Some of them look like minor bug damage to me.

Ok. I called a buddy of mine over to take a look, too. He said he didn't think anything was wrong. It sounds like it's a unanimous decision!!! Thanks Newyorkrita. I guess I'm paranoid.... Full speed ahead!!!!!

I didn't get a lot accomplished today...just didn't have the "UMPH!!!" to do much. I pulled some grass and put some pine straw beneath the tomatoes...they need more, but at least it will help some to reduce the mud splashing on them. I would have rather had used some old leaves or wheat straw, but you use what you have...or, what your wife has/had. I think I'm in trouble.

I still need more mulch for the tomatoes...and everything else!

Late to the party, but I thought the plants in the photos looked just fine, too.

Just a shot of the zipper cream pea seedlings...

Intheswamp said:I still need more mulch for the tomatoes...and everything else!

At least you made a start on the mulching. And it looks good.

Thanks, Weedwhacker. Your vote shores up my confidence about things! I was worried! :)

As for trellising the tomatoes... I'm thinking of maybe four posts, 4x4 square or 4-5" round, two on each end and two set equidistantly between the end posts. This would be roughly 17' between poles.

I'm thinking of two options with the four poles:

1. Between these posts space out some bamboo poles (secured at the top with an overhead wire/cable) between every couple of tomato plants. The four large posts would secure things from toppling over while the bamboo poles would help with vertical support for the "Florida Weave".
2. Using the same setup of four posts, place the bamboo poles at each tomato plant, securing the pole at the top to overhead wire/cable and simple tying the plants to the poles as they grow.

Just thinking...

I doubt bamboo poles would be strong enough to support the weight of a tomato plant. They sure wouldn't hold up my plants.

Hmm, depends on how big the bamboo is. What diameter was yours? I'm thinking along the lines of 1-1/2" to 2" poles. I'm thinking the four large posts would be carrying most of the load and the bamboo "helping out" a bit between posts.

Ed, maybe you already said -- but how many tomato plants are you growing?

Well, I still don't know about the bamboo. But I never tried your method so.....

Weedwhacker, number of tomato plants...way too many.<grin> There is 15-16 of them...I just planted all the seedlings I had (gave some away)...interestingly, they filled in nicely the row...spaced 3' apart on the Mortgage Lifters and Brandywines...maybe 2'(?) for the Romas. Hoping to save the seed from the best plants for next year. It seems that the Brandywines seem to be more robust (at this stage) than the Mortgage Lifters, but it could be that the fresher seeds of some of the Brandywines might be the difference(?).

Newyorkrita, I can see where too small of bamboo wouldn't work. I've watched some Youtube videos that showed people building some four-legged trellises out of bamboo...it seemed in those videos the bamboo was a bit spindly (especially for the top cross-piece) and the entire frame wobbled. The bamboo (as I'm intending to use it) will either be directly beneath the overhead wire and attached to the wire, or either two pieces of bamboo shoved into the ground on either side of the wide row with both pieces leaning inward to the overhead line. The function of the bamboo would primarily be to keep the suspended wire from sagging between the more substantial wooden posts. Yeah, the bamboo would have to be some thick stuff.

We had a full day of sun yesterday. When I arrived home I walked out to the garden and heard a "SWOOSHING" sound...it was the tomato plants growing...they're about even with the eave of the house now...

Seriously, though, the tomatoes look *so much better*!!! The center of the plants are showing some lush, deep green growth. Where I had laid them on their side and planted them in a trench they were kind of curved coming out of the ground. Now, they are more vertical/erect in their posture. The stems are getting thicker, too. One thing I'm seeing are some blooms coming on down low...should I pinch these off and let the plant get a bit larger/taller before letting it start to set fruit?

There are also big leaves on the tomato plants that are basically at ground level. These were plastered to the ground or sand-covered after all the rain that came through...they showed signs of bugs chewing holes in them, etc., . When I spread the pine straw beneath the plants this lifted the leaves off the ground a bit (and I casually brushed the dirt off the leaves, too). Would it be better to simply go ahead and trim the large lower leaves off?

I'd better be coming up with a tomato support system soon...I think I heard them again...sun'sup!!!
Ed

Something else I'm wondering about. I've seen where folks train the tomato plants to one or two vines and keep the plants pruned pretty close. I know this helps ventilation, keeps the plants more manageable, etc., but in a high heat, high sun environment wouldn't the fruit benefit from shading from more foliage?

In an extended side-note to the above... I seriously doubt I'll be keeping the tomatoes pruned all nice and neat,..I'll probably end up with a jumbled mess of vines and folks riding by will start asking me if I've got kudzu growing in the field. But , I thought I'd ask the question anyhow because I figure I will be pinching some suckers and *trying* to keep them under control...hopefully I'll have a problem trying to keep them under control and not a problem trying to keep them alive!
Ed

I don't consider 15-16 tomato plants to be too many -- since that's what I have .

Is there some reason you don't want to use cages? MUCH less trouble than the Florida weave, and much, much less work than trying to keep them pruned (plus, pruning cuts down on production, at least in my experience). The ring-shaped things sold as tomato cages are pretty much worthless unless you have extremely compact plants, but it's easy to knock together some nice wooden cages that will support your plants and make picking easy. Something like re-mesh, or other welded wire with large enough holes, can also be made into cages (just don't use fencing that has holes too small to get your hand through easily -- for years I struggled with cages made of the kind of fence with small holes at the bottom; nearly impossible to retrieve any tomatoes that fall off the plant). Both of those options can present somewhat of a storage problem, if space is limited (although I usually just leave my wooden cages right in the garden over the winter); in that case, there are heavy-duty folding cages available that are a bit pricy but presumably would last a long time.

This is a photo of a whitetail examining the cages in the fall several years ago -- the cages are about 5' tall and 2' square.

Dagnabbit!!! I was out at the garden walago and started to count the tomato plants and BOOM!!!!...got distracted by a rabbit!!!!!! At least I'm glad I didn't plant *too* many.

Well, in this case it really wasn't a rabbit that distracted me....juvenile tomato horn worms, I presume?

I don't think that's a hornworm -- maybe an armyworm? http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/crea...

Its not tomato hornworms. Those really are hard to spot!!

Yes, trim off the tomato leaves that touch the ground. It will help keep the plants healthier in the long run.

As to trimming, I never trim off suckers. That trim to a central leader thing is a lot of work and without all the foliage in your hot summer the fruit would for sure get sunburned.

I agree with Sandy about cages (make them sturdy) being the best way to go. Remember that those tomato plants can easily grow 8 feet!!

I agree, not a hornworm. The babies are a solid light green.

Weedwhacker, that link has images that look mighty close to my caterpillars (I'm feedin'em, I'm claimin' 'em!). The red stripe is much similar, but mine don't have those dark dots along the edge of the yellow stripe...might be a landrace army worm. Later today I found a few on the peas and one on a pepper plant. None of them passed the smear test. I didn't find any on anything else. I didn't know if these were simply the juvenile tomato worms or not, I know the older tomato worms are very colorful and brighter green and can get GIANT! I think these must be a local strain of army worm as they definitely look very close to the images in Sandy's link. Would it work to treat all the plants with Bt or something?

As for the recommendation for cages, I've been thinking about investing in a roll of concrete reinforcing wire. The cages from them would last the rest of my life...maybe. ;) A roll would do enough 24" cages to cover a full row of tomato plants for me and leave me a little to tinker with for running cucumber, cantaloupe and maybe something else on. Would 24" be a good size? I've got some old rebar leftover from an old project that I can use to stake the cages with. How long should they be and how deep should I drive the rebar into the ground? Just one piece per cage?

Ok, I'll leave the tomato pruning off and go with full foliage except along the bottom. I was going to give the tomato plants a few more days before I trimmed the very lower leaves but I may go ahead and trim them tomorrow...I just checked the forecast the next six days are forecasts for rain and thunderstorms so I may go ahead and prune those older leaves. Man, so far that drip irrigation has worked great!! I know the summer drought is coming, though!

And, the last tidbit I have for tonight is....late this afternoon I got the water ran to the garden!!!! No more 200' of water hose snaking it's way to the garden!!!!!

Ed

Remember you really want the tomato cages to be at least 6 feet high.

My Texas tomato cages are 20 inches around but they also make 24 inches around and many people go with that larger size.