Florida Growers Thread

[annecros]

Nice Marianna's Peace today. My first "real" tomato, so I sliced it a little underripe I think. Earl's Faux is nipping at her heels, though.

[Rena]

Nice pics! I leave for Miami tomorrow early am. I am stopping mid-Florida to drop some tomato plants to another Frost bit Tomatovillian then on to Miami to take my friend her plants. I have a don't ask don't tell policy when it comes to giving people plants LOL (you have to let them go sometime right)?
edited to add: I have never been to Miami and am very excited. I did tell my friend that the clothes I am bringing look nothing like what people wear on CSI MIAMI...she laughed! She said no one looks like that!! I had to tease her.

[Granny]

Originally Posted by gardenhappy

I already began seeding today and will at least try to grow all my own,we are planning some things for this hot summer,ever hear of cooling beds??

Gardenhappy, I have been researching ways to get my garden in starting late March or early April with an eye to getting the maters in the ground May 15 rather than May 30 (earlier if I can manage it!) and I actually did run across some "cooling" mulch rather than ground heating mulch. A couple of kinds - one made out of human hair that seemed pretty darned expensive, but also a plastic mulch type that I think they said cooled soil temps ~5 degrees.

I suspect if you do some hunting around you will be able to engineer something.

[captnkirk]

Marge i put 8 more sungold seeds in starting mix today.If they dont germinate i have some other backup plants il grow out this spring and try sungold again in the fall.Do you have much problem with sungold cracking on you.I have read they are prone to cracking somewhere.

[Worth1]

captnkirk,

Sun golds will crack if they get a lot of water at the wrong time.
Some folks pick them early to prevent this but I don't, to me it will kill the taste that they are famous for.

All of the sun golds that I have tasted pulled slightly green have been on the poor side.

It takes a long time for Sun golds to get good and ripe for me to like them.

Sorry to hear of all of you guys losses over there in Florida.
Worth

[PNW_D]

Something I posted some time ago, wonder if anyone has tried this on Sungolds?

Attempting to clear the clutter these days, and came across “The Pacific Gardener” by A.R. Willis (2nd Edition). Keep in mind this book was written for the Pacific Northwest – but a rather interesting paragraph caught my eye where the book fell open:

“… if the season is late and there are still a lot of greenish white, but mature, tomatoes on the vines, these will ripen in a few weeks storage at house temperatures, provided they haven’t been chilled (45 deg. F.) for more than a day or two before harvest. (This bit has been proved not quite correct by recent posts), but here is the interesting bit ….

If heavy rains occur during late August, when there is still a good chance of ripening weather, tomatoes may split unless the vines are pulled from the ground immediately, with just one or two roots still attached to the soil. In this way they may ripen up for a long time without injury. (Keep in mind this book was written in 1964, and it seems the August rains are a things of the past here – but this might be worth a try for whenever the big rains arrives. I take it the few remaining roots serve as a life line for the tomatoes, without allowing too much water to reach the almost ripe fruit.)

FWIW ………

[annecros]

captnkirk, aren't you growing in self watering containers? Do you intend to put the Sungolds in the ground or in a container (I would suggest only one per container for that monster, if you have one to spare - Mine got to be 14 feet!)? With the water situation down here, that may be the way to go. We go back to once a week watering next Tuesday, but we can hand water any day for up to 10 minutes. So far, we have had a pretty wet dry season down here in Broward and Dade, but I know Central Florida is still hurting.

I kept Sungold from the Spring right through the Summer (our rainy season), and it just never stopped until I murderlized it to plant some Fall greens. Sure, I got lot's of cracks, but I also had so many edible Sungolds that I didn't care. I actually got sort of burned out on them! Will try to do the same with Black Cherry this Summer.

[gardenhappy]

HI EVERYONE, Rena showed up today bringing gifts and tomato and pepper plants!!! What a gift to give us!!!! My seedlings are just poping thru and i hope by them getting out to the greenhouse by Friday they will grow fast enough to blossom on time,any ideas?? The greenhouse frame is back up Braced right and ready for the final details and plastic to go back on,20 x 45 just like before but 2' higher for better venting later on. I got almost 20 aps's started so Anne,Andrey, Lisa and Marge all your seeds you sent are in and growing!!!! Each system has from 45 to 72 plants growing in them in gardenway seed starter and gardenway aps's and the other reg.ones.My bedroom has been taken over with them and the porch has the overflow Hubby can't wait to get them out but our bedroom faces south so -o well-hurry up with the green house I've used other seed starter thru the years but never found one I like as well as gardenway ,same deal here with Lowes and everyone else,can't find anything when you need it,try to find fish emulsion in December Just when i had tomato's that needed it,we still are cold here mornings 61 this morning then 81 today,my poor plants,all dried brown dead leaves I want the heat back I have leaves all over the ground,going to rake them up for lasagna beds.Planting the front yard tomorrow ,got a bunch of flats at Lowes tonight of panseys and dianthus for 50% 0ff 5.45 each so into the ground they will go,then on to the kales,chards,onions,and cabbages for out front,next is tornado weather down here?? Then hurrican weather right ?? I better get a garden this year!!! I live in Florida,i should have a tropical wonder going on here

[annecros]

Sheesh. More TYLCV - darn whiteflies.

[MargeH]

Anncross, I feel your pain.

I have some dwarf seedlings that are ready to go out but I still have two plants with TYLC. I am taking both of them down tomorrow; the last tomatoes on them are starting to turn. They say it takes at least 14 days before the whiteflies aren't carriers. I am going to keep the dwarfs under lights as long as I can. I haven't seen any of the bugs since the freeze and we are supposed to have another cold snap, but not as cold, next week. I am hoping that there won't be any out there by the time I put my plants outside.

The last two springs, I haven't seen signs of TYLC until early May. Let's hope that continues.
_____
Marjorie

[annecros]

I don't remember having it this late before. It's so late, it's almost early!

I see the white fly's from time to time when it warms up - I guess they hatch out when conditions are ripe, and we haven't had two weeks of cool weather yet this year.

Pulling Earl's Faux every two days or so - what a great tomato!

The virus, I think only early signs so far but I know it when I see it, has gotten one of the Constoluto Genovese's (the one next door is fine so far) I think has hit one of the Earl's Faux, and has gotten my last Marianna's Peace.

All of the above are loaded with green fruit. I know I should pull them so that they are not a vector, but darn it, I want the fruit.

[gardenhappy]

Anne, I'm so sorry to hear about your tomato's We put our heart and souls into growing from seed and they become our babies and then mother nature or bugs come and take it all away I know,for me mole crickets last year,i hope i don't get this virus i would love to see my summer garden this year,spring garden got froze off,I hope i get the late spring early summer gardens We are working on the green house system-adding a cooling bed we think will work when the time comes Trying to keep ahead of disaster I lost all of my tomato's,just as they we're getting ripe too

[MargeH]

Last fall I kept pulling young plants that had TYLC, but when a plant I really wanted to save seeds from got it that had lots of tomatoes on it, I quit pulling. I didn't see any difference in pulling them; it kept spreading to other plants. The virus didn't start with my tomatoes, so I figure there is a plant carrier in the weeds around me somewhere. I will pull young plants, but if they are full of fruit when it hits, I won't pull them. The two plants that I grew that were supposed to be resistant never showed signs of it but the tomatoes were just a little better than store-bought.

____
Marjorie

[flipt]

Marge, Anne

As you may know, I've had problems over the past 5 years with the tylc virus. At first, I'd just pull up the plants but recently I've let them go, especially if they're fairly mature and with fruit.
Some observations -
the virus doesn't spread from plant to plant just because they may be near to one another. The silverleaf whitefly is the vector of this disease and all it takes an infected whitefly is a few minutes on a tomato plant and it will get the virus.
I have plants this year that didn't get the virus until after they were fairly mature so I'm let the fruit ripen and it seems to be fine.
I've also developed some new fruit after the virus occured. It seems that if the plants is large, some vines aren't affected as quickly and fruit continues to develop.
So far, out of my 50 or so plants, my affected ones are Ashleigh, one of my Sudduth Bwines, Akers WVA, one of my Aunt G Gold, Cuostralee, Galinas, Lucky Cross, Large Pink Bulgarian and Giant Belgian. I've harvested and eaten fruit from most of these and altho a lttle smaller than usual the fruit was great.
I guess I'm learning to live with it because you sure can't get rid of them nast ol bugs!

Flip

[MargeH]

Flip,

That's about where I am, too, with TYLC. The plant that I wanted seeds from and a couple of others mature ones kept setting after they were infected. The tomatoes were smaller but tasted the same. The only good thing I can see is that the fruit isn't ruined with this virus the way I have read that it is with TSWV. The bad thing is how easy, it seems, for the whitefly to spread TYLC. I just plant more plants that I probably would if I didn't have this virus.
____
Marjorie