Kirk,
I really liked Sophie, too. I have three seedling going in my Florida room right now. I don't know what the problem could be with NBD. Last spring was the only time I have grown it and my plant was loaded. That's where the seeds I sent to you came from.

I picked all the tomatoes that were showing color today. Most of my plants are on the way out, anyway, so I am not too upset about the cold. I covered a couple of dwarf plants that still looked fairly healthy and had green ones left on them. I just heard something about wind chill in the teens here. It's been awhile since we have seen temps as cold as predicted.
____
Marjorie

hey marge

It must be the cooler weather causing the NBD blossoms to be dropping.Out of four plants i only had 2 fruit set when i left out on 27th.All 4 plants look pretty healthy to.They were all started early part of october and i have had them in florida room about 7 weeks now.The last month its been down in the 50s and low 60s most nights,that might just be a little to cool for good fruit set.

Marge did you start any to grow thru the winter and are they setting fruit.If i remember you started some about the time i did.

Hey folks,

Just back from vacation and here's a major cold snap - should be mid to upper 30's here in Miami. Hopefully, the wind will be up and keep the frost away - that's what they're saying.

I picked about 20 ripe fruit today, not counting cherrys. Here's a few pics:

Aunt Gerties Gold; then, a Giant Belgian; last, a Chapman on one of the tylcv-infected plants.

Flip

Kirk,

I started one, but I only got one tomato from it before it died.

I had it in a self-watering pot that doesn't have an overflow. It got soaked in a rainstorm when I wasn't home to move the pot. I know that Carolyn says they like wet feet, but I think it was a little TOO WET for the plant. I am going to drill a hole in that pot before I use it again. It is one I got from Gardener's Supply. I think they redesigned the pot and took out the overflow. Bad idea, if you ask me.

I started seedlings just before Christmas. I am having a major germination failure for some reason. I started a second set Wednesday. I will probably end up with more than I can give away when the first batch decides to wake up. I already have too many Cheeky F3 seedlings going. Most of them were started early in December. With my luck, we are in for a colder than usual winter and I will have to keep them in small pots until late February.
___
Marjorie

I know that Carolyn says they like wet feet

*****

Me Carolyn?

I ask b'c I think you're referring to NBD and I've never grown it so really have no idea what it might prefer.

Actually I can't remember saying that any variety likes wet feet, except for maybe Sophie's Choice. But not that much moisture, just need to make sure it doesn't get too dry if growing in pots.

if plants are waterlogged, no matter how they're grown, it's not good b/c no oxygen can get to the plant and nutrient uptake is compromised as well.

weather
 

I feel like i'm back in Michigan, minus the snow!!!!!!! It's COLD OUT SIDE!!!!!!! 27 here in Lithia at 6 am this morning!!!! We had just got the pipe frame and plastic of the 20 x 45 ft green house up late Monday night and the the wind took it back down early tuesday morning along with the plastic,so back to square 1,it is laying almost flat on the ground with about 70 tomato plants underneath it!!!!!!! My hubby at least tried but with being on call he kept getting called away and just ran out of time to do it right before the wind arrived. At least it's out there,we can redo it,at least he made an effort,I'm trying to remind myself what really matters here. The plants survived,they are covered,the plastic is in tact,the frame is not broke,life goes on. Later part of this week with out these high gust of wind and i'm going to be ready and my hubby will be off call for a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've held off by 3 weeks planting because he told me he bought me the green house for christmas/anniversary present ,so i'm behind now!!!! I guess just start plants inside as first planned and then when the greenhouse is up and secure take them out to it. I just bought a new book on organic greenhouse growing in Florida,got it in the mail yesterday anyone read, "SECRETS TO A SUCCESSFUL GREENHOUSE AND BUSINESS ",BY T.M. TAYLOR??? Has some good info in it so far,my main concern is bugs being organic. He talks about that, has a lot of tables on when to start,transplant and end harvest,on a 3 crop season here in Florida. I still can't belive this weather:no: :no: We moved here because i have to live in Sun and go swim in salt water,sure,i'll jump right in this morning!!!!! :twisted: :twisted: Well thats it,i've vented,now to go do somthing good today:D Happy gardening everyone,just as soon as our sun comes back:? which they say will be by this weekend:?!?: :?!?: ??? I wonder for how long?? I'm going to go check my seedlings I did get started ,give them their fertilizer for the week and keep busy!!! School starts back up today so that won't be hard;) :yes: :yes:

Carolyn,

I was talking about Sophie's Choice; I just reread Kirk's note and realized he was talking about NBD. Sorry for the confusion. I have 2 NBDs started for spring but I didn't grow any in the fall. I think I read about the "wet feet" for Sophie's Choice in your book. The plant wasn't doing as well as the one I had in the spring before it got waterlogged so I decided not to guess where to drill a hole for overflow. Our October was hotter than normal this year and that seemed to effect fruit set on a lot of my plants. I didn't get as many this fall as I did last fall.
___
Marjorie

crop damage
 

Hi Florida growers, how did everyone else turn out??
Anne,do you have any tomato's left?? I lost almost all of mine even covered they froze:x My poor hibiscus plants are about half froze:( :surprised: ,cabbages came out fine,mustard is great ,lavender and rosemary's ,roses,germanders and thymes,even the nasturtums came out good:D My garlic and chives all made it but the banana trees leaves even covered look frozen.I can't belive of all things that the eggplants -my 3' in 3 gallon pots right beside the tomato's are fine:surprised: Go figure,i thought those would have froze for sure over the tomato's that we're packed in straw,in a hot bed,covered in plastic!!!! My hubby thinks it's because when the green house went down the plastic touched them for a while mabie??There was 5 gallon buckets in there so they could not get touched to close!! So what do you Florida growers do?Cut the plants(hibiscus )back or leave them alone and fertilize at the end of the month? The tomato's i'm pulling and starting over,was just getting beautiful tomato crops off of them:x :x My fault for not getting the green house up in time but i'm not gifted at construction thats my hubbies job so I did the best i knew how.So much for o,we have not been this cold in 32 years" ,thats what everyone said last year.Are these normal winters for here?? I knew it got cold here in January but the internet search we did for weather info before we moved here did not have this low of temps on their charts for the last 20 years,did they have it wrong? is this normal??:?!?:

thats a bummer gardenhappy.If you have any tomato plants that made it you might try to take some cuttings,if not maybe check some garden centers for some plants.you still got time to get some fruit before the temps get to hot down there.

We are fine, and I am so sorry. I would second the capt's recommendations, save what you can, and a cutting is better than a seed start.

No this is not typical, and yes what you read concerning history is correct.

But, momma nature has her own agenda. Right now I am nursing myself and only just put back out some seedlings I should have planted last week.

Oh well, persevere and hope for the best. I am guessing that the strawberries in your area were affected as well?

WOW-sorry to hear about the cold temps!!!!We in Puerto Rico have had some cold also--it went down to 67 deg. the other night --people with hooded sweats and gloves--nothing like what you folks are having!!!My toms are coming in just fine--by the way from my 50 plus years of growing them-- the rule was they like a lot of water BUT DON'T LIKE WET FEET--my 2 cents

crop damage
 

The fields about a half mile away are o.k.,people near and around us tho lost almost everything,my hubby came home tonight saying his work friends we're the same as us total loss to almost all lost.The problem with not starting seeds and buying are variety,i don't want to lose the types of heirlooms i have:x :twisted: :x !!!!! I love good flavor and don't tend to find it at the store plants!!!! I already began seeding today and will at least try to grow all my own,we are planning some things for this hot summer,ever hear of cooling beds?? If we can have hot beds why not cooling areas?? I'm going to try some things this summer,for now anyone that ever tells me Florida does not need radiant heat:x :x ,does not know what they are talking about:shock: we are not so crazy after all,can't know ti:yes: ll you expirence things but we will be doing some radiant heat in the green house and I'm going to look into cooling beds this summer even if we have to invent them!! This was a huge loss for alot of people and i guess i don't understand why people are willing to lose this much that have lived here for so long,In Michigan you prepare for this weather,in Florida you have 2 extemes cold/hot,there has to be a way to control some of this,shade cloths and ventilation,but i wonder about running cool water thru pipes under neath plants,like we have done in Michigan with heat thru pipes for cold,and cold well water in the summer thru pipes instead of AC for our earth berm house,it seems like this could be done in greenhouse/cold frame areas for heat and the reverse for cold.Have to talk it out with the hubby he's a guru in this area;) In the mean time I'll see about cuttings thats a good Idea,and still keep planting away,feed them well,pray over them, and try to beat the heat:yes: :yes: Learning and gaining knowledge in the mean time,happy gardening Florida,garden happy (STILL):lol: :lol:

Well i got home today and looks like the frost got all the ones i had outside.My neighbor covered a few of the healthier ones but it just got to cold for the sheets to do any good.Now its time to get them cleaned up and pots ready for the next round.

Marge you wass right about the sungolds not germinating to well,think i put 4 seeds in the starter tray hoping for 1 plant so far none have germinated.

My newbigdwarfs are doing a little better on the fruit set and sophieschoice is still setting fruit well.If SC is good to my taste i will be growing them again in the fall and winter.Ihave 3 of these in one 2 gallon pot and they all seem to be doing great.

Kirk,

I got more Sun Gold seeds after I sent those to you. The new ones germinated fine. I also planted a couple from the old pack and nothing. Germination was bad on that pack of seeds from the beginning. I would suggest planting most of what I sent to you. If nothing decides to grow, I can send you a few of the new ones. Sun Gold is fast growing, the first thing that ripened last spring, so you can be a little behind on them.

____
Marjorie

Hi all,
Made it thru the cold snap with minimal damage - just some wind/cold burned foilage. Actually, I'm glad the wind was up as it kept the frosty stuff away. I trimmed back all of the vines and they're looking fairly decent again.

Started to harvest some nice fruits (besides the cherrys) - many Red Brandywine, and several German Red Strawberrys, Dr Lyle, and Chapman. Other plants that have given their first ripe fruits up are Tidwell German, Russian Bogatyr, Sudduth Brandywine and Giant Belgian.

Here's a pic of a nice Dr Lyle.

Flip