central florida gardeners looking for your input
 

My tomatoes were off to a very slow start this spring and just seem to have started really putting out - albeit not in the numbers I'd hoped for. The extension agent gave a talk at my club's general meeting and is saying that the tomato season for central florida is now winding down. At least one person in attendance said they were getting plenty of tomatoes still. What have your experiences been? I hope my plants will keep putting out. Last year I was getting a lot of tomatoes but was cut short by some root disease - we never did find out for sure if it was nematodes or something else. We're using containers this year. I'm spraying GardenSafe Neem Oil with the fungicide and miticide this year.

Over the years and growing up in Pa and down here in S Florida it seems the varietys traits come into play.It seems that as humans tomatoes have a life cycle.Some are 30-45days,60 days,and some stretch to 90days plus.Seems like you are racing against time.Up north it is the freeze/frost.For me it is the heat at 90/humidity.Then comes the diseases/bugs that have their own life cycle to establish and curtail that plants life cycle.In a perfect world and with time and money I guess the greenhouse is the way to go.I am afraid to do a cost analysis on the maters I can get out of the ground.But it does keep us busy/young and fun when you can enjoy them.

I'm originally from New York (Long Island) was used to a totally different scenario for the garden as well. It seems the threat of freezes (last year was terrible) here keeps me from putting my plants in as early as they need to be so I'm up against the calendar for growing time. You folks in south florida don't have that problem.

I'm in East Central Florida - zipcode 32903, and my season is definitely winding down; I have very few green tomatos left on the branches.

The bugs are definitely ramping up.

Looking forward to the fall season.

My plants are almost all virused or fungus plagued, but after 8 months, I can't complain. There are always Comparis at Costco for the off season.
Now its time to cut out the spent vines, and solsrize the earthboxes, then in late August, sow the seeds to get ready for the Florida TAG plant swap. If you guys want to come, it's totally free, and we are going to have lots of demos this year, not to mention, over 100 varieties of tomato plants. Info on the homepage.

Marsha

I am growing for the first time in Orlando after a few years in the Northeast. Put out transplants in late February in a community garden plot and also in EarthTainers on my apartment patio. The ones in the garden were dead from heat and disease two weeks ago. The ones on my patio are still healthy and producing, probably some combination of being off the ground (2nd floor), being in a sterile mix, and being shaded from the afternoon sun. I've even noticed new fruit in the past week or two. We'll see how long they last!

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If your plants are still producing, try this stuff. Spray early in the morning. I spray around 8 am. Remember, it's an oil base so if you spray later in the heat, you'll 'fry' your plants. My plants aren't putting out as many tomatoes as I would like, but they still looking pretty good. Right now, I have some green tomatoes so you can't really see them in the pic - picked the red ones a couple of days ago. Oh, and I see quite a few flowers popping up as well, so more tomatoes on the way hopefully.

[url]http://www.gardensafe.com/Products-and-Solutions/Fungicide/Neem-Oil-Extract-Concentrate.aspx[/url]

It's a 3-in-1 fungicide, insecticide and miticide. I spray once a week, and you can spray right up to the day of harvest.