WOW, from zone 3a!!! Great job! I also 2 green tomatoes yesterday but they are small like 1/2 inch diameter. Thanks for sharing your pics! :D

I've read and reread recommendations for the best combination of florescents to promote the growth of tom and pepper seedlings. I was heavily infuenced by the results shown on wayneScmidt's site that was originally referenced above. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words and in that test, the ge plant and aq won leaves up. It's also interesting, as object16 pointed out, that the kitchen and bath finished a close second especially because it was not a so called plant light. I will in all liklihood go with 3 ge plant and aq for best growth qualities and 1 kitchen and bath to enhance brightness (lumens) and to capitalize on whatever else that caused a second place finish in the comparison test. Last but not least, I am impressed that that the pl and aq cost only $5.97 at walmart compared to $6.84 for kit and bath. The ott and phillips plant lights cost $10 at homedepot. I have copied an excerpt from an interesting post that I read on another site below that convinced me to add the 1 flo for lumens. "I put a couple of the "Plant and Aquariums" (40W) above a newly set up 55G and the tank really looked dim. They have so much energy nearly out of the visible spectrum that they need a *lot* of Watts for comfortable viewing (i.e., to get the lumens up). Otherwise, they look to me to be pretty white, but just a tad magenta or purplish in color. I added one "cool white" and it was as if I had quadrupled the illumination. The tank has a lot of irridescent fish, and the plants and fish just became dazzling. The "P/A" tubes probably provide plenty of plant energy, and the "cool white" lots of viewing light. The trick is to get a nice balance that grows plants and also looks good. Since plants and eyes have different response spectra, I always seem to be happier mixing different tubes to get the results I want."

I had one tomato within a row of ok ones that looked like yours and also died. I haven't pulled it, but will (yes it is still there, bad I know). I've always wondered about nematodes, but never knew how to tell until I read this post and Googled. The deceased is Heinz 1431 from the Spring Fling. I did, however, plant "Nema-Gone" marigolds, of course in a different bed, from Baker Creek. I have no idea if/how/why those work. They are pretty though.

Here's a few Brix readings I've done on my own over the past couple years for fun and actually written down. (I feel this makes me vulnerable...like telling someone how much you earn. So let me just preface these readings by saying that I never said I was a good gardener.) Cherokee Purple 6.5 Pink Brandywine 5 Old German 6 Kellogg's Breakfast 6 Kellogg's Breakfast 7.25 As you can see with the Kellogg's Breakfast, levels can vary within the variety, so looking for levels between them doesn't seem too useful. I agree with Carolyn that there are more variables that affect flavours than just what the refractometer measures. I like to think of tomato varieties as a packets of unsweetened Kool-Aid. Just like tomatoes, they come in different flavors. Here's where personal taste's come in the first time. I may prefer grape Kool-Aid whereas you might prefer strawberry. That's fine - to each their own. Now when you add water the Kool-Aid is going to taste lousy no matter what flavour you have because there is no sugar. This is where another aspect of personal taste comes in, and the one that relates to Brix level. Some people like their Kool-Aid with more sugar than others. That being said, I can't think of a time where I've perceived a fruit with a lower Brix level as tasting better than one of the same type with a higher reading. For example, the Kellogg's Breakfast with a reading of 6 had no comment written, whereas the one that had a 7.25 reading had "f***ing delicious" written next to it.