Late seed starteing.

[sergeant69]

hard work??? for the past 2 days I have been busting out a cement slab w/a hammer and digging a ditch w/a shovel and pick in caliche 22' long to re-do a 6" pvc drainage line. THATS hard work.
I hear that volunteer plants from the previous year grow inferior plants. never tried it though.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by sergeant69

hard work??? for the past 2 days I have been busting out a cement slab w/a hammer and digging a ditch w/a shovel and pick in caliche 22' long to re-do a 6" pvc drainage line. THATS hard work.
I hear that volunteer plants from the previous year grow inferior plants. never tried it though.

Total BS.
I think you can appreciate the bluntness of that statement.
It comes from hybrid volunteers.

Worth

[sergeant69]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Total BS.
I think you can appreciate the bluntness of that statement.
It comes from hybrid volunteers.

Worth

elaborate for me please.
if its true that this is a good method, how come we're all going the seed starting under lights etc etc etc route??

[Labradors2]

You CAN do it.

I used to grow a few cherry tomatoes (usually Sweet Million) and 6 plants of
larger-fruited varieties. Every year, I would pick up all the tomato debris from the large-fruited tomatoes, but I wouldn't worry about any cherry tomatoes that were left on the ground.

In the spring I would plant the large-variety plants. When any seedlings sprouted, I was pretty sure they would be cherry varieties, so I simply moved them into their own row and I never had to buy cherry tomatoes or raise them from seed.....

Guess I was lucky that the Sweet Million hybrids came back pretty true to the original. I never even thought about hybrids back then!

Linda

[Cheryl2017]

I had three volunteers from my Juliette tomato plant. two came true, one plant produced round small hard red tasteless tomatoes and all three plants were healthy and hardy

[Labradors2]

My Juliettes came back different, and tasted WAY better than the original Juliette (which I thought were spitters).

Linda

Originally Posted by Cheryl2017

I had three volunteers from my Juliette tomato plant. two came true, one plant produced round small hard red tasteless tomatoes and all three plants were healthy and hardy

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by sergeant69

elaborate for me please.
if its true that this is a good method, how come we're all going the seed starting under lights etc etc etc route??

Ok here you go.
The reason many of use sprout seeds early is to take advantage of the cool spring weather.
We, "us southern folk" start seeds in late December and in one way or another grow them protected until we can plant them in the ground in early march.
I like to have these plants around 12 to 18 inches tall at planting time.

The reason for this is so the plant will be bigger and therefor set more fruit before the heat stops fruit production due to extreme heat.
Lets say you knew for sure what the last cold snap would be and it was march 1st.
You put in an 18 inch plant and start a seed on march 2nd.
Which one do you think will put out more fruit before late may or early June when the temps get up in the 90's?

I have in years past let volunteers grow as I knew what they were.
Last year It didn't get cold at all and I had one in a big dirt pile start in November.
This tomato grew all winter long and was one of the biggest plants I had it turned out to be an orange Russian tomato.
They look like this.
I just discovered that somebody on ebay is robbing pictures from tomato growers supply.
If you look at the picture below and them click on the link below that it is the same picture.


http://www.tomatogrowers.com/ORANGE-...ductinfo/5539/



Worth

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by sergeant69

elaborate for me please.
if its true that this is a good method, how come we're all going the seed starting under lights etc etc etc route??

I'm not Worth, but I will try to take a stab at this, OK?
The 2 big advantages to starting seeds indoors are: (1)that you can get a 6 week jump on plant size, over just putting a seed in the ground, because you have to wait for last frost. That can be the critical difference for some, especially where their season is much shorter, in the northern zones. (2)Also starting seed indoors, you keep seed eating critters away, and you keep any soil borne pathogens away, because you are starting them in " sterile" seed starting medium. No nematodes, fungi, bacteria, worms, whiteflies etc, while they are still so small and susceptible/ fragile.

Marsha

[sergeant69]

ok. all that makes sense. thanks

[Father'sDaughter]

Yup, you have to find ways to "bend" the growing schedule when you try to grow things outside their native habitat.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Yup, you have to find ways to "bend" the growing schedule when you try to grow things outside their native habitat.

I think it has a lot to do with the years of selective breeding.
The wild cherry tomato is closer to the original tomato than big boy.

Wild cherry does pretty darn good here in the heat, real good.
The native pepper we have here is does good mine comes back after 10 degree weather.
Both are small fruited.
Worth

[Labradors2]

That Orange Russian tomato is a BEAUTY! Did you like the flavor Worth?

Linda

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

That Orange Russian tomato is a BEAUTY! Did you like the flavor Worth?

Linda

The tomato picture as I said was robbed from TGS and put on ebay but yes I did.

Worth

[Labradors2]

It's sad when people steal pictures and use them for their own profit.

Glad you liked the taste though!

Linda

Originally Posted by Worth1

The tomato picture as I said was robbed from TGS and put on ebay but yes I did.

Worth

[sergeant69]

WORTH..............."Wild cherry does pretty darn good here in the heat, real good.
The native pepper we have here is does good mine comes back after 10 degree weather"

you wanna give that another go? the second line??