How are your plants producing - Share your results

[Dark Rumor]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Big Beef... :-) But many of the other varieties produced as much. It has been pretty much perfect tomato growing weather.

Ginny

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

I was guessing BB - I have two BB's this year and the first one has some really large fruit and I noticed one of them is beginning to blush.

[Gardeneer]

At this point in my garden things are changing daily. It is a rapidly moving dynamic.
Everyday more fruits are set, they get much bigger and few have started getting ripes.
Because I have planted tightly ( One plant in 2ft by 2 1/2 ft square), I cannot see accurately what is going on, even though I keep pinching suckers and prune lower leaf branch stll some of them are huge. .
But I have the following clear leaders in the number of fruit set:

SFT
IS -PL
Stupice
Big Beef
Brown Heart
Ananas Noire
Super Sioux
Brandy Boy
Pruden's purple
Esterina F2
Juliett
Sungold
Big Rainbow
Mystery Black.

Those are about 1/2 of the varieties in my garden .
My goal is just pick 50% ( about 15 varieties ) for the next year and zap the rest. But it is too early to call.

[VC Scott]

Tomato......................... # of toms set......................# already picked
Cosmonaut Volkov...........45 large to small..................10
Sungold.......................150+................ ....................25+
Cherokee Purple.............20+............................ ........First will be ripe next week
Momotaro......................20+................. ...................Maybe 2 weeks
Kellogg's Breakfast..........20+............................ ........First started blushing today
Berkeley Tie Dye Pink........5..................................... .Seed started March 5
Joe's Pink Oxheart.............3............................. .........Seed started March 5
Pink Ping Pong.................10........................... ...........Seed started March 5
German Johnson................5.......................... ............Transplant 1st week April

Started seed for GGWT, Rebel Yell, German Johnson Benton Strain and Hillbilly last week.

This is my first year growing in containers. Cosmonaut Volkov is a surprise. It grew so fast it became a jungle before I pruned to 4 stems and got it staked. It is too much for a 7 gallon grow bag and I have topped off one stem and will prune it back to just three stems when the fruit ripens on the stem I topped off.

Cherokee Purple and Momotaro share an earthbox. They are doing good, but I think I prefer grow bags.

Kellogg's Breakfast in a 10 gallon grow bag pruned to 4 stems is looking great. There are already a couple over 1 lb.

Joe's Pink Oxheart is pruned to two stems in a 7 gallon grow bag. It is the healthiest tomato plant I have ever grown.

Sungold is already over 6 ft tall and is headed for the neighbor's yard. I told the neighbor he can take any fruit that reaches over the fence.

[Dark Rumor]

Originally Posted by VC Scott

Tomato......................... # of toms set......................# already picked
Cosmonaut Volkov...........45 large to small..................10
Sungold.......................150+................ ....................25+
Cherokee Purple.............20+............................ ........First will be ripe next week
Momotaro......................20+................. ...................Maybe 2 weeks
Kellogg's Breakfast..........20+............................ ........First started blushing today
Berkeley Tie Dye Pink........5..................................... .Seed started March 5
Joe's Pink Oxheart.............3............................. .........Seed started March 5
Pink Ping Pong.................10........................... ...........Seed started March 5
German Johnson................5.......................... ............Transplant 1st week April

Started seed for GGWT, Rebel Yell, German Johnson Benton Strain and Hillbilly last week.

This is my first year growing in containers. Cosmonaut Volkov is a surprise. It grew so fast it became a jungle before I pruned to 4 stems and got it staked. It is too much for a 7 gallon grow bag and I have topped off one stem and will prune it back to just three stems when the fruit ripens on the stem I topped off.

Cherokee Purple and Momotaro share an earthbox. They are doing good, but I think I prefer grow bags.

Kellogg's Breakfast in a 10 gallon grow bag pruned to 4 stems is looking great. There are already a couple over 1 lb.

Joe's Pink Oxheart is pruned to two stems in a 7 gallon grow bag. It is the healthiest tomato plant I have ever grown.

Sungold is already over 6 ft tall and is headed for the neighbor's yard. I told the neighbor he can take any fruit that reaches over the fence.

Do you think containers has produced smaller tomatoes?

I find containers a challenge, but I am considering grow bags for my next round of planting.

[Dark Rumor]

Trying to pick everything before the birds get to them

[VC Scott]

Originally Posted by Dark Rumor

Do you think containers has produced smaller tomatoes?

I find containers a challenge, but I am considering grow bags for my next round of planting.

It depends on the size of the container and how they are pruned. The Kellogg's Breakfast pictured below is in a 10 gallon container pruned to 4 stems espalier style. There are several on there that will be 1 lb.+. I have a Cosmonaut Vokov it an 7 gallon container pruned to 4 stems. It is overloaded with over 40 tomatoes, but it is against my nature to cull fruit. The biggest fruit on the CV has been about 8 oz, which I think is a little small for CV. The first CP was a fused blossom and came in at 10 oz. The CP is trained to three stems in an Earth Box. It is now loaded with fruit, so I don't know how big they will get, but I have a bunch that will be at least 8 oz.

IMG_20170520_151206.jpg

[Spartanburg123]

Beautiful haul there Dark Rumor!!!

[Spartanburg123]

I'm tracking my fruit set in Excel- I hope to have some good ripe pics to share in a month or two!! My mouth is watering.....

POS = Post Office Spoonful (currant)
Bl. Vern. = Black Vernissage

[Dark Rumor]

Originally Posted by VC Scott

It depends on the size of the container and how they are pruned. The Kellogg's Breakfast pictured below is in a 10 gallon container pruned to 4 stems espalier style. There are several on there that will be 1 lb.+. I have a Cosmonaut Vokov it an 7 gallon container pruned to 4 stems. It is overloaded with over 40 tomatoes, but it is against my nature to cull fruit. The biggest fruit on the CV has been about 8 oz, which I think is a little small for CV. The first CP was a fused blossom and came in at 10 oz. The CP is trained to three stems in an Earth Box. It is now loaded with fruit, so I don't know how big they will get, but I have a bunch that will be at least 8 oz.

What is your mix formulation for your grow bags?

[Dark Rumor]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

At this point in my garden things are changing daily. It is a rapidly moving dynamic.
Everyday more fruits are set, they get much bigger and few have started getting ripes.
Because I have planted tightly ( One plant in 2ft by 2 1/2 ft square), I cannot see accurately what is going on, even though I keep pinching suckers and prune lower leaf branch stll some of them are huge. .
But I have the following clear leaders in the number of fruit set:

SFT
IS -PL
Stupice
Big Beef
Brown Heart
Ananas Noire
Super Sioux
Brandy Boy
Pruden's purple
Esterina F2
Juliett
Sungold
Big Rainbow
Mystery Black.

Those are about 1/2 of the varieties in my garden .
My goal is just pick 50% ( about 15 varieties ) for the next year and zap the rest. But it is too early to call.

What is your mix formulation for your grow bags?

[VC Scott]

Originally Posted by Dark Rumor

What is your mix formulation for your grow bags?

Four parts Pro-Mix HP, to one part Perlite, plus one cup or so of dolomite lime for a 7 gallon bag, and a couple tablespoons of organic fertilizer (i.e. Dr. Earth or whatever the local store has). Then water every day with Texas Tomato Food at 1 tbs. per gallon. When weather gets hotter, might have to water twice per day.

The 7 gallon bags tend to dry out faster than the 10 gallon bags. It seems I use less water per day in a 10 gallon bag than in the 7 gallon bags. The 10 gallon bags have a greater margin of error than the 7 gallon bags. If you forget to water a 7 gallon bag, then the next day the plant is rather sad. With a 10 gallon bag, missing a day won't be such a problem. It is a balance between extra dollars for bigger bags and extra pro-mix vs. gaining the greater margin of error.

[MichelleInWASt]

Well, okay, green actually, and just a little bigger than a pea.

This is my first year ever growing tomatoes, and I spotted my the first tomato on one of my plants today, a Sungold.

I was pretty surprised, given that I planted seeds WAY too early and therefore had to keep the plants in, crowded under the lights, far too long. And, given our record-rain-even-for-Pacific-Northwest spring, this poor plant has only seen about five days of actual sun since I planted it out.

I have three housemates, all of them likewise involved in the tomato-growing project, so I'm visualizing a ceremonial quartering and tasting ceremony of this first little tomato when it's ripe. Perhaps with champagne and a few words.

Then again, we have lots of wild critters, so by that time it may be birds or raccoons popping the corks and saying a few words (very quietly, in the dead of night) as they make off with our first tomato...

Good thing there are four of us. We may need to assign shifts and post sentries.

[b54red]

I'm surprised at how early my first large fruit was ripe. I picked a very large Neves Azorean Red at full blush and let it ripen on the porch to full red. I don't know if I have ever gotten a one and half pound tomato in less than sixty days before. I don't believe Neves Azorean Red has ever been my first ripe tomato and it is also the largest I have ever gotten for a first ripe tomato. It made some fantastic BLTs to go with a pot of white peas out of the freezer.

It is just today 60 days since setting out my plants and I have already picked 3 Neves Azorean Reds, 2 Brandywine Cowlicks, and six others from various varieties. We got a good bit of rain yesterday and it is predicted to rain for the next 4 or 5 days so I may have a lot of split fruit with so many tomatoes getting to the picking stage just as a lot of rain moves in. If I see any skin splitting on larger fruits I am going to pick them even if they are still green because with at least four more days of good rain predicted they will bust if I don't and they will be useless. From the radar it looks like more rain is coming in the next hour or so. I am going out to check my rain gauge and plants before I am unable.

I hope the good production continues throughout the season for everyone and may the pests be few and the foliage diseases rare and mild.

Bill

[Ricky Shaw]

Very nice container work VC Scott.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Dark Rumor

What is your mix formulation for your grow bags?

I make my own mix:

Pine bark mulch: Screened through 1/2" mesh to get big chunks and sap wood out. (3 parts)
Peat Moss ( 2 part)
Floor Dry : OptiSorb from O Reiley's . ( 1 part)

Those are just approximate. I don't really measure.

OPTIONAL :
Granular Slow release fertilzer , like MG Shake n Feed for tomatoes (0ne cup per cu-ft of mix). It will also take care of Calcium. But if your granular does not have Calcium in it, add a cup of Dolomitic/Fast Acting lime per cu-ft of mix.. It should also help to correct pH and take care of Ca and Mg. .

ADMIT: This year I just had 4 potted plants, 2 tomatoes and 2 peppers. So I did not go and get lime and granular ferts, instead just used MG water soluble at low concentration often. For calcium I save eggshells, add vinegar to it and make "Calcium Acetate". A little bit can go a long way.