My Bush Early Girl Tomatoes
I am in grow zone 10b about 4 miles from the coast. I bought an Indeterminite Bush Early Girl tomato plant in early April. I transplanted it into a temporary larger pot (see picture dtd 4/22) to grow taller and stronger before putting it into a pot that has 12.5 gallons of soil (see pic for soil used). When I bought the plant there were two connected leaders coming from the base of the plant. When I transplanted it on 4/22 I took off the bottom leaves (see 4/22 pic) and splayed the leaders out onto their sides for planting deeply into it's final larger pot. Within about 10 days I saw a tomato forming on each plant.
This Bush Early girl was growing well in height until recently. I am not seeing the plant grow upwards in height or bushier, as much as I would expect. Nor have the blossoms set more fruit. I fertilized with a 12-10-5 ratio about 10 days. I have been watering every 2 to 3 days until the water drains out the bottom, using a long nozzle that I am able to plunge into the soil, allowing me to keep the entire plant dry. It has been about 34 days since purchasing at a height of @ 3 to 4 inches. I have removed all the leaves under the the first blossoms with one tomato, of each leader.
As I understand, as a determinate tomato, the Bush Early girl tomatoes are supposed to all come to maturity at once, then stop producing. Is this true? Do they have another harvest after the first?
While I know it is comparing apples to oranges. I included a picture of my Parks Whopper indeterminate potted tomato plant, to show how well it is growing under the same exact conditions ~ temperature, amount of sun per day, pot size, soil used, amount of soil, two leaders in each pot, fertilizer used, when fertilized, health of plants, etc. Neither have shown any signs of pests or disease,and they look very healthy (see pics dtd 5/17).
Online it says for Bush Early Girl the full height is 3 feet, and mature fruit in 54 days after planting. In summary I am concerned that I am not going to have much produce from this plant. Is there anything I can do to help it to continue growing and produce more tomatoes?
Lastly daytime temps have generally been between 70 and 80 degrees. Nighttime high 50's to mid 60's degrees.