...Hi..Too much money?? I want the best for my tomatoes and the more I spend the worse they get...I recall three seasons ago I had beautiful plants I grew sitting in trays in the freezer chest that later turned into the ill fated growth chamber ..I used CFL lights in fact I have photos of them somewhere...so I wonder what went wrong since then...I look at the two Tasty Toms I bought at the beginning of the season and I am not impressed with either of them in fact one has fruit that do not look like the fruit I got last season.....I must do a Ph test on our tap water??
Last season it was the Mature tasty Toms I bought that saved my season....I am now buying similar but from another grower in the following weeks when i presume they contact me and tell me to take them away .....I actually think most of my plants are not looking that bad...They were not good early on being too spindly but I have planted them deep and then as they grew raised the soil level ..in fact I cannot raise it any further ...I think the foliage is not as it has been in the past but that could maybe be a good thing...I don't know?...The heat is probably upsetting them but they have fans on them 24 hours a day..I think i said in an earlier post that I am going to propagate another lot of seeds ..more to learn than anything else cause I would have to give them away ....There will be no "moss"?? but a proper commercial seed raising mix with perlite..
The worst aspect of my growing is when the varieties produce ripe fruit more than likely I will try one and spit it out vowing never to grow it again...I do have a friend that helps me in taste tests?? The only varieties from last season I grew again (apart from Tasty Tom) are Sweet Scarlet (dwarf) and Missouri Love Apple...all the rest were rubbish ...but last season was bad for everybody so it may not have been the varieties fault...people are very conservative here growing tomatoes ....Popentate,Moneymaker and Russian Red dominate the plant market although I am sure Tasty Toms (or Campari) are getting more popular each season and now there is another Tasty Tom being marketed..under another name...
I should mention i chopped a number of varieties that were very susceptable to powdery mildew last year including Stupice , Aunt Ginny's Purple,Sweet 100's,Sungold, and even Bloody Butcher?? i am convinced that the powdery mildew came in with cheap plants I purchased so that is a no no this year..
I actually think some of my Tasty Toms grown from Hybrid seed are looking promising in the head ...They are very high and spindly but I think are showing development at the top so as yet I am not prepared to put them in the wheelie bin to go to the dump...and of course if I can get one with beautiful fruit ...be assured I will putting up photos everywhere ???
The one I am really waiting on is Myra's Delight ..If it is as good as I expect it will be having only tasted one tomato? I will be offering seeds to anybody who wants them...
Cheers Ron
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