Anyone in New Jersey? Bad year so far for me.

[Mark0820]

Kath,

How is your Blue Ridge Mountain doing? I have been dissapointed with mine so far. The description said it was early and produced a lot of fruit. I still don't have any fruit on my plant. I did lose quite a few blossoms in all of the rain we had. It has been an abnormal year, so I am curious if it is doing any better for other people.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Mark0820

Kath,

How is your Blue Ridge Mountain doing? I have been dissapointed with mine so far. The description said it was early and produced a lot of fruit. I still don't have any fruit on my plant. I did lose quite a few blossoms in all of the rain we had. It has been an abnormal year, so I am curious if it is doing any better for other people.

Mark,

Mine was planted out on 5/13 and is nearly 5' tall. It only has 7 fruits but there are lots of blossoms on it. I see its potential for producing lots of fruit, but so far the clusters of blossoms have only set 1 or 2 each and posts/cages are vibrated almost daily here.

My biggest concern is that it has the dubious distinction of being among the few varieties to have been stricken with both EB and Septoria, so I'm lopping off branches every few days.I'm hoping it lasts until I can taste some fruit- that alone will determine if it gets a second chance.

Kath

[camochef]

Bigdaddy,
It's been a very good year here for alliums!
I've been growing Amazon Chocolate for at least 5 years now, usually a minimum of 4-6 plants each season and they usually split down the middle as far as P.L vs. R.L., but they have always been large plants in excess of 7 ft tall with very large tomatoes. Most in excess of a lb. or better.
This year they are all R.L. and the plants are much shorter for this time of the season. However the tomatoes seem to be about their average size for this date, and perhaps a bit more plentiful than most years. Just goes to show how things change from year to year.
I did find my first tomato showing pink color today...Sandul Moldovan! It's not as large as Cowlick's Brandywine-R.L. or Daniels or quite a few others out there but it is pink! Still might have ripe tomatoes by the fourth.
My best year ever was three ripe Cowlick Brandywines on June 27, 2007 followed by 2009 having a three way tie on July 1 of Cowlick's Brandywine, Lancaster Pink and Dana's Dusky Rose. These are all slicers as I don't count cherry or patio type tomatoes. On years I grew them...Sun-Gold was usually the first to ripen around mid-June.
As you can see, I've been looking through my journals this afternoon.
Enjoy!
Camo

[BigdaddyJ]

Camo, first time growing Amazon Choc and it's a PL. Nice big fruit on 4 foot tall plant. I have a few 7 footers out there now! But it's early and I love the taste so no worries...

[Noreaster]

South Jersey, zone 7a.

Things lookin' pretty good this year (thus far). All in ground since May 12-13, and only problem is more-than-usual Early Blight.

Spraying on Daconil once per week, and it's certainly slowing down the blight. (Thanks Carolyn for your daconil advice over the years).

Greenies on 2/3s of 'em........only worry is excessive loss of yellowing leaves, which hasn't occurred yet. !
Pics to follow.

[hoffman900]

My plants all look fantastic. All are about 3-4' tall (Red Cherries, Beefsteaks, and Mortgage Lifters). The Cherries and Beefsteaks are very prolific in their fruit set. My best Beefsteak currently has 21 fruits, with 3 of them approaching 1lb. The rest of the Beesteaks are not far behind. The Mortgage Lifters set fruit a little later, but currently are averaging about 8 per plant at the moment. I've had zero problems with pests and blight so far. We'll see if that remains the case as we get into July.


I'm in a coastal region (my tomatoes are within a half a mile from the ocean). Customers at work (I work in a greenhouse / farm stand) are starting to report problems of potato beetles and hornworms. Also, Cape May County has been spared from most of the powerful thunderstorms that have rolled through this summer. Almost all of them are hitting fifteen or more miles north.

Farmers have been picking for about two and a half weeks now, and the fruit are BIG (averaging 1lb, 1.63lbs was the largest I've seen this year). They are not sharing the variety they are growing this year (at least the ones we're getting), and they have been fantastic tasting so far.

[Elliot]

We are in Long Island, which is not far from New Jersey and we are having problems with many of our plants. A matter of fact I buy many of my tomato plants from a nursery in New Jersey

[Noreaster]

The Daconil......which I've applied once per week to every one of 120 plants (not just brief squirt, but a fairly good amount).......seems to be working very well here in south Jersey to combat blight.

The disease progress, after about 4-5 weeks, has slowed down considerably.

While still worrying as to how many fruits will get over-exposed to sun with fewer leaves........it still looks like a better than average quantity season !

(The sunburned ones will still be fine in the TOMATO SAUCE........otherwise named tomato "gravy" down here). Here's what they looked like recently.

[hoffman900]

Here is my first pick of the year. The bright red one is a Mortgage Lifter. The rest are beefsteaks. I was really surprised to see the Mortgage Lifter ripen first. I pick them just as they started to show a change in color.

Also, I took a picture of the heaviest one at work this year.