Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies and garden pics)

[Ginger2778]

I love Mr. Snow, I sure hope your can get some fruit, Barb. It's superb.
Elaine those HD cages are fine for dwarfs.

[MsCowpea]

Thanks Barb, after the fact of ordering so many I did read some experiences of growing them in Florida. Maybe I should have tried just a few to start. The seedlings aren’t growing that robustly but maybe it is the heat. I thought I could pot them up to a 2 inch cell like some people do but that didn’t work so had to repot them again into a bigger size.

[MsCowpea]

Orchids blooming on oak tree.

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Zebra bromeliads on oak.

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[Ginger2778]

The biggest thing about dwarfs is that they grow with such short internodes, and the leaves are so thickly and densely spaced, that you really need to trim selected leaves here and there for airflow, or it's disease city. They say not to trim dwarfs, or need staking but both are not true for here in South Florida. A lot of dwarfs can easily get to 5 feet high here, need staking or support..

[eyegrotom]

I stake or cage my dwarfs just like my regular tomato plants here in SoCal
I also do some trimming for better airflow too

[MsCowpea]

Marsha, thanks for the tip. When I was looking them up i ran across a pic of a dwarf grown in Fl. all pruned up like that for disease prevention. Hope I can keep up with that as I am not much of a pruner but it sounds like if I don’t they don’t do well. Shrink rap posted pics of his dwarfs and they were really much bigger than I thought they would be.

(Added: Eyegrotom, good to know that it is a good practice to prune. And here I thought they would be less work)

[Growing Coastal]

Even up here dwarfs can get to 5ft in containers.

[Ginger2778]

Marsha, thanks for the tip. When I was looking them up i ran across a pic of a dwarf grown in Fl. all pruned up like that for disease prevention. Hope I can keep up with that as I am not much of a pruner but it sounds like if I don’t they don’t do well. Shrink rap posted pics of his dwarfs and they were really much bigger than I thought they would be.

(Added: Eyegrotom, good to know that it is a good practice to prune. And here I thought they would be less work)

There is one advantage: you can sit on a chair to work on them. For sure they aren't less work though. I also find it hard to find what is a sucker to pinch it off.

[MsCowpea]

You know how they tie up a goat to attract a predator?
I am sacrificing this pepper as I don’t like the flavor at all and despite no care and attention it keeps producing. I need to know if iguanas eat hot pepper plants ( though this pepper unfortunately has no heat). I want to grow some peppers (hot and sweet) in iguana territory. And they can usually circumvent a fence
so can’t rely on that. Moving this pepper close to their hangout near the water.

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[MsCowpea]

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[Ginger2778]

Love the coffee photo.

[MsCowpea]

10/08/2020

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[Barb_FL]

Elaine - Your plants look great. Have you planted any in their final destination yet?

We had some good cooler weather in the beginning of Oct, but still really hot here. I've had a lot of success covering the earthbox itself from the blaring sun. It's keeping the reservoir and potting mix cooler. I'm just using the empty pro-mix bags, or whatever I can find like a shower curtain liner than my husband was going to throw out. Someone left a huge roll of house wrapping (I think for siding) on the road - it's white and not that good by itself even doubled over, but if I even put a think black plastic bag underneath it, it works great. Whatever I'm using, I'm just attach to the bottom of the cage with clothespins. I won't win any beauty awards - lol.

For the root pouches, they stay cooler and haven't need covering. This year, I went back to elevating them. However, the plants that are in ones that were doubled up because they had a ripped side and I didn't throw out are even doing better.

For my remainder plants, I'm going to start doubling up on them all.

------
I'm still doing the horizontal staking within the cage but no way can get the plants on the outside of the cage. I wish they had a youtube video of that. For the plants that are just growing outside the cage, I am attaching the branch to the vertical wire vs the horizontal wire.

But if Daves/Charles system has up to 18 branches, couldn't we effectively achieve the same results it we limited our branching to 18?

[Ginger2778]

Elaine, those are some very pretty plants. Are you going to grow al of those yourself? I see Stump of the World there, thank you for honoring Remy.
This season is far better for me too. When will they go to final transplant? Mine are already in their Earthboxes, and growing to 2 &1/2 feet, suckers already forming. What a difference from last year.

[MsCowpea]

Marsha, I am afraid Stump of the World was included as it was in a big group of plants that I have grown in the past and liked and I am growing
them all again. I honestly never even thought of your tribute to your friend so I can’t take credit for something I didn’t think of. But certainly
since I have the plants I will remember it was a very special tomato to her. She sounds like a wonderful person that made such a positive impact on many many people. I find it hard to read about someone whose cancer reoccurred. It is very sad.

[MsCowpea]

Barb, I have got many planted but still have many that go in the ground. I will have to put some of them in sideways as they are getting tall.
Hate when that happens. Hope to have that done soon.

Barb quote “ I'm still doing the horizontal staking within the cage but no way can get the plants on the outside of the cage. I wish they had a youtube video of that. For the plants that are just growing outside the cage, I am attaching the branch to the vertical wire vs the horizontal wire.

But if Daves/Charles system has up to 18 branches, couldn't we effectively achieve the same results it we limited our branching to 18?” unquote

Not sure, as this training system that Wilber developed with the 18 branches and Dave copied has always been confusing to me. I understand what they are saying but don’t see how to do it in real practice. You are supposed to attach the branches to the vertical wires. One branch on each of the 18 vertical wires. Then reinforce all of them on horizontal wires as well. First You train some branches to the outside and let some of them split until you get your 18 branches. Easier said than done.

In one of Dave’s handout he mentions training 12 to 18 branches and in another he says 18 so apparently you could just use a smaller cage and train a smaller number of branches??? You just wouldn’t get your 300 pounds of tomatoes that Wilber got from one Better Boy. Dave does mention that 300 pound tomato record of Wilbers in a handout but doesn’t mention Wilber or his book that details the original method. I have one big cage to try and emulate the system but will have to go mostly with smaller cages.

[MsCowpea]

I've had a lot of success covering the earthbox itself from the blaring sun. It's keeping the reservoir and potting mix cooler.

Barb, I agree that it is a good idea to cover these dark containers. Good idea to use the empty Promix bags. I am clipping on some material with clothespins too on some of the containers. It has been unbearably hot. Maybe a Little bit cooler (???) today but the sun is brutal when it is out.

[MsCowpea]

Garden marking pen trial. Update.
The Sharpie Extreme started faded a few weeks back. (I actually did another tag with it to double check as it was doing worse than the Sharpie Regular. )
Marsha recommended Sakura IdentiPen. What is amazing is her little orange tag is holding up for a year and looks like it isn’t fading much. It is from Oct. 2019. Easy to write with and double tips.
I included pencil on wood but that didn’t work for me at all. The one year I used it the markers got all moldy and I couldn’t read the writing.
Staedtler looks great and is a pleasure to write with but it is more expensive.

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I bought a bag of Miracle Gro Potting Mix for an experiment. Yes, I know it is Moisture Control and people say not to use because of the moisture component but a lot of these cautions are from people who repeat what they see on internet and have no experience using it so I have to see for myself. I have only tried the MG in the yellow bag and it broke down into mucky mud. Anyway,
I am experimenting with Charles Wilber’s compost based system and I thought I would put together the modified version which makes it much easier for average person. MG moisture control mix is specifically recommended with the modified version because sphagnum peat must be the first ingredient.

Have to say MG mix has a lot wood and wasn’t cheap —$15.50 for 50 quarts. Much prefer Fafard 3 B or other professional mixes but who knows?
I am a fan of pine bark and the usual recommendation is don’t use inner wood so we shall see. This is full of of wood.

Forgot to say many expensive mixes have wood ( not bark) as an ingredient. Usually says something like aged forest products so the only thing to do is to try them. The one good thing is it means less peat as it’s use is an environmental sensitive issue.

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Some people buy lots of shoes or jewelry. I like fertilizer. Got some that specifically said for tomatoes. I also like Nature Safe, BioActive, and Microlife and some cheap stuff as well which I actually use the most.

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(Edited for brevity.)
I am taking a course on how to do a blog as I am completely computer illiterate. I barely knew what a blog was so if I figure it out my experiments will be in my new blog before I am too old and decrepit to do them.

[DirtTherapy]

Garden marking pen trial. Update.
The Sharpie Extreme started faded a few weeks back. (I actually did another tag with it to double check as it was doing worse than the Sharpie Regular. )
Marsha recommended Sakura IdentiPen. What is amazing is her little orange tag is holding up for a year and looks like it isn’t fading much. It is from Oct. 2019.
I included pencil on wood but that didn’t work for me at all. The one year I used it the markers got all moldy and I couldn’t read the writing.
Staedtler looks great and is a pleasure to write with but it is more expensive.
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I ran into the faded sharpie issue in the spring when I could no longer read any of my markers. Broke down and got a cheapish label maker (Brother), but I have yet to see how the labels hold up over time in the sun.

[MsCowpea]

Always carry this tote bag to tomato events.

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