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kato_b

hows the tomato season going?

katob Z6ish, NE Pa
18 years ago

It was such a cold spring I was just wondering how everyone made out.

Mine went in late and are just starting to set fruit. Nothing even close to being full size or ripe. Ha! It will be late August before I finally eat one.

Three types, sweet million, better boy and early girl. Next year I want to try something a little more adventurous!

Kato

Comments (22)

  • dcumba99p
    18 years ago

    I'm in the same boat as you. My tomato plants are all setting fruit nicely. I also have three varieties - Health Kick, Best Boy and Early Girl. It'll be August for me unless the temptation for fried green tomatoes is too great...

  • HabRob
    18 years ago

    My supersonic have flowered/are flowering and set(ting) fruit like crazy. The largest tomatos are ping-pong ball sized at the moment. My Mr. Stripey is just starting to flower without a single 'mater in sight.

  • adenn1
    18 years ago

    I attempted to jump start the season by placing black landscape fabric on my raised beds in April. I put the following varities in on May 15th and this how they are doing:

    Black Brandywine: just over 5' tall and has about eight fruit with many new blossoms. This is first time growing it and the fruit are oval--pear shaped...not what I was expecting.

    Super Sioux: Just about 5'...has about four small fruit and setting blossoms nicely.

    Nebraska Wedding: 4'tall and setting blossoms...a few very small fruit...this is a long season variety 90-100 days.

    Riesentraube: pushing 6'tall--tall-lanky plant and not a lot of vegetation...has three nice groupings of about 12-14 cherries with many new blossoms in last week.

    Sweet 100: pushing 6' and a monster of a plant...have it in a six foot cage and should have made it taller. Darn thing is going to be pruned for sure...lots of blossoms...but no fruit yet.

    Polish: 5' tall and has two to three small fruit...good blossom set.

    Mountain Spring: 3' tall--placed this in a 10-gallon container...has about ten large fruit that I had hoped would be ripe by the 4th...but won't be ready for picking for about 10-15 days. Strange plant...leaves are very dark green and thick...almost like leather and they have all curled up and inward. Plant is healthy except for this strange leaf development.

    Fourth of July: also in a 10-gallon container...this Burpee hybrid was to produce ripe fruit by the 4th...not going to happen. Several small 1-2" fruit...thougtht I would try it for fun. Probably won't grow again...next year will try some early heirlooms.

    Have already picked some nice cucumbers--Tendergreen Burpless and Boothby's Blonde. Also three to four zuke's that were grilled...oh so good!

    Good luck to all...now spraying for all of the darn japenese beetles...swarms of them seem to have landed in last day or so.

  • katob Z6ish, NE Pa
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    I guess I'm not really too far behind. I wanted to try those wall-o-water things this year but as usually other things got in the way... maybe next year.

    I just keep looking at them every day and they seem so slow. Speed it up guys!

    I guess I can't complain. I did a lame job of soil prep and think the plants are waiting for something..... maybe another dose of fertilizer, they look a little peak ed and pale. I might try epsom salts.

    Adenn- you're killing me with 5 foot plants. Mine are probably just 2 feet.

  • alisande
    18 years ago

    Mine are all in containers: Husky Red, Husky Red Cherry, Celebrity, and Better Bush. After years of growing tomatoes in the ground (my favorites were Gardener's Delight and Giant Belgium), I don't feel all that confident about when (and how much) to water, but overall the plants look pretty good. All have set fruit of various sizes.

    Susan

  • adenn1
    18 years ago

    Kato:

    My neighbor who planted early is also not pleased with me...his tomatoes are only a couple feet tall. We had a couple of cold nights and I believe the weather set his plants back...as such...he comes over and shakes his head at my tall plants. I do believe that warming the beds with landscape fabric helped...my plants also get a good amount of sun.

  • mwoods
    18 years ago

    I'm growing 12 varieties,all started from seed and they are already almost to the top of their stakes with flowers and or green tomatoes.This heat and rain are really making them smile.

  • TerriJM
    18 years ago

    We finally got a nice soaking rain yesterday and the tomatoes and cukes seem to have grown a foot overnight!!! Even though I have watered faithfully during the hot, dry spell, I guess it's just not as good as a drenching rain.
    I planted the third week in May and feel that the plants are growing slower than in other years.
    I planted supersonics, sweet 1000 and seedless cucumbers.

  • witsend22
    18 years ago

    Mine are still seedlings, just getting started for the most part. They are all volunteers come back each year but they don't sprout until the ground temp warms way up. As others have plants dieing off, they will be at the height of production. I pick tomatoes as I need them and leave the rest to reseed for next year. I also have some volunteers that came up along with a lot of weeds from some unfinished compost I used. I have no idea what they will produce but they are just beginning to set blossoms so it won't be long.

  • miss_chanterelle
    18 years ago

    our tomatoes are looking great! We have 10 different heirloom types this year, the tallest right now is a Garden Peach that is over 3 feet, the smallest are Bloody Butchers that were only seedlings when we planted ( only 2 sets of leaves ) They are about a foot and a half now. Most of the plants have tomatoes on them, anywhere from tiny to tangerine size , only ones without fruit are the Bloody Butchers, the Bucks County and the Brandywine and all three are covered with flowers so it wont be long..am anxious to see how long it takes for them to ripen

  • galsal2
    18 years ago

    I started Beefy Boy down the cellar, and since it didn't look too good when I bought my annuals, I got a Better Boy. The Better Boy has small fruit and is about three feet. Beefy Boy is alive and growing, but a lot smaller than the other one. I water, but I sure wish we would get some DECENT RAIN!!

    Sally

  • nick_17815_pa
    18 years ago

    I started mine inside, and they were both over a foot before I put them out. One of them even had flowers on it. Considering I don't have any lights on them or even a really good place to put them, I was very pleased. Bucks County & Beefmaster. But when I put them out, even though I made sure it was a shady day, all put the top growth died off (leaves turned white and blew away with the breeze) :o( They rebounded very nicely somehow, I have had fruit for a while. I now have one that is almost ready to pick. It has been getting redder and redder every day. I also have a tomato plant that must have grown by itself from last year that has fruit on it, that one has nothing close to being ready yet.

  • cls1978
    18 years ago

    So far, so good here. I'm growning 11 tomato plants:

    Sweet 100 - over 6ft tall, loaded with green fruit and 2 that are blushing for me:)

    Cherokee Purple - lots of green fruit

    Eva Purple Ball - a few green fruit

    Golden Girl - a few green fruit

    Black Cherry - a couple dozen green fruit

    Box Car Willie - tons of green fruit

    Beef Steak - a dozen greens

    Bush Goliath - 4 green fruit

    The other 4 were mixed up, so I have no idea what they are, but each plant is full of blossoms with a few set here and there:)

    Christine

  • HabRob
    18 years ago

    All my plants have flowers and tomatos on them now except for 1 of the Mr. Stripey which doesn't appear to be even developing any flower buds at all. I'm giving it 2 more weeks to do something and if it doesn't I'm going to pull it out.

  • Lily316
    18 years ago

    We have 12 tomato plants put in the last week of April and covered in cold nights. The plants are over 6 feet tall now and we just picked our first few tomatoes. Many green ones..some very large..We're over a week late from last year's//

  • katob Z6ish, NE Pa
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    I was away and haven't seen how my tomatos responded to the rain and heat. I hope they didn't flop all over the place without me keeping up with the staking.

    Still pretty sure nothing's ripe yet. I think I need some covers for next spring, that seems to help alot more than just having bigger transplants.

  • gregrry_comcast_net
    17 years ago

    My early cascades are over the top of my cages. I have 7' cages still have a month of growing left if not more. should be 9 to 10 feet tall with loads of fruit. will have to get out the wifes panty hose to support from here on.
    Good luck to all. Try early cascade there the best

  • Pipersville_Carol
    17 years ago

    I gave up growing tomatoes a couple of years ago, and buy them from local gardeners and small farmstands now. So far this year my farmstand purchases have been disappointing. The tomatoes looked good (maybe a little pale) but had hardly any flavor. What gives? Am I buying too soon?

    Or is this turning out to be a bad year, flavor-wise??

  • matthew_romano_2000_yahoo_com
    17 years ago

    Not so good especially in comparison to last year's crop. I am guessing all the non stop rain we had in July could be the cause. The vines grew nicely but fruit was scarce By mid July last year I had hundreds of tomatoes on 10 plants. This year one or two tomatoes by July end and only 50 or so by now.

  • kyuodsnukis
    17 years ago

    Well not so good I have tons of green ones. Persimmon is producing at a rate of two per week,Tangerine one per week, Paul Robeson and black Pear one or two so far, even Early Girl is so slow to ripen. Last year tried Northern Exposure and had good luck. The season is very dissapointing.

  • caliloo
    17 years ago

    I must admit, they do seem ot be lacking a little in flavor this year. However, I have so many tomatoes, that my family of 4 can't keep up with the 4 plants we have. I do not know the name of the orange one, but I am picking 2 - 3 softball sized tomatoes every other day, I have a zillion cherry tomatoes and they are dropping everywhere (can you say weeding nightmare next spring?), I probably have 30 - 40 Romas off one plant I haven't even gotten to yet. The only one that is slow is Mr Stripey - I think I've gotten maybe a dozen decent fruit from it. For some reason, that one tends to split and rot before they are ripe.

    signed - Too many tomatoes! LOL!

  • babylark
    17 years ago

    My tomato season was disappointing. I started out by getting an early start on seedlings inside. They got too leggy and then I killed them by leaving them outside and they got cold. I bought new plants as punishment for killing the others.

    I didn't get the tilling and garden prep I needed. Needless to say, I grew great weeds this year! I didn't get to can enough tomatoes. It's going to be a long winter.

    I'm planning on putting down a 6" layer of horse manure over my whole garden and tiling better next spring.

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