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Old May 7, 2009   #1
jtharper76
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Default Two Growing Seasons

In talking with another member of this board and with my grandfather who was a farmer and dairyman his entire life, both brought up the idea that in zone 9 there are two growing seasons since our spring and summer is soo long. Can some one give me a little more information on this.

If there are two seasons when should I start seeds for the 2nd growing season, as I assume it starts after the HEAT of july and august have ended here in Louisiana?

thanks again TOMATOVILLE
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Old May 7, 2009   #2
creister
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Does your parish have an agricultural extension service? They should have some general guidelines of dates to plant for both seasons. Then start your seeds 6-8 weeks before the plant out date. Most fall plant out dates are 12-14 weeks before the first avg. frost date.

Something else to consider is the amount of sunlight you will get. Make sure you have a spot that gets sunlight all day for fall tomatos.
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Old May 7, 2009   #3
jtharper76
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Default Thanks for the quick response

I just downloaded a helpful booklet fromt the LSU Ag Service and it gives the dates for all the veggies we can grow here including TOMATOES.

The one thing I found strange is they only recommend using hybrids as they produce better here. Guess we will see if they are right after all my heirlooms are done for the year.
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Old May 7, 2009   #4
creister
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Some OP/heirloom varieties that have worked well for me here is Super Sioux, Sioux, and Thessoliniki. Creole is one that was bred for Louisianna.
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Old May 7, 2009   #5
feldon30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtharper76 View Post
I just downloaded a helpful booklet fromt the LSU Ag Service and it gives the dates for all the veggies we can grow here including TOMATOES.
I would be curious to know their dates. In Houston, one starts tomato seeds the first week of June and plants mid to late July. I'm not doing that this year for several reasons but the big one is that the reward is just not worth it for me. By the time the tomatoes produce, we are just 1-2 weeks away from a cold snap, so often we only get a few tomatoes before the flavor gets sucked out by an overnight dip into the 40's.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jtharper76 View Post
The one thing I found strange is they only recommend using hybrids as they produce better here. Guess we will see if they are right after all my heirlooms are done for the year.
The county extension services have limited usefulness for the home gardener in my opinion. They recommend commercial hybrids because their background is large scale farming. Almost every County Extension Service Tomato Trial I have seen measures success by how many perfectly red, round, disease-, crack-, and blemish-free tomatoes you get off each plant. And they harvest them all at the same time, green or not. Some of them use a Brix meter to measure the sugar present in the tomatoes. Flavor is absolutely an afterthought to most county extension services.

There are exceptions to all of this of course, but just realize that most of them are just operating under their mandate to serve the farming community first.
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Old May 8, 2009   #6
jtharper76
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feldon,

If you want me to email this to you so you can see the dates I will be glad to. Just send me a PM and I can get it to you ASAP. It is an interesting read and I would like to get someones take on it.
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Old May 8, 2009   #7
creister
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I second Feldon's opinion of the Extension Service. Ours are all heavy into synthetic chemicals as well. We do, luckily, have a master gardener who answers phone questions, and he does grow heirlooms.
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