A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
They are small enough I can hand truck them under cover. These are bred for early flowing and finish before the end of September, supposedly, hence the test grow.
2022 Garden Thread
- Thread starter Mossback
- Start date
Capt Insano Emeritis
Legend
I count of this cycle every year. Launch is what most would call late
I mislabeled your giant Golden Dixie. Hopefully I get something yellow. I manged to get 6, 30 gallon pots planted with a few things, kinda a square foot garden theme. I have various cannabis, sweet meat oregon heirloom squash, giant sunflower, several varieties of tomato, Floriani red flint corn, and sweet granite cantelope. I'm amazed how much growth I have since planting the beginning of August, I might actually even get a few tomatoes.
Dr. Magill
Life of the Party
I’ve got to admit that as shitty a start we got this Spring in Western WA my tomatoes are ridiculous. I’m growing Mortage Lifters and Jetsetters in the garden and Oregon Spring in a container
Capt Insano Emeritis
Legend
Every year there is a first for something when gardening. Regarding tomatoes.There have been spontaneous crosses which have been fun that i named and continued to grow and save seed and attain stability. When first beginning seed saving 40 years ago i recall growing a gigantic plant that never set fruit. I saved seed from a hybrid. That was an early learning experience. This years experience is a first though. I know- pollinators- well they visited its neighbors and they are doing great.
I save seed annually. One seed one selected plant gets coddled supported and cared for all season. This year that one seed has grown a 8’ plus tall tomatoless giant that has teased me. No fruit set. It is a Giant Golden Dixie that i have been growing about a decade. A newer one . I have grown and saved the largest fruit seed or earliest all that time it was grown and seed saved.Always more to learn. However there is one clear truth- it comes back to that one seed. I should have picked one of the others in that little saved labled container i guess.
Hopefully FontinalisFin got a good seed!
I save seed annually. One seed one selected plant gets coddled supported and cared for all season. This year that one seed has grown a 8’ plus tall tomatoless giant that has teased me. No fruit set. It is a Giant Golden Dixie that i have been growing about a decade. A newer one . I have grown and saved the largest fruit seed or earliest all that time it was grown and seed saved.Always more to learn. However there is one clear truth- it comes back to that one seed. I should have picked one of the others in that little saved labled container i guess.
Hopefully FontinalisFin got a good seed!
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
Every year there is a first for something when gardening. Regarding tomatoes.There have been spontaneous crosses which have been fun that i named and continued to grow and save seed and attain stability. When first beginning seed saving 40 years ago i recall growing a gigantic plant that never set fruit. I saved seed from a hybrid. That was an early learning experience. This years experience is a first though. I know- pollinators- well they visited its neighbors and they are doing great.
I save seed annually. One seed one selected plant gets coddled supported and cared for all season. This year that one seed has grown a 8’ plus tall tomatoless giant that has teased me. No fruit set. It is a Giant Golden Dixie that i have been growing about a decade. A newer one . I have grown and saved the largest fruit seed or earliest all that time it was grown and seed saved.Always more to learn. However there is one clear truth- it comes back to that one seed. I should have picked one of the others in that little saved labled container i guess.
Hopefully FontinalisFin got a good seed!
That's the leaf structure, I have 2 plants labled GD in this pot, and a sunflower and a green mountain grape. I accidentally labled 2 tomatoes GD (Golden Dixie and Green Doctor) I planted what I thought was the Golden Dixie. The green Dr is more of a cherry style tomato and those had smaller rounder leaves so I sacrificed those starts. I also have Nature's Riddle, Thorburns Terracotta, Rosella(supposedly the sweetest tomato), Ashleigh, and Black Beauty in other containers. All have blooms but none have set fruit.
Verification of polenation. Sweet Meat Oregon Homestead squash. Hopefully I get one of these for seed saving.
Capt Insano Emeritis
Legend
I have a pollination issue here because the bees what i have seen are drawn to some of my plants but obviously not all. Noticeably less bees here. Change of plan for next year. I am the only vegetable gardener in this city block. More pollinator attractors close to my tomato plants outside the yard proper which is surrounded by them. Just have to adjust
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
I think tomato, peas, beans are all self pollinated. That's why they are easy to save seeds for because they don't cross easily to make hybrids and stay true to type. But everything else definitely needs those bees, or wind. I find the bumble bees are the real work horses around here. I actually took a brush this morning and self polinated a bunch of the squash blooms because I have only had aborted flowers fall off so far. One issue, I have never experienced but read about is tomatoes having too rich of soil so they put on tons of vegetative growth and don't focus on fruit production. I should of put a few starts in our crappy clay hardback soil and see what they did, maybe next year.
Capt Insano Emeritis
Legend
Self pollinated by disturbance like wind or vibration of some kind. But the bees work them too. Too rich of a soil hmmm? Imbalanced perhaps. I really am skeptical of online gardening expertise. I have never gardened seriously until 3 years ago in an urban mishmash of homes with small yards and unknown questionable practices. We have neighbors that do not work on their yards they hire services to drop in weekly. What are they using?spraying scattering? It is not illegal. I can walk 5 minutes to Tru value and buy 4 x 1 gallon containers of roundup ( a very indiscriminate poison)or other shitty chemicals if I wished to. All highly recommended and for sale. Even with the current lawsuits of cancer cases and neurological issues. But by golly they are big mega corporations making life better.
We pollinated our tomatoes like is shown in the video. Have done this for years with our high tunnel grown plants.
Yields are much higher doing this, no question.
Tomato pollen goes sterile at high temps, so hitting the flowers early and often is a good strategy.
Weekly picks look like this in late September/early October from plantings on Memorial Day.
Yields are much higher doing this, no question.
Tomato pollen goes sterile at high temps, so hitting the flowers early and often is a good strategy.
Weekly picks look like this in late September/early October from plantings on Memorial Day.
Dr. Magill
Life of the Party
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
If they have lawn services they are definitely using roundup. We don't use pesticides, or herbicides. Yes, I've definitely seen bumble bees going to town on tomato blossoms, I forgot about the vibration thing, but they are pollinated 99% of the time before a bug or bee can get a cross in. But it does happen.
Dr. Magill
Life of the Party
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
Morning pollination is a good idea, with our constant 90+ Temps I bet that's why I have no fruit set yet.
Tomatoes do not care for 90-95 degree temps at all, counter to what folks might think.
70-85 seems to be a sweet spot for us
We grew heirlooms, so newer hybrids for the PNW can do well at a lower temp, as can some cool climate heirlooms, Russian for instance.
Sterile pollen doesn't revert to viable after temps cool, its cooked and the flower trusses will not produce.
70-85 seems to be a sweet spot for us
We grew heirlooms, so newer hybrids for the PNW can do well at a lower temp, as can some cool climate heirlooms, Russian for instance.
Sterile pollen doesn't revert to viable after temps cool, its cooked and the flower trusses will not produce.
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
So I'm off to buy an electric toothbrush
Dr. Magill
Life of the Party
Cool
You can brush your teeth with it too
Use the back side, not the bristles.
Sort of late in my climate, but in other zones you might get the 60-80 days needed from pollination to ripe fruit.
No doubt it works though, we have done it for 6 years.
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
It was a shot in the dark this year anyways. I didn't get my starts in till the beginning of August. End of October? Maybe I'll get a few if it doesn't frost or rain too much.Use the back side, not the bristles.
Sort of late in my climate, but in other zones you might get the 60-80 days needed from pollination to ripe fruit.
No doubt it works though, we have done it for 6 years.
Dr. Magill
Life of the Party
It’s been a different type of season
Probably the Covid
Probably the Covid