Florida Growers Thread

[dealsgapper]

Your seeds are gonna need about six weeks of TLC out of direct sunlight and under florecent lighting. Once they get true leaves and are established you can start harding them with a couple hours of indirect sunlight per day. Your probablly looking at eight to ten weeks before you can get them in containers or in the ground. Growing from seed requires alot more attention, but the reward is very gratifing. Good Luck.
I'm located in Citrus County on the west coast and started 150 plants from seed for my spring grow list. It's easier to by the plants all ready to go, but I have enjoyed the challenge and tried a wide variety of heirlooms to see what I want to keep growing in the future.

Originally Posted by jdmfish

Hi, I have a question for you guys -

I'm located in Central Florida. I would like to start my plants from seeds this year, instead of buying seedlings, and was wondering typically, when do you start the seed germination, and roughly, when do you affix them outdoors for the early fall growing season?





Thanks for your help, and have a nice holiday!

[jdmfish]

Originally Posted by dealsgapper

Your seeds are gonna need about six weeks of TLC out of direct sunlight and under florecent lighting. Once they get true leaves and are established you can start harding them with a couple hours of indirect sunlight per day. Your probablly looking at eight to ten weeks before you can get them in containers or in the ground. Growing from seed requires alot more attention, but the reward is very gratifing. Good Luck.
I'm located in Citrus County on the west coast and started 150 plants from seed for my spring grow list. It's easier to by the plants all ready to go, but I have enjoyed the challenge and tried a wide variety of heirlooms to see what I want to keep growing in the future.

Thanks for your reply.

Reason I want to start from seed, is I can't simply find the seedlings of the tomato varieties I want. I can find a few, but tend to be very expensive after the price of shipping. Cheapest I've been able to find, including the more rarer varieties I would like to try, is around $6-$7 a plant.

So I figured I'd try them from seed instead.

I have enough supplemental light for 3' plants or so.



When do you normally start your seeds for the fall, Deals? Just trying to get an idea when I should start to order my seeds, and anything else I might need.



Appreciate it.

[dealsgapper]

I would work it backwards if you know what I mean. Figure the first frost will be mid Nov. or so. It takes about 3-1/2 to 4 months to get from seed to blushing fruit. Based on my simple math that would put the seeds in the dirt by the end of June (at the latest). If you have a means to keep the frost off (greenhouse) you could wait a little longer to start them. It kinda depends on what your grow list is and it's ability in the heat of the summer (July/August). Some do better than others in our neck of the woods.

Originally Posted by jdmfish

Thanks for your reply.
Reason I want to start from seed, is I can't simply find the seedlings of the tomato varieties I want. I can find a few, but tend to be very expensive after the price of shipping. Cheapest I've been able to find, including the more rarer varieties I would like to try, is around $6-$7 a plant.

So I figured I'd try them from seed instead.

I have enough supplemental light for 3' plants or so.



When do you normally start your seeds for the fall, Deals? Just trying to get an idea when I should start to order my seeds, and anything else I might need.



Appreciate it.

[jdmfish]

Originally Posted by dealsgapper

I would work it backwards if you know what I mean. Figure the first frost will be mid Nov. or so. It takes about 3-1/2 to 4 months to get from seed to blushing fruit. Based on my simple math that would put the seeds in the dirt by the end of June (at the latest). If you have a means to keep the frost off (greenhouse) you could wait a little longer to start them. It kinda depends on what your grow list is and it's ability in the heat of the summer (July/August). Some do better than others in our neck of the woods.

Gotcha.

Appreciate the replies and help.

[coastal-tony]

I'm getting ready for the fall season and can use a few seeds. Anyone have a few Purple Cherokee seeds for Uncle Tony? I only need 3 or 4 seeds, one plant will be fine. I have a LOT of seeds to trade.

[coastal-tony]

JDMFISH, PM me or post what seeds you are looking for. I have quite a few varieties. My new question here is, do I pluck off the suckers on these three Beefsteaks, or let them grow?

[captnkirk]

My 1st Fall Season in a few years without losing any plants to TYLCV. Still have plants into the New Year. Big Beefs and Champion II are both still producing.

[kurt]

Originally Posted by captnkirk

My 1st Fall Season in a few years without losing any plants to TYLCV. Still have plants into the New Year. Big Beefs and Champion II are both still producing.

Kurt here in Homestead Fl.Found out the larger determinates do not fair so well here.I stick mainly to cherrys.I start my seeds end of Sept.Transplant about first of October.Right now all have bunches of berrys and as all cherrys the are still blooming and setting.First red berry showed two days ago on a sweet million.As for disease I had some molds and fungus when I first started about ten years ago when I tried to grow in the ground.Now I do container growing only.Found that the diseases were transmitted from year to year by not cleaning out the containers,the tools,and some of the crud stays in the ground and really starts getting out of hand during the raining season with the high humidity.The big box stores down here stack the plants on these wooden tables and the employees water them down(top watering)and let the splash basically infect everything.I have been saving seeds from my harvests and replanting them over the years and have found them to stabilize pretty well.I spoke to some of the farmers down here in Homestead and they basically said they pick thier fruit green and ship out.Thry also do a lot of chemical control and do not let the crud get out of control before they ship it out green and the real damage cannot be seen(sad).If you grow in ground you might want to grow in another medium in a raised bed because the infectation might still be living in the soil and is usually transmitted by insects and wind.Buy some fresh seeds from a good supplier that grows thier own in another part of the country for as some crud can actually come in the seed itself.Right now the cherrys are at about 8 ft. plus and I anticipate about two more months of harvest before the heat sets in.Good Luck

[coastal-tony]

This season I brought 75% of my plants from the back yard, to the pool deck area. So far, so good.

[ginger2778]

Hey south Florida growers,
I just surveyed the damage to my northern exposure on my plants after the severe winds, and the north side didn't do very well. The south side of the same plants all did great. I sure hope they survive. It didn't quite down to the 30's, lowest was 41 degrees, but the wind...... oh my!
I lost one plant earlier this year to TYLCV, but I have been Neem oiling, and it is helping greatly.
Now the cold comes :-(
Marsha

[coastal-tony]

Same here, my plants on the pool deck got wind whipped, but no temps below 40ish. The other ones back by the A/C unit were well protected. Can someone tell me what this is? It's on all of the Cuaestino de Lucca's.

[ginger2778]

Hi Coastal-Tony
That's classic blossom end rot. It's caused by a nutritional deficiency, usually of calcium. Try adding a little dolomite-lime for the calcium.
Marsha

[coastal-tony]

Thanks for your help. I went real light on the lime when I planted them. I have them in 5 gallon buckets, how much organic garden lime should I apply per bucket?

[Garf]

I only got traces of damage in Miami. BUT, I have spider mites and something resembling early blight.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by coastal-tony

Thanks for your help. I went real light on the lime when I planted them. I have them in 5 gallon buckets, how much organic garden lime should I apply per bucket?

I would use at least 1 cup, and mix it very very thoroughly.