Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

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

Isn't the dehydrated mango a fruit leather? What's the difference?

Thanks for the tips on mango size; I did 2 trays on our previous dehydrating and some were too thin, too thick and a few were just right. Now I know what is ideal.

Any progress on your list? Aside from some hybrids, I am looking at what you recommended from your seed SASE on what to grow. At least I know it will grow well in a hot/humid climate.

Sometimes when I read other praises on tomatoes I grew in the past, I'm thinking it's the climate that is making the results differ so much; particularly with thick skin.

However, KarenO's and your KARMA Pink seems to do extremely well in all climates.

[efisakov]

Barb, did you purchase Silicone Non Stick Sheets with your dehydrator? If yes, then it is much easier.
Just cook any fruit with or without adding sugar for about 30 minutes or until it gets a bit thicker, not water like. Cool it, puree, apply on Non Stick Sheet and dehydrate until it is done, then just roll and cut. I really like it.

The other recipe is to just puree fruit with some sugar added (mangoes probably do not need sugar) then spread on Non Stick Sheet and dehydrate until it is done.

Great snack on the road. I hope you will try making fruit rolls.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Barb, did you purchase Silicone Non Stick Sheets with your dehydrator? If yes, then it is much easier.
Just cook any fruit with or without adding sugar for about 30 minutes or until it gets a bit thicker, not water like. Cool it, puree, apply on Non Stick Sheet and dehydrate until it is done, then just roll and cut. I really like it.

The other recipe is to just puree fruit with some sugar added (mangoes probably do not need sugar) then spread on Non Stick Sheet and dehydrate until it is done.

Great snack on the road. I hope you will try making fruit rolls.

YesI have them. Marsha told me to buy them when I ordered my dehydrator. I've used them for my 2 sheets of Mangos that I already did. Way easy.

Thanks for the leather lesson; We have not added sugar to any of our fruit (apples, bananas, pineapple, mango).

[Barb_FL]

I made 2 trays of dried mangoes and 5 trays of leathers; I found the extra pieces from the dried mangoes were good for the blender for leathers.

I took them off this AM, and rolled them up within 5 minutes. Seemed right; peeled off easily and somewhat sticky. What do I do now? Do I need to wrap them in saran-type wrap / wax paper or just put in a snap-top container (that is what I do with the dried mangoes).

---
Also, has anyone purchased a vacuum sealer? If so, what kind? Big range of prices, like the dehydrator. I've now used the dehydrator 4 times. woo hoo

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

I made 2 trays of dried mangoes and 5 trays of leathers; I found the extra pieces from the dried mangoes were good for the blender for leathers.

I took them off this AM, and rolled them up within 5 minutes. Seemed right; peeled off easily and somewhat sticky. What do I do now? Do I need to wrap them in saran-type wrap / wax paper or just put in a snap-top container (that is what I do with the dried mangoes).

---
Also, has anyone purchased a vacuum sealer? If so, what kind? Big range of prices, like the dehydrator. I've now used the dehydrator 4 times. woo hoo

What do you do now? Send them down to me! Lol. In seriousness, you ca n just put them in a container. No need for extra wrapping.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by 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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Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
I notice on this side of town that Walmart (Semoran) carries less Garden Supplies each year. They used to carry seed starters, compost and different potting soils but now there is not much to pick from. I would order online and pick up at the store but I can't find much there either.
Larry

[Zone9b]

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

My two cents on splitting threads. A google search used to be able to reach into tomatoville and other forums and pull out information posted much earlier on a particular subject, even without listing the forum. I now find google search not particularlly valuable for this. As a result very valuable information posted earlier by such authors as Carolyn and Fusion_Power and others is all but impossible to find. I find this to be a huge loss.
By keeping the Florida Garden info in a single thread one has a chance of finding something of significant interest posted much earlier. This accomplished by putting tomatoville and the name of the thread in the search. Other than that one has to remember earlier threads and search each one, thus leading to the loss of valuable info to Florida gardners.
"History is for human self-knowledge ... the only clue to what man can do is what man has done." R. G. Collingwood
Larry

[kurt]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

My two cents on splitting threads. A google search used to be able to reach into tomatoville and other forums and pull out information posted much earlier on a particular subject, even without listing the forum. I now find google search not particularlly valuable for this. As a result very valuable information posted earlier by such authors as Carolyn and Fusion_Power and others is all but impossible to find. I find this to be a huge loss.
By keeping the Florida Garden info in a single thread one has a chance of finding something of significant interest posted much earlier. This accomplished by putting tomatoville and the name of the thread in the search. Other than that one has to remember earlier threads and search each one, thus leading to the loss of valuable info to Florida gardners.
"History is for human self-knowledge ... the only clue to what man can do is what man has done." R. G. Collingwood
Larry

Ginger from Us.fla thread we have a meet,talk it like you don’t walk it,see u there The 20 ?

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by 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

Barb,
You bring up a very interesting topic of temperatures here in Central Florida. All the record and mean daily temperatures for most cities in the US were taken offline in a single day a few years ago. However, I assumed it was coming and copied the records for Orlando into a spread sheet. I also see daily high temperatures running close to the historic average high daily temperatures and as you, I see daily lows running a bit higher than the historic daily average low temps. In Orlando I have seen this as approx 2 degrees higher but this super rainy summer they have normally ran about 1 degree higher. 2015 was a very hot El Nino year and 4 record highs were set in Orlando, at least as I saw it. 9 record highs in September from 1921 are still on the books. Orlando's highest temp was set on Sept 8, 1921 at 103. The last record high set in Sept was set on Sept 4, 1944 at 97.
Larry

[Zone9b]

October is here and for Orlando the next 9 days are forecast with overnight low temperatures between 73 and 75 degrees. We should see some tomatoes setting very soon.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

October is here and for Orlando the next 9 days are forecast with overnight low temperatures between 73 and 75 degrees. We should see some tomatoes setting very soon.

You are so lucky,wait, isn't it 72 or below?

[Barb_FL]

Back from a month in Tennessee and it felt hot last night.

I started some tomato plants shortly before we left and a few up there. They all look like them made the trip back home in good shape. I'm going to let them acclimate a couple of days to the Fl heat / humidity before transplanting them. Last year I transplanted right away and lost a couple.

Went ahead and checked the night time lows and not consistent to the mid 70s and below until 10/9 which might work out OK if I keep these alive. I have none with any buds and only a few with the pre-bud forming.

Good for you Larry having the lows that low.

Marsha - 72 and below is the magic #'s but young plants will still set when 75 and less. Cherry tomatoes really don't have problems setting at 75ish. There is always Veggie Bee or electric tooth brush to help along.

[Barb_FL]

What is everyone's tomato status?

I started planting out this week but have a long way to go. I only completed one EB, but 7 root pouches. I'm trying the AKMARK's method with 2 plants per EB. He uses 4 or 5 gallon containers for it; I'm using mainly 10 gallon, but did use a 15 and also a 7 so far.

It looks cloudy so maybe I can do more today. The other days it was so sunny and intense, that it wouldn't be good for me or the plants.

Early in the week, I fixed the shading on my raised bed which is in a U-Shape. For now, I can put the ones in root pouches in the center for them to acclimate.

Also, our low night time temps got extended another week, but are forecasted to be 70 and even some 68-69. It projected to be go from 77 to 70 and stay there or lower. Night time lows are so much warmer than historical averages; day time temps are on par.

[kurt]

Irma,Insurance’s,90 plus humidity.Lost a lot of potentials,did not put anything down till a week ago.Hopefully temps drop,nitetime at 80 plus,you spit it rains.Big fruit trees going gangbusters.Too early.Today it rained off and on all day,with the sun shining.Will see what happens,Gingers Swap should reinforce some empty spaces.

[elight]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

October is here and for Orlando the next 9 days are forecast with overnight low temperatures between 73 and 75 degrees. We should see some tomatoes setting very soon.

When did you plant out this year? I have done August before but didn't feel like dealing with the rain. Finally planted out 2 weeks ago. Pushing them hard and just hoping I have a few ripe ones for Thanksgiving.

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