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Post by zeedman on Apr 23, 2014 23:04:31 GMT -5
Seedman, what's a San Marzano Redorta? Have you grown it before? Does it get the dreaded BER? It is a large, pointed, paste tomato (up to 6-8 ounces)... kind of like an elongated oxheart. This will be my first year growing this strain (I've grown the regular San Marzano) but I have seen San Marzano Redorta in other gardens & been impressed by it. I've grown others that were similar (Federle, Gilbert Italian) and have never had any problems with BER. Federle & Gilbert Italian tend to ripen late & have few seeds, which makes them good for canned salsa. That works out well, since the peppers I use for salsa are ripening en masse at just about the same time. I'm looking forward to trying SMR, Paquebot speaks pretty highly of it, and he grows quite a few tomatoes in my climate.
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Post by RpR on Aug 10, 2014 1:49:36 GMT -5
For the first time ever, volunteer tomatoes have been so numerous they were one of the most common weeds I pulled out of the gardens, including flower gardens.
I bet if I planted tomatoes from seed, I would never get them to grow that numerously or vigorously.
Still a while before I pick any ripe ones though.
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Post by flowerweaver on Aug 13, 2014 18:48:38 GMT -5
RpR sometimes the volunteer tomatoes out-perform the ones I plant, so I always let them surprise me. Only five of all my tomatoes survived the tornado, which cut a path right through them. They are kind of worse for the wear, except for the last two which were perhaps better protected by the well house, and continue to produce. Black Plum Paste Kaleidoscopic Jewel Lang Aemer Duchova Pepper (a stuffing tom) Early Ssubakas Aliana
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Post by 12540dumont on Aug 15, 2014 11:35:35 GMT -5
I have done several on farm experiments with winter planted tomato seeds.
In one area I irrigated the ground, set up bales of straw, and threw in tomatoes that I liked (whole). I covered it up with plastic and left it alone. By March, these were pressing against the top of the plastic and yielded early tomatoes. Also early white flies.
I took a row, tilled it and put a tomato I liked underground on a irrigation line and started watering in March. I got extra early plants that yielded early. BUT, I also lost half of them to gophers and frost. (Baskets? and row covers).
I Planted seeds in December. I potted them up to 4 inch pots. I potted them up into gallons. I had tomatoes in June, before anyone one else. However, 40 one gallon pots took up my whole nursery area. And the potting soil was expensive. I may do this again this year, but I'll only do 16, for extra early tomatoes. (16 fit in a 50 foot row).
I took all the split tomatoes and consistently during the summer dumped them down one row. I ran the chickens over this row. I have an amazing amount of volunteer tomatoes in that area. Interestingly enough, they are almost all red cherries. I can't figure that one out. But it sure is thought provoking.
One year I noticed in Fall that a whole lot of volunteers were sprouting. I dug them up and moved them to the nursery. I kept them alive all winter and planted them out early. They also made extra early tomatoes, but by July they totally croaked.
This year I planted tomatoes over 3 weeks. This is 3 fifty foot rows. Each row has the same variety in it. The row I planted second made the earliest tomatoes. Row one is now catching up to it. Row 3 is just starting to make ripe tomatoes. I often have the issue that by September, the tomatoes are just not producing. So, I thought by staggering my planting time, I might extend the harvest. We'll see.
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Post by RpR on Oct 4, 2014 13:02:51 GMT -5
My tomatoes for this year are pretty much kaput.
I did not pay much attention to the garden this year and did not treat them with serenade this year. For that I paid the price but had so many that it did not really matter as we often do not freeze or can because we simply do not have the space for canned goods and the they get bounced around the freezer so much because we do not use them fast enough and after a couple of years it gets to be a pain in the buttocks.
I am almost out of Serenade so I had better order some before price go higher. The big 2 and 1/2 gallon jugs last quite awhile. Oddly most of the large jugs of items I bought several years ago all died this year.
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Post by littleminnie on Oct 19, 2014 21:32:12 GMT -5
I had a bad tomato year too. There was some bacterial problems but basically the fruiting crops went crazy for a short time and then gave up. That is fine for winter squash but not great for tomatoes. I had enough tomatoes for sure, but it is so sad when so many fruits are blemished and the plants get so ugly. I will be torching the cages this year. The one tomato variety that produces like none other for me is Northern Lights.
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