Florida Growers Thread

[gardenhappy]

Hi Anne,
Weather man says going down to high of 70's and lows of 50 by monday That means my psoriasis will have a fix and i'll be a stiff walking woman in the gardens I moved here for the HEAT!!!! Will see. I have sungolds and another unknowen tomato that we are eating daily right now,no slicers the frost last winter got those,but my slicers all have friut comming on now so soon. My potato bloosom festival garden from "WOOD PRAIRIE FARM",THE ANTS ARE EATING THE POTAO'S UNDER GROUND!!!! So we will not have a bunch of blossoms for a while the ones from SSE we just got in. WE have20 varieties growing all togeather between Wood Prairie Farm and SSE,I hope I end up with something!
Next year i'm not getting potato's ,going to wait for our soil to build up a few years.We make chips,griller,bakers,roasted garlic,soup,fries everything from potato's and I don't like the ones from the store.
Live and learn and It's one big learning experience right now Have a great day in the gardens,
Garden Happy

[captnkirk]

Anyone having foilage problems ?I am starting to lose alot of leaves now,mostly older ones but some plants are losing some on the upper branches to.Im not sure if il ever figure out what is causing it.

I have alot of fruit set on my earlygirls,betterboy,bigbeef,bigboy,black from tula and some others.My bigzack ,branywine and mariannas peace are not setting fruit to well at all.Out of 2 bz only 2 maters so far none on bw and 2 on mp.

[tmountain]

Hi all. This is my first post to the forum. I'm a Florida grower, and this is my second year with tomato growing. I planted a mix of hardware store seedlings and self-started seeds last year, but this year I've started completely from seed. Last year, I had pretty OK results until July hit. I was out of town on vacation, and even though I asked a friend to water my plants, they ended up completely wiped out by the heat. This year I've planted tropic, mule team, mortgage lifter, and big beef. The first four are supposed to be relatively heat tolerant (aren't they?), but I'm not totally sure. I got a late start with my garden and didn't get my seedlings in the ground until mid-march. Do I have any chance of success, or am I doomed to another bitter harvest? If my plants die, is a new crop started around August potentially viable, or should I just wait until next year? I live in Gainesville (North Central Florida, Zone 8b).

[annecros]

Hey tmountain, welcome! Captnkirk or Marge are much better able to advise you than I am concerning your growing area. Zone 10 is bizarre where I live!

What is your first frost date? I am sure you could probably get a Fall harvest in - are you talking about setting out in August, or starting seed in August? I set out in August for December tomatoes, and set out in September for January/February tomatoes.

Anyway, welcome to another Floridian!

[tmountain]

First frost usually falls between Oct 31 - Nov 31. Last year we didn't even have a frost all winter. When I said "start a crop", I meant to say set out in August; although, maybe my already established plants will keep on chuggin' through fall? Like I said, I'm new to all this (but eager to learn). Unfortunately, I have a very limited area of full sun in my yard, so I'd have to pull up my existing plants to start new in the fall.

[gardenhappy]

Hi Tmountain and welcome,
I don't know a whole lot about Florida growing because we just moved from Michigan zone 5 to Lithia Fl. zone 9B but I have noticed all the tomatos that i gave a good heaping Tablespoon of bonemeal and bloodmeal are doing better then the ones that I just gave fertilizer to as far as fruiting,stem solidness,and color.

I just got seeds for flamingo a while back these are suppose to set fruit and blossoms even in out heat,we'll see.

Everyone else my birthday was yesterday and we went to several nuseries around our area including :
www.exoticplumeria.com
O, my gosh,he has over a thousand trees of the flowers that you get in HAwaii!!!!
Every scent,color,shape it was a real experience!!!!! If you have not gone here he told us that in May and June the trees will be in full flower and bloom!!!!!
For sure a sight to behold,he has the largest collection in the usa and the only full color picture catolog in the world!!!!
Then we went to : www.kerbysnursery.com
A wonderful selection of all kinds of plants from fruit trees to herbs,tomato's ,flowers,shrubs,palms
A great place with really good prices,great looking plants,well worth a trip,pottery,windchimes
A huge selection of garden admendments,orgainc and regular
The other ones were o.k. but nothing to brag about,small,high prices,stock o.k. to not good in my eyes.
Been taking advntage of the garden master classes at the library on roses and May will be lilies,these calsses have been good with a plant swap after that we enjoy,hubby goes with me to these.
Gardens are doing well,spring gardens are almost over except for chards and kales
summer plants are in and doing good,hoping to get more dirt built up stated 2 new compost piles for this falls gardens,leaves,wood chips and grasses,and peat
right now we are eating lots of fresh beans,squash,lettuces,mints,chards,spinach,peas (the last of them),onions bunching,and of course our beloved tomato's,basils,and garic!!!!(fresh salsa,hot sause)
Isaiah and I have about 30 varieties of hot peppers going right now we lost the first ones to frost,we are in a hallow and the frost get us it seems but we know that now and will be doing hoop covers for now on in the colder months.
So what is everyone else growing???

[captnkirk]

hi all hows the maters coming? I have pulled all but 6 of the 18 plants i started because of foilage problems.Seems like i just cant get rid of it.The hybrids have been way more productive and seem to survive longer with the foilage problems than the heirlooms that i have tried so far.

the whiteflys have showed up in the last few weeks and are pretty much out of control. lol i mean they are thick.Seems the neem oil and soap mixes are not doing much at all.I have 1 plant that got tylcv in the last few days but i did get alot of tomatos off of it before the flys showed up.

Il be starting seeds for fall season in about 2 weeks .Planning on growing some early to midseason types mostly hybrids this time around.

[captnkirk]

So where are all you florida growers hiding?LOL .Hows the fall maters doing?Any stand outs from spring garden that did well?So far champion 2 seems to be doing well for me this fall,TYLCV resistant plant.I also like the way stupice has been setting fruit,should have ripe fruit on it when i get home later today.Im still doing the trucking thing over the road so its allways the 1st thing i do when i get home is go to tomato patch.well il check back in later

kirk

[annecros]

Still here and kicking to your south! My season is just now on the cusp, and transplant time is sometime in the next two weeks or so - depending upon how the weather feels.

Hope you find your tomatoes all doing well.

[captbobs]

Hey captnkirk--good to hear from you-
Things here in Puerto Rico are as always--no maters in the summer !!!I planted all the "heat loving" guys--and the only maters I got were from a black krim !!but my time is coming !!
as far as white flies are concerned I have tried everything --but the only thing that works on them is kelthane--I hate to use it --but it sure gets rid of them in a hurry!

[captnkirk]

Well i got to try my 1st stupice tomato tonite.I wasnt really impressed to much with the taste.It was ok but not what i was hoping for.I have 2 more plants with tylcv that i need to pull 1st thing in the morning.

I ordered plants thru the mail that should be here tomorrow from a site i found.They didnt have a whole lot of varieties for fall but had more than the big box stores did by far.

Next fall i got to make myself wait till the end of august to put plants in the ground,got in to big of a hurry this time.

heres the link for ordering plants if you ever get in a bind.

http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/p...idCategory=476

[captnkirk]

Hi annie and bob good to hear from both of you.Annie what are some varieties that do well for you.

[flipt]

Glad to see this thread is still here. I hope there are a lot of folks growing at this time as the fall/winter growing season in deep S. Fla has started.

I planted my seeds on 8/15 and 8/21 - 36 varieties. First batch average about 8" high and second group are at about 4". I wish I could plant out but it's still too hot down here in Miami - need to wait about 2 weeks more (if I can!)

This is my list of varieties I'll be growing this year:
* - new variety for me

*Indiana Red
*Mama Leone
*JD's Special C-Tex
*Uncle Mark Bagby
*Danko
*Monomak's Hat
*Yoder's German Yellow
*Royal Hillbilly
*Lumpy Red
*Prue
*Tennessee Britches
*Morado
*Malakhitovaya Shkatylka
Pineapple
Green Doctors
Green Zebra
Cherokee Purple
Brianna
Pink Potato Top
Marianna's Peace
Galinas
German Red Strawberry
Aunt Gerties Gold
Chapman
Sudduth Brandywine
Red Brandywine (Landis)
*Black Brandywine
Earl of Edgecomb
Red Penna
Ashleigh
Large Pink Bulgarian
Jaune Flamme
Neves Azorean Red

Flip

[annecros]

Yeah Flip, two weeks does seem like forever! I am so ready for the weather to break - won't be too much longer. I can tell the difference in the sunlight.

I sowed 8/9, 8/21 and 9/6. I may sow a few more backups, in case the TYLCV is as bad as last year.

My list, and * for new to me:

*Albany Georgia Heirloom (rarely grown, I started a topic on this one)
Marianna's Peace
Earl's Faux
Aunt Gerties Gold
*Chapman
Cherokee Purple
Silvery Fir Tree
Kellogg's Breakfast
*Omar's Lebanese
*OTV Brandywine
Henderson's Winsall
*JD's Special C-Tex
*Black from Tula
Arkansas Traveler
*Tony's Italian
*Wes
Linnies Oxheart
*Thai Pink Egg
Opalka
*Beauty King
Constoluto Genovese
*Virginia Sweets

As I have not potted up my last sowing yet, don't have a final plant count - but admittedly am building new beds.

[flipt]

Hi Anne, very nice list you have there. Marianna's Peace and Aunt Gertie's Gold are two of my all time favorites. I've grown B/W OTV and Omar's Lebanese several times and they're both excellent. I really like Chapman a lot also. I grew Wes last season and it produced well but wasn't a favorite taste-wise for me.
I didn't even want to mention the dreaded tylcv. It's gotten worse down here every year. I have whiteflies circling all of my hot peppers as we speak. I've been spraying with Ortho BugBGone Max and squishing them with thumb and forefinger. Cold weather is the best deterrent for them. I'll just do as you are - keep some backups and hope I get a lot of fruit set prior to infection.
I was up to 150 seedlings but have given away around 50 so far - I'll plant about 35-40 in-ground and have about 10 or so in containers.
Good luck!
Flip