Tomato plants June 30

[hendi_alex]

The plants are showing signs of the really hot dry weather following a prolonged wet spell but are still loaded with several weeks of additional fruit. In spite of the heat, some of the plants are still blooming and setting new fruit. We harvested the first fruit in early April and are still going strong.

Here is a short video clip if you care to watch:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/15582147@N04/3676651964/

Here are photos of 19 of my approximately 34 remaining plants. Have lost two plants to wilt and two others are in pretty bad shape.

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/3676653482_5ae5d8cb2a.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2658/3675849019_8815d8422e.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3130/3675848419_e6df712934.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3675847815_885858ea18.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2574/3676662560_29ece9b196.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2573/3675846555_ee66524997.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2576/3676661128_9307a55d36.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3577/3675845403_8e72273cb3.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/3675844877_6cab3d1129.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2430/3675844423_7702d54150.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/3676659106_4d764acb09.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/3675843289_229814e1d3.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2549/3675842653_28e3cc16f6.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2661/3676657366_603336b435.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/3676656836_0e619d9d3f.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/3675840879_e6c1e21baa.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2615/3676655516_a7dbaeb10e.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/3676655018_4c9e6b384d.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2618/3675838935_dd34078001.jpg[/img]

[James282]

Beautiful group! I for one enjoy the vids a lot, keep them coming! I am always a sucker for IDing the plants as you go though

[Pebbles]

Yes - I second that too! Another wonderful video Alex.

I love to see all of your fab massive tomatoes. When I look at mine I still see yellow flowers but I am hoping that soon I will see lots of tomatoes growing as big as yours

Pass some of your greener thumb' status down to me will you - I sure could do with some

[hendi_alex]

Since there was a request for I.d.'s, I did a couple of clips, including description and I.d.'s of the varieties being shown. It takes longer to get from plant to plant when describing each, so two clips were needed. Also, keep in mind, that many of the plants were loaded with fruit just a couple of weeks ago, with those fruit having been mostly harvest already. These two clips show all but about 9 plants most of which are planted in a different area.

BTW it is pretty hard to walk and talk with a bit of sense when running the camera and paying attention to the view. So pardon the less than impressive narrative. Also, wrt Brandywine I said "three plants" when I meant to say [only produced three fruit.]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/15582147@N04/3677741011/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/15582147@N04/3678605794/in/photostream/

[James282]

YES! thank you so much! Love the clips. It looks like you do some pretty heavy trimming on the bottom --- is this just to avoid soil borne diseases? It gives your plants quite a sleek look! Mine are insanely bushy and overgrown looking compared to yours, even though they are well behind in production. Do you stop the plants from growing "out" as well, focusing on sending them "up"? Either way, great videos - your fans appreciate you acquiescing to our requests!


James

[hendi_alex]

James, thanks for the enthusiasm. I have never pruned tomatoes before this year, other than to lift them a bit above the soil. This year I decided to prune them heavier, further away from the soil, from the start and have been pruning away the foilage as the harvest is removed from the lower part of the vine. I'm also pruning away any foilage that grows toward the inside of the baskets, so to open up the plants to better air flow. Much of what was pruned from lower down, had gotten that gradual yellowing blight and some spotted looking problem. Most of that came after we had a prolonged wet spell. Anyway, the pruning seems to be helping limit disease spread, and it seems to be having little or no effect on fruit production. Thus far, I would call the pruning adjustment a success. I should be using the milk spray and hydrogen peroxide spray that others recommended, but have not gotten motivated to try that yet. Perhaps next year!

[Haesuse]

James, thanks for the enthusiasm. I have never pruned tomatoes before this year, other than to lift them a bit above the soil. This year I decided to prune them heavier, further away from the soil, from the start and have been pruning away the foilage as the harvest is removed from the lower part of the vine. I'm also pruning away any foilage that grows toward the inside of the baskets, so to open up the plants to better air flow. Much of what was pruned from lower down, had gotten that gradual yellowing blight and some spotted looking problem. Most of that came after we had a prolonged wet spell. Anyway, the pruning seems to be helping limit disease spread, and it seems to be having little or no effect on fruit production. Thus far, I would call the pruning adjustment a success. I should be using the milk spray and hydrogen peroxide spray that others recommended, but have not gotten motivated to try that yet. Perhaps next year!

my approach has been largely the same to yours. the one other thing I've done is that on indeterminate tomatoes, once a growing tip grows outside of the cage past one rung on the cage, to pinch back all new growth on it. I had 2 branches break off from powerful winds, that had gotten too big outside the cage, and no energy would have been wasted on lost branches, had I nipped it in the bud earlier.


anyway, seems to be working. tons of fruit.