Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => GARDENING AROUND THE HOUSE => Topic started by: bill on May 03, 2005, 12:34:06 am

Title: tomatoes
Post by: bill on May 03, 2005, 12:34:06 am
well I have got four hundred tomatoes in cages with plastic bags around them and the first ones I planted are blooming strong I took about three weeks getting it all in so the last ones were only planted a couple of days ago. Here in midland it is very difficult to get tomatoes to set fruit as the springs turn into summer too quickly and when it gets too hot and windy the blooms dessicate (lose all their moisture) and fall off. For this reason we have to get them in and blooming before it gets to a hundred degrees We are also dealing with everyday winds of over twenty miles per hour up to forty or fifty. you gardeners know what that will do to a plant coming out of the greenhouse. anyway it takes care of a lot of the competition for selling them since there are a lot of crop failures.  I usually plant celebrities. but this year I have got carnivals either is a good tomato for this area. I am also putting in a few plants from an heirloom plant I got from the supermarket called big uglies. actuallly I got a couple of tomatoes for an exorberant price and saved the seeds out of lol. If it does well here I will go for it next year in a bigger way. I am still planting melons but the first ones I planted are up and have their third leaves. I am going to use a manure tea to fertilize them as I am trying to maximize the sugar content I will let you know how they tast later this year
Title: tomatoes
Post by: Miss Chick-a-BEE on May 03, 2005, 09:39:17 am
We've got tomatoes going too - in our hydroponic set up. We chose something with the name "Moziac" in in it, and it's a virus resistant type. Here in Georgia we have a big problem with tomato spotted wilt virus from the thrip. The virus will rot all the tomatoes before they even rippen. We also started cucumbers, cantelope, and beans in the system (hydroponics). This is our first try with cantelope, so it'll be interesting to see how they do.

Beth
Title: tomatoes
Post by: Chad S on May 13, 2005, 03:32:56 pm
Bill would a determinant variety that stays close to the ground be better off in the wind.  I am using Oregon spring for the second season as my early tomatoe.  Not the greatest tomatoe in the world, but short season low to the ground does not require staking or a cage.  Just mulch them good to keep the fruit off the ground.  You may be able to get a crop out of it before it gets to hot.

Chad
Title: tomatoes
Post by: bill on May 20, 2005, 10:46:37 pm
well chad that is one that I am not too familiar with. I have planted carnival and I usually plant it or celibrity those are the best tomatoes for the simi arid areas like where I am at. I think diterminate really fust means that most of the crop comeoff at one time and indeterminate keeps putting on new fruit throughout the season. the larger ones are apt to crack badly here and those two are medium size and resist crackingI now have tomatoes the size of golf balls and some a little bigger. I will let you guys know how the year goes. I made more money on tomatoes last year than I used to make when I was working so I am going for broke this year I have about four hundred and fifty plants out now wit most of them either set fruit or just about to.this is my first year with melons I could have sold tonnes of them last year so if they go well I could have a good year.  they are what got me into bees as a melon grower told me if you grow melons you must have bees or lose forty=per cent of yield so I hope to sell honey too , you can tell I am getting anxious  I will tell you more later. laet me know how it goes with yours
Title: tomatoes
Post by: Miss Chick-a-BEE on May 20, 2005, 10:57:50 pm
Our gardening is going good so far. We just got the hydroponics started back up 3 weeks ago, and both the cucumber and cantelope have blooms. Some of those blooms are just begining to turn to the fruit too. But the tomatoes haven't started blooming yet.

Only problem we've had is that the tomatoes we bought from the local feed store had a fungus. It was either them or the pepper plants from the same store. It spread to the cucumbers and cantelope. So we've had to use a fungicide (which I hate using any chemicals), or loose all the plants. But my husband also learned that hydrogen peroxide works for mild cases of fungus on plants. So he only used the strong chemicals once, then switched to the peroxide to keep it under control. Plus with careful pruning of affected leaves and dipping the pruners in peroxide after each cut before moving to the next plant.

Beth
Title: tomatoes
Post by: Kris^ on May 21, 2005, 12:09:11 am
What is the dosage rate on hydrogen peroxide used to control fungus?  Does it work with root fungus too?

-- Kris
Title: tomatoes
Post by: Miss Chick-a-BEE on May 21, 2005, 01:43:43 pm
Asked my husband about it.... because he's the one that's doing it, not me. :) He said he doesn't know if it works for root fungus, but what caused him to use it in the first place is that many fungicides on the market have about 30% hydrogen peroxide. Plus other ingredients. He uses the hydrogen peroxide in it's full dose, not watered down.

He said that a true fungicide you buy works better than peroxide, but we do try to stay away from chemicals when possible.

Beth
Title: tomatoes
Post by: amymcg on May 22, 2005, 09:58:44 pm
have you tried chamomile tea for your fungus? It's a natural anti-fungal and I use it to prevent damping off on my seedlings. Don't know if it will work for your problem, but here's what I do:

Brew 1 bag Chamomile tea in a regular coffee cup
Pour into a hand sprayer with a trigger (kind you get for like a buck at the store)
fill the rest with cold water.

Spray plants thoroughly.
Title: tomatoes
Post by: lee on May 22, 2005, 11:55:46 pm
here in michigan the farmers. are just starting to put in there fields. corn is just an inch high.it's only going to be 55 tommrow
Title: tomatoes
Post by: Kris^ on May 23, 2005, 11:21:57 pm
We had one variety of plant go bad, and they were diagnosed with a root fungus.  The fungicide we were directed to use was really nasty stuff, but it only worked partially.  We also use fungicides in our mum field every fall.

I swear, with the array and amount of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and fertilizers we have in our utility building, we could probably do a LOT of damage if we wanted to.  Probably doing more environmental damage than we really want to.   :(   We try to minimize the impact by feeding the chemicals through the drip irrigation system, but that doesn't work for the field garden.

-- Kris
Title: tomatoes
Post by: bill on June 01, 2005, 01:23:13 am
I live in an area that only gets 13 inches of rain a year. that rules out most fungus, however I have a lot of trouble with powdery mildew on the squashes, I had to plant squash 3 times last year to span the market season. I am going to try wettable sulpher this year. MY cantelope at the end of the row has a melon on it, they are all blooming and growing good they are subject to powdery mildew.so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I thought I had a pink tomatoe yesterday but when Ilooked close it had blossom end rot and just turned pink cause it was rotten. They should  start getting ripe about 15th of june, I cant wait for that good taste of home grown tomatoes. I am still planting and planting. and kris My sweet corn is over two feet tall now. only afew rows tho. I guess I could plant more  and still get a crop but we get a lot of cotton bole worms on it in the summer
Title: tomatoes
Post by: Barny on June 19, 2005, 11:14:50 am
Awesome Bill, I hope you have a much more bountiful year then we will around here.  We had 3 hail storms over a 10 day period that wiped out most crops.  I am working my hives on a squash farm and luckily they had crop insurance.  I also hope that we don't see a wave of curly top virus that we saw a couple of years ago when the weather was similar.  Good luck.
Title: tomatoes
Post by: bill on June 20, 2005, 08:46:23 am
hey Barney I counted sixty-three ripe tomatoes yesterday, and tons of squash melons are doing good but the middles are pretty weedy and I can, cultivate because of the vines but The way they are going I think the will smother a lot of the weeds Thand god we have had no hail, that would land me in trouble. That is what happened when I got going goodseveral years ago when I stopped truck farming it wiped out everythsing that is the one variable that there is no protection except crop insurance, which I might look into if I get bigger.  but saasit would be awfusl to get hail at this point. I have been clipping garlic in the back yard, I made about five bushels out of four rows about 150' long . our farmers market starts july the secosnd.
Title: tomatoes
Post by: bill on June 20, 2005, 11:37:22 pm
well it is way into june and everything is going good except I am getting some curley top in the tomatoes it is normal to get it in about five to ten percent, but sometimes it gets a whole bunch of them. Is is a virus that is spread by a leaf hopper. whe also have a later virus that spreads by insects biting one plant that has it and then infecting others. I never used to even know what these things were but when you start depending on something Murphies law kicks in. I have a bunch of big cantelopes now I just can't wait till one of the stems  pushes off so I can see if they are going to be sweet enough.  :)