Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[JaxRmrJmr]

Thanks! I was looking for some sort of alert settings or something. I will try unsubscribing.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Barb, my Lucid Gems are really loading up. I knw yours were ahead of mine. Curious if you have tasted any yet?

Not yet; Here are the 2 ripest; haven't picked any yet.

[elight]

Can't believe you haven't picked those beauties yet! They'd be sitting on my kitchen counter out of fear that some animal would take a bite out of them.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[ginger2778]

Barb, those are GORGEOUS!

[Barb_FL]

Thanks - Maybe I should pick it; I looked up the picture on WildBoarsFarm and envisioning that the tomato could look like the cut one, but the outside picture is what the tomato looked like 10 days ago. Maybe their pictures don't match. I will take a pic when I slice it.

First tomato of the season from 2016 plants was Pink Passion:

I ate one of the Pink Passion (dwarf with regular leaves) and flavor was really good, but was too soft. The tomato was kind of weird shaped not heart like the rest so hopefully an anomaly. The plant had a big pink one so I picked it and it seemed hard around the shoulders; waiting a couple of days to eat it.

I ended up picking the 2 biggest Orange Jazz tomatoes pictured here:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...742#post544742

The first one from the plant started that color, but I left it and it turned the most beautiful brilliant pink-orange. But it was during the cold spell so maybe that had something to do with it.

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I think I lost my first tomato plant to bacterial wilt EVER. The plant was really healthy, producing a bunch of tomatoes. Then over the weekend, about 1/2 of it was wilted. I really checked the stems, etc for the problem JPOP was having but they looked fine. So I thought it wasn't wicking correctly; it is in a homemade SWC HD bucket-in-a-bucket. I cut off the wilted areas, and watered from the top. Then on Monday we had wicked winds all day. Lots of my plants had broken branches; so I probably didn't think much of it. Then yesterday (Tuesday), I saw more wilted branches; I moved it back from direct sun. Seems like a sure death sentence unless there are any other ideas.

[ginger2778]

Barb, try removing it right away, rinsing off the roots really well, and placing it into a new pot with clean soil. It might have a fighting chance, because the wilt is only 2 days old. BW is a soil born prob, so it might not have that. Worth a try anyway.

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Thanks - Maybe I should pick it; I looked up the picture on WildBoarsFarm and envisioning that the tomato could look like the cut one, but the outside picture is what the tomato looked like 10 days ago. Maybe their pictures don't match. I will take a pic when I slice it.

First tomato of the season from 2016 plants was Pink Passion:

I ate one of the Pink Passion (dwarf with regular leaves) and flavor was really good, but was too soft. The tomato was kind of weird shaped not heart like the rest so hopefully an anomaly. The plant had a big pink one so I picked it and it seemed hard around the shoulders; waiting a couple of days to eat it.

I ended up picking the 2 biggest Orange Jazz tomatoes pictured here:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...742#post544742

The first one from the plant started that color, but I left it and it turned the most beautiful brilliant pink-orange. But it was during the cold spell so maybe that had something to do with it.

----
I think I lost my first tomato plant to bacterial wilt EVER. The plant was really healthy, producing a bunch of tomatoes. Then over the weekend, about 1/2 of it was wilted. I really checked the stems, etc for the problem JPOP was having but they looked fine. So I thought it wasn't wicking correctly; it is in a homemade SWC HD bucket-in-a-bucket. I cut off the wilted areas, and watered from the top. Then on Monday we had wicked winds all day. Lots of my plants had broken branches; so I probably didn't think much of it. Then yesterday (Tuesday), I saw more wilted branches; I moved it back from direct sun. Seems like a sure death sentence unless there are any other ideas.

[Barb_FL]

Thanks Marsha; I drained the water in the bottom bucket and moved the plant under the porch - total shade. Then tried to get the plant out without killing it but it wouldn't budge. I also noticed white bumps on one of the stems (not the main stems) and researched that.

The buckets are also stuck together b/c only the bottom one is HD; the top one is a chlorine tablet bucket. It has drainage water holes and a huge air hole above them.

With the hose, I blasted the plant (just in case there were aphids, etc) , then ran tons of water down from the top. Having the large air hole, I can get the bucket within an inch of the deck and remove most of the water. The last thing I want this to do is start wicking. I did the full top watering and drainage twice.

While removing the water, the was considerable amount of algae. If there is any water left that I can't drain out by tipping, I will use the shop vac to suck it out.

I didn't feed it anything; I think this will either help or kill the plant quicker.

[Barb_FL]

I have 3 plants of Pink Passion (dwarf). Again, they seemed like they were the holy grail of tomatoes for Florida. They are determinate by most sellers, I bought seeds from Heritage (Bunny) and are listed there as indeterminate.

After the first plant's fruit were getting big, the plant started looking bad and really didn't set fruit on the remaining flowers; the other 2 were still looking good and setting fruit. I finally removed the first plant and put it off by itself (for fruit to ripen and get away from the other surrounding plants, just in case). None of the 3 plants were next to each other.

Now that the fruit is getting larger on the other plants, they look bad too; I moved the 2nd plant out of the way. Here is a picture of the 2nd plant:

Is this just a determinate thing? When I first started growing tomatoes, I grew determinate hybrids and don't remember them looking bad when they were done.

Thank you for your advice,
Barb

[efisakov]

If seeds came from the same source, they could be infected by the same disease. If you like this variety, maybe you can try different seeds.
Other possibility is that the soil can be infected. I purchase few bags at a time and sometimes run out of it and have to get some more and not from the same batch or even different company, if price is right. I have seen some really bad batches.

Amazon Chocolate did the same thing for me few years in a row until I decided to get new seeds. It would produce first cluster of fruits (tasty and early) and right after that becomes sick. Other varieties next to it would be fine. AC would die within a week or two.

[Barb_FL]

Thanks for getting back with me. What specific disease is it?

The only mix I have bought for several years now is Pro-Mix. I just checked and all 3 were in new root pouches so most likely new mix at least on 2 of them. If I reuse mix, it is from the Earthboxes which had all mix solarized for months last summer.

First time growing this tomato so don't know if it is a keeper.

Seeing issues I have never seen before this year.

[Imthechuck]

Well thought I would post about my horrible spring crop..........

My wife unfortunately mis labeled all of the starts and they got powdery mildew and its been downhill ever since........ about to rip just about all of my plants out

Even the brandy boy (aka steroid plant) looks bad....

This is probably my worse season post my earthbox/swc discovery

At least my first crop was good! until the birds found them

[ginger2778]

Barb, I think its fungal. Looks like bad mildew or early blight. I dont know if the plant can come back from that.

[Imthechuck]

I also didn't spray weekly with daconil and or copper like I usually do......

I always say well I need to spray weekly....

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Imthechuck

Well thought I would post about my horrible spring crop..........

My wife unfortunately mis labeled all of the starts and they got powdery mildew and its been downhill ever since........ about to rip just about all of my plants out

Even the brandy boy (aka steroid plant) looks bad....

This is probably my worse season post my earthbox/swc discovery

At least my first crop was good! until the birds found them

Were pretty much all in the same boat, Chuck. First it stayed hot until Jan3, then cool with tons of torrential rain, finally cool and dry, blossoms formed, I got TRMs and suck bugs, blossoms fell, stems died, now I have the Russet Mites under control, lots of blossoms and new fruit forming, but its getting so hot so quickly that I doubt most will get to any size. Awful awful season.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

..... lots of blossoms and new fruit forming, but its getting so hot so quickly that I doubt most will get to any size. Awful awful season.

I always thought that if the tomato formed, the temperature didn't really matter and the tomato would grow to size.

In checking the weather; the night time lows are typically15 degrees hotter than normal. I thought last April was so hot; that was a first.

Night time lows the past couple of nights have been in the low 70s....not good.

Thanks for your input re: the plants; given the alternatives, I would rather it not be mix borne or the vendor's seeds.

Also, my other wilted plant that I flushed out and left on the porch has not had any other branches wilt. At some time I will have to water it again-that will be the real test.

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Chuck - Sorry about your season....it's such a drag how much effort and $ we put into these tomatoes.

I didn't know that Brandy Boy was a steroid plant. I think Big Beef is pretty hardy too. I have an old Big B cutting (I'm sure diseased with the TYLCV) from last year still pumping out tomatoes; which I don't know how b/c I rarely see a flower. I counted yesterday and it has 20 tomatoes on it.

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Wonders never cease, but after going through 3 packs of Sweet Scarlet dwarf seeds, I FINALLY have 2-3 tomatoes on one plant. I still have seeds left in the final pack.

These are easier to grow: Even the old pepper plant had no leaves and can come back.