# Tomato Gardening



## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

Not sure where to post this, but I'm not starting a new Forum on gardening!!

I got a free tomato plant at the end of summer. I planted it and it went crazy. It's over 4 ft high (I've staked and tied it - "tomato bondage?" :icon_smile_big: ).

A friend who is a *real* gardener said that was very nice, but it would not produce any tomatoes since the season was over and that plant would just die.

Any way to salvage this? I was so looking forward to some homemade marinara sauce!


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## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

*Green house possible?*

Andy,
Here in the midwest there used to be green houses that grew tomatoes in the winter months (before the first energy crisis in '73). I know tomatoes need lots of light and warm nights to produce fruit. This is why here in the midwest we grow them as annuals now. Now that the night temperatures are dropping into the 50s no one is getting tomatoes. I don't know if it is possible for you to rig up some sort of grow light and keep it warm at night? I know the greenhouses here, all those years ago, were well heated and many were lighted at night. Oh the days of cheap energy - just a memory now. Anyway - if you get any information, please keep us posted, and good luck.
Cheers


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

mpcsb:

Good thinking! The temps here don't get too cold (last winter the low was 47 degrees!).

Maybe if I put a little plastic tent over it....!!

THANKS


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## Chuck Franke (Aug 8, 2003)

Has it bloomed Andy? My Fall tomato crop is covered in blooms and just now beginning to set fruit. You get blossom drop if the nightly temps drop below 55 or so but if you get sunny days you ought to be okay. Sounds like you have a lot of growth but blooms are the key. Shoot me a picture and I can whip up a batch of something or tell ya what to buy. ...You saw what happened when the caterpillars on Malinda's amaryllis decided to toy with me


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## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

Chuck Franke said:


> You saw what happened when the caterpillars on Malinda's amaryllis decided to toy with me


Chuck - you scare me sometimes - LOL - We _are_ friends aren't we? (He types looking over his shoulder.)


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## Chuck Franke (Aug 8, 2003)

mpcsb said:


> Chuck - you scare me sometimes - LOL - We _are_ friends aren't we? (He types looking over his shoulder.)


LOL... Only garden nasties need fear. Organic pest control is far more satisfying. Release some hungry trichogramma wasps on unsuspecting pests sometime. Choo wanna chew on my tomatoes??? Say hullo to my leetle frens...

For Malinda's Amarylis I just sent some dormant bacillus thuringiensis for her to spray where the caterpillars were eating. Caterpillar digests it and whoops - stomach lining melts, infection spreads and the little miscreant dies a brutal and horrific death. Picture the witch when Dorothy nails her with the water bucket.

I don't negotiate with garden pests. You're either with me or you are fertilizer.


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

What ever Chuck sent for my wife's Caterpillar problem worked wonders!!! We now have to post Nuclear Waste signs on the fence, but there are NO caterpillars!

The Tomato plant is in Palm Desert where it may start to get really cold the next few months; maybe even as low as 65 degrees by December!!! :icon_smile_big: Really!

The plant has blooms so there is hope!!

THANKS


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Why am I seeing a faint resemblance to Eddie Albert singing the GREEN ACRES themesong? Drop by the library and thumb through ORGANIC GARDENING. There are plenty of free catalogs. For Palm Springs you may consider HEIRLOOM seeds matched to your desert climate. Along with a plastic tent put down some insulating mulch at the plant base. The desert floor itself gets very cold and can freeze roots.


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

Kav said:


> Why am I seeing a faint resemblance to Eddie Albert singing the GREEN ACRES themesong? ...


Yes, something to be said for the shopping in New York AND the balance of the country.

But since I grew up in Kansas (big city however of 2,000), I've had my share of rural!

Never want to be more than a mile from a large shopping mall, a legit theatre *and* a cinema!


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