Just make sure they don't dry out and wilt too much, and if the temps are in the high 80s, to 90s they wont set very much anyway. When the temps are 68F Night and 78F or lower Day, this is the near perfect ideal temps for flowers to form and set. Note: If you have a bunch of flowers develop in a period of bad heat or during a bad nutrient deficiency, chances are they wont set very well when it comes time to blooming. If that's the case, you will have to wait for that batch of flowers to drop and wait for the next batch to develop and bloom before you get any decent setting. For example, I had some C. Chinense's growing indoors under VERY hot conditions, and when I placed them outside under perfect ideal temps, they would not set AT ALL for a week or more, that is until all the old flowers bloomed and dropped and a whole new set of flowers grew and developed *outside* under the ideal conditions. Hope that helps :)

"So you are saying that Early Girl is a hybrid, (yes I just checked, its called Early Girl VFF Hybrid #2783) and one of the parents of the type I bought is a potato leaf?" ---------------------------------------------------------- Yes, one of the parent lines of Early Girl and Early Girl Improved is potato leafed (PL). Like you, I have found PL seedlings in plants I have started from Early Girl Improved seeds bought from commercial vendors in sealed packages bought from racks like Burpee, Northrup King, Ferry Morse, etc. All that means to me is that someone in some Southeast Asian seed production plantation mistakenly picked one of the tomatoes from a PL parent plant that had not been cross pollinated by the RL parent line and those pure line PL seeds got mixed into the whole batch of properly harvested F1 seeds. I've also found PL seedlings in Early Girl plants started at commercial greenhouses and set out for sale. This too is rare, but when I examined all the plants at this one particular nursery, no a single other variety the man has started was a PL variety. I confirmed this with the owner. I have also grown PSR-37, which Peters Seed Research absolutely described as an open pollinated derivation of the old Early Girl (prior to Early Girl Improved) and said it should be stable for PL and it was. All of these tomatoes that were PL were similar or nearly identical in all respects to one another by comparison. The fruit all was small to medium, red, pointed at the blossom end and zingy/sweet with no depth of flavor. I'd compare them to Bloody Butcher, Matina, Tamina, and those kind of Western European, PL, early season, open pollinated varieties that are popular here in the states for early tomatoes. Here is a picture of one of the faux Early Girl (PLs) side-by-side with Early Girl Improved. The tomato on the right is Early Girl Improved with its leaf shape and the tomato on the right is one of what I consider to be from stray seed of one of the Early Girl parents. Again, this one on the left is typical of what I got on two occasions as mistaken EG, what I got when I grew out Early Girl Improved F2 seeds (25% of the total), and what PSR-37 looks like. Oh there may be some minor differences in the fruit as some are more pointy than others; but that could be climatic conditions too. And again, I consider these rare stray PL plants from seed packs or in nursery flats to be the result of sloppy seed harvesting at the breeding fields. Nothing to get excited about unless you, unlike me, find something outrageously delicious.

Hi Caroline, Thanks for the reply. This is the first and only "Hillbilly" I've grown, so my statistical sampling "couldn't be worse." Well, I suppose "zero" would be worse. Then I'd be making it all up, wouldn't I! The weak petiole is most startling in this plant, and I'm wondering if you've ever noticed that. I like the plant for all other reasons... with the biggest reason (tasty tomatoes) still pending. I've got abundant green toms, to my delight. As you've no doubt discerned from my occasional other postings to this forum, heirloom yield has long been a problem here for me. Notable exception to that rule came with Crnkovic Yugoslovian... some years ago. So I'm delighted with any heirloom that gives me fruit, and this year I'm going at it big-time in my small-time suburban backyard. Each plant is in a 10-gal pot, all lined up where they get the maximum solar exposure... a new configuration for me. (Shadows are a problem considering the tallness of neighbors' trees, tall perimeter block walls, and my two-story house.) Considering that Hillbilly Potato Leaf is comparatively high-yield, I'm hoping it's worth its weight in moonshine flavorwise. Then I'll keep seeds and multiply the process next year. I prefer potato leaf varieties not for disease-resistance (not a problem here in this rainless climate) but because PL is recessive and it's easy for me to spot an interloper in my seedling production efforts. That said, I know which fruits on my small garden are assuredly self-pollinated, and will save seeds only from them. I never see honeybees at work on my backyard toms, though I have incessant bee activity with my colossal rose bushes, which are about a dozen in number in my front yard. Maybe bees don't like toms or maybe my bees just get enough pollen from my roses. I suppose your comments on whether bees like toms would be helpful. You've told me before that toms don't need insects to pollinate. Still I suspect otherwise with the elongated-pistil anatomies exhibited by almost all heirlooms I've observed. Our big black carpenter bees somehow work (ever-so briefly) the tomato flowers, however. (I observe this commonly at our massive public garden, 1 1/2 miles from my home.) These ungainly bumblebees briefly dangle unside down from large tom flowers, and seem to suck something from the pistil, for a mere second. Then the insect flits off to another flower and repeats, over and over again. The tom yields at the big public garden are higher, but hybrids predominate there. I have some heirlooms in my 20'x 30' plot there, still coming up. My hybrids ("Big Beef" etc.) are indeed vigorous, big, and loaded with green fruit. My heirlooms are doing well but trail given their later plantings. This will be a good year and so I'll be able to make some comparative comments about yield... assuming our admirable mild weather persists for a few more weeks. I've had lousy yield results since 2001 (ever since my mom-in-law died) until this year. Maybe she is looking over my garden this year. I used to provide her with numerous tasty toms... especially appreicated given her infirmed body... but still-viable taste buds. By the way, my Stupice (that Czech heirloom) plant has produced numerous tasty cherry-sized tomatoes. The flowers have short-pistils, like most hybrids, and the yield has been correspondingly high. None of these potted plants gets big, like ones planted in terra firma. So my comments about "high yield" are qualified by that overriding fact. Thanks for staying in touch. Best regards, John

~~~ and increased blossom drop and BER problems. In fact many commercial growers do what is called dry farming for those reasons. ~~~ Hmmm. This is one of those "takes all kinds" moments. I am finding that younger plants (or could it be cooler temps?) do suffer BER more when more moist but the plants are growing so, I can't deprive them of it too much. Older plants, seem to get it more if allowed to dry out too much. I also find that heavy fruit setters, excluding cherrys, are more suseptable as are unpruned plants and those in smallish containers. This yr. only plants in 8gal and smaller have suffered BER so far with 2 exceptions. One German Queen (she was finiky last yr too but the taste, Oh my!) tom in a 2 cubic ft. container and for the first time I remember I had to toss a half doz from one inground plant, Health Kick. Health Kick is in my "gorilla site" and virtually ignored ... no pruining, almost no suplemental water or feed. As to the prunng, I've just about convinced myself and will be sharing some photos that show that moderate amounts of pruning are beneficial if you want early fruits. Purdue has already shown a size increace. No, its not a lab grade test. Some of it you'll have to take my word and some extrapolation made. Numbers are not in question, pruning reduces numbers but to me, even though less flavorful than those when the heat comes, early tomatoes are valuable.