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Kind of a bummer year with low production. We lost several plants to wilt in late spring, and several more just didn't prosper, some other pathogen I suspect.. Three plants did so-so and we had all we wanted to eat until fierce summer in July, when like every year they stopped setting. All three made it through summer OK . One, a Goliath hybrid (the picture) is full of fruit, with first ripe ones in about three weeks. With an average winter and a sheet over the plants when the first frosts arrive, we should have good production from that plant. This plant is now 16 months old, and seems very happy and healthy.
I used the Goliath in a successful experiment this year. It set fruit until it got really hot just like the other varieties, but because the fruit ripened so slowly, it gave fresh fruit for several weeks after the early ripening varieties had played out.
The other two plants made it through to the cooler fall temps, looking healthy and blooming prolifically. In other years these plant bear abundantly, delivering ripe fruit in mid-October. However, this year they set few fruits after the summer, and the ones that did set are about a third the expected size. The little tomatoes are very sweet, almost sugary. I fertilized the usual way, lightly when the first fruit set in April, then lightly again in mid -September. Any thoughts what might cause the fruits to be so small?
Four 10 week old seedlings recently planted out are thriving in the greenhouse - two Jet Star and two Fourth of July - and we should see fruit from them in December. I'll only keep the two best because four plants turn the GH into a jungle. I've just spouted seedlings which we'll plant out in the mini-GH about Jan 1, Sophie's Choice and Applause, with first fruit early March. About Feb 1st, we'll seed for plant out early April. This cycle of seeding a few plants every two months is an experiment for 2010. The objective is to always have at least two bearing plants in their prime.
Frank
(edited for typo)
This message was edited Nov 1, 2009 1:02 PM
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