2011 Dwarves in the Fall/Winter Greenhouse
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Its the greenhouse season for me. Started the 9 released dwarf project varieties, and 4 more that are being still developed. Here is a photo of Dwarf Caitydid, it was set out as a very small plant on September 5, and has fruited this past weekend, at 40 days from set-out. Only one fruit so far, but there are several more blossoms that should fruit this week.
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Lovely Michael! Looks like a whole bunch of blossoms at the top :)
Patrina |
Patrina
There are. I expect more fruit set pretty soon. |
Michael,
That's a happy looking plant! In your experience with greenhouse growing of heirlooms have you determined a minimum day/night temperature for optimum flavor? I grow a few tomatoes every spring in my unheated greenhouse but the flavor never gets great until early July. I would add heat if I thought the minimum requirements were low enough to justify the cost. Thanks, Steve |
Steve
Since I set out plants in September usually, and harvest in the late November/December/early January time frame, I cant really say that the flavor ever gets as good as a spring/summer growout. They are a lot better than any store tomato. I usually do this to advance the dwarf project, and also for seed saving, and of course, to have some decent tomatoes. My temps range from 70/95 during the early part to 50/75 during December/January. My greenhouse is heated, and I live in El Paso, so we do get decent sunlight and temps during the winter. I think the flavor is determined not only by temperature, but also day length and amount of sunlight. So I cant really give you a good answer-your climate is so different from mine. |
I'll be interesting to see your evaluation of the dwarfs as a fall/winter crop. I should have planted a larger fall crop myself. I have one Wild Fred plant and I just picked the first fruit yesterday. It was delicious - even better flavor than any dwarf tomato I harvested this summer! (including Dwarf Fred). The only thing I can figure is lately have kept the soil drier (slightly stressing the plants) than with my summer container plants. Otherwise, I can't explain the improved flavor since the days have been getting shorter and the temps cooler. One of the fun puzzles...
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Here is Dwarf Catydid today, Nov 2, 11. It has several fruit, these are the two biggest. Several others varieties have fruited. I will update with photos this weekend.
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Good stuff, Michael.:yes:
How tall is the plant currently, shown in your photo? Raybo |
Ray
Its the same height as the first photo. I will measure it tomorrow and post. Its very compact. |
Ray-the Dwarf Catydid in the photo is 28 inches tall from top of container to top of plant.
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Here are the dwarves on 11/13/11. They were just watered. All have set fruit, except for Tasmanian Chocolate, which I direct seeded late.
The F generation is the number after the variety name, if I put one. They are: Wild Fred 8 Tasmanian Chocolate 7 Rosella Purple 10 Beryl Beauty 10 Jade Beauty 10 Emerald Giant 9 Summertime Gold Mr. Snow Caitydid 4 Caitydid 4 Tasty Wine 5 Sweet Scarlet 5 Blazing Beauty 6 Sweet Sue Summertime Green |
Michael:
What size and type of pots are you using? |
They are 5 gallon root pots. In most of the containers, I have 2 plants.
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Michael,
Those are looking great! You have a nice, clean operation. Steve |
Thanks for the compliment, Steve!
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