I know how frustrating it is to deal with the critters and fruit trees, but if you hang in there it does get better. The trees find their way around the gopher runs, and the gophers eventually leave them alone. I had two really rare heirloom apple trees that were about 2 years old, and one day one was shaking violently from a gopher, I snatched it out and put it in a big pot until it got its roots back. Then I started planting perennials in a double layer of chicken wire (which eventually rots, but they get about 18 months that gives the roots a good advantage) and surround the roots when planting with gladiolus bulbs down at gopher level, about 6 inches, at least 5 bulbs. Daffodil bulbs work, too, but they finish early and the gophers will push them back up. So a combo of gladiolus and daffodils works with a spring/summer active bulb growth. And they are a really colorful addition as well. they multiply, making a barrier about the roots at gopher level. And I make sure I kill the gophers and moles as well, but they still come back. Daffodil bulbs are at the stores in the fall, now. Then covering the fruit is well worth it. Grape growers put stretchy netting over the grapes for the same reason. But sheet curtains and bedsheets are easier to get on and off.

Trying to compare growth patterns between different varieties usually leads you down a wrong road and making decisions we later regret. Their genetics, what triggers their behavior, are often very different. In this case a cherry type vs. a grafted paste vs. a hybrid semi-determinate beefsteak all with differing DTM. So it could easily take one of those longer than the others to recover from either the weather exposure or from the over-watering (which was likely the real problem). Plus "seeing growth" is also very subjective. That we don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening. :) It may be in the roots, it may be in nothing more than an increased size of some of the leaves rather than height. Bottom line, since the plant appears healthy the lack of growth you can see really means little. Be patient and you may discover that it will soon kick into high speed and leave the others in its dust. :) Dave

ajsmama - I know right! I have to break out the ladder if I want to do anything with them. Drew51 - Wow! All of that looks good, so what you are doing works! I doubt I will ever get that ambitious, but that is a spread to aspire to. Daniel_NY - I trimmed branches and leaves near the bottom but I doubt it is 18" from the soil. They are also mulched to stop some of the soil splashing up. It is cypress mulch and I have heard the lecture, so you can save the keystrokes. : ) I read where someone here rotated between copper fungicide, neem oil, and serenade on a weekly basis. I couldn't find the serenade, so I started rotating the copper and neem when I transplanted. Once the plants got so big and was going through the copper and neem, I stopped. I haven't used either in 6+ weeks. The plant in the pic is the Mortgage Lifter that I have not cut out the yellow so I could post the problem here. The Lemon Boy was the one where I cut the yellow out and sprayed with copper and about a week after that with neem, but it steadily yellowed and died. I believe I was still spraying weekly at that point. I just watered for the first month since the potting mix had compost (and peat and coir-peat), then in May I fertilized with a full dose of MG 10-10-10 weekly. When fruit started to set in late May I switched to MG Tomato Food 27-27-27 weekly. I used MG since I had the 10-10-10 on hand and it was something that I was familiar with. I may use organics next season. I didn't weigh any of the fruit so I do not know how many pounds per plant, but I have ate myself silly, have about 12 pints frozen and have given lots away to several family, friends, and neighbors.

The new posts reminded me that I hadn't updated since last year. I put in another two raised beds, 14" or so, and planted all tomatoes in them, none in buckets. Old dirt, city compost, a handful of organic (NPK and micros) additives, woodchip mulch. Much, much better results. Very little watering was necessary - I watered fewer than a dozen times all summer long. Blight hit very hard on the tomatoes I planted in May, though they produced very well through maybe halfway into the summer before slowing down. I got very little from them in the fall, as blight had done too much damage. As always, I was lax in spraying with a baking soda/soap mixture which, while effective, needs to be applied regularly. I did get more tomatoes during the summer months than I did last year, though production was still weak. I tried several heat-tolerant varieties, but noticed little difference between standard varieties and the heat-tolerant ones. Next year I won't be using that as a criteria for picking varieties. As before, cherry tomatoes tended to do better. I also planted 6 or 8 tomatoes during July. They'd been growing in Solo cups for several months, and were extremely rootbound and not in great shape in general, but most took off after a few weeks, and especially so when temperatures began to drop a bit. I was eating a ton of tomatoes from those plants through October. Interestingly, I planted seeds from a hybrid, wondering what I'd get and hoping they'd be a really nice cherry that I'd grown the previous year (pink princess from Fedco). I didn't get any of the pink princess, but got several plants that produced - I assume - one of its parent varieties, which turned out to be an excellent monster cherry tomato (2" diameter). I was pleased, and I'll try planting seeds from them again, but I have no idea what to expect. It's fun not knowing! In any case, I'll try planting a second batch in mid-summer again, as it worked out very well this year. As for peppers, I discovered that despite high temperatures, if they don't get near-full sun they aren't very productive, but had great results from hot peppers in the same bed - and planted at the same time - as the mid-summer tomatoes. It wouldn't work in cooler climates, but there was just enough warm temperature left in the year to get a single good crop out of them. I'll definitely not try the late planting for them again this coming season. However, I might do so with sweet peppers, which require considerably less time than hot peppers to fruit and ripen. And cukes, by the way, did amazingly well. Lemon cucumbers are a new favorite. They're not amazingly tasty - though they're quite good - but their tennis-ball size is perfect for grabbing one for a snack as I take the dog out for a walk, eating it like an apple. Armenian and striped Armenians are really fun to grow, but what the heck are you supposed to do with a two-foot long and 3" thick cucumber? Also, with both lemon and Armenian varieties, I discovered you've got to pick and eat them while they're young, as the bigger the get, the tougher the skin and seeds get (I'd heard that before, but now I know from experience). So, finally, for this summer, I'll be using a lot more of my own compost (leaves, grass, kitchen scraps), most of which wasn't ready this year but definitely is for this coming year, and I might try some peppers in buckets, but all tomatoes will again go in raised beds. I'm still loving the woodchip mulch. I'll try to be better about spraying for blight and hopefully keep plants hanging on through the summer to get a good fall crop out of them. Greens are the only plants that do well in the shadiest bed (mostly kale and spinach), and I've had very little success with lettuce - it croaks when temperatures get too warm. I'm going to move strawberries out of the main bed and put them in a smaller one - they're just too space-intensive for what amounts to a fairly small, short-lived crop. But oh, they're good! Also, raspberries are a year old (actually two, but only one in their current bed), so I'll hopefully get a good crop out of them. They did reasonably well this past year in a bed that's mostly clay, so they're pretty hardy. I might try carrots and potatoes. I've had very little success with carrots in buckets, so we'll try a deep raised bed.