Fall tomatoes set out

[b54red]

I finally got my last 20 plants set out for my fall tomatoes this morning. I set out the other 15 a couple of weeks ago and since then the heat has been terrible with no real rain to cool it down some so I waited on this batch. At last we got a half inch of rain last night to cool it down some. Despite temps exceeding 100 for most of the last two weeks and nights in the 80s those plants set out a few weeks ago have actually already set some fruit. Not a lot but some. I'm just hoping to keep them fairly healthy and disease and pest free for the next two months to reap the reward later. I'm still getting tomatoes from the plants I set out in the spring but they are starting to look pretty ragged after a bad bout with spider mites. I hope I can keep them off my new ones.

Bill

[AlittleSalt]

Our Porters are still ripening from the spring garden, but no new flowers.

One of the Sungold plants has 3 flowers on it. It is one I planted for the fall garden. Just guessing, I would say it is around 18-20" tall.

[b54red]

The two varieties that are the quickest to set fruit when set out for fall production for me have been Pruden's Purple and ISPL. For those older plants not setting any more try pruning them back and giving them an overly large drink of water and a heavy dose of TTF immediately after pruning them.

Bill

[WilburMartin]

I have Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and Sweet Carneros Pink for my late maters - hopefully my Pink Brandywine and Mortgage Lifters will keep growing until it gets cooler in a month or so (hopefully). Heck, maybe my Creole, Patio, and Better Bush will give it the old college try and hang in there, too - really would like to have a fall bounty; my mouth is in desperate need of a BLT about right now!

[AlittleSalt]

It is odd how I cannot find TTF in Texas. I've tried all the local places and they've never heard of it. Even Walmart .com http://www.walmart.com/ip/Urban-Farm...lizer/33919304

It has just been a weird year altogether. I've been watching the usual weeds turning brown during the heat wave, but this year, even Johnson Grass is dying. We're not in a drought, but a lot of plants sure look like it.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by WilburMartin

I have Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and Sweet Carneros Pink for my late maters - hopefully my Pink Brandywine and Mortgage Lifters will keep growing until it gets cooler in a month or so (hopefully). Heck, maybe my Creole, Patio, and Better Bush will give it the old college try and hang in there, too - really would like to have a fall bounty; my mouth is in desperate need of a BLT about right now!

Berkeley Tie Dye Pink has always been a champ for fall production for me. It has the benefit of taking the heat well and also ripening better than most during the cool days and nights of late fall.

Bill

[b54red]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

It is odd how I cannot find TTF in Texas. I've tried all the local places and they've never heard of it. Even Walmart .com http://www.walmart.com/ip/Urban-Farm...lizer/33919304

It has just been a weird year altogether. I've been watching the usual weeds turning brown during the heat wave, but this year, even Johnson Grass is dying. We're not in a drought, but a lot of plants sure look like it.

I have never had the sun affect my bell peppers more than it has this year. Sun scald on well over 50% of the peppers and new growth frying on the ones not protected well by shade cloth. I think it has been a really hot early summer and I'm hoping it will slack off a bit for late summer and fall or the production will be less than usual with too many spider mites. This was the first year I ever saw spider mites hit nearly every plant in the garden so early in the season. We have had some rain so it hasn't been nearly as dry as some summers but good soaking rains have been scarce so far.

I always order my TTF through their website.

http://theurbanfarm.com/legr1.html

Bill

Bill

[Starlight]

Bill... Don't know if you seen the channel 9 news the other day or not. With the extreme heat going on they showed future prediction maps and said we are supposed to have hotter than normal fall and longer season of the heat. Wonder if this means another winter with no cold to kill the pests?

[Dewayne mater]

Bill - I got mine in last weekend. I'd been too busy to grow from seed and a good local nursery has a good number of transplant options. Interesting to me, last Monday was their last day. After that, they were giving away the remaining transplants to employees. Gonna be tough to keep them happy in the heat we've had and with the spider mites rampaging, but we shall see!

[b54red]

I don't know what is going on with the spider mites this summer here. I have never seen anything like it. Usually you first see a few on a weak or sickly plant and gradually they will start moving to other plants. This year in a matter of a couple of days every tomato in my garden had some spider mites on them and most were literally covered from top to bottom. i talked to a long time grower and he has experienced the same thing and he had never seen them spread like this.

The 2nd spray I did yesterday already has them looking 100% better but if it rains I am going to treat the whole tomato patch again with the DE, soap and Permethrin spray. I'm not taking any chances with my newly set out late summer and fall tomatoes. I figure it is probably too late for most of my older plants and will probably pull many of them when all the fruit is ready but some of them are still looking okay and may recover completely. I know one thing when I go to this combo I am going nuclear because I only saw one insect in the garden today and no moving spider mites. I haven't seen a stink bug or leaf footed bug since the first spray I did and no aphids or whiteflies either. That DE really does a job long term at least until the rain washes it off.

Bill

[b54red]

Wow my fall plants are doing great. The ones I set out the end of June are already giving me ripe fruit especially ISPL. Most of the ones I set out in late July are setting fruit and are about 4 ft tall. If the weather remains warm and the spider mites don't come back I should have a bumper crop but I'm going to have to kill off some squirrels for that to happen. Right now they are getting 9 out of 10 of my tomatoes as soon as they blush and it is getting really aggravating. I know if I don't thin them out they will eat all my broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts before they have a chance to get big. I already have them all started in the greenhouse so I better get busy.

I also saw my first case of Late Blight today. We had a long steady rain for nearly 24 hrs this past weekend and I feared I would start seeing Late Blight so I went out yesterday and sprayed everything with the bleach spray because I saw one plant that looked like it had the first indications of Late Blight and I also had a few black tomatoes with some gray mold on them. When I went out and checked today the gray mold was pretty well taken care of on my ISPL plants and the one plant I suspected obviously had LB so I went ahead and pulled it and trashed it. I'll keep a close eye out for any more but I think the quick spraying with the bleach spray should have taken care of most of it. I always worry when we get those day long rains and cool nights in late summer and fall because it seems that LB sometimes comes with the rain.

Bill

[Gardeneer]

Here is what to look for this Sep - Nov. ,

This means good for second crop tomato growing in Southeast.
But not much so in TX and AL.

0830_sep_nov_forecast_2.png

Not a so good news for us in Northwest though.

[Keiththibodeaux]

If it would ever quit raining in Louisiana, I will do the same. Hard to work mud.

[WilburMartin]

bumper crops on Pink Brandywine and Mortgage Lifters, and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Sweet Carneros Pink, and Better Bush are loaded with tiny fruit and buds/flowers

Creole and Patio, however, are looking like they are about ready to throw in the towel

[My Foot Smells]

Wilbur, you talking about a 2nd crop down there in missy producing like that? impressive, if so, it's been scolding hot and extra wet 2nd half of summer here.