Philadelphia area gardening thread - Page 10

Fiishergurl · July 30, 2016

So something crazy happened. My Wes plant which had about 15 huge tomatoes on it had quit setting tomatoes for a while which was fine. The blossoms for a while had not been setting new fruit. I assume it was because of lack of sun and all the energy it was putting into the existing fruit. But after I pruned a couple of weekends in a row and topped the plants and removed all suckers It set about 20 of the remaining blossoms i left on it. These new tomatoes are already bigger than pea size, (almost marble size) so they are definitely fertilized and growing.

I have no idea if these will ripen within the 60 days we have left here but i sure hope so. It seems all of the plants panicked and set quite a few of the remaining flowers after I trimmed suckers and topped them. I had left any mature blossoms but removed immature ones.

There's about 5 or 6 clusters like this...

Below is one of the almost ready to ripen fruit... well over a pound.

Ginny

gorbelly · July 30, 2016

I think that they'll at least get to mature green and will eventually ripen off the vine.

Fiishergurl · July 30, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorbelly

I think that they'll at least get to mature green and will eventually ripen off the vine.

Dobyou think I should continue to feed the plant? I was using TTF but gave the plants a break from it after topping.

To me its surprising that it set more tomatoes now in one swoop than it did originally.

Ginny

gorbelly · July 30, 2016

Personally, I would keep feeding them, yes. 2 months is still a long ways to go.

Fiishergurl · July 30, 2016

Good point. I wasnt expecting so many more tomatoes so I kind of had them wrapped up in my mind as being done because the first round of tomatoes are all about the same size and should break color soon... hopefully!

Ginny

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PhilaGardener · July 31, 2016

6" plus of rain in Princeton ★★★★★★★★ and shocking flooding in Baltimore. We came through the middle without as much, but a heavy downpour this morning did drop a lot of water. Garden looks OK - how did everyone else do?

JRinPA · July 31, 2016

Been fine here. A couple pepper plants started leaning. I tied up my raised bed cages to posts before it started since they are getting high and heavy and the soil in there is much looser than my yard. I didn't really pick a lot of tomatoes until yesterday when I picked all ripe ones, so 2 days of rain first, and the only really affected by splits were cherokee purple. They were probably ripe for a while. I never grew black tomatoes before.

Fiishergurl · July 31, 2016

No issues here either. My tomato plants are happy happy happy. I wish growing tomato plants in Florida was this easy... :-) It seems bugs and diseases like the Florida climate as much as people do.

Ginny

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gorbelly · July 31, 2016

The ground is pretty soggy here, but everything seems to be doing well.

I've had squash coming in for about a week now:

And FINALLY! My first (non-cherry) tomato!

Malakhitovaya Shkatulka, 279g/9.7oz. Despite being the first tomato and having been through a lot of rain recently, it had an excellent, intense flavor, good balance between sweetness and acidity, nice herbal/spicy overtones as with most GWRs, luscious texture. I think if I had let it ripen for one more day, it would have been better. But it was still a lovely first tomato.

Fiishergurl · July 31, 2016

Wow that inside looks like aztec art.. ;-)

Is that the one lnown as Malachite box? What kind of squash is that?

Ginny

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gorbelly · August 1, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

No issues here either. My tomato plants are happy happy happy. I wish growing tomato plants in Florida was this easy... :-) It seems bugs and diseases like the Florida climate as much as people do.

This year has been particularly good on the disease front. Although probably even a bad year here isn't as bad as what southern gardeners have to deal with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Is that the one lnown as Malachite box? What kind of squash is that?

Yes, it's the one that some people translate as Malachite Box. I try to follow recommendations to not translate the names of foreign tomato varieties, although I think maybe more people would grow this wonderful tomato if it were called Malachite Box instead.

The squash is an Italian vining trombone squash, zuchetta tromba d'Albenga to be exact. It's a C. moschata. It usually curls up and looks like a French horn when grown on the ground, but I have mine on a trellis.

JRinPA · August 1, 2016

You think malachite box is the better name? Sounds like a trap the enterprise got lured into.

gorbelly · August 1, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRinPA

You think malachite box is the better name? Sounds like a trap the enterprise got lured into.

Ha! But at least it's pronounceable and spellable by the average non-Eastern-European. I've seen people try to mention it on forums, etc. all the time, and they just end up giving up because they can't remember how to spell it.

gorbelly · August 3, 2016

Something got to my first Cherokee Purple before I even noticed it was blushing and knocked off the big, green fruit next to it, too.

I should have kept a better watch on this truss, since it was practically resting on the ground and was therefore especially vulnerable to critters.

Oh well. As compensation, Malakhitovaya Shkatulka came through for me again:

I might have to make a giant burger just for that tomato.

PhilaGardener · August 3, 2016

I'm having a lot of problems with birds pecking fruit this year - as soon as it starts to color, they go for it.

July 30, 2016	#136
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	So something crazy happened. My Wes plant which had about 15 huge tomatoes on it had quit setting tomatoes for a while which was fine. The blossoms for a while had not been setting new fruit. I assume it was because of lack of sun and all the energy it was putting into the existing fruit. But after I pruned a couple of weekends in a row and topped the plants and removed all suckers It set about 20 of the remaining blossoms i left on it. These new tomatoes are already bigger than pea size, (almost marble size) so they are definitely fertilized and growing. I have no idea if these will ripen within the 60 days we have left here but i sure hope so. It seems all of the plants panicked and set quite a few of the remaining flowers after I trimmed suckers and topped them. I had left any mature blossoms but removed immature ones. There's about 5 or 6 clusters like this... Below is one of the almost ready to ripen fruit... well over a pound. Ginny Last edited by Fiishergurl; July 30, 2016 at 09:40 AM.

July 30, 2016	#137
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	I think that they'll at least get to mature green and will eventually ripen off the vine.

July 30, 2016	#139
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Personally, I would keep feeding them, yes. 2 months is still a long ways to go.

July 30, 2016	#140
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	Good point. I wasnt expecting so many more tomatoes so I kind of had them wrapped up in my mind as being done because the first round of tomatoes are all about the same size and should break color soon... hopefully! Ginny Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

July 31, 2016	#141
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	6" plus of rain in Princeton ★★★★★★★★ and shocking flooding in Baltimore. We came through the middle without as much, but a heavy downpour this morning did drop a lot of water. Garden looks OK - how did everyone else do?

July 31, 2016	#142
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	Been fine here. A couple pepper plants started leaning. I tied up my raised bed cages to posts before it started since they are getting high and heavy and the soil in there is much looser than my yard. I didn't really pick a lot of tomatoes until yesterday when I picked all ripe ones, so 2 days of rain first, and the only really affected by splits were cherokee purple. They were probably ripe for a while. I never grew black tomatoes before.

July 31, 2016	#143
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	No issues here either. My tomato plants are happy happy happy. I wish growing tomato plants in Florida was this easy... :-) It seems bugs and diseases like the Florida climate as much as people do. Ginny Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

July 31, 2016	#144
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	The ground is pretty soggy here, but everything seems to be doing well. I've had squash coming in for about a week now: And FINALLY! My first (non-cherry) tomato! Malakhitovaya Shkatulka, 279g/9.7oz. Despite being the first tomato and having been through a lot of rain recently, it had an excellent, intense flavor, good balance between sweetness and acidity, nice herbal/spicy overtones as with most GWRs, luscious texture. I think if I had let it ripen for one more day, it would have been better. But it was still a lovely first tomato.

July 31, 2016	#145
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	Wow that inside looks like aztec art.. ;-) Is that the one lnown as Malachite box? What kind of squash is that? Ginny Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

August 1, 2016	#147
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	You think malachite box is the better name? Sounds like a trap the enterprise got lured into.

August 3, 2016	#149
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Something got to my first Cherokee Purple before I even noticed it was blushing and knocked off the big, green fruit next to it, too. I should have kept a better watch on this truss, since it was practically resting on the ground and was therefore especially vulnerable to critters. Oh well. As compensation, Malakhitovaya Shkatulka came through for me again: I might have to make a giant burger just for that tomato.

August 3, 2016	#150
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	I'm having a lot of problems with birds pecking fruit this year - as soon as it starts to color, they go for it.