Gardening News & Tips

Black Krim Tomato

By growing the Black Krim tomato in your garden, you are sure to come out the neighborhood winner as sometime growing tomatoes seems to cause an outbreak of friendly competition between neighbors to see who can grow the best tasting produce.

The Black Krim tomato gets its name not only from its coloring but its origin from the Black Sea on the Isle of Krim. The rare purple-black color and slight salty flavor make this fruit a stand out in any garden. The dark colored, beefsteak tomatoes are a great choice for anyone not wanting to add salt to their veggies before eating.

Soil

Its best to start your Black Krim seeds indoors in pots 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost. Cover them

Quick Pick Tomatoes

It is a gardener's pride and joy to watch their produce grow plump and ripen. Your Quick Pick tomatoes variety offer a promise of wonderful eating to come even faster than other varieties.

It is no secret that vegetables harvested straight from the garden plot to kitchen pot taste so much better than store bought brands. Additionally, the vitamin and mineral content as well as flavor are at its peak of freshness when vine ripened veggies are picked fresh. Quick Pick got the name because they are one of the fastest tomato producers.

Planting

Plant Quick Pick tomatoes in the springtime to a planting depth of

Tomato plant suckers

Tomato plant suckers look like harmless extensions of the tomato plant. They grow between the main stem and branches in the crotch where they connect.These are really side shoots that develop into another main stem if you let them continue to grow. They seem harmless and an opportunity to grow more tomatoes but they aren't. If you allow them to continue, they suck the nutrients from the main plant. This competition leaves both the tomatoes on the sucker and the main plant smaller and less developed.

If your goal is to produce as many tomatoes as you can and you don't worry about their size, leave the suckers on the plant. However, if you want a sandwich sized beefsteak tomato or one that looks good sliced in a salad, you must remove the tomato plant suckers from the plant. Remember, the suckers also have suckers, which produce even more suckers and eventually no fruit gets enough to eat.

Some gardeners don't prune their tomato plant, that is, they don't remove the suckers. As mentioned before, your tomatoes won't be as big if you don't and your plant will be almost too heavy, particularly if it's an indeterminate variety. Indeterminate plants continue to grow all season and can get quite large.

The main deciding factor on whether to remove suckers is the size of your main stem. If it's strong enough, you can allow a few, two or three, suckers to grow to get more fruit from the tomato plant. However, if you let everyone grow, you'll weaken the plant and have smaller fruit. There's no real agreement on removing suckers, some people don't remove any except those at the base of the plant.

You don't need to prune out your suckers if you have a determinate tomato plant. These plants are far more compact and cease growing when they reach a specific height. Normally, they don't have any fruit until they reach that height and then it all sets at once. You don't get any benefit from removing the suckers from this type of plant. If you don't know whether your tomato plant is determinate or indeterminate, look up the tomato on the Internet and it normally gives that information.

In order to prune, you simply look over the plant. When you see new stems growing in the V between a branch and the main stem, you have a tomato plant sucker or side shoot. It can be just a few small leaves at first but if left to grow becomes another full branch with fruit and leaves, stealing nutrients from the tomatoes forming on the main branches.

Pruning is relatively simple in the early stages. All you have to do is first identify the tomato plant sucker and they pinch them off with your fingers. This only works if your sucker is less than two inches in height. Larger ones require you to use a pruner to clip them off the plant. This also is far more stressful on the plant than removing them early. Make certain that your pruning sheers or clippers are clean and disease-free to protect the mother plant.

Go to Identifying-Garden-Pests from Tomato Plant suckers

Tomato Bacterial Spot

There are different causes of bacterial spot on tomatoes and differents method of removing them.The spots may cause your tomato or pepper crop to diminish. These spots first affect the leaves of the plant. Sometimes, that's all it takes to subject the fruit to sun scald. However, the bacterial spots also affect the fruit and make it look less desirable.

Cause

Tomato Bacterials spot often starts with the seed. While bacterium, X. vesicatoria and X axonopodis pv vesicatoria, can overwinter in plant debris, it usually does so in the seed. Infected seeds are often the cause of the outbreaks. The same is true for diseased transplants. If the season is particularly damp, the infection travels from plant to plant. That's because the bacteria have a flagella, a whip like tail that makes them move through water easily. The wetter the leaves, the easier it is to transmit the disease. If you have one infected plant, it can spread easily throughout the entire filed of plants in damp weather.

Signs

You'll recognize some immediate signs of the bacterium on the seedlings. The cotyledons are often misshapen and look wilted. As the plant grows, you'll notice the leaves have spots on them. Eventually the leaves turn yellow, as do the stems and die. Since the older leaves are affected first and often the bacteria splashes up from the ground, you'll notice the bottom leaves have spots but the tops look good. Once the plant fruits, the spots also are on the fruit. These are often angular. Unlike bacterial speck that has small dots all over the fruit, the spot has larger ones.

Eliminating

While crop rotation is important to preventing bacterial spot, it's not always possible. Keeping the area clean and free from debris is important. Removing the affected leaves also prevents the disease from traveling throughout the plant. Don't do this when the plants are wet. Handling wet plants only transfers the disease to other leaves. There are also chemical and natural applications that can slow or stop the bacteria.

Copper is traditionally used if you want a chemical application but there are now more sophisticated techniques. These are biological methods to help control the problem. Bacteriophages are biological hit men. Phages are nothing more than viruses that infect the bacteria, which in turn infect your plants. Spraying with these viruses in the evening throughout the season helps to control and eliminate the problem.

Not everyone feels comfortable introducing new viruses to their food supply, regardless how innocent they seem. If you're one of those people, there are several home remedies that are often successful in treating bacterial spot, speck and other diseases.

The first uses apple cider vinegar. Use the organic type of vinegar for this process. Simply mix one gallon of water with 3 tablespoons of 5 percent acidic apple cider vinegar. You'll find the acidity on the label. Spray this mixture on your plants in the morning and it helps prevent not only leafspot but also mildew and scab.

Go to from Bacterial Spot

Trimming Tomato Plants

Tomatoes grow on both vines and bushes. Trimming tomato plants helps prevent disease from spreading, improves the quantity and quality of fruit produced, and extends bloom time of flowers. In 1985, the largest recorded tomato plant in United States history measured 53.5 feet high. In 2000, the previous record was beaten by a tomato plant grown in Lancashire UK that reached 65 ft tall!

Tall indeterminate varieties need to be pruned to keep them from growing out of hand. On the other hand, determinates do not requite pruning. Trimming tomato plants is not a major task when you use clean and sharp pruning shears.

Indeterminate plants require staking and pinching away the side shoots as they form. When grown indoors, the tip is typically pinched back also after about four trusses have formed to ensure ripening. The leaves below the lowest truss are generally removed at the same time to improve air circulation around the base of the tomato plants.

Cutting Back Tomato Plants

Green Zebra Tomato

The Green Zebra tomato gets its name from characteristic yellow and dark green stripes. Compared to other tomatoes, the taste is a bit tarter.

Introduced in 1983, the Green Zebra tomato was bred by a grower from Washington. Despite being frequently mistaken as an heirloom, this selection is not officially designated as one.

The Green Zebra reaches maturity in 78 days. Plant height is an average 9 feet. Plants produce ample yields of green tomatoes that remain green when mature. The fruits have the old fashioned tomato flavor some of you may recall from long ago. This type is excellent for pickling, salads, sandwiches, and sauces.