Started my FL winter tomatoes from seed indoors on Sep 1st. They are now outside in large containers getting about 8hrs of full sun. Today the temp is about 80' with 38% humidity. I'm spraying with liq copper every 10 -14 days, had to use BT for horn worms one time. I also spray a compost tea every 7-10 days, ( worm castings in a sock, 5 gall water arieated for 48hrs, shot of mollases and fish emulsion )
So far (touch wood) things are looking positive, trying to keep the suckers pruned.
How are the other FL growers doing?
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Juliuskitty
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 364
- Joined: Sun Aug 18, 2013 6:13 pm
- Location: South Florida
Mine are growing gangbusters. Out pruning this AM because there is already too much thick foliage, don't want disease to be encoupraged. Tatjana, a new dwarf offered last January by Carolyn Male is the surprise this year. 17 tomatoes forming already and it is only about a foot and a quarter high. Zluta kytice has hundreds of blossoms on one truss, but so far no fruit on it. Green Zebra Cherry is growing out of control, so many suckers to prune! Absinthe has 4 fruits forming, as do most of the 72 varieties. All growing in earthboxes, which I LOVE!
I kept some spares, had to replace Mortgage lifter twice, once due to Tomato spotted wilt virus( thrips are bad here, especially before it gets very cool) and the second one got Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus, since all of South Florida also has an abundance of whiteflies. Just had to replace a Brandywine Red also due to thrip born virus. I lost my only Julia Child to it too
,replaced it with a Super Italian Paste which is doing pretty well.
I now have yellow and blue sticky traps every 5 feet or so all over the garden. Oh and picked off lots of worms of all colors.
Frost is almost never our problem, as I see it, it's diseases and bugs, especially little flying ones.
I kept some spares, had to replace Mortgage lifter twice, once due to Tomato spotted wilt virus( thrips are bad here, especially before it gets very cool) and the second one got Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus, since all of South Florida also has an abundance of whiteflies. Just had to replace a Brandywine Red also due to thrip born virus. I lost my only Julia Child to it too
,replaced it with a Super Italian Paste which is doing pretty well.I now have yellow and blue sticky traps every 5 feet or so all over the garden. Oh and picked off lots of worms of all colors.
Frost is almost never our problem, as I see it, it's diseases and bugs, especially little flying ones.
