Hi. Can anyone recommend a good source (web site and/or book) for growing
tomatos ? I've got several that started out growing well, but now have yellow
spots, wilted leaves and/or branches that are turning over. It may be due to
all of the rain and my clay soil, but I'm guessing some of it is insect and/or
disease related.

I poked around on the NCSU and County Extension service sites and Google'd
tri.gardens, but didn't see "Tomatos for Dummies" type of info. I'm
interested in something that would let you look up a symtom, and see possible
causes/treatments.

Thanx....don

basically you are toast for this season don....

here is what I do, and my plants are over 12 feet


1- dont till - cover your garden each year with leaf mulch to a depth of 6
inches and plant directly into the mulch
2- use wall o waters to get the plants started early - as soon as plants are
available you can start
3 - plant the tomato right up to the first set of leaves, pulling off all
the other leaves or branches
4 - put 5 handfulls of DOLOMITIC limeston(lowes/home depot) into the hole
5 - put 3-4 handfulls of anytype of fertilizer in the hole
6 - cover the lime and fertilizer and plant the plant
7 put a ring around the plant of fertilizer and limestone - 2-3 handfulls

Sit back and enjoy....

This method, especially the wall o waters gets the plants off to an early
start, the leaf mulch keeps all of the diseases below the level of the
plants, and it attracts worms as well.



Tomatolord


"Don S." wrote in message
...
Hi. Can anyone recommend a good source (web site and/or book) for growing
tomatos ? I've got several that started out growing well, but now have
yellow
spots, wilted leaves and/or branches that are turning over. It may be due
to
all of the rain and my clay soil, but I'm guessing some of it is insect
and/or
disease related.

I poked around on the NCSU and County Extension service sites and Google'd
tri.gardens, but didn't see "Tomatos for Dummies" type of info. I'm
interested in something that would let you look up a symtom, and see
possible
causes/treatments.

Thanx....don

What is wall o waters?

--
Lance

"Tomatolord" wrote in message
.. .
basically you are toast for this season don....

here is what I do, and my plants are over 12 feet


1- dont till - cover your garden each year with leaf mulch to a depth of 6
inches and plant directly into the mulch
2- use wall o waters to get the plants started early - as soon as plants
are
available you can start
3 - plant the tomato right up to the first set of leaves, pulling off all
the other leaves or branches
4 - put 5 handfulls of DOLOMITIC limeston(lowes/home depot) into the hole
5 - put 3-4 handfulls of anytype of fertilizer in the hole
6 - cover the lime and fertilizer and plant the plant
7 put a ring around the plant of fertilizer and limestone - 2-3 handfulls

Sit back and enjoy....

This method, especially the wall o waters gets the plants off to an early
start, the leaf mulch keeps all of the diseases below the level of the
plants, and it attracts worms as well.



Tomatolord


"Don S." wrote in message
...
Hi. Can anyone recommend a good source (web site and/or book) for
growing
tomatos ? I've got several that started out growing well, but now have
yellow
spots, wilted leaves and/or branches that are turning over. It may be
due
to
all of the rain and my clay soil, but I'm guessing some of it is insect
and/or
disease related.

I poked around on the NCSU and County Extension service sites and
Google'd
tri.gardens, but didn't see "Tomatos for Dummies" type of info. I'm
interested in something that would let you look up a symtom, and see
possible
causes/treatments.

Thanx....don

What is wall o waters?

A sort of miniature plastic greenhouse.
See http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?product=850

Daniel B. Martin

"Daniel B. Martin" wrote in message
.. .
What is wall o waters?

A sort of miniature plastic greenhouse.
See http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?product=850

Thanks. So its basically just plastic filled with water that surrounds the
plant base? Interesting.

--
Lance

Xref: 127.0.0.1 triangle.gardens:17093

In article , Lance R. wrote:
"Daniel B. Martin" wrote in message
.. .
What is wall o waters?

A sort of miniature plastic greenhouse.
See http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?product=850

Thanks. So its basically just plastic filled with water that surrounds the
plant base? Interesting.

Really more than interesting. It can allow you to get plants in the
ground 3-4 weeks early. The 3 gallons of water acts as a heat sink and
prevents frost. There are 18 tubes that are 18 inches long and maybe an
inch and a quarter in diameter. The weight of the water makes they
slant inward like Teepees. Of course, this year the issue is more I
shoulda planted them on hills because of all the rain.


--
Wes Dukes (wdukesNOatSPAMpoboxdotcom)

In addition to the points that Wes Dukes mentioned in another response, I've
sometimes used the Wall o Water (WOW) as "really big dripper" by filling the
interior of the WOW with water. It doesn't leak out too much around the
edges, so most of the water is absorbed by the ground around the plant,
rather than running off. I have really sandy soil, so it's difficult to
maintain "water basins" around the plants.

Filling the tubes of a WOW without having it tip over can be a little
tricky; I put a 5-gal. bucket upside down over a plant, then put the WOW
around the bucket to fill it.

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh





"Lance R." wrote in message
...
"Daniel B. Martin" wrote in message
.. .
What is wall o waters?

A sort of miniature plastic greenhouse.
See http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?product=850

Thanks. So its basically just plastic filled with water that surrounds
the
plant base? Interesting.

--
Lance

a few other tomato tips

one thing is that tomato set fruit in ONLY particular temperture ranges -
and these are NIGHT time temps not daytime temps

for instance early fruit - early girl etc, set when the temps are in the
high 30's but as the nighttime temps increase they slow down and even stop

Now the big boys, - set above 50 but not above 70's at night - so you have
to get your plants growing during that time period of night time temps

Remember for indeterminate tomatoes - they have to grow to create fruit -
basically they are vines, if they are not growing then they cannot produce
fruit

Determinate - bush tomato/paste tomatos - grow to a particular size and
produce a large flush of fruit

the wows help you get an EARLY start, start to getting the plant growing
during those nighttime temp ranges.

tomatolord


"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
...
In addition to the points that Wes Dukes mentioned in another response,
I've
sometimes used the Wall o Water (WOW) as "really big dripper" by filling
the
interior of the WOW with water. It doesn't leak out too much around the
edges, so most of the water is absorbed by the ground around the plant,
rather than running off. I have really sandy soil, so it's difficult to
maintain "water basins" around the plants.

Filling the tubes of a WOW without having it tip over can be a little
tricky; I put a 5-gal. bucket upside down over a plant, then put the WOW
around the bucket to fill it.

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh





"Lance R." wrote in message
...
"Daniel B. Martin" wrote in message
.. .
What is wall o waters?

A sort of miniature plastic greenhouse.
See http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?product=850

Thanks. So its basically just plastic filled with water that surrounds
the
plant base? Interesting.

--
Lance

a few other tomato tips

one thing is that tomato set fruit in ONLY particular temperture ranges -
and these are NIGHT time temps not daytime temps

for instance early fruit - early girl etc, set when the temps are in the
high 30's but as the nighttime temps increase they slow down and even stop

Now the big boys, - set above 50 but not above 70's at night - so you have
to get your plants growing during that time period of night time temps

Remember for indeterminate tomatoes - they have to grow to create fruit -
basically they are vines, if they are not growing then they cannot produce
fruit

Determinate - bush tomato/paste tomatos - grow to a particular size and
produce a large flush of fruit

the wows help you get an EARLY start, start to getting the plant growing
during those nighttime temp ranges.

tomatolord


"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
...
In addition to the points that Wes Dukes mentioned in another response,
I've
sometimes used the Wall o Water (WOW) as "really big dripper" by filling
the
interior of the WOW with water. It doesn't leak out too much around the
edges, so most of the water is absorbed by the ground around the plant,
rather than running off. I have really sandy soil, so it's difficult to
maintain "water basins" around the plants.

Filling the tubes of a WOW without having it tip over can be a little
tricky; I put a 5-gal. bucket upside down over a plant, then put the WOW
around the bucket to fill it.

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh





"Lance R." wrote in message
...
"Daniel B. Martin" wrote in message
.. .
What is wall o waters?

A sort of miniature plastic greenhouse.
See http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?product=850

Thanks. So its basically just plastic filled with water that surrounds
the
plant base? Interesting.

--
Lance