Advice on how to grow big vegtables

[TomatoNut95]

I literally never see insects on my tomato blossoms. Bees don't care about my garden unless I do cucumbers or squash.
So, how long does one buzz the blossoms? A couple of seconds? When is the best time to buzz; early morning?

@karstopography I don't suppose you'd want to trade with me for just 5 seed to Domingo would you. . I can offer Roma VF, Crimson Cushion or Bradley in exchange?

[Yak54]

If I follow all these tips maybe I can grow a 3 lb. Sungold

[karstopography]

I literally never see insects on my tomato blossoms. Bees don't care about my garden unless I do cucumbers or squash.
So, how long does one buzz the blossoms? A couple of seconds? When is the best time to buzz; early morning?

@karstopography I don't suppose you'd want to trade with me for just 5 seed to Domingo would you. . I can offer Roma VF, Crimson Cushion or Bradley in exchange?

Send me a mailing address, pm if you like, and I’ll mail you some. No need to trade anything. The only seed I have for Domingo now is from seed saved from one of the tomatoes in 2023, but I believe I have plenty more to share and I did send some to the MMMM swap in the fall of 2023. The original seed from the 2023 plant I grew out and ultimately saved seed was from MMMM swap seeds I received in January 2023.

I didn’t bag the blossoms of any of my tomatoes so there is a chance of a cross pollination. Domingo’s neighbors were Kellogg’s Breakfast and Beefmaster. I do have a lot of Carpenter bees active on my tomato blossoms. On my limited history with growing out self saved tomato seeds, I’ve yet to have a cross.

I skipped grow Domingo in 2024, not that I didn’t love the tomato. I did, but just decided instead to grow Hoy as my big and blocky pink tomato. I might switch out Hoy and Domingo every other year and see eventually what I think of both.

[pepperhead212]

I literally never see insects on my tomato blossoms. Bees don't care about my garden unless I do cucumbers or squash.
So, how long does one buzz the blossoms? A couple of seconds? When is the best time to buzz; early morning?

I do that early, but make sure there is no dew on the plants, as when doing anything. It doesn't take long - just a second or so, to loosen the pollen. I use one of those "Vege Bees", which I got a deal on because they were switching over to rechargeable, instead of putting AA batteries in them. But now, they have those so called "sonic" toothbrushes super cheap, which do the same thing, with the high frequency vibration. I had a really old sonic TB die on me recently, that was $70+ when I bought it, because it was the only one back then, but I got a cheap, $7.95 sonic TB, that works great, and I was thinking would be good for buzzing the blossoms, too, so when that thing dies (it's over 20 years old), that's what I'll replace it with!

I also use that on my earliest eggplants - they also seem to set the fruit earlier, doing this. I plant them usually about a week into May, mqybe 2 weeks later start flowering, and often get my first fruits around June 15.

I see leaf cutter and bumblebees on the tomatoes later on, but rarely honeybees - I see them in clover, and a few things in the garden.

[TomatoNut95]

Does it work on peppers to?

[pepperhead212]

I haven't really found it necessary to buzz pepper blossoms - those things seem to set every fruit with no help whatsoever! The first time I ever grew some peppers covered, to prevent pepper maggots, I was concerned about how well the fruits would set, with them shielded from the wind somewhat, but they were producing almost more than the ones not under cover! Really strange, but I figured they didn't need my help, with that part.

But as well as they self pollinate, they also cross easily (I'm always seeing bees on them). I have tried growing some I hadn't intended to save, but the company dropped the variety (and nobody else carried it, of course!), so I had to try some of the seeds from the dried ones. Not one of the peppers looked like the original, and all were different, so things were getting all mixed up! Now I bag the blossoms, or cover the whole plant, to save seeds.

[TomatoNut95]

Is one of the secrets to getting a big tomato (or any veggie) is to cut back on nitrogen before blooming time so that the plants energy is going into the fruit and not new foliage production?

[MissS]

Is one of the secrets to getting a big tomato (or any veggie) is to cut back on nitrogen before blooming time so that the plants energy is going into the fruit and not new foliage production?

This is a good question and one that I have been looking into. Tomatoes do not need much nitrogen some of the other plants do. Nitrogen is kept on the low side for tomatoes to keep lush growth down. Most growers have a soil test done during the fall so they can prepare their beds then according to what the test says. Others push phosphorus early on to get a megabloom. Other veggie growers will also do this to get some blossoms going. Once fruit set they switch over to feeding their plants plenty of potassium to get the biggest fruits possible. Pruning is also key to getting large fruit.

BTW, once you have your big one growing then you will have to find a way to support it. Most people will make a sling for their huge tomatoes much like the melon growers that grow their plants vertically.

[TomatoNut95]

So is there a way to apply potassium and phosphorus like buying it in a bag and adding it to the soil like I bought my calcium?
I bought a box of water soluble Schultz all purpose fertilize; it's numbers read 20-20-20. Since the nitrogen is even with the other two, should I not use my Schultz on producing tomatoes?
My #1 favorite granule fertilize is Burpee organic that reads 3-6-4. I add it to the holes before sticking the plant in and I'll sprinkle it around the plant later on. I used to use Tomato Tone which was amazing stuff but stopped using it because Espoma is expensive.

[karstopography]

Rock phosphate or bone meal for phosphorus.

Potassium chloride, Potassium sulfate, Potassium-magnesium sulfate for potassium.

[MissS]

I will say that if you are growing any of the competition tomato seeds, these plants have been selected to produce megablooms and should produce them for you readily. Last year my competition plant had a megabloom on almost every single truss. This made it very hard for me to thin them. Then my plant got sick so I didn't have to worry about the big one so much.

[TomatoNut95]

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Are either of these good to grow big fat stuff?

Also, what nutrient would very old, dusty chicken litter have? It's got feathers in it and used to be shavings at one time. From abandoned chicken houses once used to grow for Tyson.

[sleepy man]

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Are either of these good to grow big fat stuff?

Also, what nutrient would very old, dusty chicken litter have? It's got feathers in it and used to be shavings at one time. From abandoned chicken houses once used to grow for Tyson.

You know, I would consider a soil test before adding these. Too much phosphorus in an alkali soil can lead to other issues.

[TomatoNut95]

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So this is the first truss/blossoms on my German Queen. It's got several buds, should I snip off the smaller ones so the energy will go into the big ones?

[MissS]

Here is a new video by Chris Brown. He is a World Record holder. Some of you have seeds from his line and may recognize your seed.

[crunch1224]

I never tried to grow for size. As far as trimming I just trim for air flow unless im single or double stemming. For size I would imagine you would want everything working efficiently as possible, soil microbes, fert, watering, ect. After that like many have said trimming off unwanted sets of flowers and keeping a few mega blooms and keeping unwanted growth down so the energy can be put into the tomato not new growth.

I guess its nothing that hasnt been said already lol. Like I said I never tried to grow for size, figured I would give it a shot and try to answer the op's question.

[MissS]

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So this is the first truss/blossoms on my German Queen. It's got several buds, should I snip off the smaller ones so the energy will go into the big ones?

I was up reading about pruning in the book 'Giant Tomatoes' by Marvin Meisner last night. In the book several of the best competition growers share their methods. Some prune off the first truss of blossoms entirely to allow the plant to grow before setting fruit. Others allow each truss to set several fruit and then prune off all but the fastest growing one. Some only allow the megablossoms to set fruit and then once they have selected their chosen tomato, remove all other fruit, while others leave one mega tomato on each truss.

You always are wanting to use the biggest blossoms on the plant whether it is a fused blossom or a single to grow a giant tomato.

[TomatoNut95]

The megablossom on my German Queen doesn't look very healthy it's turning brown in places like it didn't get pollinated correctly. I've had that happen before to giant blossoms, but there are other nice single blossoms that may give. May not in all this rain and storms we'll getting for the next few days.

[MissS]

The megablossom on my German Queen doesn't look very healthy it's turning brown in places like it didn't get pollinated correctly. I've had that happen before to giant blossoms, but there are other nice single blossoms that may give. May not in all this rain and storms we'll getting for the next few days.

Hint, hint. I use an electric toothbrush every day to pollinate my tomatoes. If you can't get that done then shaking the plant works well too. You want to get the pollen to drop down on the stigma. Some people collect pollen from single flowers and will hand pollinate them.

[TomatoNut95]

I'll try shaking the plant but it may be too late for the megabloom. In the meantime I'll look for a cheapy battery brush for buzzing.