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Post by nathan125 on Feb 13, 2012 16:29:20 GMT -5
how is everyone planting their tomatoes? I am going to use the flordia weave, spacing plants 16 inches apart.
hopefully this works well, looking back at my list it appears that i've got nothing but late season tomatoes, hope it doesn't bite me in the butt come frost time.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 13, 2012 16:52:02 GMT -5
how is everyone planting their tomatoes? I'll grow transplants in paper pots, and plant them with a tube seeder. Plant spacing 3.5 feet apart in rows 6 feet apart. And then, let them sprawl!!! I'll plant the earliest tomatoes a bit closer together than that.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Feb 13, 2012 18:28:12 GMT -5
I'm trying something new this year. I'm going to go for super high fertility in the bed and plant one row per bed at 1 foot spacings. Then prune to a single leader per plant on a twine reel . Running drip on alternate side of the row. Will water one side only on alternate weeks. I'm trying to play with root crowding and partial root drying to force maximum fruit growth and sugar deposition like the Australians and Israelis are doing with grapes. A lot of the partial root drying research was done with tomatoes. I'm pretty excited about it.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Aug 25, 2012 18:15:28 GMT -5
Seems that other folks are FINALLY owning up to what I've been complaining about since getting here... there is serious soil born "antitomatocites" in this here soil! Folks are planting tomatoes in pots. I have 2 LARGE clay pots, one pot has a HUGEST tomato in it. It's a Wisconsin 55 Gold. BEAUTIFUL! LOADED with flowers. Not a single fruit. ::sigh:: Why? hmmm... to much nitrogen in the Baccto potting soil. HOWsumever.... I pulled one sprout of W55G and one of OSU Blue and put it in one of the new raised beds we built. Layer of fabric, layer of wood chips, layer of terra preta layer of Baccto. THAT tomato is NOT as large, BUT it does have fruit. One died, one grew, Which was which? I've got no clue. But the tomato that is close to starting to ripen is lovely. I am SO holding my breath!
I AM planning to cut a couple of branches from the W55G and plunging them on either side of what is producing to see if they will take and produce fruit into the fall.
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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 4, 2012 17:24:41 GMT -5
Davida's Mystery Tomato Attachments:
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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 4, 2012 17:25:50 GMT -5
Inside Davida's mystery tomato. 7.0 Brix. and yummy Attachments:
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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 4, 2012 17:27:46 GMT -5
Santa Ana is finally here. Hey, it was worth waiting for. This is a solid mid size shrub (which means it's not taller than I am). It's prolific, but not early. Brix of 7.5 Attachments:
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Post by templeton on Sept 4, 2012 19:15:28 GMT -5
Holly, how do you measure Brix?
My 2012-13 list
seed increase/breeding stock
College abundant College Regal OTV Brandywine OSU blue
dwarf F5 growouts
Bendigo Blush Bendigo Rose Bendigo drop Moliagul Moon
Snowy F2 X Jaune Flammee F2
cherries Black Cherry Rose Quartz Multiflora Sweet 100 F1 Gold Nugget Tommytoe nameless supermarket collection growout Snow White
eaters Kotlas Tropic Jaune Flammee Grubs Mystery Green Japanese Black Trifele Cypriot
T
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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 4, 2012 21:37:48 GMT -5
When I became serious about farming, I bought a portable refractometer. When I worked for the UC extension, we used them all the time. My boss had pretty much trained me that if you're going to talk about sweet, you better be able to measure it. Of course tomatoes are very complex. They aren't just sweet, they also have qualities like the "hint of strawberries" that the refractometer is not going to measure. But I find it very useful when trying to compare melons and tomatoes. Particularly when I get 10 today and a different 10 two weeks from now. The measuring of Brix also helps you think about your soil. Lack of good organic amendments lowers brix in fruits and veges. There's a lot of old timers who say "Melons used to be sweeter." They could be right.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 4, 2012 22:53:11 GMT -5
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Post by raymondo on Sept 4, 2012 23:32:57 GMT -5
Do you look at brix in the foliage too?
I was told that the clarity of the image is an indicator of mineral content. A blurry/fuzzy image suggests high levels of minerals. It's neither definitive nor quantitative, just an indicator.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 5, 2012 2:54:34 GMT -5
When I get a blurry image on my refractometer, I attribute it to the solution having suspended particles: For example starch suspended in corn juice, or polysacharides suspended in grape juice. Do minerals cause cloudiness in tomato juice?
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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 5, 2012 10:04:04 GMT -5
And here I thought it was because I wasn't wearing my glasses Because you know, "Without them, I'm helpless"
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Post by mnjrutherford on Sept 5, 2012 10:50:41 GMT -5
People around here are finally growing tomatoes in pots. So, that's what I did. I used Baccto potting soil. I have a Wisconsin 55 Gold that is about 5' tall. Beautiful foliage, tons of flower, ZERO fruit, way to much nitrogen. On the other hand, I put 4 seed into that pot. 3 sprouted and I took out 2 sprouts and put them in a raised bed. One died but the other is now about 4' tall and producing fruit that should be ready to pull within a week.
Additionally, there is a volunteer tomato of some type with a nipple it would appear. Don't know how the heck THAT happened... regardless... there it is growing between the back stairs and the concrete pad of the carport. IT has fruit? IT's growing like heck wouldn't have it?
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Post by steev on Sept 8, 2012 0:06:37 GMT -5
Picked my first tomatoes today: four red marbles from a volunteer seedling; the ones I planted (late) are still weeks from producing.
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