How to recognize the symptoms of ETSSS

drthor,

I had never heard of the Thun calendar before but became more and more intrigued after going to Amazon and then checking further about Biodynamic gardening and who else sold the calendar. I finally wound up at the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Inc. located in Virginia. The name Josephine Porter sounded really familiar to me so I checked further. To my amazement I found that the original Josephine Porter Farm just 7 miles from me belonged to THE Josie Porter of Biodynamic gardening fame. One of her apprentices decided to carry on her work and established the Institute in Virginia. The original farm is today owned by the County but used as a CSA garden where one can buy shares to get organic food all summer which is why I knew of it. They also produce a wonderful Garlic Vinegar. I gather Josephine Porter developed methods of making unique compost which is available from the Institute in Virginia. Do you use these Biodynamic composts as well? This was all completely new to me except the name Rudolph Steiner since I am familiar with the schools, but I need to study this further. It certainly is a small world!! I don't mean to hijack this thread but I have had a busy afternoon thanks to your mentioning the Thun calendar!! If it works, great! But I am a little confused how this calendar can work for you in Texas and me in PA by just moving things a couple of hours when I can't even start seedlings for another month and a half! We're supposedly on the fringe of a blizzard on Friday!

gardadore
what a great story.
I just follow Thun's calendar. It seems that it has the perfect germination dates.
How the calendar work ... let's say that you normally start your tomatoes seeds in PA in March. So you will look for a "FRUIT day around the time that you normally start your seeds.
For me, in TX, I start my tomato seeds at the end of December, so I'd look for a "fruit" date around that time.
The calendar will not tell you when to plant out tomatoes or peppers ... but WHEN it will be the best day.
You need to know the best time of the year to seed your crop for your area.

Is it still confusing? The book is very cheap. Just order and have a look.

The little booklet comes with a lot of instructions and also a large insert with the calendar. I laminated this page and put in a place that I can look at every day.


2/3 of my tomatoes are hardening off in the shade of my back porch.
At night they are coming indoor.
I will gradually move them to the sun light.
Planting out date: February 15th ... I hope

1/3 of my tomatoes are still indoor. They are the ones with days to mature under 70.
Planting out date: February 25-26th

Thanks - very interesting. I will order the booklet. I usually start my seeds the beginning of April but this year must move them up to middle of March since I will be away. Fortunately a friend is continuing to grow them out. I generally plant out the third or fourth week in May. Will be curious to see what the calendar says. I see you make a distinction between those that mature early and those that mature later.

Just started another page for this interesting thread. The link is located below:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1297367/

Kevin

lol..at 1st glance at ETSSS i thought..geesh..another disease i need to
watch for on tomatoes.. LOL
come to find opening this forum..im the one with it..heehhe
ya. ive done everything ..EXCEPT ..plant the seed..
tomato seeds..check
potting mix .. check
plastic starter pots .. check
soil additive .. check
lights working.. check
bulbs working ..check
heat mats working ..check
kelp/humic acid mix for watering ..check
sounds like check list for sending a rocket into space..
:) i know im not alone..
im holding off till end of march..
i even have my mid sized pots (4") for transplanting ready too
then i put them in gal pots..then they go directly into the garden..
i did plant lettuce today though..
yea

It's really kind of late for the symptoms of ETSSS to manifest itself but maybe this it the right time if you live in zone 5a. If you want a diagnosis from me then yes, you do show symptoms of having ETSSS.

so?? hrp ..can i do anything about this problem i have???
i guess i could..i dont know..if i should say it on this forum..
actually plant some tomato seeds.. yea.. there it is.. i said it..
LOL
ya.here in my zone its still a bit early.. and i guess weve been
bumped up with last revising of zones..provo is "maybe" in 6 now..
all i know is.. we still can have frosts in late may.. so.. i have all
my plants hardened off..and 1st part of june they go in..
havent lost any... yet....

I have learned that when you have a rather short growing season as we have here in Texas that it's important to get your tomato plants in the ground outside as early as possible and then be prepared to cover them and protect them if there will be a frost or freeze. Here we start having temperatures in the high 90's or low 100's in May and if the tomato blossoms haven't set fruit by then you are doomed to not having many tomatoes to harvest in June and July.

Since you do have ETSSS I suggest that you just go with it.

I grow long-season beefsteak heirlooms, with an average DTM of 90-120 days. If I don't get my seedlings in the ground by mid-February (at the latest), I may not get a mature harvest by the end of May, and certainly by the end of June, when I'm ripping all the tomato plants, anyway.

Attended two local veggie gardening classes recently, and the recommendation was to get tomato plants into the ground between mid- to late-JANUARY and mid-February.

I was a week late, going in on Feb. 23rd, instead of my target of Feb. 16th...

Next year, I'm backing that train up to the 2nd weekend in February.

My frost protection contingencies are in place, which makes this much EZier to do...

Linda

I have never had a year, except 2011, that I have not had tomatoes all summer long. Yes, it slows down but it never stops. Today as I was driving thru town I noticed that nobody has even tilled their soil yet. Not even the old timers that set the standard. But we have never had so many days of consecutive freezing temps at this time of year. Even my potatoes are having problems bc the tops keep freezing, this has happened before but not in March!

Lisa,
This weather is totally off cycle!

i lived in houston a million yrs ago..and i had to learn how to garden
down there..:) it was so hard for me to put tomatoes out in feb/march..:)
and to see the plants grow so fast..seemed like a ft a day..LOL
i dont know what our spring early summer will be like here.. hope it is
"sort of ""normal"" .. but we gardeners have to adjust to what mother nature
sends us.. probably why were so creative,clever with innovations in our gardening..

I am putting my tomatoes outside this weekend - with wall of waters. I was real late getting them started, this year. I've become such a procrastinator!

I brought mine inside ,still in pots , freeze for tonight ...Even with wall o water that is too cold for the tomatoes I am growing this time .. Well the gardener's delight might take that , maybe ..

weve been having some "nice" weather as late..YEA !!
today it was almost 70F..!!! and sunny.. !!!
so..out the tomato seedlings went..
they got 4 hrs of good sun today..
they are on there 3rd true leaves now..and actually getting
close to where i need to transplant them into 4" pots..
its still awhile before i plant them out..i do let them "harden off"
for a week or so end of may..so when they do go out in the garden..
i seldom have any transplant shock..
i "only" planted 72 seed squares.. LOL.. why????
i only plan to put in 24 plants..
LOL.i always think.. "oh..what if i loose some" never happens..
"oh..what if we have a late frost " i dont plant until 1st week of june..
so.. LOL i'll be givin some away.. again.. :) neighbours dont seem to
mind.. :)

I get to harden mine off indoors - They are in a sun room, and I just open up the windows.

Hi there. I also over seeded and am running out of room. I got over zealous and potted seedlings in 4" pots. I've already lost two but the rest seem to be okay. We have not had warm weather or enough sun to put outside. I still have seedlings to transplant but am going to wait longer. Here's hoping I'll be planting by the end of May!
Sharon