Who... me...?

Errrr... lemme think...

Well...

...

Ok, I'm joking, NO, I didn't plant yet.

These days I plan to visit a few nurseries + Home Depot, Loews...

Ok, Daniel. Hurry up! The LI Ferry is leaving . hehe

Sey

Daniel,
Whats going on ? Have you got what you wanted ? Hope you have.

Sey

No, I didn't.

A few months ago somebody made a big cut on the side plastic of the greenhouse (see picture bellow.) Looked pretty ugly from the street.

I neglected the issues, and few weeks ago the village send me a letter that I have to take down the structure - which I obviously did. 3 years I had no problem...

Beside, like I said in the past, I have 2-3-4 VERY important projects, so growing tomatoes, right now, it's NOT a priority for me. Maybe in the near future.. Yes, I will be late, but...

Meantime I'm enjoying seeing your work guys.

Again, good luck all ! Especially those in the Brandy Boy contest.

Neibors started asking me, when they will get tomatoes - like it happened in the last few years.

Well...

I miss my tomatoes...

Daniel, I am really sorry you have things going on in your life that you can't have your tomatoes this year. You will have lots of time to dream and prepare for next year, though. I won't have a garden next year as we are moving. We will have the house on the market in the spring and won't buy a new house until this one sells. So unless the timing is perfect, I probably won't have tomatoes next year. I miss them already!

Jennie

Well , we make choices in life and set our priorities.
In economics there is a concept called utility and marginal utility value.
A kid has 50 cents to spend: He can buy bubble gum, an ice cream, a soda .. he can afford only one of them. To one kid bubble gum might offer more utility value and to other a nice ice cream cone. Had he have a buck, he could've had more choices.

Sey

say, it is called life happens and has nothing to do with any economic concept.

Jennie

Jennie, I did not say it is the economics. BUT a concept. used in economics
Sey

That explains it Daniel - hope you will continue to participate in our threads while you are taking a break!!

Yeah, well...

Meantime missing the whole thing.

The yellow tomato in the picture bellow was super-yummy.

The only problem is that I NEVER planted color tomatoes.

This year I planned to have many color tomatoes, but...

I think that Daniel has a secret garden but won't reveal it. hehe

Sey

Sey, I
wish I have a secret garden, but unfortunately, I… don’t.

But, as I
mentioned in shijitake’ thread - do I need to mulch my tomatoes? is it OK that they're growing on grass - I do
have… two volunteers this year.

One month ago - on July
22 - they looked like this:

Which make
me think that they showed up in early- mid July. I have no idea why they came
so late.

On those locations last year I had: on the left – Early Girl – and on the right – Brandy Boy. While there is no guarantee that these plants (2015) are the same varieties as the plants there last year, chances are pretty high, imo.

So the rules for my experiment were:

For the plant on the left - I tried to mimic shijitake’s experiment condition:

● No cleaning the grass (technically “weed” in this case)
● No fungicide
● No mulching
● No extra water – except the water for the grass / lawn (1 in. weekly)
● No fertilizer

For the plant on the right:

● No fungicide
● No mulching
● Yes, cleaning the grass a little bit
● Yes extra water
● Yes fertilizer; I used Liquid Kelp Natural Seaweed Fertilizer (GS Plant Foods)

The “right”
plant grew nicely.

As you
can see, today, August 26, the plant on the left is not doing very well; no flowers even – and it’s
pretty late.

On the
other hand the plant on the right, well… different story.

It’s
doing pretty well: flowers…

and even
a small tomato.

With A
LOT of luck in mid-late September, I will have some tomatoes.

I’ve
prepared a frame for the tomato on the right ( I didn't have a smaller one.) I used that frame last year for Cherry tomatoes. The Cherries went all the way to the top.

Obviously
I don’t expect the plant to reach the top of the frame – 12 ft. high – but it
might grow 6-7 ft. tall. If the plant would have shown up one month earlier - June instead of July - most likely the plants would have grown over the frame.

Anyway, the
frame allows me to organize the way I want all those branches, to make sure all
the leaves receive maximum of direct sun light.

As you
can see the branches are not crowded, so some diseases are also avoided.

Well, let’s
see how the experiment goes…

NOTE: my
experiment and shijitake’s experiment are a little different: she placed her plants ON the ground – and then covered them with dirt - while my tomatoes, for
being volunteers, have their roots IN the ground.

So
obviously, mine have better conditions. But, like shijitake, there is no
mulching and no fungicide – both things totally against my basic rules of
growing tomatoes. But… that’s why experiments were invented for – to break
rules.

Technically, only the left plant grows in the lawn; the right one, not really.

Daniel, Have you figured out what variety your volunteers are?

We have one cherry volunteer that has lots of fruits and it is not even 2 ft tall.

Sey

Did a little cleaning: old big leaves were removed because they were making shade to the new growth. The old leaves were ok – no yellowish or brownish – but direct sun light for the new growth is important, imo.

The plant looks a little “bald” but in 2-3 days everything will be ok.

Sey wrote: > We have one cherry volunteer that has lots of fruits and it is not even 2 ft tall.

Wow, nice. Post a picture.

Sey wrote: > Daniel, Have you figured out what variety your volunteers are?

No.

goodground thinks the plant on the right is a Brandy Boy. Checking my last year’s notes, at that place last year was a… Brandy Boy. Maybe when the fruits will grow bigger, some could identify it better.

Regarding the one on the left, last year there, it was an Early Girl there. I think it could be a Cherry tomato. Again, I’ll have to wait.

Btw sey, the First Frost Date for my location is around November 1st. When do you suggest to remove the new flowers, that will not be able to make ripe fruits ?

Also, did you start the Missouri pruning for your tomatoes ?

An update of my 2 volunteers:

Volunteer on the left:

2 months ago:

1 month ago:

Today - September 23:

The volunteer on the right:

2 months ago:

1 month ago:

Today - September 23:

The volunteers came out very late - July 22.

I also had a problem: 2 weeks ago it was very hot here in Long Island, NY - a few days in the 90s + with that record breaking of 97' F.

So I watered, 2 times a week. Everything was fine, except after a watering, it rained 2 days in a row. Not a lot, but enough to soak the soil.

While the plant - stems / branches grew nicely - the tomato fruits STOPPED growing (in size.) So for more than one week the fruits didn't grow nor ripe. Pretty strange. Anyway, these days the fruits started growing again and some started to ripe.

I still don't know what varieties the 2 tomatoes are.

Looks like we will have at least one week / 10 days of nice weather so, I might be able to eat some tomatoes.

The tomato on the right is about 6 ft. high - which is not bad for a 60 days tomato.

If the tomatoes were earlier, well...

Nice photo story, Daniel! I'm glad you'll be getting a few tomatoes to eat this year after all.

Hey Daniel,

Clearly not Brandy Boy. If it was, it did not come true :-(

Daniel, very nice pictorial report.

What did you learn from your experience ( twin volunteers) this year ?

Sey

Doing good here in Long Island, NY.

The
tomatoes are not very happy with the low 60s outside, but the plants grow nicely.

The fruits
keep growing (in size.) For the tomato on the right, I left the “red” small
tomato to compare how big the other tomatoes grew.

For the
plant on the left, I’ll have to wait for the fruits to ripe.

In early
September I removed ALL the flowers – more than 25 - thinking that they will
not have the time to ripe anyway. I think it was a mistake. We had a nice
September, and signs are that we might have a decent October, so even if they
don’t ripe, they could have grown big enough to have a nice size to be picked
up.

I also
removed many suckers. Unfortunately, I do not have a formula which says: for a
medium size tomato it’s needed 1 sq. ft. of leaves / branches. I estimated that
the current foliage might be enough for the 15 tomatoes on the vines.

Sey, I
will make soon a special post regarding what I’ve learned about growing the two
volunteers this year.

I picked up the red tomato.

Pretty small, but very meaty and tasty.

The 2 in. of rain in the last few days, made the tom to split.

If the plant is PL, then probably it is Stupice

Update early
November:

Due to
the beautiful weather – for today Tuesday, Nov. 3, the forecast is blue sky and… 73’
F !!! - my 2 plants are going well.

Didn’t
think that the cherry tomatoes will grow over the 7 ft. tall frame.

Remember, the plants "showed up" in mid... July !

Fortunately, both September and October were nice, so...

The tomato
on the right grew nicely too (about 9 ft. and growing.)

Some
fruits:

Picked up this morning. Not much, but still... something.

Not bad for an unplanned no-work garden! Well, not entirely no work, since you did put up supports and prune and water. Did you ever add any fertilizer along with your water?

Yes, most of the times when I water the big plant (on the right) I added fertilizer.

I think the plant on the left - the cherry tomatoes - could have been done better if fertilized.

Daniel, you almost skipped 2015 season.

Any plans for 2016 season ?

I am fully booked with about 17 varieties (so far !!) . But I won't even start germinating seeds around mid March.

Sey

Sey, I
almost finished ONE of my projects. This winter I hope to finish another one –
or if I’m lucky, maybe two – so in the spring of 2016, hopefully I
will grow tomatoes again.

Like you
this year, last year I planted 35 varieties, to see what works well here, what
I like and so on.

Out of
those varieties, I have like 7-8 that I want to plant again – Brandy Boy,
German Johnson, Mortgage Lifter, Park's Whopper, Rose, Sweat Chelsea… Those worked well, and the taste was
good.

I will
NOT plant dwarf varieties again. In my limited experience, the plants grew
either too short (~ 1 ft. needing good mulch from day one) or too high (>3
ft. needing support.) I thought dwarf tomatoes grow ~ 2 ft. without need for support. Anyway, the
production and taste was modest, not even decent.

I will
NOT plant EARLY tomatoes again. For those interested, here are details why not:

- Early tomatoes - B.I.G. disappointment

- Late season tomatoes ripped BEFORE early season tomatoes

- How are your EARLY tomatoes?

I will
plant MANY cherry tomatoes.

I will
also plant MANY color tomatoes.

And I will
try some RUSSIAN varieties.

And of
course at least 3-4 varieties of BRANDYWINE (my # 1 favorite tomato.)

I will
plant 1-2 tomatoes of the same variety.

Around 25
varieties and 50+ plants.

Good news , Daniel. One down, one more to go.Good luck !

I like your tentative grow out : Around 25
varieties and 50+ plants.

That should more than compensate for one year of absence.Lol

I am cutting back for 2015 : around 17
varieties and 26 (+/-) plants.

Like you, I am also getting into colors other than pink/reds.

OK. I predict that 2016 will be a GURRREAT year. I don't care what the FA says. hehe.

Set

Picked up this morning:

Nice Daniel. It is almost December and you]ve got tomatoes from your plants.

Do you like them ? If so, are you saving seeds ? They are nice round cherry size.

I am now fully booked , growing 20 vars and probably 30 plants in 2016.

Due to
the super-awesome weather we have here – currently blue sky and 54’ F !!! – my tomatoes are
doing well.

Yesterday, the foliage looked like this:

Today, Tuesday, Novemeber 24 - after the low 30s last night - the foliage looks like this:

The forecast said 37' F, but I'm sure we had at least 5' F lower than that.

Well...

PRETTY STRANGE !

A few leaves went BEHIND the net, touching the bricks’ wall.

Those leaves were NOT affected by the freezing temperature.

Probably the bricks’ temperature helped them fight the low
30s temperature.

I cleaned the poor leaves.

I only left a few GREEN leaves that escaped the freezing temperatures.

Hi Daniel, I'm sorry to see the overnight changes. Was it the first night in the low 30s?

Yes pennypond, the first night.

Meantime, today Wednesday DECEMBER 2, 2015, the leaves / branches that didn't dry because of the freezing temperature, are doing ok.

They even have... FLOWERS. How about that ? In... DECEMBER !

Current temperature: 55' F !

Those are some hardy plants!

It is the brick keeping them warm. We had frost in mid October. I think most of Long Island did too. I hope you enjoyed some tomatoes.

Tomato plants are tougher than most of us think. Only a frost can kill them. They will survive temps in mid 30's fine, as long as the soil is 50F+. But the growth will be stalled.

Sey

Yes, I know, it's pretty hard to believe...

The picture bellow was taken TODAY, Thursday, December 31, 2015.