Tomato Fruits!

12 years ago

OK, I planted my heirlooms out late this year. But to my surprise, they grew faster. I looked at pictures from past years when they were planted earlier and they weren't as large at this time then.

I have 7 Cherokee Purple fruits on one plant alone and I am thrilled with the growth of the Brandywines, Aunt Gerties Gold, Striped German, and Prudens Purple. And they all seem healthy.

To any who recalls that I tried grafting heirlooms on hybrid rootstocks this year, well, that didn't work (the tops just fell right off after 3 weeks). I think I tried it when they were too old. I'll give it another try next year with a little more exoerience.

But that's why I planted double the usual number this year. Some for the grafting experiment, some just regular.

I am SO looking forward to that first Cherokee Purple this year. Brandywines are great, but Cherokee Purples are better.

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Comments (4)

bigpinks
12 years ago
My CP are doing well too. Looks as tho some will be 16oz fruit and I've been weighing maters for two yrs now on kitchen scales so I have a pretty good idea. I have some in the big garden of heavy soil and 12 in a lighter soil across the property that drains much better. Some of those plants have clusters of 5 tomatoes where the first truss formed and some are baseball sized. Its becoming my second favorite tomato. Estlers Mortgage Lifter just a much larger tomato that sets ok and tastes good too.
lkzz
12 years ago
Interesting that you say you planted late but they grew faster.

I decided to plant tomatoes in stages this year since we have two growing seasons. I usually end my tomato growing by mid-July because of early blight. So I am doing stages this summer to see if I can extend the growing into the Fall.

5/9/14 28 plants
6/2/14 11 plants
6/12/14 4 plants
6/28/14 33 plants

76 plants all together - very interested in how this method will work as far as consistent production beyond mid-July. And I agree - the later planted ones seem to grow much quicker - must be the air temperature.

Grafting sounds interesting. Am anxious to see how yours does.
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seysonn
12 years ago
Well it is your choice, but in my opinion planting tomatoes in stages in zone 7b, is not going to make a big difference. The reason being that once a tomato plant comes into production, it should last for months. In locations with long growing season like southern coastal Califirnia , with 8 to 10 months of tomato season some plants might get tired but I dont know when is your end of season (FFD ). In my 7B/8 zone we have 5.5 months of practical growing season length.
yolos - 8a Ga. Brooks
12 years ago
LKZZ said " I usually end my tomato growing by mid-July because of early blight".
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My tomatoes are also usually so heavily infected with disease, It is better to start new tomatoes rather than try to control the disease on the existing tomatoes. That is the reason LKZZ is staggering the plantings. That probably won't work very well because the diseases are easily spread from the old tomatoes to the new tomatoes. Next year I will try Daconil as a preventative.