Whwoz, Thank you.
Marsha, lets hope my disease spores are not blown to your part of town.
I have practically defoliated some of the
earlier plants - they won’t have a leaf yet . The ones I have planted much later are still OK but growing right next to their diseased cousins. Can’t be good. Last year was a bad year , disease wise, the previous one to that was not.

Box- gift to a neighbor. And tomatoeS that got planted out first are just starting to ripe.

Unfortunately, I have had at least 6 big tomatoes rot on the vine. Several got bird pecked and that is the beginning of the end.

I have lost some of my taste buds but I still taste sweet, sour, bland. And I can still make out that one flavor note I am searching for. So far, The big tomatoes are sorta bland, doesn’t matter the variety. Got to be overwatering as one is polish which I have grown many times and I like it. DH is very proficient with the hose. Rainy and cloudy today.
I am also picking off so many diseased leaves that some plants are practically defoliated, That is not good. You need leaves for flavor to develop.

I got to taste a Curtis Cheek and I can tell this would be a great tasting tomato as it was flavorful despite too much water. If you grew it in dryer condition it must be fantastic. Waiting to try it again. *** just got some feedback from someone DH
gave an African Queen -she said it was the best tomato she ever had. Waiting for another to become ripe so I can try it again.

The stars are the small ones. I was the only one on the planet that didn’t appreciate Sungold, grew it once but tasted it many times. I even turned down a Sungold plant at Master garden sale but ended up getting one at the next place.
This time it is delicious. Ditto: black cherry. Both Fantastic, as is the tomato I got from Marsha—Candy Sweet Icicle.
Love this one and the color is so pretty. Garnet (from Marsha) was very good too but unfortunately got bacterial spot
very early on. Bacterial spot is very common here in Florida. Some years are worse than others though.

Elaine your stuff looks gorgeous. Perfect really. Sorry about your diseases, I get them too, eventually. I have some early blight right now. No biggie.
I'm really behind on my photos, gotta get my butt in gear.

Oh Marsha, I wish it was ‘no biggie’ in my yard. It used to be for years and years but not now. Last year the diseases ( bacterial spot and early blight) wiped me out very early. Year before, nothing to speak of so it was a great year. I have already pulled a couple plants I have deemed too far gone and likely to effect production or quality. So I want them gone. Majority of my plants still look great but some of the first ones I put in would not have a leaf left if I picked all the diseased ones off. It worries me once that happens. Wanted to spray again with copper today but it rained.

Elaine, I spray with copper after a rain too. After all, you mix it with water right? I have found that even at 1/2 strength of the weakest recommended strength, it's very effective, and safer because it doesn't distort the leaves. As you likely know, but others reading this may not, copper gets inside the leaves through the stomata, so you dont want it too strong anyway or it will distort the leaves. Then it takes 3 weeks for the plant to catch up on its growth. I always tell folks, if you see blue on the leafs, its too strong.
For those reading this who don't know, copper is highly effective against all airborne bacteria, and all airborne, but not soil born fungi.

Surprised to read about all your rain; we had a ton in Dec but nothing to speak of in January; maybe none. My plants look horrible though; the wind has been brutal for most of 2 months and has knocked the vines out of the cages depending on which direction it is blowing. The cages haven't fallen b/c they are staked in with t-posts. On most of my plants, especially cherries, everything is on one side and foliage is so thick on the side the wind blows.

Even my husband notices how the wind has taken its' toll. I think the only thing left to do on these plants is to cut them totally back or start completely over. Stems are still green so russet mites are in check.
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Elaine, My early Polish wasn't great either; but has improved.

I use to think that PBTD, GGWT tasted identical. This year I grew them both along with Chocolate Stripes and Indian Stripes. PBTD is horrible in comparison to the other 3. Fruit is smaller and soft. I will never grow again.

I ended up pulling my maglia Rosa plants; the tomatoes had absolutely no flavor. Or was it just compared to the other cherries I don't know.

On a really bright side, KARMA Pink is pumping out totally pink tomatoes without splitting. I didn't prune anything; so probably another disaster waiting to happen when it rains.

Barb, we've had wind too, even as inland as we are. What you describe is happening all over my garden too. I'm using wood posts so no toppling here either, but lots of bunching from being wind blown. You can use cloth strips to softly sling/hoist the vines up to the t-posts, It can help. Mine are still green, but I know the mites are lurking. I found out wettable sulfur will work on them. I bought some, it's really cheap, but haven't tried it yet. I'm a bit afraid, you can't use it after any oil, which I never use anyway because I hate it. And they use Sulfur to bring down the pH, so I don't know if it will make conditions too acidic.
Meanwhile, 3 nights ago there was a possum knocking down and eating my fruit, (we have a wireless infrared camera)and then last night for the first time we saw a racoon climb into our humane live possum trap, eat all the cat food in it, then climb out. Ugh!
I'm still waiting for the rats to come, matter of time.
Possums really like my pomegranates. ☹

Tonight in the garden. Also picked the last of the lettuce. Messed up successive planting this year. The timing can get off. You want one batch followed by another so you always have your favorites. More lettuce and arugula few weeks off.
Tomatoes and michilli.

Your lettuce is the best I ever tasted. I was so sorry when it was used up. And being in your garden was a privilege.

Not to worry. There are tomatoes amongst the leaves. This area doesn’t get full sun.

Thank you again Marsha. But I have to thank you for the KBX from the sale. I just had that one in the pic and it was big but I chopped it up , put a dollop of mayo in the bowl , salt, stirred and ate it All. Basically a mayonnaise tomato salad. I even skipped the lettuce. It was really delicious, very sweet. Better than Kellogg’s Breakfast

MsCowpea wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 7:00 pm Thank you again Marsha. But I have to thank you for the KBX from the sale. I just had that one in the pic and it was big but I chopped it up , put a dollop of mayo in the bowl , salt, stirred and ate it All. Basically a mayonnaise tomato salad. I even skipped the lettuce. It was really delicious, very sweet. Better than Kellogg’s Breakfast

Way outperforms Kelloggs Breakfast. It's my favorite for BLTs. We use good turkey bacon. With your lettuce it would be incredible. It's a must grow for me every year. I'm so glad you like it.

I am a orchid killer from way back. Only when I hang in trees and leave them alone do they thrive.


Bromeliads in oak tree. The pothos is invasive in my yard though it is beautiful. It sends out robe-like shoots that Tarzan could swing from.

They are beautiful. I was an orchid killer too without a happy ending like you.

Barb, no orchid could escape death when I was administering my tender loving care.

You can’t see them very well (there are 5 on that long limb) ) but now I tie in trees with that stretchy green tape. These have all caught so we could cut off the tape.
Barb , we need a Florida thread like TV where I would post this. Anybody know what this is? I am assuming it is bad but don’t know.

Elaine, that looks kinda like a Bishofia. Invasive.Im on a cell phone view, so I can't see it really well.

Northern folks, I will be crying in the summer when I see all your beautiful tomatoes. When you are posting your pics we will be stuck here with muggy unbearable heat, rain, and mosquitoes.

Monday, Jan. 20

*********There was an article I posted about green shoulders on heirlooms and that would be an indication they would be sweet.
It was a trait they bred out of tomatoes to the detriment of flavor.
Here’s KBX w very nice green shoulders and sweet taste.*********

Here is a fully ripe KBX, this cultivar does have a uniform ripening capability. It can be eaten at many stages of ripening.

My other ones were fully ripe, these two just had nice green shoulders.

MsCowpea wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:50 pm My other ones were fully ripe, these two just had nice green shoulders.

My favorite feature is the tight no crack stem end.