Top dogs of 2010 so far....

[sprtsguy76]

2010 has been a great year again! We are spoiled weather wise here. Summer here has just been perfect, 70's and 80's and a few 90's for the most part with no rain. Just had my first Tie-Dye Berkeley Heart and it was a 9 out of 10! Just absolutely fabulous flavor! Other stand outs this year have been Goose Creek at 9 out of 10, New Big Dwarf 9 out of 10, Brandywine Sudduth 9 out of 10, Aunt Gerties Gold 8.5 out of 10, Danko 8.5 out of 10, German Red Strawberry 8.5 out of 10. Other honorable mentions are Green Doctors Mystery Cross a 9, Bulgarian Triumph at 8 and a few other home made crosses. Still waiting to try Green Doctors Frosted, Jeans Prize, Angora Orange, Prue, Druzba, Ukrainian Heart, Paul Robeson and Ludmillas Pink Heart.

Damon

[rnewste]

Looking good Damon. Can you post some photos of your plants? Also, in your SWCs, which Combo Mix is working out best for you?

I, and a few others are being hammered with Psyllids (which until a few days ago, I thought was a S.T.D.) but now I know better.

Save a Paul Robeson for me, as the ones I was growing have died off. I'll swap you some of my Goose Creek which are still hanging in there....

Raybo

[b54red]

Damon how does the BTD Heart compare to BTD Pink in flavor? I grew the BTD Pink this year for the first time and would certainly give it a 9 out of 10 for both taste and productivity. I have also had a great year so far this year growing a lot of new varieties and having more success with heirlooms than I ever thought possible. Sometimes the experts are wrong about what you can and cannot grow in an area.

[Timmah!]

That's prolly because you have more experience & are willing to invest more effort & care than those experts would.

[carolyn137]

I don't even want to read such reports.

I have one fruit on Sungold F1. ONE.

Half of the plants have no blossoms.

And I have many brand new never before seen by others varieties out there that I've been looking forward to. How about the huge PL heart variety Kukla's (Sp?) Portugeuse Heart. Will it make hearts, will Damon want to add it to his collection. Sigh.

Both the Black Bear cub AND the mother were here this AM. I have no more bird feeders left and if I want to go out to the car I can't move fast in my walker.

Third year in a row with the Bears who are moving south from the Adirondacks due to habitat incursion

So if any of you want seeds before the bears get me speak up now or forever hold your peace, as it's said.

[shlacm]

Me me me, I want seeds!!! But, I hope the bears don't get you!!! At least they're only black bears, not grizzlies. Ya know, bear makes the best steak! perhaps you should affix a gun to your walker.

[FILMNET]

I will trade your seeds, for some fresh Honey for your friends.Its a tough year for cherries around here Sungold 3 cherries so far, Black Cherry, Negro Aztac, Smarty F1, Mountain Magic F1, Dwarfs of Siberian, Tiny Tim, Czech Bush, all are still green???? my 2 Tumbling Toms have be suffering / green fruit for over 30 days.

[Impatient]

I think we need to organize a posse to go scare off Carolyn's bears!

This morning I discovered that my husband ate my first two fruits I left on the counter to ripen: a bloody butcher and a german red strawberry. My first time growing both of those. He said they were wonderful.

[b54red]

That was nice of him to give you a critque on those two.

[Tormato]

Carolyn,

Feed the bears stuffed peppers.
A few Bhut Jolokia filled with bird seed ought to do it.

Gary

[Timmah!]

Wow, surely there's some consequences & repercussions for such indiscretion.

[sprtsguy76]

Ray- Like I said before, I only have a couple plants in swc's but both are doing fairly well. I'm using two different mix combo's in those swc's, I used the redi-grow small bark fines as the major ingredient in both mixes. The first mix I used is a 6-1-2 ratio mix of fines-peat-perlite, and the other mix is 5-2-2. But I strongly believe that your on the right track with the bigger bark fines as I used some of them myself this year in my 'standard pot' mixes with fabulous results in both health and taste! I too have been somewhat plagued with psyllids on select plants, but most of the infestations are on plants that have been feed the Foilage Pro + Pro-Tekt diet. For me, the Pro-Tekt (0-0-3 w/silicon) is an important supplement because it helps my plants deal with stress better than those plants that have not been treated with Pro-Tekt in paticular. Issues like heat, cold, drought, insects and desease. Heck I even started giving my inground tomatoes a small dose of the Pro-Tekt because I like what I saw with my potted tomatoes. On a side note- did want me to root some PR's for you or were you meaning to save some seeds for you, either way I'm happy to help.

b54red- I havent grown BTD pink, so I cant compare the two. But from the way you describe the taste of BTD pink their probably very similar, a real winner! Production has been just ok but then again my BTDH is not in the best of spots in the garden.

Carolyn- PLEASE dont get eaten by the black bear! We really need you hear! And yes I would love to try some PL hearts if you can muster up the confidence to go outside and collect some seed, lol!

Damon

[rnewste]

Damon,

Are you doing anything to mitigate the Psyllids? These are NASTY little buggers. Sevin hasn't seemed to slow them down, and I am now escalating to Permethrin, but only as a trial, as I won't eat the tomatoes from those plants that I am using this stuff on.

My goal (if Permethrin works) will be to use it early on next Season (my Fall crop) prior to fruitset in an effort to kill off the Psyllids, then down-shift in lethality to Sevin for "routine maintenance".

At least, that is my plan. I've started 12 cuttings today, hoping to get them in their new 'Tainers within the next month - - then my Permethrin experiment will begin. Do you know of any local Nurseries that might have somewhat mature tomato plants for sale at this late date? I would like to get something (any variety) in the ground ASAP.

Raybo

[sprtsguy76]

Ray- I'm not doing anything to stop them, I guess it doesn't bother me. I'm not seeing any fruit loss or any abnormal decline in plant health, but they are there. Its like somebody sprinkled my plants with sugar. I'm telling ya this Pro-Tekt is like armor for plants literally. Any who where to get plants this time of the year, hmmmm... I would try calling Yamagami's or even OSH or HD. If you want me to root some cuttings for you I can do so just let me know which ones you want.

Damon

[BigdaddyJ]

My Mid Season Report: All the following have ripened at least one tomato so far and all grown organically without sprays:
OSU Blue...tall plants, average taste, huge production, earlier fruits were more purple than current ones. Very Good disease resistance.
Sun Gold (54)...tall plant, great production excellent tasting cherries as usual. Above average disease resistance.
Hege German Pink(69)...tall plants, GREAT taste, huge production and early for a full size tomato. Good disease resistance.
Gary O Sena(72) tall plants, GREAT taste, huge production and early for a full size tomato. Good disease resistance.
German Johnson(76) very tall plant, Very good taste, Great production. Average disease resistance.
Spudakee (76) tall plant, good production, average disease resistance. Good taste.
BrandyBoy (76) tall plant, above average disease resistance, Very Good taste. Average Production.
Cowlicks Brandywine (76) tall plant, above average disease resistance, Very Good taste. Above average production.
Sudduth Brandywine (78) tall plant, above average disease resistance. Very Good taste. Average production.
Orange Minsk (80) Short but full plants that don't want to grow up the Texas cage. Very Good taste. Above average disease resistance. Great production.
Big Cheef (83) tall plant with very good taste and production. Above average disease resistance.
Dana's Dusky Rose (84) tall plant with very good taste and average disease resistance. Good production.
Porterhouse (86) Average size plant with very good production and good taste. Looks like a couple 2 plus pounders on him! Above average disease resistance.
Vorlon (86) Average size plant with good production and very good taste. Below average disease resistance.
KBX (89) Huge plant with very good production and very good disease resistance. Very good taste.
The following plants haven't ripened a fruit to taste yet:
Granny Cantrell German PL...Average size plant with average production and above average disease resistance.
Brandywine/NAR F4 cross...Average size plant with below average production this year and below average disease resistance.
Goose Creek...tall plant with good production and good disease resistance but WHERE are the ripe ones?
Claude Brown's Yellow Giant...Very tall plant with Above average production with some HUGE still green fruit on them! Very good disease resistance. Recently learned I have a cross as these aren't yellow.
Marianna's Conflict...Average size plant with poor production on a very diseased plant. VERY unlike previous years.
Notes:
Very hot sunny season has ripened the same varieties 10 to 16 days earlier than last year's cool and cloudy season. Big Zac seeds failed germination. Gave Big Beef a rest this year. Tied for best tasting this year so far are Gary O Sena and Hege German Pink. Both even beating the Brandys! A very good season so far...;-)