Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Fiishergurl]

Here's a link to a post by Carolyn Phillips about growing 8 single vine Brandywines in each earthbox. Maybe that would be better than 6 double vine.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?p=341028

Ginny

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Here's a link to a post by Carolyn Phillips about growing 8 single vine Brandywines in each earthbox. Maybe that would be better than 6 double vine.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?p=341028

Ginny

Well....I won't do it but you can. You are so good at gardening, I am sure yours will be successful.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Well....I won't do it but you can. You are so good at gardening, I am sure yours will be successful.

Ah no I wasnt trying to get you to do it. Barb is going to do a test with 6 single stem in one EB and 2 wild and wooly in another. All the same type. Just to see if the 6 are more productive than the 2 or not.

She's such a good tester... :-) it will be fun and interesting to see her results.

Ginny

[Barb_FL]

Looking for ideas for variety as I need to start seeds soon. Nothing HUGE, no dwarfs. Preferably disease resistant. Something (if experiment works) that I want the tomatoes or can give away easily.

Here's some that I thought of from growing experience:

1. Stump of the World - Growing now, 2 plants in unfavorable conditions, producing a lot (for me) of fruit. Not too big. Negative - it is considered a late variety.

2. NAR - Grew these in the past, plants not huge, tasted good

3. Cosmonaut Volkov - growing now in Root Pouch. Evenly productive, plant not huge. I grew these before because I had saved seeds but don't remember it although it gets great reviews.

4. Momotaro - I have 2 going now, one in a root pouch; the other in a black container. The one in the black container has fallen so many times with the fruit knocked off but still is a huge producer. Perfect fruit. Both are Wild and Wooly as Ginny would describe. Neither plant is tall huge. Both very bushy but that is my fault.
(Choosing this one would be a long shot).

5. LBB (Large Barred Boar) - Grown several times - fits the criteria.

6. Big Beef - has best disease resistance, probably a bigger plant.

---
Your ideas or please shoot mine down.

[Ricky Shaw]

Crnkovic Yugoslavian was the most efficient plant in terms of water usage and high fruit to foliage ratios in my garden. These are traits which would seem beneficial when reducing the number of stems, while increasing the density of plantings.

From reading, a couple of other plants that would also show these traits of smaller diameter vines, medium foliage, and high output would be Eva Purple Ball and Bulgarian #7.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Ah no I wasnt trying to get you to do it. Barb is going to do a test with 6 single stem in one EB and 2 wild and wooly in another. All the same type. Just to see if the 6 are more productive than the 2 or not.

She's such a good tester... :-) it will be fun and interesting to see her results.

Ginny

I agree, Barb is our best scientist, I learn a lot from her experiments.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Crnkovic Yugoslavian was the most efficient plant in terms of water usage and high fruit to foliage ratios in my garden. These are traits which would seem beneficial when reducing the number of stems, while increasing the density of plantings.

From reading, a couple of other plants that would also show these traits of smaller diameter vines, medium foliage, and high output would be Eva Purple Ball and Bulgarian #7.

Thanks for your input, Ricky Shaw. I even have EPB and Bulgarian #7 seeds from previous purchases. I've grown B#7 too Fall'15 - I never understood why Bulgarian Triumph was considered favorable to B#7. B#7 was a major producer and then halted which was common for me b/c they ran out of food.

How was the taste of Crnkovic Yugoslavian? Did you by chance save seeds? I would need 10-12 seeds.

IIRC, you had great success growing Cosmonaut Volkov in the summer, right? Do you think CY would be better for the experiment than CV?

---
Finally, while you are here, last summer when your plants were loaded with good size tomatoes, did you keep having continuous fruit set? or did it stall (less blossoms and even less of those blossoms being set)?

Thanks for your advice.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Looking for ideas for variety as I need to start seeds soon. Nothing HUGE, no dwarfs. Preferably disease resistant. Something (if experiment works) that I want the tomatoes or can give away easily.

Here's some that I thought of from growing experience:

1. Stump of the World - Growing now, 2 plants in unfavorable conditions, producing a lot (for me) of fruit. Not too big. Negative - it is considered a late variety.

2. NAR - Grew these in the past, plants not huge, tasted good

3. Cosmonaut Volkov - growing now in Root Pouch. Evenly productive, plant not huge. I grew these before because I had saved seeds but don't remember it although it gets great reviews.

4. Momotaro - I have 2 going now, one in a root pouch; the other in a black container. The one in the black container has fallen so many times with the fruit knocked off but still is a huge producer. Perfect fruit. Both are Wild and Wooly as Ginny would describe. Neither plant is tall huge. Both very bushy but that is my fault.
(Choosing this one would be a long shot).

5. LBB (Large Barred Boar) - Grown several times - fits the criteria.

6. Big Beef - has best disease resistance, probably a bigger plant.

---
Your ideas or please shoot mine down.

Why start new seeds? You may try cuttings from healthy plants. Just root them. It is easy. Plus if you like the taste of Momotaro, save seeds for next year, use cuttings.

I was too busy at work last week and just catching up on reading now. So many great ideas and experiments. Thanks for sharing.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Why start new seeds? You may try cuttings from healthy plants. Just root them. It is easy. Plus if you like the taste of Momotaro, save seeds for next year, use cuttings.
I was too busy at work last week and just catching up on reading now. So many great ideas and experiments. Thanks for sharing.

That's a clever idea. I never thought of using cuttings from the Fall crop to use in the Spring crop but appears to make a lot of sense. A way of extending a single hybrid seed to a second crop without purchasing another seed.
Thanks,
Larry

[Ricky Shaw]

Barb

Crnkovic Yugoslavian is exquisite, bright and sweet with whang. I do have seeds and be glad to share, PM me your address. This will be my main tomato this year and will plant 4 or 5 in a garden of 20 plants.

Cosmonaut Volkov's plant structure is more like Big Beef or Better Boy, thicker stalks and heavier foliage. Not a deal breaker, just thirstier and more pruning. A huge producer and good full bodied red tomato taste, it's just not a standout for me and won't be returning.

I had good clusters forming on all plants early, then when we hit +88F for 3 weeks they really slowed down, some stopped. As it cooled back down, they started up again, but none were forming clusters and setting fruit as well as before. Some diminishment would seem certain for the fact we're getting less sun late-season to push growth, which could be less a factor for AKMark with all those hours of daylight. I can feel what you're saying about the plants possibly being helped by more nutrient at this stage, and I think you're absolutely right if it's not hi-temp related.

[Barb_FL]

Ricky - I sent you a PM - but only if you saved seeds, I don't want to take your purchased seeds for an experiment. The plant sounds wonderful.

Also thanks for your comments on Cosmonaut Volkov - no wonder why I don't remember it; it wasn't memorable to me either.

Ella / Larry - I took cuttings sometime in November and planted them; they all have fruit set with small plants. I probably have 6-7 plants from cuttings now. I will get pictures.

Two of my cuttings went into an EB with mix I made from Peat Moss/Perlite/dolomite/ (instead of ProMix). This EB was fed only with the Masterblend formula from day 1. I also did the cover the same way as the link Marsha sent.

The other cuttings went into a mix of reused solarized Promix with my homemade mix.

I don't see a difference at all with the plants from my homemade mix and Promix. I did have DH pick me up 2 bales of Promix though. Just felt I didn't have much effort involved with the cuttings so no big loss.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Ella / Larry - I took cuttings sometime in November and planted them; they all have fruit set with small plants. I probably have 6-7 plants from cuttings now. I will get pictures.
Two of my cuttings went into an EB with mix I made from Peat Moss/Perlite/dolomite/ (instead of ProMix). This EB was fed only with the Masterblend formula from day 1. I also did the cover the same way as the link Marsha sent.
The other cuttings went into a mix of reused solarized Promix with my homemade mix.
I don't see a difference at all with the plants from my homemade mix and Promix. I did have DH pick me up 2 bales of Promix though. Just felt I didn't have much effort involved with the cuttings so no big loss.

I too have a number of plants from cuttings in 6 gallon pots. They are flowering, setting tomatoes and growing tomatoes and even though they might, I don't expect them to get to the other side. The other side meaning Spring when risk of frost is dramatically reduced. Here in Orlando from approximately the middle of December to the middle of February we are at risk from frost. Even though tomato plants are perennial I don't want them to hang around like a perennial. In the spring or early fall I want nice new transplants that have not been beaten up by blight,etc. and in some cases have vines that are up to and over 12 feet long.
What i was wondering is if I could get a cutting from a very late fall plant into a small pot and keep it alive but not growing rapidly, not flowering and certainly not setting tomatoes, but to use as a transplant, much as if I had started it from seed in the house in late December. Around the first of February if the weather forecast looks good, some of these transplants from cuttings could be started in the garden early.
Larry

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

...
What i was wondering is if I could get a cutting from a very late fall plant into a small pot and keep it alive but not growing rapidly, not flowering and certainly not setting tomatoes, but to use as a transplant, much as if I had started it from seed in the house in late December. Around the first of February if the weather forecast looks good, some of these transplants from cuttings could be started in the garden early.
Larry

I don't see why you couldn't do that. I would plan on getting the multiple cuttings at different times, maybe as early as the 15th and then around the frost time.

To delay even further, you could always wait awhile before transplanting into a pot and then let the plant get rootbound.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

I don't see why you couldn't do that. I would plan on getting the multiple cuttings at different times, maybe as early as the 15th and then around the frost time.
To delay even further, you could always wait awhile before transplanting into a pot and then let the plant get rootbound.

Barb,
I think you are right letting a transplant get root bound can be used as a strategy. In late October I transplanted a number of Broccoli plants into a RB that had become available. I had transplants which as usual were about 6 weeks old but I also had more transplants which were close to 14 weeks old. They were all in 3 1/2 cups. The 14 week old plants were approximately the same size as the 6 week old plants. I didn't try to reduce the root binding when I transplanted any of them. I just dropped them in the hole. I thought the older plants might out perform the younger plants, but not so. They all performed much the same and now are starting to head.
Thanks for your feedback,
Larry

[Fiishergurl]

Oh yeah good idea.

Larry I think you asked about topping the plants. Here are some photos of the suckers growing after I topped a couple of my plants a week or so ago. They are putting out new sucker growth everywhere (both are indeterminate plants).









The old stalks were not setting flowers much. Hoping that getting rid of all the dead blossoms plus the new growth will kick start the plant into setting again.

Ginny