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Post by octave1 on May 20, 2021 8:58:33 GMT -5
My homegrown tomato seedlings are pitiful this year, but volunteers in the garden look nice and strong. Aside from not knowing what varieties they are, is there something wrong about digging up and moving those to a better location? My concern would be about severing perhaps important long roots. I am still trying to rescue my seedlings, but I need to know that at least I can rely on a plan B. (buying plants not yet an option).
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Post by paulf on May 20, 2021 9:36:21 GMT -5
About the end of February I start getting nervous and itch to get into the basement to start the growing process for the year. My mind has been made up on varieties since January. Friends from the area and even some from south of me are asking when they can expect the seedlings to be ready. So instead of reading my journals from previous years, by the first week of March the seeds are being planted and put under the lights.
By the first of May when I want the plants to be around ten inches tall there is a jungle to take outside to harden off. WORDS OF WISDOM, MOSTLY TO SELF: WAIT AT LEAST TWO MORE WEEKS BEFORE STARTING!! Getting antsy in my old age.
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Post by paquebot on May 20, 2021 10:26:05 GMT -5
Plan B will work. Tomato plants replace root easily so transplanting volunteers is no problem.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by september on May 20, 2021 10:28:53 GMT -5
octave1 , don't worry about severing roots if you move the volunteers. Tomatoes are relentless at growing new roots. Every once in a while, I find a healthy volunteer growing in my harvested sweet corn bed at the end of the season. Sometimes I dig it up and pot it, and bring it in the house to see what may ripen. It has no problem acclimatizing to the pot. This tomato was about 1/2 the size with a lot fewer branches when I dug it up. (I did have it in the greenhouse before bringing it in the house when it got too cold) So move those volunteers all you want!
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 20, 2021 13:35:08 GMT -5
I have dug up volunteers, and planted them in a spot when something would happen to one of the original plants. And years ago, I used to only plant volunteer tomatillos, though after several years the size reduced considerably, so I started with seeds again.
Here's a heads up, however, if you were growing hybrids. Many years ago a friend of mine grew a volunteer, which had to be an F2, as he bought all his plants, and this was before they were selling heirlooms! The plant grew huge, and got a large number of flowers on the plant, but not a single fruit! He even tried pollinating it from other plants, to no avail - the thing was sterile. Never saw this again before or since.
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Post by octave1 on May 20, 2021 14:14:29 GMT -5
That's quite interesting, pepperhead212 , I never saw it happen with all the tomato volunteers I leave in situ every year but I did experience something like that with a zucchini plant I started from seeds. Apparently this zucchini only had male flowers.
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Post by brownrexx on May 21, 2021 8:54:03 GMT -5
octave1, last year I had that terrible trouble with my seedlings developing hard brown areas on the stems which was killing them. I cut the stems off and they rooted in water, were re-planted and grew fine so I agree with others that tomato plants grow new roots easily even when damaged. Another thing you might try is to take a pot of potting soil outside and plant some tomato seeds of varieties that you especially wanted. I did this last year so that I could have some younger plants later in the season and it worked really well. I am planning on doing this again this year. I don't know why I never did this before. These fresh plants started producing when the older plants were getting a bit tired and droopy.
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lisaann
Junior Member
Posts: 76
Joined: June 2016
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Post by lisaann on May 22, 2021 14:34:34 GMT -5
I want a sunpeach cherry tomato, but I can't eat or give away all even one plant produces. Cherry tomatoes really can over produce! hahahah So, like brownrexx , I started one seed today and will plant on the 4th of July, and I should have just about enough for the remaining summer and early fall without all the mess of dropping overripe fruit while on vacation or just because I could not keep up. Hope this plan works. Smiling at everyone and waving!
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