Wow...very impressive looking Lou!!!!!!Great looking tomato plant,you will certainly enjoy those this fall/winter.Thanks for sharing the picture.You will have to keep us updated.

Shelley

Nope, no 2,000 in jars here, Lou. The late blight is getting everything that BER didn't get. It was too cold, too wet, the tomatoes were not happy.

I loved it, you understand, I think we had two days where it ever hit 90, so I'll just eat my beets and cabbage and beans and not worry about tomatoes.

Annie

I grow mine in pots on the deck, since that is my only location with enough direct sun to please a tomato. Our summer was late and I couldn't set them out until mid-June, but September has been kind. My beefsteaks are even ripening on the vine (plus Romas, Manitobas, Krims, and many cherries and grapes), although I think I'll have to pick everything soon. It is very unusual to not have frost this late in Sept.

Our little plot is as hard as adobe. We built raised beds a few years ago, but I try to use all available space, so I grow lots of things in tubs, dish pans, trugs, etc. All of my tomato plants are in bushel baskets this year.

Looking good! I hope you get a lot of tomatoes from it. I had so many tomatoes this year, which is very unusual, that I couldn't keep up with them so a lot ended up in the compost pile. It was a strange summer in a lot of ways.

I have a huge Kabocha Japanese winter squash plant growing out of one of the compost piles. There must be a dozen squashes on it. I had to save it from DH who wanted to spray it with Roundup when he saw it. I love winter squash!
Clare

Too Cool!!!
What a great idea for growing inside.

Linda

I use earth boxes because our soil isn't very good.

My indoor tomato plants. Much smaller than 5 gallon containers.

dcarch

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dcarch:
You showoff !!!!! LOL
They look Great . Do you grow them in the winter ?

I don't know what zone you are in ???
Do you have a winter ???

I just did this to pick at least one Tomato in middle of winter.
Lou

Very excellent uses of 5-gallon buckets, mirrors, tomatoes--and soda bottles! I wasn't sure if that's what I was seeing at first, but how creative!

"Posted by hawk307 -----------------------
I don't know what zone you are in ???
Do you have a winter ??? -------------"

Geographically? I am in zone 6 (NY).
Personality-wise? I donÂt have a winter. Just warm as spring, always. (hehehe)

Serious, It quite interesting to grow tomatoes indoors in the winter.

dcarch

Maureen:
She is omething else !!! I didn't know they were soda bottles until you said it.

dcarch:
I'm in the same zone but in Pa. ( Pocono's )
LOU

Dcarch, are these grown indoors? How do you manage to provideenough light? They're awesome. They are doing a lot better than my puny plant I now have outside. Something keeps eating the blossoms.

Lou, what did you use in your 5 gallon bucket. I tried it this year without much success. My first layer in the bucket was small gravel, followed by potting soil mixed with compost. Where did I go wrong, a few cherry tomatoes and that was it?

Dcarch, also what did you use in your smaller pots?

Thanks, you braggers! lol.

Brenda

Here are mine. First time I've tried it and it was a good thing. all 50 of the plants I put in the ground died before the tomatoes got ripe, blight!! But I managed to can 36 pints of Anne's Salsa from these. The big tomato with the beer can is the hubby!

Dcharch, how are you raising them? What kind of potting mix? What kind of light? Are you supercropping? Do you fertilize periodically?

Brenda:
I just used a bucket that had a crack in the bottom,
with a tray under, for drainage.

Filled it with top soil and added Mir a Grow 2 times.
This was started very late, or it would probably have been 8 foot tall by now.

It gets about 4 hours of sun, then
I use mirrors set in picture frame or Plate Holders to direct sunlight to the plant.

Big difference from my last home which once was a Farm, back into the 1700's.
The soil was so rich " how rich " ??? If I planted a stone,
it would grow into Boulders

Just having some fun.
LOU

Lou,

Your plant could do double duty as a Christmas tree.

aptosca,

That's not the first time I've heard of a squash going crazy in a compost pile. I will remember this next year and amend the soil around my squash plants heavily with compost.

Jim

Dcarch, those are clever containers. How do you get drainage for the 'maters?

Jim :
Your right !!! I grew about a foot in 2 days.
I think we might be able to make an Alfred Hitchcock movie by Christmas.
Are Tomato Plants carnivorous.
Lou

1. Yes, the pots were made from soda bottles. The bottoms for the goblets are used CDs.
2. No drainage was provided. I did not feel itÂs necessary because you should never over water the plants.
3. I used regular potting mix and fertilizers. No supercroping.

Lighting: Artificial lights.

I believe that if you are going to be growing things for many years to come, it is a very good idea to invest in methods that will give you the maximum return.

Proper lighting set up is the most importing investment that will give you the maximum return. The best lighting system is a electronic ballast driven MH/HPS lighting system for growing and seed starting.
The problem is the system costs a lot of money, $250 to $600. Although you will save enough in electricity to pay for the system.

Or you can do this:

I purchased a 400 watt electronic ballast on eBay for $40.00, with another $15.00 of parts, I made my own light fixture.

dcarch

dcarch, you're 'maters look like bonsai!! Adorable!

Cool! I will keep that in mind. I am not 100% confident in my wiring skills, but can usually show up at my parents' house looking confused and holding materials and convince my step dad to help me out. I better hold off for a while, though, he spend like four hours building me a cold frame last weekend. . . .

Hawk your tomato plant looks great!

When I used too much of our garden space for rose bushes, I ended up planting tomatoes in large black plastic flower pots as well as in grow-bags full of a compost especially for tomatoes. I did this for a few years.
They sat on a patio deck in the morning sun and they did quite well until blight started on the leaves. However we always got a good crop of tomatoes. After that I found it was cheaper and easier to just buy them in the market (lol) since they grow here year round in great quantities and cost very little. The little Canary tomatoes are sold as 'sauce' tomatoes because they are so juicy and sweet they're used a lot for making tomato sauces. I like them better than the large beefsteak tomatoes which cost more and are not so juicy.

SharonCb

Hi Sharon :
I'm just doing this for fun.
The tomato plant has grow a lot since I posted.
The Tomato's are the size of Golf balls.
Other plants are growing at DD's, Basil, Italian Parsly,
Peppers, etc

Wanted to see how they would grow inside.
How are your birds doing ???

The American Goldfinches will be losing their colors soon.
They turn to a Yellowish Green in the winter.
Lou
PS:
Don't forget what I said about losing weight ?
You won't have a Shadow !!!

Lookin' good Lou! Down here in Florida, we're just starting our tomato season for fall. We plant in Aug/Sept, then again in Feb/Mar.

I'm growing all my maters in pots this fall cuz we had rodents getting to my maters last spring. I noticed the plants that were in the ground got munched, while the ones in pots did not, so they're all in pots. We'll see how it goes.

Not really enough to can or preserve, but enough to make some good salads, a pot of sauce, and BLTs!

Thanks Lou. No I still have a good shadow but want to trim it down just a little more!

My blackbirds haven't been singing lately. I guess that's just a spring thing but we have competition in the feed tray from some very pretty beige ringneck doves which also seem to like what's on the menu. I'm trying to lure them away with a mixture for birds that should appeal to them, and putting it in a tray on a table away from the tree where the blackbirds feed.

But they sit in the tree outside my computer room window looking in at me while I'm looking out at them and taking pictures. lol.

SharonCb

Sherry:
Maybe the rodents couldn't climb the pots to get to the
Tomato Plants.
A friend saves me the Kitty Litter buckets ( no Litter )
Maybe you could ask around.

I make a plant spray mixture for Deer, don't know if it would work for rodents.

The plant grew wider and about a foot taller since the last Photo.
You can see a tomato near the top right.
Maybe I can eat by Thanksgiving.

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The mirrors work good. I'll have to glue mirror pieces on a ball and hang it in the next window.
I'll put a cardboard propeller on the bottom.
Maybe the heat coming up from the baseboard will make it turn.

I was always like this !!! What's your excuse. LOL !
Lou

"Posted by terri_pacnw
dcarch, you're 'maters look like bonsai!! Adorable! "
Yes, I am trying to have them look like bonsai; but bonsai takes a long time and a lot of care, so I have come up with a trick.

Grow them sideways and keep rotating them once in a while.

dcarch

I have one growing since the beginning of summer and it still has no tomatos on it, its about 5 ft tall! Maybe my bucket was too small, its about a 2-3 gallon.

Joann:
Why don't you try a 5 gallon bucket ?

I have about 25 buds and 3 tomatos , so far.
I had to tie in the branches . They were growing all over the place.
Lou

All the ones shown are grown in less than a gallon containers.

Joann, what variety are you growing?

dcarch

"Grow them sideways and keep rotating them once in a while."

That's clever!

Jim

You all are fabulous and so are your tomatoes. I had great expectations for this year's crop as I put a lot of extra time into getting my earthboxes started and well thought out selection of varieties. Turns out I had a terrible tomato season.