Hmm, myself, but if the first two are Early varieties, for sure Indian Stripe is not, more like a mid to late midseason depending on the season,and a variety I introduced,

Sooooo, it seems likely that those two early ones would blossom and set fruits earlier than would Indian Stripe.

Yes?

Carolyn

Just found oldish post from 2006, someone from IN has first blush on the Indian Stripe at the end of June, also surprised by earliness. It is a nice surprise to be sure.

That was in 2006 someone in IN had mature fruits that early and we have no idea when it was planted out, what the season was like, etc.

But this is 2014 and we're comparing two early varieties with Indian Stripe which has a much later DTM than your two earlies.

I've grown Indian Stripe many many times and in my zone 5 I can't remember ever seeing fully mature fruits that would have a blush on them until usually mid to late August , or so. And at that time I was growing almost all of my plants by sprawling and all were set out, usually in early June.

So if I were you, which I'm not, LOL, I wouldn't worry about IS being later than your two earlies. ( smile)

Carolyn

It's disappointing that Carolyn says it will be so late, considering that it's supposed to be a strain of Cherokee Purple. CP was my earliest tomato last year, although it wasn't terribly productive.

I'm growing Indian Stripe (RL) too this year.

Linda

Linda. I said that IS was later than the two early ones being grown.

If you want to compare CP with IS as to rough DTM's then go to Tania's site and you'll see they are almost the same.

I can go to my SSE Yearbooks and see the same.

Yes, IS is a version or strain, if you prefer, of CP and the first person I sent seeds to was Craig LeHouliier who introduced CP and my long time friend since 1989, and he agreed.

There are many threads here at GW and elsewhere where I've gone through the history of it.

And it's also true that the fruits of IS are somewhat smaller, a bit lighter in color and more to the truss than CP/

Carolyn

I have started those seeds March 2 and planted into WOW on April 26. So far plants look very robust and healthy and am looking forward to seeing what my first tomato going to be this year. I also noticed flower starting to form on Sugar Drop today.
Never grown CP before.

Well I've started seed for both CP and IS for the first time. I find IS not very robust and I had two seeds out of 8 germinate. I won't be planting out till end of May. I'm looking forward to both. BFT is really looking very healthy, so I have high hopes there and it's earlier than CP and IS, I believe.

Sharonie, wonder where your seeds from... I got my IS seeds from Heritage, great germination and great health to the seedlings.

In my experience in my zone 5 BFT ( Black From Tula) is about the same DTM as for IS and CP.

I wonder where you got your seeds from as well since, well,let me link to Tania's seed sources below.

At least several seed sources I would trust and I think Sandhill Preservation also lists it as well.

I've never had a problem with germination of IS, whether the original RL or the PL version, even with seeds several years old.

Carolyn

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: IS seed sources

Maybe it's the way I grow my seedlings, but most of mine have flowers before I plant them out. I usually remove them all before planting. If I miss some, they usually don't produce fruit. I have about 20 7-week old seedlings I plan to plant out as soon as it stops raining. I have probably removed more than 100 flowers, some of which formed at four weeks. These are mostly long season varieties, including Indian Stripe (PL), brandywine Sudduth, mortgage lifter Estlers, and Dester. If it's a good year, I expect my first ripe fruit from them in late July.

Ohiofem, I have started noticing flowers about 10 days after I planted out into WOW, now I am seeing more and more. Not everything but surely not ONLY early varieties which I would expect. Am not sure if should bother to remove them and let plants keep settling in and grow roots or this process will take care of itself.

I am leaving the flowers alone on my plants. I figure, they will abort them if not able to support. I disagree with the theory that flowers ( as sexual energy) will stress small plant and wont let it grow an develop roots ....I think a Plant works like a multi processor computer. It can coordintar, foliage growth, root growth and fruits growth ALL at the same time, that is PROVIDED IT GET WHAT IT NEEDS (LIGHT, MOISTURE NUTRIENTS. Haven't we seen them grow like crazy, while they are loaded with fruits ?

Anyway, I am following my own preaching. After all, I plant them for fruits not for big foliage or huge roots.

Seysonn: you are a fount of theories! It is amazing. But, for those who care about evidence and past experience, the general consensus among experienced growers is that you want your plants to stay in the vegetative growth period until they have grown substantial roots and are strong enough to produce large fruits. Removing the flowers keeps them from moving into the sexual reproduction period until they are ready. If you are trying to grow long season plants in colder climates, you may want to leave the early flowers alone in hopes of earlier fruits, at the cost of a bigger overall yield.

Merle Jensen, University of Arizona, says that a tomato that becomes too Reproductive or too Vegetative will have lower overall yield. He suggests pruning fruit as one action (among many) to steer the right path.

Interesting paper. I can see that my Early Girl went Reproductive at about 40 inches tall. Maybe that's OK.

Edit: there are a lot of environmental factors there that we can't control as well as some we can. I did not know that frequency of watering could affect mode. I suspect though that the number of fruit a plant carries matters more than flowers. And apparently flower color is a clue to mode.

Here is a link that might be useful: steering your tomatoes

This post was edited by johns.coastal.patio on Sat, May 10, 14 at 19:12

Seysonn: you are a fount of theories! It is amazing.
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I think that what you are proposing is also a theory. The proponent of your theory advocate to leave the plant alone, DO NOT PRUNE ... but then when it comes to early fruiting they sap PRUNE IT ! that is a school or theory at the best.

In that article that John provided link for says , supposedly when plant get into sexual stage, it stays more bushy. Which I know it is not true about indetermiats. As long as they are in fertile soil and other growing conditions are favorable, they will keep growing and doing its sexual activities at the same time :D

CASE IN POInt:
Last year we bough a bigger Early Girl plan. It had lots of flowers and even several hazel nut size fruits. I did not pinch off neither flowers nor the fruits. They stayed on and eventually turned int ripe fruits. In Addition to those the plant was loaded with fruits all season long and it grew like a monster And I have to provide two more stakes to support it

Unless a tomato plant is of small DETERMINANT type, it will continue to grow (Vegetative state) and will continue to fruit (productive state ?).

On the other hand I had a Brandywine, growing side by side, flowered just a few in August ( about 3 fruits that did not even ripen up). So it was practically in vegetative state season long.

Other than talking THEORIES, i will actually find out in PRACTICE what will happen to my already flowering and fruiting plants. I will keep everybody posted here in this forum. There is a lot of paradigms that people tend to get entrapped: Like most experienced gardeners do this and don't do that and my grandpa said so and so.
Flowering and fruiting is just one aspect (sexual life) of a tomato plant but it does not happen just once or twice is keeps continuing, depending on the variety. As I said, the vegetative and reproductive function can run parallel.

This post was edited by seysonn on Sun, May 11, 14 at 0:01

Thanks for article, very interesting, does not seems to help a lot to regular home grower though... My plants must have gotten their information at seedling stage, since I planted one into WOW, another in cold frame, another still in greenhouse, yet all showed same tendency to flower setting. My plants in WOW show tight, dark green curly leaves on the top, i.e. vegetative growth and open, paler leaves on the bottom i.e. reproductive stage... hmmm

Seysonn: in another thread about flowers forming on seedlings, you gave this advice:
I would also remove any and all the buds that appear before plant out and maybe for two week after that . According to some plant scientists, this will direct more energy to root developments.
Have you changed your mind overnight?

Carolyn and Linda, my seeds came from Tomatofest. I was surprised because in general my germination rate was much better than last year. I order from Tania and Gary for the most part. The IS seedlings are looking more robust.
As to the rest of the above discussions, I'm pinching off any flowers I find.