early girl tomatoes

16 years ago

I just planted my first ever tomatoes . I live in tucson arizona , and I know heat is a facter out here. I have mulched for moisture, but to keep pest and pet's away any ideas you can pass on to me would be greatly appreciated.also I water every evening, it's a given thing here to water in the evening , if you water in the day the sun will fry your plants , but I also don't want them to drown in moisture either.My friend grew tomatoe's last year and they all split, my tomatoes are "early girl 50 days" Thank you

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Comments (7)

hamiltongardener
16 years ago
I've grown early girls with good results, because they were well suited to colder climates like mine. (Up here in Canada) I know they will handle an unexpected frost, but I don't think you have to worry about that where you are at this time of year, right?

Pets and pests:
If cats or squirrels are a problem, use mousetraps laid upside-down. It won't snap on their paws, but will fly up in the air with a sound that will scare them away. It worked great for me...no more cats using my bed as a litterbox!

Any little bugs I tend to follow this rule. If they are big enough to pick off with my fingers, I do. If they are too small, I blast them with water from the hose. I'm not great at identifying which bug is which, so this simple rule works for me. I've been lucky with no great infestations though.

Good luck!
hamiltongardener
16 years ago
Oh, and about the splitting...

Mine did that the first year, all of them were split. It turns out I was giving them too much water. I had to cut back to watering every 3 or 4 days only if it hadn't rained.

HOWEVER, my soil was clay, yours might be more on the sandy side. You are also hotter and drier than my area so things might be different for you. I guess I should shut up now and let someone from your neck of the woods give you advice. :D
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timmy1
16 years ago
There is...

early girl

early girl improved

and bush early girl.

early girl and early girl improved are indeterminate and small (3oz). bush early girl are super determinate and larger (7oz).

all are prone to cracks and no tomato is resistant to frost.
vince_chemist
16 years ago
Early girl can take the heat fine. It is one of only two cultivars I had last summer, which actually had little problem setting fruit in 100+ weather. I never saw any splitting on these toms. In the peak of summer(constant 100+ weather), if your soil is good and you mulch heavily you should only need to water every five days. I left my plants for six days without water during our inferno last summer and saw no adverse effects. The flavor is inconsistant and it takes up to much room for me considering its mild flavor. It did not return this year. Just my experience.

Vince
digit
16 years ago
Early Girls are a good choice for your climate and are recommended by Arizona extension on a short list (see below). Those quick days to maturity are important as temperatures begin to rise.

Splitting is usually a soil moisture consistency problem. Mulching can really help but just make sure your irrigation water gets thru the mulch to the plant roots.

There are more tips at that webpage and don't be too much of a lone wolf there in Tucson, Lady. Your best advice is going to come from across the fence or just down the street. More than politics, all gardening is local.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes in the Desert Garden
wvtomatoman
16 years ago
I live in an area that has very different growing conditions than you. However, we do have some summers when it gets hot and dry for an extended period of time. When this has occurred Early Girl handled it just fine whereas other varieties struggled.

I've grown at least one or two Early Girl plants every year for upwards of 20 years. During that time I have never had a problem with cracking, splitting, or BER.

In my growing area EG tastes pretty good for such an early variety. However, people in other regions have reported that EG wasn't very tasty. I grow varieties that taste better than EG, but they aren't as early or productive.

As far as keeping out pests, it depends on the pest. Generally speaking the best way to keep out pests is to use fencing, but a lot of people don't consider that to be an option. As far as insects I hand pick or use insecticidal soap. If the insecticidal soap doesn't work I use more drastic and less environmentally friendly measures (daconil, seven, malathion etc).

Good luck.

Randy
noisebeam
16 years ago
I read that you just planted them. That means roots are not at all established and once daily watering may not be enough, even if deep. Depends of course how well soil retains moisture and how deep you planted them.
When I planted mine in mid-Apr (still too late) I watered/misted several times a day, contrary to normal advice. They are now 3' tall and bushy and the the early 'overwatering' caused no long term ill effect. Now I only deep water every few days and never wet the leaves.

Al