Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[nancyruhl]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

Sounds like someone has a winter vacation planned.

You betcha. NSB, here I come..

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by nancyruhl

You betcha. NSB, here I come..

We will welcome our favorite snowbird back.

[nancyruhl]

aw. Thanks. We so look forward to our time there.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

I have got to try the green tomato bread. My squirrels are not as well behaved as yours. They steal a lot of my ripe tomatoes but what really irritates me the most is when they pick a large green tomato, take one bite and then throw it down. So maybe this will let me get some use out of them.

You have heard me rave about Dwarf Beauty King and I just saw Craig post that it will be released for 2017. I am so happy, it is one of of the best tomatoes I have ever grown.

Kay - I've got to try Dwarf Beauty King. I havent tried it yet because dwarfs dont do well here because its so wet, but I saw Barb posted some info a while back about how to grow them so I'm going to try them this next season... :-) Dovyou know if Wild Boar Farms Beauty King is one of the parents?

Marsha that green tomato bread sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing that info.

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by nancyruhl

aw. Thanks. We so look forward to our time there.

Yes welcome back!!

[kayrobbins]

I am not sure if it was Wild Boar Farms but I did see in one post that the cross was Beauty King and Dwarf Wild Fred. Having two named Beauty King is confusing. It would have been better to give the Dwarf a different name.

Do try it, you will love it. When you read about growing dwarfs it always tells you not to prune but as I have posted here before that does not work in Florida. There growth is so dense that you can't tell if you have insects because they hide and there is so much fungal problems. I thin mine out a lot and that makes all the difference in having success. I think I even posted a picture of a pruned plant at one point but I don't remember how long ago it was.

[Fiishergurl]

Hi Kay,

I missed those posts. Do you still have a picture of a pruned one? I am starting seeds of Esterina today and will start some of Dwarf Beauty King as well... :-)

Ginny

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[kayrobbins]

I decided it would be quicker to search my posts than try to go through all of my pictures on the computer and I did find it.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...410#post552410

Did I send you Beauty King seeds? I think I did but am not sure.

[Fiishergurl]

Yes you sent me some a while back. Thanks for finding that pucture.

:-)

Ginny

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[ginger2778]

Thanks from me too Kay, I just spent 2 days on a pruning marathon, I agree dwarfs here need the pruning help. I am growing DBK thus season, it is setting fruit nicely.

I am also growing Painted Pink but it has no antho! The stems are dark, so are the sepals, but even in the sun no antho. First one ripened today pretty shade of pink, taste above average. One of the Painted Pink plants I gave away in the swap has fruit with the antho, of course!

[kayrobbins]

Ginger I am sorry that your plant did not have the anthro. When Lee sent those seeds they were still experimental but my friends and I have grown a lot of them and I have only had one plant that did not have the anthro. It really is a pretty shade of pink and when you do get the anthro too it is really special.

As dense as the foliage is in most dwarfs I am not sure why pruning is discouraged. Even in climates without our issues there is just not enough air circulation. I think that is why I have seen so many posts about people giving up on them.

[elight]

Can you describe how you are pruning your dwarfs? I gave up on them due to the climate but am interested in revisiting them with some pruning. I'm worried that non-dwarf varieties are going to get too tall when pruned to a single stem.

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[kayrobbins]

I basically just remove leaves that would be overlapping or touching. So many of the dwarf plants have such dense foliage. Did you look at the picture in the link I posted on post 2288? I wish I had a picture of what it looked like before and I know that would help.

[Seth225]

Hello I am new to this forum. After a few years of unsuccessfully attempting to grow Home Depot tomatoes I finally got smart and consulted with our local tomato guru Marsha.

This year I have started 8 or so varieties from seed and a couple of other varieties that I acquired at the Miramar plant swap. Some are in earth boxes and some are in other containers. I am astonished on how well these plants are all doing. They are mostly thick stemmed and very healthy looking, certainly the best looking plants that I have ever seen in my limited experience.

Every morning I check my plants eagerly awaiting my first ripe tomatoes, and I have been very meticulous in following the directions and advice that have been given. Now I am just monitoring for afflictions or pests. I remove leaves that look bad, these are usually the lower ones and I spray weekly with a cocktail of Liquid copper, Thuricide and Daconil.

I think that the fruitset on my plants has been kind of late because the garden area of my yard is not full sun all day. So I moved a few of my plants in an experiment to see if another location proves more fruitful. I put my Sungold and Black Cherry in the front yard facing south so those will get lots of sun.

Cant wait.

[ginger2778]

Some of the stuff going on in my garden:
Reverend Michael Keyes multiflora starting to ripen
Lithium Sunset
Elgin Pink getting big
Next two are a heart shaped ridged multiflora called Rebel Alliance at F4
Next two are top so you can see all the blossoms, and lower fruit set of Kiss The Sky- Tatiana stabilized it from Purple Haze
Lower part of Cherokee Purple, there is more fruit above