If you're watering too much depends on the size of the emitters, the size of the garden, etc... Take the size of your garden in square feet and multiply by 0.09. That is how much water you need per day in gallons. For example, my garden is 40 x 80. I need 288 gallons per day. Now take the size of your emitters and multiply by the GPH rating. My plan is 333 .5 GPH emitters, 53 1 GPH emitters, and 33 1.5 GPH emitters. 333*.5+52*1+33*1.5= 269 Divide the gallons needed per day by the result of the emitters and multiply by 60 for the number of minutes a day watering needed. 288/269*60=64 minutes It should be a lot less if you mulch well and concentrate the water on the plants with drip. Hope this helps. Rick

Anney, there is no F1 Manalucie that I know of. Why Reimer's continues to confuse issues is beyond me. Well, not really b'c I get it, I really do. I've linked to an article written by Dr. Jay Scott about the accomplishments of the U of FL Tomato Breeding station. Manalucie was bred there and released in 1953 and it was an important step forward at the timne b'c it had "resistance" against leaf mold and "field" resistance against Early Blight ( A. solani) One of the earliest places to offer seed was Gleckler's in 1958 and I'm pretty sure I talked about them starting back up again this year here at GW but if I didn't I can and will. Not that they are offering Manalucie now, just that historically they were probably the first place to offer it commercially. I don't think others have noted that there's any particular tolerance to Early Blight which leaves us with all the claims made at various other web sites such as resistant to BER ( no variety is), stands high heat better ( lots of foliage), but heat tolerance these days is more often related to pollen that doesn't destruct as readily as others in high sustained heat. The article was written in 1998 so what's said about Manalucie by Jay Scott I believe is very true. And I don't see any mention about Fusarium either. Perhaps Manalucie-F refers to the fact it was bred in Florida. It's one of the many older commercial varieties and we grew it on the farm where I was raised, in NYS, along with Valiant and New Yorker and Rutgers and the like. Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: U of FL cultivars; Manalucie

I'd like to suggest that you go to the FAQ on BER at the top of this first page. It used to be thought that it was lack of Ca++ in the soil that allowed for BER to develop but experimentation in the last 20 years or so has proven that to be wrong. And you'll read that at the better disease Dx web sites, mainly from University sites, but also some others. The problem is maldistribution of the Ca++ taken up by the roots inside the plant. And that maldistribution can be induced by many factors, most of them mentioned in the FAQ here at GW. Anything that stresses a plant can induce BER and the two most common are uneven delivery of water which is amusing for folks like me where water drops out of the sky, LOL, but also too much N or growing in too rich soil which causes accelerated plant growth, which is a stress. Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, all can be inducers of BEr as well. There are two situations where alternation of the soil contents may help. First. if soils are shown by soil analysis to have NO Ca++ then adding it can help, but such soils are rare indeed. Second, soils that are too acid can cause Ca++ to bind in the soil, but that can be reversed by altering the soil pH. And such acid soils are also rare indeed. Spraying the foliage has shown variable results and is not really that effective. When tissues are taken from plants that have BER fruits there's plenty of Ca++ in the plant already; it's just that the distribution is bad. it's going to take perhaps another generation before all the wrong info about lack of Ca++ in the soil as the cause of BER gets removed from books, magazines, net sites, etc. Finally, as plants mature they are better able to withstand stresses so BER usually goes away as the season progresses. So do read the FAQ here at GW. SOmeone complained that they didn't like it when they were referred to a FAQ here, but fact is, there are so many questions that are asked all the time that I think it's better to have the newer FAQ's we have here such as those ones on starting from seed, leaf forms, how to prevent cross pollination, and BER are helpful b/c they save everyone one heck of a lot of typing if trying to answer such questions. ( smile) And if somnthiong isn't understood a person can still come back and psot in the thread about that. Hope the above helps. Carolyn

There are various theories why BER occurs, lack of calcium being the primary factor (often combined with excessive N). But inconsistent watering practices seem to play an equal role. BER often occurs when damper early season weather begins to dry out just as the fruit is beginning to set but can be just as frequent when the plants are allowed to dry too much in between waterings. I am not a big proponent of self watering containers and I am not familiar with your Garden Patch grow boxes to comment but I would do what I could to ensure the plants in them receive consistent, even moisture. Bonide makes a calcium supplement for tomatoes called 'Rot-Stop' that is watered into the soil. I've never had to use it myself but it seems to be quite effective and is a popular item at my nursery.