SETTFest 2010 Grow Lists?

[feldon30]

So is anyone growing any new experiments this year, or varieties they've been assured will knock their socks off?

Alas, I am gardenless this year. Just too much traveling. I felt a pang when I realized that I didn't start one seed this year (I did manage to plant out 4 tomato starts at a friend's house).

I could probably die a happy man growing 6 plants each of Earl's Faux, Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, and Sweet Quartz. But who could limit themselves to 4 varieties? I can't!

So I'm curious to see what's new this year. There is always the 'new hotness', those varieties professed by fellow growers to be 'the best'. Of course these varieties arrive in seed packets after we've already completely overbooked our gardens with past favorites.

[Mojo]

Again: you are more than welcome to drive to my side of Houston and work in my two beds.

What's out there now, and what will show up at SETTFest, may well be two different things. Shelley is VERY pessimistic that she and Roy will be able to bring anything, because she thinks that they'll already be shut down by then. I, on the other hand, tend to be two weeks behind everything they do, and so I might well be able to bring something to the table.

ATKINSON!: however, only about half of them have set any fruit. Cross fingers!
Goldem Gem: Thanks Suze!
Cherokee Purple: hopefully, but given their short shelf life, it'll be a coin-flip.
Earl's Faux: a question mark at this point.
Bloody Butcher: probably
Jetsonic: more than likely
Black/Brown Boar: more than likely
Black from Tula: unlikely, it's not setting much.
Persimmon: seems to actually be putting on fruit this time around.
Tony's Italian: dang, these ARE wispy vines! But they seem to be producing well so far.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Again: you are more than welcome to drive to my side of Houston and work in my two beds.

It would be a rather perilous drive from this side of the volcano to Houston.

Originally Posted by Mojo

only about half of them have set any fruit. Cross fingers!

Wow, really? Have you had prolonged hot and humid weather like last year?

Normally my fruitset is late March, throughout April, and pretty much wound down by this point (early May). But last year screwed that all up with weeks of hot and humid days and muggy nights.

Originally Posted by Mojo

Tony's Italian: dang, these ARE wispy vines! But they seem to be producing well so far.

That they are, but soooooooo worth it. I took Suze's advice and planted 2 in a single cage and I could have probably gotten away with 3 plants in that amount of space. I love Prue, but Tony's Italian has such a diverse flavor profile that it's a new favorite for me. It's in my top 10. Of course now I've gone and hyped it and it will disappoint you.

Don't fret if you don't have much to bring to the SETTFest. We've tried having SETTFest a week early and a week late and it didn't seem to have the desired effect. Having it 2 weeks early would drastically cut Suze's contributions and put all the pressure on Houston. Having it a week late led to rather soft tomatoes in 2008.

I've missed growing tomatoes.

[Mojo]

I was running a bit behind in terms of development this time around, seeing as how I burnt my seedlings and they had to recover. It has been quite good until just this past week, really. Nighttime lows have only recently been staying above 70, and nothing too terribly extreme in the day, although we have hit 90 recently and I have seen some blossom drop. I remain optimistic that I will have more fruit-set through the next ten days or so. Beyond that, it will be very much a question of if we get that one last late-season dry cold front that will allow a day or two of optimal conditions.

Right now the problem is dryness. We've officially started running behind on rainfail --I've got cracks in the back yard visible beneath portions of the lawn. I'm running my soaker hoses at least twice a week now --mainly for squash and cuke production, but also to support what's already set. We could do with a daylong soaking and it wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit --but not today, I'm going out on the lake later.