16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
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.
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
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.
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
This is an older post so I'm going to comment. The OP sounds like an experienced grower and gives excellent information. Your best bet for this sauce and paste variety is probably (link):
though if I were you I'd grow Costoluto Fiorentino instead, a nice ribbed (costoluto) variety grown supposedly in Florence but in many other places. The OP mentions a key point here about the tomatoes he photographed in Sicily. There are many types and no real variety, though a "Costoluto Catanese" was available a few years ago making quite claim on heirlooms (500 years old from Italy), seed from Sicily, I don't confide in that claim but you can email Reimer seeds and see if they still can sell it to you, but it is considered pretty identical to the other Costoluto varieties (see below).
You are dealing with what is called a landrace which means a spectrum of tomato mutts supposedly adapted to Sicilian growing conditions. From a practical perspective it is also a marketing gimmick, since basically any tomato that looks like the ones grown in the pictures above can be called Sicilian tomatoes because of the origin (where grown) and nobody growing elsewhere can have Sicilian tomatoes, because that is the European protectionist rules. If you go into it further though, it gets more beaurocratic and the local government is probably distributing the seeds to their growers making those the only official Sicilian seeds. Considering you are in Wisconsin, Costoluto Genovense or Costoluto Fiorentino might be best to get some authentic Italian ribbed heirlooms, but the Rosso Sicilian one I gave has a direct link to Sicily in the sense it was at one time grown there, but I'm rather sure it would be illegal to sell that seed in Europe due to having the word Sicilian in the name being protected, and that's probably why the Italian seed sites are not selling any "Sicilian" named varieties.
PC
Seeds don't go into your mouth either. And the pollution in China is not from seed production, but certainly from keyboard production. So it makes little sense to me what you say? Walk the walk if you talk the talk. I should boycott seeds, and not have them, but your keyboard is ok. Really? Wow!
Thanks Ralph for the suggestion. I will be trying Gold Gem for sure. And i won't even blame the woes in China on you.
I find the seeds labeled as "ORGANIC" just another gimmick.
It doe not matter if the seeds came from an organically grown plant or inorganically grow . Seeds carry just the genes.
One can argue about "Organic" fruit, but seeds ? Like drew said, unless you want to eat the seeds.
BUT having said all that , I have no problem with those who are organic purists.
Talking about alternatives to Sun Gold, yesterday I sow 4 different cherries from the seeds saved from store bought heirloom tomatoes. Not guaranteed that they be be better. We shall see in a few month.
Seysonn
Thanks David. Very nice plants and tasty looking tomatoes. It is amazing that those dwarves produced good size fruits.
Yeah. Like Linda said, there are very little info on most of these dwarves, as they are recent introductions. So I guess people like you guys are the best source of info.
Seysonn
Thank you all for your helpful comments. We have stared a demonstration vegetable garden in support of the Children's Program at the J C Raulston Arboretum here in Raleigh, NC. Last summer we planted a number of heirlooms tomatoes with mixed results. (Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, Pork Chop and Mortgage Lifter did the best.) This coming summer I would like to add a number of these dwarf varieties to demonstrate what people with limited growing space might do to still have home grown vegetables.
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.