Harvest pics (was Fruitset!)

[FlipTX]

Looks like you've got a jungle there, Duane!

Here are some of my Sugary and Creole toms.

[feldon30]

Got the cages installed without breaking any branches. Some of the plants are now basically sideways with leaves growing all to one side since they were sprawling along the ground before I could get em caged. It's funny how Earl's Faux, Gary O'Sena, and (Arkansas) Traveler are so well-behaved and perfectly straight up and down while Brandy Boy, Brandywine OTV, etc. are just sprawling fools.

I am REALLY not looking forward to LOW to MID 30's this weekend. URGH! I could use a little Global Warming right now.

[duajones]

tomatoes look great flip! feldon, I was shocked listening to the local call in weather service when they said the high saturday was only going to be in the 50s. Made me come in and look at the various forecast to see what the low is expected to be. Looks like somewhere in the upper 40s to lower 50s for me (hopefully) but with some possible heavy rain and strong wind. Im not happy about it at all and I am south of you. Hope all goes well and I really really mean that.

Duane

[FlipTX]

I'm near Galveston Bay. 39 is forecasted for our lows Saturday and Sunday, so nothing dangerous. But still unusual. Why can't we have a nice long spring, with day temps in the 70s and night temps in the 50s? Why does it have to go from "too cold for tomatoes" to "too hot for tomatoes" so quickly? Barring these weird cold fronts, of course.

[CLa]

Yeah bout the same here 36-39 lows from different weather sites. I think they should be ok.

[duajones]

amazing how each year can be so different, last year here in corpus we were in the 80s to maybe low 90s with lows in the high 50s to mid 60s during this ( easter snap) as I have heard some people call it. Hope everyone effected comes through it well.

[Worth1]

The time and date, Easter Sunday 1980(?).
The place, Hobbs New Mexico in a cotton field.
I was working in the top of a derrick on an oil rig and the wind was blowing about 40 miles an hour and the snow was so thick I couldn’t see the floor of the rig where the rest of the guys were at.
The temperature was at about 20 degrees and we were all cold as the devil.

I sure hope my tomatoes make it this time if they don’t it’s all over for me.
Ill have to buy some from the store and start over again.

Do you all think that fancy freeze cloth will help?

[jdwhitaker]

Looks like I may be doomed--possibility of freezing temperatures and even snow this weekend. And I'm in Dallas with no way to protect the 40 tomatoes planted last weekend. At least I may find a few heirlooms in the nurseries here if the cold weather does hit. Otherwise it's generic hybrids. I'll probably cut back from 40 plants to around 15, plant a blackeye pea cover crop in the remaining area, and prepare for a big fall crop.

This is all Worth's fault--he predicted a late freeze this year.

I don't recall the Easter snowstorm you referred to Worth, but I do remember the foot of snow we got on April 1 in (I believe) 1996. It's always something in Texas.

Jason

[honu]

Duajones, Congratulations on such beautiful plants and fruit set!

[jenn_sc]

Duane, your plants look great and I'm jealous of your fruitset.... I hope you and others make it through this wierd weather weekend without too much damage.

I got brave and planted out 4 plants a couple of weeks ago. The other 4 dozen or so are fully hardened off and ready to plant. I am going out of town this weekend. So what happens? We're supposed to get a record breaking cold Easter weekend! Temps below freezing. I'll have to pull in all the potted up ones and leave them indoors all weekend. The ones in the ground are another story. I put tomato cages around them and draped a trash bag over the cages. It looks tacky, but I don't care!

It got down to 38 last night and the plants still looked fine when I uncovered them this morning. But 28 degrees will be another story. Thank goodness it's only 4 replaceable plants....

Jennifer

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by jdwhitaker

Looks like I may be doomed--possibility of freezing temperatures and even snow this weekend. And I'm in Dallas with no way to protect the 40 tomatoes planted last weekend.

There is ALWAYS a way to protect them. It's just a question of time, effort, back muscles, and money.

A friend and I built 2x4 permanent frameworks around my two tomato beds today for protection against frost, for the possibility of growing peppers through fall, and for protection from week-long torrential downpours. Truly back-breaking work. The beds are completely wrapped top-to-bottom with clear plastic like they were last fall, but this time they were sealed up when ambient temps were still 50's, and lows are not expected to go below 35 this time. I will eventually figure out a way to either do removeable panels, or corrugated clear plastic. It has to be reasonably airtight.

[jdwhitaker]

Well, my tomatoes are 350 miles away, and I didn't take any measures before I left...it's 34 degrees now and dropping. Looks like I'll be doing some shopping. This is frustrating, especially since I gave away all my extra plants. I knew this would eventually happen though. Lesson learned: take precautions or end up with a lot more Celebrity plants than you really wanted.

There is a positive--fall is really a better time for tomatoes in my area, even the late varieties. I usually have a tough time debating which spring plants to discard to make room for fall transplants. That definitely won't be an issue this year.

Jason

[feldon30]

If you ever get to Houston, I have a lot of plants in very good shape, 8-10" tall. All the extras I ended up with because I sowed seeds twice.

Houston Garden Centers should still be absolutely loaded up with Cherokee Purple, Ark. Traveler, Jet Star, Caspian Pink, Black Krim, Brandywine, Green Zebra, Marglobe, Homestead 24, etc.

I think I have extras of these: Anna Russian, Ark. Brad's Black Heart, Brandy Boy, Burracker's Favorite, Cherokee Green, Earl's Faux, Kimberly, New Big Dwarf, Red Penna, Sungold, Tidwell German, Tom's Yellow Wonder, and Wes.

[jdwhitaker]

Thanks for the offer Feldon. I won't be able to make it to Houston--be working in Dallas until the 14th then hurry back to Andrews to replant. There are many nurseries here in DFW that offer heirlooms, and I should be able to visit them on Sunday. I'm hoping Dallas won't freeze and cause a run on tomatoes here. Haven't shopped for tomatoes in about 5 years, and I'm kinda looking forward to it, despite the circumstances involved.

I do have a Kimberley and Cherokee Purple in containers that are now safe and sound indoors.

I'm not going to get too upset about this since I remember my Dad heading out to the cotton farm during thunderstorms to check on the crop. That was a potential life altering event--this is good times in comparison.

Jason

[MargeH]

I don't know if those facing the cold will appreciate these photos, but I took some new shots today and thought I would share.
We are supposed to have a low of 44 tonight in Sarasota. That's almost unheard of this late. We had almost hit 70 lows before this started.

This is the first time I have posted pictures, I hope I get it right. How do you do the thumbnails? That is a much better way to view the pictures.


Brandy Boy





Brandywine. Don't know what kind. I picked up the seeds at Walmart and didn't expect much.
I have more than 10 on it now. Here are three babies.





Prue. Thanks, Tania, for the seeds.




Sophie's Choice. Again, thanks, Tania. I have dubbed this "The Little Plant That Could."
I can't believe how many tomatoes are on this plant. I sure hope they taste as good as advertised.





Momotaro. My first one is ripening.




Kimberly. This is number 7 ripening.




Druzba. Thanks, Carolyn for the seeds. On second thought, this may be red zebra. I have both growing in the same self-watering pot and I may have mixed up my shots. I will have to check tomorrow.



And if this works, and my photos show up, I am adding Black Prince, seeds from Tania




Marjorie