2012 1st ripe tomato in zone 8a and 8b(?) contest

David (dreaves) and all others in zone 8a and 8b,

I don't think it is too early to establish the rules for the contest we discussed last summer for the first person in zone 8a or 8b to post a picture of the ripe tomato they grow. My concern would be including zone 8b since I believe that they have warm weather sooner than we do in zone 8a thus giving them an unfair head start. Even though this contest would be for bragging rights only, I volunteer to buy a small trophy for the winner to proudly display in a prominent spot in their home and then passed on to following year's winner. Maybe the first and second rules should be that the picture they post must be of the ripe tomato on the vine, and no one can win it in more than two years in a row. Any other ideas?

I'm in zone 9b so I'm excluded anyway but you might want to decide if over-wintered plants count or do they need to be "Placed In The Ground" after 1-1-2012. :-)

MaryMcP
Thanks for your suggestion. We welcome and will consider all suggestions no matter what zone you are in.

I am going to win win win ......

How do you get a decent root system when it's so cold. It might be warmer in your area even though you are North of me. I'm in the Hill Country so it gets really cold. Even if I can keep the plants alive,which isn't always possible I've noticed the ones planted out early have a stunted root system.

I dunno ... I just babied my plants ...and lots of luck.
No stunted root system.

Excuse me drthor but I believe that question from 1lisac was for me. My answer would be for you to consult this link http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1159852/ to find out how it is done.

Actually it was an open question and since I posted on that thread I'm well aware of it, drthor started that thread too. It still doesn't explain to me how the ground was kept warm enough, it explains how the plants were protected. Good luck to you all. It's not worth it to me to put the extra expense or time into getting tomatoes a few weeks early. But TX is a huge state and when it's 15* and really windy I won't be putting out tomato plants, and after seeing the attitude already apparent in this thread I don't think I'll be watching it either.

I just hope the average gardener, who reads this realizes there is a lot of extra time and expense is needed to achieve this. The extra protection only adds a certain amount of degrees and when the ambient temps where 15* here last year at that time that amount of protection wouldn't have helped. Even tho I'm supposedly in zone 8a. I have noticed that the DTM was much sooner on plants I put out later. Good Luck to all

Is David still on DG? He's very rural, like my self, and he lost a bunch of plants last year. Even tho they were protected but the protecting couldn't keep the plants a live, it just got too cold. He was also the one
who pointed out the stunted root system. I noticed it too on my early plant outs but i'm still unsure of the cause. When I pulled my plants this year, they all had extensive root systems even the ones that replaced my early plant outs.

Supposed to be in the mid 20s tonight.

1lisac

I don’t disagree with you that the extra costs in having tomatoes a few weeks early is not worth it to everyone. Many times I’ve questioned myself as to why I’m producing a tomato which might have cost me $2 to grow, taking in all costs (I’m guessing at this number) when I could have bought the same tomato at the grocery store for $ .50, but still I do it because I enjoy the challenge.

As for “attitude”, I frequently make tongue-in-cheek statements because I believe that life is too short to not have a little fun and I appreciate self-deprecating humor, especially when it is at my own expense. That’s all it was. I’m sorry that you took it as “attitude” and I hope you return to this thread one more time so you can read my explanation and apology.

BTW, I too am concerned about David as I haven’t seen him post lately unless I just missed it. Does anyone know if he ever got his kidney transplant?

hrp50 I agree with you.
fun fun fun ... and not much to do at this time of the year in the garden, right ??
fun fun fun and yummy tomatoes ....

PHEW, we share the same sense of humor. LOL I too was just messing around, mainly because I wont be showing I have the earliest tomato so why bother.

I did "see" David on ATP, but it was a while ago. Havent checked lately.

If you like the challenge go for it everybody. Its a challenge just for me to get my plants in the ground. I do think that some consideration needs to be taken when using the USDA Hardiness Zones. A DG friend, who is in the same zone as I, hasnt had a killing freeze yet. We had one about 6 weeks ago. Drthor made a reference to the USDA Hardiness Zones and it put Victorville CA in the same zone as Oceanside CA, they are totally different climates. I used to live there. In TX I have lost more then my share of seedlings because it just got too cold, they were covered but 10-15* was just too cold.

Anyway, carry on.

I'm gonna send Lisa a plant full of ripe tomatoes on New Years Day. She will plant it, and win lol

"Drthor made a reference to the USDA Hardiness Zones and it put Victorville CA in the same zone as Oceanside CA"....That's like comparing heaven and hell. Zones are silly and quite useless. Good for generalizing but that's about it. Victorville compares to Texas, while O'side compares to PNW.

Ray- how are you going to package this plant? After the seeds you were kind enough to send im a little afraid. Lol

Victorville is like West Texas. Sandy, windy, tumble weeds, either really hot or really cold. I have never been there when the wind isn't blowing. Oceanside is beautiful.