"The only thing I can think of is the one in the pot was planted in store bought soil and the others in the native dirt we have. Could that make that big of a difference?" Oh yeah, soil can make a big difference. In zone 6 I got my first cherry tomato yesterday. Many of my plants have green fruit just starting to turn. Two yards over, my neighbor has plants just as big as mine, but with no fruit yet. His were planted a week or two later, but the main difference seems to be the water-soluble red Miracle-Gro plant food he used three times. I use compost as mulch, and once this year used a slow-release Tomato food. Also, I spray compost tea on the tomato leaves, although this year have not done so yet. Have not told the neighbor he may also get Blossom end rot from too much nitrogen.

I live in Zone 7, north of Abilene Texas. I agree that three is not enough. I was just trying out the three varieties that Walmart had to see what they would. The truth is that I started all my plants in February in anticipation of getting my Gh covered in March, but then my daughter had difficulty in childbirth and my wife and I had to go and care for our new grandson for two month while our daughter recovered. I left my older son at home to care of the new plants but he works as a paramedic and pulls shifts from 24 to 72 hours and comes home dead on his feet. Needless to say, the starter plants were not cared for and died. By the time I got home it was April and I just bought what ever Walmart had growing and stuck it in the ground just to have something growing until I could get the cover on the Gh. So, long story short, I am not where I wanted be at this time and am just trying to make do until better weather. The only planting space I have is the GH, and I want more then just tomatoes, so I have to proportion my space. I have never been able to grow vegetables in the open here because of the harsh and extreme weather and extremely limited water resources. This is a learning year for me. I appreciate all advice and assure you that it is all going into my head as I devolpe my planting plan. My hope its to put this GH unto full-time production at some point (for personal and family food). I know I have a lot of learning to do before then.

This may or may not be relevant, but it's a decent story. Several years ago, we had a litter of 3 groundhogs on our property. Since our groundhogs tend to be reasonably well behaved (at least since we fenced in the vegetable garden) we just watched them and thought they were cute. One day, we went out, and in the middle of the lawn was one of the babies. It was maybe half grown, so not exactly a small animal, but noticeably smaller than the mother. It was dead, but in an oddly flattened way. After giving the matter some thought, we came to the conclusion that is looked like it had been dropped from a great height. After giving the matter more thought, we realized this actually made sense. We have a lot of raptors around, mostly red tailed hawks, but a few golden eagles, ospreys, bald eagles, and other usual suspects. It was entirely possible that one of the red tailed hawks overestimated their hauling ability, or underestimated the size of the groundhog. They picked it up, tried to fly off with it, but ended up having to drop it. I can easily imagine something similar happening with rabbits. BTW, even more years ago, we found a rabbit that had probably been hit by a car. When I found it, I was on my way somewhere and didn't have time to deal with it. I also thought if I put it off, my DH could come home from work and handle it. By the time I came home, more than half of it had disappeared, and by the time my DH came home, almost all of it was gone.

Kate - I think I've had everything that can plague daylilies in the last year -except earwigs. You laid out the main list of plagues in your comment. But I'll add two more: deer and burrowing varmints. I was out spraying deer repellant by the light of the moon last night. And I'm trying to repair damage in my red bed by an unidentified burrowing animal that has dug tunnels straight through the middles of some of my biggest clumps and has also caused a cave-in. I actually saw a groundhog running in the neighbor's ditch two days ago. I guess this could be the culprit. I live in the city, so why am I getting all this wildlife? Debra