Zapotec fruit set

[Jonathan_E]

Hi all,

I have around forty varieties of tomatoes growing this year, and every one of them has set fruit EXCEPT for Zapotec. A picture of where it should be is attached. The plant is big and healthy, and right in the middle of a patch of garden (I have to grow things in little patches because my backyard is mostly a granite knoll with bits of soil here and there) surrounded by other plants that have set fruit. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any idea what's going on?

thanks,

Jonathan

[evan1]

Here in Jersey Zapotec is usually a reliable producer for me. Both my plants have fruit set. Could be just a fluke?

[dice]

I have this one Pink Oxheart. It has been flowering
freely for 6 weeks, but just set the first fruit this
last week. First 3 weeks of June were cool, cloudy,
occasionally rainy, and it didn't like that. Then it
heated up and shot up to 90F+ within a week, and
apparently it didn't like that, either. Now it has been
around 80F for a week, and it has finally decided that
it is ok to set some fruit.

You are a long way from the climate of Oaxaca,
Mexico, and Zapotec is reputed to be late maturing
anyway, so not having set any fruit yet doesn't
really mean that anything is wrong, particularly.
It just means that the plant has not reached
conditions yet where it starts to set fruit. That
could be climate or that could simply be number
of weeks from seed-starting and transplant.

[Jonathan_E]

Thanks, Dice. I have some fairly large plants in pots that I intend to use to replace plants in the garden that die or otherwise don't work out (I never have enough space for all the seedlings), but I'll hold off trashing Zapotec for a while.

[dice]

It's getting kind of late in the season for transplants
in a northern climate.

I was in a nursery a few days ago, looking at a couple
of shrubs, and I wandered by a table that often has
heirloom tomato seedlings. I'm standing there looking
at this kind of spindly Black Plum plant, a cultivar that
I have been curious about because of its reputation
for ruggedness in difficult environmental conditions.

For $.99, I was sorely tempted to buy it and set it
out. (I have a space that I didn't actually intend
to plant tomatoes in, but something ate all the
zucchini sprouts there before they could get going.
So it could have grown there.)

Then I thought, "What am I, nuts? It is the middle
of July in Western Washington. By the end of the
season, this thing will be four feet tall at best and
with luck have 3 tomatoes on it, and I won't know
anything about it except how it tastes, which I could
find out by buying a few fruit at a Farmer's Market."

You are in a similar situation with your potted
transplants and the Zapotec. How big is it? If it
is really good sized and covered with flowers,
I would probably give it the benefit of the doubt.
Even if it starts late, it could still produce more
tomatoes than an earlier cultivar that is only
a foot or two tall that you set out now.

If the Zapotec does not produce more than
a few tomatoes, you have not lost much
compared to a transplant that you put out
now, unless the transplant is a very reliable
cultivar that also happens to be covered
in flowers and is already setting fruit in
a one-gallon pot or something like that.

[wilderness1989]

I grew Zapotec for several years mainly because of my affinity with the people of Oaxaca, I have been there several times. I did not have any problem with fruit set but the plants did not produce very well.

[Bryan24]

Funny, to me it almost looks like there was fruit, and something ate it.

laurel-tx

[Suze]

Originally Posted by Bryan24

Funny, to me it almost looks like there was fruit, and something ate it.

That's what it looks like to me too. Like a fruit formed, but might have been removed by someone/something. I suppose it also could have aborted at some stage and dropped off, but looks like it got at least a little size to it before doing so.

Originally Posted by Jonathan_E

I have around forty varieties of tomatoes growing this year, and every one of them has set fruit EXCEPT for Zapotec. A picture of where it should be is attached. The plant is big and healthy, and right in the middle of a patch of garden (I have to grow things in little patches because my backyard is mostly a granite knoll with bits of soil here and there) surrounded by other plants that have set fruit. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any idea what's going on?

See comment above. Also, most years I usually end up with a "mule" plant or two that just doesn't produce at all for whatever reason, or sets one or two fruits so late there's no good chance of them reaching maturity. Usually, there's no concrete reason I can come up with to explain it. This year my mule plant was Kellogg's Breakfast. Luckily, I had another KB in a container and it set loads of fruit. Go figure.

[Jonathan_E]

All,

Thank you for your responses. Patience was rewarded. It's now 5 and a half weeks since I posted my question, and the Zapotec is 7 feet tall and has at least 24 fruits in various stages. You may be right about something removing a set fruit earlier. Just after I posted the question, there was a sudden decline in the population of small furry creatures in my garden, so maybe that's why things worked out better.

Suze, I usually have at least 3 or 4 mules every year, even years, like this one, that are otherwise generally good growing years. For example, I'm attaching a pic of Dorothy's Green taken yesterday. It was planted at the same time as the OTV Brandywine on its right and the Lillian's Yellow Heirloom on its left, treated the same, same songs sung for it, etc. I never quite get it.

As for late transplants, I have occasionally had some great results from doing so, especially from very vigorous varieties like Super Snow White or Purple Calabash. But I wouldn't try, for instance, to put in a Yellow Brandywine in July.

Best regards,

Jonathan

[Jonathan_E]

Dice,

May I ask what part of Western Washington you are in? I grew up in Bellingham. Some years we had tons of wonderful tomatoes and some years we had nothing. I don't know what varieties my dad grew.

I was just out in Washington for three weeks, driving around Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. I have been scouting for a potential retirement place and of course, one of the criteria has been whether tomatoes will grow where I land. As I'm sure you know, the amount of rain and sunshine over the average year around Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula is highly variable, because of the rain shadow effect of the Olympic Mountains. Seattle gets 38 inches of rain a year, Port Townsend gets only 19, Sequim gets 16, Bremerton (which is only an hour's drive from Sequim) gets 52, Concrete gets 68, Olympia gets 54, Shelton gets 66, Bellingham gets 36, Orcas Island (Olga) gets 26, Lopez Island gets 19, Whidbey Island (Coupeville) gets 21. The ocean coast is gorgeous, but I don't think tomatoes can grow there: Long Beach gets 81 inches of rain, Clearwater gets 117, etc.

Do you have any advice?

Best,

Jonathan

[dice]

I'm northwest of Mt. Rainier, out by the Sound.

Many years I've looked at the weather report
and seen rain all around me, and looked out
the window to see clear skies and sun overhead
with solid cloud cover at every point of the compass.
Not so lucky this year.

I saw your question in the PNW thread and
replied in more detail there. Synopsis: best bets
would be Sequim or, conditional on having an
effective windbreak, somewhere around the south
end of Indian Heaven
(http://www.naturenw.org/wild-indian-heaven.htm).

Orcas or Lopez Island might be nice if you have
the funds. Get a greenhouse. This one lady grows
a lot of heirloom tomatoes out on Vashon Island,
farther south, but I haven't seen her setup.
(http://www.pacificpotager.com/)

So much depends on the specific year. Last year
we had 40 days straight with temperatures pushing
90F, and maybe a week of rain total from the first
of June to the end of August. This year we've had
2-3 good weeks around 80F and one hot one
(1 degree off the record at Sea-Tac). The rest
of the time me might as well have been in St.
Petersburg for the summer.

[Jonathan_E]

Thanks a bunch for the advice, Dice.

[dice]

"Thanks a bunch for the advice, Dice."

De nada.

I haven't been up in the San Jauns often, and I don't know
about the average yearly weather there from personal
experience. It is beautiful country, but "the most polluted
Orcas in the world" might give me pause.

Edit:
PS:
A post by Carolyn in another thread reminded me that
deer will be an issue in all of those areas, probably
raccoons and possums, too. For the deer, you could
try a 10-foot buffer zone of buckwheat around the
edges of the property and a territorial dog. Deer like
buckwheat, and with any luck the dog will notice
them eating the buckwheat before they get to
the garden. The only other alternative with long-term
success is a deer fence too high for them to jump.

[Jonathan_E]

My brother, who lives near Shelton, has a major deer issue but seems to have cured it with a good solid fence.

I don't understand the reference to "the most polluted Orcas in the world." What's this?

[Jonathan_E]

Dice, I'm not sure BTU's (degree days) are all that significant for tomatoes. In fact, I suspect that the average high temperature in July in Port Townsend (72) might be better for tomatoes than that in Wenatchee (88). Wenatchee has on the average 37 days per year with temperatures above 90; Port Townsend has one.