I/m no expert, but I have learned a few things over the years that may be of
help to you with your tomat trubbles.

"Mike S." wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm having a terrible time with my tomato plants and could use some
advice. This is my first time growing them.

I'm growing a Big Boy, Better Boy, and Patio, each in a 5 gallon pot on
my porch. They were purchased from a store in May and planted a few
weeks later. By the middle of June, there were already two little green
tomatoes on the Patio one. Just today, the Patio produced the first two
ripe tomatoes of the season.

If possible, the plants should have been set in the garden as soon after you
got them home as possible. The the 'days-to-maturity' clock starts when the
plants go into the garden, or in your case, the 5-gal bucket.

The bucket size is suitable for growing tomats in a container. Did you
drill about a dozen holes in the bottom for drainage? If so, is the bucket
sitting atop bricks or wood blocks to allow excess water to drain from the
bucket?

Other than that, none of the other tomatoes are ripening. And there are
only a few tomatoes on each of the plants. I would say maybe 3-5 on
each plant. Then, within the past two days two hornworms decided to eat
up most of one of the plants (either the Better Boy or Big Boy) and
another hornworm was on the Patio one but it didn't get that much
damage.

Days-to-maturity for Patio is 70. Better Boy is 75 and Big Boy is 78, so
there's one good reason why your Patio ripened before the others.

Hornworms cause big problems if they/re not controlled early. Keep your eye
out for the moths that lay the eggs that produce the hornworm.
http://images.google.com/images?q=ho...=Search+Images

When you see the moths or their pupa, it/s time to start weekly sprays of BT
(sold as Dipel (tm)
http://images.google.com/images?svnu...en&lr=&q=dipel).

If you miss the moths and pupa, look for the 'poopa' on the lower leaves or
the soil. That's evidence you have hornworm and it/s time for the BT. BT
works best when the worms are small. When the worms are larger, handpick
and destroy.

Do my plants stand a chance of producing any more tomatoes? It seems
like something is wrong with them. Shouldn't they be producing more
tomatoes by now? I'm thinking they're not getting enough fertilizer or
something like that.

Are your plants still producing flowers? Are the new flowers producing new
fruits?

Tomats are not heavy feeders. I side dress mine with two handfuls of
5-10-10 when the first flowers appear. During the season, I foliar feed a
few times with seaweed emulsion.

When we planted them, I followed the advice of a relative who said to
plant them in a mixture of potting soil and some dirt from the flower
bed. I had been using a liquid fertilizer similar to Miracle Grow but I
thought I was using it too much so I haven't used it in a month.

Pure potting soil is better than mixing with flower bed dirt b/c dirt
compacts and inhibits good drainage. I/d use a potting soil with perlite or
vermiculite to ensure good drainage.

Miracle Grow and similar liquid fertilizer products comes in a variety or
strengths. Not every formulation is good for every application. Tomats
don/t need a lot of N nor will they need a lot of supplemental feeding if
the potting soil comes 'pre-juiced.'

Any suggestions on what I should be doing? Honestly, I don't care so
much if the tomatoes don't ripen because I prefer fried green tomatoes
anyway. Also, is the Better Boy resistant to hornworms. It's strange
that only two of the three plants were affected by them.

Be patient. They/ll ripen in due time.