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Growing Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes growing slowly.

13 years ago

Hey everybody,

ItÃ¯Â¿Â½s been almost two months now since I got a sweet 100 cherry tomato starter plant from home depot and IÃ¯Â¿Â½m growing it in a topsy turvy. IÃ¯Â¿Â½m using organic fertilizer and itÃ¯Â¿Â½s getting plenty of sun. But so far itÃ¯Â¿Â½s only got about nine developing flowers. Also the plant is growing instead of down. Am I doing something wrong?

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Comments (6)

good_eats1973
13 years ago
I tried the topsy turvy growing for my son last year. I killed 2 tomato plants. Never could figure out what I was doing wrong. That thing is out in the garage right now :) With 9 flowers; you have gotten further than I did! The sweet 100's I planted in the ground did extremely well last season. They grew 7-8 feet. I'm growing them again this year. I hope it works out for you.

Charles
taz6122
13 years ago

Also the plant is growing instead of down.

Growing is good. If you meant "up" then that's what plants do. They grow toward the light.
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Thanks everyone for all the advice. I think you might be right and not fertilizing could be the problem. Next time, I'll do an experiment as Ignatz suggested: one half with no added food, the other half fed. I'll also use a plain seed starting medium. As for why it's 75 degrees, I am growing inside my house (bathroom to be exact) for lack of anywhere better. Our house has poor insulation so the heat runs nonstop in the winter, causing the temp to get kind of high at times. The bathroom is also probably quite humid given people using the shower several times a day, bumping the temp up further. I'm amazed you all think overwatering was the issue. I know how easy it is to do that, and was really stingy with water. Yes, my pots did have drainage holes. They were plastic nursery pots, not peat. Would you say that watering once a week is too much between 1-2 months old? Also: Do you think my city water might be affecting the plants badly? One source said it was high in chlorine, which seems real bad for young plants but perhaps I'm mistaken. I'll try changing up my starting pots, too. Cells to 3.5 inch pots makes sense. Thanks again everyone.
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popdo
13 years ago
I have 6 super sweet 100's. They took an entire year untill I saw some flowers and ate some tiny cherry tomatos :D

Anyways, they take forever, and also, I recommend taking them out of the Killsy-Tomatoby Planter-o-mo thing, and putting them in a tree-sized pot. Then, when winter comes, bring them in.
amberroses
13 years ago
To defend the topsy, I really do kinda like the tree type with the holes on the side. The original topsy is bad because the container shades the plant and the water runs down the leaves.
cetompkins
13 years ago
I am still new to the garden growing but I am still confused as to why the whole upside down growing thing ever came around. Don't plants like to grow upwards towards the sun? I guess I will never understad this thinking.
righteousrichard
13 years ago
I use hanging five gal buckets with a 2" hole in top and bottom. They always do better than my in ground tomatoes. When you first plant, don't put in too much soil. The soil will stay too wet. Add soil as they grow. I also use rope to hang. The handles are not strong enough!

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