swPA Gardeners

[cecilsgarden1958]

Hey, anybody in or around swPA? I was wondering how your maters were going. Mine are horrible. Just horrible. Early blght is really hitting hard, plants are shorter then normal and skinny.
Nothing in garden even close to ripe. Had several cherry types and a couple Stupice and 1 Matina from single plants in yard (bales, bags and lattice)

Haven't had the rain this year, although we just had a big T. Cell move through with almost an inch of rain, all in an hour. That was great.

Fruit set looks lousey. Worst plants are Moreton, Goliath, Monster, Nebraska Wedding and Mexican Yellow. Moreton is like it isn't even trying.

CECIL

[dcarch]

What Zone are you in?

dcarch

[Tomatovator]

Cecil
I'm just south of Pittsburgh and it has been a very good year so far. I planted out on 4/24 with a row cover on the plants. I planted 19 total and started getting toms on 7/2/07. So far I've picked 265 tomatoes, 115.87 pounds. This average includes some small varieties like New Yorker and Moskvich. They were the first to ripen. The bigger beefsteaks like MP, polish and BZ are all doing well. Bucks County is producing but pretty slowly. I really like the taste however. Goose Creek has not been real productive but is also really tasty. My 2 disapointments this season have been Ugly (putting out small heart shaped fruit, sweet but bland) and Brandy Boy (alot of catfaced fruit, taste and texture so so). Looks like fruit production will drop off for a while now. I had alot of blossom drop with some weird cold nights a few weeks ago. I've pruned some stems at the top hoping for new stems to take over. All of the plants (except for Ugly) were about 6' tall when I pruned them a week ago. Hope things end well for you this season as the beginning does not sound too good.

[cecilsgarden1958]

dcarch:

I am in the newly revised zone 6, formerly 5 in swPA in Southern Somerset County. Farther south then Tomatovator by about 3-4 hours. I still only have gotten Stupice (excellant), Silver Fir Tree., Sweet Baby Girl, Husky Cherry. All of which are in bales or bags. Nothing from garden. My Moreton plants are still under 36". I gave them a choice spot and they left me down. bad Moreton, bad :-)

All my plants seem short and not thick and lush, like usual. Well, it's got to be the lack of rain, but I do water.

This will go down as a very ad year, for sure.

I do have lots of Lemon Boy coming on and some Supersonic Big Boys and Big Girls.

All the heirlooms in the garden are a shameful representation of what they should be. Of course that makes sense. That's why hybrids were developed. I will get tomatoes eventually from them....I hope.

Maybe, the plants are sinking all their energy into perspective fruits and not the plant growth. huh, maybe?? LOL!
CECIL

[dcarch]

CECIL, sorry to hear that it has not gone well for you so far.
Not to make you jealous or anything, but to give you hope and encouragement.

I am in zone 6 NY. Last year was a disaster season for me, but this year, Wow! I have been eating big ones since right after Memorial Day.

This is possible because I have developed a system that is making it possible to plant in ground on 4/1.

Good luck.

dcarch

[carolyn137]

Hey, anybody in or around swPA? I was wondering how your maters were going. Mine are horrible. Just horrible. Early blght is really hitting hard, plants are shorter then normal and skinny.
Nothing in garden even close to ripe. Had several cherry types and a couple Stupice and 1 Matina from single plants in yard (bales, bags and lattice)


*****

Cecil, I've known you for many years, as you know, and I'm asking, when did you ever have a good year?

It seems that every year something really wrong is wrong, including those wrong seeds you got from Johnny's a few years back/ Are you impressed with my memory b'c I sure am.

One of these years I want to see you post that it was a fabulous year, you loved all that you planted, or at least most of them, and then I'll be as happy as you are with your maters.

And I know you have a great sense of humor so will know that I'm with you, whatever you plant and whatever you say about those varieties.

[cecilsgarden1958]

LOL @ Carolyn and yes, I'm impressed with your memory ;-)


CECIL-hoping Carolyn & dcarch have prediced a very good year for me next year

[korney19]

I'm about 4 hours north of you, zone 6a... VERY little disease yet... Just harvested about a couple dozen maters, most if not all heirlooms or heirloom crosses, planted out June 8th thru June 16th. That's about as early as it gets, and I'm not talking Kimberly or Sungold--been picking those two at about 30-40 days. These are midsize & fullsize like OTV, Sparks Yellow, Cherokee Bi-Color, Gary O' Sena, McKinley, etc. That's about 45 to 53 days...

"All the heirlooms in the garden are a shameful representation of what they should be. Of course that makes sense. That's why hybrids were developed."

Poppycock!

Have you ever thought about

1. watering regularly?
2. fertilizing?
3. spraying?

I've been watching your Trials & Tribulations for the last 4-5 years now I think... c'mon man, get your shiite together! You're even having problems growing HYBRIDS! You can't blame heirlooms anymore!

[cecilsgarden1958]

Originally Posted by korney19

I'm about 4 hours north of you, zone 6a... VERY little disease yet... Just harvested about a couple dozen maters, most if not all heirlooms or heirloom crosses, planted out June 8th thru June 16th. That's about as early as it gets, and I'm not talking Kimberly or Sungold--been picking those two at about 30-40 days. These are midsize & fullsize like OTV, Sparks Yellow, Cherokee Bi-Color, Gary O' Sena, McKinley, etc. That's about 45 to 53 days...

"All the heirlooms in the garden are a shameful representation of what they should be. Of course that makes sense. That's why hybrids were developed."

Poppycock!

Have you ever thought about

1. watering regularly?
2. fertilizing?
3. spraying?

I've been watching your Trials & Tribulations for the last 4-5 years now I think... c'mon man, get your shiite together! You're even having problems growing HYBRIDS! You can't blame heirlooms anymore!

Poppycock? I don't think so. "MY" heirlooms are a bad representation of what they should be. They really are. I made a very bad selection this year for the type of season it turned out to be. Heirlooms can grow just as lush and vigorous as any hybrid, don't you think? Some of mine are doing lousey this year. Now most of the hybrids are doing very well and must be bred for that vigor or why else breed them? I made fairly decent selections in hybrids this year. My Lemon Boy, Big Boy, Big Girl, Supersonic(especially this one) are doing much better then most of the plants. Moreton and Mexican Yellow are doing the worse. Now, I know Moreton is a hybrid, but maybe it just didn't like this year's early blight condition.
You did catch me on the spray. I did water and fertilize, but I haven't used daconil at all this year and I am paying the price.
I think you got upset when I said hybrids were bred to do better. They were though, right? Now, for sure they don't taste as good and some heirlooms do just as well, but I assume I am right that hybrids were bred to do better.
My Druzba is doing very well and is producing lots of green ones, as is Red Brandywine, WVA 63 and Mortgage Lifter. Only Mexican Yellow, Nebraska Wedding, Moon Glow, Abe Lincoln, Jubilee and Ganti are doing poorly. What are Monster and Goliath? They are just as spent as Moreton.

Is it too late for Daconil?

CECIL-who apologizes for upsetting Korney

[korney19]

Cecil, no need to apologize, I came on a little strong there, but all in good fun. I even offered you plants in the spring when you posted you had a problem with yours but never heard back from you.

I never heard of Monster so don't know what it is... I'm growing Flathead Monster but doubt that's the same. Goliath was available as a very old heirloom as well as a hybrid. If you got it as a plant, it's probably the hybrid. If you started seeds it could be either.

Most hybrids with V, F, N, or T in their names were bred for disease resistance/tolerance (and nematodes (N) and TMV.) HOWEVER, that does not mean they'll do any better with blights, which are foliage diseases. And many hybrids were bred to handle shipping. Some are bred for production, and some for taste, though you coulda fooled me on that one!

I think you should remove any bad leaves, even everything from the ground to the first flower cluster, and try to save what you got by spraying every 7 days. Your climate is similar to mine and I should have the same problems but I don't, and I really only sprayed once or twice so far. I water every day, about a half gallon per plant, and have raised beds with no mulch, as well as some with that black woven mulch, and containers with no mulch. I fertilize daily but thru drip irrigation at a very tiny rate, which actually comes out about the same as regular fertilizing once a week or 2. I planted most plants the first two weeks of June and many are already to the tops of 5ft CRW cages. I'm battling the heat here too, it's about 90 right now and about 30+ plants are in containers on my blacktop driveway--it must be hot on the ground--my little 6ft x 4ft x6ft $49 greenhouse with the door rolled up is reporting 102 degrees with shadecloth on it right now! We had a cool spell in the mid 70's for about a week or so and it did wonders for fruitset. BUT, we got about 1.75" of rain in 15 minutes a week or so ago and even green fruits split.

So keep at it, water often when it's hot (the ground, not the leaves), and spray regularly (but not midday when it's scorching out.)

Mark

[cecilsgarden1958]

Mark: Thanks for the info, but boy that's gonna be a lot of blighted leaves :-)
Will pop out right now. I wanted to look for tomato hornworm anyway. There was a sighting about 14 miles away.
Will spray tomorrow.
I remember seeing your offer this spring, but didn't realize I never answered.
For the future, I have to remember that Monster, Goliath & Moreton have no tolerance at all for blight.
Already have got seed for next year. My favorite, BUSH BIG BOY. I will have at least 32 plants.

CECIL