Seemingly healthy tomato plant not growing why??

[raindrops27]

Hello all. I am a newcomer to this site. But, have been gardening now for the last 5 years. I thought, I pretty much had a real good clue of what to do. As, I have been growing tomatoes from seeds with much success for the past 4 years. However, never have I run into this issue. So, please help!! I do not know what variety it is. It came from a rainbow heirloom package of seeds. But, the plant looks very healthy, dark green, bushy. With a very thick stem. No signs of yellowing, browning. No spots, all leaves, dark green. It has been planted in the garden now for 3 weeks and a half, but has shown no growth. Whereas other tomato plants, within the same garden, have taken off. What am I doing wrong. I just do not understand it. It is driving me batty. Because, literally I obsess over my tomatoes. Thank you in advance for any help. I have scoured the net, to find the cause. With no luck. I happened upon this wonderful site, and knew at least one of you friendly Tomato growing lovers would know something or offer at least some input. Thanks very much again.

[mdvpc]

Could it be a dwarf or small determinate that doesnt get tall? There are lots of those. If you look at some of the threads here, or photos here, or at Craigs blog about the Dwarf Project, you will see that lots of dwarf varieties dont get any taller than 2.5 to 3.0 feet tall. And there are micro varieties that stay shorter than a foot.

[jdmfish]

I have very, VERY limited experience, and my guess - since it seems to have a thick, stocky stem, and a "bushy" plant - is it some sort of compact determinate?

[gtnate]

I have a plant that is doing the same thing in my garden. It is called a Sophie's Choice, and from what I have read, it is a really small determinate.

All of my other plants are indeterminate varieties and are really outpacing the Sophie's Choice in terms of green growth; is this normal? The Sophie's looks perfectly healthy and robust, it just doesn't seem to be growing at the same pace as the others.

[mdvpc]

Your Sophie's is fine. Its a very small plant. It stays quite short.

[cloz]

Here is my Sophie's Choice. Picture taken yesterday. It measures 27" (28" today). It was planted in this 2 gallon pot on 5/14. (I know the pot should be bigger, but that's all I had at the time and I have another Sophie's Choice out in the garden) This one took 30 days till the first blooms opened. Still waiting to verify first fruit set. There are currently 4 flower trusses that I can see. Definately not as early as Sungold, Bloody Butcher or Siberian.

[raindrops27]

Thank you all.

Beautiful tomato plant thanks for the pic.

Just came back out of the garden. And I found 2 flowers on my plant. Maybe, it is a dwarf. Because, the plant is only about a foot high if that, and already flowering?? Anyhow, thanks for the help, everyone. I will go read about dwarfs.

[dice]

Do you still have the Rainbow Heirloom seed packet, and does it list
the varieties that might be included? We might be able to tell from that
if there are any dwarf varieties or small determinates that could sprout
from those seeds.

[mdvpc]

Cloz

I am not an expert on Sophies, but have grown it several times. I don't think yours is Sophies. It's way too tall. Sophies is quite short. I am out of town so I don't have Carolyn's book, but if you look at that I think you will see it's much shorter than yours. It's also quite early. Sophies is about 18-24inches tall.

[cloz]

Originally Posted by mdvpc

Cloz

I am not an expert on Sophies, but have grown it several times. I don't think yours is Sophies. It's way too tall. Sophies is quite short. I am out of town so I don't have Carolyn's book, but if you look at that I think you will see it's much shorter than yours. It's also quite early. Sophies is about 18-24inches tall.

I know what it says. I have Carolyn's book and I have checked around. The seed is direct from Tomatofest. I have 3 plants, 1 in a container that I pictured, 1 in my garden and 1 down in New Jersey at my mother-in-law's. They all look the same. Is there a problem with the seed from Tomatofest?
Guess I'll see what the tomatoes look like in time.

[cloz]

Here is a pic of my other "Sophies" . It was planted 5/26 and is currently 24" tall. It has the same type foliage and has a couple of flower clusters at the top which look like they will bloom in a couple of days. I was starting to wonder about it a little because I have a Silvery Fir Tree sitting next to the one on the deck in a 1 gal pot and it has bloomed and is starting to set fruit. It measures 17" tall which would be about right. One thing about Silvery Fir Tree, it can't be mistaken for anything else.
I looked at some of the pics at Tatiana's Tomatobase and the foliage does look similar but mine looks larger. The only other plant I have that looks similar to Sophie's is my Hoy plants. They have similar large leaves and look very similar at this time. (By the way, the Hoy is a very fast growing and robust plant)
We'll see what the fruit looks like.

[mdvpc]

I will let others comment on tomatofest. You might want to do a search for tomatofest and wrong varieties here. But I really don't think you have Sophies for the reasons I posted above.

[cloz]

Originally Posted by mdvpc

I will let others comment on tomatofest. You might want to do a search for tomatofest and wrong varieties here. But I really don't think you have Sophies for the reasons I posted above.

I found this picture here on Tville of Sophie's Choice. Is this a true picture of what the plant should look like? If it is, then there is no doubt they sent me the wrong seed. http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=11336

[maf]

That's pretty much what it looked like when I grew it.

[raindrops27]

Found the seed packet..

Omars Lebanese, Dutchman, Djena Lee's Golden Girl, Golden Sunburst, Aunt Ruby's, Black Russian. I have no idea. But, I do know. I am at least happy it has flowers on it. Thanks again.