Hot Spot - August 2015
aegis1000
8 years ago
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begonia2015
8 years agoterrilou
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Comments (67)Well we are starting to get into our late summer weather pattern where it can be cool one day and scorching the next. We had a cold front push through last night and brought a good rain to my area. today we are having what I call a "california day" 60's in the morning and mid 80's during the day. Ive never been to CA but I imagine thats what its like, LOL The next 7 days are forecasted to be like this. Its such a welcome relief but also a reminder that I need to get the greenhouse ready and start making plans for overwintering. Our first frost isnt until October so I have time. Our weather here can be so crazy that it made me think of a few things. Those who live or lived here may relate and those who may visit might take this advice. You really have to be like a boy scout to live here. In the middle of winter we will have days in the 80's and then the next day it can snow 6-8 inches. The opposite is also true, snow in the morning and mid 50's to 60's by afternoon. In the summer it will get to 110 and the next morning it can be in the 60's. I have left for work in the morning and it was colder by 20-30 degrees when i left in the afternoon. anyways it keeps you on you toes. Mike...See MoreAugust 2015 blooms
Comments (127)Usually the flowers take a couple days to weeks to open/develop. They look really neat just before blooming! Will see if I can dig up a photo of mine later. I don't think these tend to smell? Mine never did at least! Not sure if you can self-pollinate, but the flowers are designed quite cleverly. The coronal structure makes pollination quite difficult unless you are a fly. I remember some papers talking about how to do it, but it's nothing like using a toothpick or cotton swab. Look carefully at the flower structure and you'll understand. =)...See MoreUMass Extension Landscape Message August 21, 2015
Comments (0)Landscape Message: Aug 21, 2015 From the Berkshire Region (Great Barrington) report by Ron Kujawski, Horticultural Consultant, reporting from Great Barrington.: "General Conditions: We finally hit classic summer 3-H weather, i.e. hazy, hot, and humid…or, hotter than the hinges of Hades. Under such conditions, outdoor workers are at risk of heat stress which can lead to heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Green industry workers should become familiar with methods to prevent heat stress as well as the symptoms of heat related illness and the first aid measures for treating such illnesses. Detailed information on heat stress can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress/."...See More2015 Tomato Report From My Oklahoma Garden
Comments (7)The 2015 season was a different one for me this year. This is the 6th year I've grown tomatoes in my little backyard here in Tulsa. The first 4 years, I only grew in containers. For the 2014 season, I built two 4' X 10' raised beds, and also had a couple of containers. But I switched from 18 gal. plastic containers to 20 gal. Smart Pots. My strategy from my first year was to mostly grow one plant of 12-15 different varieties to try as many different ones as I could. 2015 was different for me in a couple of ways. First, I started growing from seed. And second, I decided to grow tomatoes that I already knew I liked, and to grow 2 plants each. I started seeds for Brandy Boy, Big Beef, Black Cherry, Yellow 1884 Pinkheart, Jaune Flamme, Break O'Day, and what I thought was Sun Sugar, and Super Sweet 100. Those last 2 ended up not being true to seed. I was bummed about this, as Sun Sugar is my favorite. Whatever seed I got that was supposed to be Sun Sugar was a small red cherry instead. It was decent, but not Sun Sugar. Whatever was supposed to be Super Sweet 100 seed, was instead a golf ball size red that was mealy and bland all season. I started my seeds on Feb. 14, and they did fantastic. I moved them out to my "temporary" greenhouse (8' x 8') around March 10. By the time I planted on April 8, most of my plants were 18-24" tall and thriving. I planted a little early for Tulsa. It helps being a Meteorologist and knowing what the likely weather will be for the next couple of weeks. ;-) My plants were thriving until the rains came......and came.....and came some more. We didn't have it as bad as Dawn did down south, but we still had way too much. I started getting the first ripening fruit on a few of them the week before Memorial Day. Jaune Flamme, Break O'Day and Yellow 1884 were the first to ripen. The other varieties started ripening the next week. All of the fruit that ripened before June 6th or so were very watery. We had that dry spell during the first couple of weeks of June, and that helped a lot. I also tried a little experiment with my cherries this year. I said I had 2 plants of all of my varieties, so I decided to do one of each cherry in the raised bed and one in a Smart Pot to see if there was a difference in taste. I can report that there was not a significant difference in taste for Black Cherry, not-Sun Sugar, and not-Super Sweet 100. They all tasted the same whether from the Smart pot or the bed. The only difference in the cherries was the Black Cherry in the Smart Pot succumbed to Gray Mold about 3 weeks quicker than the one in the raised bed. Like I'm sure most of you experienced, the disease pressure was much higher this year than normal, due to the heavy rain. I normally get Gray Mold on any of the Blacks I've tried. And I usually eventually get Early Blight to some degree on all the others. It was quite a bit faster this year. And to top it all off, around July 4th, my neighbor behind me decided to use Round Up all over his backyard to kill his bermuda and do some landscaping. My tomato plants did not like this one bit. They all died within a week. I was pretty mad at first, but luckily, they were mostly played out by then. So the loses weren't too bad. I didn't have too many fruit left. It would have been a different story if it was June 4, instead. I guess that's the risk you take when you garden in the middle of town. BRANDY BOY - This one was my only new variety. These did well overall, but I probably will not grow again. I know this sounds crazy, but I'm just not a huge fan of the Brandywine taste. Call me crazy, I know. I grew a Brandywine back in 2012 in a container and they all tasted watery and bland to me. And it got Early Blight quicker than others that year. On a whim, I decided to try Brandy Boy this year in the bed. Both plants produced about 20 good-sized beefsteaks. I still just wasn't crazy about the taste. If you like Brandywine, these may be worth a try. Definitely had better disease resistance than Brandywine, at least in my case. BIG BEEF - These did great for me, and I plan to always grow this one. The taste isn't "knock your socks off", but it's very good for a hybrid. And they produce like crazy. This was my second year growing it. Every year, each plant has pumped out at least 35 fruit. Most were in the 8-16 oz. range. And for what it's worth, these 2 plants were the last to die from the Round Up accident. BREAK O'DAY - This variety is probably my favorite pink. There's something about the "zing" in the flavor that my wife and I both really like. I've grown this one all 6 years and will continue. It's a little bit smaller plant (4'), but it pumps out the tomatoes. I've always had at least 30 from every plant. In 2012, I got over 60 from one plant before it finally gave out. BLACK CHERRY - Another staple that I've grown every year. I love this cherry tomato. Not much to say about this one. It's a very popular tomato, and it always lives up to its reputation for me. The only negative about these is they are susceptible to Gray Mold, typical for Black Tomatoes. I had hundreds of fruit from each plant before they died. Both plants were huge, as usual. YELLOW 1884 PINKHEART - This is a creation from The Tomatoman here in Tulsa, and I think it is only available through The Tomatoman's Daughter. It's another tomato that I grow every year. It typically produces 8-16 oz. yellow beefsteaks with pink in the middle when fully ripe. This is my favorite beefsteak. It's flavor is hard to describe, maybe creamy-sweet, almost buttery. I know it sounds weird, but it is oh so good. Every person I've given one to has commented on how good it tastes. The first few this year were watery, but after that, they were fantastic. I got about 25 from each plant. I had 2 huge fruit this year, too, which was new. One was 21.9 oz. and another was 20.7. Lisa (the Tomatoman's Daughter) said she'd never heard of ones that big. JAUNE FLAMME - This one is an orange, golf ball size tomato that is very juicy, sweet and tangy. I've grown this one every year. When I grew them in containers, they had quite a bit of blossom end rot. I haven't had that problem in the raised beds. These are early and very productive. I lost count on these this year, but I think each plant produced at least 75. I'm not going to go into the not-Sun Sugar and not-Super Sweet 100. I took a chance and ordered the not-Sun Sugar seed from Amazon. That was a mistake that I will not make again. The not-Super Sweet 100 seed actually came from Burpee. They emailed me about a month ago saying there was a mistake in their production of Super Sweet 100 seeds this year, and offered to send me new seeds early next year. I'll give those another try, but will likely not order from them again. I've got a Black Cherry, 4th of July OP, Jaune Flamme, Green Zebra, Break O'Day, Yellow 1884 PH, and Johnny Joe's going in the garden for Fall. I planted out on July 10. I've already had a couple ripen, and have several fruit growing on all of them. I had worms really bad on these in late July. I sprayed a couple of rounds of Bt, and haven't seen any since. Hopefully I'll get some good production before our first freeze. So overall, it was a decent year. It wasn't my best year for sure, but I guess it could have been worse. The rain was too much and lead to more disease than normal. And the Round Up incident lead to a premature end to my season. But I grew from seed for the first time this year, and successfully, I might add. So I'm going to say this season was a success. I look forward to seeing other reports, too. Lee...See Morequimoi
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agobegonia2015
8 years agoterrilou
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agofortyseven_gw
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agofortyseven_gw
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agofortyseven_gw
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoquimoi
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agofortyseven_gw
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agoaegis1000
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agoRosie1949
8 years agoMarianne
8 years agoGailie_Marie
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoaegis1000
8 years agoquimoi
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoRosie1949
8 years ago
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