Florida Growers Thread
 

Thought id start a thread here for Fl growers to post what tomatos and other veggies they have had success with and ones that didnt do so well.Beings im a beginner at this,i dont have alot of info to share yet,but hoping to change that soon.I have a few mater plants i started from seed and a few i bought growing now.some have blooms but no fruit set yet.Anybody else got fall maters out now?

Most of my plants have 2 sets of blossoms. Can't see any little tomatoes yet, but I think that some of them have set.

I am growing.:
Manasota
Chi Quita
Heaven's Joy
Prudens Purple
Florida Winter
Earl's Faux
Heart Brandywine
Black Krim
Sungold
New Big Dwarf
Stupice
Citron Compact
6 Cheeky F2 dwarfs
and two that are supposed to have resistance to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl virus: Inbar and Polina

I pulled one plant today that I was afraid was showing early signs of the virus. It was my personal Mystery that I found last year in a commercial pack of Homestead seeds.

Last fall, the virus showed up in all of the plants that I had planted in early August. The last ones that I planted out in September never got it. I assumed that the whiteflies must have left my backyard in search of other types of plants. I cleared things earlier and waited later to plant this year, hoping to cut down on the spread of the virus. We will have to wait and see if it starts showing up everywhere.

I really hate this virus. It seems to be more infectious than some of the others people talk about. Every one of my spring plants had it by the time I pulled everything. It seems to be better to get it in older plants, though, because tomatoes that have set before the infection will ripen close to normal. But once the plant is infected, it will set very few tomatoes and they will be small.

Captnkirk, I hope you don't have this virus in your area.
______
Marjorie

Thanks for posting marjorie.How long you been growing maters in florida?Do you have better luck in spring or fall.Sounds like it can be quite a challenge getting a good harvest in either.The plants i bought from walmart ,HEATWAVE,SUMASTER,RED BEEFSTEAK,and RUTGERS all were pretty far along and all have blossoms now.The plants i started from seed BEEFSTEAK,SUPER MARMANDE,RUTGERS,and TINY TIM are pretty small yet.Im not sure if TYLCV is a problem in my area or not although i suspect it probably is.I live about 35 miles north east of Tampa which really isnt to far from you.

I am a Florida native and grew up in South Lake County (Clermont). I have lived in Titusville and Pensacola, and have been in Sarasota for about 20 years.

This is my second fall growing tomatoes. I work at a newspaper and had to buy a couple of plants for a photo shoot 2 years ago. I couldn't just kill them when the shoot was over, so I planted them in self-watering pots from Wal-mart. The two plants became about 6 before the season was over. One of them started looking funny and I started researching the problem. That was my first experience with TYLC.

Sarasota County was one of the first places that it showed up in the '90s. Manatee and Sarasota counties are historically heavy areas for commercial tomato production, so I expect a lot of diseases are well-established here. The seeds for the two resistant varieties I am growing now came from someone from Winter Park who had the virus for the first time in the spring. He got seeds from Hazera Seed Co. for a number of resistant varieties and shared them with people on Garden Web who have had experience with the virus.

I found Tomatoville and Garden Web during my research. I had no idea there were so many kinds of tomatoes; that got me hooked. This past spring was my most successful, so far. I was giving tomatoes away to neighbors and friends at work. I didn't start seeing the virus until about mid-May. My plants were well established by then with lots of tomatoes on them.

Fall is probably going to be tougher because the virus will be attacking younger plants.

I am starting most of my plants from seeds now and have gotten so successful at it that I am giving away plants to anyone who will take them. Most of my friends who are growing my plants haven't had the virus yet, so I guess it is just the luck of the draw.

____
Marjorie

captnkirk,
from captbobs--here in Puerto Rico I am sure we have the same hot humid problems you have!!!After 15 years I would love to have something other than the cardboard we can get in the market--I have tried so many over the years--I have put up sunscreens-nothing seems to work--heatwave-solar set sunmaster-sunfire-and on and on !!!seems ch-purp.-ark-trav-bl-krim-do as well as the so called hot weather ones !!yes- in oct-nov I can plant anything--and it will thrive !!! would love to find one that will work in our summer---92 tops in the day -85 at night--its the night 85 that seems to kill them !!

I got hooked the same way.I grew up in missour and allways loved home grown maters.Ever since i moved to fl seems even the maters at the produce stands are not nearly as tasty as i was used to in missouri.I have a freind who lives in ky that grows alot of plants every year,and i stop by there every year and bring a bunch of them home to give to the neighbors.He has a place in fl next to me where he spends the winter so he likes me bringing his maters down to give to all his buddies.When i 1st found this site and the other i was like you ,amazed at all the other different varieties. I guess theres not much you can do to prevent the tylcv and once they have it theres no getting rid of it.

captbob are you able to grow a early spring crop and get maters b4 it gets to hot or are you just able to grow the 1 fall crop?

captnkirk-yes I can grow a spring crop up to may-june--this year for some reason I had one plant give me maters this summer--I don't know what it is--as it came up in the garden after I turned it over--a bunch came up -but only one gave me maters--I now have seedlings up a couple inches-- it's to early--but I try every year---I will keep you posted on how each does !!

marge i was looking through some of your post on other threads and your description of TYLCV has me assured now that i do indeed have it in my area.I pulled a plant that i had got at walmart that im sure had it. Allso your harvest pic on may 4th was amazing,really gives me some extra exitement bout being able to grow some nice looking maters in florida.Keep us updated on your maters progress im thinking you are gonna be a big help on my tomato adventure. lol

captbob thats not so bad just use july and august to get your fall crop started good.Sungold might be a good one for you to try in the spring that might make it through most of the summer from what other florida growers have posted in other threads.

I'm in South Broward county, and I am still picking Sungolds from my two plants at the rate of 2/3 pints every 2/3 days. They were planted in March, and are still blooming and setting fruit! They just seem to love the heat.

The virus got 3 of 6 Opalkas late in the Spring, but the others are fine. Odd, it was like every other Opalka in the row got it.

About a month ago I set out:

Kellogg's Breakfast
Cherokee Purple
Black Sea Man
More Opalka
Heinz (not doing so well)

Last weekend I set out 8 week old:

Earl's Faux
Marianna's Peace
Gardener's Delight

This weekend:

Black Cherry
Silvery Fir Tree (not doing so well)
Constoluto Genovese

The white flies are still out and about, so keeping my fingers crossed. There is an empty lot next door, so there is only so much and I do about them and other pests.

Annecros are your opalka plants still producing?and can you describe a little bit about them ,size ,taste and color,and is there any indeterminate larger size fruited plants that you have had good results with.And one other question.How long have you been growing maters in south broward. thanks kirk

Well, I only moved to South Broward last October! However, I was in Palm Beach County for 10 years with much less growing space. Because of the move, I put in Bonnie Plants from a Big Box in January here, just so I would have tomatoes. Previous years in Palm Beach County I have had great luck (with exception of 2005/2006 of course) with the usual hybrids (BigBoy, BetterBoy, etc), Cherokee Purple, Kellogs Breakfast. I am obviously trying to put in more heirlooms now. Cherries do well, too well. You end up with all sorts of little cherry volunteers down here.

Opalka is indeed producing fruit now, in mid September! It is almost done, though, and these are stragglers, and not very good. I had probably a dozen Cherokee Purple and Kellogg's Breakfast through early August, two plants each. We have had an unusually nice rainy season, and I don't expect that to repeat every summer. I've had to stick with a very active spray program, but the fungus is not as bad as you would think, but the stinkbugs in early and late summer are awful. Rootknot is common here and in Palm Beach County, so I try to rotate carefully.

Opalka is a nice pepper shaped paste tomato. I do a lot of canned sauce and salsa, and it's just such a hardy, productive and sturdy plant I can't seem to get away from it. My space is limited to three beds - but I plan more.

There's a lady I know that lives in the county with a lot more space than I have that sets out seedlings once a month from August to March, and harvests from November to July.

What part of Florida are you in, captnkirk? Above or below the frost line?

Thanks for all the info anne.Im in pasco county about 35 miles north of Tampa ,so i do get a few hard frost most years.It would be great to be able to harvest nov to july.I have a few bonnies best from walmart to.I was a little late getting seeds ordered so had to go that route.I have most my plants in the self watering earthboxes and a few others in the ground using a version of earls post hole method,hoping that helps with the rootknot using organic mix.

ok florida growers whos got toms set.I cant wait to get back home and see how mine are doing,although might be awhile yet beings im about 3000 miles away.I deliver load in Portland,OR. In the morning then il be on my jouirney back home.I see where the lows back in Florida have atleast been down in the low 70,s so my sunmasters and heatwaves should have a few fruit set im hoping.Was looking on TGS website and sunmaster is supposed to set fruit best with high in the middle 90,s and lows in the 80,s.Guess i will find out when i get home.

I had 2-plus inches of rain yesterday afternoon in about 2 hours. This morning, when I checked my plants, I had several pea-sized toms on Black Krim and Heaven's Joy. It was the first good rain I have had in more than a week. I guess they really liked the rain and decided to take off. I think that I also have small toms starting to show on Florida Winter and Earl's Faux. We had another good rain today. We will see if any others are showing themselves tomorrow.

Low temps are supposed to be below 75 starting Tuesday. We will see if that helps. I have lots of blooms on most of my plants and I am thumping them every morning.

_____
Marjorie

Marge is this your 1st try at EF? Hope it does good for you.I will be growing it next spring.While i was on TGS website i saw where they have a midseason variety i think was Sun King supposed to have recistance to TYLCV I plan on trying that next spring to.Marge when do you think i should start seeds for next spring.I was thinking early jan,maybe even earlier?

I grew Sun King last fall. It was one of my last varieties to set fruit. That may have been because it was in a semi-shaded spot. I did get some tomatoes from it and it didn't show signs of the virus. I didn't think it's taste was anything special. If you aren't showing real signs of TYLC and you are limited in the number of plants that you can grow, I'm not sure that I would recommend it. There are so many better tasting tomatoes out there.

Even as bad as the virus has been here, I am not ready to give up and plant just the varieties that show some resistance. I am trying two more right now, but they are modern hybrids bred for the growers, so I am not expecting great flavor from them

I started my first batch of seeds last year between Christmas and New Year's and a second the first week of January. I set most of my plants out the second week of February.

You are enough north of me that you might want to wait a couple of weeks later. I grow in pots and had to bring them in for a couple of nights the middle of February. I know that growers in this area lost plants during that cold spell.

___
Marjorie

Setting out the last of my transplants today. Gardener's Delight is blooming already!

I think I will start some more seed next month.

Well guess i wont be ordering no Sun King seeds. Hows the plants coming Marge and Anne. I Will finally be home tomorrow to get a look at mine.Its been over 2 weeks .I hope my water hoses connecting all my earthboxes didnt get clogged up and are still getting plenty of water.Im probably going to have to increase the waterflow some before i go back out on the road next time with the plants getting bigger and using more water.I might go ahead and order the automatic watering system they sell for the earthboxes for next year.I will post tomorrow on how plants are doing after i get a look at them._________________-oh and after i get some golf addiction out of my system.

Please let us know, captnkirk.

My plants are anywhere from a foot to a foot and a half tall. No fruitset yet, but with all the rain we are getting right now, the temps are cooler and I should see some soon.

The fall corn is jumping up out of the ground as we speak...

I got lots of tomatos set on heatwave,and sunmaster some allmost as big as tennis balls.Also have some small ones on rutgers and red beefsteak.I cant believe how fast they are growing.I am gonna have to get some stronger taller support stakes tomorrow.The plants are spreading out way more than i was expecting with alot of long branches.I ended breaking a few trying to get them tied up.The selfwatering earthboxes have really impressed me so far.All of the plants except the ones i started from seed are loaded with blooms and have no sighns of any disease so far.The plants i started from seed are doing well allso,a few in EB and a few in the ground.They were only about 4inch plants when i put them out ,they handled the heat well.

Wow, Kirk. Sounds like your plants are setting better than mine. The Black Krim has 8 or 9 that I can see, but none are the size of tennis balls. I have 3 or 4 on the Stupice that I set out a month later than the others. You can tell that it is an early variety. Manasota has started showing a lot, too.

I guess your water system kept them going while you were away. We have had so much rain here for the last week that mine have needed very little water.

_____
Marjorie

Yea marge the watering system did well,I think the constant water flow might help keep the containers cool.______________________________________Im hoping heatwave and sunmaster are tasty .They both have set fruit well in this heat and seems like these could be really productive plants for me.

a few pics of my plants
 

[URL]http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/captnkirk2112/[/URL] Heres a few pics of my plants

nice pics
 

hey kirk nice pics--I put some seedlings in last week--some have croaked already --but some are hanging on-- it's still early here in Puerto Rico - should wait until nov.---but always try a little early.
heatwave and sunmaster taste ok the best taste in a hot weather mater is cherokee purple - or ark. traveler in my house. keep me posted !

Sheesh. I really need to try Arkansas Traveler. I hear so many good things about it - so many toms.

Started seed two days ago for 1884, Paul Robeson, Anna Russian, Striped German, Green Zebra - and Fargo as a freebie.

I guess you can tell where I ordered seed last?

I thinned my plants last week as well, and have extra cuttings of Earl's Faux, Marianna's Peace, and Gardener's Delight that will fill in some blank spaces around and about next weekend.

Fall in South Florida is great! And - it's raining!

OK Bob will keep ya posted._______________________I got some CP seeds i will be growing next spring. Arkansas Traveler does seem to get alot of good reviews so i have that in mind for early fall next year.________Anne seems like you got quite the variety going down there in south florida.Wish i could grow more but with my job im lucky to grow what i do,thanks to the self watering containers i can be away for 2 weeks and still keep plants watered.________Marge you still not seeing no sighns of the TYLCV so far.All is good here ,still no sighns since the one i had to pull early on.I noticed last couple days alot more fruit set on some of my others.Red beef steak is my biggest plant and has really started to set alot of fruit.

score board
 

well folks this is the early Puerto Rico scoreboard !( I know it's too early to start--but being the mater sicko that I am I always try !) I planted these seeds 6 weeks ago-
6 seeds each-
black from tula
black krim
floralina
heatwave
florida
sunmaster
solar set
cherokee purple
those that made it to 6 " and into the garden

black from tula-3
black krim-2
floralina-2
heatwave-4
florida-3
sunmaster-1
solarset-1
cherokeepurple-4

now of those-- these croaked!
heatwave-1
florida-1
blackkrim--1
black from tula -2
floralina-2

now if the rest can hang on !!!

I will plant more seeds later this month--I know they will do well-you can grow most anyone nov.-mar. and they will grow--the trick is to try to get something sept-oct !
KEEP PLANTING!!!!

Well, the virus is back. :rant: :rant: :rant:

Several plants that have more that 12 tomatoes set are showing signs of it. I haven't found pulling them to make much difference in the spread, so at this point I will just watch all of them, one by one, come down with it until the whiteflies are gone. From what I have read, whiteflies stay infectious at least two weeks after the last time they fed on an infected plant.

The virus doesn't seem to hurt the fruit already set, so I will get something from those plants, at least, if I can keep them from getting leaf problems, too.

The Cheeky plants that I have in the dwarf project are in another area, so I hope that will help to give them time to set some fruit. Conditions for fruitset are improving, so I have my fingers crossed that the first and second sets of blossoms on those will come through for me. The documentation says that the virus is not carried in the seeds, just from a whitefly bite.

I have some seedlings still under lights and they won't be ready to go outside for another 2 or 3 weeks. They are Sophie's Choice, Extreme Bush and Sweet Baby Girl. I decided to see if putting them out that late would help hold off the virus and still give me some tomatoes. Those, at least the first two, should stay small enough that I can bring them in if the weather turns too cold early.

The two plants that are supposed to have some resistance are next to the infected plants. They both look good but fruitset on them hasn't been wonderful yet. Inbar has about 5 that I can see and Polina has three. They both have lots of blossoms, though. I guess this is going to be a good test to see how they do against the virus.

______
Marjorie