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Post by hmoosek on Feb 25, 2018 19:13:08 GMT -6
I started about 62 different varieties. Some regular leaf, Some Potato leaf. Some rare, some family heirlooms, some are unstable Grow outs, but most are just run of the Heirlooms. Half are cherry type cause that's what I like most.
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Post by glen on Feb 25, 2018 19:48:59 GMT -6
That looks like a nice big bunch of seedlings. I am not sure when I am going to start mine. However, I only plan on about 3 or 4 plants. You must have a lot of space for your garden. I will be using pots. Probably small, 4 gallon pots. Since I live in the tropics and my climate is not good for growing tomato's I am limited to what I can grow. I can grow some types of cherry tomato's and I can grow the local Italion style tomato's. They call them "Perita" or little pear tomato's. Latino's aren't big on naming veggy's and there isn't really any tomato's developed to handle my climate either. Its just too hot here in Panama down at sea-level for most variety's of tomato's to set fruit. We can grow a few Italion tomato's though and I am now used to them. I use them for everything. Panama does grow salad tomato's in the higher elevations up in the mountains in the Chirique province. I miss being able to grow them.
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Post by hmoosek on Feb 25, 2018 20:20:11 GMT -6
Most of these will be given to family and friends. I just like messing them. I'll keep a few Cherry type and some of my unstable growouts. All of my family members look through my seed stash and tell me what to plant. I think I grew about 10 varieties last year. I used to grow about 300 varieties in the Spring and 100 or so in the Fall.
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Post by macmex on Feb 26, 2018 6:41:22 GMT -6
That's a WHOLE LOT of tomato plants!
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Post by glen on Feb 26, 2018 19:02:32 GMT -6
You are making me wish I had a large lot where I would have plenty of space to trial different heirloom variety's. I have no space. So, I have to keep everything practical. I can only have a few plants. How boring is that?
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Post by hmoosek on Feb 26, 2018 20:42:33 GMT -6
You are making me wish I had a large lot where I would have plenty of space to trial different heirloom variety's. I have no space. So, I have to keep everything practical. I can only have a few plants. How boring is that? I understand, from 2011 to 2014, I was in an apartment. From 2014 to 2016, I had a very small house and a tiny yard. I tried growing my Cantaloupes in a plastic swimming pool, but it was a total failure. No matter how much I watered, they just burned up. I'm back on the farm now and have plenty of room.
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Post by glen on Feb 27, 2018 13:08:04 GMT -6
Well, I only got 500 square meters. They sell land here in Panama by the square meter. 500 square meters is about the size of an 8th of an acre. Plus or minus. I live in a very small house, without no garage. Its kind of like a cottage. Rectangular shape. About 750 square feet of interiour space. Its enough space really as long as I keep life simple. I have to watch what I buy. I cannot really store anything. I don't have a car and only use motor cycles. The actual garden space I have is bigger than it sounds because the house is so small. Having a small house isn't really that bad because you just own less crap. Which isn't as bad as that might sound. Keep it simple stupid is my motto. On one side of the house I have coconut trees and Xmas palms. I also have fruit tree's. In between all that I do my veggy gardening. Much of my plantings are also done in large pots. I like to use pots because I can move the plants and utilize shade from the palms and fruit tree's. The sun is so bright here in Panama that we have to use partial shade in order to avoid burning up the plants. My yard looks busy on account of this but it is also necessary so I can shade out sensitive plants. I am very surprised at how much food I can produce in my small space. It requires a lot of experimentation to find the right variety's of plants and veggy's also. It's something to do since I am retired. I don't know what I would do without my yard and my garden. I am a little hesitant about moving to a bigger location which would solve my space issues. At my age, a bigger lot means more property maintenance. I can do the work now. But, in 5 or 10 years maybe not? Larger property's here in Panama are much harder to sell also. So, if your life changes and you ever need to downsize, it can be much harder if you own a large property. So, for now, I am making the best of what I have. And, keeping it simple.
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Post by macmex on Mar 23, 2018 4:55:36 GMT -6
In order to better preserve and select (and avoid crossing), I'm reducing the actual number of varieties I'm growing, this year. I will also experiment with bagging tomato flowers, which, if successful, would allow me to greatly increase the varieties I grow in the future. So far I have about a dozen Baker Family Heirloom tomatoes started. Auther Ray sent me seed to Mocross, a stabilized cross between Sioux and Mozark, and I have four plants going of that one. I may start two more, just to be safe. I have started Sioux, which hasn't come up yet. Sioux is my favorite for a late summer/fall crop. They're gorgeous at that time. I have White Cherry going, mainly because a friend wants them. But I'll probably plant a few at work, where I have a spot. I tried to start some Sunray VF, which was the second tomato I saved seed from and, the only tomato my youngest daughter will eat uncooked. But, alas, my seed expired. Maybe I'll get more seed and grow it in 2019. Finally, I have about 8 Black Cherry tomatoes started. One year I skipped this one and got in big trouble with my wife! This is the one we love for eating out of hand, while out in the yard. I try to plant them right where we regularly walk past, so we can snack as we work.
Here's a picture of the Mocross seedlings. They are 20 days from seed today. I don't generally do large transplants. I don't have sufficient heat and light to start them earlier.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 21, 2019 11:34:22 GMT -6
Call me crazy, but I transplanted my first tomato to a mobile container today, on March 21, 2019, my Grandma Fannie's 121st Birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma Fannie! It's sunny and 66 degrees today, you would have enjoyed it out there!
I transplanted a single, Super Fantastic tomato that was sown on Ground Hog Day, 2019. I planted this single tomato in a wheeled container, so I can bring it inside at night until the seasons change. Hopefully, I'll have first fruit by July 4th this year. That's what I'm shooting for anyhow. We'll see how that turns out.
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Post by macmex on Mar 22, 2019 10:02:33 GMT -6
Good luck! We had 31 F. this morning. At least you can bring it in if necessary. Happy birthday to your grandma, a great woman!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 22, 2019 13:11:22 GMT -6
I'm so proud of myself for actually remembering to bring that little tomato inside last night. I just happened to see it after dark, as I was walking to my Summer Kitchen. It was pretty cold by then already, but no ice yet... This morning, we had a pretty heavy frost down in the hollow, so if I had left it outside, it would have been toast for sure.
I moved it back outside around 10:00 am, as the temperatures rose into the high 40s. It's 68 out there right now and very sunny, but the forecast calls for heavy rains Saturday and Sunday, then cloudy skies once more. I hope my little plant soaks up as much sunlight as it can today. This might be the last sunlight we see for a while.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 28, 2019 16:45:13 GMT -6
That little, Super Fantastic Tomato that I transplanted to a plastic tub, on March 21st is looking pretty good right now. It turned out to be a good experiment. It didn't look too good a couple of weeks ago, after the near death experience with the frost, but it's making a good come back. It's planted in some of my homemade compost. It's so dark green right now that it almost has a bluish tent to it. This is what the little Super Fantastic tomato plant looked like on April 28th. This is what it looked like on May 10th. (Looks like I'd better cage this rascal really soon). May 10th, first blossom head on Super Fantastic Tomato, transplanted to a wheeled planter on the first day of Spring, March 21st. (This variety is a 70 days to maturity tomato).
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 28, 2019 16:55:30 GMT -6
I don't know if it's time to transplant tomatoes where you are, but I set out 72 Early Girl tomato transplants, yesterday. Man, is my back sore today!
I don't think I'm done planting yet, though. I usually set out 90 Early Girl Tomato plants, plus another hundred or so tomatoes of other varieties, although, last year, I only set out 14 tomatoes of any kind at all.--- Last year proved to be an excellent year to not plant tomatoes. The crazy wide temperature swings from hot to cold and visa~versa played havoc with production. Hopefully, this will be a much better year for tomatoes. Last year, it snowed in April and by May 1st, the oak trees still hadn't budded out new leaves yet.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 8, 2019 20:38:49 GMT -6
I've set out 120 tomato transplants so far. The Early Girls that I set out on April 28th are already starting to bloom.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 27, 2019 4:01:31 GMT -6
Just an update on the tomato that I transplanted on the first day of Spring ... The 'Super Fantastic' variety of tomato that I transplanted on March 21st, might be better described, if it were re-named "Super Slow-tastic." It does say however, that it is a 70 day tomato, which is not at all uncommon or misleading, but it sure seems to be taking forever to grow out in comparison to my Early Girls that were transplanted on April 29th --- which was thirty-nine days later than this Super Fantastic was set out, on March 21st. By the way, March 21st was 67 days ago. This Super Fantastic tomato started showing signs of blossom heads forming on May 10th, Today is May 27th and those same, very few, tiny, blossoms are just now beginning to open, 17 days later. The plant is growing quite well for what it has been through with our crazy cold, and very wet, Spring, but all the growth in the world means nothing if there are no tomatoes to show for it ... I certainly hope the fruits of this plant make up for the incredibly long wait time. Who knows? Maybe, Super Fantastic got its name from the flavor or from the quality of the fruit, rather than from its speedy performance. It's a fairly descent looking plant. As you can see from counting the wire squares, it's around 22" inches tall right now. However, my Early Girls that were planted on April 29th are reaching the 30" to 32" inch mark this morning. Not to mention the fact that the Early Girls set fruit several days ago. (Their transplant date of April 29th was only 28 days ago). That'a 39 day difference in their post-transplant-grow-time, compared to the Super fantastic which was transplanted 67 days ago. I had nothing with me at the time, to use as a size reference for these young, Early Girl Tomatoes, but I did walk back later with a wooden ruler to measure the diameter of this tomato and found these fruits to be, 1-1/8" to 1-5/8" inches across. This was not just a one plant fluke, there are several of these Early Girls with green tomatoes larger than 1" inch right now. Some of these Early Girls are over 30" inches tall and very well filled out. I took photos of tomato plants growing on both Black, and on White Plasticulture. --- During the cooler weeks of Spring, the tomatoes transplanted into black Plasticulture were nearly twice as tall as the tomatoes transplanted into the White Plasticulture. Now, that the temperatures have warmed considerably, there is little discernible difference between the results seen on each color of plastic, except the tomato plants on White Plasticulture now seem to be filled in wider and thicker, just not quite as tall yet.
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