Got my WFET's Today

My Wild Florida Everglades Tomato seeds arrived today!!!!

I can honestly say I haven't grown a plant from a seed since I was about six, and it was in one of those palm-sized plastic containers that came as a prize in a box of cereal.

This ought to be a hoot ....or the terribly short & tragic demise of a seed.

I'm guessing it would be a bad idea to try to incorporate this into my SFG box ....so I'm guess I'll plant in a stand alone container and try transplanting the suckers later.

Here goes nothing !!

Cool! I look forward to hearing about your progress

I'm really interested in this specific tomato variety and am looking forward to seeing how it grows for you...keep us posted I'm in zone 8a and if this works for you, I'm going to give it a try.

Rhonda

How very cool! Sounds like something that might do well here in south Texas, too.

Got my first sprout today .... 1 down, 11 more to go

2 sprouts down, 10 to go;

Two more sprouts today .... 4 down, 8 to go

acara wrote:Two more sprouts today .... 4 down, 8 to go

But don't you mean "4 UP"?

I stand corrected

I gave one to my dad when he came up to visit this weekend & he's going to raise it down in Sebring (zone 9b/zone 10).....that way I've go an insurance policy, in case I dork mine up.

I figured if anyone can grow one of these things to its full potential, it's him. He's retired and devotes every waking minute to the growing-craft..... so I'll have growing info on the WFET's, regardless of how I do with them.

I'm going to assume the other 8 seeds I planted are going to come up when they damn- well-please & just go ahead and transplant the three I have in the Jiffy-Pellets & get them going in 4" Jiffy-pots.

It's been so crazy hot so late for you guys, your seeds may just be hiding in the shade to stay cool.

Give it a couple weeks, and I'm sure they'll come up. This weekend is the Clearwater Jazz Fest (go if you can!) -- and that almost always marks the first cool front of the fall. (because for years and years I'd freeze my tootsies at the Jazz Fest!)

I planted the seeds around 9/10, so I've obviously got to change something up to get any better results.

I've got my seed garden indoors (because of the heat), so I'm going to relocate it outside, now that its a little cooler & see if that helps the balance to sprout.

I found some info on the WFET's ....

Evidently MWC's are a close-cousin, so these should be pretty tasty;

Related to WFET's

Hawaiian Currant
Jungle Salad
White Mexican Currant
Red and Yellow Blend Currant
Cerise Orange
Gold Rush
Matt’s Wild Cherry
Sweet Pea


Evidently "Spoon" & "Sugar Plum" are hybrids from the currant species.

Some pics of them growing wild?;






What they should look like (not mine ..pics from another gardening forum...);

Transplanted and enjoying outdoor life !!!

Wonderful. Looking forward to hearing more about the WFET as they grow.

Early sprouters doing well & enjoying outdoor life on day 30;




The rest of the batch finally decided to do something & sprouted this week;



So out of 12 seeds planted;

3 early sprout (9/23 & 9/24 for other two)
8 sprouted on/about 10/15
1 "dud"

Not too bad for a germination rate I guess

Congratulations, acara, looks GREAT!

TYVM

Talked to my dad down in Sebring & his WFET I gave him is doing well also.

His sat dormant for about a week (in full sun), but finally popped true leaves & is starting to grow.

Day 49 update ...

Late sprouters are doing well;





Early sprouters are ready to go into their new homes this weekend !!!

They look great!

Did you use those little disc things(have no idea what they are called) to sprout your plants? They start out small and you soak them then put the seed in. My husband brought some home the other day and is all excited to try them out. How did you like them? Were you able to transplant them by just putting them into a container with more soil in it?

duhh wrote:They look great!

Did you use those little disc things(have no idea what they are called) to sprout your plants? They start out small and you soak them then put the seed in. My husband brought some home the other day and is all excited to try them out. How did you like them? Were you able to transplant them by just putting them into a container with more soil in it?

The little peat tabs in the jiffy kit (covered in mesh & you add water to make them expand) ??? yes

I started the seeds in those, then transplanted the "peat-pod" into 2" containers, then to 5" containers (burying 50-70% of the plant each time).

Final transfer is to a large pot (I dont leave the jiffy-pots on them when I transfer.

FWIW ..... and I have nothing to prove or base this on, other than cracker-gardening-lore ...

Tomatoes do better when they are transplanted at least three times before they are full grown & you bury at least 70% of the plant each time.

I don't know why .... just how I was taught

Acara....I LOVE tomatoes...seriously Love isn't a strong enough word.

I love all I learn from your posts...any bit I can gather helps up here in my NON-tomato friendly weather....

So my question is...in order to transplant 3 times...when would I start these babies for planting in my garden June 1. (yeah June 1.... ) Would it be worthwhile to start some now to have some really strong healthy plants to go into the garden?

Bear with me, since the "planting" vs "transplanting" is a new wrinkle for me.

I started my seeds in "peat pods" ... so I guess thats the same as your "direct sow"?

I think what you are asking me is ... how much should I add to my "standard" growing times to accomodate for the "re-transplant" ??? If you start them in pots

Obviously may not equate across types/strains, but ....

Germination date won't be affected (7-21 days with 14 days being average)

Transplant date would be the same the first time (20-30 days with 25 days being average)

I honestly dont know if the subsequent transplants would affect anything, but if I had to guess, I would say add a week to the "maturity time" for each time you transplant (see below).

Once I make the first transplant, I stake it, train it & simply allow the plant to grow to the height of the next pot minus about an inch), while I keep the stem bare of growth below the first split ...

So if the next pot was six inches high (from top to bottom), I would subtract 1" to get 5".

Now I allow the plant to grow to a total of 5" as measured from the bottom of the existing jiffy-pot, to about an inch below the first stem split on the plant.

Take the new pot, add an inch of soil, strip off the jiffy pot, drop in the new pot and backfill with soil.

Your newly potted tomato should stick out of the soil by about 1-2" in its new home.

The plant is usually "stagnant" for about a week & then starts gaining height/development again.

I called the "cracker hotline" (home) and asked my parents the reason behind the 3x transplant. Mom says its to concentrate the water & nutrients as close as possible to the roots when the plant is young and keep the plant from starting out "leggy" & scraggly (whatever the heck that means), dad says it allows for bigger/better fruit because of a much deeper/longer/larger root system (more available resources for the fruit development ??).

Mom's the champion rose grower, dad's the champion orchid grower and bonsaist ...... so I don't know who to believe (probably neither, since were discussing tomatoes, not roses or orchids....LOL).

Personally, I think this is just like the light switch on my wall ..... I may not know why it works, but when I flip the switch, the light comes on .... so I keep doing it, because it worked (whether I understand it or not)

One other thing ..... my folks reminded me to "collar" the plant when it goes in the final pot (or outside).

I had kinda forgotten about this on the last planting, unitil I already had them in the ground.... but they take a 4"(?) ring and place it in the soil around the plant. Mom used tuna-fish cans with both ends opened, placed directly on top of the soil. Dad saw-cuts 4" pvc pipe into 4" sections and buries approximately half in the ground and leaves half (approx 2" exposed).
Both of them then add mulch around the outside edge & leave inside the collar bare ... and both of them agree its so you can keep the snails/slugs from crawling up the stems, and to keep from making a mess when you water (just pour in the collar).

Dad also says it makes the roots grow straight down (to follow the water), instead of across the surface of the soil (sound similar to why I use drip irrigation).

Hope some of that helps ???

It makes sense that doing it that way would build good strong root systems, since tomatoes will root all along the stem anywhere they touch the ground. I'm going to try that next year! It will be the first time I'm trying tomatoes from seed, and I'm thinking that I'm going to do that with any plants I buy as well. I've also read that bending the stems can make them thicker and stronger? Here's an interesting article on the subject of stem strengthening:

http://www.tomatodirt.com/strengthen.html

Acara I wish you had any clue how much I appreciate how thorough you are every time you answer a question. Thank you for ALL of that info....

(don't hit me) But that isnt really what I was asking.

What I was asking and did a poor job doing so is:

My seed packets for tomatoes for instance say start indoors 8-12 weeks before last frost. So for me that would be March (for ease of numbers). So I start the seed and follow your instructions March 1st.

What my question is....could I concievably have bigger, stronger transplants ready to go in the ground if I strated them now? That would be like 28 weeks before my last frost. Or would they die or something before I got them in the ground....is there a shelf life before they can go in the ground?

:?: :?: :?:

So I just typed all that and then it occurred to me maybe your post wasn't to answer my question but maybe someone else's...