WS Tomato seedlings, they will grow fine

15 years ago

Terrene and others,

I saw your question on your thank you post for your swap, concern about your still very small WS tomato seedlings.

Wanted to assure you that you have nothing to worry about, they will grow fine and produce plenty of tomatoes for you.

With 5 years experience now in WS, and 3 years WS tomato seeds, I can tell you that they will surprise you right before your eyes.

The reason they are so small right now is that they are establishing a very good, strong root system. They are busy with their feet growth and once they establish themselves with huge, strong feet, ie roots, you will see the plant itself start to grow by leaps and bounds.

The weather we have had has not been conducive to good tomato growth, but even my small seedlings are doing well now.

This is the latest I have planted out my WS toms as well, but I'm not worried at all. A friend took 6 of my seedlings from my swap on June 1. She potted them up in huge pots 2 days later. Pots the same as mine and hold 1 1/2 cubic feet of soil.

Today she called me and those really small tomato seedlings have already grown 12 inches in the pots she put them in, using miracle grow potting mix.

Right now, mine are about half the size they where last year and I just got them in their "new homes", their pots today and added a marigold to each pot to help keep the bugs away.

When I plant mine I don't plant them just to the soil line from what they where sown in either. I sink them further down in the soil so that the stems can put out more roots. This creates an even stronger root system for the plants to grow.

That's an old trick I learned more than 50 years ago from my grandpa the tomato farmer.

What you will find is that your WS tomato plants will be a little slow to grow in height for about 2 weeks, once you have them in the ground. Then there will be no stopping those healthy plants from growing.

You will be about 2-3 weeks behind in ripe toms than those that where nursery purchased, but your plants will be much healthier, much stronger plants, and they will continue to produce well into the fall, both in growing fruit and ripening as well.

If we have anything near the weather we had last fall, you may even have your plants still going strong into mid to end of Oct. like I did last year.

OK, here's the proof of WS tomato seedling growth from last year.

Toms planted out fist week in June 2007. 5-10 inches tall

Purple cherokee, white wonder, warren's yellow cherry, sweet 100, black cherry, large cherry red, rutgers. yellow jubilee, and christmas grape

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July 4th

August 16th

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Labor day weekend

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Oct 31st

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Some of the toms

white wonder, rutgers and yellow jubilee

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plate of mixed cherries

purple cherokee, this one weighed over 2 pounds

purple cherokee

rutgers

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mixed cherries

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rutgers, this is one tomato that grew this way.

2 of 10 plates of green cherries taken off the plants on Oct 31st. All the tomatoes went into brown lunch bags to ripen and we ate the last of them on Thanksgiving day.

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Comments (5)

terrene
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wow, Fran, you got impressive growth considering those were in containers. And those tomatoes looks delicious! My mouth is watering a little...:)

My little WS tomatoes are about 2-3 inches tall now, and I hope they start to grow soon. Right now the veggie area looks more like a big patch of dirt - with these little teeny plants. I've got winter-sown tomatoes and chile peppers, as well as herbs, and the Cucumbers and Scarlet Runner beans were direct sown.

I have noticed what you describe with some of the WS plants though - even though they might not have looked like much in the container, they usually have very healthy root growth.
defrost49
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the tip to use brown lunch bags to ripen the cherry tomatos indoors. Last year I wasted mine.
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littleonefb
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Terrene,

I've been growing tomatoes in pots for quite a few years now. They stay "safe" inside my fenced in yard from all the critters that like them as much as we do.
When I grew them in the gardens they never had much of a chance to do well, they became meals and snacks for the "unfriendly 4 footed critters".

They have always done well in the pots, but never anything like the WS toms do in them.
All but one this year are patio type tomato plants, and I've never had a problem with the vines in the pots.

I just fill the containers with fresh miracle grow potting mix, cover with a layer of bark mulch and pop in a dwarf marigold plant. No need to fertilize the plants after that.

In the fall the soil gets dumped into one of the garden beds to help amend the soil and it's worked well. I find a couple of earthworms in the soil but just a few of them.

Last years soil went on top of the new bed dug and this spring just added bark mulch to the top and everything is growing well in it.

Defrost49, glad to offer the tip. Any size tom will ripen in brown bags. For the big ones I use the paper grocery bags from the market.

Fran
weedsmakemecrazy
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wow...you're tomato plants get huge! What's your secret?
Meanwhile, I have tomato plants coming out of my ears...first time winter sowing and I planted waaaayy too many tomatoes. I have them planted in the ground and in pots everywhere - I don't have enough big pots to keep them unless I go buy some more, but I could never eat all these tomatoes if they all grow! Everyone who comes to my house takes a few home. I think I have made some of my friends into gardeners whether they like it or not!
littleonefb
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Weedsmakemecrazy,

Just love that name, describes me perfectly.

My Secret to growing huge tomato plants?

WS seedlings is the real secret. I've never had them as big as those till I started WS the seeds.

2. all the seeds are from prior years tomatoes, saved my either myself or a friend, except the large cherry red and this years beefsteak.

3. pots that hold 1 1/4 cubic feet of soil and I only use miracle grow potting mix in them. I don't like the mix with the moisture control.

4. Sow the seeds in 12 inch styrofoam cups. 1 seed per cup. Fill the cup about 1/2 full, seed in middle and sprinkle a bit of soil on top. only use miracle grow potting mix to do all my WS with.
When seedling reaches the top rim of the cup, I take out the seedling, add more soil to the bottom of the cup, put seedling back in cup and gently press down and add more soil to cover up part of the stem so that more roots grow from it.

5. I plant the seedlings in their "summer homes" the large pots when they are at least 4-6 inches tall and I plant them with part of the main stem covered by soil to have them grow more roots.
I cover the top of the soil with a layer of bark mulch to help retain water, and always plant a dwarf marigold in each pot to help keep the bugs away. have never had an insect problem with my toms as long as marigolds where either in the pots or in the ground around them.
Except for the 1 tiny time I had last year and grew it in a 6 inch pot. no marigold and it got huge hornworms on it. this year it has a larger pot and it's own marigold.

6. I leave a few suckers on the side's of the plant to fill it in and use 3 6 foot plastic stakes for each pot to tie the stems to. I use a velcro green strip that comes in rounds to buy that the local true value hardware store sells to wrap around the stems.

7. Water as needed, usually every day once they get to be about 20 feet tall.

8. sit back and enjoy the show that they put on. If the stems get too tall, I just take my clippers and cut the stem down, take off the green tomatoes from the cut stem and bring them in to ripen inside.

9. no need to add any further fertilizer The potting mix has more than enough for the growing season as the pictures show.

10. Follow my grandpa's advise, he was the veggie farmer that grew over 100 tomato plants that where his pride and joy." Just give them the good soil, at least 6 or more hours of full sun, tie them up or let them run amuck on the ground, they won' mind, and your toms will be good to you. Just be sure to give them each their own private marigold and lots of water."

Fran

WS Tomato seedlings, they will grow fine

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terrene

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WS Tomato seedlings, they will grow fine

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