[Suze]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. Some years are better than others, and this has been a good one for me. It was tough going in early April with those late (near) frosts, and I even got some minor cold damage at one point. The plants grew out of it, though.

I use Daconil early in the season, as I think it makes a big difference in helping the plants stay healthy long enough to reach a critical mass. Later on, I stop using it for two reasons: (1) It's a pain to thoroughly scrub all that ripe fruit, and (2) Too many plants in my case to make it practical when they get big. In the pictures, I hadn't sprayed for over a month. I'm meticulous about my plants early on, and will clean up leaves below the first fruit set. I'll also go though a couple of times a week and remove any 'blighty' leaves I see. Of course, later on, with all those plants it becomes impractical to keep it up - but I like to get them off to a good start.

Also, I don't have it as bad as the folks in Houston do. We don't get as much rain (normally), but still a fair amount, and it is not quite as 'tropical' here. A little less humidity, bugs, etc. So, my season is a little longer.

Originally Posted by ewtx

Wow, we should have the next SETT FEST at Suze's place, it would save her the trouble of having to haul all of her tomatoes to the festival.

Eric, actually, we'd briefly considered that as an option -- but that would have been an awfully long drive for Houston folks.

Originally Posted by duajones

Suze,Feldon. I was wondering how each of you think cherokee purple stacks up against the heavy hitters on your list.

Duane, CP is a 9 - 9.5 for me. Believe it or not, I didn't even grow it this year! First year ever that I've been CPless. But I did grow Indian Stripe and Cherokee Chocolate.

Originally Posted by PNW_D

Two questions - Suze - what are you feeding your plants, soil mix, etc.? Apologies if already answered elsewhere and I thought I saw a picture of Burracker's Favorite, but no notes??

Denise, the Burracker's Favorite has done fairly well for me in the past, but is pretty bland this year. Could be all the rain we've been getting here, combined with the super cool spring (for Texas).

I'm on solid sugar sand -- my backyard is like a beach. The raised beds are 12" high and were filled with a custom garden mix (50/50) of quality compost and sandy loam (I inspected the mix before buying). I also added Peat Moss; two bales per 3' x 12' bed. According to my rough calculations, the peat was probably ~25% of the mixture.

The peat may have not been strictly necessary, but I wanted to be absolutely sure everything was light and fluffy, because that's what plants seem to prefer, especially with the occasional torrential rains that can happen here.

Amendments - I limed the beds with dolomitic/granulated lime, small amounts of Epsom Salts, plenty of organic fert (a cornmeal/alfalfa mixture).

Then, I mixed everything up with a pitchfork and wet it down a couple of weeks before planting - the soil mix, the peat, the amendments.

I also have been feeding every couple of weeks since fruit set with slow release/granulated fertilizer marked 'for tomatoes' (or vegetables). I use whatever is on sale.

Originally Posted by PNW_D

oh, and a third question - the Portuguese Neighbo"u"r - would that be the one I shared with Carolyn? I recall there already was one named without the "u" so opted for our Canadian spelling ..........

Yes, I am growing the one you shared with C. that should be spelled w/the "u". I didn't mention that to Morgan, and our tasting notes were likely pretty jumbled and tomato juice smeared.