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Curiosity getting the better of me, I decided to try growing an upside down tomato plant, and being frugal, I made a planter out of a five gallon bucket It isn't as fancy, but why spend $20 if you have the parts?.
It has been outside for two weeks now, and is getting stronger, but there is one thing that I noticed; The main stem/stalk/trunk of the plant has started growing up, and I am assuming that after it sets fruit and they begin to grow, the stalk will grow downwards.
Which leads me to this thought/questions:
If the stalk is growing up, even though it is facing down, are the roots growing down, even though they are facing up??? Sounds almost like a paradox.
Would this add stress to the plant?
I also decided to put it up on an old pool deck, so if it starts to really grow I'll have enough support to just drape, and tie it around the deck.
As an ongoing project I'll update on an irregular schedule, maybe every two weeks.
Subject is a "Better Boy" started 042809........KUXJ
If by change, you mean more diseased leaves, no, and I don't notice any wilt elsewhere on BB. At least not yet!
What I do notice though, is a preponderance of red mites, and very small 2 to 3 mm hard exoskeleton insects a primer gray color with dark spots, kinda remind me of potato weevils, but if I remember correctly they have stripes.
No matter though, they all have sucking mouth parts.
I still feel it's related to all the rain we've been getting, once it slows down to once or twice a week instead of four or five days of drizzle/rain/downpour/drizzle/downpour/rain/rain....Well you get the idea.....The health/growth will improve, and the insects will decrease.
I'll bet you'll never guess what its doing outside.......awww....You guessed, yep its raining. I guess I shouldn't complain, you don't have to shovel rain.
Rain for the week; Here 3.17 ~~~ NWS 1.96
Last Saturday to Tuesday night; Partly Sunny to Partly Cloudy.
Wicked Thunderstorms Wednesday morning 01:25am edt, lasted to 02:10am edt
Then Overcast to today. Light rain started this morning 00:20am edt, so far 1.13 ~~~ NWS 0.62.
It did dry up enough that I was able to cut grass on Thursday, knew 'bout the rain coming, and I wanted to get that elephant and his eye out'a the front lawn. the tires were running damp to wet, but the deck didn't clog too bad.
Well, enough of that.
Been a quiet week at the bucket. Haven't seen any more of the leaf spot/canker, and the rest of BB looks healthy, he grew another 1” (29”), and on one set of fruit stalk the flowers are wilting to brown, I'm hoping to see fruit soon.
Oh...I saw one of those UDT TV ads for “Topsy turvy” today, I'm still wondering why the guy has his hand “in” the plant Like he's holding something, when he picks, and hands the girl a tomato.
I'm thinking at this point that UDT thingy will be hitting the recycle bin at the end of the season, but I will still continue to nurture, just in case.
I'm getting some yellow leaves at the bottom of the SFF and on one of my 'Big Beef' any suggestions?
Hi! Just Dahlia,
There are different types of yellowing including old age, but what I see in the one with the support cage looks like a nitrogen deficiency-95% sure....maybe sulfur-5%.
There isn't enough upper leave growth to cause enough shade to the lower ones to be "death by old age".
The UDT might be in the same predicament, and I'm also concerned 'bout the plant to the right that has the leaf curl. That could be a copper deficiency 97%......maybe Boron 3%; although some plants have the characteristic that makes them curl.
When's the last time you used fertilizer? Your weather has been much warmer/hotter lately, and that can add a lot of stress to plants.
I wouldn't go to strong. Depending on how many plants you have make up a gallon or two of miracle grow or something similar, and dole it out to all your plants,
I say miracle grow because I know it has all of those trace elements in it.
I read and I read and I read, I think I understood most.
I agree with your conclusions and just fertilized with Miracle Grow for Toms (just happened to have some) it is old though, do you think it's still good?
Either way I will watch them more closely. I think I will have to fertilize the UDT every 2 weeks, because everything goes out the bottom.
I did put spikes in all the plants when I planted, but I have them on a drip system, so maybe the spikes aren't getting wet.
Thanks for the advice, well see what happens next.
I'm really surprised others haven't popped in with advice or pictures. I guess we are the only tomato lovers.
Now, Now.....Don't be discouraged. There are times when I read an article on one of my other interest's, say....Cosmology, I may go over a sentence, paragraph or chapter several times in order to fully understand it.
Have you ever heard of the “Grandfather Paradox”?
Religion is another interest, I've just started to read “The People of the Creed” by Anthony E. Giles. It is a story behind the early Church from 95 A.D. To 600A.D.
Okay!
According to the Scott's site, MG will last indefinitely, but I suspect that if you found some after 10 years it could go either way. Some elements/compounds get stronger with age, some weaker.
A word of advice. MG is slightly acidic so using it on toms, and other acid loving vegetable plants is okay, but not most houseplants. If you really need acid get Miracid.
What type of bottom does your UDT bag have? Porous fabric? Plastic with holes? Can you save it with a drip pan?
Or maybe your spikes weren't getting wet enough, and the solution was evaporating before it was doing any good. That would lead me to believe that you may still have food for the plant in the container, but it just hasn't propagated to the rest of it.
So am I, there was binx44 in the beginning, but so far its been just you, and me. I do notice the views jump by 5 or 10 almost every day, so the interest is there. I want to be careful on how many attachments (pix) I download, so I don't go over the limit.I'll have to check the rules on that
BTW...Just since last Friday, BB has grown 5" vertical (34"), and 4" horizontal, but still no fruit Its amazing what a few days of Sun can do!
I don't think there is any overall limit to pictures. I've been on other threads with 1000's of pictures. "Pics of our members, pets, artwork, etc.
I believe you can only put 4 per post though.
I think my one plant and another are not getting better, the ones with the leaf curl. I am going to Southern Ill. this weekend for a family reunion, so I can't watch them. Do you think I should move them away from the healthier ones?
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