What a strange year!

puzzley · June 30, 2012

I set out 84 tomato plants around the 10th of May, all on black plastic, half growing on cattle panels, the rest in concrete wire cages. I've been raising tomatoes for a long time, and am doing nothing other than my normal cultural practices. So far, it's the best ever. All plants are overgrowing the panels/cages, doing great, and I picked the first tomato (Cherokee Purple) two days ago, June 28. I've never had tomatoes this early!

They've been doing well since they were set out, and at that time, we were getting adequate rain. For the last 5 weeks, no rain at all, and I water very other day. That may be a factor. It certainly has held down the diseases and insects, which are usually a big problem for me.

Apparently the conditions matter more than the grower......

June 30, 2012

It has been a very, very unusual year. I thought I would have low production because we had a lot of rain while my first fruit set was growing. I lost a lot of tomatoes to BER very early. This spring season is ending due to the high summer heat. I have given tomatoes to everyone who would take some. We have eaten more tomatoes in almost every conceivable manner than at any time in the past. I have dehydrated tomatoes and filled sealed containers with zip locks full of dehydrated tomatoes. I can't harvest them fast enough to prevent many from simply rotting on the vines. I am preparing to cut all my vines back for the fall garden and they are still loaded with tomatoes from hard green to ripe and rotten. Many varieties I had earlier reported as low producers like Granny's heart and Terhune are producing like crazy and I have no use for them because all the charities are getting plenty of tomatoes. It seems almost as disheartening to see tomatoes wasted as to see my garden not produce at all. I know that next year, I will only plant one plant of each of forty two varieties instead of two plants of each. I believe I will only plant two cherry varieties next year instead of five varieties. My cherry tomato bed is covered with multi colored marbles which have fallen from the vines.

Ted

PA_Julia · June 30, 2012

I haven't grown tomatoes since 2005.

This year is the first year I have been very serious about growing them and it's been incredible so far.

With 25 plants I now have 155 tomatoes at various stages of growth.
I have 3 cherry tomato plants in that 25 count but I'm not counting those tomatoes in my total but those have copious amounts of tomatoes on them as well.

I chalk this up to good soil prep, good weather minus the heat wave and a strict regime of watering, fertilizing, pollination via the toothbrush method along with fungicide and insecticide application.

I have the time this season to devote several hours a day to them which of course helps considerably.

I'm looking closely for color flash on any number of the varieties I have planted .

One of my three White Queen plants has 16 tomatoes growing on it.

Overall a fantastic season to date.

Julia

meadowyck · June 30, 2012

puzzley, that sounds great, when I lived in Danville, I never had a problem with my veggies.

How are you doing with the heat right now, we talked to family last night and they said it was 104 during the day yesterday. My DH is from Mitchellsburg and I'm from Florida, so when we moved away from Ohio I won out...LOL At least with the heat we always have a breeze. Never much got a breeze in KY except when a front was coming through...LOL

Looking foward to seeing pictures of you maters.

puzzley · June 30, 2012

Meadow, I'll post a few pix soon. Too hot to go to the patch now, as it's 104 out there. Surprisingly, as long as the tomatoes get water, the heat doesn't seem to be bothering them. I just ate that first Cherokee Purple on a tomato sandwich for lunch, and it was good!

puzzley · July 1, 2012

Here's a few pics of the tomato patch, and some selected green tomatoes along with the first ripe CP.

Over the top

Brandywines

Heritage hybrid

Giant Belgium

Ananas Noir (Black Pineapple)

Opalka

RobinB · July 1, 2012

We didn't have a "normal" winter or spring, but the summer is turning out to be fairly average in terms of temperature. It's much drier than normal though. Fire season started in mid-spring instead of mid-summer here in the West. Our spring hung on with lots of cold fronts going through taking the overnight lows down near freezing right through early June. I put 18 longer season tomatoes outside in Walls O' Water on April 22 and fought long and very hard to protect them without a GH or even a hoop house. They survived and are all very tall and vigorous. I have picked 4-5 ripe tomatoes so far (a dwarf golden cherry from the Dwarf Tomato Project), and those 18 plants are loading up with fruit. Nothing ripe yet, but soon! This is so not normal for Reno! I usually can't plant out until mid-June, and don't get ripe tomatoes until mid-August at the earliest. This year I picked tomatoes at that time! I did end up setting out the remaining 59 tomato plants at the usual time in mid-June. Everything is thriving, so we shall see how it turns out.

June 30, 2012	#1
puzzley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Lexington, Ky Posts: 93	What a strange year! I set out 84 tomato plants around the 10th of May, all on black plastic, half growing on cattle panels, the rest in concrete wire cages. I've been raising tomatoes for a long time, and am doing nothing other than my normal cultural practices. So far, it's the best ever. All plants are overgrowing the panels/cages, doing great, and I picked the first tomato (Cherokee Purple) two days ago, June 28. I've never had tomatoes this early! They've been doing well since they were set out, and at that time, we were getting adequate rain. For the last 5 weeks, no rain at all, and I water very other day. That may be a factor. It certainly has held down the diseases and insects, which are usually a big problem for me. Apparently the conditions matter more than the grower......

June 30, 2012	#2
tedln Guest Posts: n/a	It has been a very, very unusual year. I thought I would have low production because we had a lot of rain while my first fruit set was growing. I lost a lot of tomatoes to BER very early. This spring season is ending due to the high summer heat. I have given tomatoes to everyone who would take some. We have eaten more tomatoes in almost every conceivable manner than at any time in the past. I have dehydrated tomatoes and filled sealed containers with zip locks full of dehydrated tomatoes. I can't harvest them fast enough to prevent many from simply rotting on the vines. I am preparing to cut all my vines back for the fall garden and they are still loaded with tomatoes from hard green to ripe and rotten. Many varieties I had earlier reported as low producers like Granny's heart and Terhune are producing like crazy and I have no use for them because all the charities are getting plenty of tomatoes. It seems almost as disheartening to see tomatoes wasted as to see my garden not produce at all. I know that next year, I will only plant one plant of each of forty two varieties instead of two plants of each. I believe I will only plant two cherry varieties next year instead of five varieties. My cherry tomato bed is covered with multi colored marbles which have fallen from the vines. Ted Last edited by tedln; June 30, 2012 at 12:18 PM.

June 30, 2012	#3
PA_Julia Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Princeton, Ky Zone 7A Posts: 2,208	I haven't grown tomatoes since 2005. This year is the first year I have been very serious about growing them and it's been incredible so far. With 25 plants I now have 155 tomatoes at various stages of growth. I have 3 cherry tomato plants in that 25 count but I'm not counting those tomatoes in my total but those have copious amounts of tomatoes on them as well. I chalk this up to good soil prep, good weather minus the heat wave and a strict regime of watering, fertilizing, pollination via the toothbrush method along with fungicide and insecticide application. I have the time this season to devote several hours a day to them which of course helps considerably. I'm looking closely for color flash on any number of the varieties I have planted . One of my three White Queen plants has 16 tomatoes growing on it. Overall a fantastic season to date. Julia Last edited by PA_Julia; June 30, 2012 at 12:55 PM.

June 30, 2012	#4
meadowyck Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooksville, FL Posts: 1,001	puzzley, that sounds great, when I lived in Danville, I never had a problem with my veggies. How are you doing with the heat right now, we talked to family last night and they said it was 104 during the day yesterday. My DH is from Mitchellsburg and I'm from Florida, so when we moved away from Ohio I won out...LOL At least with the heat we always have a breeze. Never much got a breeze in KY except when a front was coming through...LOL Looking foward to seeing pictures of you maters. __________________ Jan “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” -Theodore Roosevelt

July 1, 2012	#6
puzzley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Lexington, Ky Posts: 93	Here's a few pics of the tomato patch, and some selected green tomatoes along with the first ripe CP. Over the top Brandywines Heritage hybrid Giant Belgium Ananas Noir (Black Pineapple) Opalka

July 1, 2012	#7
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	We didn't have a "normal" winter or spring, but the summer is turning out to be fairly average in terms of temperature. It's much drier than normal though. Fire season started in mid-spring instead of mid-summer here in the West. Our spring hung on with lots of cold fronts going through taking the overnight lows down near freezing right through early June. I put 18 longer season tomatoes outside in Walls O' Water on April 22 and fought long and very hard to protect them without a GH or even a hoop house. They survived and are all very tall and vigorous. I have picked 4-5 ripe tomatoes so far (a dwarf golden cherry from the Dwarf Tomato Project), and those 18 plants are loading up with fruit. Nothing ripe yet, but soon! This is so not normal for Reno! I usually can't plant out until mid-June, and don't get ripe tomatoes until mid-August at the earliest. This year I picked tomatoes at that time! I did end up setting out the remaining 59 tomato plants at the usual time in mid-June. Everything is thriving, so we shall see how it turns out.