Florida weave a long way from Florida - Page 3

KarenO · July 2, 2014

Thanks Sharon, haha, a little tomato-crazy, that's all. My Hubby calls me 'Tomato girl"... Anyway there are worse things I could be doing I like to point out to him...
The weather was cold earlier but it's about to get pretty hot this week. hopefully not hot enough to make blossoms drop because some of the later ones are just blooming now and if they don't pollinate these first ones then there won't be a nice crop from those. You are right about it being a challenge to grow tomatoes in this area but hey, it makes it more "fun" right? I think it makes those tomatoes I get taste all the sweeter

I am a rank amateur compared to so many here on Tomatoville with huge greenhouses and farms but I have fun with my small gardens and waiting for my F2's to ripen this summer, a first for me is the most fun I've ever had gardening. Somehow I am sure there is the perfect Karen tomato among them. Or they could all be crap...lol
Karen

Quote:

Originally Posted by SharonRossy

Wow, Karen wow, that's all I can say. And you have a greenhouse and cross develop tomatoes and use a community garden? You're amazing! I love the look of the Florida weave. I actually decided to more or less implement it this year even though I'm container growing and had put in cages. Makes it difficult but ii find cages just can't always hold them properly and inside containers it can get tricky, to say the least. But it looks beautiful! How's the weather? We're getting a hot one in Montreal and so far not that much rain. I'm worried when it does come it's going to be a bad one. Last year a lot of my tomatoes had broken stems and the cages almost came out of the containers.
Great stuff! We Canadiens have to make the most out of the short and ever changing forecast!
Sharon

Errol · July 7, 2014

what is the material you using for the weave?

KarenO · July 7, 2014

It is a flat plastic garden twine. I would have preferred to use jute or other natural twine so I could just compost the whole works at the end of the season but I read that it stretches when it gets wet and doesn't stay tight over the course of the season. I will therefore have to "unstring" my weave and separate the twine to recycle.
KarenO

KarenO · July 16, 2014

Holding up well so far even with a couple of good thunder storms. No hail thankfully but strong winds. You cant see for leaves because I'm not a pruner but there are some very nice tomatoes set in this row of 16 plants. The photo with the cluster of fruit is on one of my regular leaf Delicious x Captain Lucky F2's. The shortest of the plants but with the best tomatoes on it. Very pleased so far
Karen

AKmark · July 16, 2014

Karen, you mentioned f2 Delicious, the variety or a good fav. you have? Your garden looks great, I could use a few tips on weeding after looking at your garden pics. lol

KarenO · July 16, 2014

Hi Mark, Regarding the weeds, trust me you only see the good parts

Last summer I crossed the well known regular leaf red beefsteak "delicious" with Captain Lucky, a tri-coloured potato leaf beefsteak. I grew out the F1 indoors over winter (there's a long thread here on that called "first time crosses" and planted F2 seed this spring. From the F2 seedlings, I selected 10 regular leaf and 10 potato leaf plants to grow out hoping for some interesting segregation and something to work with that is interesting going forward. The one truss shown in the photo above is on the smallest of the regular leaf plants of this cross and I am excited to see what color they will be and to taste them. I think it's interesting that the smallest plant is putting out some of the best looking fruits so far.

Karen

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKmark

Karen, you mentioned f2 Delicious, the variety or a good fav. you have? Your garden looks great, I could use a few tips on weeding after looking at your garden pics. lol

KarenO · August 25, 2014

August 24, plants between 5.5 and 7 feet tall. The slim posts are leaning forward under the weight of the fruit but it's holding. Will try and find some reasonably priced t-posts for next year but considering, it's held up pretty well. Can't see very well in the photo but there is still a lot of heavy green fruit on these plants.
KarenO

TNTiger · August 25, 2014

KarenO - your plants look great! Glad to hear that the Florida Weave worked for you. I'm in my second year of using it (with 8ft T-Posts) and it made life so much easier for me! I wish my foliage looked as good as yours but I'm in the South - which means by this time of the year the foliage is suffering a little but the plants are still pumping out tomatoes!

CrazyAboutOrchids · August 26, 2014

This was my first year with the weave; I am in CT. My plants grew up and are now leaning over the top of the weave; my posts were 7.5 - 8 foot lengths of 3/4 inch conduit. We did really well until about 2 weeks ago and one pole started to bend after our windiest storm this year. My conduit is in the ground under the raised bed soil and is also attached to the frames of the beds. Living in CT, it is impossible to plant the poles as deep as they need to be on their own without the additional attachment to the beds, due to all the rocks in the ground. We could not use the t-posts for 2 reasons - 1) we couldn't get them deep enough into the ground where we needed them without hitting rocks and 2) once we got them into the ground, between the ground soil and the raised bed soil (it is too soft to hold up a pole), there was very little left of the t-post above ground for the weave.

I am thrilled with the weave, it allowed me to plant way more in the same area than I ever have before. I probably should have pruned a bit, but live and learn. It is a keeper in my garden. I will be replacing the conduit as it has issues with 1 inch poles and next year I think I will add in a stake for each plant when they initially go in the ground just for added support. We went to a farm this year which grows both eggplant and tomatoes using the weave; the owner stakes as well for the really wild storms we get every so often.

July 7, 2014	#32
Errol Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: beech grove, tn Posts: 45	what is the material you using for the weave?

July 7, 2014	#33
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	It is a flat plastic garden twine. I would have preferred to use jute or other natural twine so I could just compost the whole works at the end of the season but I read that it stretches when it gets wet and doesn't stay tight over the course of the season. I will therefore have to "unstring" my weave and separate the twine to recycle. KarenO

July 16, 2014	#35
AKmark Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Wasilla Alaska Posts: 2,010	Karen, you mentioned f2 Delicious, the variety or a good fav. you have? Your garden looks great, I could use a few tips on weeding after looking at your garden pics. lol

August 25, 2014	#38
TNTiger Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: TN Posts: 120	KarenO - your plants look great! Glad to hear that the Florida Weave worked for you. I'm in my second year of using it (with 8ft T-Posts) and it made life so much easier for me! I wish my foliage looked as good as yours but I'm in the South - which means by this time of the year the foliage is suffering a little but the plants are still pumping out tomatoes!

August 26, 2014	#39
CrazyAboutOrchids Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Zone 6 - CT Posts: 155	This was my first year with the weave; I am in CT. My plants grew up and are now leaning over the top of the weave; my posts were 7.5 - 8 foot lengths of 3/4 inch conduit. We did really well until about 2 weeks ago and one pole started to bend after our windiest storm this year. My conduit is in the ground under the raised bed soil and is also attached to the frames of the beds. Living in CT, it is impossible to plant the poles as deep as they need to be on their own without the additional attachment to the beds, due to all the rocks in the ground. We could not use the t-posts for 2 reasons - 1) we couldn't get them deep enough into the ground where we needed them without hitting rocks and 2) once we got them into the ground, between the ground soil and the raised bed soil (it is too soft to hold up a pole), there was very little left of the t-post above ground for the weave. I am thrilled with the weave, it allowed me to plant way more in the same area than I ever have before. I probably should have pruned a bit, but live and learn. It is a keeper in my garden. I will be replacing the conduit as it has issues with 1 inch poles and next year I think I will add in a stake for each plant when they initially go in the ground just for added support. We went to a farm this year which grows both eggplant and tomatoes using the weave; the owner stakes as well for the really wild storms we get every so often.