Need to Avoid Another Tomato "Disaster"

11 years ago

(S. FL) Last year, we bought a new wooden, sectional planter, new soil and new, young tomato plants. We have a large, screened-in pool deck with plenty of sun and placed the planter along one side to allow it plenty of sun, before the trees outside the deck would block the sun around 3PM-4PM.

We planted tomatoes, strawberries, and sweet onions, each in its own section of the planter, in mid-April. All was well for about 6 weeks, when we notice a significant aphid infestation. After researching on GardenWeb, we made a solution and sprayed the plants as suggested.

We got less than 10 tomatoes and about a half-done strawberries. None of the onions really grew much more than medium-sized bulbs. Strangely enough, both one tomato plant purchased later as well a one strawberry plant, both planted in separate pots, provided one fruit, each!

So, in an effort to be more prepared this season, we're asking for your suggestions and advice as to how and where to place the planter. We'll be discarding all of the old soil and will be purchasing a new batch. Do we buy plain soil, or soil with plant food in it already, separate fertilizers, etc.? We'd also like to add snap peas, too!

Thanks for your help!

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Comments (3)

jean001a
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Need many more details.
Start with the size of the wood planter. Then continue on to tell us what you filled it with, also what was your water and fertilizer regimen?
User
Original Author
11 years ago
Jean, thanks for replying. The planter has no bottom. Each frame is approximately 22 1/2 x 18" and they interconnect. My wife confirmed that we used a combo of soil & nutrients (maybe Miracle-Gro, but not certain. We placed the frame on a side of our patio with a plastic sheet below, making sure we allowed for drainage below and it was next to one of the screen panels of our large screen over the patio. As I initially mentioned, they received plenty of sun. And mid-April through October is the rainy (storms from Hades!) season here in South Florida. Thus, with some decent rain most days, we only occasionally had a need to manually water, though we check the plants and soil almost every day.

The tomato plants grew quickly and well for those 6 weeks or show, as did the strawberry plants. It was about then that we found the aphids, but only on the tomato plants and none on the strawberry. Those plants did grow and spread, but yielded very few berries.

That's the story. I hope someone has some advice for us!

Thanks!

Steve
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jean001a
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Thanks for that, but that's only a beginning.

Please continue with more details. (We weren't at your place so we have to play 20 questions. Maybe even 40.)

You said you planted "tomatoes, strawberries, and sweet onions." How many of each in what space?

Did you apply any fertilizer? If so, what kind, how much, and how often?

Have you contacted your county's Extension Service office to discuss your issues?
If not, please do because knowing the correct timing as well as which varieties to plant is quite different for Florida than, say, a mid-western garden.