2026 Gardening Growing Thread
- Thread starter Salmon123
- Start date
Looks likely to be hot and dry late in the fall because of the El Niño. I will wait another week or so before my Toms get a haircut, and a bit after that for the cherry varieties. Plants are all huge, but being a bit slow to ripen fruit this year
Cherries can go longer as ripening time is quicker of course.
When I was doing a lot of tomatoes, we had a ton of fruit, so getting an extra 20 or 30 tomatoes that ripened late wasn't a big deal.
One thing I did notice, while the late ripening (August fruit set )tomatoes eventually colored up, they were color ripe, but physiologicaly not actually ripe...taste was not all that great, I think the sugars were low and they were definitely not the same as September ripened ones (July fruit set)
These were all heirloom varieties, so might have made a difference.
When I was doing a lot of tomatoes, we had a ton of fruit, so getting an extra 20 or 30 tomatoes that ripened late wasn't a big deal.
One thing I did notice, while the late ripening (August fruit set )tomatoes eventually colored up, they were color ripe, but physiologicaly not actually ripe...taste was not all that great, I think the sugars were low and they were definitely not the same as September ripened ones (July fruit set)
These were all heirloom varieties, so might have made a difference.
Another thing...really hot weather can slow ripening, and Tomato pollen goes sterile when daytime temperatures exceed 85°F to 90°F or when nighttime lows stay above 70°F to 75°F ...so a really hot early August can yield nothing by leaving the flowers on anyway.
For container growers, Tomatoes dislike soil temps over 80⁰, easily hit with black pots in the sun on days like today. Shading the plants and pots helps the soil temps, when the temps get that high lycopene production stops. Temperatures above 85°F block the formation of lycopene and carotene, the vital pigments needed for a red or orange color.
Fruit may stall at a pale yellow-green or "breaker" stage, or turn an odd yellow-orange instead of deep red.
Fruit may stall at a pale yellow-green or "breaker" stage, or turn an odd yellow-orange instead of deep red.
This is a 'U' shaped raised bed. the 2x10's for the base are starting to get a bit rotten. i am thinking of replacing the 2x10's next spring, but wondering if i should line the interior with something ??? i dont know how old this current structure is, as we bought the house with it 2 yrs ago
