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applestar
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Applestar’s 2021 Garden

I’m starting this year’s garden thread with this photo —
A79CA5E3-0889-44C5-9E95-B52EE8CEB9F9.jpeg
...deer tracks (?) on the front sidewalk... :shock:

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applestar
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Snowdrops are heralding spring from an exposed patch where the snow has melted into the ground.

My Elan F1 strawberries have emerged from the snow piled onto the Earthbox — I was overwhelmed last fall and just plunked the webtray on top of the unwinterized Earthbox and left it untended during the worst. I was afraid the elevated location was too exposed, but they seem to have survived....
46E42A38-3A39-4D9E-979E-70AE2C867C50.jpeg

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applestar
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Later than usual, but I’m finally getting started. I don’t have the energy and ambition to micromanage as I have in prior years, but I still don’t have the space to operate in a “sow and be done” fashion, so I have started in 10x20 cell tray.

Some cool weather early spring starts to begin with — managed to drop seeds in these green filled cells so far ... Plan is to relocate the seedlings as they sprout. This won’t be the growing area.

I’m hoping these will sprout quickly ... maybe tomato seeds in the 80 remaining cells ... sprouted lettuce and brassicas to be replaced with peppers and more of the tomatoes once I get my seeds organized, then I will turn the heating pad on.
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Here is my hopeful tomato list started as of today —

cherry Chocolate Pear ‘19 Lindsay
cherry MR.C F4-A1 “Wild Rosa?” 7/28/17
cherry MR.C F4-A3 “Molten Sky” ‘Aug’17
cherry MR.ZM F3 4B-P3 9/5/16
cherry Sun Mints F5 or F6 8’19 (Molten Sundrops)
cherry Sunrise Bumblebee ‘19 Lindsay
dwf Arctic Rose x Utyonok F2 1/16/18
dwf Blazing Beauty SFH May’17
dwf Chocolate Lightning 8/23 SFH’17
dwf Dancing with Smurfs 8/18/14
dwf Marz Pulcent Aug’17
dwf Mikado White PL 9/24
dwf MR.C F4 SFHX x-short 8/21/17
dwf Patio Becca’20
dwf Shimofuri (霜降り) F7 HBR.FR-W2 x Aztek F1 3/1/2020
dwf Shimofuri (霜降り) F8 HBR.FR-WP2 Jan’20
dwf Tartufo Becca’20
dwf Uluru Ochre KGP 8/6/17-Aug’17
dwf Volunteer VGA back x-var Aug’19
dwf Volunteer VGC front SuperVar Jul’19
tall Allons-y,Dr.X 9/6/17
tall Cow’s Tit #2 HBR’19-#7(R) HBR’19
tall Fishlake Oxheart 8/31/15
tall Homer Fike’s Yellow Oxheart HBR 10/7/16
tall Wes SFH Sept’17
tall Wessel’s Purple Pride 10/6/19
tall Zena’s Gift*
Amana Orange 8/27
Amy Sue SFH 8/3/17
Bear Creek 8/16/17
Believe It or Not 9/1
Faelan’s First Snow 9/16/17
Flathead Monster Orange 8/31/14
Grandma Oliver’s Chocolate SFH 8/7/17
Grightmire’s Pride 9/28
Indian Zebra Stripes [Burson Strain] 7/26/14
Lucky Cross 8/20
Michalych SFH’17
Mystery Ruffles
Neves Azorian Red 8/9/14
PaddyMC’s Steelhead SFH Aug’17
Prudens Black HBR’19
Russian, Golden Fleece Becca’20
Schimmeig Stoo striped bell ‘19 Lindsay
Sgt. Peppers Aug’17
Terhune ‘19 Lindsay-9/9/15-SFH 8/15/14
Terhune X SFH Aug’17
Tidwell German Aug’14
Volunteer VGC back center-mid Jul’19 Aug’19
Volunteer VGC FR (Canestrino della Garfagnana?) Aug’19
White Beauty Blush 9/9/15
White Wonder VGB PSRB 10/26/15
Yellow Mystery ‘19 Lindsay


* Zena’s Gift was not started - I seems to have misplaced the saved seeds
Last edited by applestar on Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Corrected mis-remembered name for Indian Zebra [Burson Strain]

imafan26
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Deer wear shoes? Big ones too.

For a late starter you do go all out.

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applestar
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Ha. These are WAY pared down from what would have been a MASSIVE wishlist :lol:

- You see those ‘can’t possibly NOT grow’ experimental crosses and segregate growouts,
- and then just about all of the named existing varieties are returning favorites due to scrumptiously high-level past reviews by the family.
- I did bring back some of the better-tasting whites inspired by a recent discussion elsewhere.
- And indulgence for few new to me varieties to try out ...
- and a couple of possible new cross candidates for this year if I can get to them.

Some of the seeds are already older, so they might end up being a non-starter.

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TomatoNut95
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That's quite a list of tomatoes! Can't wait to see pictures of it all! Wish I could grow more, but I'm so short on space. Tell me, at how many years do you question the age/viability of your seed?

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applestar
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Most of the time, some of the even oldest seeds will sprout if you can devote the time, space, and attention to sowing and monitoring. I’ve had results from seeds 8, 9, 10 years old. I guess my general rule is to expect 100% germination from last year harvested seeds, then lower expectancy as they get older. Usually I only need 2 plants of each variety when growing a lot of them — I might sow 2 seeds from last year’s harvest, 3 from last year’s PURCHASED seeds (which would have been harvested the year before - same for my own harvested from the year before), generally sow 4 for 4 year old seeds and “must grow” seeds, 5 for 5 year old (hoping for 2 plants). When it’s gets to 6 years or older, I might sow 8 to10 seeds. I just need one plant to grow for me to replenish and re-fresh my stock for the variety.

If I am dedicated to growing them, I would pre-treat the older seeds by pre-soaking, extra special seed starting conditions, etc. I sometimes work under the premise that I will let “natural selection” help winnow down my grow list.

Doing all this can sometimes end up with surprisingly viable batch seeds and over abundance of seedlings and plants. :roll:

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You have space to plant out all of those seedlings? I pared down my list and what I bought for this year. I don't anticipate that the plant sales will be coming back anytime this year and it was hard for me to even find some of the seeds I wanted. They were pricey too. I am growing only as much as I can for myself and a few for some people who requested certain plants. I plant a few extra in case something happens and sometimes I have an oopsy and more germinated than I intended. Then I have to find a place to plant, or a home for them. I hate having to trash perfectly good seedlings. However, I am being pickier. I am only saving the best seedlings and culling the rest.

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applestar
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I have the space ... the question that remains is will I have the vim to prepare them for planting.....

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applestar
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OK, I’ve made a wishlist for this year’s peppers — need to whittle this down some.

Any thoughts? Positives for, or negative against? Any of them particularly late maturing? Notably some of these seeds are pretty old and may disqualify themselves as “no-show” even if I try to start them.



hot Aji Pineapple (x Brazilian Starfish F1?) Jul’17
hot Anaheim 2012
hot Big Jim Heritage itali’16
hot Bulgarian Carrot Jun’17
hot Etkezesi Paprika 2013
hot Goldfish (x Giant Sweet Devil’s Horn? F2) 12/3/18 Large fruited approx 3 inches long mild heat
hot Hanoi Market g3 bagged Oct’16
hot Jalapeño M or Early 9/8/14 Sept’13
hot Jarolo 2017
hot Krasny Tolstjak “Red Fatties” 2016
hot Numex Jalmundo BHS
hot Numex Lemon Spice patihum’16
hot Shishito drbobintx’15
hot Yatsufusa 10/16/15
sweet Alma Édes or Saint Lucia Island 10/16/17
sweet Anatohi Romanian Ellie’15
sweet Chocolate Cake NOT or King of the North 2018 Thick-walled red, juicy SWEET
sweet Donkey Ears 10/23/14
sweet Doux Long d’Antibes Ellie’14
sweet Doux Long d’Antibes KGP’19
sweet Giant Marconi Red BAGGED 2015
sweet King of the North? Nov’16 Red thick-walled, blunt. Sweet med sized.
sweet Liebesapfel papeika’15
sweet Lipstick Counselor
sweet Little Tangerine Bell WGS’19
sweet Oxhorn of Carmagnola TimT Aug’17
sweet Pepperone di Senise 10/6/15 Pointy intense red with green shoulders thin skin VERY SWEET
sweet Quadrato d’asti Giallo AugSept’10
sweet Sunset Aloha F2 WF 9/15/13 Red/yellow striped sweet bell
sweet Sweet Chocoloco Ellie’15
sweet Tollie Sweet or King of the North Nov’16 Bell, blunt, thick-walled sweet red
sweet Yellow Cheese Pimento Ellie’14
sweet Yellow Giant Bell AG’16

Also under consideration are:
Tomatillo Queen of Malinalco Tomatillo XL, fast. 2 plants close together. 2020
Rocoto Iso, mini olive Roc F4. RT
Rocoto Mini olive x F4 CGN 23768
Rocoto Mini olive Roc F3. 2018. Becca/RT
Pepper Mini cheyenne ^25 cm, small pods. Becca. 2020
Pepper Yellow (mini) cap, Sweet pepper-geoff Really tasty. Becca 2020
Pepper ODA (sweet pepper) ^30 cm RT 2019 purple sweet bell

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TomatoNut95
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I envy you, I wish I had more room for more planting.

What is a Donkey Ears Pepper?

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applestar
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sweet thick walled red, kind of like marconi in shape. productive on short plant. suitable for smaller spaces and container-growing. one of the tasty ones on my compare for fave line-up.

I have heard there is another one called Elephant Ear(s) that I should try to add to my comparison list.

...oh heh! I just looked to see if I can find some commercial offerings, and it seems in the past couple~few years, there has been some kind of a consensus reached among the pepper growers that Donkey Ears and Elephant Ears are the same variety that had been referenced by these two different names in the past. :-()

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applestar
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BTW — DON’T touch your eyes while and immediately after handling pepper seeds .. even if they are in coin envelopes and little seed zip bags ... and/or in my case, Bulgarian Carrot in organza gift bag.... ouch. :roll:

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TomatoNut95
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applestar wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:17 am
BTW — DON’T touch your eyes while and immediately after handling pepper seeds .. even if they are in coin envelopes and little seed zip bags ... and/or in my case, Bulgarian Carrot in organza gift bag.... ouch. :roll:
Brings back memories of when I worked with that Chiltipen (however that's spelt) little hot pepper several years ago and my hands burned for about 24 hours after that. Since then I have not worked with saving seed from a hot pepper. :lol:

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I won’t bore you with daily updates this year, but here is an example of how I’m doing this — it looks like it takes about 3 days for the seed leaves to become sturdy enough to uppot—
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...these cool temp green seedlings will be growing in the unheated Garage V8 Nursery where I have some shoplights set up ...

I’m dealing with some older seeds with these greens as well, so spotty germination is not entirely unexpected. I’ll have enough to grow, and I won’t wait for stragglers, but turn the empty cells over to starting the peppers as soon as sprouted seedlings are moved up.

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I said I probably wasn’t going to micromanage but I need a few more days before all the greens can be uppotted, and I didn’t want to waste the days u til the cells were freed up, so I decided to get a jump on the pepper seeds by soaking and seed-zipping them. I used black tea supplemented with calcium nitrate for the overnight soak, and then replaced the soaking solution with filtered water, and just used vermiculite for the moisture retentive media because it was “handy”. Keeping the temp at mid-70’s or so for now, not in particular hurry to get them sprouted yet.
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... one clamshell of hots and another clamshell of sweets.

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Jalapeno M and Early are mild. Jalapeno M was inconsistent. Some peppers on the same tree were mildly hot and others not.

I prefer a hotter Jalapeno pepper so I like Biker Billy more. I usually grow the locally developed Jalapeno Wailua. It only lives a year or two, but it is 20 years old so it is stable and consistent in heat. It has maybe 3500-5000 SHU.

Jaloro is a false alarm jalapeno. Good for poppers but no heat.

I like sweet peppers Chinese Giant (heirloom), Monster, Emerald Giant, Red Knight, Aristotle, and Giant Alconcagua. These have given me the largest peppers (although smaller than advertised, but that is par for the course.) They have produced and have been fairly disease tolerant. I am trying a new one this year from Baker Creek Ajavarski (a roasting pepper from Baker creek). I do have better performance from the Corno'di Toro, Carmen, Hungarian Wax and other bull horn peppers than bell peppers. For peppers to grow for me resistance to mildew, fusarium, and bacterial spot really helps. Most bell peppers did well between 68-85 degrees. They choke and drop flowers when it gets much hotter. Having them in pots means that I can at least move some of them around to get out of the worst heat for a while. The Central American and Thai varieties are bullet proof for heat in my climate, but they can still get bacterial spot with a lot of rain.

I have better luck with Fushimi Sweet than Shishito. At least for me Fushimi sweet is more productive and lives longer.

Yolo Wonder did better than Yellow Giant bell in my climate.

I don't see any Thai peppers on your list. Hot Thai, bird peppers, Thai dragon, Kung Pao, and Volcano are on cayenne level of heat. Dwarf thai hot is a tiny plant with very hot peppers. These plants were taller except for the dwarf, productive and fairly long lived. I like Cayenne as well and it is about as hot as I can comfortably take it. I have grown both the red and yellow cayenne. There wasn't much difference in flavor between the two colors.

My best grower is super chile. It has similar taste and flavor to a Tabasco pepper. The tabasco pepper only had heat in the mouth but faded fast. Super chile gets hotter as it warms up. Super chili can live for years and it can get quite big.

Anaheim does o.k. Big Jim is bigger. Both are anaheim types.

I got some Czechoslovakian Black peppers from a friend. They are very ornamental with a med heat and good flavor for an ornamental pepper. They are purple black in color.

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applestar
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Thanks @Imafan! — these reviews and comments are super helpful! :-()

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applestar
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In spite of my best attempt at laissez-faire style of seed starting, 33 cells of tomato seeds have sprouted in 6 days. Oldest of these are from 2015. :mrgreen:

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If you keep the seeds in a consistently cool dry place, a lot of seeds can last a long time. I had beans that still test sprouted after 9 years and dill grew after 12. Corn does not last. It loses viability fast. Most other seeds like lettuce, peppers, radish, tomato, and Asian greens have viable seeds for 5 years. Some other seeds like squash have been good for three. The % of seeds that germinate does drop over time, but I usually over plant older seeds.

I have tried planting in individual cells but I end up with too many empty cells and it takes up too much space. If I had a mist system, I might get more consistency. I have trouble keeping the small cells evenly watered outdoors. I don't mind two or three step planting, and I waste less space. I still have the problem of having more seedlings and no place to put them.

I like to plant things just before a rain system comes. The seeds come up faster (like the weeds) and the plants really like rain water.

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TomatoNut95
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Pretty much the only water I use on my plants is rain. I have a huge barrel that I save up my water from the buckets that sit under my gutters. I have to periodically clean out my buckets otherwise they get pretty disgusting. I mean I know the sludge and algae probably wouldn't hurt the plants but I find it too yucky and I like to keep my stuff clean.

As for the plants in my bigger gardens however, it's easier for me to use the hose rather than haul and dump heavy buckets and buckets of rain.

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The thing with rain water is that like now with all this rain, the barrels are overflowing. In summer, when it is needed most, they are empty.

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applestar
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My garden is taking a bit of a backseat while our kitty recovers. She got up and walked in and out of her “bassinet” arranged from the bottom 1/2 of a pet travel crate, toddled around the kitchen a bit this morning, managed to use the paper pulp litterbox (2nd time since last night - yay!) after strong coaxing to NOT use the dusty regular litterbox which is still available to our other kitty, then had a difficult time when getting close to her pain med time in the afternoon.

Her movements suggested she was in pain, so I gave her “happy pill” 10 minutes early, followed by a table spoonful “chaser” of canned food, which she eagerly gobbled up. She was crouched and immobile for a while, then after about 10 minutes, she snuggled down and started purring non-stop :lol: and in 10 more minutes, she was fast asleep 💤
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imafan26
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Well wishes for Kitty's recovery. Individual animals respond to procedures differently. It is harder on older animals than younger ones.

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Thank you 🙂

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Get well soon, Kitty! 🙏

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applestar
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Thanks for keeping her in your thoughts. She’s not been recovering to mobility as well as hoped since late Saturday. Her response to modified combo of meds is suspected. She HAS been eating well and purring a lot after each dose and after eating however. So that’s something.

She is at the vet today having her bandage re-wrapped, wound checked and med combo re-prescribed.

The surgeon is making time for her between surgeries so I don’t how long this will take. But hopefully she’ll come back much more comfortable.

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38 more cells of greens uppotted, freeing up the 10x20 cells for peppers and maybe spreading out some of the sprouted tomato seedlings. (all tomato cells except 8 have already sprouted at least one seedling)
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She’s came home around 3pm. :D
The vet surgeon removed her compression bandage. She said it would’ve helped the wound knit and close faster but that our kitty is one of those that don’t take kindly to it. She said the surgery sites are coming along fine

She was returned without a bandage and wearing a snug knit-fabric onesie, but she’d made a mess in the carrier and got that one wet by the time we got home, so we fashioned a near exact copy from an old pink jammy pant leg while washing it. I sent a photo of ours, and it has been approved by the vet. (A silver lining of COVID restrictions at the vet hospital— a readiness for casual remote consult and rapid turnaround in responding to questions via email and text.)
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She was much happier without the original “straight jacket” bandage and tuckered herself out trying to walk, jump, and skip all over the place.(With us desperately restraining her) 😂

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TomatoNut95
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Aww, she's so adorable! 😊 I'm sure she's very happy to be home!

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Thank you TomatoNut :() She has been sleeping a lot today but also hungry and gobbling every bit of her food when awake — I take this to mean she is in healing mode. She also determinedly totters around — still stiffly using tiny but rapid strides — I think due to her entire belly stitched up like a trussed turkey ... SO CUTE! with her normally fluffy body looking so tiny with bottom half of her all shaved naked and wearing the fitted pink onesie.

And when she can’t be closely supervised, she has to wear the Elizabethan Collar, which she doesn’t appreciate — she keeps getting stuck on corners and doorways, and as soon as she looks down, the bottom of the cone gets caught on the carpet. Any slight obstruction and she stops dead ... “I’m stuck. I can’t move.....”

I tell you I feel like when my children were just starting to crawl everywhere ... you’re so proud of their wobbly mobility and curiosity, eagerness to explore, but terrified that they’d get into some mischief. :wink:


... when she’s zonked out from the pain meds, I put her in the now fully assembled travel crate to sleep it off, and I can get some stuff done. So far the sesame, tomatillo, and Yellow Cap pepper seeds have Sprouted, and 4 other pepper varieties have germinated. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to play with my seedlings a bit tomorrow.

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applestar
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In preparation for spreading out the sprouted tomato seedlings, I counted how many sprouted per cell ...turned out some sprouted MANY more than anticipated....

Any way, fun at this stage is noting the unique characteristics of each type/category and each variety especially when they particularly stand out.

Most of these are known quantities to me — dwarfs look like dwarf sprouts, and there is a particularly large/long seed leaf variety that stood out, etc. And the one on lower right is Sergeant Peppers which will look unique from sprout all the way to fruit, and is already showing dark purple veins indicative of antho pigmentation.

The welcome surprise was Turtufo at lower left. I read a vendor’s description that said it was container-sized/patio-sized .... Well, these sprouted seedlings look to me like it’s a Dwarf or even a Micro. And the very dark color of these seed leaves with the purple veins was a surprise as well. (the vendor description said “black” cherry — didn’t realize they meant black as in antho-black). It’s supposed to be “sweet” as well which is not common in antho types ... nor micro types. I’m going to look forward to watching this one grow up.

The only other Antho variety seedlings here should be the Allons-y,Dr.X which are 3rd cell from left in the very back row in the top photo.
3AA9B5F6-341B-401B-9561-7CCCB08FF6B8.jpeg

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applestar
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Starting to spread out to one per cell —
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^^^ click or tap for focused image ^^^
Long taproots are already escaping out from the bottom of the cells into the “reservoir” of water in the tray below. I hope to be able to grow these to full first true leaves stage before uppotting to nursing pots or cells.

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A blast from the past — a treasured castoff jammy pants has been tapped from the craft projects pile to make a second onesie for our recovering kitty.
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She had her one week post surgical wound check with good review, and her pain med dosage has been reduced to half to start weaning her off while keeping a certain amount of sedation to discourage rambunctious behavior. She finally had had her post surgery bowel movement on Wednesday evening — a FULL WEEK! — so we didn’t have to panic... and has been leading us on a merry chase to get her hind legs out of her onesie to pulled up over her back, so she can go pee without getting it dirty ... every day since Monday.

Afterwards, E-collar-free and her bottom and belly sutures exposed, she scuttles back to the kitchen with one or more of us hurrying after — half bent, reaching for her to get her fully back in the onesie and trying not to hurt her in the process. She generally stops to see if there is any food in the feeding corner, then (ducks the flailing hands if too slow, and) proceeds to the Family Room, and settles down on a towel or in the crate to lick herself — throwing everybody in a panic in fear that she will undo her sutures. She generally looks very put out that we insist on putting the E-collar back on....

I swear I have very similar images burned into my memory from when my children were potty training..... :lol:

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Super Green Thumb
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Joined: Sun May 26, 2019 11:11 am
Location: Texas Zone 8

She's so cute! 😍

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Continuing to uppot the seedlings — it looks like I might end up with over 200 tomato seedlings. I planted Gold Sesame and 4 seedlings of Queen of Malinalco tomatillo in Columns H and I cells. There are some empty cells, but more than equivalent number of multiple seedlings in remaining white and yellow cells in Columns N-T. Most of these grow into large vigorously rooted seedlings and really need to be uppotted in larger cells, cups, etc. if I want to be able to let them grow for a bit.
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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Cuteness overload 😆
EC4213D7-8FEA-4AFB-9DC4-08B2EFD0A57E.jpeg

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TomatoNut95
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2069
Joined: Sun May 26, 2019 11:11 am
Location: Texas Zone 8

AAAWWWWW!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Map of uppotted varieties: (tap or click to zoom)
8B8B459E-3D1D-4E9C-AEAE-CBD23A9F92AB.jpeg
... These are some of the really exciting returns although primarily they were overcrowded or were growing oversized seed leaves and when removed from the cell, had been growing super-long roots into the reservoir— I had to trim back by as much as 2 inches....

I think this is first time growing Tidwell German, and it’s been a while since growing Flathead Monster Orange. Both have good reputations. Have forgotten why there is specifically “orange” at end of that name — is there a different color? Tidwell German I believe is a pink beefsteak comparable to Brandywine?



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