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Hello all,
This is my first year gardening and I have a couple questions.
First, I have two tomato plants that are going nuts with growing- they are over 4 feet tall already. I am wondering if I should be thinning them out so the sun can fully reach the many tomatos growing. Or if I should let them go nuts.
Second, I also growing what were labelled as sweet yellow onions. They seem to be growing very well, but now it looks like the bulb is starting to grow above ground. Normal?
Third, I have a container strawberry plant. It starts to bud, the white flower opens and a small bud starts, then it closes up and dies off. I have gotten 3 full berries so far. I am trimming runners , etc. Not sure what is happening.
I am very excited that all my peppers and tomatoes are growing so well... just have a few questions.
1. Don't trim the leaves. You don't really want light hitting the tomatoes, that can cause sun scald. You want the fruits protected by the leaves. The fruits don't photosynthesize (actually they do a little, but it doesn't affect the maturation or ripening). The leaves do the photosynthesizing, and the plant can shuffle the sugars made from photosynthesizing to wherever they need to just fine (e.g. the fruits). All you would be doing by trimming leaves is decreasing your production and potentially ruining some fruits with sunscald.
2. That's normal and not a problem
3. I think it's a little late for strawberries, they're a very early season crop. Except for varieties bred for containers they don't really do too well in containers either. Lots of things can cause flowers to drop, including the flower not getting pollinated, temperatures too high or too low, water stress, etc.
Last edited by EugeneOnegin; 07-10-2013 at 10:17 PM..
Why are you trimming the runners off your strawberry plants? I believe that if the runners are left alone, they will root themselves and you will have a larger or fuller strawberry patch.
1. I sometimes prune my Tomato branches to let more airflow in between them but since you only have 2 I would leave them alone and let them go nuts. Just support everything.
2. Normal. Enjoy
3. Nooo, dont trim the runners. They are the future of more yeilds. Let them run, let them go nuts. Next year you'll get new strawberry plants from those runners. But its late in the season so dont expect anything now. Just let them be. Are they in the ground or pot? If its in the pot then I would actually say trim a couple runers BUT only after you make a plant from the runner.
If they are in the ground, I run the lawn mower over them on High. At 3:45 he mentions the runners.
Thanks I am trimming the runners of the strawberries because they are container planted due to space constraints. I believe I found instructions to do that on a strawberry.org website when I googled how to care for container strawberries.
Good to know on the onions I was getting worried !
I have left my tomato plants alone and they are getting taller and taller and everytime I check on them it seems I have another 6-10 growing on a new branch.
My cucumber plant is spreading and spreading with lits of yellow flowers but nothing has appeared yet and they have been flowering for a month at least. Any ideas on that? I have tried polinating by shaking down the plant a little. But don't seem to have many bees this year.
Thanks I am trimming the runners of the strawberries because they are container planted due to space constraints. I believe I found instructions to do that on a strawberry.org website when I googled how to care for container strawberries.
Good to know on the onions I was getting worried !
I have left my tomato plants alone and they are getting taller and taller and everytime I check on them it seems I have another 6-10 growing on a new branch.
My cucumber plant is spreading and spreading with lits of yellow flowers but nothing has appeared yet and they have been flowering for a month at least. Any ideas on that? I have tried polinating by shaking down the plant a little. But don't seem to have many bees this year.
I have tried the artificial pollinating and it just never seems to work for me. I just let mom nature and her bees do the job, hopefully that will work. As for blossoming cukes but no fruit, I too have had this problem from time to time. I don't know what to tell you. I will say, we had blossoms for quite awhile before we got our first babies, but not a month I don't think.
You mentioned trimming the tomato plants, I know some people do, we have never done a thing except watch our tomato plants grow and we usually have a great crop.
Thanks. It seems my tomato plants like to grow 4-6inches at a time. They are now as tall as me. I am 5"6. Some ripened and were pretty tasty.
Still nothing on my cucumber plant.
Strawberry plant is finally budding with a tiny bit of 4-5 berries. (Container strawberries)
And my peppers all have teeny babies on them.
Very exciting as a first time gardener. I am already plotting ideas out for next year.
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