Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2 - Page 73

Zone9b · May 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by efisakov

I started this two years ago. If you cut tomatoes in about 1 inch size chunks and add peppers and onions cut in 1/2 inch pieces, than cook it down, removing some juice (great testing too). Mmm... so good. It can be frozen or poorer hot into glass containers and stored in refrigerator. I add that chunky sous to soups, sautéing vegies, meatballs. It can be served hot as a tomato soup too.
I usually have 3-5 pounds of tomatoes, 1-2 large onions and 1-2 peppers. I do not cook it too long, about 40 minutes. glad to hear that other people do the same, with their own twist.
Larry, I love sautéed veggies with hot Italian sausage and tomatoes. I boil sausages to remove fat before adding to veggies.

efisakov,
I somewhat do what you do but later in the process. I combine frozen tomatoes, frozen onions, frozen peppers and frozen broccoli and or beans for a meal. I have a lot of large peppers, I need to get some turkey burger and make some stuffed peppers. I can cook a bit but I should try to mix in a little variety with all the veggies I have.
Larry

alexita · May 11, 2016

Quote:

I think we should have a few listings from all of us as to what had the most fruit set along with excellent taste this season.

This would be so helpful! I've scoured the internet high and low for OP/heirloom varieties that do well in Central and South Florida and the list is always underwhelming. Especially for those of us who avoid most pesticides.

But between all the C/S Floridians here, that list would probably be pretty large.

Quote:

Last night low temp was 75, after more than a week of 57-64.

My low here was in the 60s a couple nights last week, but for the most part was just a few degrees lower (72-73 instead of 76-78 that we were having) and it has much less humid. Well, even that made a huge difference. I got a huge boost in fruit set.

I have a German Queen I got from Home Depot and planted late that didn't expect any fruit from. I kept it in the ground just in case. But suddenly it's got several little tomatoes with no signs of dropping. And a couple other varieties in 5-7 gal pots I only expected 1-2 fruits from are suddenly loaded with fruit.

All is well that ends well, right?

Barb_FL · May 11, 2016

Big Beef Cutting left over from summer - 20 tomatoes; all were early February before others.
4 BB plants, 2 EB (not together), 1 homemade EB, 1 Root Pouch. Root Pouch one exceeds 20 fruits. Beautiful big tomatoes; no cracking, taste good.
4th of July - Productive red tomato / easy
Black and Brown Boar - Early,productive and easy. Good Taste.
Bosky ??? - (dwarf) - early/determinate / done. Taste like any other decent red.
Bulgarian Triumph - had the best flower to tomato ratio. Over 30 tomatoes, in a Root Pouch. (seed from presumably TYLCV diseased plant). Haven't tasted because the opossum/raccoon keeps getting them before me. Late which I am thankful for.
Corum Kirmizisi - 2 plants in EB - not together. First picture with unrealized fruit was from this plant. Imagine the production if they set fruit.
Dragon's Eye - I have multiple plants but I don't think it is Dragon's Eye so haven't giving it much attention. Very productive, bigger fruits.
Dwarf Sweet Sue - RED - excellent tasting tomato.
Dwarf Sweet Sue - Yellow - tomatoes picked but haven't tasted
Extreme Bush (dwarf) - 1 plant in SWC - early / done. Just another decent red.Excellent shelf life.
Fred Tie Dye - What is the point? Tastes just like PBTD with so much more trouble/less production.
Garden Gem F2s - Very productive; used some early on, great hanging time, but even they succumbed to splitting with the huge rain we had this week. Discarded an entire plant full of split tomatoes. Kept a few for seeds because one particular plant was STRIPED. Plant is not demanding; ignored totally as seedlings. But just like the GG F1, once better tasting tomatoes were available, lost interest.
Gold Krone - from MMMM swap. Was my #1 request in 2014 but didn't germinate/do well. Forgot about it, got it again in 2015. Starts off with trusses like SunGold, but turns multi-flora but tastes so much better than Ildi. I will try to get a picture.
Jazz - EB and Root Pouch - Opposum/Raccoon ate the 3 almost ripe ones in RP.RP production exceed EB.
JD Special Tex - Picked the first ripe ones; split bad after heavy rain. 2 plants - 1 EB (none ripe, not very productive), 1 RP huge fruits.
Juane Flamme - Another workhorse; give most away. Plants probably had 40+ tomatoes. Have multiple plants. Much better/bigger than expected.

Large Barred Boar - Early and made a huge late comeback with very recent set fruit. Taste very similar to PBTD but earlier. 2nd time growing; will grow again.
Lucid Gem - I'm just so over very Sweet Tomatoes - I have TONS of fermented seeds if anyone reading this wants any.
Maiden's Pride - 1 plant in EB. Determinate (for me) red. Set fruit early and easy, but then stopped.
NAV - was late setting fruit, too small of root pouch. I'm glad I will have something to look forward to.
Orange Coastal Pride - was a late bloomer, but picked 2 tomatoes, haven't tasted.
Orange Jazz -2 in EB - (not together) did lousy - picked some but seem too soft even before fully ripe. (disappointed)
Orange Russian 117 - Too sweet for me. Produced 8 huge fruits, picked the last one and it is blossoming like crazy now.
Orange Swirl Dwarf - Really LATE which is good b/c I have so many. Picked the first today, more because the blossom end was splitting.
Painted Pink - Perfect big cherry
PBTD - 1 in EB, 2 are in Root Pouches. Those in RP - One is being fed TTF, the other the Masterblend mix (that AKMARK Uses). Always tastes great.
Perth Pride (these seeds were from you Marsha) - A nice surprise. Lots of tomatoes (20ish) with great taste. Fairly early and still has green tomatoes. Pink Passion - Very Early - done for awhile. determinate/diseased. Produced 14 decent size tomatoes. Tomatoes were too soft for me.
Porter's Pride - 2 plants, both in EB - not together. Not exactly how I remember Porters (from Everwilde). Good hang time for ripe tomatoes. Will try the Everwilde variety again.
Sekei Ichi - one in EB/ on in Root Pouch; EB is fairly decent but Root Pouch has a lot more. Haven't tasted - opossum/raccoon keeps getting them before me.
Summertime Gold - produced and then produced again, and now again. Taste was better than expected; yellows are not my favorite
Sun Gold - best year for not splitting. One in a SWC, one in an Root Pouch.
Sweet Scarlet Dwarf - the bane of my existence. After so many tries (50ish I don't give up) , I finally got a plant with 4-6 tomatoes ALL with worms. I did pick one healthy one fully green and let it ripen in my house. It is NOT Scarlet Red. After pruning plant (thank's Kay), it has 4 tomatoes on it now

Tommy Toe Yellow - Bigger than Sun Gold, great vine time. Sun Gold wins the taste contest by everyone.
Vorlon - Late which I am grateful.
Wild Fred - edges out Red Sweet Sue as the best tasting tomato. 2 for Dwarf Project - Firebird Sweet 5034, 5036,Invalde 2 for Multi-flora dwarf project -

Zone9b · May 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexita

This would be so helpful! I've scoured the internet high and low for OP/heirloom varieties that do well in Central and South Florida and the list is always underwhelming. Especially for those of us who avoid most pesticides.
But between all the C/S Floridians here, that list would probably be pretty large.
All is well that ends well, right?

alexita,
I think you're on the right thread to find folks who do well growing OP tomato varieties. Some of the people who post here do amazing things with OPs. But one thing is for sure I'm not one of them. Most OPs have done quite poorly for me but I have run in to a couple that fairly well held their own with hybrids. One I grew back a few seasons was Glacier. Grew quite a lot of tomatoes and taste was pretty good. As I remember a bit seedy but the variety worked for me. Another I grew this season and it did well enough that I will probably grow it again. I grew Bloody Butcher and it produced quite a few tomatoes and I thought they tasted pretty good. Skin a bit tough and it gave up a bit early but I had other hybrid bush varieties that gave up a bit early. I grew Bloody Butcher in 10 gallon pots. Good luck in your variety search.
Larry

Fiishergurl · May 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Big Beef Cutting left over from summer - 20 tomatoes; all were early February before others.
4 BB plants, 2 EB (not together), 1 homemade EB, 1 Root Pouch. Root Pouch one exceeds 20 fruits. Beautiful big tomatoes; no cracking, taste good.
4th of July - Productive red tomato / easy
Black and Brown Boar - Early,productive and easy. Good Taste.
Bosky ??? - (dwarf) - early/determinate / done. Taste like any other decent red.
Bulgarian Triumph - had the best flower to tomato ratio. Over 30 tomatoes, in a Root Pouch. (seed from presumably TYLCV diseased plant). Haven't tasted because the opossum/raccoon keeps getting them before me. Late which I am thankful for.
Corum Kirmizisi - 2 plants in EB - not together. First picture with unrealized fruit was from this plant. Imagine the production if they set fruit.
Dragon's Eye - I have multiple plants but I don't think it is Dragon's Eye so haven't giving it much attention. Very productive, bigger fruits.
Dwarf Sweet Sue - RED - excellent tasting tomato.
Dwarf Sweet Sue - Yellow - tomatoes picked but haven't tasted
Extreme Bush (dwarf) - 1 plant in SWC - early / done. Just another decent red.Excellent shelf life.
Fred Tie Dye - What is the point? Tastes just like PBTD with so much more trouble/less production.
Garden Gem F2s - Very productive; used some early on, great hanging time, but even they succumbed to splitting with the huge rain we had this week. Discarded an entire plant full of split tomatoes. Kept a few for seeds because one particular plant was STRIPED. Plant is not demanding; ignored totally as seedlings. But just like the GG F1, once better tasting tomatoes were available, lost interest.
Gold Krone - from MMMM swap. Was my #1 request in 2014 but didn't germinate/do well. Forgot about it, got it again in 2015. Starts off with trusses like SunGold, but turns multi-flora but tastes so much better than Ildi. I will try to get a picture.
Jazz - EB and Root Pouch - Opposum/Raccoon ate the 3 almost ripe ones in RP.RP production exceed EB.
JD Special Tex - Picked the first ripe ones; split bad after heavy rain. 2 plants - 1 EB (none ripe, not very productive), 1 RP huge fruits.
Juane Flamme - Another workhorse; give most away. Plants probably had 40+ tomatoes. Have multiple plants. Much better/bigger than expected.

Large Barred Boar - Early and made a huge late comeback with very recent set fruit. Taste very similar to PBTD but earlier. 2nd time growing; will grow again.
Lucid Gem - I'm just so over very Sweet Tomatoes - I have TONS of fermented seeds if anyone reading this wants any.
Maiden's Pride - 1 plant in EB. Determinate (for me) red. Set fruit early and easy, but then stopped.
NAV - was late setting fruit, too small of root pouch. I'm glad I will have something to look forward to.
Orange Coastal Pride - was a late bloomer, but picked 2 tomatoes, haven't tasted.
Orange Jazz -2 in EB - (not together) did lousy - picked some but seem too soft even before fully ripe. (disappointed)
Orange Russian 117 - Too sweet for me. Produced 8 huge fruits, picked the last one and it is blossoming like crazy now.
Orange Swirl Dwarf - Really LATE which is good b/c I have so many. Picked the first today, more because the blossom end was splitting.
Painted Pink - Perfect big cherry
PBTD - 1 in EB, 2 are in Root Pouches. Those in RP - One is being fed TTF, the other the Masterblend mix (that AKMARK Uses). Always tastes great.
Perth Pride (these seeds were from you Marsha) - A nice surprise. Lots of tomatoes (20ish) with great taste. Fairly early and still has green tomatoes. Pink Passion - Very Early - done for awhile. determinate/diseased. Produced 14 decent size tomatoes. Tomatoes were too soft for me.
Porter's Pride - 2 plants, both in EB - not together. Not exactly how I remember Porters (from Everwilde). Good hang time for ripe tomatoes. Will try the Everwilde variety again.
Sekei Ichi - one in EB/ on in Root Pouch; EB is fairly decent but Root Pouch has a lot more. Haven't tasted - opossum/raccoon keeps getting them before me.
Summertime Gold - produced and then produced again, and now again. Taste was better than expected; yellows are not my favorite
Sun Gold - best year for not splitting. One in a SWC, one in an Root Pouch.
Sweet Scarlet Dwarf - the bane of my existence. After so many tries (50ish I don't give up) , I finally got a plant with 4-6 tomatoes ALL with worms. I did pick one healthy one fully green and let it ripen in my house. It is NOT Scarlet Red. After pruning plant (thank's Kay), it has 4 tomatoes on it now

Tommy Toe Yellow - Bigger than Sun Gold, great vine time. Sun Gold wins the taste contest by everyone.
Vorlon - Late which I am grateful.
Wild Fred - edges out Red Sweet Sue as the best tasting tomato. 2 for Dwarf Project - Firebird Sweet 5034, 5036,Invalde 2 for Multi-flora dwarf project -

Barb,

That is awesome!! Love the list but i didnt see the pictures.

Ginny

Fiishergurl · May 11, 2016

I cant participate in the number of tomatoes etc because my plants are still producing in full swing and hubby and I have to leave next week to go to Philly for the summer for his job. He is a General Contractor and we have to leave them behind. We thought it was for 3 months, maybe 4, but just found out today a minimum of 19 weeks and maybe longer.

Here are pictures of some of my plants today. Almost all of the plants are producing lots of new tomato babies and still making tons of flowers. The sad thing is they will probably be about fried within a week or two of us being gone because of the hassle of taking care of them. Our neighbors like to look at them and eat them but not water them regularly which is fine.

Just one earth box above with two plants in it. I will figure out better support for the fall crop.

Some fruit above about to ripen...

RK Purple Heart above is loaded with almost ripe tomatoes and still making lots of new babies. I'm crossing my fingers that this one ripens before we leave along with Cherokee Black Heart.

More new tomato babies above...

More new babies above. There are tons of new tomatoes everywhere.

A large bowl of tomatoes picked today only. I have to pick them after first blush so the bugs and or neighbors dont get them... lol.

Ginny

kayrobbins · May 11, 2016

It would upset me to have to leave such beautiful plants while they are still in production mode. AT least you neighbors will be able to enjoy them, too bad not enough that they will water them so they can last as long as possible.

Windi17 · May 11, 2016

Hi Florida growers! I am new at gardening and new to Tomatoville. Seeing all of your success is inspiring!

My story and request for help (sorry for the length):

My husband and I recently bought a house with a yard for the first time. We love tomatoes, but hate the ones at the store, so we always talked about growing our own. We have had so much going on, we didn't get around to gardening for a while. Well, on a day we took off together (4/20), we decided to start our tomato & herb garden. We went to HD and picked up some plants, and then got to removing the sod of an 18' by 3' area of our lawn. We planted herbs and 4 tomato transplants in the ground. We did this with absolutely no research, besides what the labels on the plants say.

We added 3-4" of Miracle Grow gardening soil, but no compost, as the only thing the store had was Black Kow and other seemingly worse stuff. The soil had lots of earthworms and looked rich, so we thought it would be okay. Two transplants are a hybrid red cherry variety and are producing some tomatoes (about 12 each so far). The other is a yellow pear heirloom, and it has blossoms. The last one is a stripey heirloom, which had blossoms, but we removed them due to being on a diseased "stem".

Speaking of disease & pests, the only thing I have sprayed the plants with is water and neem oil at this point. This has stopped powdery mildew, which was on the plants when we bought them. (Didn't know what it was and it didn't look bad - again, a newbie here). Some stems/leaves seemed to develop early blight after a downpour we had last week, so we removed those Monday. In my husband's innovative spirit, he added copper "rings" out of a pipe we had laying in the garage to the plants. He inserted them wherever he removed a diseased stem. We haven't seen anymore diseased stems, but I am going to spray with liquid copper when I get the 1 gallon sprayer in the mail tomorrow. Also, I got some sticky traps for flies/miners, as well as BT, and diatomaceous earth in case we encounter beetle, slug or caterpillar problems.

After reading many posts on here, I think we started this too late in the season for Zone 9a/b.

AND, when I water the plants it seems like the water runs on top of the soil instead of penetrating right away. (Again, didn't prepare soil well.) However, I do see sandy particles. There are herbs - thyme, parsley, rosemary and an onion planted in the same area as the tomatoes and these are growing just fine.

We have about 30 nights left of temps less than 75 degrees. Is this enough time for any amount of fruit to set? Will the fruit survive the heat long enough? Again, two plants have blossoms and about 12 tomatoes each, one has blossoms only, and the last one has no blossoms.

If there is a chance... I realize we under-prepared our soil, so I am thinking of "mulching" with compost, side-dressing with fertilizer (Dr. Earth's 5-7-3 w/ probiotics, I think) and watering in calcium nitrate once a week. We have trimmed so much of the lower leaves off, we could potentially add 4" to 6" of compost on top of the existing soil without touching any leaves. I have read bad things about using Black Kow compost. Any recommendations? There is a company called Big Earth around here that sells compost "ready to use", but IDK what is in it. Another company claims to sell humus for $15 per 5 gallon bucket. They say there are no lawn clippings in it due to weed killer, and no animal waste due to antibiotics.

Any advice on how to make the best of this is much appreciated. If nothing else, I hope to learn and be better prepared for next season.

For next season:

I'm thinking we should build raised beds with some kind of compost, fertilizer and maybe vermiculite/perlite or sand. Perhaps we should mulch with all of the oak tree leaves we have or compost. Maybe we can place the leaves in the beds as we collect them and allow them to break down over the summer? Should we cover the beds if we do this, or leave them uncovered? There were lots of dark brown earthworms in the soil when we removed the sod. There is a Starbucks by my house. Should I go by and collect coffee grounds for the beds? Any ideas on how to prepare my beds are welcome.

I have really enjoyed reading your posts, and just about everything of the little bit I have learned is from reading this forum. Thank you for your advice in advance.

efisakov · May 11, 2016

Ginny, beautiful pictures. Nice looking tomatoes too. You are doing great job in conditions you growing them.

Fiishergurl · May 11, 2016

Barb,

I'm with you! Im ready for something different from all the striped tomatoes that I've been growing which are sweet and tart. I had more heart types started but only ended up with 5 heart types in the boxes and of those have only tasted 2 types so far.

Ginny

I would like to try more pinks and reds in the fall and more hearts again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

Fiishergurl · May 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

It would upset me to have to leave such beautiful plants while they are still in production mode. AT least you neighbors will be able to enjoy them, too bad not enough that they will water them so they can last as long as possible.

Kay,

I agonized over maybe staying behind for a while but when i planted the crop i knew there was a chance we would leave before they were done.

At least we got to enjoy some of them... :-) And I'm planning to buy some plants in Philly and try a few there.

Ginny

Fiishergurl · May 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by efisakov

Ginny, beautiful pictures. Nice looking tomatoes too. You are doing great job in conditions you growing them.

Thank you Ella!

It is very hostile conditions here.... :-) But so much fun!

Ginny

kayrobbins · May 11, 2016

Windi17, you did plant the tomatoes too late for 9A/B. I wish the stores would not even sell tomato plants that late. I always plant either the last week in February or the first week in March in our zone. If you happen to get cold you can always cover small plants. Hopefully you will get some tomatoes.

Most of us grow tomatoes in containers because Florida has such a problem with nematodes and they love tomato plants. Even if you do build raised beds they will find their way in there after a season or two. I use my raised beds for all my other crops with good success.

Don't fret too much over any failures with your new garden. Just pay attention to what does work and what does not. It is all a learning experience and each year can get better.

Zone9b · May 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Windi17, you did plant the tomatoes too late for 9A/B. I wish the stores would not even sell tomato plants that late. I always plant either the last week in February or the first week in March in our zone. If you happen to get cold you can always cover small plants. Hopefully you will get some tomatoes.
Most of us grow tomatoes in containers because Florida has such a problem with nematodes and they love tomato plants. Even if you do build raised beds they will find their way in there after a season or two. I use my raised beds for all my other crops with good success.
Don't fret too much over any failures with your new garden. Just pay attention to what does work and what does not. It is all a learning experience and each year can get better.

Kay
You make a good point. Big box stores sell garden plants at times of the year when they don't have a ghost of a chance.
As far as nematodes in raised beds, I grow tomatoes in them every season and not so sure that nematodes are always a problem. My RBs, all except one, are several seasons old. Most of my tomato plants are F1 and probably nematode resistant to some degree. But I am growing 2 Brandywine Cherry Dark plants in separate RBs and I assume BCD is not nematode resistant. However both plants have done well and one is in my shallowest RB which I have and I have used it by only adding additional compost as necessary and it has been with me for several years. The BDC plants look very good and there are quite a number of tomatoes left to harvest over the next month. Also I have grown Summer Girl F1 which is not nematode resistant and it normally did fairly well for me. Now I do know that on occasion at season end i have pulled a plant in a RB which looks short of roots. However, I'm guessing that this may be more an issue in the fall season. I need to pay more attention and document more to get a better understanding. Also, I need to dig through my log and see if I can form a better opinion on this subject. But for this season nematodes in my RBs is not an issue. And overall I grow way more and bigger tomatoes in RBs than I every grow in pots of 10 gallon and less. Maybe if I had 15 gallon pots I would get closer to similar results, but I can build RBs for way less money than buying very expensive 15 gallon pots.
Larry
PS I just returned from my gardens and I picked quite a lot of tomatoes. I have I believe 26 plants in Raised Beds and I have over 50 plants in pots, mostly in 10 gallon pots. They all get watered on the same days and they all get fertilized on the same days. Tonight I counted and estimated the size of tomatoes picked per variety as I always do. The results, easily over 90% of the tomatoes harvested came from Raised Beds and only a small amount from containers. Also, while there is very little left on the container tomatoes the RB plants are loaded. I have 2 Granada F1 plum tomato plants and they look like a wall of tomatoes. Others including non nematode resistant Brandywine Cherry Dark have lots of tomatoes in the RBs and even the same varieties in 10 gallon pots have literally nothing.

ginger2778 · May 11, 2016

Hi Windi, welcome to the Floridians thread. I just want to second what Kay said about containers and nematodes. All of Florida is infested, and they will starve your plants of nutrients with the root knots they make. You will have a very short and unproductive season.
Most of us use self watering containers, and root poches, no native soil in them, potting mix made of peat/ perlite, some dolomite lime and some type of fertilizer seems to be the way to at least some success. I am in zone 10b, we haven't had a frost in over 5 years, so I start seeds in mid August, and plant out by early October, that way my plants can grow large enough to have some flowering by the time it cools off. Cooling off was in late October, but this year it didn't happen until January 3! If I had known, I wouldn't have started seeds until mid November.

Most of us grow from seeds so we can grow interesting varieties that taste good, and if you would like a sampler of some of my favorites, just pm me.

May 11, 2016	#1083
Barb_FL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Indialantic, Florida Posts: 2,000	Here are my comments re: spring season Big Beef Cutting left over from summer - 20 tomatoes; all were early February before others. 4 BB plants, 2 EB (not together), 1 homemade EB, 1 Root Pouch. Root Pouch one exceeds 20 fruits. Beautiful big tomatoes; no cracking, taste good. 4th of July - Productive red tomato / easy Black and Brown Boar - Early,productive and easy. Good Taste. Bosky ??? - (dwarf) - early/determinate / done. Taste like any other decent red. Bulgarian Triumph - had the best flower to tomato ratio. Over 30 tomatoes, in a Root Pouch. (seed from presumably TYLCV diseased plant). Haven't tasted because the opossum/raccoon keeps getting them before me. Late which I am thankful for. Corum Kirmizisi - 2 plants in EB - not together. First picture with unrealized fruit was from this plant. Imagine the production if they set fruit. Dragon's Eye - I have multiple plants but I don't think it is Dragon's Eye so haven't giving it much attention. Very productive, bigger fruits. Dwarf Sweet Sue - RED - excellent tasting tomato. Dwarf Sweet Sue - Yellow - tomatoes picked but haven't tasted Extreme Bush (dwarf) - 1 plant in SWC - early / done. Just another decent red.Excellent shelf life. Fred Tie Dye - What is the point? Tastes just like PBTD with so much more trouble/less production. Garden Gem F2s - Very productive; used some early on, great hanging time, but even they succumbed to splitting with the huge rain we had this week. Discarded an entire plant full of split tomatoes. Kept a few for seeds because one particular plant was STRIPED. Plant is not demanding; ignored totally as seedlings. But just like the GG F1, once better tasting tomatoes were available, lost interest. Gold Krone - from MMMM swap. Was my #1 request in 2014 but didn't germinate/do well. Forgot about it, got it again in 2015. Starts off with trusses like SunGold, but turns multi-flora but tastes so much better than Ildi. I will try to get a picture. Jazz - EB and Root Pouch - Opposum/Raccoon ate the 3 almost ripe ones in RP.RP production exceed EB. JD Special Tex - Picked the first ripe ones; split bad after heavy rain. 2 plants - 1 EB (none ripe, not very productive), 1 RP huge fruits. Juane Flamme - Another workhorse; give most away. Plants probably had 40+ tomatoes. Have multiple plants. Much better/bigger than expected. Large Barred Boar - Early and made a huge late comeback with very recent set fruit. Taste very similar to PBTD but earlier. 2nd time growing; will grow again. Lucid Gem - I'm just so over very Sweet Tomatoes - I have TONS of fermented seeds if anyone reading this wants any. Maiden's Pride - 1 plant in EB. Determinate (for me) red. Set fruit early and easy, but then stopped. NAV - was late setting fruit, too small of root pouch. I'm glad I will have something to look forward to. Orange Coastal Pride - was a late bloomer, but picked 2 tomatoes, haven't tasted. Orange Jazz -2 in EB - (not together) did lousy - picked some but seem too soft even before fully ripe. (disappointed) Orange Russian 117 - Too sweet for me. Produced 8 huge fruits, picked the last one and it is blossoming like crazy now. Orange Swirl Dwarf - Really LATE which is good b/c I have so many. Picked the first today, more because the blossom end was splitting. Painted Pink - Perfect big cherry PBTD - 1 in EB, 2 are in Root Pouches. Those in RP - One is being fed TTF, the other the Masterblend mix (that AKMARK Uses). Always tastes great. Perth Pride (these seeds were from you Marsha) - A nice surprise. Lots of tomatoes (20ish) with great taste. Fairly early and still has green tomatoes. Pink Passion - Very Early - done for awhile. determinate/diseased. Produced 14 decent size tomatoes. Tomatoes were too soft for me. Porter's Pride - 2 plants, both in EB - not together. Not exactly how I remember Porters (from Everwilde). Good hang time for ripe tomatoes. Will try the Everwilde variety again. Sekei Ichi - one in EB/ on in Root Pouch; EB is fairly decent but Root Pouch has a lot more. Haven't tasted - opossum/raccoon keeps getting them before me. Summertime Gold - produced and then produced again, and now again. Taste was better than expected; yellows are not my favorite Sun Gold - best year for not splitting. One in a SWC, one in an Root Pouch. Sweet Scarlet Dwarf - the bane of my existence. After so many tries (50ish I don't give up) , I finally got a plant with 4-6 tomatoes ALL with worms. I did pick one healthy one fully green and let it ripen in my house. It is NOT Scarlet Red. After pruning plant (thank's Kay), it has 4 tomatoes on it now Tommy Toe Yellow - Bigger than Sun Gold, great vine time. Sun Gold wins the taste contest by everyone. Vorlon - Late which I am grateful. Wild Fred - edges out Red Sweet Sue as the best tasting tomato. 2 for Dwarf Project - Firebird Sweet 5034, 5036,Invalde 2 for Multi-flora dwarf project -

May 11, 2016	#1086
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	I cant participate in the number of tomatoes etc because my plants are still producing in full swing and hubby and I have to leave next week to go to Philly for the summer for his job. He is a General Contractor and we have to leave them behind. We thought it was for 3 months, maybe 4, but just found out today a minimum of 19 weeks and maybe longer. Here are pictures of some of my plants today. Almost all of the plants are producing lots of new tomato babies and still making tons of flowers. The sad thing is they will probably be about fried within a week or two of us being gone because of the hassle of taking care of them. Our neighbors like to look at them and eat them but not water them regularly which is fine. Just one earth box above with two plants in it. I will figure out better support for the fall crop. Some fruit above about to ripen... RK Purple Heart above is loaded with almost ripe tomatoes and still making lots of new babies. I'm crossing my fingers that this one ripens before we leave along with Cherokee Black Heart. More new tomato babies above... More new babies above. There are tons of new tomatoes everywhere. A large bowl of tomatoes picked today only. I have to pick them after first blush so the bugs and or neighbors dont get them... lol. Ginny Last edited by Fiishergurl; May 11, 2016 at 03:53 PM.

May 11, 2016	#1089
efisakov Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NJ, zone 7 Posts: 3,162	Ginny, beautiful pictures. Nice looking tomatoes too. You are doing great job in conditions you growing them. __________________ Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!”

May 11, 2016	#1087
kayrobbins Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Jacksonville, Fl Posts: 820	It would upset me to have to leave such beautiful plants while they are still in production mode. AT least you neighbors will be able to enjoy them, too bad not enough that they will water them so they can last as long as possible.

May 11, 2016	#1088
Windi17 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Tampa Bay, FL (Riverview) Posts: 17	Hi Florida growers! I am new at gardening and new to Tomatoville. Seeing all of your success is inspiring! My story and request for help (sorry for the length): My husband and I recently bought a house with a yard for the first time. We love tomatoes, but hate the ones at the store, so we always talked about growing our own. We have had so much going on, we didn't get around to gardening for a while. Well, on a day we took off together (4/20), we decided to start our tomato & herb garden. We went to HD and picked up some plants, and then got to removing the sod of an 18' by 3' area of our lawn. We planted herbs and 4 tomato transplants in the ground. We did this with absolutely no research, besides what the labels on the plants say. We added 3-4" of Miracle Grow gardening soil, but no compost, as the only thing the store had was Black Kow and other seemingly worse stuff. The soil had lots of earthworms and looked rich, so we thought it would be okay. Two transplants are a hybrid red cherry variety and are producing some tomatoes (about 12 each so far). The other is a yellow pear heirloom, and it has blossoms. The last one is a stripey heirloom, which had blossoms, but we removed them due to being on a diseased "stem". Speaking of disease & pests, the only thing I have sprayed the plants with is water and neem oil at this point. This has stopped powdery mildew, which was on the plants when we bought them. (Didn't know what it was and it didn't look bad - again, a newbie here). Some stems/leaves seemed to develop early blight after a downpour we had last week, so we removed those Monday. In my husband's innovative spirit, he added copper "rings" out of a pipe we had laying in the garage to the plants. He inserted them wherever he removed a diseased stem. We haven't seen anymore diseased stems, but I am going to spray with liquid copper when I get the 1 gallon sprayer in the mail tomorrow. Also, I got some sticky traps for flies/miners, as well as BT, and diatomaceous earth in case we encounter beetle, slug or caterpillar problems. After reading many posts on here, I think we started this too late in the season for Zone 9a/b. AND, when I water the plants it seems like the water runs on top of the soil instead of penetrating right away. (Again, didn't prepare soil well.) However, I do see sandy particles. There are herbs - thyme, parsley, rosemary and an onion planted in the same area as the tomatoes and these are growing just fine. We have about 30 nights left of temps less than 75 degrees. Is this enough time for any amount of fruit to set? Will the fruit survive the heat long enough? Again, two plants have blossoms and about 12 tomatoes each, one has blossoms only, and the last one has no blossoms. If there is a chance... I realize we under-prepared our soil, so I am thinking of "mulching" with compost, side-dressing with fertilizer (Dr. Earth's 5-7-3 w/ probiotics, I think) and watering in calcium nitrate once a week. We have trimmed so much of the lower leaves off, we could potentially add 4" to 6" of compost on top of the existing soil without touching any leaves. I have read bad things about using Black Kow compost. Any recommendations? There is a company called Big Earth around here that sells compost "ready to use", but IDK what is in it. Another company claims to sell humus for $15 per 5 gallon bucket. They say there are no lawn clippings in it due to weed killer, and no animal waste due to antibiotics. Any advice on how to make the best of this is much appreciated. If nothing else, I hope to learn and be better prepared for next season. For next season: I'm thinking we should build raised beds with some kind of compost, fertilizer and maybe vermiculite/perlite or sand. Perhaps we should mulch with all of the oak tree leaves we have or compost. Maybe we can place the leaves in the beds as we collect them and allow them to break down over the summer? Should we cover the beds if we do this, or leave them uncovered? There were lots of dark brown earthworms in the soil when we removed the sod. There is a Starbucks by my house. Should I go by and collect coffee grounds for the beds? Any ideas on how to prepare my beds are welcome. I have really enjoyed reading your posts, and just about everything of the little bit I have learned is from reading this forum. Thank you for your advice in advance.

May 11, 2016	#1090
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	Barb, I'm with you! Im ready for something different from all the striped tomatoes that I've been growing which are sweet and tart. I had more heart types started but only ended up with 5 heart types in the boxes and of those have only tasted 2 types so far. Ginny I would like to try more pinks and reds in the fall and more hearts again. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

May 11, 2016	#1093
kayrobbins Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Jacksonville, Fl Posts: 820	Windi17, you did plant the tomatoes too late for 9A/B. I wish the stores would not even sell tomato plants that late. I always plant either the last week in February or the first week in March in our zone. If you happen to get cold you can always cover small plants. Hopefully you will get some tomatoes. Most of us grow tomatoes in containers because Florida has such a problem with nematodes and they love tomato plants. Even if you do build raised beds they will find their way in there after a season or two. I use my raised beds for all my other crops with good success. Don't fret too much over any failures with your new garden. Just pay attention to what does work and what does not. It is all a learning experience and each year can get better.

May 11, 2016	#1095
ginger2778 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10 Posts: 9,283	Hi Windi, welcome to the Floridians thread. I just want to second what Kay said about containers and nematodes. All of Florida is infested, and they will starve your plants of nutrients with the root knots they make. You will have a very short and unproductive season. Most of us use self watering containers, and root poches, no native soil in them, potting mix made of peat/ perlite, some dolomite lime and some type of fertilizer seems to be the way to at least some success. I am in zone 10b, we haven't had a frost in over 5 years, so I start seeds in mid August, and plant out by early October, that way my plants can grow large enough to have some flowering by the time it cools off. Cooling off was in late October, but this year it didn't happen until January 3! If I had known, I wouldn't have started seeds until mid November. Most of us grow from seeds so we can grow interesting varieties that taste good, and if you would like a sampler of some of my favorites, just pm me.