2013 tomato crop
 

Just finished planting my 2013 tomato crop in the greenhouse. Right as I finished planting tomatoes this afternoon, it started snowing. I hope that's not a sign of things to come..... We are actually supposed to be somewhat sunny and dry for the next week IF you believe the weathermen.
There are just under 1000 plants of 53 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes this year. The English Cukes will be going in later this week in the back left corner.
Should start picking right around March 15th.

Nice work, Rgold.

How big is your greenhouse?

Wow. That is impressive! How is it heated?

3400 sq' heated with propane. Unfortunately, I will burn through several thousand gallons before I start picking. Heat is always my biggest yearly expense.

Ron

Impressive indeed!

The two white pipes that run along your roll-up sides on the inside, is that for billow control against the wind? I haven't seen it done that way.

Those are actually 3 rows of vinyl rain gutter that I grow lettuce, basil, peppers, and melons in. You can see the top row if you look closely right by the 2x6 that is at 4'. The sidewalls do not roll up on this building. All of the air comes in at the South end through insect screen.

Ron

I have greenhouse envy. Nice !

Dang that is nice!


You grow peppers in the gutters? Thats cool....if you dont mind sharing, what variety do you grow?

oh I am so jealous! Lovely greenhouse and the fact you'll be picking in March while it was 24 degrees here today and no sign of warming up any time soon . :)

I would love to see more pictures as your season progresses and I love your green house also...what's not to be jealous about...lol

awsome greenhouse, and those big wide isles, makes me want to put a lounge chair in there and listen to the tomatoes grow.

Thanks everyone! I will be taking pictures once a week as things progress.
I have grown hundreds of different peppers in the rain gutters. All of them do really well. In fact, I have grown just about every type of "non root" vegetable or green in them. Last year was mu fist attempt at melons and they came out quite spectacular. The "super hots" did exceptionally well in the gutters last year and were so prolific, I actually made more money(on a plant per plant basis) off of them than I did on tomatoes. Of course, I can't sell nearly as many of them as I do tomatoes but they definitely are worth growing.
I have never liked any type of melon but my wife does so I grew them for her. I tasted them and for the first time ever actually liked a couple of the varieties. Arava and Tasty Bites were so sweet I was amazed. I even grew a watermelon for her and was really skeptical how it would taste but I even liked it.
I plant them on the bottom row and just let the vines run down the floor along the side wall.

The gutters are using what would otherwise be unused space in the greenhouse and can generate enough over the year to cover all the operating expense so they are well worth the effort to install and operate.

Ron

[QUOTE=casino;318418]awsome greenhouse, and those big wide isles, makes me want to put a lounge chair in there and listen to the tomatoes grow.[/QUOTE]

I made some big changes last Winter and pouring concrete and widening the aisles was one of them. There used to be 6 rows which made it very difficult to work in. I blew out my knee last year and had to have surgery so big changes were needed to keep the business running. It went so well(the changes to the floor and aisles) that I wish I had done it years ago.

Ron

One week later...... Now if it would just warm up and maybe a little sun to go along with that. It's been in the low 30's here every night with a few night colder and only in the upper 30's during the day.

awesome. What kind of temperature do you keep the greenhouse?

78 daytime, 70 nighttime right now. Big$$$$$ heating this time of year.

And one week later.... The support strings are all in place and the pants are growing about how I would expect with the weather we are having. Really expensive week with the night temps in the very low 20's and not even making it above freezing so far today.
I will be adding the first clips and removing the first suckers this week.

thanks for keeping tomatoville updated on your crop, Rgold1963

8-)

Wow! Santa...I want one of those structures!!!

What varieties do you grow and how do you market them? Tomatoes, that is.

Notice the temperature in the greenhouse. He is maintaining 78 degrees daytime which is an ideal temperature for tomatoes to grow vigorously. This is smack in the middle of the goldilocks zone for tomatoes. The only thing I see is that there is not enough sunlight to make the plants color up properly.

DarJones

Rgold,

Wow, very impressive!! What spacing are you using for the tomato plants and will you be stringing up 1 or 2 vines per plant? Also, I that red string material baling twine or something else?

Thanks,
Anne

[QUOTE=Alpinejs;320268]Wow! Santa...I want one of those structures!!!

What varieties do you grow and how do you market them? Tomatoes, that is.[/QUOTE]


This year I have over 50 varieties in that I am trialing. It's a real pain having so many due to growth habits and sizing but my customers really enjoy the fact that I have so many different types for them to choose from.

A little over half are sold at a local farmers market and the rest to a privately owned store and 2 small restaurants(same owner) I used to sell to over 20 stores and restaurants in Portland and even up to Seattle at one point with some being shipped to Alaska but have downsized quite a bit over the last 10 years, got my organic certification and now run the entire business myself. A lot less headache with no employees and not having to deal with all the shipping logistics.

Ron

[QUOTE=Fusion_power;320277]Notice the temperature in the greenhouse. He is maintaining 78 degrees daytime which is an ideal temperature for tomatoes to grow vigorously. This is smack in the middle of the goldilocks zone for tomatoes. The only thing I see is that there is not enough sunlight to make the plants color up properly.

DarJones[/QUOTE]


Living this far North, we have very short days this time of year with very filtered(at best) daylight. Since the plants have no fruit load on them, they still grow ok this early on and by the time they start setting fruit, our day length has increased enough to support it. Keeping the plants from becoming too vegetative right now is my main goal as that can drastically impact the overall yield, especially the earlier fruit which I need to maximize to afford the cost of heating right now! By controlling the feed, temperature, and humidity, I can keep the plants steered generatively even though they tend to be a bit lighter in color. As they set fruit, I make small changes in all of these factors and they will quickly darken up.

Ron

[QUOTE=aclum;320280]Rgold,

Wow, very impressive!! What spacing are you using for the tomato plants and will you be stringing up 1 or 2 vines per plant? Also, I that red string material baling twine or something else?

Thanks,
Anne[/QUOTE]


Each row has 2 overhead wires that are 60cm apart. The individual plants are 18cm apart and every other one is tied up to the same overhead wire above which give a final plant spacing of 36cm. The orange twine is just a synthetic bailing twine that I can get for a great price. It takes 4-5 miles of twine each year to get through the whole crop so cost is important as well as strength. Each plant is grown with a single head but in the event of a broken top or removed plant during the season, a second shoot can be allowed to grow to fill in the space. Growing the plants with 2 heads tends to be a bit more generative but not quite as productive later in the season. Some varieties simply don't have the vigor to support that kind of load over such a long period.
I plan on trying some grafting next season and might have to go to a 2 head system to keep the plants from becoming too vegetative though depending on the rootstock I use. I'll figure that out when the time comes!

Ron

Could you post a closer photo of the gutters where you grow the peppers? It sounds really neat.

Here are a few videos of the end of last years crop. You can see some peppers in the gutters during part of them. Also, a picture of last years yellow ghost peppers all grown in the gutters.

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbNjFQHpqI0[/URL]

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FhtJwIxN80[/URL]

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZbGF5iWZ9k[/URL]

Seeing videos of these plants convinces me I've been a failure in gardening

[QUOTE=riceke;320342]Seeing videos of these plants convinces me I've been a failure in gardening[/QUOTE]

There is no failure in gardening. Just smaller successes and hopefully better luck next year.

[QUOTE=Redbaron;320361]There is no failure in gardening. Just smaller successes and hopefully better luck next year.[/QUOTE]


Exactly! I can't tell you how many mistakes I have made over the years. The important thing is to never stop learning from them and try not to repeat them!

Ron

Have you tried reflective plastic mulch?

Also, grafting is tricky to match scion to rootstock. If you start with a low producing less vigorous scion, then a high vigor rootstock seems to increase production the most. The converse is true with a highly vigorous scion, a generative rootstock makes the best crop.

Are you using double layer plastic for your greenhouse covering? I've seen it cut heating bills by 50%. You lose a bit of sunlight but gain so much on heating bills that it is worth it.

DarJones