Alaska- greenhouse tomatoes 2014

[Tania]

Lovely!

I keep looking through your photos, just can't stop...

Tatiana

[AKmark]

I counted 54 tomatoes that are set on my favorite brandywine plant; it was early, fruits were much better shaped than Sudduth's, taste is good, a few radial cracks, no concentric cracks, and it is a production plant and a half.

I have about 20 rooted cuttings that have fruit all over them in my main greenhouse, it is a really dry greenhouse, humidity is much lower in it, and the tomatoes love it. I am really impressed at the scene in there, the plants are loading up well beyond expectations, I will post some pics of them soon.

Here is the middle of my brandywine fav, and the top, the bottom has been harvested and produced many tomatoes, I'll give the tally at the end of the season.
I just planted some seeds from a cross with it and Bloody Butcher, trying for two generations in one season, we'll see how that goes

[KarenO]

That is so impressive Mark!
Karen

[Balr14]

Very Impressive. I have sold my house and am losing my very favorable growing spot. I have been thinking of buying a couple of 8 x 12 greenhouse kits for my Earth boxes at the new home. Your production makes me think it could be a real good idea.

[zero244]

Great setup and system. You are getting yields that people in California would be proud of.
You may have commented on this, but do you heat your greenhouses and if so what type of heat do you use.
Looking forward to your 2014 crop.
Thanks for taking the time to post comments and pictures. In your case a picture is worth a thousand words.

[AKmark]

Hi Zero, I do put a lot of effort into some of my tomatoes. In March I fire up the greenhouse and put plants in it that were started under lights, I have natural gas heat, but supplement it with wood heat to save money, I also heat my water with the wood heat, that really helps.
BTW, this is my 2014 crop, I will post more pics soon.
Mark

[AKmark]

A few issues here and there, but my fruit quality has been better than I have ever had.
One thing that has worked well for my northern climate; I water heavy/ normal for me when the sun is out, when it is rainy, I DO NOT WATER unless I absolutely have to, I have got more crack free fruit by doing this, very, very few concentric cracks, and most of the fruit is shiny healthy looking too.
I also find that I back off on the amount of water I use as the season progresses, also seems to keep fruit nice, pruning helps offset water needs of plant to allow this, taste of fruit becomes exceptional.
I also chop the tops off of out of control plants, which seems to set a crazy second setting of tomatoes into motion, also reduces water needs of plant.
Anyway if you get cracks on your tomatoes in your greenhouse, try letting them dry out more when it rains, but never let them wilt, or you will get BER.

[bower]

Beautiful crop, Mark, and sage advice!

In my cooler greenhouse/ less sunny environment some stubborn varieties grow like banshees without setting fruit - I found you can get them to fruit by topping the plant. I top the main stems and suckers back to leave one leaf above a flower cluster, and that is a pretty reliable way to get them to set.
.

[AKmark]

Here's a few pics, Stump of the World, Cuostralee, Gregori's Altai, and Azoychka.

One thing I have noticed is the cuttings from my first batch are producing even nicer fruit in my other greenhouse. That greenhouse gets more direct sun, 15-16 hours during mid summer, and it is very dry in it for a greenhouse, some days the humidity is in the low 20's, and always drier than this greenhouse. I still get a little catfacing, but the fruit shapes are much more round and smooth, even Chocolate Stripes looks nice and round. Not every fruit, they are all not perfect or close, however... there is so much fruit setting I can pick off the undesirable tomatoes. I would say the temp has stayed below 85, above 60, 50-60 percent humidity on average, give or take a little. I also spaced the plants about 4ft apart, good idea!
Bear Creek is just stunning, talk about loaded with slabs, I only planted two and wish I had more. Glick's Brandywines producing pretty fruit, Wes was loved when we ate it, West Virginia Straw was good, so many good varieties out there, more fun than work.
I had a massive aphid outbreak in one of the greenhouses, the parasitic wasps, and Green lacewings appear to be winning. I also had leaf mold appear in one of the greenhouses, so a lot of time is spent keeping ahead of that, busy this year for sure, still fun though.

[Tania]

Even more awesomeness! Thank you Mark!

[zero244]

I have to say except in a multi-million dollar greenhouse I have never seen anyone get this much fruit.
Very impressive..............What type of nutrients are you using and how often do you apply them.
Not to mention you are in Alaska, just incredible.

[AKmark]

Warned you This is delicious, this one weighs a little more than 2.5lbs. I haven't tried to grow a giant until now, we decided to try one in the fair this fall, so we picked off all tomatoes off of this plant except two small fruits for an attempt, a Caspian Pink has been picked to four.

Zero, I have used a few different fertilizers, I am growing these with Flora Nova, but will be switching soon, a fellow from the horticulture department is going to lend a hand. Feed and prune, make sure they have root space.

[jmsieglaff]

Your garden is incredible! And Alaska of all places what latitude are you at?

[jmsieglaff]

My other question is what do you do with all your tomatoes?

[AKmark]

We are at the 62nd.

The tomato scene in AK is dire, taste wise, most people do not grow heirlooms, Early Girl hybrid is the most popular greenhouse variety up here, good too, I grow many plants of them.
I sell excess, chefs, friends, or to people who just stop by, I also give away tomatoes often, and eat too many every day just sampling with friends. We can about 150 quarts of juice/slop, and about 75 quarts of spaghetti sauce, and only use the best tomatoes for that.

I grew up in Southern Indiana in the 70's, dad grew lots of tomatoes in the garden, and they were good, I didn't even know they were good until I moved to Alaska and ate the tomatoes up here. Anyway, I have spent 21 years tinkering with growing tomatoes up here, not an expert by a long shot, but I did figure out a couple of things that work. The best thing I have done is figure out how to get good yields from most heirlooms, not a big deal down where you are, but in Alaska it is much harder to do.

Thanks for the remarks, I post this stuff to share, I found many good varieties on Tomato Ville, and I believe when you take, you must give back.