Anyone else having a crappy tomato year?

[grunt]

And we thought we were having problems because everything is so late, due to a late start and not-quite-normal weather.
Some of the crosses that I am chasing are going crazy with fruit. They are mostly visible now because I just opened up all of the plants by pruning.

This is from a regression in a small fruited one that I thought I had stabilized


This is from two strains of a Stupice X? F2


And Zomu has gone nuts this year. All of that fruit is on one plant. It definitely didn't do this for me the first time I grew it.
Weather might be a factor this year, as it is not as nasty hot this year as the last time I grew it.



I Don't think I'll gripe about the ripening times again.

[stratcat]

Looking very good, Grunt. ;D

Glad to see someone with healthy plants and lots of fruitset.

john

[jtcm05]

Here's an example of the sort of year I'M having...

[grungy]

Oh, John, so sorry. Hopefully next year will do better for you.

[grunt]

John: It looks like at least your carrots are doing okay. I do feel for you with the tomatoes though. It looks like you had a pretty good start to the year.

[sammyqc]

[sammyqc]

This is the picture of the supposed LongShelfLife - very nice tomatoes. We cut one up yesterday, and it tastes really citrusey, really nice flavor! Green gel inside, very thin skin.

The first picture is Cannabec Rose sliced up, and the whole tomato is Silvery Fir Tree. Funny that I wound up planting it, despite not planning on it just cause someone sent me seeds. It is doing fairly well, too, compared to some!

I did taste my first Bloody Butcher the other day too, and wholly shit, that was a tasty tomato! I actually liked it!



But for the most part, my garden looks a lot like the pic John posted. And about the same amount of tomatoes, just getting a few every day, and that won't last too long, either.

Grunt and Grungy, your plants look totally amazing. I am so green with envy! (pun intended)

And Papavic, that was totally uncalled for!!!

[stratcat]

Nice pics, Sammy.

Holy Moley, PapaVic! ;D

[landarc]

PV, I hope that drought you're having breaks and you get some rain soon.

[flowerpower]

Aug 14, 2008 11:48:22 GMT -5 grunt said:

John: It looks like at least your carrots are doing okay. I do feel for you with the tomatoes though. It looks like you had a pretty good start to the year.

Are those carrots or Queen Anne's Lace? Is all that damage from the rain? It's just sad.

[canadamike]

I harvested 4 BLOODY BUTCHER tomatoes today, and one small bush beefsteak that was a calf-foetus-steak. The BB are delicious, but like all other tasted up to now, very leathery skin, even on celebrity and big beef. Is it just me?

[PapaVic]

Michel,

You need to stop feeding your tomatoes that horrid manure that's been recycled through cow guts three and four times.

pv

[canadamike]

I haven'T given them any this year, Bill. But 6 inches of mushroom compost.

And the maters we bought fully grown, the Celebrity and Big Beef, have been planted in another garden, not fertilized this year, in clayish soil.

My last memory of such leathery skin was Tigerella, which I tried a looooong time ago.

[grungy]

Mike, the tough skin maybe in response to you rather "wet" year. I have noticed that the weather has a tendency to effect both characteristics of the tomato as well as the taste.

[canadamike]

That's what I figured. Weather is the only common thing between the 2 gardens, everything else is totally diffferent, soil, fertilization, cultivars, it has to be the weather. The skins are so leathery I can't chew them properly with my teeths, it is either swallow everything or spit it out!!. It is not in every tomato in the tall bought bunch though, mostly the ones located higher on the plant, another indication of the weather, the others were already big once the plants were bought.