Hello from New Jersey - Page 2

throwaway · July 14, 2019

7-8 hours of sun should be plenty. Heat has been brutal though, not a lot of wind, and pollinators seem to be missing - fruit production has probably been slower than normal.

Guavatone · July 14, 2019

Thanks. Throwaway. It’s closer to 6 hours direct sun, then 3 hours blocked by oak tree foliage and the next 2 or so blocked by a solid structure. Some of these cosmonauts have a surprising number of flower clusters, but not so many going to fruit. Out of 10-12 healthy plants I probably have like 10 green fruits, not counting the cherry tomatoes from the Mexican Midget.

I think 3 years ago we had a really wet season that only yielded green tomatoes, but I think we got to a late start and our soil composition wasn’t great.

This year the soil has tons of centipedes and some worms. Not the best(Kellogg from Home Depot) but I feel pretty good about the soil’s nutrients this year. The heat made me misjudge the need for water and I jumped the gun last week.

I think I read some reports on people having decent tomato yield with 4-6 hours of direct sun

throwaway · July 16, 2019

I'm around 5 hours of direct sun not far from you. The canopy is progressively reducing my sun hours, but I had great production a couple of years ago with 6. I think some people have theories about morning sun vs afternoon sun but I can't say I understand it. Are yours in containers or ground?

Guavatone · July 16, 2019

Containers. Using modular set up with milk crates.

Here’s a link to amazon app shared photo. I’m just giving this app a try.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared...COiaDgm6nlI3VC

Get ready. Saturday’s forecast is 98! My daconil comes Thursday luckily.

JRinPA · July 16, 2019

I definitely think morning sun is better. Whiter light, burns off the dew earlier. Overhead sun is punishing and when too hot causes bloom drop. Evening is redder sun and not as strong. Kind of a hard thing to produce naturally though; to have shade only during the middle few hours. It would be awesome to have automated system to cover an area with shade cloth for middle of the day only, and not when it is windy.

We had in-ground tomatoes for years with just about 6 hours in June, but it kept getting less and less as the arbor vitae to the SE grew taller. When I cut them down they were 40 feet+ and 16 foot wide. The ice and snow still lingering in May a few years ago was the last straw. I slipped carrying a 100lb of outboard, and came down hard on my elbow on the concrete steps. Of course, I managed to cradle the outboard. It's a Yamaha. Be a shame to damage that.

Guava, I'm starting to see a lot of bad leaves with this extended hot and that big wet last week. It happens every year, and some years it is starting by the end of May/Mid June. This year is late. Those leaves you showed in your other thread just looked typical EB or septoria to me.

EDIT: is that photo current?

Guavatone · July 16, 2019

Yes, within a week. I have a couple of plants that I put in the ground and didn’t expect to do that well. They probably have the least amount of overhead sun. Not many fruits but they seem pretty hardy.

JRinPA · July 16, 2019

So you are trying out that amazon photo thing. Here is some feedback. I just got an amazon spam about trying out my free 5GB of amazon photo space that I have available as a prime member. I guess that got triggered because I clicked to look at that photo and this browser is cookied in to my prime account. I have to say they are a scary bunch. I won't be doing that again...really I don't see how it is there business knowing what photos I look at. Just a creepy world nowadays.

Your tomatoes look skinnier than I expected for this time of year. The one time I had that happen was when I planted tomatoes a few feet in from the shady side of those aforementioned arbor vitae. It was an experiment. It was solid shade until highsun, then about 3-4hours direct sun, then dappled evening sun. They grew lanky. They did put out some fruit, but the tomatoes were somewhat small and not as sweet as they should have been.

Direct sun 8-2 should be plenty. You say you planted the week after mother's day? Was that transplants that day, or actual seed in the ground that day?

Guavatone · July 17, 2019

Behind the camera is a house structure. The sun comes from behind and a bit to left. Those first plants get sun first and last. The ones farther away are thicker. I’ll post some more photos soon. In the past we had 2 rows from left to right and five feet back from those first plants. I tried something different to use tomato plants to keep critters from getting bean plants. I just rearranged to space plants farther.

They were transplants from parkseed biodome to cups hardened off then soil.

July 16, 2019	#19
Guavatone Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: Clifton, NJ Posts: 50	Containers. Using modular set up with milk crates. Here’s a link to amazon app shared photo. I’m just giving this app a try. https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared...COiaDgm6nlI3VC Get ready. Saturday’s forecast is 98! My daconil comes Thursday luckily. Last edited by Guavatone; July 16, 2019 at 09:24 AM.

July 17, 2019	#23
Guavatone Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: Clifton, NJ Posts: 50	Behind the camera is a house structure. The sun comes from behind and a bit to left. Those first plants get sun first and last. The ones farther away are thicker. I’ll post some more photos soon. In the past we had 2 rows from left to right and five feet back from those first plants. I tried something different to use tomato plants to keep critters from getting bean plants. I just rearranged to space plants farther. They were transplants from parkseed biodome to cups hardened off then soil. Last edited by Guavatone; July 17, 2019 at 12:07 AM.

July 14, 2019	#16
throwaway Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Zone 6 Posts: 92	7-8 hours of sun should be plenty. Heat has been brutal though, not a lot of wind, and pollinators seem to be missing - fruit production has probably been slower than normal.

July 16, 2019	#20
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 963	I definitely think morning sun is better. Whiter light, burns off the dew earlier. Overhead sun is punishing and when too hot causes bloom drop. Evening is redder sun and not as strong. Kind of a hard thing to produce naturally though; to have shade only during the middle few hours. It would be awesome to have automated system to cover an area with shade cloth for middle of the day only, and not when it is windy. We had in-ground tomatoes for years with just about 6 hours in June, but it kept getting less and less as the arbor vitae to the SE grew taller. When I cut them down they were 40 feet+ and 16 foot wide. The ice and snow still lingering in May a few years ago was the last straw. I slipped carrying a 100lb of outboard, and came down hard on my elbow on the concrete steps. Of course, I managed to cradle the outboard. It's a Yamaha. Be a shame to damage that. Guava, I'm starting to see a lot of bad leaves with this extended hot and that big wet last week. It happens every year, and some years it is starting by the end of May/Mid June. This year is late. Those leaves you showed in your other thread just looked typical EB or septoria to me. EDIT: is that photo current?