Short season/cool climate growers: ever done this?

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

I'm near Seattle. I was visiting my Dad last weekend (he lives closer to Portland) and we visited a lovely small farm selling plants and they specialized in heirlooms and peppers. The owner had some interesting tomato growing accessories. One was a huge SWC with integrated tomato cage, and he threw in a Kozy Koat (red Wall of Water) to boot. I wish I could show you a picture, but didn't think to take one. He had the whole cage wrapped in several layers of plastic to make a mini-greenhouse, which struck me as ingenious.

He also had some extremely sturdy tomato cages for in-ground growing, and here's a picture of one wrapped up similarly. There's a Kozy Koat inside this cage as well, he's got a drip line hooked up, and there's plastic mulch to warm the soil.

http://millenniumfarms.bizland.com/id10.html

It's a Sungold in the picture. He says he set it out mid-March and it went from 6 inches to 6 feet in 7 weeks.

In our area, the conventional wisdom is not to set out plants till May 15 - June 1... keep them in a cold frame till then, or just wait to buy your starts/time your seed starting. But it's hard to get any long season tomatoes to ripen this way. I'm really intrigued by this type of setup and wonder if anyone has tried something similar? I have no room for a tunnel or hoophouse, and grow mostly in containers.

I wish I'd bought some of the containers and set them out last weekend - especially for the long season heirlooms I couldn't help buying! Although, SWCs are a totally new thing for me. I might not use the self watering feature - I could probably disable it and set it on the ground for wicking if I wanted. But then again I might really like that feature in July and August.

In a way I guess this is similar to the "Walls of Air" Seysonn has made.

Thoughts?

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PupillaCharites

8 years ago

Wormgirl, you have guts to show us a picture of your spent plants :-) They pulled through nicely judging by the pictures of the tomatoes. I love these pictures, such healthy looking tomatoes are contagious to good health and outlook even after a bit of inattention that unfortunately is part of growing for anyone who takes on the commitment.

I was out for three weeks during which it was very difficult to go out in the sweltering heat, right after 10 day of bad flu which then turned into another 10 days of heat stroke here, and now 10 days of mold spores and peroxide burning my nose. And to think some people spray bleach (blech!!!, yecch!!!)

I do hope you get some winter greens started if you can find the time and way. They sound so inviting at this moment. Also, very appreciated reporting on your varieties. Too bad Sweet Baby Girl didn't do better for your taste buds :-(

Cheers

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Comments (100)

wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Everyone's tomatoes look great!!

Sey, how did your Hamhs dwarf taste? And what size are the fruits? Strange that Big Beef is such a poor performer in your garden. So many love it. I think CP likes our climate better?

Peter, looks like you will have ripe fruit this month! Cant wait to see how your varieties turn out. You asked about our first frost... That is said to be between Nov 1-10 here. I can confirm I once looked at a house on Halloween, and good tomatoes still clung to the crumbling vines. The big problem is in Oct we don't usually get hardly any heat to ripen fruit but we do get a lot of rain, which ruins the vines. So I think of tomato growing season as going to the end of Sept. We do usually get a little Indian Summer heat/sun during that month.

I wish I had taken pictures of the blushing tom & peppers again today - amazing the difference in one day. I will try to remember tomorrow.

We have been having the most amazing tomato growing weather!
Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
It sounds like we have a more similar than dissimilar climate, really. It gets much hotter and humid here though I am sure... but not lately. We also get plenty of rain. I got tomatoes last year right until the frost around Halloween.
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daniel_nyc
8 years ago
Last year New York had an AWESOME autumn !
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Well, NY and WA are near the same latitude. I did live in VT for one year while attending Dartmouth and I found the winters to be very different. The year I lived there, it was said to be a mild winter, but the ground was frozen for six months. We are definitely not used to that in Washington. We had essentially no freezing weather last winter. The summer was more similar. But, we do get more rain and lower temperatures at night. We usually don't get as much heat as the East Coast either, although this year seems to be an exception! We are having an "East Coast" summer so far.

An interesting feature of my part of WA is that we are on Puget Sound. So we are near the ocean water, without actually being on the coast. And then of course we have the mountains to the east. I think this is a lot of what makes our climate so mild (and also so rainy.)

We do seem to get some rain usually at the beginning of September… The temperatures drop… But then we'll get some more sun and heat before autumn really comes. We did have a very nice autumn last year and I do believe I was still picking tomatoes in October. But that was definitely an anomaly. But, I will take it!
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
I am a recent transplant here. This is my 4rth summer here. This summer so far, has not been a typical PNW summer.
Our season is not really short. LFD to FFD is about 7 months. That is almost the same as ATL, GA .But for tomatoes our season is from May through September ( 5 months). That gives us 2 -3 months of harvest season (Jul., Aug., Sep.). Not bad.

Sey
Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
This summer here is another bust so far. Highs in the 70s more often than not, lows in the 50s... the tomatoes don't care but the heat loving plants are not satisfied. Thankfully I planted all varieties for northern climates anticipating this.

Yeah that winter is totally different. And oddly it makes vegetable gardening easier here for many things, as not much in the way of fumgal amd bacterial diseases and pests will survive 4 months of frozen ground and -10F extreme lows.

Our LFD to FFD is 6 months, but it is difficult to get much started in the cold ground that takes a while to warm from our winters, and in October there is so little sun there is nothing growing. But I still got tomatoes and zucchini last year.
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Sey, I agree... for so long I was confused about whether we have a LONG or SHORT growing season. Finally I now understand that we have a short season for heat loving crops, but a long season overall. We have two great cool growing seasons in spring and fall, and we can often overwinter crops that will mature early in the spring (greens)! In fact, this place is paradise for those who like to grow greens, berries, and herbs.

Peter, I think we have all your heat over here this year! What you describe is our normal summer. And yes, heat loving crops don't usually do well here - peppers and cukes often sulk - and don't even think about trying canteloupe or okra or sweet potatoes. And it's true, we don't have that freeze that kills off the baddies, but we somehow don't seem to have all that many bugs or plant diseases anyway. I am always amazed when I go anywhere south of here how many more bugs there are.

I harvested my first Jaune Flamme fully ripe. It was hiding. I have my CP and my first Black Krim on the counter now!
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
Nice harvest, Jenn.
This ain't no short season . hehe. You have at least 3 more months of harvest.
I know you have pushed by almost a month plus we have had a nice May and a great June tomato weather.
How are your lettuce doing ? Bolted ? In 2013 my chard last it like all summer in partial sun.
I should be harvesting some Juliet/mini Roma soon. Then will come CP, 4th of July ... and many more. This Juliet/Mini Roma has amazed me. I got the seeds from Safeway tomatoes, free. hehe. Of course I paid for the tomatoes and enjoyed them too.
There are maybe 4 cluster like this. Almost full size.

Sey .
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Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
Nice, Jenn. I still haven't eaten a tomato yet. :)

Here anything is a bit of a gamble to grow as the seasons can be short and vilatile. Especially the cool season sometimes ends as fast as it starts.

Thankfully I planted all cool tolerant varieties from Johnny's this year and they are all not minding the milder temps. We have at least been in the low 80s the past few days.
wormgirl_8a_WA thanked Peter (6b SE NY)
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the compliments!

I just checked the Growing Degree Days app. In Tacoma, we had very similar GDD to last year in April and May. But June 2014 had 366 GDD, but this June we had 525!

Sey, my lettuce that I showed in the pictures was the best I have ever grown. I ate every bit of it and got it all before any bolting. (Those varieties were said to be heat tolerant and bolt resistant). I need to get better at succession planting so that I can have lettuce all summer. I did try and replant recently, but some didn't germinate, and some did but then was ravaged by an evil squirrel... I do wish I had lettuce and tomatoes at the same time. Maybe I can grow some more by the time the Big Rainbows ripen!?

I am curious to see how your Mini Romas taste. Also your Kumato, if it ever makes fruit. I have been getting "Mini San Marzano" from Trader Joe's, they must be a hybrid but I could not find information on them. I thought they were pretty good for a supermarket tomato. Until mine started coming!

Peter - I think your strategy of planting cool tolerant varieties is a great one. My strategy in the past at least for tomatoes was always to plant cherry tomatoes so that you'd be assured of getting some. A lot of people around here plant only small peppers, and small eggplant (like Ichiban), for the exact same reason. Of course you could also plant bigger but the small varieties are like an insurance policy :)

Jenn
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Almost forgot to post my update! As of an hour ago, this is how my Black Krim (top left) and CP (top right) look. Below, a Jaune Flamme and two SunCherry I pulled this morning. All still waiting to ripen a bit more. I think the CP will be ready tonight or tomorrow! As you can see, my "beefsteaks" are not very big - that Krim is probably only 2.5 oz and the CP maybe 4 - but there are 3 more CP blushing today. And news flash - I have a Kellogg's Breakfast blushing too. Leaving it on the plant a bit longer.

Rough counts: CP about 50 fruit on plant, BK about 28, Pineapaple about 26
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Kellogg's Breakfast! Freak early fruit from plant bought stressed. Not large but my largest fruit yet!

Cherokee this morning

Here's a "Hudson Style" photo of my first sliced CP!! Ate tomato sandwich for breakfast, while posting this. :)
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago

Good harvest Jenn.
I like that "Hudson Style" slicing and teasing and rubbing it in hehe.
My CP fruits are the size of small blushing ones on your plant.
Big Beef and juliet , any day now.

Of course, I have already picked few Hahms Gelbe.
Now that temps start moderating, I hope my tomatoes will like it. They better, cause they ain't got no choices. hehe

Sey
wormgirl_8a_WA thanked Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
This morning's harvest includes the first Sweet Baby Girls (red cherries) and Stupice - the one at the bottom. Not terribly impressive when I've got CPs and BKs. But, it wasn't fair, because Stupice didn't get the "early" treatment.

One thing that puzzles me is that my supposed Sunsugar, which has been weird the whole time (grew into a short shrub instead of a large vine), is producing tomatoes with the "nipples" or pointed ends. I didn't think this was normal for Sunsugar? They are quite delicious.
tete_a_tete
8 years ago
Have you seen that book called Straw Bale Gardening? A very interesting read. And it seems a brilliant method for those of us who live in an area that has a short-season. I plan to take up the method very soon.
wormgirl_8a_WA thanked tete_a_tete
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I have not seen the book, although I know Craig LeHoullier is doing a big experiment growing tomatoes in straw bales this year...

I will have to check the book out. Why is it better for a short season?
tete_a_tete
8 years ago
Because of the heat generated from the decomposing straw bales. This means that you can plant young tomato plants much earlier than you would otherwise.

The book is by Joel Karsten. (I just googled it). I noticed other straw bale garden books but his is the only one I have read.
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Ah, ok. I met a woman at the garden store who said a canteloupe (which ususally can't grow around here) did ripen when it grew in her hot compost pile. Same idea. I will have to look into it more!
antmary_Omaha_NE_5b
8 years ago
Many years ago my mom used the same idea. In the autumn we dug a trench in the vegetable bed and put there leaves as much as it was possible, then covered them with the soil. In the spring we made the low tunnel on the top of this bed. And the soil needed to be watered to start decomposing. We planted tomatoes and early cucumbers and they grew really well this way.
hudson___wy
8 years ago
Wormgirl - this thread inspired me to try planting a couple of Celebrity Tomato plants outside in the cold climate of Wyoming ! We started them in the GH and moved them outside about the first week in June and planted them on the south side of our house. I duct taped a piece of of triple ply - nylon rope reenforced - GH plastic to a 50" high cattle panel and anchored it to the ground and the tomato cage permanently. I cover the plants with a frost blanket at night whenever the temps are lower than 55 degrees.

The plants are protected from wind and cold temps with the GH plastic shield by day/night and frost blanket by night. It appears to be doing well - although there is not a lot of foliage - tomatoes have set and the larger ones are about 8oz in size. The plants may do better with GH Plastic shield on three sides.

One plant has 12 tomatoes and the other 8 tomatoes. It appears they will ripen before frost! This method is a little different than what you are doing but appears to be working! I may try this method in the garden next year with removable - four sides and a top - using GH plastic panels.
wormgirl_8a_WA thanked hudson___wy
Chucky Noble
8 years ago
I did 3 varieties of tomatoes this year. Bonny Best Heirloom, Scotian, Black Krim. The BK seems to be going the best this far, I use 4" steaks for each tomato plant and they are already towering over the steaks! I'm not sure why they are growing so strong but I'm ok with that. I recently built 9 raised garden beds and used top soil, manure, and another organic bag of soil with 10-10-10 fertilizer.

I live in Nova Scotia Canada and we were having frosty nights right up until late May.

Here is a pic of all my tomato plants together.

This is the Black Krim.

I put a shovel beside the raise bed to show you how tall they are getting. I water my plants only with water from my rain barrel. I forgot to mention, I also put organic worm castings in the bottom of the hole of the transplants and around the top base.

Chucky
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
Hudson, that NBD is absolutely amazing.

Chucky, your garden and plants look superb.

My beffsteak size early one is going to be Big Beef. Black from Tula and Fourth of July are competing.

Sey
Jennie Sims
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Jenn, how is your garden doing? I was lax in fertilizing and it is really showing. I have some big time potassium deficiencies that show up in fruit ripening very unevenly and shriveling leaves. I need to be more diligent in fertilizing. It is just so hot here I hate to even go outside,. Hope it is cooler there.

jennie
wormgirl_8a_WA thanked Jennie Sims
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
Jennie,

Having to scientific basis and evidence, I have a stong feeling that tomatoes need higher percentage of K during the fruiting stage. So I found this :

Alaska MORBLOOM which has 0-10-10 ratio of NPK.
It is inexpensive. About 8 bucks for a quart. Though it is targeted for flowers, but it can be supplemented for tomatoes too, me thinks.

It could be pure coincidence but ever since using it ( along w/ MG) , my tomatoes are setting fore fruits. Again, this is without any scientific basis.

Hey, where am I going to find a scientist around here ? hehe
Jennie Sims
8 years ago
Sey, I think you are right that tomatoes need a higher percentage of K during the fruiting stage. That is definitely what I am seeing in my garden. Jenn and I are both growing in containers and using the same fertilizer designed for the fruiting stage. Jenn is probably keeping up with it better than me though. Our fertilizer has an analysis of 4-2.9-6.7, so it does have a higher percentage of K. So if I would have been more diligent about fertilizing, I probably wouldn't have this problem. Potassium deficiency was the first to show! Note to self....get out there and fertiliize! The product you show I think would be a great compliment to MG during fruiting stage and it sounds like you are having pretty good success with it. If I had some on hand, I would go give them a boost!

Jennie
PupillaCharites
8 years ago
I just wanted to post that you shouldn't forget Potassium Sulfate (Sulfate of Potash), as the cheapest mineral fertilizer as a source of potassium, if you want to manipulate potassium percentages, though a bit of caution is in order since excess potassium could also cause problems. Its NPK percent (of K2O) is greater than 0-0-50, which works out to around 42% elemental potassium. Sey looks like a superb supplemental fertilizer but paying $8 for a quart of 0-10-10 if you are only after the potassium boost is not within my budget. Not when I can buy potassium sulfate for under a buck a pound!

Cheers

PC
Jennie Sims
8 years ago
PC, I looked for Potassium Sulfate last weekend and could not find it. Where do you get it? But then decided I would not know how to apply or how much even if I did find it. :-( So, since my fertilization leans heavy on the K I decided to just do a better job of getting out there and fertilizing. All of my fruit are ripening unevenly, even after sliced they have white spots throughout. After some internet searching I decided it was probably a potassium deficiency as the pictures of fruit with K deficiency looked just like mine!
PupillaCharites
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Hi Jennie,

I can't remember where I bought mine but it was a 50# sack for like $35 and the purity was sufficient for my use and enough to start a banana plantation LOL. You can buy it from these guys - Alpha Chemical who are economical, dependable, fast and reputable, in small quantities, and I note they are selling Ag technical grade which is what I prefer.

A little bit can go a long way, and as for how much to use, I know you know that's a loaded question because it all depends on whether you really have a potassium deficiency caused by lack of potassium (potassium deficiency can be caused by other factors even when there is no lack so it is important to say it that way). But if you see the symptoms and don't do the leaf and/or soil analysis, a little bit probably won't be too risky. How much? Well, it is 42% potassium. That means 420,000 ppm potassium the way I think. So dilute it 1:10,000 and you'll have 42 ppm in your irrigation (2 grams in a five-gallon bucket of water). It is soluble so that would be the maximum I'd ever think of adding as a supplement from my own stuff here. Twice in the week (just one-two weeks and see how it goes) if I had problems added to the irrigation water I fed the plant. Half that over twice the time would be a safer bet but likely tedious and unnecessary. I water every one to two days here and the soil can dry out and kill my plants in one day like yesterday to give you an idea since this is where I'm coming from with these numbers and you'd cut back the frequency to mirror how often you irrigate there and the holding capacity of your soil.

Hope that helps and please check my numbers as I'm on the way out and just wanted to quickly answer.

Cheers

PC
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
PC, that is 8 bucks for a quart, that you use @ 1 TBS per gallon. It will last me the whole season maybe longer. I don't need 50# of Potassium. . I am not a farmer.. hehe .

MG blue water soluble (24-8-16) is pretty good on K but during mid season, perhaps too high on N and bit too low on P. So I use 1/3 dose of MG , and 2/3 dose of Alaska thing. This gives me in theory, 8 -9.3 - 12 (= 3 - 3 - 4 ratio ). Hmm thats good.

Sey
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Hello all,

I see you've been entertaining yourselves during my absence. Great!

As I mentioned elsewhere, the knee injury I've got has really been slowing me down. I have totally neglected my garden. I haven't fertilized in I don't know how long - probably since I last posted. I have barely watered. My Anna Russian went down hard and I took it down - but it was too late, disease spread to everything.

For the most part, the tomatoes were unaffected except for some sunscald - very unexpected for our part of the world. I have had a huge harvest and really should be making sauce at this very minute. But I missed you all and wanted to check in.

I made soup twice - the second time a triple batch. I have been sharing with everyone I know. I also made sauce yesterday - first time making my own sauce. It was AMAZING!! I went to BBB last night and bought a food mill to make both of these jobs easier.

Okay let's catch up with documentation.

July 14. Mountain Princess. I thought it was interesting how some of them looked like bicolors, but not others. Only the first ones to ripen did this... at least, I stopped noticing. It may have been me.

July 15

July 17, the same Mountain Princesses:

July 25. I particularly liked this Black Krim, just finding it to be a perfect specimen.

July 26, one of my Anna Russians. I took off all the green tomatoes when I took down the plant. They ripened. This one is particularly "saucy." Heh.

July 27. To the front right is the first Pineapples and Momotaros. The Momos are a particularly beautiful color, a deep crimson.

July 30. I only had a very few examples of defective fruit despite my plants looking like garbage by this time. (Since then I did get some more cracking, because of my poor watering)

Top: The first Big Rainbow. Below: a variety of shapes from Pineapple. Later Pineapples were all round and tennisball sized. Not what I was expecting.

July 30

August 5. Went away so this fruit waited longer than it should have.
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Continued Aug 5 - both sliced. I thought these two varieties would be similar but they are definitely not. Wondering if the tomato on the left is even Pineapple? Big Rainbow's taste is far superior. This is what I wanted to grow!!
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Yesterday - Aug 12. Probably the last big harvest. This is just what I picked yesterday - other counters are still covered.
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Taken just now, August 13. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Cherokee Purple & Black Krim: Tasty AND productive. Would definitely grow again. BK had lots more seeds, CP more odd-shaped fruit. Had a preference for CP flavor for fresh eating.

Big Rainbow, Mortgage Lifter, Kellogg's Breakfast: Very tasty, not especially productive - but started late. Should try earlier for better productivity.

Pineapple, Gold Nugget, Jaune Flamme: productive but meh about flavor/texture. JF had thick skins.

Mountain Princess, Momotaro: Plants manageable, productive and tasty enough. MP more productive, Momo tastier although mild - subtle flavor, gorgeous color, and throws different fruit shapes.

Sungold, Sun Cherry, Sunsweet: all delicious and sweet. Particularly loved Sun Cherry for a red cherry! Has a bit more tomato flavor than SunGold. I definitely recommend you try Sun Cherry if you like Sun Gold. It seems hard to find though!

Sweet Baby Girl: all sweet, no tomato flavor, definitely inferior to Sun Cherry.

Stupice: not early, but planted late. Productive with classic tomato flavor. I should try one earlier again, early in the season these would be nice because they are barely bigger than a cherry. Coming in with beefsteaks, they weren't my favorite.
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
Very impressive harvest.

I would not call our 2015 season "cool Climate" for sure.

My production is behind, despite the hot June, July and going into August. Bu on the positive side my plant are doing fine and one by one kicking in. We are getting plenty to eat and cook with. Here is a sampler just few days ago.
In the order of size : 2 BRANDY BOY, BIG BEEF, ROSELLA, PINK PASSION, BLACK FROM TULA, LARGE RED CHERRIES, YELLOW CHERRIES, RED GRAPES, HAHMS GELBE ..,

And in the following picture AZOYCHKA joins in.
Still on the counter, losing green and gaining some orange.

Ready to be tasted .

Sey
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Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Sorry to hear your season is ending. But what a haul you got! I know my plants are coming down with some increasingly faster developing leaf spots (septoria or bacterial spot... probably septoria..) and I haven't fungicide at all this year. I just sprayed them once with copper for the first time, but am exerting minimal effort at this point, and imagine they will look like yours come a month... and that's fine! It's been a great year, and I am fully stocked for winter :)
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wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Wow I love that Rio Grande! So beautiful!

I did get a great haul, more than I can handle really, and because of my injury I'm not sad about having less garden duties. I believe I saw you say, Peter, that you were too tired to do a fall garden. I feel the same way! I had such plans... but it just isn't the right time. Annoying since overwintering greens is so great here. I was looking forward to both a fall and spring harvest from planting now. But, I just can't do it.

Okay I really must get in the kitchen now!!

Jenn
Jennie Sims
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
So glad you are back.

Jennie
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Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
I did wind up planting some Fall stuff, but small scale... and I am taking it very casually, no stress... Maybe plant just a small green patch if you are feeling up to it?
lindalana 5b Chicago
8 years ago
Planted new cukes and zukes in the bed that cleared after potatoes. Potatoes were decent this year and they are so easy that I will cut on tomato bed at community gardens and get second bed of potatoes next year.

Also planted some carrots as they they were superb this year. Fall lettuce too.

My tomato season is getting close to the end and I have canned like crazy. Have met my needs and then some.
wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
Awww, it's really nice to hear from all of you. I made stuffed cabbage rolls last night with my sauce. It was AMAZING!!!

Jennie - I did see some taste tests you did - really good info. But how about some pictures? How is your garden?

lindalana - I have seen your amazing harvest on some other threads! I understand being busy in the kitchen. I want to eat with you this winter1

Peter - maybe I will throw a few seeds in but I've got so much cleanup to do it's doubtful.

PC - sorry to hear your health has been so compromised this summer :( I do hope you are feeling better!

Here's a few more photos. Here's the counter this morning. Somehow it looks like less in this picture. it sure looks like a lot in person!

Momotaros

They throw different shapes.... some are almost like little Romas, others perfectly round, others...?

My pretties

Cherokee Purple, Big Rainbow, Mortgage Lifter.

Dried cherry tomatoes. I should start more today.

Gold Nugget plant. It rained one day and this plant took it really, really hard. It was barely diseased but somehow it wasn't used to the rain???

A couple examples of what happened to my plants. See how it's fine and green and then the branch just withers at the end?

This branch is green but every leaf coming off of it is withered and crispy! In some cases the leaves actually turned black. Anyone know what got me?

Okay now I'm REALLY off to make sauce...

Jenn
Jennie Sims
8 years ago
Hi Jenn, I have a very similar disease on my Cherokee Purples. It almost looks like drought damage but isn't. Most of my plants are on their last legs. This has been such a hot summer, I have done the minimal amount possible. I haven't used a fungicide since June and most plants have some form of early blight or the mystery disease that you have. But I am still getting tons of tomatoes. I have had more production this year than I have ever had, so I can't complain. Do you have a dehydrator? If so what kind? Thanks.

Jennie
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wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Hi Jennie. I also did the minimal amount because of my knee. I really bit off more than I could chew this year. It would have been overwhelming even without an injury. My neighbor and I were noticing the in-ground shaded plants are fine, but everything in a container has been suffering in the heat.

Well, I've been out in the garden this morning. And although I didn't necessarily set out to do this, I'm in the middle of pulling all the tomatoes in the south garden. I tried to keep some going by cleaning up the bad branches, but in some
cases there was nothing left on the plant but the fruit! So, I just picked all the large tomatoes green, and decided to just let them ripen indoors rather than sit outside getting sunscald on the rotting vines. I'm going away for a week, leaving my neighbor to water, so I'm trying to do some garden cleanup before I go. No sense in putting effort into these plants or making my neighbor wonder if they need attention.

The east garden - the SunGold and Suncherry might be salvagable -- we'll get to that later.

I do have a dehydrator, it's a Nesco, and it has adjustable temperature. It is the round kind and it's fairly inexpensive. It was a gift but I think it was purchased around town. It works well enough, but if I was super serious, I would get this:

http://smile.amazon.com/Excalibur-3926TB-Food-Dehydrator-Black/dp/B008OV4FD0/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1439678075&sr=1-1

and this accessory

http://smile.amazon.com/Set-Excalibur-ParaFlexx-Re-usable-Non-stick/dp/B00RM1QSWE/ref=sr_1_7?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1439678193&sr=1-7

The cool thing about the box dehydrators is you can remove the trays and use them to make yogurt or kiefer in your own jars, or use them as a proofing oven, or to sprout grains. If you're into any of that stuff :)

Have you made anything with your tomatoes Jennie? I did make tomato jam yesterday and it's delicious. Sauce still needs to be cooked down more. The OXO food mill I bought worked great!

Jenn
lindalana 5b Chicago
8 years ago
Ha, PC, Alpha chemicals are my favorites too. I was just browsing, am thinking due to my community gardens troubles this year I will just start next season with 1- 2 lbs of ammonium sulfate.

Jennie, I too have el cheapo dehydrator, hmm, maybe Nesco. Anyway for small jobs it works just fine.
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Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
This is the one I have: https://www.google.com/shopping/product/10684024847137868786?biw=1463&bih=685&output=search&q=nesco+fd-61+dehydrator&oq=nesco+fd-61+dehydrator&prds=paur:ClkAsKraX1cxdOf5heNOSJmNJduuw4E7O-44LqRV_sR04ggkIekCodQrk4hsahvpobbZOpM4FXYOs6fd_OQEZTlrXW61WL9_mQlqT4QiJAqmum78QBPgx2nnIhIZAFPVH73oicVae3-iuZ4LmtwvlR6lCJiV-w&ved=0CAUQpitqFQoTCOnX3r2nrMcCFYg8PgodqkYKvw&ei=NNTPVentBIj5-AGqjan4Cw

It seems to work well enough for casual use....
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Jennie Sims
8 years ago
I don"t think I want to spend $200 on a dehydrator. The kitchen store I used to work at had a waring pro. My mystery tomato is so good and small enough that I would like to dehydrate that as it is so productive, Jenn, I saved seeds and you need some. First fruits early June, saledette size, great tomatoee taste. We love this little tomato. I think I would only use this for tomatoes. The nesco looks good for my use.

Jennie
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wormgirl_8a_WA
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Well then - head on down to Wal Mart, Target, or wherever is convenient and pick one up! They work perfectly well, and you can get one faster. I do recommend that at some point, you just try drying any good fruit you like - apples, peaches, pears. Your own dried fruit is incredibly tasty! We pureed and strained blackberries once, and made fruit leather (it usually comes with a tray for that) and it was amazing! I tried doing veggies for soup mix once - carrots onions and celery. Onions, don't do those indoors! Smelled like onions for 2 days. I probably wouldn't do veggies again, but the fruit is outstanding. I really should use the thing more! Oh, and it is wonderful for herbs when you have lots, to dry a bit for winter. Someday, I want to try jerky.

I will PM you my address for the seeds... I wonder if I have any seeds you want... tomato or otherwise?
hudson___wy
8 years ago
Update: Our outside Celebrity Tomato plants did better than we ever expected them to - with protection. Will we do it again - no. If we didn't have a GH I am sure we would - but in Wyoming only the early varieties have a chance to ripen and they lack in taste when compared with our GH varieties. It was fun to try though and it is amazing what can be grown with protection in a cold climate!
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
The thrill is gone, babe' !

September cool weather combined with rain , drizzle high humidity taking its toll on my garden. Grey mold has become unstoppable. That is the way of life here. I have been harvesting for about 2 months. That is short harvest window. .Don't let zone 7b/8a fool you.. We are worse than zone 5 right now. .

My KB has not produced a single ripe yet. Zap !

Sey