Fall Tomato Plants

Ok since several of us can now start our fall gardens I thought I'd start this thread.

I had a devil of a time finding seedlings (mine died a horrid death in the great over/under watering of 05') FINALLY found some at my oh so helpful (being facetious on that one) at my local feed n' seed store. They had a limited selection (Juilet, Celebrity, Better Boy, Carnaval, Large Red Cherry, Park's Whopper and Merced) and didn't have anything that I had in my mind but I was surprised at the Parks Whopper and of course the Merced (Merced seeds are out of production) They price couldn't be beat at 1.29 for a 4 pk so I bought one of the Parks and one Merced.

As I said the Merced surprised me since from all the info I had found the seeds aren't in production any longer. Although the oh so helpful (is my sarcasim showing again?) and friendly girl working at the store informed me that for REAL growers the company will still sell the Merced seeds *coughbullcoughs++tcough* Since this is a variety that is said to grow very very well here I am very glad to get a chance at it to save seeds.

These are the new members of the family.

above is the Parks Whopper this picture is of the Merced.

Another of the Park's

Very nice araness.

Let me know how your Park's Whopper turns out. I am thinking of growing them for next year but I don't know yet. I want to go for juicy (not firm) tomatoes with full flavor.

tmm

I am now not picky I'll just take a full flavor tomato! *G* Will do tmm I've already started a log for both of these varieties. Planting 2 of each tonight and then the other 4 next Thursday. Tamara and I are trying to do a side by side and see if planting by the moon makes much difference.

Saint-When planting by the moon, be sure to use a red filter on your flashlight. LOL Strip off some of those leaves and plant them deep. Ed

Saint - keep us posted on how they do in the fall heat. I'm going to be keeping track of mine but I'll be starting from seed. I'm going to start most inside with a grow light but I'm also going to do some on the screened patio for a comparison. So, it'll be a while before they're in the ground (Oct and it's still pretty hot here then).
Flip

Still hot here but I'll be keeping these under the rim of the porch until the direct sun lets up a bit. I was happy to see that these boy's are pretty stocky already with healthy color. I'd love to know who grew them, all the store would say is that they are grown by a local and ARE NOT from "One of those big out of state places"

Tamara is going to send me a little snip of her Ark Trav so I can give it a try here also, I'm looking forward to seeing how well it does in my neck of the woods. Since I'm working with TF on these I'm doing half organic and half my way (which is the nuke em all and bring it on method) so I'll let ya'll know which works best.

Don't mean to spoil your fun - but I'm jealous. There ain't no such thing as a FALL TOMATO 'round these parts. Well, maybe in the grocery store, and they taste like recycled cardboard. Have fun and don't worry about little old me.

Hey it's one of the FEW advantages to living in H*ll so let me enjoy it *G* Only lived in this part of the country for about 2 years and other than two growing season I've yet to find anything else to make up for all the rest.

Saint/Michelle - I thought I'd pick the other thread up over here as we're gettin' into the fall planting mode and we don't want to bore the Tomato Growing Contest #2 folks. So, in response to your last note over there:

Same here ladies - if you all are lookin' for any mater seeds, let me know. I got a bunch.

Are you doing your journal at DG's or are you keeping notes on your personal files?
I'm going to keep track of two separate conditions for comparison: indoor and outdoor (patio) seed starting. I'll track dates when planted, and for the 1st and 2nd transplants. Also, type of fertilizer/when, Messenger use, number of harvested maters and taste. What did I miss??

BTB, a little worm in the hair never hurt nobody.

Araness - I am getting ready for fall planting as well. For tomatoes there is: Opalka, Black Cherry, San Marzano, Prarie Fire, Costoluto Genovese & Paul Robeson. I started my seed a few weeks ago. I learned last year that finding plants at this time is very difficult. Here's a photo of the San Marzano seedling which is about 6 weeks old.

Here are the 2 week old seedlings.

I ordered a couple of Earthboxes to grow a couple of these in. I can't wait till they get here tomorrow so I can compare and see just how great Earthboxes are. Since I have 2 of every variety, one will go in the ground and 1 in the Earthbox. I am also doing a fall planting of cuke & peppers since I don't get frost.

kanita, your seedlings look nice and green but they are kind of "leggy". Be sure when you transplant them that you plant them up to the first set of leaves on the stalk. This will encourage better root development and sturdier plants with thick stalks.
Flip

Thanks Flip. Will do.

Saint, 1.29 for a 4pk? wow...that is fantastic. And yes, those plants look nice and healthy.

It is still pretty warm in Austin in October...but it is my favorite month. Becasue it actually cools off at night even though it may still be up to 90 during the day...and less humid. I can handle hot days if it would just cool down at night for pete's sake! ;)

Flip...haha...worm in the hair...I think NOT. Thanks for your offer for the seeds. I went nuts at Biglots when they were doing their seed closeout and bought a bunch...so if you have a need...let me know.

I'm doing my journalling in a text format on my computer. I'm afraid to do it on DG...what if my crop flops like my current plants? I'll be so embarrassed.

Kanita, I've got to talk DH into letting me buy an EB or two!!

tmm...I used to live in San Jose for years...I miss the bay area!

Michelle

I see that those of us that are fortuneate to have a second season are taking advantage of it ? Well, OK ! I just finished washing my tray and will set up my tray with the good ole "Jiffy Mix for Seedlings." Starting to get real excited now.
Will be planting the entire Brandywine family, Aunt Ginny's Purple, Enchantment, Burpees Delicious, Dr. Carolyn, Stupice, Matina, Glory, Momotaro, Polish, Stump of the World, Polish Linguisa, Viva Italia, Husky Cherry Red, Ceylon, Rosalita, Black cherry, Azoychka. These are the ones I remember plus some seed from Big_Red and Sequee that I don't have handy but am looking forward to them because I've never grown them and could not find some of the seed.
However do have a $$$ problem. It seems I'll have to replace some of my potting mix. For the past two weeks I have been very busy with therapy and MDs, plus the heat has kept me away from my garden which is dormant right now. Well, it seems my little 2yr old apprentice gardener(grandson) tried his hand at it and removed most of the covers on my EBs. May not sound like much to you but down here we have St. Augustine grass which makes for beautiful lawns but has a tremendously strong root system that gets into my EBs and clumps the fertile soil so tightly with it's root system that it is impossible for me to break the clump and save the soil, so I'll have to buy 13 bags at $7.00 per bag. Aww well, I love him sooo much that he can do no wrong !!!! Besides he calls me JA-JEE which is polish for grandfather although it is not spelled that way in polish but is pronounced as such.

Michelle, I never thought about being embarrased, I use the gardening journal on Daves Garden, maybe I should stop. LOL Lord knows I probably have the worst success rate in all of DG thanks to friends. I start off with the healthies best looking plants, and then they die. For example, last year I went out of town for work and my cousin "supposedly" was going to water everything. When I came back everything was dead and the soil was dry as bricks. This year I went out of town for work again, my next door neighboor offered to water since he watched his mother garden all the time. Everything was soaked and sitting in water (he's a surfer). I am always starting over.

Also, I hit Big Lots too. Five cents for seeds*!* Are you kidding, I stocked up on everything I'll probably never grow. But I figured some of them I could pass on to others who may not have access to a lot of seeds, or who are short on cash this season. I spent $10 on seeds that cost 5 cents. Thats a lot of seeds! But I too am willing to share.

Humm I don't think my Big Lots had seeds...I'll have to go check, not that I need them but heck I can't pass up that deal.

Tplant I feel your pain, I'm going to have to do the same this fall and again next season. The potting soil we bought for this year was the moisture control, which I now know is evil evil! I'm currently looking for the best deal on good quality soil. Found Bacto (sp) for 6.25 a 2cu bag which is a heck of a lot better than the 9.00 a bag we paid for the MG moisture control this year.

I spent the day searching for dolomite lime here in Orange and noppers..so have to wait till this weekend when we go to the "big city" to get that along with some Messenger at Lowe's.

Saint

Lowe's sells Messenger? I thought you could only get it online?

I saw it at the Lowe's in Beaumont, TX I'll check on it when I go this weekend.

well, cool dogs...

my fall plantings are

A. ramming some cuttings in the groubd to se if they survuve the heat & drought
B. cutting back the early cold weather spring plantings to see if the new suckers they put out will produce in the fall better than the original plant did for the summer
C. wating fr those long season tomatoes to get rip, ARKtrav, etc.

can't wait to get my hand on a ripe one (b4 the g-hoppers do!)

I'm still lookin' for Jiffy mix. Haven't found any yet. My new seedling trays are due in Saturday via Fedex. Still need to get some more pots for transplanting.

Here's my tomato list for planting this fall:
Cherrys - Reisentraube, Amish Salad, Livingston Goldball, Tangella, Blondkopchen, Jaune Flamee and Snow White.
Non-cherrys - Chris Ukrainian, Noir de Crimee, Red, OTV, Pink and Yellow Brandywines, Mortgage Lifter, Polish C, Brianna, Basinga, Lida Ukraine, Jaune Negib, Lillian Red Kansas, Caspian Pink, Azoychka, Hawaiian Pineapple, Green Zebra, Eva Purple Ball and White Queen.
I'll only be able to have one cherry each but I'll have two each of most of the rest.

Tplant - I'm here to tell ya that our St Augustine grass is tough. I just spent two weeks hoeing up a 24'x16' area for my second garden. What a chore!

I'm like really psyched!!

I was a 100% mater newbie and had been reading all the forum archives and read about using Jiffy Mix to start your seeds. Off I go to the supermarket and darn, there were too many different flavors and I didn't know which one to get. Fortunately, I didn't buy any because I figured someone would post the preferred flavors eventually. Then I saw a big display of "Jiffy Mix for Seedlings" at Wal Mart and the light bulb finally came on. It stills makes me start laughing when I think about that. Just for kicks I may try some Lemon Boy seeds in Lemon Jiffy Mix and see what happens. LOL Ed

This message was edited Aug 4, 2005 12:18 PM

This message was edited Aug 4, 2005 12:19 PM

ROFLMAO...you DID not!

Thanks, kingedking, that did me good. hee

okay, so y'all will think I am completely lame...why jiffy mix over regular old fashioned dirt? I'm using nice soil to start my seedlings and they are doing just dandy. Am I lucky, or is there some really great reason for using the jiffymix?
Michelle

You must be from Mo. ! You know the "Show Me State?" We have discussed this many times in many different topics. Some reasons are that the soil is not sterile to protect the seedlings against disease, the soil may compact cutting off oxygen to the roots, soil may not drain well causing root rot and lastly you will get leggy, weak plants that will bear little or inferior fruit. Oh ! Could you please define "Nice soil ?"

soil with good manners and a good posture :)~

somewhere i posted a link for making your recipe own seed starting mix...

Don't forget, before you -all get het-up, that I predate all the artificial soils. Back when I had to do this for a living, everyone had to use soil usually woods dirt (leaf mold) or the soil from behind the cow barn. Did not have as many problems with diseases in those days as I do now. I think Carolyn is right, the turn plow broke up the life cycles of many insects and diseases.

ok, so you are not older than dirt, just older than soil-less mixes :-)

here it is...

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/533384/

Well, I believe I'm gonna start some mater seeds this weekend. Found the Jiffy Mix and the seed trays arrived last weekend. Once I get them planted, I'll post the varieties and we'll just wait for them little boogers to pop up.

The summer garden is still full of melons, so I started my new mater garden a few weeks ago. It looked like this....

Now it looks like this.....

A little more hoeing and few loads of soil and we're ready to go.

Tplant, ladies (and anyone else) - have you all started any seeds yet? What's goin' on?

Flip

i started some cuttings of my favorite plants last night. put them under lights this AM

also last week i pruned some of my cool season plants & they are perking back up.

Flip - I transplanted those leggy seedlings to 4" pots and buried them deep up to the first set of leaves like you said. I also bought a new shop light to get closer to the seedlings to try and avoid the legginess next time. I also started new seeds for Green Zebra, Azoychka, Rosalie's Paste, Big Rainbow, Black Plum, Burpees Delicious & Pineapple. I have a san marzano and beefsteak in Earthboxes.

Flip -- You really expanded your garden ! Don't know how you did all that without a roto tiller ? It must have been a back breaker. If you will be raising tomatos there don't forget the spaghnum peat moss and dolomite lime plus 10-10-10 fertilizer. Mix them up real well. I'll be starting my seeds tomorrow. Now you know why I love earthboxes. No back breaking....

TF - what were the cuttings you made? What's your cool season plants? Will they last for a while yet?

Kanita, I'm glad you got them maters buried deep. Will you be transplanting into a garden or comtainers? (besides the EB)

Tplant, ol' buddy! It was good exercise diggin' the garden. Burned me a few calories. I have some dolomite and moss I'll work into the soil after it's delivered. Good luck with your seeds! I'm sure we'll have a few notes to compare in the near future. I'm ready to go.

Flip