16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

mmm- Since the consensus is that it's not a BK, to me it looks like the one in your last photo is about ready to be picked.

Rodney

Seysonn, Your advice is very useful to prevent cracking.

Rodney, the fruit already picked and i love its farvor :)

PC ,
Seems like your spring planting is well underway which is expected in central Florida. I think perhaps shade can be beneficial in the Sunshine state in the summer.
I am still waiting on my Bear Claw to germinate. I have already potted all my seedlings >>>>> T minus 5 weeks..... until lift off hehe .

Today is a gorgeous day., Sunny, high reaching 62F. Despite some lingering cold I will get out and do something. Like refurbish my hops and cold frame.

Seysonn

Thanks Seysonn, In Central Florida they probably are well on their way, but I had planned optimistically the third week in March. Coastal Georgia is a walk before sunset from here and I just checked the forecast and would do the same tomorrow if I had the Brunswick GA forecast too.

It is the most exciting moment though, like you said the countdown to liftoff. Gorgeous day here, too, but the wind makes a little chill and no doubt all the cold bleach won't be fun (and then the peroxide spraying). Good luck on Bear Claw, looks pretty huge and I hope it tastes better than its name. I threw away all but one of my Brandy Boys which is starting to show a little life, the others simply were much too little and too late, real bummer.

PC

My final from seed list.

Black Krim

Box Car Willie
Abe Lincoln
Big Rainbow
Old German
Cherokee Purple
4th of July
Red Brandy Master
Brandy Boy
(Giant) Red Delicious
Gardener's Delight

For store bought plants I will do one large basket planter of Bush Goliath.

The jury is still out on repeating Black Prince. It tasted great. Produced well until the temps got into the high 90's. Then they pretty much died. I did root some cuttings. They gave me more tomatoes when the weather cooled off as well. Arkansas Traveler produced some tasty maters. It just did not produce a lot of them. (If I can find a 1 gal or larger to plant before Easter I will give it another shot.

It did so well for me last year I will be doing another this year as well. It is my insurance policy for some quick ripe tomatoes.

This is my third year gardening, and second year growing from seed. It is addicting, and makes the winter months even more painful, though starting the seedlings has been a welcome distraction.

I'm trying different types to experiment. Have only gotten seeds so far from the local Lowe's (Burpee), so would like to get into all of this seed swapping I hear about here.

Growing these in southeastern NC. * means I have never grown it before.

Honey Delight - a lovely little 4 oz. gold tomato
Yellow Pear*
Orange Wellington Hybrid*
Brandywine
Early Girl Hybrid*
Better Boy
Super Boy 785
Jelly Bean
Super Sweet 100 Hybrid*
Red Cherry (Large)*
Bushsteak*
Steak Sandwich Hybrid*

Tips welcome.

don't worry if you plants fail you have plenty time to do it correctly the next time.

Agree with PC that's it's probably not an issue at this point. But be careful about watering from here on.

Rodney

I built raised beds - 4 of them and had to buy 2 yards of soil a few years ago. That was about a $150 investment. I use my own compost to ammend my soil, and raise from seed I have saved and traded (I almost never buy new seeds now, except lettuce). I don't till, use wood chips from a tree that was taken down on my property for mulch, the lighting set up to grow the seeds was given to me by someone who wasn't using it anymore, etc. In just three years, those 4 raised beds will have raised 75 tomato/cucumber/pepper/eggplant plants. That's not counting lettuce, which is even more cost efficient. I don't count my 'time', because I am a stay at home mom. This is what I do to supplement our grocery bills with healthy fresh food. My kids love veggies, we eat well. It's hard to put a price on that.

Way to go, Aria.
That is how most experienced gardeners do, make your own compost, save your own seeds, etc

Seysonn

What would you two do without each other?

I can tell you what I could do - same as for the past 10 years here. Go back to having intelligent and at least semi-rational discussions about growing tomatoes. Instead of having to deal with all the silly claims and irresponsible, off-the-wall arguments posted just to create controversy.

It is either deal with them or just let them stand unopposed and risk new and/or inexperienced growers reading them and assuming they are accurate.

Many of us have a sense of responsibility about the quality of the forum and the info it provides to others. But now and then we get someone new like this who get their kicks in other ways.

kathy - it would be nice if you were correct but unfortunately that is exactly what he means. Hard to believe isn't it?

Dave

PS: seysonn - yes, I realize that it is pointless to respond to you but what the pics prove is what you asked for - proof that hundreds of thousands of tomatoes are grown unpruned every year and that pruning is not mandatory to grow tomatoes.

You demanded links - you got links from reputable sources. But I seriously doubt you bothered to read any of them. Hopefully others will take the time to do so.

It has been suggested somewhere a couple of years ago that if you germinate on a towel and transplant to a pot use a brown towel as the roots are less likely to get stuck.

You can also just cut around the root and plant towel piece and all.

Thanks Sharon. You explained it real well.
Now that have seeds of both, I'll plant one of each. I like the EARLINESS part of Azoychka. Maybe it will do ok in my garden.

Seysonn

I live right outside Big Bend National Park in west Texas. The summer temps here reach 100 degrees by the end of May and then hit over 120 until Sept. So, I've I've decided to search for tomatoes that I can start inside under a grow light early in late January and then plant in the ground after the last frost, which, this year seems to be happening well into March. One of them I chose was Azoychka. Has anyone that has grown tomatoes in a desert environment, had success with Azoychka? I also have seedlings grown from, Amana Orange, Green Giant, Cream Sausage (supposedly great in containers) and Black Krim. I hope my plan of starting seeds early indoors will mean success this year. The temperatures are just way to extreme in the summer and an unpredictable frost means winter can be a crap shoot even when winter temps for us are usually 60s and 70s.

Two of my favorites are Brandy Boy and Sungold.

How come this thread is so quiet ? C'mon guyys ! lets talk summer . hehe

After my initial choices , I cheated and added couple more. The DTM of 49, on the "Fourth of July" seed pack deceived me . So did the look of Big Rainbow. I am a sucker for bi color tomatoes. So I declare my innocence.
I have almost done germinating. The last 19 varieties have just germinated. They are:
Arbuznyi, Azoychka, Ananas Noire, Big Rainbow, Black from Tula, Mr. Stripy, Black cherry, Druzba, Japanese Black Trifele, Kelloggs Breakfast, ..Rio Grande, ..Legend, ..Willamette, ..Yellow Grape, .. Mini Roma, ..Red Cherry, Orange cherry, Fourth of July.
I think I am ok, timing wise. Have about 5 weeks till plant out. My other 8 varieties are doing fine for a head start. They are mostly dwarves and earlies.

After all that dreaming, seeds hunting/selections, ... what we need a real good clement weather. No pests, no fungus ..please.

Seysonn

aniajs, .. 5-7 days is pretty good.
Yes, heat pad/mat makes a big difference

I don't use cups because even if you fill them half way up and sow seeds way up there, the seeds might not get enough heat. I find egg cartons and commercial starter cells better.

Hi countryladies

It really depends on what you are growing. The above answers are for tomatoes (after all this is the tomato forum), but you mention you were germinating flower seeds. All species will have their specific requirements so you need to know what kind of flowers they are, assuming they are not tomato flowers LOL.

Best luck

PC

I see. Not an easy choice. Guess I'll go with both.

They are very competitive. But according to most opinions, over all Brandy Boy has a slight edge.

Seysonn

Congrats on the success ferro, if you are sure the union is well healed over, it is probably a good idea to not let the temperature get too warm (keep below 75 F) but mostly take your cues from the appearance of the plants (to keep a reasonably low height:stem diameter ). They look nice!

PC

They are in a fairly well controlled growth chamber at 24 degrees C (75.2F). It might be a degree or two warmer when the lights are on. There's also an oscillating fan in there to hopefully strengthen the stems. Hopefully they don't get too big before it's time to move them outside.

PC, thanks. You are a much better source of information than Taniana and Remy combined on RG:-)

Seysonn

LOL, I'm sure they'll get around to update some of these OPs, but you have to admit, if the variety were named Pomodoro 'Il Fiume Po', it might turn a few more heads ;-)

PC

the wire fencing is from the farm and ranch store and costs about $1.00 per linear ft and the 3/8" x 4 ft rebar at Lowe's is $1.10 each so I guess my set up is about $5.00 per cage but so much better than the ready made cages available locally. CMM

It sure looks a lot like remesh but then must be thinner gauge (thinner wire). When you buy the 5' remesh in the 150 foot rolls it retails out to about $0.77 per linear foot if you can transport it home and buy the whole roll, but the 3/8" x 4 ft rebar here at Lowes is $2.30 per piece. My container height is around 16" or so, so that's why I need to use three stilts above the ground, or if I used a nice cage like you've got, if it is 4 feet tall, my plant being nearly 1 1/2 foot high could only use the upper 2 1/2 feet portion. I guess I could train the lower parts to hang into what is around the container somewhat., but that really needs to allow open airflow due to lots of mold and other pests. You have a great system and I wish the container were so economical. Suddenly a much wider container is sounding like a bargain, if I could only rest the cage on top, but mine are too narrow for that and now I'm paying more dearly$ for that than I expected in the beginning. Live and learn!

PC