I read the Alaskan gardener's post touting azomite. I tried it in several of my container tomatoes this year. I saw no improvement in the growth/fruit with azomite. Those were my results...your results might vary depending on your driving habits. haha

Is anyone finding their posts are disappearing after its submitted? I am 100% certain I responded to this last night. I did have a couple glasses of wine LOL, but come on.

fireduck, I was saying....

i started using az because my friend uses this plus a bunch of other things on her tomatoes, so I bought a 15 lb bag or so a few years ago just for the hell of it. I'll be using the same bag for the rest of my days on earth at this rate.

While I don't know that I expect this to work, and in a way I am expecting it to not work, I just like doing stuff with the leftover surplus seedlings. Technically I only have room for one of each in the ground but always plant more seeds just in case. And then I always get left with surplus I can't kill but can buy pots for, LOL.

I know you said you saw no improvement in the AZ pot. Did you see anything worse or was it just identical? I also used mycorrhizae in the az pot so this is far from conclusive, regardless of results. LOL

Here's the two-week update:

So far, they look about the same. No big difference in number of blooms or in size. The one on the right is the experimental container and the one on the left is the "control," if I can call it that. This was shot yesterday and I'm noticing today, it's considerably taller--both of them!

But if I had to pick a leader at this point, it's the control pot with just Tomato-Tone and fertilizer with Mycorrhizae or Azomite. That in and of itself doesn't mean too much at this point since it's only been two weeks and I wouldn't have a clue as to when tomatoes use and don't use nutrition, or how much, etc.

At this location, they get nearly equal sun; the one on the left gets morning sun about 15 minutes earlier and the one on the right gets afternoon sun for about that much longer. These are both in a north side garden facing south. Fertilizer-wise, I did Foliago Pro, 1 gallon each, once--and just this week, one gallon each of MaxiBloom. All the other times it was just straight water from the hose, all over.

Both have about equal number of blooms (buds) so nothing really interesting to report. :)

Grace

Grace, BK is my favorite tomato. Good luck with those!! They are going to get huge though. My plants are about 7' tall and about 4' in diameter. Maybe you will get lucky and get some fruit from them! I know mine started to flower at about 18". I made the mistake of not plucking them on two plants and they are struggling to ripen since the plant stayed small. Here are a couple of the ones I just picked.

Wish you luck in your experiment!!

Lucky you, Joe!

i have a couple tomatoes growing on the original BK that went in the ground. That's the first big tomato plant (non patio size) that I have tomatoes on and the seeds were planted around 6/2.

The experiment seeds were also planted at the same time but were smaller, hence, the experiment, hah.

It is almost one month from the original post date and this is how they look now after a serious pruning of just excess leaves (which I do to all of my tomatoes), and I didn't prune off any suckers yet:

As always, the one on the right is the experimental pot with azomite and mycorrhizae added.

The left one is bigger overall but not by much. The right one actually has more blossoms on it, but not by much, maybe a cluster or two, nothing significant, especially since I can see the left one is producing more clusters right now.

In other words, nothing new to report and there is virtually no difference between the two. I think the addition of azomite and mycorrhizae, at least thus far, has done absolutely nothing LOL.

That said, mycorrhizae takes awhile and azomite should be for the long run (one would think) so we shall see. The terrible 100+ heat helped none at all on all of my tomatoes; flowers going unpollinated and shriveling up on the stem everywhere. The Cherokee Purple in the ground and Zapotec were most affected but probably because those two had more flowers than the others.

Hopefully, they can muster through the 90-95+ weather we continue with right now. There's no relief in sight but I also don't see 100+ in the forecast right now, though the weatherman is right about 4% of the time.

That "nose" is really interesting! I have never seen that before.

You should call yours Black 'Nocchio. :-D (OK, cheesy...)

Lol, I was referring to it as a more 'R' rated type of nose :)

I do not trim or prun the BK at all really. I have dozens and dozens of tomatoes on all of the full size plants. They are a wall of growth.

They are the two in the bottom of the pic and then above the one on the left and to the left is another two. The pic is about three weeks old I think and they are much bigger now. Those posts stick up about 8' and they are right near the top of them. I ate the first vine ripened one three days ago.

Thanks for keeping us updated. Don't forget to include a taste test too.

From what I understand, rock dust is the kind of thing that doesn't act quickly. It also requires action by soil microbes to make its minerals available to plants, so it might not be great for container gardening. It's supposed to be a long-term thing, i.e., you spread it once every five years or so, not a quick-acting application that you should use every season. It's a tool more for maintaining the long-term mineral content of your soil than for making a difference with your plants during the same season you apply it.

Jim, I started pruning tomatoes about 8 or 9 years ago, totally by accident. I had this obnoxiously large, 11 foot tall and ugly tomato plant that I despised allllll the way at the back of that property, so in my multi-step process of killing it slowly, I took a pruner to it and just started "shaving" it down to nothing but the buds and fruits. I had two enormous walnut trees on this property and the only place I could grow tomatoes (or anything for that matter) was that far away. Such a pain to water and the tomatoes themselves were gross on its best day, hence, the plan to kill.

Well, it didn't die and in fact, it just produced more and more of the disgusting fruit and I realized I can prune a tomato to be whatever I want it to be and it wouldn't die.

Since that summer, I prune any and all tomatoes down to the essentials; each branch gets 1-3 leaf sets but that's it. I have no desire for the Amazonian appearance on a small lot. The in-ground area I have is about 1/10 of what you've shown so three large tomatoes cannot coexist nicely without my brutal shearing LOL.

i also tend to chop them off at the top when they get to a height I can't manage easily. Haven't done that yet but one is getting close to that point as it's now hovering way over me. If I hadn't gotten such a late start, no doubt I'd have chopped all of it by now, haha.

Gorbelly, totally agreed. As I mentioned on the first posts, I usually use this in the ground. I have no idea how it affects my tomatoes in the ground so I just thought I'd give it a shot in the container. Technically, between Tomato-tone and liquid fertilizer, it should need for nothing, but I figured why not? :)

i was thinking of doing organic vs. chemical fertilizer, but chickened out.

The fastest way for a plant to die in my garden is to have me try to take care of it. I have clipped suckers and grown full plants from them, but as soon as I start 'maintaining' one other than watering or fertilizing it starts going down hill fast. I will say when I transplant them into the beds I do bury them deep and then cut the bottom branches for air circulation. The only ones I struggle with to maintain inside of the cages are the BK. The other tomato plants seem to be more cooperative for me. Couple seasons ago I got hit with the early blight here and lost all the tomatoes in a week, very disheartening. It would be far easier to pick the ripe ones if the plants were more sparse. It is like going on a treasure hunt. I have to twist and contort myself to look up from the bottom of the cages to seek out the ripe ones. Glad my yard has heavy privacy trees/bushes, I could only imagine what it would look like to my neighbors....

I am at the point where I can not reach the top of the plant now either. I do not think there is much 'height' left in it (false hope maybe). One of the reasons, other than laziness and fear of killing them, I do not prune them much is the heavy cover protects them from the slaughter of birds I have throughout the property. The small sparse plants I have provide a constant game of bird vs. man battle watching for early ripe fruit. I prefer to let them ripen on the vine, so do the birds, but I need to pick them about halfway or so otherwise I lose the battle.

How big do the walnut trees get? I am adding in some fruit trees this fall and I was thinking of a walnut tree or two. I have these hickory trees everywhere here. Great cover and shade but a total pain in the butt when all the nuts start to drop and crack open everywhere, very unenjoyable to walk around bare footed. I also do not know of anything to do with them as far as eating them. Walnuts, though, I could chomp on them all day long. I just bought a small bag to toss in with a salad and it was $9.00 for 10 ounces!?!?!?!?

Jim, I have plenty of plants that don't do as well when I fuss, too. LOL. I've learned over the years to just ignore the hell out of my house plants because every time I leave for a week, they grow. When I'm home, they do not LOL! It also becomes glaringly clear when I come back and nothing outside died--in fact, some thrive if nothing is happening to them, including water. It's helped me cut down on pepper watering a LOT though I'm sure I still give them more than they need.

But what I can't stand is ugly. Bring inherently lazy and hating the heat, I look at my overgrown mess and plan for DAYS just to go out and prune, tie and otherwise clean them up. It just annoys me. I may very well be slowing them down due to cutting off so many leaves but it is what it is. I have never had one die and short of this year when I got such a late, late start--I usually am sick of tomatoes in general by September. Of course, come January, I plant seeds again anyway,

Walnut trees...

All I can say is don't do it,

The two black walnuts I had were massive, each being over 30 years old at the time, at least. The amount of shade they provide is ridiculous, but that's not the problem. It's the juglone that exists in every part of their being that kills off everything nearby....even my containers would suffer and in-ground was impossible. Other than the heavy canopy, the roots...omg, these roots would run through the lawn, under the house and basically everywhere. Because I had two on opposite sides of the property, everything in between the 100 feet or so in the middle was the dead zone. Therefore, all the way around the perimeter of the house was a small plot of land where I could plant. I suspect nothing had been planted there since the dark ages. Since I discovered this juglone issu late that first year, I bought two seedlings and planted them. This was back in....1998 or so, long before I knew any tomato is not just a tomato. I forget the variety...Big Something...but be it on account of the juglone or the location or something I did, those tomatoes were nasty. NASTY. LOL

And forget about eating walnuts. You'll wage war on squirrels...and you will lose LOL. I have seen squirrels sitting on my fence eating walnuts and over time, probably because they knew I was terrified of them, they'd sit there and chuck walnut shells at me! Nasty, vile creatures. To this day, I just flat out hate squirrels. Hate.

Needless to say, I do not miss that house. I shelled out over $100K on remodeling that house and my 3 month project took 15 months because of the worst contractor in history, during which time I washed dishes in the bathtub and cooked on ranges in the garage for my family of four. During the open house, the roof caved from the rain because the foundation on the new side of the kitchen/house started sinking. The squirrels still sat outside and laughed. I called an arborist once to cut down the trees and he tells me they're worth over $10K each, go figure, but that I could pull them both out and redo the entire lawn but the juglone would remain for at least a few years.

Wretched trees, I tell you, Jim.

Oh, and I digressed, but they get big. BIG. The canopy during the summer would be about 30-40 feet wide, I estimate...maybe wider. Their height was at least a little taller than their width (50?). In the world of trees I suppose this is not enormous but in a small backyard with a huge deck, this is basically like having two King Kongs.

Lol, sorry to laugh, but I picture two squirrels on top of the fence taking target practice and high giving every bullseye. :)

The walnut trees are valuable, probably could sell them to a mill for quite a fine bounty. A friend of mine sold 14 black walnuts to a mill and got just under a 100k in cash for them. He owns a cpl hundred acres in western NY and has a ton left, lucky guy.

I plant in a 50/50 mix of organic compost and grade A finely screened top soil. If the weather, disease, pests, or myself don't get in the way, the stuff seems to be on steroids in growth. My jungle grows inspite of its caretaker. I will say I'm pretty skilled at eating the goods, though.

Six week update:

The BKs in pots look like 1/4 of the size and lushness of the BK in the ground. The sheer lushness of foliage is not there with these plants in the containers vs. the ones in the ground require pruning to even be remotely manageable. That has been most interesting to me, but it could be attributed to the fact that these two in containers were always laggers compared to the one that got planted in the ground. Who knows?

That said, I have something different to report, finally: the one with azomite and mycorrhizae (this time, on the left side) has about twice the number of fruits that the one without has. They were pretty equal in terms of number of flowers but one thing I've noticed is that during another bout of crazy 100+ heat, the control pot lost some of the flowers (or it yellowed without being pollinated) whereas the experimental pot dropped one. The remainder are still on the plant or show a small tomato emerging, hence resulting in about 10-12 more fruit, I'd guess.

However, the control pot has one or two LARGER tomatoes compared to the experimental pot...perhaps because it also has fewer tomatoes.

Interesting -- well, yes, to me anyway. :-) But definitive, it is most certainly not, not with one pot of each lol.

I didn't get a great shot of it, but the fruit below is off the in-ground plant, and if you can tell, the leaves are at least 3-4x as plentiful as the container plants:

That's all for now.

It would be interesting if there is a difference in taste. :-)