Tomato Produce Greenhouse SFG

"Chopper Asked"
I am hoping this was a joke? If you have learned nothing on this forum it should be that we are all doing our best with what we have and following the methods Mel contributed as well as possible. Is there anywhere that led you to believe this forum was that rigid? I hope not!
Very Happy


I think I set the wrong impression. So let me try to fix it.
I am not upset---at all. Uncertain--Yes
Yes I wanted to know if I should keep posting about the tomato greenhouse because of Boffers Topic about Mels Mix by the book.
If posting My garden bed soil mix upsets the SFG Forum---then I would understand
if they did not want me to post How I Did It and How I made it work even though it was not the All New SFG way of doing it since that is the way they prefer everyone to do it even though Mel sells the old SFG book too . I would understand if Boffer did not want me to post about my progress if he thought it was confusing others.
I just simply needed to know what I should do from now on----Uncertain.


meanwhile
The plants are doing great. They have been blooming for over a week now. Some
toms have fruit the size of ----hmmm-----small marbles.
Some plants have second clusters of blossoms that are blooming now.
Blossoms set fruit with temps at 96 to 100 * for only a few hours during the day.
I do not think they would of set fruit if temps were that high all day long.

posted only to see if i could get this smiley to work------I borrowed it from somewhere.
I love it------cause I am always beating my head against the wall trying to make something Work.-----but never saw this smiley before------It is a sign that you finally made it work.

thanks to all for watching my topic.

I will take pictures tomorrow and post everywhere.
Also taking a pic of "the bull" who is so kindly giving me clean
"black gold" for my "compost in the works." You might be surprised
how much one little bull can put out. He has been grazing on
1/2 acre plot with his own bedroom. (barn)
Then we have 15 guinea hens that leave their nuggets of gold that
also ends up in the compost.

CarolynPhillips wrote:
I will take pictures tomorrow and post everywhere.

Thanks! posting in just this thread would be most satisfactory. Cheers

Carolyn , do please keep posting, I have been a avid forum watcher since last year and your progress has captured my attention more than any of the others, one of the items I got from the new book was,, use what is available and many many people have posted and asked questions about just that. You may have noticed that there are folks from every walk of life with just about every conceivable application for sfg posted here,, yuors is a inspiration to me and I am sure many others. With life and the economy going haywire the more options presented with actuall results the better.

Just wish all this had started for me about 4 years ago when there was alot more expendable income to use, I hate being patient! Your story is a true testament to patience, Thanks

7 weeks and 3 days from sow date.

Thank you Jay Bird.


The plants have been watered every 3 days . Later when they are heavy with
fruit---they will have to be watered everyday----depending on the weather even
though they are in the greenhouse.

Side View

Do you have a blog? If you do what is the address? It seems like a broader audience would benefit from your posts if you had a blog.

I don't have a blog. Never had a blog.
Don't know anything about blogs.
Never thought about broadening my audience.
I don't even know how it would broaden an audience.


A Blog

My First BLOG , working on it, whatcha think?
http://cricketsgreenhouse.blogspot.com/2010/10/greenhouse-tomatoes.html

blogs bump you into the Twilight Zone


October 19th
2wks after pollination

Do you hand pollinate and if you grow something in a greenhouse is that always necessary?

Vegetable plants that require pollination do need help in the greenhouse.
Outside they get help from bees and wind and sometimes they still may need a
little extra help outside.

A little more extra information----
Since the tomato blossoms have both male and female parts in the same bloom---all
I have to do is shake the plants or tap on the blossom cluster to release the pollen.
Sometimes the home gardener may see that their tomatoes are not forming any toms and think that it may be the weather or that something is wrong with the nutrients. But if the temps are not scoring high for a long period of time and you notice you don't have much bee activity or wind---it would be best to tap those blossom clusters at least every other day----every day is best.
Eggplants have both male and female parts in the same bloom also and can be treated the same as tomatoes.
Grandmother always said---you have to spake the green beans. shake them too.
Peppers have both male and female in one bloom too---I don't know if it is necessary to shake peppers or not------I do cause I am afraid if I don't.
When I grow mini cantaloupes---I have to hand pollinate each female with a male.
I grow squash in the greenhouse late winter and early spring. Squash has separate
Male flowers and Female flowers and I have to hand pollinate each female with a male.

And pollinating tomatoes in a greenhouse is best done between 10 am and 12pm. The pollen is more ripe.


I cannot think of a blooming veggie that does not need help with pollination in a greenhouse

Caught on camera-----pruning without gloves or long sleeves.
I have learned that if I wash my arms and hands shortly after dealing
with the plants that I do not break out. Weird for me. hm.

Anyway---The tomato plants will be 9 weeks old tomorrow from sow date.
They are around 3+ feet tall.

this is goin to be a huge cluster of cherry toms

Sweet Million Cherry cluster----all of cluster is not shown in pic.

How exciting. Good Job. I know you are proud. Has everything progressed according to your original schedule?

I have mentioned before that I love the Better Bush tomato.
The plant alone has a strong tomato aroma and it will drive you crazy wishing
you had a tomato right now! I think they are the prettiest tomato plants on Earth.
If you grow them in the SFG they need about 4 square feet and 2 ft wide cage. They can grow up to 4 ft tall but mine have grown to 5ft tall. It will produce til frost kills it.
It makes an excellent patio tomato too producing large tomatoes.

Top angle view.

so far I am ahead of schedule.......but as the temps start dropping and less sunshine between now and Dec----I may end up on schedule.
(with a prediction of having ripe toms between Dec 5 and 15)

Better Bush. I think every gardener should try growing Better Bush at least once. I have counted at least 14 clusters of tomatoes on one bush before. Considered Semi-Determinate.


Side view of the Better Bush in a 2 ft high cage.---I don't have plans of growing it any taller than 3 feet-----its almost winter time and I just wanted these toms for Christmas. Excellent flavor----if you like Better boy.

For those who may be interested in an update on greenhouse tomatoes=Tomato fruit is about the size of baseballs. The growth is slowing down now that cooler nights have arrived. I heat the greenhouse at night and keep the temps at 55. The day time temps range from 75 to 90* F.
No disease or fungus in sight.

Great to hear!

Look at them 'maters !!!

Howdy:

Your pics make me want to build/buy a green house. A big one! Oh where would I find the time.

God Bless, Ward.

Carolyn, do have a link for your blog? I "think" I recall you started a blog, right? Perhaps you could add that to your signature, or better yet, go into your profile and add it as your web site. I am so fascinated with the progress of your tomatoes!

pattipan

I am still alive. I will be posting update pics sometime today or tommorrow. I got an early xmas gift----Dell LapTop. I been installing and downloading and upgrading and and and and.
And it took me forever to get all my favorite places set up and in my browser. Farmville took the longest. It looked like I was getting on a few nerves here so I gave those folks a break from seeing me exist.
My income consist of Rental Income and the Greenhouse. The greenhouse is not bringing in any money yet--til those toms are ripe. And it seems no body wants to pay rent these days or unable to. So income is low right now and I haven't been able to heat the greenhouse like it should of been. This definitely slowed down the maturing rate on the toms. Hopefully not much. Greenhouse ran low on temps for about a week.

Pics coming up soon. Thank you to everyone who makes my passion worth talking about.