be careful and place it low to the ground since pollinators very rarely crawl the surface of the soil. If it is dusted high, a good bug and a bad bug will all fall victim to DE.
You can get a $10 small "black light" flashlight and shine it on your tomatoes after dark, when hornworms like to feed, and those hornworms will glow in the dark, making them much easier to find.
You could also plant the tomato plant sideways, even deeper removing the lower leaves. It's even better.
Certainly can't be a grandmother I'm Pete let's be cultivation friends lol friends I've learned so much too brains and uh
Please tell the gentleman who is filming you to always stay with the sun behind him and for you to shine the sun in front of you.
To leave space above your head when he you in frame.
The sun was upset because it can't brighten your beautiful face.
A film director would fire the operator.
I'm. Having trouble with rats
We have a huge problem with them around here too. I have not, even though others have had, had any sign of them near the garden. I have several different herbs planted around to deter insect pests (basil, dill...) as well as marigolds. Maybe one of those is deterring them as well?
It could also be that we used Irish Spring soap on the screws when building the beds. Apparently farmers put some of that in & around farm equipment for that reason.
Beautiful just saying