Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Norway - That's exciting; Are you on one of the Viking Cruises?

BAG - Brad's Atomic Grape. It is not like a typical Antho tomato.

Not like a typical antho meaning it actually tastes good?

[Barb_FL]

So what is everyone going to grow?

When are you starting?


Should we get a new thread and put all the important info in the first post?

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I'm still undecided and will be gone the entire month of September so will limit my #s.

[ginger2778]

I am procrastinating on making my grow list. It's a pain going through the seed box.

[elight]

I just planted seeds today. Been super busy so going with the old reliables: Big Beef, Brandy Boy, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Momotaro, Cosmonaut Volkov, Supersweet 100s, Sunsugar, Dr. Carolyn and Black Cherry.

Spring was great although disease slowly killed everything. Hard to keep up with it nowadays. Goal is always to have some tomatoes for Thanksgiving but I think it's only happened once and I'm starting a tad later than usual.

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[efisakov]

Elight, Cole_Robbie recommended Osmocote Flower and Vegetable Smart Release Plant Food for healthier roots in seedlings. I got my in Walmart. Used it to grow my seedlings this year and did like the vigor and sturdy look of the seedlings. It may give you better chance on getting first fruit earlier.

[elight]

I've had very good luck with seedlings. I usually use a little Plant Health Care fertilizer, and sometimes none at all. This year I am attempting to start seeds outside (screened pool deck) as I no longer have any empty rooms in the house.

Unfortunately I ran out of seed starting mix and had to supplement with some old Miracle Gro potting mix I had lying around forever. I don't have a decent garden center on this side of town, and the Wal-Mart never has much of anything useful (it primarily caters to tourists). I usually make the trek twice a year to the other side of town to load up on potting mix and such.

I will be using only 7 gallon grow bags and two EarthTainers this year. Both did great when pushed with Foliage-gro Pro. TTF unfortunately does not work with my fertilizer injector (and likely the settling effect also makes it ineffective with SWCs) although I will sporadically top-water with it to supplement as time allows.

Hoping for no hurricane threats this year! Really did my garden in last fall.

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[Barb_FL]

Elight - You start really early. Good luck to you and all of us this season for our gardens and keeping hurricanes away. I'm going to start a limited amount this weekend and start the rest on October 1 when we get back from Tennessee.

I want to thank Marsha and Ella for recommending getting a dehydrator. We dehydrated the end of year cherry tomatoes that were still on the vine when pulling up the plant. We've dehydrated 3 times already. I think I will be dehydrating mangoes this weekend. The last time we used it, we did it outside on our porch; I liked it so much better than running it in the kitchen.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Elight - You start really early. Good luck to you and all of us this season for our gardens and keeping hurricanes away. I'm going to start a limited amount this weekend and start the rest on October 1 when we get back from Tennessee.

I want to thank Marsha and Ella for recommending getting a dehydrator. We dehydrated the end of year cherry tomatoes that were still on the vine when pulling up the plant. We've dehydrated 3 times already. I think I will be dehydrating mangoes this weekend. The last time we used it, we did it outside on our porch; I liked it so much better than running it in the kitchen.

Barb, Marsha is making fruit leather as well. I finally tried it for the first time two days ago. I believe, you purchased special mats for that as well. It turned out good and it was easy, as Marsha was saying it would be.
My DH wanted some home made preserves and got from a local fruit store overripe plums. They would be probably throwing them away in a day. He got two boxes for $3. I made 12 quarts of plum preserves. Decided to try to make fruit leather from one of the jars. Mmm...

Thank you, Marsha, for encouragement.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Elight - You start really early. Good luck to you and all of us this season for our gardens and keeping hurricanes away. I'm going to start a limited amount this weekend and start the rest on October 1 when we get back from Tennessee.

I want to thank Marsha and Ella for recommending getting a dehydrator. We dehydrated the end of year cherry tomatoes that were still on the vine when pulling up the plant. We've dehydrated 3 times already. I think I will be dehydrating mangoes this weekend. The last time we used it, we did it outside on our porch; I liked it so much better than running it in the kitchen.

Barb, I recommend that you put 3/8 thick slices of mangoes in the dehydrator, and on 125-130F.
Any thinner and they get too thin when done, thicker can add hours. I always run it on the patio.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Barb, Marsha is making fruit leather as well. I finally tried it for the first time two days ago. I believe, you purchased special mats for that as well. It turned out good and it was easy, as Marsha was saying it would be.
My DH wanted some home made preserves and got from a local fruit store overripe plums. They would be probably throwing them away in a day. He got two boxes for $3. I made 12 quarts of plum preserves. Decided to try to make fruit leather from one of the jars. Mmm...

Thank you, Marsha, for encouragement.

You're welcome, but I haven't tried a fruit leather yet. Bet a mango one would be good.

[elight]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Elight - You start really early. Good luck to you and all of us this season for our gardens and keeping hurricanes away. I'm going to start a limited amount this weekend and start the rest on October 1 when we get back from Tennessee.

Used to start earlier and have plants in the ground by late August... thinking I'll try to plant out the weekend after Labor Day this year and see how that goes. Fingers crossed.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by elight

Used to start earlier and have plants in the ground by late August... thinking I'll try to plant out the weekend after Labor Day this year and see how that goes. Fingers crossed.

It's getting warmer and warmer, so I bet you are going to be OK. Have you had an actual frost in the last 2-3 years?
I just looked up Orlando- 2017 lowest temp was 35F, 2018 lowest temp was 28F, so for that night in January, you would need to cover, but not for 2017.

[elight]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

It's getting warmer and warmer, so I bet you are going to be OK. Have you had an actual frost in the last 2-3 years?

I've lived here for 5 winters (this will be my 6th). This past winter was the first one where we had an actual freeze - I think there were actually 3 nights that dropped to 31 or 32. The previous winters, we flirted with freezing but never actually got there. It turns out I could have overwintered those years had I not given up on the plants in anticipation of a February freeze.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by elight

I've lived here for 5 winters (this will be my 6th). This past winter was the first one where we had an actual freeze - I think there were actually 3 nights that dropped to 31 or 32. The previous winters, we flirted with freezing but never actually got there. It turns out I could have overwintered those years had I not given up on the plants in anticipation of a February freeze.

Yes, that's where I was going with this.

[Barb_FL]

I don't plant out any tomato plants until Early October with the bulk of them planted out by mid-October. I look at the average night time temps and that is when the lows drop enough for fruit set.

What I have noticed since I've been growing tomatoes (2012), is that the actual day times highs are no hotter than the historical averages but the actual night time lows are MUCH WARMER than the historical averages. By much warmer I mean average 8 degrees warmer.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/sa...eather/2245256