• Flower Meaning and Care » Interesting Tomato Growing Tips-If You … – It is only with buying the actual plants and not with the rest of the tomato gardening supplies you need. The fact of the matter is sometimes you do not end up with the plant you wanted, and most of the tomato growing tips you read …
• Flower Meaning and Care » A Solid Tomato Watering Schedule Is One … – Tomato gardening tips about water are pretty simple and pretty universal. Tomatoes need about one gallon of water each and every day. Their root systems are vast and many are close to the top of the soil. Even though the soil may be …
• Tomato Casual » Upside-down Tomato Gardening – By Tomato Queen. Are you a container-gardener hanging your tomato plants? Try growing them upside-down! This recent trend is thought to put less stress on the weight-bearing stems, which require no staking, providing better circulation …
• Easy Urban Gardening: Tomatoes in a Bucket – The only thing that might stop the urban gardener from growing his own bountiful crop of tomatoes is sunlight. Tomatoes need quite a bit of light—all day would be preferably, but at least six hours a day is a minimum. …

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What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?

I thought that I’d do a little research.  I knew it was a fruit, but growing up and harvesting them from a vegetable garden got me thinking.

What is the scientific explanation?  What is the truth?

“The confusion about ‘fruit’ and ‘vegetable’ arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a ‘fruit’, though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called ‘vegetables’ because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term ‘vegetable’ is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term ‘fruit’ may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.”

Source

So there you got  the answer to whether a Tomato is a Fruit or Vegetable.

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Many things on your tomato plant may cause yellow leaves.

1. Insufficient water
2. Insufficient sunshine
3.  Insufficient nutrients in the soil
4.  Insufficient nitrogen in your soil 
5. Blight
6. Pest problems
7. Chlorosis

Water: Check that your soil has enough moisture content.
Insufficient sunshine
Insufficient nutrients in the soil: Need to fertilize the soil
Insufficient nitrogen in your soil :  Need to fertilize the soil
Blight:  Different types of Fungus that attack the plant and destroy it.
Pest problems: check you plants and soil for worms or caterpillars
Chlorosis: Your plant is not producing enough chlorophyl.  This may be a symptom of one of the above problems

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I think it is the wave of the future in commercial farming.

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First of all, opinions are like armpits.  Everybody has two of them and they both stink and the the more you work in the garden the stinkier they get.

I wanted to write a little on Pruning tomato plants and thought that I would investigate this on the internet.  There are 5 reasons that somebody wrote and everybody has copied it.

Some people say that you should only prune to maintain your plants size.  Depending on how you are growing them you need to vary your pruning.  Thats means, are they in a cage?

Are they upside down?  Are they in a raised bed?  How much space have you allocated for the particular plant?   Some say that pruning will only reduce your production.

All these sound fine.

Remember that this is a plant and it’s reason for being here is to grow and reproduce.

So the reason for pruning is either to keep it within your allocated boundries and/or to help it be more competitive in nature and produce for you high quality fruit.

Some further information for reading.

• Granpfather’s secrets | Tomato Gardening Secrets – 3 proven success secrets for free, double you harvest and have juicier, bigger tomatoes…
• Thoughts on Pruning Tomato Plants | Tomato Gardening Success – The vigorous and hardy nature of tomato plants all but guarantees a successful harvest, Right? Well, yes and no. The overly rapid growth of an otherwise.
• Best way to prune your tomato plants – Pruning tomato plants is yet another important task that must be tended to when growing tomatoes in your garden. Pruning tomato plants will also help the plant to thrive and it will minimize the possibility of disease. …
• Should You Prune Tomato Plants? : Veggie Gardener – Gardening opinions differ on whether pruning tomatoes helps grow better tomatoes. Find out the advantages and disadvantages of pruning tomato plants.
• Pruning Tomato Plants: How to Ripen Hidden Tomatoes – This is advice for a very specific tomato grower: one growing tomatoes in a poly tunnel in bottomless pots over growing bags, with a drip irrigation, which is called ring culture, in a climate where the sunlight is weak. …
• Pruning Tomato Plants – 5 Unique Reasons Why You Need to Be … – Pruning tomato plants can be an important step that has to be done when you were growing tomatoes in your garden. By pruning tomato plants, it helps the plant to thrive and it prevents the possibility of diseases. If you ignore this, …
• Pruning Tomato Plants, a how to, with video – Pruning Tomato Plants, a how to, with video. by justine on October 5, 2009. While this is a pretty looking Early Girl plant on a nice trellis, complete with drip irrigation and Florida Weave string strands holding up the plant, …

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What causes tomato wilt?

First cause of  tomato wilt is the lack of or excess water.  Make sure that you have good drainage.

Bacterial wilt can be diagnosed with a simple test. Remove the plant from the soil. Carefully rinse the roots and lower part of the stem. After rinsing is completed, cut out a section from the lowest part of the stem  just above the roots that is  four inches long.

Suspend the stem section in a jar of water and watch the bottom end for a cloudy, milky oozing substance.  This is the bacteria coming out of the infected plant.

1. Fusarium Wilt
   Symptoms of fusarium wilt is the yellowing of the lower leaves.   It is a fungus.
2. Root-Know
   A wormlike microorganism that feeds on the roots, causing galls, loss of feeder roots and induction of fungal root decay. Infected plants may be stunted and off-color.
3. Southern Blight
   Rapidly wilting and death of the entire plant.  The fungus attacks the stem near the soil line and forms a white mold. Later in the season, mustardseed-like structures called sclerotia appear on the mold.
4. Bacterial Wilt
   a.k.a.  as southern bacterial wilt, is a rapid collapse and death of the entire plant.
5. Verticillium Wilt
   The verticillium wilt fungus, Verticillium albo-atrum, causes disease in the same manner as the fusarium wilt fungus. The margins of lower leaves are initially wilted, yellowed and necrotic, often in a V-shaped pattern
6. Walnut Wilt
   Wilting of tomato plants may occur when they are planted near walnut or butternut trees.
7. Spotted Wilt
   The tomato spotted wilt virus causes a disease sometimes referred to as spotted wilt. This disease occurs erratically but can sometimes cause devastating losses in some Tennessee tomato fields. Purple to bronze “freckles” and rings appear on leaves, stems and fruit. Leaves may be pale and plants stunted.
8. Root Knot Nematodes

For complete description and cures for tomato wilt.

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• Organic Tomato Gardening – With organic tomato gardening, you’ll be able to leave behind those shop-bought tomatoes with tough skins, and tasteless, pale flesh. Whenever tomatoes are home grown without chemicals and therefore are naturally ripened, …
• Organic Tomato Gardening – Through organic tomato gardening, you can say goodbye to those shop-bought tomatoes with tough skins, and bland, pale flesh. When tomatoes are home grown organically and are naturally ripened, it is easy to pluck a tomato off your own …
• Organic Tomato Gardening | Google The Elite – Visualize sinking your teeth into a freshly picked, wonderfully ripe, sweet and organically grown tomato, with all the juice running down your chin.
• Organic Tomato Gardening – With the help of organic tomato gardening, you can leave behind those shop-bought tomatoes with tough skins, and bland, pale flesh. When tomatoes are home grown without chemicals and are naturally ripened, it is easy to pluck a tomato …

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