Harvest pics (was Fruitset!)

[duajones]

Looks like you are having a good year so far. Glad to hear you are having a good season with the CP. My favorite tasting tom to this point. I enjoyed the Jet Star and will be growing it again as well. I was hoping for better results from Altari as I just ordered seeds for it. Probably replace my Celebrity bush or early girl with that one since you said its productive. Good growing! Stink bugs have gotten a few JS and Big beef but have really gone after my celebrity bush, and if there was a plant to sacrifice to those buggers it would be that one, very productive but kind of thick skinned and average taste.

[feldon30]

Gregori's Altai tastes better than Celebrity Bush and nearly as productive.

In case this thread wasn't picture-heavy enough... taken today:


Jet Star


Black Cherry, Sungold, Husky Red Cherry

Duane, if you love Cherokee Purple, you've GOT to grow Black Cherry.


I'm saving seeds like a banshee and will do a seed offer here on T'Ville soon. I know you need seeds for June 15th so PM me with your address if you want some seeds of Black Cherry. I've got about 700 seeds for Gregori's Altai saved. Wish I'd known so I could send you some.


P.S. One of the Husky Red Cherries in that picture was pretty good since it was left dead ripe. It takes gymnastics of bending over and peeking around to find ripe fruit on that rugose dwarf!! I'm starting to think I will just stake my dwarves next year.

[Suze]

Loved reading your detailed report -- and great pics!

Originally Posted by feldon30

I actually prefer them (sungolds) a bit underripe with a little bit of green on the top.

Me too. The texture is better and they have more bite. Pat likes them dead ripe/deep orange, though.

Originally Posted by feldon30

Arkansas Traveler -- No ripe ones yet, and it scared me because I only saw 3 fruitset when everything else stopped setting fruit. Then it went ahead and set another 20 or so fruit. I will, of course, post back on flavor. I expect it to be a little better than Jet Star. In other words an overall good tomato. The fruit are smaller though.

AT has always been productive for me; I hope you enjoy it. I've never grown Jet Star before, so will be interested in how you think they compare.

Originally Posted by feldon30

Kimberly -- BIG disappointment, at least as far as flavor, but maybe I have not been letting them fully ripen. The next ones, I will let them get fully red before eating.

It's good - for an early; But really, I completely lose interest in earlies once the mid/lates start producing. That's one reason I've generally done earlies in containers in the past -- so they don't take up room I can use for other varieties that I may want to keep around a little longer. I may go back to that approach next year. As you know, it was a mad rush even getting anything in this year because I moved.

Moskvich might be a early you'll want to try. It's not as early as Kim, but then the fruit is bigger, and it tastes better. It's also a potential candidate for a 5-10 gal container as it stays fairly compact for an indet.

Originally Posted by feldon30

Brandy Boy -- finally got to taste one. I've only got 7 set on the plant. Very very good. About 60-70% the taste of Brandywine. I find it hilarious that Suze is getting more fruitset out of Brandywine than Brandy Boy. I will probably try 1 of each next year.

Yeah, go figure. Two plants of each; however, Brandy Boy is continuing to set fruit, so it may catch up with and even surpass BW Sud for # of fruit. We'll see.

Speaking of Brandywine types in general, I have three Dora plants in the garden this year, and the fruitset on them is scary amazing. Also, one of the plants is so monsterous, it got a cage extension (I have only six of them), which makes for an eight foot cage.

Earl's Faux looks like it will end up being moderately productive this year (two plants). But you know me; I don't count fruit or bother to notice unless the plant isn't setting the way I want , so I can't tell you exactly how many.

[FlipTX]

Feldon said:

Anna Russian and Wes each have 3 tiny fruit.

My Anna Russian has only got three fruit on it, too. Two of them are a little bigger than pingpongs and one is a gigantic monster almost the size of a softball.

I've picked three fruit off my Traveler so far. One at almost 11 oz, one at almost 10, and the third at 8. The flavor is really good. Sweet but not sickly so. The texture is solid but creamy. I hope my plant sets more fruit. It's only got another six or so that I can see.

Tomorrow I'll be picking a large Top Gun.

[duajones]

Interesting that you mention Top Gun Flip. A regular customer of mine brought me a few of those this morning wanting to pay me back for the tomatoes I gave him. Havent tasted them yet but he swears by them as a commercial variety. Looking at these pictures and descriptions from everyone really makes it hard to come up with a grow list. I actually plan to plant a few less plants next spring so I can get better spacing. Just have to wait and see

[FlipTX]

Originally Posted by duajones

Havent tasted them yet but he swears by them as a commercial variety.

I'm very eager to try the Top Gun fruit tomorrow (or the next day, whenever it ripens). I've got it in a container, a little bigger than 5 gal, and it's a nice bushy compact plant with dark almost bluish-green leaves. If it tastes even slightly better than average and keeps producing in the heat, I will be planting it next spring, too. I'll definitely be planting Creole again.

[deepsand]

You guys/Gals are talented...I never knew gardening could be so frustrating ...my plants arent doing so well here in San Diego...

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by deepsand

You guys/Gals are talented...I never knew gardening could be so frustrating ...my plants arent doing so well here in San Diego...

Welcome to the forums!!

When did you plant? What did you plant? What kind of soil do you have? What did you add to the soil? We want details!


One of my Cherokee Green plants has surprised me and set 7 fruit. The other CG has 1 fruit. So less of a bust than I'd originally thought. With cooler temperatures this weekend, there's still a chance for more fruitset.

I tried a Kimberly dead ripe. Still not enthused. Jet Star is not a flavor blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination but it has a tomato flavor. I just had one dead ripe and it has a sweetness almost reminiscent of Cherokee Purple but much more subdued. Will definitely be coming back here.

[deepsand]

I will take recent pictures tonight and share them...I started out by building a raised bed 7'x12' or so and used the completly wrong soil I planted tomatoes ,peppers , zuchini and strawberries(daughters idea) ...

The soil I used was 1 yard of compost ( not even ready to be used I find out later it was really hot) and kellog gardening soil 14 cubic yards. and thats it..kinda funny now after reading up on it, I was just a tad bit excited I guess.

So the plants in the raised bed where planted around april 10th and after a couple weeks where looking real yellow , straggley and where barely growing, the first 2 pics are of the tomatoes at that time.

Since then I have bought a ph tester and water meter tester and verified that I was using way to much water ,that soil was at a ph level of 7, and that they needed fertilized. So I let them dry out 4 days and then watered them with miracle grow with a water can, about a half gallon on each plant. They have started looking green again but still arent getting much height on them for how old they are or maybe I am just being over anxious I will take photos so you can see what I'm talking about.

The last photo is of another plant that I planted at the same time that I used a mix of potting soil and regular ole dirt from my yard ( 1/2 and 1/2) and used a 5gal bucket...that one seems to be growing really good, yet I think I over watered that one also as the leaves are curling. One good thing is that plant just popped it's first tomato yesterday , is it bad to let a tomato grow on a small plant or should I have pinched off the flowers so they wouldnt grow until the plant was taller?

I have also bought a bunch of 5 gal planting containers and planted more tomatoes in regular potting soil just in case none of my other tomatoes produce , so I guess I have to get at least something out of this garden...recent photos to come later..

[RDUN]

I have now picked and eaten 3 carbons and 2 cherokee purples... I must say that the taste of both was below expectations although the last carbon was noticeably better. They have not had a lot of flavor... I'm hoping they get better. So I'm wondering if the lack of flavor is because:

A) Early fruits are often not as good as later fruits
B) Our weather has been much more rainy, cloudy, and cool (very few days have hit 80) than normal this spring. Does warmth and sun during ripening help taste?
C) My self-watering containers provide constant water to the plants and therefore fruits do not develop the full flavor they are capable of
D) Combination of the above.

I'm thinking it's probably a combination of all of the above and will see how things change as the season progresses and the weather heats up. Right now I am only able to grow in containers... If I move in the future, I would like to grow many of the same varieties in both the SW containers and in the ground side-by-side to compare production and taste.

[Warren]

I can't wait until my plants start putting out. I have fruit all over just nothing ripe.

[Vince]

deepsand,

Lakeside should be a great place to grow early tomatoes. As far as I know it gets very hot there even though you are not so far from the coast. I don't know how big the transplants you put in were, but even with tiny tansplants planted april 10th you should have good sized plants about to set fruit in late may. The plants definitley look over watered and under nurished. If you continue to hold back on watering and give them some TOMATO fertilizer you should still get a good crop if it doesn't get to hot there.

Vince

[FlipTX]

Much to my surprise, this morning I found that my Anna Russian had set some more fruit. I'd accepted that I was only going to get three tomatoes off that plant (hopefully) and then this morning I found a bunch of pea-sized fruit. Now it's a matter of hoping the plant doesn't succumb to pests/diseases/heat before they can ripen.

[duajones]

Up to date harvest as of this morning:

azoychka-- 1 plant 21 fruit
big beef-- 4 73
black krim 1 12
brandywine 1 3
bush celebrity 1 18, still loaded as this one has been late
cher. purple 1 16
jet star 4 69
N. big dwarf 3 42
bush early girl 4 145

Lost a few to BER, maybe 20-30 fruit
Lost some to stink bugs maybe 20 fruit
and have recently had something eating the fruit, maybe a possum that has gotten 8-10 fruit over the past few days

[Warren]

Originally Posted by duajones

Up to date harvest as of this morning:

azoychka-- 1 plant 21 fruit
big beef-- 4 73
black krim 1 12
brandywine 1 3
bush celebrity 1 18, still loaded as this one has been late
cher. purple 1 16
jet star 4 69
N. big dwarf 3 42
bush early girl 4 145

Lost a few to BER, maybe 20-30 fruit
Lost some to stink bugs maybe 20 fruit
and have recently had something eating the fruit, maybe a possum that has gotten 8-10 fruit over the past few days

I hate you I am joking