Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Barb_FL]

This is a continuation of the original 'Hey Fellow Floridians' thread that was started on Oct 1, 2014 by Fiishergurl (Ginny) . That thread contained a lot of great information from the most dedicated Florida tomato growers but when trying to locate anything, it was very cumbersome.

So after 859 posts and almost 22,000 views, it was decided to start a new thread to coincide with the new fall tomato growing season.
Here's a link to the old thread that may be useful when it becomes inactive:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=33977

We grow more than tomatoes. Everyone is welcome to contribute; the more the merrier.

[kayrobbins]

Thanks for starting this and the timing is perfect since it is time for most of us to start our fall tomatoes. Since I live in north Florida I started mine mid July. This fall I am only growing cherry and dwarf tomatoes. I made that decision because we do get freezes from time to time. Cherry tomatoes tend to produce earlier and the dwarfs are in SWCs so I can move them if I need to. Just another tomato experiment that may or may not work out like I think.

[kayrobbins]

Marsaha, I don't have okra yet but I can already see the Burgundy is going to be the first to produce. Until you introduced us to roasted okra I mainly grew it because it would grow when nothing else would. Now I am really excited about having okra.

[kayrobbins]

I think it was Ginny that had asked what to do with chile peppers if you were not a big fan of hot things. I dehydrate a lot of them and make powders but this year I have been smoking them for two hours before dehydrating because it adds to the flavor. I make a very easy to make chocolate candy that has fruit and nuts that my friends loves. This week I added smoked Rocoto pepper and have been told to never go back to the original recipe.

Chocolate Clusters
2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup salted nuts, chopped (I use cashews)
1 cup dried fruit (cranberries whole, any other chopped)
Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler. Remove from heat and stir in fruit and nuts.* Allow mixture to stand for 5 minutes.
Scoop mixture out by spoon and drop onto parchment lined cookie sheet or mini cupcake liners. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

*adding 1-2 tsps of chili powder gives it just a little heat that goes well with chocolate

[carolyn137]

Not being a Floridian although I have visited several places in FL, I haven't been following the original thread at all so I don't know if this has been discussed, BUT, I just read an article about those giant snails that can be up to 7 inches long and how much money the FL Ag Dept has spent trying to control their spread, to no avail.

And knowing me you wouldn't be surprised that I zeroed in on the human health issues since those snails will eat rat feces that can then, when the snails go sliding by, spread some serious human diseases. And also that their prime time to go from burrowing to dining is during the hurricane season.

Again, if this has been discussed I apologize, if not, have any of you been facing this issue? I know it started in the Miami area and I also know that some of you garden in that area, and I also know that the snails usually dine on native FL flora, but what comes next as one might ask?

Carolyn

[kayrobbins]

Those giant snails have not made it to north Florida and I hope they don't. I have such a battle with the regular ones that I can't imagine how hard it would be to control those. Most of the organic methods I prefer are not effective after a rain which can be almost daily here in the summer months.

[AlittleSalt]

When I think of those giant snails, it makes me think, "Fish bait"

[Zone9b]

I too have planted my tomato seeds for the fall. I planted approx 104 2 1/2 “ seed cups between July 21 and July 24. Of these about 90 are up. A few now have true leaves. I planted 30 seed cups more yesterday. I never thought of planting under grow lights in the summer. I just planted them on the front porch. I have them so they get some morning sun. Soon I will try to move the ones with true leaves from one side of the porch to the other, so they get both morning and later afternoon sun. I hope it works.
I think I have 29 varieties and only 3 have I grown before. Those being West Virginia 63, Early Wonder and Clear Pink Early.

Copied this from a post in Hey Fellow Floridians because it represents the start of the 2015 Fall Season for me.
Larry

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Not being a Floridian although I have visited several places in FL, I haven't been following the original thread at all so I don't know if this has been discussed, BUT, I just read an article about those giant snails that can be up to 7 inches long and how much money the FL Ag Dept has spent trying to control their spread, to no avail.

And knowing me you wouldn't be surprised that I zeroed in on the human health issues since those snails will eat rat feces that can then, when the snails go sliding by, spread some serious human diseases. And also that their prime time to go from burrowing to dining is during the hurricane season.

Again, if this has been discussed I apologize, if not, have any of you been facing this issue? I know it started in the Miami area and I also know that some of you garden in that area, and I also know that the snails usually dine on native FL flora, but what comes next as one might ask?
Carolyn

Carolyn,
Thanks for the post. I will definitely google that. Hope it takes them a long time
to get to Orlando. You know like. Slow as a Snail.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

Carolyn,
Thanks for the post. I will definitely google that. Hope it takes them a long time
to get to Orlando. You know like. Slow as a Snale

I finally found the article that I'd read but it wasn't easy to find it.

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/3...d%3D1145343035

Carolyn

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Marsaha, I don't have okra yet but I can already see the Burgundy is going to be the first to produce. Until you introduced us to roasted okra I mainly grew it because it would grow when nothing else would. Now I am really excited about having okra.

I have been enjoying mine so much. Tonight I am making a stew with turkey bacon, onions, baby purple potatoes( on sale a week ago or so), carrots , yellow squash, zucchini, celery, 4 types of okra, and pearl onions in cream sauce also added(frozen package). Adding chicken breast chunks, and a can of stewed tomatoes, or maybe a jar of my own salsa. And basil, rosemary and oregano from my garden. It's another way to make okra non slimy.
I also found a good eats episode with 5 okra recipes, called Okraphobia.
Life is good! Hee!

[FLRedHeart]

Just wanted to check in here and wish you all good luck. I feel out of place in a FL group as much as a northern one where everyone says "oh, but you're in Florida" :-), but I see a local is active here so that's very encouraging to me ... Hi Kay. The only other I remember as Strobe, so maybe he'll drop in too.

I'm also up here in the far north of the state which can't decide if it wants to be central FL or central Georgia, depending on how fast the Canadian air pushes south.

Last autumn I had a late start but grew all winter long. It wasn't easy and I won't repeat that two years in a row because it created all kinds of problems when I had my spring transplants ready, mostly related to the worst four-letter word I know: M-o-l-d. We had a terrible freeze the prior Nov 17 that should have put any sane tomatoes to RIP, but no I didn't throw in the towel. Hopefully we'll have a good run this year. I started mine July 13. too early, but also too late lol There is something magical to me about having big tomatoes hanging like globes still on Christmas Eve, if we get a lucky year!
cheers

[kayrobbins]

Please do check in often. I need another north Florida in on the conversations. Our growing times are a little different from most of the others but there is still so much good information that we all share. And I did start my tomato seeds on July 13th too. They are still indoors and I am not going to take them out to harden off until at least mid August. Here is hoping we do not get any November freezes this year.

[FLRedHeart]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

...Our growing times are a little different from most of the others but there is still so much good information that we all share. And I did start my tomato seeds on July 13th too. They are still indoors and I am not going to take them out to harden off until at least mid August...

Thanks, and I agree, and hope too. Last year I started August 14 I think, and promised myself that I'd do July 6 this year all things considered, but I was delayed by the flu and heat stroke. For me the decision was hard because I remember last year Sept was solid rain, and October was miraculous for being perfect and dry. The idea was to harden the plants before a possible repeat rain this year, but July 13 is going to be too late starting for that probably, which is what I meant by too late...fingers crossed it's not. We have to time it perfectly to get a good run. Because growing transplants in this heat isn't doing any favors for earliness with these big guys. You have the right idea, but we had such an early bad heat wave that I'm unsatisfied/frustrated with the spring crop performance and like a glutton for punishment here goes with the mid seasons and even some lates. Mine are indoors though, but I don't have A/C for my starts, so temp is a problem. if they get out of control it will be my pleasure to harden as soon as possible but @ 4 weeks is as soon as it will get looking at them. fingers crossed with you on the first freeze
Cheers

[Gardeneer]

Snails are delicacy if you can catch them and harvest them ( after some quarantine time).

We have lots slugs up here, some can weigh an ounce or more. They are only problem early in the season. Right now they are very scarce. The best way to control them is hunting. The second way is using slug/snail bite. It works pretty good in limited space/scale.

Gardeneer