#57053
April 21st, 2006 at 10:04 PM
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Joined: Apr 2006
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Hello everyone, I have 5 tomato plants in pots in my 3rd storey balcony. Last night there was a thunder storm, and in the mornign I found that 2-3 branches were really bent. I was trying to put some support sticks, and one or two branches twisted in the process. Those were the main branches . Will the branches die doe to this? Need some help in controlling the direction of growth of the tomato plants. Thanks for your help Deepanwita
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#57054
April 21st, 2006 at 10:16 PM
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Compost Queen!
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Compost Queen!
Joined: Apr 2003
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Tomato plants have the ability to root all along their stems... If you feel comfortable enough and want to try an experiment.. cut/snip the top of that tomato plant right off.. and stick it in the ground/dirt.. It will not only continue to grow on the bottom one... the side branches will grow up and take over for the main leader trunk.. But the one you stick into the ground will also root.. To help it along, get some liquid fertilizer with a high middle number *ie; 10~60~10* and do two things, drench the ground around the stem in the ground, and pour on the leaves.. then get a sprayer bottle and pour that same stuff into it... then hand spray as a foliates feed.... ****NOT in the sun though, early in the morning, late afternoon, and the first couple of days, shade the plant for the hot afternoon sun.. And umbrella or something to cover it... keep it moist.. and you'll end up with extra plants this year... Tomato plants are really resilient.....
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#57055
April 21st, 2006 at 10:55 PM
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Helo Weezie13, THank you for your quick answer. I live in an apartment, and hence do not haave ground space. Is it ok to try this experiment in a container? Thanks Deepanwita
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#57056
April 22nd, 2006 at 01:35 AM
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Oh, Absolutely!!! The first time I did this, was in a bucket.. My dad had been sick for quite some time, and loved vegetable gardening... and the year before, it was just about all he could do was get to the garden, let alone work in it.. So, I suggested to get some pots and make a make~shift garden right outside their front door.. And I got the buckets from a restaurant owner than I knew, they got BBQ sauce in them, and we washed them out and drilled holes in the bottom and put some heavier bigger rocks and some small rocks for drainage... and then loaded it up with topsoil, compost and a little bit of vermiculite and perlite...*watch the dust on those, it's not good for your lungs, but if it's wet, it's fine to work with*.. Then I was loading the tomato plants into the pots, and Ooooooops, it snapped, I was like, darn it all.. *and my mom had bought Patio Tomato plants, and we're sorta frugal here, and to buy them, they're a bit more pricey, so I was mad and disappointed and just cause... But I knew about the tomatoes and their ability to root along the stem and well, it won't look pretty as them regular lookin' patio plants, but we'll still get our tomatoes and that was the bottom line.... Did what I suggested above... and got a bunch of tomatoes.. it was nice to have a garden, and to have my father look after them, and they didn't do with out fresh veggies.. I grew them some assorted kinds of lettuce in another bucket, peas, and cucumbers and Swiss Chard... they were exstatic to get a good crop too, and like I said, they didn't have to miss out on their fresh veggies, maybe just smaller amounts... *they used to have a garden about half as long as a football field, not exaggerating... 10 different varieties of tomatoes alone.... *We love tomatoes.* but if you want to get into certain varieties or heirloom varieties, Sorellina/Julianna and Johnct are very well versed in those.. And others can give you alottttttttt of growing advise on them too.. *tomatoes are a passion to alot of gardene's here* I have pictures of some swiss chard I did in a rectangle container...(just don't over crowd them like I did... put only a couple of plants, they have a nice root system...) and some peas in a round tub like container too... Hope that gives you some more ideas for containers on your balcony...
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#57057
April 22nd, 2006 at 03:59 AM
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Joined: Feb 2006
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Really enjoyed the pictures and the long tomato-y post, Weezie ! Hope your dad is OK? I always like to learn more about container gardening, and the posts make good reading too. My container Celebrity now has 3 baby tomatoes, and the peas are about 6" tall now ! The other potted tomatoes, a Sungold and a beefsteak, have flowers now. The potted Valencia orange tree has buds, talk about cute. The tree is only about 3 feet tall and she has buds already??? I wonder if I should pluck the buds? The tree has hardly any leaves. I rescued her from the front of Target-all dried out and flapping in the cold wind. Felt sorry for her and brought her home.
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#57058
April 22nd, 2006 at 07:46 AM
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I love yakkin' about tomatoes... It's hard to stop... My dad passed away 5 1/2 years ago... But we had the bucket/container garden for 3 years... And it worked out nice.... About the potted Valencia orange tree. I would make a seperate post on that, about picking the buds, Papito should be able to help a weee~bit more than I can with those, he grows alot of fruit trees in containers, and also lives in Calif.. If you make a new thread about it, he should see it, and answer, if he doesn't come thru in a bit, let me know and I'll PM him...
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#57059
April 22nd, 2006 at 07:53 AM
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Joined: Feb 2006
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Thanks, Weezie. My condolences about your dear dad.
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#57060
April 23rd, 2006 at 03:23 AM
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Hello Weezie13 and Deborah, Thank you all so much for the valuable posts. Weezie13, my condolences too about your father. Those are some beautiful pictures. I planted the snapped branch into a pot, and shaded it too. But today morning the stems and leaves are looking all dried up. May be its stressed out a little bit. The main stem still seems to have some life. I'll wait to see what happens and let you know. I too have many flowers in the tomatoes , but no tomato yet. I have a few banana peppers. Will post the pictures soon. One question, I bought 1 banana, one jalapeno, one hot and one bell pepper, but now two of the plants seem to have banana pepper,wonder why that is ! May be a wrong label on the plant? I bought little plants from walmart. Deepanwita
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#57061
April 23rd, 2006 at 05:37 AM
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Deepanwita, Don't give up on the tomato plant.. Did you give it some liquid fertilizer on it's leaves???? Very important step... That is how the plant feeds itself until it developes roots... so, get something, and sprinkle, drizzle, water, or spray the leaves.. Also, if there were a few flowers on the broken stem, I'd snip the oldest one's... Cause it'll be tryin' to make a fruit, while it needs to set up some roots to feed it'self...
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#57062
April 23rd, 2006 at 05:54 AM
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Joined: Apr 2003
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And thanks on the condolences' for my dad... He was an avid gardener.... and a rock gardnener and rock wall maker... and loveddddddd tomatoes like crazzzzzzzzzzzy!!! That's why when he couldn't do the big garden any more, I was more than happy to do the container garden for him... **I on the other hand was a disgruntaled worker back in my YOUNGER days, and didn't appreciate gardening AT ALL!! We worked in the garden, every friggin' weekend, haulin' water *(cause there wasn't a hose), weedin', planting, sifting compost, in the hot sun, and full force of bug season.. had to cover when frosts' hit :p :rolleyes: until 10:00pm and the job got done ~100+ tomato plants took a long time to cover, with boxes, newspapers, tarps, what ever we could get our hands on.. But around 14 someone gave me a roll~out garden thing full of zinnia's.. I have been madlyyyyyyyyy in love with gardening ever since....
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#57063
April 23rd, 2006 at 12:51 PM
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Joined: Feb 2006
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Hi back, Deepanwita ! Weez, carrying water???? Talk about a true love for the garden ! I'm impressed !!! I saw today that my little Celebrity has 3 tomatoes now !!!! Bought a pure white fuchsia today, just to see what they look like. I wish we could all get together sometime and have a blast of a garden party !
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#57064
April 23rd, 2006 at 06:05 PM
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Hello Weezie13, I did spray "Miracle grow - all purpose plant food" on the plant. I am keeping my fingers crossed now. Thanks for the tip about picking the flowers. I'll do that first thing tomorrow morning. Deborah, we would like to see the pictures of the celebreties soon I am counting days when I'll see my first tomatoes. I do have a couple banana peppers . Waiting for them to grow to their maximum size. Deepanwita
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#57065
April 23rd, 2006 at 06:14 PM
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Joined: Feb 2006
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I don't have a digital camera, and don't know how to scan and upload and all that, but I'm hoping to get into all that cool stuff soon !
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#57066
April 24th, 2006 at 04:02 AM
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Deepanwita, I'm keepin' my fingers *(and everything else ) for you and the plant too! I still have to start mine from seed yet! :rolleyes: Deborah, Once you figure out all that stuff, it's alot of fun doing photo's...
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#57067
April 25th, 2006 at 02:40 AM
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Joined: Apr 2006
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Thanks a lot everyone Deepanwita
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#57068
April 26th, 2006 at 05:14 AM
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Joined: Apr 2006
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I have started my tomatoes from seed inside for 2 years. Last year I didn't have enough room in my garden to plant them, so I used 5 gallon buckets. I drilled some holes, added some rocks, a layer of mulch and soil mixed with peat moss, compost and manure. I had a very nice bucket tomato patch! I don't worry too much about my seedlings getting leggy because I just plant the leggy portion well below the soil and they end up with an incredible root system. I too love tomatoes! My dad was a very avid gardner in his younger years. As a little girl if dad couldn't find me he would look in the garden where he would usually find me either in the tomato plants or the cucumbers! Now that dad is older and doesn't garden anymore I make sure I plant extras so that I can supply him with a multitude of fresh veggies. I also do alot of canning. Dad taught me this from the time I was a little one. I remember pulling a kitchen chair up to the sink and sitting on the counter peeling tomatoes to can. I am very thankful that I have a father that enjoys gardening, he has taught me alot that I am now passing on to my own children and step children.
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#57069
May 17th, 2006 at 11:06 PM
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Joined: May 2006
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Originally posted by Deborah L.: Hi back, Deepanwita ! Weez, carrying water???? Talk about a true love for the garden ! I'm impressed !!! I saw today that my little Celebrity has 3 tomatoes now !!!! Bought a pure white fuchsia today, just to see what they look like. I wish we could all get together sometime and have a blast of a garden party ! hi i'm trying to grow fuchsia and am having trouble could you offer any help ,i live in new york and i have to fuchsia plants that were mailed to me and they were very tiny ,i potted them and put them outside and unforunately they got hit by a light frost maybe 32 degrees and them and now my angle trumpet plant all look like they are dead ,if you could offer any help ,i could not thank you enough,not much info on how to grow fuchsia thank you and i would love to see a white fuchsia ,never seen one
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#57070
May 18th, 2006 at 06:11 AM
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Joined: Feb 2006
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The fuchsias probably are dead. They like half shade, or light sun. You could keep them moist, prune off the dead parts, and they might come back. I'm not sure, but maybe in frost/snow areas, they might be grown as annuals. Never let fuchsias get soggy.
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#57071
May 18th, 2006 at 06:14 AM
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Joined: Feb 2006
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I just searched The Garden Helper in this site, and there are some posts/articles about fuchsias. Just type fuchsia in the search box.
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#57072
May 19th, 2006 at 03:11 PM
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Joined: May 2006
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thank you Deborah L.,for all your info on the fuchsia ,i will look here and try what u said with the pruning ,thank you again
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#57073
May 19th, 2006 at 03:56 PM
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Joined: Feb 2006
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You're welcome ! I hope it comes back for you.
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