So Texans, Where do you Stand on Tomatoes?

[MissS]

I dying of envy here. Look at that! My plants are going into the ground this week.

[karstopography]

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These Hillbilly tomatoes are extra large this year. Photos probably aren’t capturing the magnitude of these. Every inch of rain appears to add a half of an ounce to each. Will they ever ripen, though?

[SpookyShoe]

My plants had gotten out of control and were growing into each other so I pruned them. There has been rain and no sun for almost 2 weeks now and my plants are loaded with green tomatoes also, but few are getting ripe.

Here are Nyagous and Carmello, loaded.

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[PlainJane]

[mention]SpookyShoe[/mention], I’m so envious that your tomatoes aren’t showing any signs of blight!

[SpookyShoe]

I thank The Freeze.

[jmsieglaff]

Beautiful plants and fruits! Thanks to it being more like mid summer here since I planted out, my plants are putting on rapid growth and already the first indeterminate is flowering. I can't wait to (hopefully) have plants looking like the Texan crew!

[SpookyShoe]

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Cherokee Purple (1 pound) and Nyagous (5 oz).

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[SpookyShoe]

Snow White cherry.

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[Mojo]

I am getting massacred here. Whatever new blight is going around has taken nearly 70% of my plants, and the rest got seriously knocked back. Plus, production on the healthy ones is below expectations. At least I am overrun with squash and zucchini.

I did, however, just eat an Orange Jazz off the fine, and it was delicious.

[karstopography]

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Picked one of my big Hillbilly tomatoes.

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Another one might be bigger than this one.

[karstopography]

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Getting a little nuts around here.

[SpookyShoe]

Rosy Arkansas Traveler, orange- red Carmello, and Black Krim (picked when not quite ripe... because I've been having a problem with worms on a few of the plants).

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[karstopography]

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My son made a Google docs spreadsheet so I could track my tomatoes, the system works well. I abandoned the lost tomatoes section, too hard to manage tracking down the tomatoes mangled or ravaged by squirrels or whatever. Pick the tomatoes, weigh the tomatoes and then update the document. I suppose he inputted the formulas that automatically add up the totals. Much, much easier than my paper version I tried last year.

[SpookyShoe]

Yesterday I went to two plant nurseries, one in Seabrook and the the other at Home Depot near Kemah. Both places had some tomato starts; the family-owned nursery in Seabrook had brought theirs into their greenhouse because of some cold nights while the ones at Home Depot will just stay outside, suffer, and probably die. Way too early to be putting them outside.

I myself would not be buying any tomato starts at this time of the year as I will not be planting in ground tomatoes until around the 1st of March.

[SpookyShoe]

Whether you are a Texan or not tomato season is fast approaching. I was at Lowe's this morning and saw these varieties out. I have never heard of Pink Girl, Candyland, Midnight Snack (dark leaves), or Tastiest Tumbler.

I'm aiming for a plant out date of March 1st.

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[SpookyShoe]

This year I planted only seven plants. They went into the ground on March the 3rd.
Carmello and Sunrise Bumblebee, top to bottom.

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Black Prince, Cherokee Carbon, and Indigo Blueberries, top to bottom.

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Not shown are Pigletwillie's French Black and Purple Boy.

[karstopography]

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I believe I’m officially done with putting tomato sets in the garden. Ended up with 33 plants. Some I grew from seed, some my friend grew from saved seed, and the rest from the feedstore.

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Things are looking good. The 16 I put in February had a couple of brushes with death by frost, but seem to have come through with only minimal issues. Might have my first tomato to set, Japanese Black Trifele. I’ll know for sure tomorrow or the next day. Others that are about to bloom are Amana Orange, Black Krim, and Gregori’s Altai.

My hybrids put in February seem a little behind the OP varieties put in at the same time.

[Danny]

Starting my city pickers late, but we had ice last week or so, and yet so nice this week. Behind but hope to get some tomatoes and veg even with hot weather and drought. How are you south Texas people doing with the drought or no drought for you?

[karstopography]

Starting my city pickers late, but we had ice last week or so, and yet so nice this week. Behind but hope to get some tomatoes and veg even with hot weather and drought. How are you south Texas people doing with the drought or no drought for you?

We had 2” of rain a couple of nights ago, but it’s been a little on the dry side otherwise. Not too bad or anything serious.

[Danny]

Starting a serious drought cycle here, and higher winds have increased the fire dangers up here. The weather will do as it does, so trying to roll with it.