I was at Walgreens the other day, and saw those little plastic upside down
tomato bags. $10 each .......... I don't think so.

I can make some out of five gallon buckets that would be sturdier, and I can
get buckets free.

Does anyone grow tomatoes like this? It seems like it would be a good deal,
you would only have to make a substantial support, which I can do. It seems
like the tomatoes would not have to be pinched back as much, and the chances
of splitting stems would be reduced.

We do get wind here, so should I put them next to a wind break?

Steve
XXtreme SW Utah
3700' elev
zone 7-8

Visit my blog at http://cabgbypasssurgery.com

I haven't personally grown them, DH doesn't want to, but our neighbors
have been doing it for years with good results. The 'maters look and
taste wonderful. Someone is very stubborn, and doesn't want to build
the structure to hold them.
Nan in DE

"Nanzi" wrote in message
...
I haven't personally grown them, DH doesn't want to, but our neighbors
have been doing it for years with good results. The 'maters look and
taste wonderful. Someone is very stubborn, and doesn't want to build
the structure to hold them.
Nan in DE

Well, I hope to have the time this week to do some, and I will report in.
I'm looking forward to it. It seems like it's going to be easier than
weeding, and the hit and miss watering we have here. On some days, the ag
water pressure is low, non existent, or the skunge in it plugs up a head and
you don't notice it until the plant is dry and in shock. I think the
buckets may be a little more easily managed.

Steve
http://cabgbypasssurgery.com soon to be a book

On Apr 25, 12:35 am, "Steve B" wrote:
"Nanzi" wrote in message

...

I haven't personally grown them, DH doesn't want to, but our neighbors
have been doing it for years with good results. The 'maters look and
taste wonderful. Someone is very stubborn, and doesn't want to build
the structure to hold them.
Nan in DE

Well, I hope to have the time this week to do some, and I will report in.
I'm looking forward to it. It seems like it's going to be easier than
weeding, and the hit and miss watering we have here. On some days, the ag
water pressure is low, non existent, or the skunge in it plugs up a head and
you don't notice it until the plant is dry and in shock. I think the
buckets may be a little more easily managed.

Stevehttp://cabgbypasssurgery.comsoon to be a book

Andy comments:

Well, you guys have motivated me to try it. I have some 5 gallon
plastic buckets and about a half dozen sprouts I haven't transplanted
yet....

It doesn't look like rocket surgery, and if it works, next year
I'll decorate
my front yard with little pinatas with tomatoes growing out of them...
,,,,, assuming my wife agrees, of course... :)))))


Andy in Eureka, Texas

PS I bet that tomatoes grown upside down would make a
great topping for anti-pasta ........

Here in Houston, Texas, we've had tomato blossoms for about 3 weeks,
now.. but no tomatoes.
Maybe it's too-early in the season? However, this is a big change for
the better compared to last year -
when the days were so hot the blossoms would drop about a two or two
after opening!

Kelly Paul Graham

On Apr 22, 10:57*pm, "Steve B" wrote:
I was at Walgreens the other day, and saw those little plastic upside down
tomato bags. *$10 each .......... I don't think so.

I can make some out of five gallon buckets that would be sturdier, and I can
get buckets free.

Does anyone grow tomatoes like this? *It seems like it would be a good deal,
you would only have to make a substantial support, which I can do. *It seems
like the tomatoes would not have to be pinched back as much, and the chances
of splitting stems would be reduced.

We do get wind here, so should I put them next to a wind break?

Steve
XXtreme SW Utah
3700' elev
zone 7-8

Visit my blog athttp://cabgbypasssurgery.com

In article
,
" wrote:

Here in Houston, Texas, we've had tomato blossoms for about 3 weeks,
now.. but no tomatoes.
Maybe it's too-early in the season? However, this is a big change for
the better compared to last year -
when the days were so hot the blossoms would drop about a two or two
after opening!

Kelly Paul Graham

Need night time temps above 55F and daytime temp under 90F.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

wrote in message
...
Here in Houston, Texas, we've had tomato blossoms for about 3 weeks,
now.. but no tomatoes.
Maybe it's too-early in the season? However, this is a big change for
the better compared to last year -
when the days were so hot the blossoms would drop about a two or two
after opening!

Kelly Paul Graham

On Apr 22, 10:57 pm, "Steve B" wrote:
I was at Walgreens the other day, and saw those little plastic upside down
tomato bags. $10 each .......... I don't think so.

I can make some out of five gallon buckets that would be sturdier, and I
can
get buckets free.

Does anyone grow tomatoes like this? It seems like it would be a good
deal,
you would only have to make a substantial support, which I can do. It
seems
like the tomatoes would not have to be pinched back as much, and the
chances
of splitting stems would be reduced.

We do get wind here, so should I put them next to a wind break?

Steve
XXtreme SW Utah
3700' elev
zone 7-8

Visit my blog athttp://cabgbypasssurgery.com

I lived in Lafayette, Louisiana for about eight years, where I learned to
garden. There, you can just about throw some seeds around and stuff would
grow. Remember, I said, "just about". It was actually real work, tilling,
hoeing, weeding, watering, fertilizing, just like anywhere else. But the
humidity was always so high that even if it did get hot, it would be okay.
Like Houston. I lived in Houston, Seabrook, and Galveston, too.

Tomatos have a problem called blossom drop, and that is what you have
described. Night time temperatures are too high, and the blossoms fall off.
There was a spray that one could use that had some type of adhesive on it
that made it better.

But in LA, during the summer, there was a time also where the tomatos quit
setting, but then started again to form some tomatos before it got cold.

HTH

Steve

visit my blog at http://cabgbypasssurgery.com watch for the book

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article
,
" wrote:

Here in Houston, Texas, we've had tomato blossoms for about 3 weeks,
now.. but no tomatoes.
Maybe it's too-early in the season? However, this is a big change for
the better compared to last year -
when the days were so hot the blossoms would drop about a two or two
after opening!

Kelly Paul Graham

Need night time temps above 55F and daytime temp under 90F.

You can improve their chances in a couple of simple ways.
1) If your tomatoes are caged, trellised or staked, grasp the cage,
trellis material or stake, and gently shake the plant. This can loosen
up clumping pollen and cause it to move around in/on the flower and
pollinate. This works best if you do it during cooler early morning
temperatures, or cooler evening temperatures, especially shortly after
sunrise or shortly before/after sunset. Doing this a couple of times a
day really does help improve fruit set. Some people will just reach out
and stroke their plants, like they were petting a cat.

I looked at your weather, and, presently, it looks ideal in Houston. So
that doesn't seem to be your problem.

2.) If your temperatures are on the borderline of those that allow
pollination--max. temp. of about 92 to 95 and min. temp. lower than 75
(but higher than 55), shaking alone may not be enough but you can
improve the odds by "cooling" down the pollen and flowers with a brief
spray of water from the hose during the hottest part of the day (or
night). You don't want to hit the plant with such a hard stream of water
that the flowers fall off, obviously, though! Do this at least twice
daily when temperatures are right at the threshold of being "too hot"
and it can cool the flowers just enough that they will set fruit.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

We made some DIY hanging tomato bags out of the nylon mesh shopping bags
everyone has nowadays. They have them at all grocery stores and we got ours
at Walmart for like 50 cents each, big blue bags, reusable shopping bags.
They are not Nylon, not sure what it is called. We bought one of the ten
dollar ones and made two more DIY ones. They are technically working fine
so far but the tomatoes are slow to start and got VERY windblown last month,
probably a little too early to plant. Two are quite stunted as something
either gnawed at the stem or the stem got damaged by the wind. The ones
that are healthy have blooms but continue to try to grow up bumping into the
bottom of the bag. We planted 100 tomato plants in the ground around 3-24
and those are doing better than the ones in the bags. Not sure we will use
all the other bags we bought, I had wanted to do Cucumbers, Squash and other
Veggies in the bags to keep them off the ground. Not a lot of time to work
on that now though. I will post a photo if anyone is interested in seeing
them.


--
Rita Foust
Garland, TX
Zone 7b-8a
Farmer Jones Eco-Friendly Plants & Produce
http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M10383
"Steve B" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Here in Houston, Texas, we've had tomato blossoms for about 3 weeks,
now.. but no tomatoes.
Maybe it's too-early in the season? However, this is a big change for
the better compared to last year -
when the days were so hot the blossoms would drop about a two or two
after opening!

Kelly Paul Graham

On Apr 22, 10:57 pm, "Steve B" wrote:
I was at Walgreens the other day, and saw those little plastic upside
down
tomato bags. $10 each .......... I don't think so.

I can make some out of five gallon buckets that would be sturdier, and I
can
get buckets free.

Does anyone grow tomatoes like this? It seems like it would be a good
deal,
you would only have to make a substantial support, which I can do. It
seems
like the tomatoes would not have to be pinched back as much, and the
chances
of splitting stems would be reduced.

We do get wind here, so should I put them next to a wind break?

Steve
XXtreme SW Utah
3700' elev
zone 7-8

Visit my blog athttp://cabgbypasssurgery.com

I lived in Lafayette, Louisiana for about eight years, where I learned to
garden. There, you can just about throw some seeds around and stuff would
grow. Remember, I said, "just about". It was actually real work,
tilling, hoeing, weeding, watering, fertilizing, just like anywhere else.
But the humidity was always so high that even if it did get hot, it would
be okay. Like Houston. I lived in Houston, Seabrook, and Galveston, too.

Tomatos have a problem called blossom drop, and that is what you have
described. Night time temperatures are too high, and the blossoms fall
off. There was a spray that one could use that had some type of adhesive
on it that made it better.

But in LA, during the summer, there was a time also where the tomatos quit
setting, but then started again to form some tomatos before it got cold.

HTH

Steve

visit my blog at http://cabgbypasssurgery.com watch for the book

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.