When the fall gardening season arrives, there is one thing you will want to do to your tomatoes to ensure success with fruit set, fruit ripening, and overall plant health.
Start growing! Visit our online store for $2 heirloom seeds, custom blend fertilizers, and gardening tools shop://http:www.migardener.com
Our daily blog: https://migardener.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MIgardener
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MIgardener
send garden snail mail to:
MIgardener
1426 Oakland Ave.
St. Clair, MI 48079
Our book is out! The AutoPilot Garden. A guide to hands-free gardening – every method and a bit of knowledge that we use to grow big! Check it out here: https://migardener.com/collections/bo…
————————————————————————————————————
Love what we do? Here is how you can support this channel to create more content, at no additional cost to you!
Shop on Amazon with this link: https://amzn.to/3HFpsEb *
Per popular request, we have created an Amazon Storefront with all our most tried and true Amazon finds. If we wouldn’t use it we would not endorse it: https://www.amazon.com/shop/migardener *
*We get a small commission at NO cost to you.
Thank you all so much for watching and Grow BIG!
28 Comments
I topped my beefsteak tomato plant last year because it was taking a long time for the tomatoes to ripen. It worked well for me.
😂 I just keep buying taller stakes. 😂😂😂😂
I'm more higher up in elevation in Michigan even though I'm over an hour south where Luke is. Our first frost date us actually Oct 1st to Oct 8th. I think Luke is where we referr to as "Being in the valley". Their produce actually ripens before ours does even though we are further south.
I have started some trimming of my tomato plants mainly to control them, but also as I’m mindful of the changing seasons. I think I’m a couple weeks early for my area, but early frosts do happen. I really cut off a lot of low branches early in the growing season too. I have as much as a foot between the ground and the first branches on several of my plants, to reduce the onset of disease.
If almost the entire plant has blight but there are plenty of green tomatoes, should I pick them and ripen indoors? In Massachusetts and have had way too much rain.
Is there anything you can put in or on the soil to discourage fungus?
Thank you MI G
I just grow one early girl…this year shes 8ft tall outside in a raised bed and im disappointed if she doesn't yield 50-100lbs. Zone 7 problems and why indeterminate is king unless you're at scale. All DTE inputs like I grow dank. I defoliate as production falls off down low
I am doing it this year. Iowa 5b
Good information. So many variables. Where I live (near Seattle), the other strong variable to consider is the constant rain and overcast skies. I hate to say this but I think what I have in fruit by the end of August is all the ripened fruit I am going to get.
Great point about the blight exception this year has been relentless here.
so in my case… never top – always blight.. lol
Totally off the subject but I want to say I love your seeds. Your customer service is great as well. Back during the sale I made a mistake while ordering and in spite of how busy your staff was they not only answered my email quickly but fixed my mess up. Kudos to you and the company you have built.
Very helpful video, thank you!
What to do when determinate plant has gotten super tall? Still not topping?
This is perfect timing for this video! I have sooooo many tomatoes on my plants that it's a little overwhelming. I already have my chest freezer over half full of tomatoes, so I'm going to top mine now just to stop the production because I can't handle any more!
The deer have topped my tomatoes already
August 1st blight arrives and I just trim most to slow it down. May have to try topping a few as the 25th September will be here soon.
Do you have the Leaf Footed Bug and if you do, how do you get rid of in an organic manner? I topped or chopped all my tomato plants due to these bugs, hoping they will regrow.
Mine is November 8th so I’m leaving my tomatoes for now. Some people have pulled there’s up. But I don’t usually top my tomatoes
This year, for the first time, I planted heirloom tomatoes from seeds. (I used to purchase seedlings) They have grown like crazy! I have so many tomatoes! I had never heard of topping tomato plants, but I did see new flowers today and wondered if they would have time to develop properly. Now I know the answer! I keep learning new things!!
Great video! Very thoughtful. Nice job Luke 👍
My tomatoes in the greenhouse have a lot of fruit and their big. Same kind outside are a lot smaller. Picked banana peppers the other day from greenhouse. They also do so much better inside. All I have is a cheap cattle panel greenhouse.
I just let mine grow. Every year I think about pruning them, but then I'm afraid I'll do something wrong, so I don't.
What is the baking soda solution????
I’m glad to see a lot of your tomatoes are green because so are mine and I also live in Michigan. I was worried but I guess I’m ok. Thanks.
Hi Luke, This spring in Texas was glorious! Cool temps and a bunch of rain. I actually got my first tomato harvest in this location, because of the rain, and I let them go wild! By mid-June, the temps had reached the 100's and they have not cooled down yet. The forecast says they might do it by December.
I have decided that I don't want to retire here. I'm looking at possibly North, or South Carolina. Maybe Virginia, or Tennesee. It will depend on where I feel is home.🙂
I'd love to see how your fruit trees are doing this season!
Okay, spent around an hour or so tonight removing all the flowers I could find on my tomato plants. Never did this in the past but since my plants have lots of green tomatoes, some of which are quite large, and only a few have turned red so far decided to see if this will help the existing tomatoes ripen.