Florida weave skeptic

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

We use the Florida Weave -- 100 ft sections with 6' T-posts at the ends and 6' 2X2 fir or redwood posts at 10' intervals in-between.

Photograph is here: http://baianicchia.blogspot.com/2011/06/vining-up.html

Fred,

Nice looking setup! What varieties are you growing? Are you close to Brad Gates "Wild Boar Farms"? Have you bred any varieties?

Ted

[tam91]

Wow Fred, those sure are walls of tomatoes!

I read Florida weave should have a post between every two plants. But I assume you are putting more plants than that between each post?

btw, as an unrelated aside, I got some of your Blush tomato seeds - can't wait to try it next year.

[Fred Hempel]

Ted,

We are probably 40 miles from Brad. We have friends that do the same farmers' markets he does, and we are certainly aware of his eclectic varieties.

We grow a variety of things, and we do breed some too.

We have gotten to the point where we have pretty much dropped Sun Gold, Black Cherry etc. to grow and sell our own varieties of cherry tomatoes.

With regard to large tomatoes -- we grow about 10 standards (Cherokee Purple, Amana Orange, Sudduth's Pink Brandywine, Hillbilly, etc.) and 10 of our own.

[Fred Hempel]

Tam,

We have plants spaced every 3 feet (3 in-between each pair of posts). In breeding rows we pack them in -- sometimes up to 10 between posts. That way we can rogue out the losers.

I just noticed that in the photo, the section closest to the camera looks like it was trimmed. However, the section farther down the row looks like it has drooping/hanging vines. The posts and twine, however, are still holding them up.

Hope you like Blush -- here are some of the new cherry tomatoes in the works...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kPsWNqfGsz...ewcherries.jpg

Beautiful cherry fruit Fred. They look like a Black Cherry cross and a Juliet cross except Juliet is itself a hybrid. I think it is interesting that you are getting the same color variations in your cherries that Brad Gates gets in his larger varieties. Are you breeding for the eye candy effect or for taste as well?

Ted

[Fred Hempel]

If it doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter what it looks like.

Our main users are chefs, and in the early development of our striped cherry lines we would only harvest and sell fruit from less than 5% of the plants in our breeding populations. We couldn't risk our reputation as high-end growers by selling the other 95%

At this point, we are far enough along so that we can sell fruit from the vast majority of our breeding plants.

[Mark0820]

Fred, that is a very nice set-up. As a first time Florida weaver, I will be happy if mine is just standing at the end of the year. I used 8 foot t-posts for my indeterminates (6 ft. for determinates).

Those cherry tomatoes look amazing. I like the three in the lower left hand corner. The Chefs in your area must be very happy with tomatoes like those.

You might have been asked this in another thread, but do you have any intentions to sell tomato and pepper seed in the future?

[Fred Hempel]

Hi Mark,

We are in the process of figuring out how to distribute the things we are breeding. We are just starting to recoup years of research and development investment, with the exclusive release of Blush through Seeds of Change.

http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_...tem_no=P137900

At some point in the not too distant future we will likely have an online store where we will sell some of our varieties, and I will let people here know if/when that happens.

[Goldie]

Fred, those cherries look amazing. Seeds for those are now on my want list.

[tam91]

Thanks Fred. Wow, those look really pretty. Do they have a name yet?

I'm really looking forward to blush - the flavor sounds very different. I like a mix of cherries, with different looks and taste.

I ordered some Maglia Rosa seed also.

[lurley]

Tam,
If you want to attend the CHOPTAG tomato tasting I will be bringing blush and maglia rosa there as I am growing both this year. (If it ever stops raining and I can get everything in the ground that is!)

[reubenT]

doing it again, I have decided the FW method is done by commercial growers because it's fast, and does work OK, however it's not absolutely ideal, so if you have only a few dozen plants another method might be better. With hundreds of plants to get supported, it's the most practical way. I did 100 ft row in a few minutes, driving the stakes and running the strings, with a helper to bring me stakes and hold the plants up that were starting to fall over.

[tam91]

Thanks Lurley. I'll have to look and see where that is - I have a feeling it's too far from me, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Sure sounds like fun.

[z_willus_d]

I just got back from the HD, and my intention is to try and build a PVC structure cube around my raised beds. I purchased the extra thick 1" pipe for four vertical sides, which I plan to drill holes in every 6" - 8" inches to allow running wires across the outside periphery of the bed, end-to-end. This will be a hollow cube-rectangle, with twelve pipe connections, all of which I'll have to cut down from 10' to accommodate my roughly 4'x8' beds. I bought a 2 T-fittings to allow me to run a cross bar in the upper square, middle of the two long runs.

Right now I have the 54" cheapo cages from Walmart covering the plants. They're pretty tall, but most my vines have already topped over the last rung of the cages. My thinking is to run wires above the cages another 5' or so, train the extending vines upwards, and greatly extend the vertical growth range of the vines for what I expect will be another 3-4 month growing season here in CA.

Cost is kind of high when you figure in 10x 10' 1" pipe at ~ 2.50-3 dollars each. And all the various corner adapters cost a bit too, probably around 25 bucks in all. So, I expect the total project to run around $50-60 a cage with wire and all, but I'm hoping the structure will pay for itself and come in handy down the line when I want to drop netting over the entire bed to protect from pesky birds. I figure I could have also used it earlier in the season to protect my baby plants from several pelting of hailstorm.

Thoughts, comments on this approach? I'll try and post pics later, once I have the structure up and in place.

[dice]

Here is a Google image search for "tomato trellis pvc" (you may
get some ideas that will save you some material expense):
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isc...51l1268l6.6l12

Another one for just "tomato trellis":
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isc...4l0l3l0l0l0ll0

Some all-pvc individual plant cages:
http://www.feldoncentral.com/garden/tom_pvc/?ind=2

Rather than wire, I would use 1/8" nylon rope. It is bigger around
and softer on the stems. Also, I am on the fourth year on this stuff:
http://www.hydroponics.net/i/134327
I do not remember if I have that exact brand, but I used that size.
Flexible, easy to tuck stems into, and easy on the plants. It needs an
occasional small repair (falling fir tree branches, usually), but nothing
drastic so far. (And besides being cheap, it's also fast to install once
you have a frame and zip ties.)