Good luck , Janice.

How are your first season plants are doing ?

I might move to Carolina next season, to a place called Fair Bluff,, Columbus County, not far from SC border, zone 8a.

A lot of land, acreage. The place belongs to my buddy. I have not visited the place yet. So I don't know what to expect.

The first thing we will do is to have a vegetable garden.

Sey

Janice,

That's great. A lot of nice varieties there. I have thought of trying that a time or two but have never done it. I should think that after the seeds have popped you should be able to keep them outside and they will be able to be planted out in 2 or 3 weeks.

To answer the first question, how are the tomato plants doing:. Fruiting is largely over. One plant , a big beef, managed to set two fruits last week. The fruits are about six feet in the air. It seems the heat , or the tallness of the plant, suppresses operation of the plant. Fruit of late ripens when it is still small.

Two plants are still fruiting like crazy:. Juan Flamme and Garden Peach. These are ok in salsa, but they are not slicers and they are not that photogenic.

Fruits harvested this week have sun scald. The ones I covered with hosiery seem to be susceptible. Also, the hosiery covered tomatoes react badly to rain. I am not sure what is going on, but in many places there are blemishes.

We have many near 100 days coming up. It makes no sense to keep poor plants going for a few undersized fruits in fall. The potential that new plants will bring and the possibilities kaolin clay bring seems like a better strategy. The clay seems a very good match for the stink bug, plus it can reduce effects of heat. And as long as I don't inhale it, it is harmless. I was surprised to learn it is the same thing used in many cosmetic treatments for the skin. I looked at diomatreous powder (I am sure I misspelled that), and I have too many neighbors too close for that. It would work great I think, but is a poor choice for a suburbanite.

When I want to learn a better way for my zone, I look to Florida growers. I suspect they start with new plants.

Yesterday at the BBS they had gorgeous Bonnie seedlings out front: thick stemmed burley Big Beefs, Solarflare, and Heatmaster. I may get one of those just to see what it can do July through Sept. If it can set, then Dave's strategy of perpetual rooting from cuttings makes sense - a young plant may be able to produce decent sized fruit.

I will not be growing for the stink bugs in the future though and that is what is going on now. I can't wait to serve them some kaolin clay!

i am having an outstanding cucumber year. No beetles yet.

Sey, that is exciting that you will be growing in 8a again. I am quite certain my plants have leaf diseases but I don't feel they interfered with production and harvest. The plants are hyper-growers- the ability of the plant to grow, fruit, and ripen so fast makes the leaf diseases irrelevant. I have to ask myself, would a Daconil or copper spraying regimen transform my plants so that the heat season we are approaching is easily survivable? I will let somebody else find that out. I will follow what the floridians do and rip them up.

Hoosier: we will have to see what my seed starting skills are. I am probably average.

The smaller tomatoes with the dark spots are the more recent fruited Big Beefs that got covered in hosiery. The large beefsteaks fruited a long time ago, they were covered in hosiery as of late, but spent most of their growing time uncovered. The yellow beefsteak is a Mr. Stripey. The larger one is a Brandywine.

Boring Garden Peaches:

Janice, how about growing from cuttings ? That might be quicker than doing from seeds. This is provided that your plants do not carry leaf disease.

I have done just a few from cutting, way back when I was in Atl, GA. I root them in water first Then plant in pots.. Most that time they were getting only indirect light.

Sey

Leaf diseases are present. I don't spray at all. Timing is tricky. To get a healthy cutting, need to take asap. To avoid root bound seedlings by Aug 10, néed to wait.....I guess I could bring them in the house to slow them down. And play tricks, take a cutting from a cutting. I could probably avoid planting many seeds if I tried.