Wow! nice looking jungle PC, whatever you are doing, it is working well for you. I am just harvesting the cherries now and is over 90 today....

Silvia

Thanks Silvia! I'll have my first Sungold's this weekend, so I won't be foaming at the mouth for long (after seeing your photos a week ago!) If you get a colorful haul don't be shy to post a pretty picture!

The Sungold was the Mar 11 transplant, so it will come in at 50-52 days I think. Now it is just leapfrogging second place (Everglades, harvested Apr 17) to become my tallest plant. It is scalding hot out today, too 94 at the moment right up here! Yikes, thanks for making me check the mercury I better give them more water! Even the pictures are messed up and I don't know why ... could be the phone is overheating

My Best

PC

Do you have the room to space them out a bit? I couldn't squeeze in there to pick anything.

My container plants have only been in a week and the in ground ones won't be able to be planted until middle of next week - IF the rain ever stops. Till then everything is happily living in the greenhouse.

So no jungle here yet. ;-) Just 8" of rain in this week and another 3 days of it forecast through this coming weekend. One day of sunshine - today.

Dave

"Do you have the room to space them out a bit? I couldn't squeeze in there to pick anything."

It's just one plant since there are three rows: outer rows are accessible as well as the inner ends.

The bags are left over from my breeding program layout, where the original objective was just to get a few fruits per plant and my hoop house was the workhorse. All that changed when the authorities threatened me with a lien if I didn't remove everything, and I got rid of the original narrow cages too. In the hoop house place is a raised basil bed -- no other space available. The bags cannot be moved without disintegrating after three years in the Florida sun, so not even an adjustment. And the cages are two inches more in diameter since I forgot how narrow the originals were when I made the new cages a little over a month ago.

Good luck on a quick plant out and the cooperation of the weather. Tomorrow the forecast here is 95 so we can swap whenever you say! The only silver lining is,today and tomorrow at 94&95 will effectively exterminate the leaf miner pests, they will have to check out till the end of September or so! It is unlikely I'll have the energy to take these plants from Jul 15 till Sep 15, when both day and night temperatures cause blossom drop, they go vegetative, and can each drink over 6 liters a day.

Cheers

PC

Jungle in Bags ! That is nice.

I always end up with having jungles no matter what. My 30" row spacing is already blocking me from walking. hehe. But there are 4 plants per row.

This is despite to the fact that I keep pruning and tying them up and weaving, like they do in Florida. But thats ok. They shade the ground and help to keep the roots cooled in the heat of deep south.

sey

Bravo Sey, You hit the nail on the head about one secret. Close proximity planting may foment disease, but the plants stay cooler...and at this point there is nothing that rivals diminishing the temp! When there was a vanilla lawn here, I measured the daytime temperature in the sun ... get this: In the solar radiance it hit 145 F on some days!!! I thought the thermometer was broken, but it's true.

I know what you mean about the battle of keeping up...it is a losing one :-) Especially because (cough, cough) I refuse to prune in cages until the plant attacks somebody or George of the Jungle starts swinging from the canopy and doesn't look out for a beefsteak (George, George....look out for that....) There is one trick I have up my sleeve that will stick it to them, more on that later.

Your Jungle will be awesome. Be generous and post a shot here too!

Cheers

PC

PC, I hope that you are getting some ripe tomatoes...

Sey, nice jungle!

For the first time in a month, we had some nice rain. Watering every day gets tiring and expensive.

Some of my tomatoes are coming along nicely and small harvests too. The cherry, the one that is not Red Penna, the Girl, girl weird thing for sure is weird looking, not too pretty but it tastes good or maybe is the lack of rain.

From all the tomatoes that I am growing now, my favorite is probably going to be the Neves Azorean Red, what a flavor and nice size! it is growing nicely this season.

Smarty is working hard.:)

For lunch I made a corn salad with fresh tomatoes harvested.

Silvia

Now that is Color ... Super job so far Silvia and you're just getting rolling :-) Thanks for posting the encouraging pictures! I hope the N.A.R. is everything you hope. The one time I grew it it didn't meet my expectations, but something must have been off because everyone seems unanimous that it is so good! That rain you got was supposed to be ours grrrr LOL Last night finally was supposed to rain and slow the heat wave but ... nothing. The fires are burning the forests down in our part of the State here. Glad at least you got that rain. My plants are drinking well over a gallon a day. Could be a gallon and a half and it is a major chore and responsibility!!!

Sey, wow those are one big happy tomato patch becoming a great jungle! Nice foliage and pine straw prep too! You are going to have a ton of tomatoes long after my jungle is in flames :-!

But for the moment friends, the shorter cage is 5'9" and the plants are coming in at 7 1/2 feet tall at the top of the canopy in this corner of my little jungle:

Cheers

PC

Very nice harvest Silvia, even though I've had some issues with some of my plants, I'm still harvesting plenty of tomatoes. My biggest one is a brandywine weighing in at 13.6 Oz, not too bad considering it was grown in a 5gal bucket. I think the coolest looking ones I have are Indigo Kumquat. Anyways, happy gardening.

Kevin

PC, your tomato plants are getting bigger and look very healthy!

Thank you Kevin, you have a very nice looking harvest too. From the dark tomatoes I only grew the Indigo Rose and it was okay and then I grew the Indigo blueberry and they were terrible, so I stopped growing the indigo series, how is the taste on the Indigo Kumquat? it looks awesome! And I am growing again a type of black tomato that I sampled and saved seeds from the local farm, I know that I love the taste and I am waiting to ripen now.

I saw the issues that you had with the tomatoes and I had the same all the way here, not close to your growing site and not using any kind of manure, only containers. Because I was very busy I did not even make the soil, everything was bags and new soil, I noticed in the plants that were planted first and my theory is that is some kind of blight brought by the strong winds that we had, lack of rain or the fluctuation in temperatures, one day hot and one day cold. In the 10 years that I live here, I have never seen this and I try to keep the plants on schedule of feeding and organic spraying like always. The first one to show the symptoms was the Pruden's Purple and after trying to cut and spray, saw no sign of getting better so I took it out. I had spare plants and I replaced it with Mr Bruno and that one is doing great. All the plants that were later planted look good, especially the ones that I saved seeds from the farm.

Waiting for my black tomato to ripen...

Silvia

More nice colors Sylvia and Kevin, thanks Silvia! My first real harvest today after a spotty two weeks... as the Everglades are going to hit their groove .... over 1000 of them currently on my 6 plants are in line if the Cardinal doesn't beat me to it in the morning. I have such a delicious salsa passed down a few generations, I just cannot wait to make with these, from la Huasteca Potosina! Got to save them up for a few days.

Cheers

PC

Wow! What great photos! All these tomatoes are makin me HUNGRY! Looking so good! Here are some photos of my tomato jungle.

I am planting in a raised bed about 28" deep... I did a lot of planting w green beans, borage, marigolds, calendula, nasturtiums, cucumbers and tomatillos... I was worried these weren't getting enough sun but so far they're doing great. started most of these from seed back in February.

This first one is a Hungarian Heart tomato. I bought and planted this one before reading the reviews that said tis' very prone to blossom end rot, so I've been pretty diligent about spraying it with blossom set calcium spray just to try to help. it si a very tall and sprawling, leggy plant

Here is a picture of the tomato jungle from the front

On the far left with all the yellow flowers are my two tomatillos, then a blue tomato, and then the Hungarian heart in the center. You can see how tall it is! There is a small tomato in the front that is in a container.

You can see the cucumbers peeking out! The middle is a Syrian cucumber and I forget what the one is on the right... it is completely bonkers in here but everything seems to br growing nicely. The tomato right in front is a Black Vernissage tomato, it was a free seed from Baker Creek and the first of my tomatoes to sprout and get really beefy this year. It has a lot of flowers on it.

Another shot of the front, this is the Black Vernissage. It is very ... robust!

Here's what it looks like on the side... a tomato grab bag!

This is a Black Beauty I rescued as a seedling from death's door, it has a wacky growing pattern and I need to try to make some kind of support for it. Eek! Then a San Marzano to the right

Excited to see what is next for everyone's tomato Jungle! Can't wait until I have some fresh tomatoes to show y'all!

That is a great developing jungle Norm, I think it might turn into urban tomato sprawl! The Black Beauty looks odd lol, congrats on getting it going and please do especially share some pics of some fruits from it. I like the containers too!

Cheers

PC

Norm, your jungle looks good!

PC, those Everglades look yummy! and your secret salsa even better!!

I transplanted the tomatoes 6 at the time, I don't plant too many because we cannot eat more besides I give a lot away. When the first were planted, we were on vacation in Ecuador, so the tomatoes were on their own care.:) At least they were alive and watered when I came back.

The markets there are abundant were fruit and veggies but only one kind of tomato, something red and the size of the Big Beef but with a good flavor, volcanic soil there to grow, potatoes are amazing!!! And nobody heard or sell the Sara's Galapagos or any other currant or wild type tomato.

And PC, while you are in the half of the world, you weight less.:)

The market

Silvia

@Seysonn_ is that pine needles i see for mulch in the third pic?

Pine needles is a very common mulch down here in the South. I use 6 inches of them as soon as my planting is finished. I get zero weeds.

OMG all these pics are making me cry out loud. I don't even dare plant out until May 20 at the earliest - this season it's going to be around the 25th-26th. Memorial Day is generally considered the target date around here. I doubt I'll get any ripe tomatoes before the first week of August, so I have a long way to go. :( Until then, I will live vicariously through the various threads.. *sigh*

Patience nbm and hang in there - we know you love it :-)

Before you get your first tomato, most people around here will have given up as their plants burn out in the heat. The season is so short, first it's freezing and you risk dead transplants, then the heat sets in catching you by surprise just as you get your first tomato you wonder how you are in 95 degrees as you scurry to keep you plants hydrated until you can't take it anymore and just say...leave them on their own and hang a sign, 'gone fishin'. A day later the plants are hurt and you second guess what you cruelly did and miss them already. People from the north of you post giant tomatoes throughout the summer and you wish-- why can't I have an "easy time" like them. And now we sit back and drink up all the delightful pictures and comments on the other greener side of the fence sipping a Margarita and relieved to recover somewhat from obsessive-compulsive didn't water disorder every minute of the day. Then of course fall comes and the Yanks are all complaining how frost is setting in shortly after their 5 month run (!) and you just get your transplants out to try to get one good month of production only to be frustrated by a freeze of Arctic Air and you just get a cluster or two and then enjoy fried green tomatoes... sit back, and watch the people in the southern part of the State who's second season is a beautiful one right through winter, while you huddle your seeds together right after New Years and optimistically make another run with high hopes and a the sudden urge to share a few early tomato pics with those in the high mountain plains who are hanging their sign, 'gone skiin' :-)

Good luck with your seedlings this time around!

Cheers, vicarious and directly,

PC

Well, I picked few more tomatoes just now and I found out that the first 6 that were planted are getting smaller fruit than they are supposed to, it is something like when I grew them in Arizona. The tomatoes planted later are normal size.

The two yellow are Cherokee Green, half the size, the other similar is Girl, Girl. The black one was planted later and is the right size and so are the cherries.

nbm, your time is going to come to post your pictures....

Silvia

PC, I just read your post, lol.

Hola Silvia! What a wonderful time you must have had in "Mitad del Mundo", Ecuador! The market looks wonderful but the tomatoes not so good as yours right here in Florida! Is that Peruvian choclo corn I see or maybe pozole corn?

I wonder if the flavor is more concentrated in your smaller tomatoes. The CG's are really attractive, they look like some exotic tropical fruit (not that tomatoes aren't) while the purple reminds me of a jellyfish :-) Great color again. I am so happy your tomatoes survived your wanderings!

Yes, I can't wait to make my salsa from the pimps, The salsa if I understand correctly is a quite old traditional recipe in that part of the world which I had Whatsapp'ed to me from its point of origin making it that much more exciting.Speaking of Big Beef, here's how mine are coming along. I'm gonna get to vicariously go to the Ecuadorian market in a couple of weeks or less I hope - in the form of the substitute, Big Beef ;-) Pic follows, and they are living up to their first name:

Cheers

PC

Hi PC!

Those look like the mighty Big Beefs! Good for you. Tomato plant looks healthy too. The flavor that I am getting in my tomatoes is very good, like you said is concentrated with no rain. Other fruits in my garden are good this year and same size like always, soon will be time for avocados and my favorite the non-astringent persimmons.

In Ecuador the variety of veggies and fruit is great with the flavor to go along with it. Corn is big grain , I am not familiar with pozole, my very favorite are the potatoes and the traditional soup. When we were there they made for Carnival the biggest potato soup in the world, I could not make it here once I saw the recipe. I don't have those great tasting potatoes or the herbs....

Some of the potatoes in the market, I saw some so tiny like pea size and if you want the big ones to be peeled, they will do it for you.

Silvia

Silvia :-) thanks -- yummy now I have to eat potatoes today! It is interesting that so many varieties of potatoes are in your market picture, and the Irish must be mighty grateful to Andeans for being the original potato people, where the potatoes are endemic!

I'm not sure about the actual corn variety used for pozole, which is likely the same one called hominy here, but I think it is a larger choclo-sized one in addition to having been nixtamalized. I like the big corn grain that looks like it needs dental work ... the Peruvian stuff which I believe the word choclo comes from Quechua, just like quinoa does too.

Sounds like you have some lovely food-trees in your garden too! I love avocados and eat a half of one every day to keep the doctor away! You make me want to get back to my passion fruit project but at the moment I've got my hands full trying to figure out the best design for my worm condos with the kind help of some very experienced people in the vermicomposting forum. Somehow certain things seem more appetizing from a culinary point of view :-)

Cheers

PC

Well, Sungold is really kicking off. This is first cluster less the first tomato I had Monday. There are about 35 clusters on the 7 1/2 foot plant so far and it is only accelerating in the heat! This plant was transplanted on March 11, had a DTM of 51 days. As customary I have named the plant as I frequently do when I like them. His name is Nakajima!

And the sunniest Everglades hit his rhythm. Don Onis has about a dozen new tomatoes ripening per day now, I think there may be as many as 300 tomatoes on this one plant and it isn't even the biggest at around 7 feet! He was transplanted on Feb 22 and had a DTM of 54 days but passed through three days in the mid 30's at night as a transplant:

Cheers

PC

Nice photos everyone

My Hungarian heart has started setting nicely, here it is today (1st pic)

A blue tomato by Brad Gates in the 2nd pic

And with raincomjng tomorrow, no sun for a few days, I'm reminded why we typically start our tomatoes a little late here in San Diego, haha.

Everybody's plants in here look perfect. You understand why soo many tomato newbies such as myself flood this page right?

Help!!!!! Is this leaf spot or blight?!

We had a huge rain for two days here and now this.

Norm, maybe septoria?

https://www.google.com/search?q=septoria+on+tomato+leaves+image&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Norm I agree with Silvia it could be leaf spot too. Check for the "pycnidia fruiting bodies" to confirm Septoria.
The first picture is pretty dramatic but it can spread fast when wet
like you've had. You have to remove the leaves and toss them being
careful not to infect anything because it transmits by slight touch or
splash. Daconil ... Hope you can get more opinions and can get through
it!

Best wishes

PC

Thanks. Went to my local organic store and got some advice also. He advised me to spray an organic fungicide all over and on the soil also so I started with that. Sigh.........I really hope it works out....fingers crossed

I am still in the jungle, with few ripe tomatoes coming off of Silvery Fir Tree and Sungold. My 2 Stupice plants are loaded but nothing ripe yet. This is a different strain that I grew in 2015. I did not like it. It fruited like cherry tomatoes. So I hope that it will follow SG and SFT.

Sey, Yay! You always had fun with Stupice, I hope you like 'em better this time. Picture?!!! Nothing nicer than a loaded tomato plant to make people smile, and the great feeling it is if it's your plant! I better get a pic from here too, while I have the chance. We broke our record today @ 97 F and tomorrow is forecasted the same and will break another all time high temperature. Can't believe it is dropping to 68 tonight in between. This year isn't looking good though, so carpe esculentum. :-)

Seize the tomato,

PC

I'm posting to see if this thread has been updated...

@PC,

I know the comment I'm replying to is from April, but this is sort of my field of expertise, and I just want to point out that you cannot measure the temperature in the sun. What you're getting is the temperature of your thermometer, as it absorbs the sunlight and converts it to heat. While your plants are obviously doing that too, it will not be at the same rate as the thermometer, so that reading is useless unless you stick a thermometer inside your tomato or something and completely protect it (the thermometer) from the sun.

Hi All

I don't know the technicalities of the thermometer but since you asked for this thread update, here it is. My tomato garden is all picked clean, it is just too hot, rainy and buggy! Soon I will be starting new tomato seedlings.

My last tomatoes are Neves Azorean Red, the others are in the freezer. It is time in my garden for mangoes, avocados and figs and soon bananas...

Silvia

I am so jealous, compared to my tomatoes they are still in the infant stage. Great work, you

should be the poster boy for tomatoes. By the way what kind of grow bag is that?

I have been going through so many tomatoes. I got a nasty blight or wilt or something and ended up losing some producitivty, but things have been good. I loved my Hungarian Heart tomato. Got two tomatoes that were over one pound form the same plant. Spending an exciting Friday night boiling down about 15 lbs of tomatoes for frozen paste. What an adventure.