The San Antonio Sandbur Patch

[Wildcat82]

@GoDawgs
The dreaded fire ant doesn't necessarily make a permanent ant hill.
Especially if it's dry.
But you can put something down like a chicken bone and you can track them to tiny little holes in the ground.
In Texas you can sit or lean against a tree with no obvious signs of an ant hill and soon you'll be covered in fire ants from nowhere.
Horrible creatures.

I did not know that. Thanks!

[worth1]

I stopped the squatters on my ranch with kerosene and mineral oil mixed in a spray bottle on some plants I wouldn't eat.
Oleander which is highly poisonous anyway.
I'll teach them sheep herders.

[Wildcat82]

Since we're 45 days into heat wave season, I think I can offer some preliminary results of my Tomato Heat Tolerance Trials. Here's a quick assessment of each variety I'm growing:

Super Sioux - A+
Black Cherry – B+
Blush – B
Juliet – C
SS100 - C
Coyote -C
Black Plum – D
Porter Improved – D

Super Sioux has been the star of my garden this far. Just about every day over the past 2 months I pick 3-4 tomatoes in the 2-4 oz range. It’s producing tomatoes that are about the same size as I picked 3 months ago - the heat hasn't miniaturized the fruit size very much. Both Black Plum and Porter Improved have been major disappointments. Neither has set much fruit despite lots of blooms. The fruit that has set has been plagued with BER and has been very small, basically the size of ½ oz cherry tomato. Both of my Juliets under shade cloth have grown poorly but the one plant in a container that gets full sun most of the day is starting to pick up nicely. The shade cloth itself may be the problem - I'm using a 40% shade cloth but it seemingly induces more shade than that. Until a week ago, Blush had been producing quite a few tomatoes but the mites seem to be really bothering it now. Adjacent to Blush, Black Cherry is doing much better and has a lot fruit on the vine as well as blossoms. The taste, as always, is really good. You’d figure SS100 would do better in the high heat since it puts out tiny current sized fruit (small cherries tend to produce better in high heat) but that hasn’t been the case. Huge plant with tons of blooms but fruit set has gone down dramatically over the past 3 weeks. Meanwhile, my neglected volunteer Coyote is a monster that dribbles 3-4 currant size fruit daily as well.

Overall I'm quite satisfied with 3 months of solid production with more to come.

I've been trying out a new spraying regimen over the past 10 days for russet mites and I think it's working. Since I started spraying, I'm seeing 10X more blooms. I'll have a better handle on this next week and I'll give more info then.

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[Wildcat82]

After spending literally a hundred hours researching mite countermeasures on garden forums, reading university horticultural publications, consulting with garden centers and “Certified Master Gardeners,” as well as trialing numerous products, I’ve come to the conclusion over the years that marijuana grower forums are the ONLY useful information resources on mites. There are 3 main pests that infest marijuana plants: spider mites, russet mites, and broad mites. These are the exact same pests that infest tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, ground cherries, etc in San Antonio gardens. Marijuana growers livelihood depends on keeping their plants mite free so they know what they are talking about. Also, marijuana grower utilize the same square footage as home gardeners, not 1,000 acre industrial fields. Based on what I read on the marijuana forums (there’s literally hundreds of pages of forum posts on the subject), I implemented the following program below. I have had excellent results over the past 3 weeks – no more russet mite infestation and 10x more tomato blossoms and lots of new damage-free growth on the eggplant and peppers.

Monday - Grandevo
Tuesday -
Wednesday – diluted isopropyl alcohol/citric acid
Thursday –
Friday - Venerate
Saturday -
Sunday – diluted isopropyl alcohol/citric acid

For the diluted isopropyl alcohol mix/citric acid mixture, the normal recommendation is to use 2 teaspoons citric acid/quart of water. There is no consensus on how much to dilute the isopropyl. Some don’t dilute at all while others use 1 oz/quart. I’ve been using 32 oz 70% isopropyl and 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice/gallon (my citric acid hasn’t come in yet). Keep in mind you shouldn’t spray in full sun or you could burn your plants. Spraying later in the evening has caused no leaf burn whatsoever on my tomatoes, eggplant, or peppers.

To make spraying easier, I recently bought an ITISLL extended spray wand with adjustable spray nozzle and hooked it up to my old HD sprayer. No more bending over and I can now easily spray the entire leaf canopy from the ground up. I have officially christened my new and improved sprayer “Brenda.”

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[MissS]

I totally agree with you on learning from the marijuana forums. I have learned so very much from them over the years from frequenting their sites. These are some serious growers.

[Wildcat82]

Time for the next experiment.
I planted out 6 more basil, 4 more eggplant, and 6 more okra seedlings. This time I put a tablespoon of water sparing chrystals in the bottom of the planting hole, partially filled in the hole, added another tablespoon of water sparing chrystals around the seedlings, the added a top layer of dirt. Lets see if this keeps the soil from drying out too much to kill them.

I also planted my Fall tomatoes yesterday. I put in 2 Indian Stripe, 4 Super Sioux, 2 Sun Gold, and 4 Abu Rawan.

Meanwhile my figs are looking good and are seemingly unfazed by the heatwave. I fact I may get a few fruit this summer.

Finally, I performed some mid summer clean-up. Yesterday I yanked out all my chinese long beans and pulled the dried up okra stumps. Over the past month I’ve been picking maybe one long bean 2-3 times per week and many of those were too tough to eat. With the intense sun here there’s only about one day where the beans are mature enough to pick but haven’t gotten woody yet. I’d say the long beans have been a total failure this year. The okra was looking really ragged with no production so they also went into the mulch pile. Also pulled the giant sunflowers. The seeds in the heads were completely empty.

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[worth1]

Fig trees need to take the place of all the other garbage the landscaping companies put out everywhere here in Texas.

[GoDawgs]

Time for the next experiment.
I planted out 6 more basil, 4 more eggplant, and 6 more okra seedlings. This time I put a tablespoon of water sparing chrystals in the bottom of the planting hole, partially filled in the hole, added another tablespoon of water sparing chrystals around the seedlings, the added a top layer of dirt. Lets see if this keeps the soil from drying out too much to kill them.

I might have to giggle if swollen water crystals start pushing the plant starts up.

[Wildcat82]

Time for the next experiment.
I planted out 6 more basil, 4 more eggplant, and 6 more okra seedlings. This time I put a tablespoon of water sparing chrystals in the bottom of the planting hole, partially filled in the hole, added another tablespoon of water sparing chrystals around the seedlings, the added a top layer of dirt. Lets see if this keeps the soil from drying out too much to kill them.

I might have to giggle if swollen water crystals start pushing the plant starts up.

...and you wouldn't be the only one laughing.

[Josetom]

Hi Wildcat! Can you describe the taste of Super Sioux? How do you compare it to the taste of other heirlooms?

[Wildcat82]

Hi Wildcat! Can you describe the taste of Super Sioux? How do you compare it to the taste of other heirlooms?

Many people say Super Sioux has a rather acidic taste. For me it has a balanced flavor and in the high heat we've been having, it has a flavor that stacks up well with most heirlooms.

[Josetom]

Thank you so much for your response! I'm intrigued to try it now.. I have read all your GLOG and I see we have the same temps and the same pests!! I hateeeee spidermites.. I am so glad your new spraying program it's working.. wish you the best!

[Wildcat82]

Thank you so much for your response! I'm intrigued to try it now.. I have read all your GLOG and I see we have the same temps and the same pests!! I hateeeee spidermites.. I am so glad your new spraying program it's working.. wish you the best!

Thanks for the kind words. All the experts (University horticultural departments, nursery center experts, licensed Master Gardeners, etc.) say

1. It is impossible to control broad mites/russet mites/spider mites.
2. It's impossible to grow tomatoes in Central Texas summers.

And yet, I was able to achieve good enough control of mites to have a good tomato harvest this spring. @Worth and me have shown that Juliet and Super Sioux put out good production in this Sahara heatwave we're having.

Like a good scientist (I like to think I'm one) I keep experimenting to see what works. I'd really like to know what your doing to control mites and how well its working. I'd also like to see how well your varieties stand up to the hot weather. Keep us posted on your progress.

[Wildcat82]

My little experiment planting okra seeds, 4 basil seedlings, a couple leftover eggplant and a surplus tomato in a mound of water sparing crystals seems to be working out OK. Everything is still alive and all 10 okra sprouted and are growing (though unevenly) with me only watering 1 time per day. However, despite a foot of compacted mulch and watering every other day, it looks like my blueberry plants have croaked. But that's OK since I'll be planting my container figs in their raised beds. The figs seem to love the high heat.

My tomato harvest is rapidly dwindling. I picked the final 8 tomatoes from my 4 Black Plum and Porters. Super Sioux is looking pretty ragged but I still pick 3-4 tomatoes per day though the size of the fruit is becoming cherry sized. Lately I've been picking a bowl of Coyote once a week. They seem to taste a little better picked with just a tinge of green still on them.

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[karstopography]

I like the flavor of Coyote. I agree they are better with that tinge of green remaining. Coyote is about all I’m getting now for ripe tomatoes.

[Josetom]

Since we're 45 days into heat wave season, I think I can offer some preliminary results of my Tomato Heat Tolerance Trials. Here's a quick assessment of each variety I'm growing:

Super Sioux - A+
Black Cherry – B+
Blush – B
Juliet – C
SS100 - C
Coyote -C
Black Plum – D
Porter Improved – D

Super Sioux has been the star of my garden this far. Just about every day over the past 2 months I pick 3-4 tomatoes in the 2-4 oz range. It’s producing tomatoes that are about the same size as I picked 3 months ago - the heat hasn't miniaturized the fruit size very much. Both Black Plum and Porter Improved have been major disappointments. Neither has set much fruit despite lots of blooms. The fruit that has set has been plagued with BER and has been very small, basically the size of ½ oz cherry tomato. Both of my Juliets under shade cloth have grown poorly but the one plant in a container that gets full sun most of the day is starting to pick up nicely. The shade cloth itself may be the problem - I'm using a 40% shade cloth but it seemingly induces more shade than that. Until a week ago, Blush had been producing quite a few tomatoes but the mites seem to be really bothering it now. Adjacent to Blush, Black Cherry is doing much better and has a lot fruit on the vine as well as blossoms. The taste, as always, is really good. You’d figure SS100 would do better in the high heat since it puts out tiny current sized fruit (small cherries tend to produce better in high heat) but that hasn’t been the case. Huge plant with tons of blooms but fruit set has gone down dramatically over the past 3 weeks. Meanwhile, my neglected volunteer Coyote is a monster that dribbles 3-4 currant size fruit daily as well.

Overall I'm quite satisfied with 3 months of solid production with more to come.

I've been trying out a new spraying regimen over the past 10 days for russet mites and I think it's working. Since I started spraying, I'm seeing 10X more blooms. I'll have a better handle on this next week and I'll give more info then.

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You have inspired me. I have bought Homestead 24, Super Sioux and Arkansas Traveler, along with my Floradade, to grow in summer. I don't have much faith about taste, really. They look like old regular supermarket tomatoes. But at best I will find a really good tasting red tomato that produces in our 100+ F summer, and at worst (if I get some fruit) I would have regular fresh tomatoes from the garden and satiated my curiosity. Thank you for all your writing and experience!

[Wildcat82]

@Josetom Just me, but I think just about any tomato variety that manages to produce in super high heat will taste good. The hot temperatures seem to really bring bring on an enhanced sweetness. A couple years ago I got 5-6 two ounce tomatoes form my Big Beef hybrids in August here and thought they maybe the best tomatoes I ever had, very sweet and tangy. They tasted much better than the Big Beef fruit I got in the spring. I noticed the same thing with my Super Sioux this year and Juliet in years past.

[Josetom]

I love sweet tomatoes , my first one that really impressed me was the Cherokee Purple I grew this year.. So Im happy to read that! I'm 99% sure they will taste better than the supermarket ones

[Wildcat82]

Outside of Coyote, tomato production has completely dried up due to summer heat, it’s time to give my final verdict on this summer’s tomato trials.

Final Assessment of my Heat Tolerance Tomato Trials
This year, I planted mostly slicers on 18 February and planned to put out my summer producing plants on 1 May. I figured that about the time the heat caused the slicers to stop producing in late June, my 1 May transplants would take over production. But the summer inferno hit us 1 June before my 1 May transplants had reached half size. Apparently, you need to have full sized plants BEFORE 100 degree temperatures arrive. Plants simply don’t grow correctly in 100 degree heat here no matter how much you water and fertilize them. None of my 3 Porter Improved, 3 Juliets, 2 Black Plums, 2 Black Cherries and 2 Supersweet 100’s grew well or produced much of anything. Most of these plants were at least partially covered by 40% shade cloth in the afternoon. Didn’t make any difference. The only plants that actually produced in the high heat (2 Super Sioux, 1 Blush, and 1 Black Cherry) had been in full sun since being planted 18 February.

1 Exception: My volunteer Coyote sprouted in May, grew vigorously in a large sprawling plant with lot of blooms and really came on strong at the end of July and has continued to produce a half pint per week. This is the only variety that can be transplanted in May or June and produce in 100 degree heat. I just wish the fruits were a little bigger. My final grade for Coyote is bumped up to a B.

Strategy for 2024:
1. Next year I’ll move up my late spring transplant date one month earlier to 1 April. Or I might just plant the Super Sioux and Juliets the first thing in the Spring.
2. The intense sun is simply killing off my July transplants, so next year, in addition to putting out transplants in mid July, I’ll try to grow about 4 tomatoes indoors under lights and transplant them only when temperatures have moderated. Of course, I may have to deal with 3 foot tall plants somehow.
3. In addition to Super Sioux and Juliet, a few other varieties I may plant include Porter, Black Plum, Black Cherry, Blush, Jaune Flamme, Abu Rawan, and Matt’s Wild Cherry, Jasper, & Coyote (for May Transplant).

I’m really intrigued about trying Jasper as a May transplant. Jasper “looks” like a hybridized version of Matt’s Wild Cherry. There’s a lot of similarities between Jasper and Matt’s Wild Cherry. Both varieties were introduced by Johnny's Seeds, both are listed as resistant to early and late blight, both have a DTM of 60 days, both as described as vigorous sprawling plants. The only difference is Matt's is listed as producing 5 gram fruits while Jasper supposedly produces 7-10 gram fruits.

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[Josetom]

Always such a pleasure to read the details of your experiments. Thanks Wildcat I will report on my heat tomatoes in the next months too