Tomato Tuesday/Coastal & Tropical South

Welcome to the first installment of Tomato Tuesday 2011!!

First off you are probably wondering what Tomato Tuesday is, right? It's simply a weekly report or update on how our tomatoes are progressing. Join in and post your reports . It doesn't have to be a long drawn out report and it is not required, but it will be fun and informative to read about how other tomatoes in your region progress throughout the season. It's one of the things we hold in common as a region.

Very easy guidelines for posting your Tomato Tuesday reports...

• Have fun with this!
  
• Report only on Tuesday if at all possible.
  
• Use this same thread to post your reports through the end of the season. In other words, don't start a new thread each Tuesday. That way it will be easy to find this thread next week. It will be one looooong thread by October.
  
• Other regional forums may start a Tomato Tuesday as well, double-check that you are in the Coastal & Tropical South forum when you post your report.
  
• Refer to first guideline.
  

Since there is no regional host for Coastal & Tropical South right now, anyone can start their tomato report today if they like. Don't wait! You can check the other regional forums that have Tomato Tuesdays going on if you want to see what others are posting about.

Got tomatoes? We want to hear about them!

pattipan

Saw this at work & went ...*doh*, gotta run home to check the tomatoes ....

Still got some picking and washing to do ...but this was everything I could carry on the first load.

Guess I'm going to skip a night of painting the nursery and freeze some Black Prince heirloom salsa tonight




This is week three of harvest like this. I've managed to give away almost everything I've harvested in the last 2 weeks, but the neighbors are getting kinda sick of tomatoes ( heratics !!!) & I've already burned-out the nurses on my wife's floor.

I gotta find more tomato victims ..... at least until I'm home on a regular basis ...LOL

Hah! How nervy am I to attempt to follow the King of Tomatoes acara in a post about tomatoes!!! My little attempt at tomatoes is not much compared to others, but I am just starting and only have 2 4X4 sfgs this year. I have 3 Better Boy Tomato plants and 2 Marion Tomato plants. I currently have about 15 small tomatoes - raning from about 3/4" in diameter to the tiniest baby ones. I think I got a bit of a late start with them.

Small though my tomato collection may be this year, I'm still having lots of fun with it and have high hopes that I'll get some tomatoes from it. Last year, in my traditional row garden, I got almost no big tomatoes due to stink bugs and what I think may have been one of those fungus type diseases. I did get quite a few of the tiny yellow pear tomatoes (love their sweet, nonacidic taste), even though the bugs took their toll on those, too. Thanks to the forum, I've learned to trim the bottom leaves off, trim the suckers and try to stay on top of the bug problem. Checking for bad bugs is a lot easier with a sfg! So I'm very hopeful at this point! I look forward to seeing others' posts!

Well, my tomato harvest has been miserable when you consider how many plants I have. Most of them have only set a few tomatoes. I think that's mostly due to the weather, as we skipped spring this year and went straight from the one freezing week of the year to upper 90s within a few weeks. A lot of my plants are very sickly looking, but they have as many tomatoes as the healthy looking ones, so

Anyway, it's been great fun to try so many new varieties this year! I've tried Cherokee Purple, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, Tropic VFN, Green Zebra, Riesentraube, Matt's Wild Cherry, Rio Grande, KBX, and I see the first blush of color on a Brandywine OTW, so looking forward to that. I am having a tomato sandwich literally each and every day.

I also lost (washed?) my seed map soon after planting, so It's been neat to guess which was which as they ripened.

I have 2 plants turning purple, so I added some bone meal to those squares today. One of those is the Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge and I've read it's prone to that, but the other is one of my 4 Rio Grandes, which are all in one bed, but only one is affected.

The heats a bear down here too & is starting to affect production/size on the Black Russians for me. I've had more cracking than I've ever experienced in a crop before, but I think thats more due to the inconsistent watering & me not being home every day to provide some consistancy in the care, than anything specific to the Black Russian heirlooms.

As well as my B. Princes did (because they were transplants & I got them in the ground early); my Black Crims from seed suffered horribly once the temps got into the 80+'s.
Tenatively, I think I'm going to yank the B. Princes after the tier 3 fruit are done & move on to the Zogolas and Ananda Orange toms for the summer season (around 2nd week of June).

The only thing that did well was the Cherokee Chocolates & it looks like the freak rain /wind we had a couple of days ago completely flattened the plants. Kinda stinks, because based on the plant growth, I was starting to suspect my 5# dream tomato for the Spring season was going to come from one of those.
I trimmed back about 80% of the plants and re-trellised....... hope it's still early enough in the season for them to recover.

My determinate Sebrings appear to be doing okay, as do my orange cherry tom's.

Can't post on tuesdays so here goes. Harvested my first tom 2 days ago "Better patio" it was delisious. The next one to be ripe will be a Celeberity I'll let you know. My Tula has babies and the Sun Kings have just started to flower. I am keeping my fingers crossed as it is going to be in the 90's the rest of the week.

I'm so jealous of those who are already harvesting their tomatoes! My
plants (Better Patio and Roma) are growing well and have about 7 or 8
smallish green tomatoes each. It seems like they've been the same size
forever, but I'm (im)patiently waiting for them to ripen!

Hi there, my southern buddies! It's kind of nice to be able to see who else replies to this thread - see who's listed in pretty much a similar climate as me. Are we this few, though? Anybody else out there from the coastal and tropical south, please post so we can compare tomato notes!

I still haven't harvested my first tomato. They still have a ways to go. I hope to hear from some of you other southerners out there! Go ahead and brag on your accomplishments or let us commiserate with your problems. We want to hear from you!

Well.. I had to give up and pull up my tomatoes that got herbicided by my neighbor https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t6960-herbicide. I pulled off all the tomatoes that were still firm in various stages of development. The variety was Goliath Hybrid http://www.totallytomato.com/dp.asp?pID=00001&c=49&p=Original+Goliath+Hybrid+Tomato. The tomatoes I did get to harvest have been extremely good. They were juicy without being sloppy, and very meaty. I've replanted with 2 new storebought plants. This left me with one Better Boy surviving that was undamaged. Its covered in good-sized green tomatoes. I saw the first immature Leaf-Footed Bugs this weekend so I'm gearing up for an all out war this summer !! Those things are a plague !!

Leaf-footed bugs are what got me to pull my tomatoes last year. I went on a trip this time of year and they were out of control when I got back. I've seen a few clusters of nymphs this year, but killed them as quick as I saw them, so hopefully I can avoid that this year. They seem to be impossible to control as adults.

I think I'm nearing the end of my tomato season. Even my Riesentraube isn't setting new fruit (or very little). Most of my plants are looking pretty icky anyway. I've already pulled several of the larger-fruited varieties that finished off the few fruits that did set (which were very yummy) or didn't ever set any (Mortgage Lifter). Rio Grande Paste are finishing up with smaller and smaller fruit, but I did make some yummy tomato sauce out of them and enjoyed tomato salad over spaghetti last night...recipe from my husband's German grandmother.

One type that I'm very surprisingly please with is Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge. I got it on a whim and it has turned out to be a favorite. I would love to make sauce with it...very few seeds and a creamy texture! After I harvested the first ones that had set in the spring we had a cool spell with perfect timing and it set 5 more tomatoes right at the bottom of the plant! This is huge for me as we went straight to the 90s this "Spring" and my tomatoes have suffered greatly.

Really hoping the fall season will be better for me. There's a possibility we might move this summer anyway.

elliephant,

tomato salad on spaghetti sounds yummy. Please do share the recipe.

Margarita

I have my first almost-ripe tomatoes on both the Patio and Roma plants!! I am resisting the temptation to pick them, but I'll have to do it tomorrow before we leave town for a few days. So excited for my first tomato mini-harvest!

petals1973 wrote:elliephant,

tomato salad on spaghetti sounds yummy. Please do share the recipe.

Margarita

Tomato Salad on Spaghetti

Still on "tomato watch" - all watching and no eating yet!!! But they're looking good.

I think the pruning of the suckers and trying to keep the plants to one (ok, I slipped up and one has 2) main stem is resulting in better tomato production. I have 5 tomatoes growing in one cluster on one of my Marion plants. The largest tomato is on the other Marion plant. I also have 3 Better Boy plants, all with a variety of sizes of tomatoes growing. So far (cross my fingers and knock on wood), no evidence of blossom end rot, which always plagued me in my row garden. I've put some powdered milk around their bases a couple of times to try to keep the BER away - looks to be working so far!

My main tomato fear is of the stink bugs here in the South. I guess it must not be quite time for them to show up, because I haven't seen any yet. I have had some leaf-footed bug nymphs show up on my zucchini and cucumbers, but I'm keeping them squashed so far. I hate those leaf-footed bugs!

Still waiting for my first ripe home-grown tomato!

Most of mine are still green and my Tula is looking rather sad. On the bright side my Sun Kings are just coming into their own and setting fruit like there's no tomorrow. I too dispise the big legged bugs of all kinds. I know they wont hurt me but they still scare me

My tomato plants have a lot of greenies on them, can't wait for them to ripen. My Tula is looking rather sad I fear the end is near. On the bright side my Sun Kings are realy coming into their own, and setting fruit like crazy.
Sherry, I too hate those big legged bugs of all kinds I know they won't hurt me but they still scare me

Hey, guys! I'm still on the seemingly never-ending tomato watch! I have tomatoes, but none are reddening as yet! It is storming down here right now, so maybe a little natural rainwater will help things along. It is really thundering and lightning-ing now, so hope I get this sent before the power blinks off!

I don't have much to report now, but thought I'd get this thread started and maybe hear from somebody else with more tomato news than I have.

How's everybody else's tomatoes doing? Let me live vicariously through your successes until I'm ready to harvest!

Well I'm in the same boat tons of greenies. I got some patio toms earlier but now waiting for them to ripen. No rain here though.

Got some ripe ones this week including a Black Tula it is the tastiest one yet. Also found the biggest hornworm yet on one of my Sun Kings it must have been hideing on the leaves for quite some time. The Sun Kings have at least nine fruits each and are still setting in over 90 degree heat . I hope they taste good. The worm thought so, well the leaves anyway. I don't like a real acid flavor. Have any of you grown them?

We got a real brutal thunder storm this afternoon while I was asleep, I am eager to see how the garden held up. I will check when I get off work in the morning. I will be off a couple of days but will let you know.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

I have about 15 nice green heirlooms on the vine. They are looking good so far. Cherry tomatoes are coming along too.
They are holding up well despite the heat & no rain.

I have another ripe Better Patio and one Roma that's just turning. This will make 3 BP and 4 Romas so far. =) Lots of little green babies still on the plants. Now, if someone could just lower the thermostat outside, please. The garden and I are both wilty by mid-day.

Shannon - I hope your garden fared well through the storm. I was worried about mine on Sunday, but there was minimal damage when we got home. Fingers crossed for you!

~Lu

Whoooooohoooooo! I am now officially off "tomato watch"status and have upgraded to "harvest time!" I picked 4 ripe tomatoes the last couple of days and have more coming! Yeaaah! Tasty, ripe tomatoes at last! I had a tomato sandwich with the first one - just mayo, tomato and bread - delish!

I have Marion and Better Boys, but not sure which was which cause I was so excited I didn't take notice. I'll have to start keeping track so I can see if I prefer one over the other.

Still more green ones coming along, too! I hope everyone else gets to join in the harvest before long!

sherryeo wrote:Whoooooohoooooo! I am now officially off "tomato watch"status and have upgraded to "harvest time!"

Woohoo!! Congrats on your first ripe tomatoes of the season! I know how exciting it is to finally be off "tomato watch" (great phrase btw =P).

Mine aren't doing very well, does this hot weather have anything to do with it? They are growing tall but only 1 lil fruit on one..
Anythng I can add to help them fill out and start producing -- On a good not my plants from seed have come up and are looking good.