Questions about my 'sad' tomato plant

[Talula Fairie]

Ok, so I bought this organic green grape tomato plant from Whole Foods. I happened to be shopping there, it was a cute little seedling and only cost like $2. Here is what it looked like when I planted it around the 1st of May:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/...a5682e74_o.jpg

It was in a pot with mint, which I am thinking was a mistake. Last year's tomato plant did fine in there with some mint, my in laws gave it to me that way, but I kind of suspect they had just put the few stalks of mint in there with the tomato plant right before giving it to me, considering the rate it has spread on me this year. I thought maybe the mint was overcrowing the tomato plant, so I decided to dig up the tomato. I transplanted it carefully into a 5 gallon bucket. I'm pretty sure I did not damage it's TINY rootball (seriously, smaller than a fist), and it was immediately put into the new soil, I didn't wait around. Here is what it looks like two days later:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/...83d033a7_o.jpg

Is that the saddest tomato plant you've ever seen or what? I know it's only supposed to be cherry tomatos but jeez. It has not gotten ANY thicker since I planted it around the 1st of May. I'm starting to think I should have buried 80 percent of it instead of just half when I transplanted it(yes, I did bury half of it, it was even more spindly before). I don't think I over/underwatered but who knows.

And normally I'd say it's probably a light issue, but when you look at my other tomato plants such as this one it kinda makes you wonder. This is an heirloom tomato, Hillbilly is the name.

here is what it looked like on May 12th
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/...42e38dbe_o.jpg

and this is it today
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3640/...23807e1b_o.jpg

What gives! Is it just a bum plant, or does it just not like my yard, or....? I mean, I know you can't really compare different varieties, but shouldn't my sad plant have grown a little more? Do you think it will start doing better in the new pot, or should I just pull the thing? Should I try transferring it to the front of my house, which gets full sun? I generally don't like to put stuff out there since the front part is shared property (we live in a duplex in a rental housing community), but I can put a few things out there if they really hate my back yard.

To pull or not to pull, that is the question. I'm thinking of giving it two more weeks?

I'm in zone 9 FYI, in a warm/hot location (CA Central Valley).

[Talula Fairie]

[jtsmom]

I've never grown that variety or anything like it. But I think it looks healthy. I don't see any sign of disease or anything, so I definately think it's worth it to leave it in the ground and keep an eye on it. Doesn't looke like anything's wrong with it......

Maybe google the variety and see how tall it is supposed to get? I planted a few varieties last year, and they each grew to be varying heights. But the poor thing looks healthy, so I would definately not pull it.

You should see my tomatoes if you think that is pathetic.

[Talula Fairie]

It doesn't look diseased to me either, it's just not growing nearly as fast or as well as my other varieties. And it's pretty wilty now that I transplanted it.

Here is a photo of the variety I googled:

http://www.herbmill.net/tomato-greengrape.jpg

Maybe it really isn't getting enough sun

[jtsmom]

I would leave it in place and see what happens as long as it looks healthy. I'd also google it and see how tall it generally gets as well as how many days to expect before you can harvest. It may just be a slower grower than your other tomatoes. Either way, it looks beautiful to me. :

[Talula Fairie]

Tag says 75 to 85 days. It's been in for what....45? It definitely doesn't look like it's more than halfway to producing fruit

Ah well. We'll see.

Side question: if my 2 and 3 feet tomato plants are producing flowers, is that bad? When are tomato plants supposed to start flowering? Are they supposed to be huge first or ??

[jtsmom]

Nope. They will all flower on their own schedule. Some take longer than others. Each variety is different. It also depends on when they were planted, how much water and sun they get.....

[Talula Fairie]

Ok that's good. I read that a small tomato plant that is flowering is stressed, but I wasn't sure at what point that isn't true anymore. I really do not think mine are stressed, they look really happy and they get watered regularly (it's very warm here, so I water every 3rd day or so unless it's going to be a scorcher, like above the low 90s, at those times I water every other day). They get about 8 hours of dappled sunlight per day. Not full sun, but not that bad on the light spectrum either.

[mommato3boys]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

Ok that's good. I read that a small tomato plant that is flowering is stressed, but I wasn't sure at what point that isn't true anymore. I really do not think mine are stressed, they look really happy and they get watered regularly (it's very warm here, so I water every 3rd day or so unless it's going to be a scorcher, like above the low 90s, at those times I water every other day). They get about 8 hours of dappled sunlight per day. Not full sun, but not that bad on the light spectrum either.

But some stress is "good" for a plant when it means it makes babies (aka fruit)... One of my maybe foot tall cherry toms I got 2 weeks ago at home depot is flowering and the other is getting fuzzy where I can tell it is going so sprout some flowers soon. I water almost every day though... at least at first when it is still kind of in shock.

eta: I really should update my user name or something. I know I used to be on here a lot at some point in time (certainly more than 3 posts worth!), I must have forgotten my user name or some such and started over, and it is way old now... at least 3 years... did they switch servers and loose all the previous posting counts?

[mamadelbosque]

Another vote for letting it sit. After we transplanted our tomatoes outside, it took them a couple weeks to really start growing, and my peppers are still just starting to grow (they've been outside for 3 or 4 weeks now). Sometimes it takes plants a little while to really get going.

[aniT]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

I'm in zone 9 FYI, in a warm/hot location (CA Central Valley).

I see your in Sac. The real heat wont pick up til next month. At which point it should go crazy! I remember having tomatoes by July down there. Tomatoes like a lot of heat and maybe it just isn't getting enough sun? Hasn't summer been a bit slow to start down there this year as well? I keep hearing about rain and it never rains in June to my memory anyway.

The plant looks healthy.. I say just leave it be. You might want to give it a bit more water.. we watered every day down there in the summer. Water and sunlight is all it needs..

[tayndrewsmama]

Originally Posted by aniT

I see your in Sac. The real heat wont pick up til next month. At which point it should go crazy! I remember having tomatoes by July down there. Tomatoes like a lot of heat and maybe it just isn't getting enough sun? Hasn't summer been a bit slow to start down there this year as well? I keep hearing about rain and it never rains in June to my memory anyway.

The plant looks healthy.. I say just leave it be. You might want to give it a bit more water.. we watered every day down there in the summer. Water and sunlight is all it needs..

Heat, heat, heat! Mine are just starting to pick up the pace now that we are finally getting some heat and humidity for them.

[aniT]

Originally Posted by tayndrewsmama

Heat, heat, heat! Mine are just starting to pick up the pace now that we are finally getting some heat and humidity for them.

Yea.. I came home from the hospital to find mine twice as big. It wasn't even overly hot last week.. just humid. (or so I hear.)

[Talula Fairie]

Yes, this summer has been slow to get really hot and definitely my yard could use more sun, it was just that one plant was WAY more stunted than my other tomato plants, all of which were planted after it. I generally water every other day, sometimes every third day or so out here...maybe becuase my yard is in partial shade it doesn't need as much? I never let the soil dry out anyway. When it's really really hot every day I'll probably have to crank up the watering and do it daily. And yeah, it did rain in June. Thunderstorms, in fact. The only other time I've ever seen rain in June is when I lived in Southern California during El Nino.

In any case, that tomato plant is starting to perk up a lot! :

[Talula Fairie]

I just checked on it today, and it's really really taking off :

Guess it likes the new pot and location after all.

[tayndrewsmama]

Yay!

[Talula Fairie]

holy moly, look at it now! it just exploded. I guess it likes it's new pot and location. Thanks everyone for convincing me not to pull it

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3613/...32d23bc6_o.jpg