Crazy Amazon Chocolate plant PL

FILMNET · July 8, 2012

This plant has gone nuts as shown 4 days ago it had over 20 lg flowers, now over 40 flowers, the plant is only 4' tall. And today i have 3 new fruits? PL plant, should i let them all get too fruits?

FILMNET · July 8, 2012

full plant

kath · July 8, 2012

Not sure why you are thinking about reducing the # of fruits. Unless they have BER and/or are badly catfaced, I leave them alone. Not sure how many you'd have to remove in order to increase the size of the remaining fruits, if that's why you're asking.

My oldest two AC plant(s) are planted as one, producing flowers and fruits like crazy, and is now over 6' tall. It's only about 2' away from its closest double neighbor and I've already stopped pruning all the side shoots. Still, despite the crowded conditions, the ripe fruits have ranged between 6 and 12 oz. but there are larger ones on the vines.

Why are you thinking about reducing the 3 of blossoms?

kath

FILMNET · July 8, 2012

Hi Kathy, because i thought most of the fruit would be small, i love large fruits, actually 2 years ago i had a Cherokee Purple 12" beside this plant, and it grew like this one 8 fruits on the bottom. I just look at it and more flowers on top, I will get the fruits off them and get then lbs of all fruit from this plant. Thanks for the seeds Kathy, this is my best plant now.

lakelady · July 11, 2012

Mine is squished between two massive plants so it's just starting to pick up speed. Keep those baby fruits, you have plenty of time for them to grow!

Kath, you double plant tomatoes? Is that to save space since they are the same variety?

kath · July 11, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by FILMNET

Hi Kathy, because i thought most of the fruit would be small, i love large fruits, actually 2 years ago i had a Cherokee Purple 12" beside this plant, and it grew like this one 8 fruits on the bottom. I just look at it and more flowers on top, I will get the fruits off them and get then lbs of all fruit from this plant. Thanks for the seeds Kathy, this is my best plant now.

Hi, Steve- I don't think the fruits will be small, judging from what I've been getting from mine, but you supposedly can make them larger by thinning some of the fruits. I don't think I'd take flowers off because you don't know how many of them will actually become fruits anyway. I'm glad you're having good luck with it!

kath

FILMNET · July 11, 2012

Hi Kathy I have not touched the plant yet, just watching new fruits coming out. I saw a women garden friend who is 89 yesterday her son is growing tomatoes for her. I gave them Gardner-Tone from Espoma for there pots 11 days ago. O MY !!! all pots have new flowers on top of all plants, and i put the same on my plants. I told her about this plant, she said she mother would only have 3 flowers together. She loves black tomatoes , So i gave here Brad Black Heart and Black/Brown Boar they are in pots small ones. And new flowers on top of plants nice, they may be small fruits in pots, but mine same plants are in ground and will be big!

kath · July 11, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakelady

Kath, you double plant tomatoes? Is that to save space since they are the same variety?

I'm trying it for the first time this year because of reading a post here (I think) where someone was talking about a study that was done that showed that tomato plants (but not peppers) were found to have grown better when either 2 plants were allowed to develop in a cell from the beginning, or 2 plants were planted out together with rootballs touching. It just sounded like a fun thing to experiment with this year.

For quite a few tomato varieties I had seed from more than one source, so planting this way for new-to-me varieties made sense in terms of saving space. But I also planted doubles of old favorites as well as singles which were allowed to develop 2 leader for comparison. The results won't be very scientific because different plant out dates, space between plants, how many leaders wound up being kept, etc. is making for many more variables.

kath

July 11, 2012

Kath,

That may have been an experiment I performed last year and the year before. My results showed the pepper plants hated being planted with root balls touching. The tomato plants seemed to appreciate it.

I had intended planting single plants this year but couldn't find a taker for my spare seedling set. I eventually planted the spare set with the original forty two with the root balls touching. I've produced more large tomatoes from the same garden space than ever before. While I agree with the folks who say it is a bad idea because it restricts air flow through the plants resulting in fungal problems, it hasn't slowed my production in any way. The practice works for me, but I don't suggest everyone do it because it is probably detrimental in many or most climates. My climate seems to work well with the practice. I think next year, I will simply toss the spare set if I can't find a grower who wants them. My plants produced so many tomatoes this year that it became a chore to harvest them and distribute them to users.

I also wanted to tell you the Carbon seed you gave me a couple of years ago performed very well this year. Good production of very large tomatoes ripening early and through the productive period.

Ted

kath · July 11, 2012

I'm glad you saw these posts, Ted- indeed it probably was your thread that I remember. So far, it seems to be working for me, too, because all of the double planted tomatoes are doing very well. My largest, latest group of tomato plants has just begun ripening so it'll be a while yet before any conclusions can be drawn about any differences between the two planting methods. Because I'm pruning as needed to keep the plants open as well as spraying a fungicide, the humidity we have isn't much of an issue this year. Next year when I'm planning fewer plants with more generous spacing, I'd probably only double up new-to-me or traded varieties.

kath

janezee · July 12, 2012

I read on another forum that planting two together worked out really well for someone who lives really near to me, so I thought I'd try it.

The first pot I tried it on was a Tumbling Pink cherry tomato. (I think it's a de-hybridized Tumbler) A snail ate both of them the first night they were out!

Not to be discouraged, and running out of room, I plan to do a few more, depending on what I have left. I think that Hunt Family Favorite and Earl's Faux might qualify, because I have 3 of each. I'll let you know how it works out.

j

lakelady · July 12, 2012

interesting. And here I thought tomatoes needed so much room.

I went through the trouble of taking cuttings for someone who never picked them up. I think i'll plant them out (at least 2) before they get rootbound and see what happens.

Filmnet, I think your plant looks great!

FILMNET · July 12, 2012

They do now, last year i suffered to much spring rain, I will post some baby's tomorrow, last summer i didn't take any baby shots they are some cute, Stump Of the world. brads black heart, Solar Flame Trenton,s Tiger. and BTD, others

July 8, 2012	#4
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	Hi Kathy, because i thought most of the fruit would be small, i love large fruits, actually 2 years ago i had a Cherokee Purple 12" beside this plant, and it grew like this one 8 fruits on the bottom. I just look at it and more flowers on top, I will get the fruits off them and get then lbs of all fruit from this plant. Thanks for the seeds Kathy, this is my best plant now. Last edited by FILMNET; July 8, 2012 at 04:57 PM.

July 11, 2012	#5
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	Mine is squished between two massive plants so it's just starting to pick up speed. Keep those baby fruits, you have plenty of time for them to grow! Kath, you double plant tomatoes? Is that to save space since they are the same variety? __________________ Antoniette

July 11, 2012	#7
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	Hi Kathy I have not touched the plant yet, just watching new fruits coming out. I saw a women garden friend who is 89 yesterday her son is growing tomatoes for her. I gave them Gardner-Tone from Espoma for there pots 11 days ago. O MY !!! all pots have new flowers on top of all plants, and i put the same on my plants. I told her about this plant, she said she mother would only have 3 flowers together. She loves black tomatoes , So i gave here Brad Black Heart and Black/Brown Boar they are in pots small ones. And new flowers on top of plants nice, they may be small fruits in pots, but mine same plants are in ground and will be big! Last edited by FILMNET; July 11, 2012 at 12:09 PM.

July 11, 2012	#9
tedln Guest Posts: n/a	Kath, That may have been an experiment I performed last year and the year before. My results showed the pepper plants hated being planted with root balls touching. The tomato plants seemed to appreciate it. I had intended planting single plants this year but couldn't find a taker for my spare seedling set. I eventually planted the spare set with the original forty two with the root balls touching. I've produced more large tomatoes from the same garden space than ever before. While I agree with the folks who say it is a bad idea because it restricts air flow through the plants resulting in fungal problems, it hasn't slowed my production in any way. The practice works for me, but I don't suggest everyone do it because it is probably detrimental in many or most climates. My climate seems to work well with the practice. I think next year, I will simply toss the spare set if I can't find a grower who wants them. My plants produced so many tomatoes this year that it became a chore to harvest them and distribute them to users. I also wanted to tell you the Carbon seed you gave me a couple of years ago performed very well this year. Good production of very large tomatoes ripening early and through the productive period. Ted Last edited by tedln; July 11, 2012 at 05:39 PM.

July 12, 2012	#12
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	interesting. And here I thought tomatoes needed so much room. I went through the trouble of taking cuttings for someone who never picked them up. I think i'll plant them out (at least 2) before they get rootbound and see what happens. Filmnet, I think your plant looks great! __________________ Antoniette

July 8, 2012	#3
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Not sure why you are thinking about reducing the # of fruits. Unless they have BER and/or are badly catfaced, I leave them alone. Not sure how many you'd have to remove in order to increase the size of the remaining fruits, if that's why you're asking. My oldest two AC plant(s) are planted as one, producing flowers and fruits like crazy, and is now over 6' tall. It's only about 2' away from its closest double neighbor and I've already stopped pruning all the side shoots. Still, despite the crowded conditions, the ripe fruits have ranged between 6 and 12 oz. but there are larger ones on the vines. Why are you thinking about reducing the 3 of blossoms? kath

July 12, 2012	#11
janezee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5 Posts: 931	I read on another forum that planting two together worked out really well for someone who lives really near to me, so I thought I'd try it. The first pot I tried it on was a Tumbling Pink cherry tomato. (I think it's a de-hybridized Tumbler) A snail ate both of them the first night they were out! Not to be discouraged, and running out of room, I plan to do a few more, depending on what I have left. I think that Hunt Family Favorite and Earl's Faux might qualify, because I have 3 of each. I'll let you know how it works out. j