Growing Tomatoes in a Heated GH

[Hudson_WY]

Your tomato plants look great I noticed on the seedling thread! I am interested to see how Brandy Boy will perform for you now that you are in NC! Your entire garden looks great!!

The temperatures are a constant challenge! We couldn't do it in Wyoming without a heated GH! My neighbors that have a hoop house or GH kit can't get started until the middle of May and get froze out by the middle of September. I'm able to run from the middle of March until the end of November and could run earlier and longer if I wanted to spend the $.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Hudson_WY

Your tomato plants look great I noticed on the seedling thread! I am interested to see how Brandy Boy will perform for you now that you are in NC! Your entire garden looks great!!

The temperatures are a constant challenge! We couldn't do it in Wyoming without a heated GH! My neighbors that have a hoop house or GH kit can't get started until the middle of May and get froze out by the middle of September. I'm able to run from the middle of March until the end of November and could run earlier and longer if I wanted to spend the $.

Thanks, Hudson.
I am really holding my breat.
I think the Brandy Boys are doing great, with lots of flowers/buds @ close to 2ft tall.
My buddy, looking at one exclaimed " Look at those leaves !". I explained to him that those are called Potato Leaves. But the potatoes 10 ft away did not have big leaves like BB. Strangely, potatoes have buds , ready to flower too. After all they are cousins.

[biscuitridge]

Awesome greenhouse, may I ask what do you fertilize with? And what do you use for your growing medium? Thanks in advance

[Hudson_WY]

Thanks Biscuitridge

Keep in mind that our soil is Alkaline!

Here are some of our soil amendments. I only add a few of them every year appropriate for the plants and growing location. But I have all them in all in inventory so I can use them as needed. Not all of them are used on Tomato Plants either. I started off in the GH raised beds with a medium mixture of 20% top soil, peat moss, compost and vermiculite and mixed them all together. Now, every year we condition our mixture in our raised GH beds, garden, trees, flower beds and lawn with a few of the following amendments: Alfalfa pellets, Pearlite, Azomite, Iron, Bone Meal, Peat Moss, Green Sand, Soft Rock Phosphate, Sulfur, Coconut Coir, Ammonium Sulfate, Vermiculite, Worm Castings, Blood Meal, Miracid (pine trees) and a soil conditioner mix - to name a few. We don't add any top soil to our existing medium in our raised beds. What and how much of what we amend every year to our tomato plant beds can best be summarized by saying that we always add about 1-2" of compost after the tomato plants are about 2' tall and we add other amendments in small quantities as needed. I usually rototill in a little Azomite and vermiculite every year too.

I will remove enough medium if necessary every year to make room for the compost we add in the raised beds. So far I have not needed to do that.

I am showing you most our amendment inventory but please realize that I use different amendments for different plants and in small quantities. We do not amend our soil with all of these amendments in the same bed. For example - We only use the ammonium Sulfate on our onions and on our lawn and the Iron on our Raspberries. You will have to decide what amendments you need based on your soil PH and your plants.

[Hudson_WY]

Our Plants are Confused - haha!!

[Hudson_WY]

Another snow storm - the plants are cozy and starting to set fruit. Onions have to make it on their own in a raised bed!

[biscuitridge]

Thanks Hudson, nice to see you are successful going organic,that's the way to do it, I'm guessing it's the blood meal that is giving them the dark green color and large leaves,looks as if they would enjoy more light,they're stretching just a bit,but they're doing great for the weather that they have endured, thanks so much for the response, I'd like to see what they look like in July or August, keep up the good work.

[Hudson_WY]

Biscuitridge - Yes - they are stretching. Look how much sun they are going to get in the next 10 days(NOT much)! No worries though - I'm not pinching out any suckers at this point and the plants will look totally different in 30 days. It is worth it to me to have them a little leggy at this stage and take advantage of our GH (enjoying tomatoes in June) than waiting until May to move them to the GH when they will get more sun (waiting until July or August for ripe tomatoes). The amount of sun we get year to year varies also - this year is less sun than average. The compost also has a part to contribute in how large/green the tomato plant leaves are - IMO.

[Gardeneer]

Hudson, your efforts are admirable.
Our low temperatures are about your highs and even warmer.
Today, in a long time we had a totally cloudy and rainy day. But not cold at all.
When there is a will, there is a way.
Of course not for everybody.

[Hudson_WY]

Thanks Gardeneer! We got the forecasted snow during the night! The onions, rhubarb and flowers can tolerate some of this winter weather but I am not sure - for how long! We gardeners all have our challenges - in one form or another!

[Gardeneer]

OH, my !! Fresh new snow on April 28th.
Here is how my garden looks today.

[Hudson_WY]

Nice - see lots of blossoms there! Hope you can get in there to pick all those tomatoes!

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

OH, my !! Fresh new snow on April 28th.
Here is how my garden looks today.

You're the man Gardeneer!. Really impressive foliage there. You said you were starting early but dang man, you kinda outdid yourself .. Hope you pull monster maters out of there! . Jimbo

[Hudson_WY]

Most Greenhouses in the area aren't heated and will not even open until about the first week of June. Mother Nature continues to throw snow and sub-freezing temperatures at us here in Wyoming. It appears we will be able to heat our GH from March 15th through June 1st with about 100 gallons of propane as we still have about 17 gallons left in the tank and two weeks to go (assuming we get the normal warmer temperatures in June!).

The plants have really taken off in the last two weeks and are finally getting enough sun! If you compare the photos taken yesterday with those taken in April you can see the plants appear very healthy - huge leaves - setting fruit like crazy and lots of blossoms! The GH is perfect this time of year for the correct humidity and temperature ranges for setting fruit!

Our GH is only a Hobbyist GH but for those of you that live in a cold climate like we do - it may be an option for you to heat your GH or build a GH that can be heated economically if you enjoy growing tomatoes as we do. We should have ripe tomatoes in June!

[Idahowoman]

In southeastern Idaho I woke up to about 5 inches of snow here.
I haven't started putting anything in my large hoophouse thank goodness.
But my small plastic covered cattle panel greenhouse that has my plants in hopefully is ok.
I have a electric heater for warmth in there and my indoor -outdoor thermometer says its 49 degrees.
Susan