Kristen, do you know what herbicide damaged the tomatoes?

Are the tomatoes in the ground or in containers? (If containers, are they self-watering containers like Earth-boxes?)

If they're in the ground or in non-self-watering containers, how much and how often do you water?

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Hi! missingtheobvious! Thanks for your post.

I believe it was 2-4-d demage.

My tomatoes are in raised garden bed, sprinkler water them, otherwise I can say I water them at least once a day mostly twice a day, in early morning, and before sunset.

And I usually water them until water make puddle and stay puddled for 10sec that is mostly with fully open garden hose about couple of mins in 6'X 2.5' garden bed. (I don't know if this explains how much I water :(

Thanks again! Have a great evening!

I'll try to post my pics!

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June 11.

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June 18
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July 10. tomatoes the tallest is taller than 5'.
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flowers on June 28
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as you can see, peppercorn sized small tomatoes are there.

Those are not getting bigger! :(

I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable will answer your question.

The plants don't look too bad for 2,4-d damage two and a half or three weeks ago.

I really don't know enough to speculate about the fruit issue -- but if these peppercorn-size fruit have stayed the same size for two weeks ... that was only a few days after the 2,4-d damage. So it seems likely this lack of growth is related to the 2,4-d.

How about the next batch of flowers? Your July 10 photo shows flowers blooming then. What's happening to those tiny fruit? Are they growing normally, or stuck at peppercorn size like the older flowers?

Here's the Tomato Timeline. It shows about a week from blossom to the peppercorn stage. So your July 10 flowers should be at the peppercorn stage or -- some of them -- at the pencil-eraser stage.
http://www.tomatosite.com/index.php?NT=Cultivation&RE=Truss_Timeline

So I think you shouldn't despair just yet. It's not unusual to see stops and starts in fruit growth. I planted late, and all my large tomatoes seem to get to 2" and stop growing!

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It sounds like you've given them plenty of water, so I doubt they're being slow for lack of water. But while we're on the subject, here are some hints about watering:

Don't spray water directly onto tomato plants: it increases the chance of fungal diseases. Similarly, watering at the end of the day may result in the plants staying damp overnight, which also increases the chance of fungal diseases. (I'm guilty of doing it too.)

Mulching under the plants will reduce the likelihood that drops of water from rain or hose, hitting the ground, will pick up bad microorganisms or spores from the soil, bounce up, hit the plant's lower leaves, and infect them with some nasty disease. Mulch also keeps soil moisture from evaporating too quickly; consistent moisture is better for plants -- and it means you don't have to water as often.

Thank you so much missingtheobvious!!

I think you are right that 2-4-d would be the reason of my peppercorn size staying tomatoes! I noticed this evening the tomatoes furher inside are having tomato fruits that seem getting bigger. I guess outside ones have more herbicide demages.

I am not sure about the very new growing flowers- how big the fruits got since last week. I only know it's pollinated;).

Thank you for your post and Also thanks for the links about tomato timelines. :D
Have a good night!

I will try to Post the out come of my tomatoes at the end of July :)
Until then I will try to be patient. :)

Monco,

What garden zone are you in and where are you located? Knowing those can affect the types of answers you get. You can add them to your signature. As missingtheobvious says, it usually isn't a good idea to water in the evening because damp leaves promote disease, but if you are in a desert area (very low humidity) like I am, it isn't a concern.

Your plants look pretty good, especially considering they had to recover from herbicide damage.

As to the apparent lack of growth on your cherry tomatoes: You don't say what variety they are, but the DTM (Days to Maturity from transplanting) for most cherry type tomatoes is 55-60 days and up. Which would mean that since you transplanted them on June 11, around August 11 you will likely be up to your ears in cherry tomatoes! Your baby 'maters look like they are right on schedule.

One thing I would suggest you may wish to modify is your water pattern.

As a general rule, tomatoes need an inch of water every week. An inch of rain is exactly that, water that is one inch deep. One inch of rainfall equals 4.7 gallons of water per square yard. Cool weather or soil with lots of clay needs will be less, hot weather or sandy soil will need more.

Dig down with your finger about 4", is the growing medium wet, dry, or just right? If it is wet, don't water, if dry then water. If it is just right, check again the next day. Water deeply once or twice a week. Watering daily encourages shallow roots which means the plant is affected more by variations in soil moisture/temperature. In my garden during the heat of the summer (like now, they last few days have ranged from 90 to 103 degrees F), I water deeply every 4-5 days, early spring I may only water every 8-9 days and when the weather is moderatly warm (70-80 degrees), about once a week. In the long run, deeper watering requires less water because there is less evaporation.

Mulching heavily (to a depth of 6 - 8 inches) with compost, straw, hay, rotted leaves, grass clippings, even shredded paper or sheets of paper or cardboard helps maintain a consistent moisture level.

Betsy

Hi, Bets!

Thanks for your post!

I live in zone 9 which summer is hot and relatively dry.

I will try to deep water my plants from now ^________^

My toms are Large cherries and grape cherries.

this is my grape cherry - I think.
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This is probably the only one seems growing well- plant is 20''smaller than other tomatoes though.

I really want to see them growing soooooon but as much as I love gardening,I am gonna have to be patient. :D

Thanks again for your post!

Good info from Betsy. But I see a couple of other problems that may be contributing.

First, you planted extremely late for your zone so for next year and much better results you'll want to plant many weeks earlier - like 8-12 weeks earlier.

Second, that bed looks awfully shallow. What are the dimensions on the side boards, how wide? Why isn't the bed filled with mix? If it it as shallow as it looks then watering as you have been only creates shallow rooting and root rot which could easily explain all your symptoms.

They also appear to have been aggressively pruned which only further stressed them. Herbicide, especially 2-4D creates VERY specific symptoms yet I see no sign of any herbicide damage in the picks. None whatsoever. Is that the reason for all the bare stem?

What I do see is lots of what is called physiological tomato leaf roll and that is a soil moisture level issue - soil that is over-watered but which then dries out/drains too quickly and isn't heavily mulched to help retain water.

In other words, it is possible that your issues are all related to the bed itself and the way you are watering, not the plants.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Thanks for your post, Dave.

I knew I was late for tomatoes or anything.. but they still sold at Lowes, so I gave it a try. ;D
I will start from seed indoor for next year.
And.. my garden bed is about 8inches tall.

But i have digged soild under it to loosen it before I put compost and garden soil in the box.

And you might be right about me stressing my tomatoes with excessive pruning... I thought removing those curing leaves will help them grow out of that stage :(

I notice the curled leaves 3 days after my gardener's last visit,as well as yellowing/drying my weeds near tomato bed.
Also my tomatoes stopped growing for about 10 days....
That's why I self diagnosed my tomatoes has herbicide demages.

I am glad you don't think it is herbicide demage. I hope my new watering method will help my tomatoes do better!

Thanks again!