So Texans, Where do you Stand on Tomatoes?

[SpookyShoe]

Normally in San Antonio they start stocking up March 5-7.

I marched in the Battle of the Flowers Parade when I was in high school. I had red pom poms.

IYKYK.

[Wildcat82]

Normally in San Antonio they start stocking up March 5-7.

I marched in the Battle of the Flowers Parade when I was in high school. I had red pom poms.

IYKYK.

I bet that was a really fun experience.

I've always wanted to see the the Battle of the Flowers but every time to try to go to the river parades or anything downtown, i get stuck in a 10 mile traffic jam 4-5 hours before the event.

[karstopography]

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Same tomatoes photo taken Saturday morning and this afternoon.

Extra warm weather lately encouraging growth. These tomato plants are outside in the sun/dappled sunshine 100% of the time.

Cooler weather next week. Growth might need to slow down a bit…or not. Watching long term forecasts for when to transplant.

[Harry Cabluck]

Spooky! Good to note that you are in the Junction. Thanks or the compliment on tomato starts. Uppotted 15 on Tuesday and they are already looking fine.

[karstopography]

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Getting the tomato beds ready for transplant. Isn’t far off, the time for transplanting is rapidly approaching. That means chopping up and covering up some brassica leaves and stems. Seems to help keep the bad stuff at bay, this particular horticultural practice. The earthworms go nuts for these brassica debris.

[karstopography]

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Extra warm for February weather continues to fuel these tomatoes rapid growth. Might plant these in a day or two.

[Yak54]

Nice looking plants !

[SpookyShoe]

Home Depot had a few plants out for sale today, I suspect they'll have many more varieties out in the next week or so. I didn't buy anything because there was nothing that interested me.

It's 81° right now.

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[SpookyShoe]

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So, today I went to Maas nursery (above) and picked up five tomato plants:
Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Carbon, Sugary grape tomato, Carmello, and Champion.

That's the extent of my tomato crop this year.

[karstopography]

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I decided to hold off transplanting these for now until I get more clarity on the potential for frost here in about a week.

[karstopography]

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Decided to roll the dice today and go ahead and transplant twelve tomatoes.

White planter, from the top going clockwise, B. Cowlick’s, Red Barn, Pruden’s Purple, Pineapple, Dester.

Cedar planter, top right, going clockwise, Cleota Pink, Vorlon, KBX, Pruden’s Purple, Ashleigh, Huevos del Toro, Lucky Cross.

Bench, Red Barn x 2, Pruden’s Purple, B.Cowlick’s, Vorlon, Dester, Huevos del Toro, KBX, Cleota Pink.

All the transplants are 30”-36” apart. All have roughly 6 square feet of space in the beds. Soil was amended with bone meal, cottonseed meal, crab shell meal, greensand (glauconite), and langbeinite.

Planting holes got about a cup or so of worm castings mixed in each.

[karstopography]

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Got my bamboo stakes cut and deployed.

[Wildcat82]

@karstopography I planted some Prudens Purple this past Thanksgiving based on your recommendation. I also really liked the idea of an early Brandywine type. Unfortunately none of the plants made it so that's a bummer. Guess I'll have to enjoy it vicariously through you this year .

Have you ever thought of starting your own growlog? Periodically I find myself hunting through various threads trying to find something you posted some time in the past. Certainly make it easier if everything was in one place - I'm kinda selfish like this

[karstopography]

@karstopography I planted some Prudens Purple this past Thanksgiving based on your recommendation. I also really liked the idea of an early Brandywine type. Unfortunately none of the plants made it so that's a bummer. Guess I'll have to enjoy it vicariously through you this year .

Have you ever thought of starting your own growlog? Periodically I find myself hunting through various threads trying to find something you posted some time in the past. Certainly make it easier if everything was in one place - I'm kinda selfish like this

Maybe I should do this. I’ve been putting tomato posts in tomato subs, peppers in peppers, etc. maybe it would be better to have it all in one thread. Food for thought.

[karstopography]

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I dug up my twelve tomato plants transplanted on the 12th. 35° currently, supposed to get to 28° tonight. Figured the damage from digging these up would be less than whatever would happen to the plants outside, even if I took measures to cover with freeze cloth. 33° is the forecast for Friday morning. Looks better weatherwise after then.

[TX-TomatoBug]

Spooky! Good to note that you are in the Junction. Thanks or the compliment on tomato starts. Uppotted 15 on Tuesday and they are already looking fine.

@Harry Cabluck, after starting your seedlings in DE, what kind of mix do you pot them up in?

[Harry Cabluck]

From the DE the tomato plants are uppotted into Happy Frog commercial mix. Photos show them on Feb. 7. This year, so far, have not used six-inch pots and glad of it because of the cold weather. The number of larger pots would have overcrowded the lighting arrangement in the house. So very glad to have stopped growing them in the garage. Such a goober for planting too many seeds...as usual. Variety "Porter," from Tomato Grower's Supply, is the most vigorous. Alas, "Super Strong Rootstock," from TGS, failed again. The stems developed edema or some type of stem issue and they failed to grow well. So, no grafting this year. Would like to know if anyone has had similar failures.

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[TX-TomatoBug]

@Harry Cabluck, thank you. They look really good! Happy Frog worked great for me with my violets, but I haven't used it with tomatoes yet.

[Harry Cabluck]

Here's how they look on Feb. 21, 2025.

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[karstopography]

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Re-transplanted my tomatoes into the beds today.

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Soil has once again warmed up to 59°.