Fruitset!!

[duajones]

I got my seeds from fellow tville member Suze a couple years back

[creister]

I have GO and Dora both going right now. Dora already has one fruit on it with blossoms. Gary O has several flowers, but no fruit yet. It will be an interesting comparison. I am also growing Earl's Faux, which I have nicknamed "old reliable", and Aunt Ginny's Purple another reilable pink. We'll see how it all shakes out.

I am also growing Goliath, Big Beef, and Jet Star. Right now, Goliath already has 4 fruit on it.

[gallaure]

Dua - you making me crazy!!! I don't have ONE fruit set so far, and I'm in zone 10!!! ARGH!!

[feldon30]

Well I am back in Houston after 3 weeks in Charlotte and I've surveyed the garden. The plants have nearly doubled in size since I left.

Clearly the weeks of ultra high temperatures, high humidity, and rains have really held things back.

Looks like I'm going to get substantially less tomatoes this year than last, even though I have significantly more plants this year. Several tomato plants don't have any. Several have just 3-5. Less than 10 have more than 10 tomatoes. Cherries are productive as usual, but even there, one of my two Black Cherry plants is really suffering for some reason.

I will do a better count tomorrow.

Black Cherry and Sungold are good as ever. Sweet Quartz is new this year for me and I like it alot already based on the first ones.

Cherokee Purple is first once again. 5 have been picked so far. Other than one malformed Earl's Faux and one JD's Special C-Tex while I was gone, that is 2 years in a row that Cherokee Purple has been the early bird.

Really looking forward to Tony's Italian. Tastewise in the same category as Prue which is heaven on earth in my opinion.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by feldon30

Looks like I'm going to get substantially less tomatoes this year than last, even though I have significantly more plants this year. Several tomato plants don't have any. Several have just 3-5. Less than 10 have more than 10 tomatoes. Cherries are productive as usual, but even there, one of my two Black Cherry plants is really suffering for some reason.

So it's not just me, is it? I have about 50% more tomato plants than normal and my production is nowhere near what it should be.

The Cherokee Purps are coming in like yours, along with the Black Krims. The Early Goliaths are living up to their name (picked a 3/4lb yesterday) But my Gregori's Altai and Moonglow have lagged, and I have had almost nil production from the Persimmons. I'm really hoping this week's temperatures will encourage some late setting.

[feldon30]

Gregori's Altai has always been my early, productive one. Not this year.

[duajones]

I am having somewhat of a down year as well. The probable virus really got me down there for a while. In the end I cant complain too much as I still ended up with some nice tomatoes. I had plenty of underperformers like Jet Star and one of my Break O'Day plants. Pink Berkley Tie Dye has really good taste but most of the fruit looked mishappen like pollination occured in cold weather even though it didnt. Chapman was a nice surprise as it has real good flavor and looks like I will end up with around 30 fruit from the plant. Gary'O Sena, while not all that productive is one of the best tasting tomatoes in my garden this year. And it is still slowly setting fruit although I may not be able to harvest them all. Improved Summertime,of which I got the seeds from Michael (Deer Park), has performed pretty well and has pretty decent taste for a hybrid.
Summer Cider, an absolutely gorgeous tomato, has given me 8 1lb plus tomatoes in a row and it has nice flavor as well.

[feldon30]

I *heart* Summer Cider. In the same category as Aunt Gertie's Gold and Yellow Brandywine.

Ok, going out to count tomatoes now...

[feldon30]

The news is even more depressing than I expected.

Bed #1 (4 x 8)
Brandywine #1: 3
Rutgers: 18
Cherokee Purple: 14
Gregori's Altai: 8
Black Cherry
Jet Star #1: 15
____________
total: 58

4x16 Bed #4 back row
Black Cherry
Earl's Faux #1: 0
Stump of the World #1: 8
Red Brandywine: 20
Hege German Pink #1: 5
Jet Star #3: 16
Fritz Ackerman: 0
________________
total: 49

4x16 Bed #4 front row
Sungold
Marianna's Peace: 6
Momotaro: 14
Tony's Italian: 17
Brandy Sweet Plum
Earl's Faux #2: 6
Sweet Quartz
___________
total: 43

4x16 Bed #5 back row
Black Cherry
Earl's Faux #3: 0
Black & Brown Boar: 15
Levino: 0
Brandywine #2: 0
Hege German Pink #2: 3
Stump of the World #2: 2
_____________________
total: 20

4x16 Bed #5 front row
Gregori's Altai #2: 6
Cherokee Purple #2: 6
Mt Mystery: 1
Paul Robeson: 1
Blue River: 3
JD's Special C-Tex #1: 8
JD's Special C-Tex #2: 12
_____________________
total: 37


That's 58 + 92 + 57 or 207 tomatoes out of 28 non-cherry plants. That divides out to 7.4 tomatoes per plant. At least the cherries are productive.

[newgardener_tx]

My first ripe big tomato is celebrity. Next is cherokee purple. First cherry is sweet cherry. Next cherry is sungold.

Load some pitures to have fun.
Pic1: The size of plants planted in early march, cherokee purple has fruit.
Pic2: By April 28th I still have this much transplants
Pic3: Build a bed and support to experiment the pic2 plants. Planted every 9 iches, left only one stem and supported by a string. They are flowering now.
Pic5: Big beef
pic6: Celebrity
Pic8: First big harvest: three cherokee purple, 1 cherokee green, lemon boy
Pic9: All harvest

[Suze]

Originally Posted by feldon30

The news is even more depressing than I expected.

I've got too many plants to do a count of all fruit set, or rather, I'm not ambitious enough to spend all the time it would take. I did count a few beds, though - chose some random ones to get an idea of the average.

My numbers are fairly low as well. Many of the larger fruited (eg, not cherry or saladette) types have 6-8 or less fruits set. There are some definite exceptions, but that is a rough avg of what I am seeing.

Tough year here! A late frost for many (or close) first wk of April, then early May we went right into consistent 90s/70s day/night temps day after day with little or no rain.

However, I am seeing a little more fruit set in the last couple of days since it has cooled off into 80s/60s. Hopefully, I can keep the plants healthy long enough to mature some of this later set.

I haven't tasted a whole lot here yet besides cherries and saladettes, but Purple Russian (med elongated) is worth a mention - forgot what a good variety this is, has been a while since I've grown it. Productive/tasty.

A new-to-me cherry that I like a lot is Golden Gem (hybrid). I'm rather picky about cherry types but this is a really good one. Similar habit/production of Sun Gold, gold (not orange) fruits, a bit more on the mellow side - but still very nice.

[veggie babe]

sorry you all are having such a bad season -------but it does make me feel a little better. The only thing ready to pick in my garden is summer squash and lettuce/herbs are ready. If I don't get a ripe tomato pretty soom I will scream.
Oh, I have been able to pick blackberries(at least the ones the grandkids left me).
maybe next year will be better.

neva

[creister]

Feldon,

How do you like Rutgers? I've never grown it before, but have always considered it.

[feldon30]

No idea... Yet

First Earl's Faux was divine, as always. Sweet Quartz is great. Black Cherry is great.

It is one of 3 plants I bought and planted way back on February 18th. I did have to cover those plants several times to protect them from frost.

The Cherokee Purple and Rutgers are doing well, but it tells you what kind of year we are having that even the Brandywine I planted on Feb 18th has less tomatoes than mine last year which I planted March 8th. It's just too d*rn hot.

[newatthiskat]

I had rutgers last year. I had one plant and it did not produce much due to heat and disease. The tomato had a very good bold tomato taste that was great on a hamburger

I have several plants that have not fruited yet. I have some over achievers. I finally have ripe fruit! two Sungold at 61 days. I will eat tomorrow and finally taste first fruit of the season
Kat