My tomato grow log (2)

Omri · Sep 27, 2009

B... but why no picz???

wordwiz · Sep 27, 2009

Omri,

Cause I'm waiting until I get the GH looking a little less ghetto! I wanted to get some plants started but for now, the air pump (950 GPH) is sitting on a concrete block that is on a 5-gallon bucket filled with water, the plastic garbage can I will use to hold nuits is in the front of the building instead of being tucked in a corner, my rotary tiller that I used to help level some of the ground is still inside it, as is a step ladder. Besides, the plants are barely above the lid of the buckets.

I will have pictures once I get things in order!

Mike

wordwiz · Oct 6, 2009

I knew that if one plants a tomato in the ground it will grow roots from the stem, but I just found out it does the same thing in water!!!

Some of my plants were too large to just let the roots sit in the net pot, so I cut a hole in the middle and pushed the stem through. Looked at them today and several of them have nice roots, 1/2 to 1.5" growing from the stem.

I added two more Mira and another Legend to the mix. But before getting around to that, closed up a 7' x 22" piece of wall that was uncovered and added a drop down piece of plastic to the front/top, and filled in a bunch of open space at the bottom. I have to get the thing done by Sunday - it is supposed to get down to 40 that night. But a complicating factor is that I cannot seal it completely - 11 of the last 12 years we have had at least one day when the temp was 80 degrees or higher. Even with the top/front uncovered, that one side open, and the part in the front open, it was 90 degrees inside yesterday and our high temp was about 65-66.

But so far, I like this growing in a GH. Doesn't make any difference if if is dry or rainy, bright or dark, warm or cold. And if I can learn hydro, it won't make any difference if we have a deluge or drought!

MIke

wordwiz · Oct 10, 2009

Most of my first transplants have developed yellow leaves in the heart area. Google searches suggest it is due to lack of iron and manganese - hopefully I have addressed this. Plus, I also sprayed the plants - the old dirt farmer part of me says the leaves need to have water, both to inhale and to cleanse themselves.

Anyway, I'm up to 18 tomato plants so far: two Sacramento and Siletz, five Mira and Legend and four Delicious.

I also stuck four Black Simpson lettuce seedlings in water today. This winter/spring I grew some in an office window and it was the best tasting lettuce I have ever ate. The plants got close to 3' tall without bolting.

The goal - a BLT sandwich, with the lettuce and tomato coming from my greenhouse, on St. Nick's day!

Mike

Omri · Oct 11, 2009

That's an excellent goal, but where are the picz? seriously now, I'm like a little child... it ain't fun readin' without any colorful pictures.

wordwiz · Oct 11, 2009

Omri said:
That's an excellent goal, but where are the picz? seriously now, I'm like a little child... it ain't fun readin' without any colorful pictures.

This was posted on Oct. 1 in my greenhouse thread:

wordwiz said:
The one on the left is a Mira, the other three are Legend.

Mike

I'll get more today.

Mike

wordwiz · Oct 12, 2009

Omri said:
That's an excellent goal, but where are the picz? seriously now, I'm like a little child... it ain't fun readin' without any colorful pictures.

Here ya go, Omri. These are the two middle plants as they look this evening.

Notice the sclerosis on the heart of the plant on the left - I'm having trouble with the pH level - it goes from 5.7-5.8 to 7.1-7.3 in three to four days.

Here's the latest row I transplanted:

No sclerosis among these plants but they've only been in water since Thursday and Saturday.

Finally, what the GH looks like of an evening. No grow lights, just a couple of shop lights so I can what I am doing:

I'm hoping that by Thursday night, when the temps are suppose to be in the upper 30s, to have that back wall insulated and then covered with Mylar and have some more plastic on other walls. If worse comes to worse, I have a 30,000 BTU kerosene heater I can stick in there but I prefer to wait, if possible.

Mike

Omri · Oct 13, 2009

Aww... Good porn ya got there Mike. :cheers:

millworkman · Oct 14, 2009

Looking really good Mike. Keep it up.

Josh · Oct 14, 2009

I can't wait to see it when there is a foot of snow around the base and huge tomato plants inside.

wordwiz · Oct 16, 2009

As of today, I'm up to 25 plants in buckets:
Six each of Siletz and Legend (both early season, Pacific Northwest types) and Delicious, Five Mira and two Sacramento. I will get three each of IT-06-313, Cabernet and Florida 91 and one more Sacramento.

The last five will get sown as soon as I see some blooms on the ones I've started.

The only two I have grown in the past are the Siletz and Delicious. The others were chosen for size, tolerance to diseases, ability to grow in a GH, ripening characteristics.

In time, I will probably settle on just one or two types based on productivity and saleability.

Mike

klorentz · Oct 17, 2009

Looking Good Mike! I had only five varieties this year. And despite the cool summer this year we managed to get some nice tasty maters. Two strains of Brandywine and some Thessaloniki ,some Cosmonaut Volkov and Al-Kuffa. Some of the Brandywines where anywhere from 1 pound to three pounds each.

Kevin

wordwiz · Oct 17, 2009

Kevin,

Those are some good size toms! The heaviest I plucked was a beefsteak that weighed 23 ounces, but most of them were in the 12-14 ounce range for the large ones.

Like you, I think next year I will go with fewer types: one for juice, a slicer, an early one and a roma type.

Mike

klorentz · Oct 17, 2009

Ah but had I not landed in the hospital just before planting time I would have had at least ten varieties.My plan next year is plant less to plant more.

Kevin

wordwiz · Oct 17, 2009

Kevin,

How much room do you have? That's one of my problems - I can get, if I space them decently, 45 plants and I try to have at least five of any new type, just so I can plant them in various areas.

I would never have guessed it, but this year I only got six weeks of any meaningful harvest. Part of that was due to a very wet and chilly July, then a solid week of heavy rain and much cooler temps at the end of September/start of October. Though I got about 750 pounds, I lost probably 150 pounds to BER, cracking and other rotting, and left at least that much in undeveloped fruits once the rain hit. Normally, in Cincy we have about 10 weeks of good harvests.

If you get a chance, can you post the results of some of they types you grew? Productivity, size of the maters, taste (not good, bad, etc., but more like sweet, tart, salty - that kind of thing), seediness, what you think the best use is (slicer, canning whole, juice).

I should have room to try two, maybe three new ones next year in the outdoor garden and will probably pick from the ones that I like from the GH.

One question I keep asking and googling about is what exactly is "one-pick" or "uniform ripening"? It sounds like all or most of the tomatoes on the plant ripen at about the same time, but that (I would think) would make them Determinate and the ones I see are Ind.

Those toms would be great if one is planting a quarter acre at a time, and do that once a week, but not in a GH. Although, it would make replacing each one quick!

Mike

klorentz · Oct 18, 2009

Hey Mike ,

I hear ya on the rain we had this year. And a cooler than average summer really did not help ether. Out of my five maters I had this year for production I would say Thessaloniki did best. The flavor was very good and size was about 4 to 8oz. I had about 7 of these plants. I do not know how many pounds we had but I can say we should have had more. I will give more details later today. And while I had an easy job with saying what one did best for production in flavor that's a whole nother ball game.Very hard job with that.

Kevin

klorentz · Oct 20, 2009

As I said Thessaloniki did best for production but Cosmonaut Volkov came in a close second. Flavor was good but not as knock your socks off as Thessolaniki,Cowlick's Brandywine and Al-Kuffa. These are the three I am having a hard time ranking for taste.This is the first year I have grown them and I can tell you I was impressed.

For folks who have limited space or can only grow in pots Al-Kuffa would be ideal. They may only be 3 to 4oz maters but pack a big tomato taste. Good for sandwiches or just eating off the vine. I also think this would be a good juice tomato too.Plants are compact and very productive.

Thessaloniki is a medium size tomato about the size of Celebrity. It also matches Celebrity in production. However it surpasses Celebrity in flavor.Great for salads, sandwiches or any other use IMHO. Plants are inditerminate.

Though production was not as great with my Cowlick Brandywine they make up for it in both size and taste.To be fare though weather was not the best I have seen so I may get better results next year ( lots of cracking and some ber in 09). This is a great beefsteak tomato with some around the three and two pound mark!
Flavor is excellent color is a nice bright pink/red. I know of know seed company that offers this strain of the famous Brandywine but you should be able to find it on some different forums as I have.Plants are indeterminate and are potato leaf.

Kevin

wordwiz · Oct 20, 2009

Kevin,

Nice review! Had it not been for the cracking and BER in late July/Early August and the month of rain we had during ten days in September, plus the record low temps, I would have had a much better harvest also.

I really, really encourage you to try a couple of Red Zebra plants next year if you have a decent way of making juice. They aren't big maters - 3-5 ounces at best, but I was picking 15-18 of them from each plant twice a week. The juice is way thicker than normal, a tad on the sweet side. If you want, I can send you some seeds in January or whenever I get around to ordering them.

As for my grow log, I deviated a bunch tonight. I don't know water, but I know dirt, so I started three plants in containers: Siletz (which I have grown before), IT-06-313 and Florida 91.

This is an experimental year, both in types of tomatoes I want to grow and how I want to grow them and even growing them in winter. I have room for about 36-40 plants and if there is one thing I know - for 100 percent sure - I'm not going to learn how to do this without trying.

Mike

wordwiz · Oct 26, 2009

Some of the plants are doing great, though the internodal length is above average (too many cloudy days with high temps in the GH) and four or five are ready for the compost pile.

The good:
Legend - One of Dr. Baggett's breeds, similar to Siletz with better tolerance of blight. An early tomato

Mira - Have not grown this one before. It is suppose to be a GH variety with tolerance of several viruses. 4-6 ounce fruit, about 75 days.

I want to try some in dirt as well. Though the containers are larger, it will only cost about one plant per row. This was transplanted Tuesday. It is a Florida 91, another one I'm trying for the first time.

Next, the bad boys.

Mike