Tomato blooms

I've got 2 tomato plants in my planter on the porch and they are 8 to 10 inches tall, one of them already has blooms on it. I feel like I should snip them off since they are still young, but I'm not sure.

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no need to but i would mulch around them and prune those bottom leaves in a week or two. those leaves touching soil and splash up is what causes wilts and blight.

Thanks for the pointers.

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Good thread, thanks for sharing the pointers.

determinate varieties dont need sucker pruning. i usually prune indeterminate varieties the bottom 6 inches clean, mulch then prune some as it grows but leave some on to make more tomatoes.

i use tomatoe tone fertilizer to feed. too much nitrogen will cause all plant and no blooms. it has the right amount plus calcium, mg and enzymes to stave off blight and wilts.

Buzzy":ygcayk35 said:

WTM":ygcayk35 said:

determinate varieties dont need sucker pruning. i usually prune indeterminate varieties the bottom 6 inches clean, mulch then prune some as it grows but leave some on to make more tomatoes.

i use tomatoe tone fertilizer to feed. too much nitrogen will cause all plant and no blooms. it has the right amount plus calcium, mg and enzymes to stave off blight and wilts.

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You allow sucker branches in later stages of tomato growth on indeterminate? Seems like one forward two back.


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I'm guessing he cleans the bottom 6" to prevent splash up. Suckering will yield larger tomatoes because you're forcing the plant to work towards growing tomatoes and not branches, but not suckering should increase your overall yield because you should create more blooms.

Buzzy":24ipetw4 said:

WTM":24ipetw4 said:

determinate varieties dont need sucker pruning. i usually prune indeterminate varieties the bottom 6 inches clean, mulch then prune some as it grows but leave some on to make more tomatoes.

i use tomatoe tone fertilizer to feed. too much nitrogen will cause all plant and no blooms. it has the right amount plus calcium, mg and enzymes to stave off blight and wilts.

Click to expand...

You allow sucker branches in later stages of tomato growth on indeterminate? Seems like one forward two back.


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Click to expand...

yes but no more than about 3-4 branches directly above the first flowering/fruit. from the ground the first 8" or so will look clean for room for the hay mulch. the reason is i like to have some extra fruits and the extra stems help shade the set fruit some to prevent sun scald and blossom drop if the night time temps get above 70 or so, while maintaining a good stong main stem. around the middle of august or so i top them to finish out quicker. i usually have more big fist size tomatoes that we can eat and give away.

looks good. yeah youll def need to prune those as close as they are together. i space mine 4ft apart but i have a mid size garden. that way i keep disease and aphids isolated.

better boys and jet stars usually grow well in my garden. i tried bradley's year before last but they didnt do to well but i planted them late into the summer. may try them again.

yeah heat and humidity does a number. good air circulation and a weekly spraying of neem oil helps along pruning diseased leaves and pulling badly infected plants and putting in the trash. the last 2 seasons has definitely been challenging.

If you have bad issues with cukes try burr gherkins instead. I havent lost a single vine in 3 years. Keep them watered and they thrive in the heat.

Pickles or just simple cuke & onions they are great.
https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetab ... rr-gherkin

WTM":16mj9ke4 said:

determinate varieties dont need sucker pruning. i usually prune indeterminate varieties the bottom 6 inches clean, mulch then prune some as it grows but leave some on to make more tomatoes.

i use tomatoe tone fertilizer to feed. too much nitrogen will cause all plant and no blooms. it has the right amount plus calcium, mg and enzymes to stave off blight and wilts.

Click to expand...

I also use this fertilizer also, and it is the stinkist stuff I ever smelled. But works very well.

Buy a bag of Chick-N-Poo and a bag of alfalfa meal. You will have basically the same thing as Tomato Tone but about 10-15 times more fertilizer.

This is about $11 for a 25lb bag around here. A 50lb bag of alfalfa meal is under $20. I get it for around $15/50lbs.
https://chicknpoo.com/product-info/

Good compost really has all the myco/fungi you need. The price they charge for stuff with added "enzymes" is nuts. Your compost is already full of that. You can greatly boost "good guys" and reduce the "bad guys" by adding chitin/chitosan to your soil. Chitin triggers a plant response to create enzymes that attack nematodes, bad fungi and insect eggs. Amendments such as crab/shrimp shell are full of chitin and calcium. These myco products also have a limited shelf life. If you want a cheaper one look for Jobes Compost Starter 4-4-2. Its cheap enough it all just gets dumped at the end of the season.

There are 2 really good fast acting types of calcium. Calcium nitrate but its also high in nitrogen and calcium acetate or citrate but its hard to find unless you know where to look. Its not often sold as an amendment. It is however sold as a dietary supplement. A kilo bag can be found for about $25 if you know where to look and thats a huge amount of readily available calcium. Unlike calcium carbonate it will not alter soil pH and plants can use it right away. It dissolves in water. Carbonate requires an acid to break it down before plants can use it.
https://www.bulksupplements.com/product ... um-acetate

The pickled pictures are just plain unfair.

Really looks good.

Best thing about them....they crank out cukes all season AFTER the weather warms up. You will get tired of picking them all. Flavor is so close to a regular cuke you probably would not know unless you were told. I make cukes&onions with a sorta milder but sweet peppers added. That pic is with Brazilian Starfish peppers added. Very sweet and almost a cherry like flavor. Most of the heat is around the seeds. Just remove that and its pretty mild.

yeah if one has access to good compost and the bagged compost is just too expensive for my size of garden. i do add back the compost that i generate but i need more to amend. i spoke with the local mulch supplier and he is trying to source some because so many people are asking for it.

the closest thing to compost that i can get is cotton gin trash and hulls but kind of worried about pesticides in it.

i do plant clover and oat mix as a fall cover crop and it does well to make its own composte when i crimp it in spring but i would still like to add some in the fall when i plant it.

Really nice compost here is around $26/yard if you go pick it up. The organic compost pricing is around $35. Old alfalfa hay makes good cheap compost if you can find it. Coffee grounds from specialty coffee houses too. Rabbit poo is the absolute best if you can find someone that raises rabbits. You dont even need to compost it. I only need to feed around 50 plants total so a couple bags of Chick N Poo, alfalfa meal and household kitchen waste works fine for me.