Spindly tomatoes

I grew some tomato seeds, two kinds, on a heat mat under a grow light. They’ve just got their second set of true leaves, and I’m wondering if I can bury them deeper now. They don’t quite stand up by themselves, but bend to greet the sunrise and sunset. I may have been too slow to put them in full sunlight, I’m acclimating them (too) slowly so they dont’ burn up.

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Just saw this, so maybe too late, but I still think you can always bury them deeper. I have some in containers for three weeks that I am hoping to “hill up” this weekend.

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Thanks! it’s supposed to hit 100 degrees next week so I’ll bury them up and keep my fingers crossed.

insufficient light - artificial lights are not really a good match for Mother Nature.

as to burying the deeper - absolutely. they will put out roots all along the buried stem…but note - not so much “deeper” as “same depth just longer.”
I would intentionally cut off the lower branches to get a longer stem so I could do a
‘long’ garden transplant - the increased root mass methinks made for a stronger plant/crop.

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Update- I transplanted the tomatoes, they looked droopy at first but now look pretty darn good- just in time for the temps to go triple digit. They have a screen enclosure over them. I don’t expect anything from them except growth for a while. Or at least that they don’t die.

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Well done!

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7/29
These are the four that survived. They’ve been trying to bloom but to no avail, not surprising since it’s been mostly over 103 since I transplanted them. Yesterday I pulled off the screen cover and used an old cast iron decorative piece as support. Not ideal, but it has a pretty finial, lol. They’re still quite spindly but otherwise healthy looking. They all have several side shoots, which I’m told to remove but I’m wondering if I could leave them, at least until they start blooming again. They’re in new soil with timed release fertilizer. Do I really need to remove all the side shoots?


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well, “spindly” would indicated insufficient sun - tomatoes (given adequate water) will take full sun.

with temperature extremes / prolonged ‘spells’ - pollination can be problematic.
from my CIS | gardening forum notes:

Optimum fruit set occurs within a very narrow night temperature range of between 60° F and 70° F. When tomato plants experience night temperatures lower than 55° F or above 75° F, interference with the growth of pollen tubes prevents normal fertilization. The pollen may even become sterile, thus causing the blossoms to drop.

edit to add: the other issue you may encounter in potted tomatoes . . . they don’t like ‘hot roots’
if the pot/soil heats up too much, they turn turtle . . .

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I don’t recall all the specifics, but I’ve never done that, I think because that advice doesn’t apply in my climate. At this point I wouldn’t remove any side shoots unless there were too many flowers setting fruit. I might leave just one plant in that pot, though.

@HappyOnion , I second your comments about temps for fruit set. While I think the plant might have gotten spindly for lack of sun, tomatoes (the fruit) , in my full sun look like this!

which is one of the reasons I save as much leaf cover as possible.

Most of July has been in the 100’s here. @ewsflash , does your climate allow for tomatoes to ripen in the fall?

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Yes, Sept-November are good months, usually. I’m glad to hear you mention the leaf cover, I’ve always thought that helped, and the nearby you-pick farms don’t do it, obviously. June and July are usually WAY over 100- we got up to 117 one day a couple of weeks ago. I’m tired of watering and am grateful for anything that survived.

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Wow- I found A tomato on the big mass of plants. I’m hoping for more, but we’ve been breaking heat records all week- it was 108 at least two days in a row this week.

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Awwww. Well one is better than none!

We cooled off a bit for a week or two, and I had some flowers and tomatoes. I took out any plants without fruit, and we are back in the triple digits for the near future.

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