|
Post by amanitovirosa on Mar 21, 2015 8:49:51 GMT -5
...Shog, the story behind the 'Mortgage Lifter' tomato is basically this. Sometime in the 1940's, a guy by the name of Marshall Cletis (who went by the name 'Radiator Charlie' because he was an auto mechanic), in West Virginia, cross pollinated a bunch of large variety tomatoes. After seven years of experimenting and cross pollinating he finally chose the 'Mortgage Lifter' as his plant of choice. He then sold clones of this tomato and after 6 years, he raised about $6000 (a lot of money back then!) and paid off his mortgage. I've never grown it but it is a large Brandywine type, which I do grow. The perfect sandwich tomato .
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on Mar 24, 2015 9:39:58 GMT -5
...well, here are some of my tomato seeds starting to come up. This is what I was used to before I started growing CP's from seed last year. With tomatoes, 5 days in and you have seedlings that are about an inch, and they grow very quickly, which definitely is not the case with CP's! I had never used LFS with tomatoes before but since I started with CP's I thought I would try it out to prevent that damping off, or whatever it's called. Seems to be working. Thanks for looking. 20150324_101853 (1280x960) by mrvirosa, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by lloyd on Mar 24, 2015 10:34:06 GMT -5
Looking good. I germinate my tomato (and most other seeds) on germination paper in petri dishes. I never have had damping off problems. Also on the germination paper, you can see exactly when and which seeds germinate and can plan the planting more accurately.
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on Mar 24, 2015 11:01:22 GMT -5
...I've never tried germination paper, whatever works! I usually just put 3-5 seeds into whatever I have at the time and once they start popping I leave the biggest, strongest one and snip off the rest. I read somewhere that tomatoes are actually fruits, not vegetables and if given the right conditions they WILL grow year round and into a tree! There's pictures online of tomato trees. Too bad I live in Ontario and cannot provide them the conditions to do this.
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on Mar 27, 2015 22:45:54 GMT -5
...I think it's important to note here, (for anyone that doesn't know this already) that tomatoes love the sun and heat. Full sun and as much Canadian summer heat as possible! They will not set fruit until night time temperatures stay above 10 degrees Celcius. Even the roots like it warm, just don't overheat them if growing in containers.
|
|
|
Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Mar 28, 2015 8:44:05 GMT -5
We set tomatoes last summer we kept them outside until fruit appeared and then put the pot in the greenhouse and watered once daily(the pot had 8 holes to drain off water and the shelve was like a grate)they went nuts! not sure if what we did had a influence or if it was the tomato type this year am planting bell peppers and tomatoes along with CP's in another greenhouse so no surprises end up where they don't belong lol ! we have 2 greenhouse kits like would go on a balcony.
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on Apr 2, 2015 15:11:27 GMT -5
...here's a pic of some of my tomato seedlings, there's some peppers in there too, they always start popping a bit later. Seeded March 19. 02 Apr 02 by mrvirosa, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by CJ on Apr 26, 2015 8:47:21 GMT -5
Heres what I am starting with this year. Grow list Tomatoes: Brandywine Caspian pink Azoychka 'Lunch Box VF' Hybrid Plum - great for container and balcony growing Ultra Sweet VFT Paul Robeson Black Cherry tomato - great for container and balcony growing Peppers: Mini-Orange Hungarian Cheeses Cajun Belle - hybrid Mariachi - hybrid Pepperoncini All of these peppers do well and arguably better in containers. Thats all for now!
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on May 1, 2015 14:09:34 GMT -5
...that's going to be a nice garden cjj! Maybe we could trade seeds sometime, I'd like some of those pepperoncini. Here is mine for this year. Tomats by mrvirosa, on Flickr Happy Growing!
|
|
|
Post by CJ on May 3, 2015 7:37:24 GMT -5
Very healthy looking seedlings, amanitovirosa !
What types of tomatoes are you growing this year?
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on May 3, 2015 7:50:58 GMT -5
...Hi cjj, that's a crappy pic, they look better in person. This year I have less varieties but more of them, here is my list:
1 - Brandywine 2 - Striped Cavern 3 - Honeybee 4 - Cherry Rainbow 5 - Cocktail (seeds from store bought tomatoes, I don't buy them, my wife does) 6 - Grape (seeds from store bought 7 - Tripl-L-Crop 8 - White Beauty 9 - Green Zebra 10 - Wapsipinicon Peach 11 - Big Rainbow 12 - Believe it or Not 13 - Flame 14 - Yellow Brandywine 15 - Delicious
...my Peppers are nothing special, just your regular red, yellow and orange and some minis. My kids eat them like crazy! Happy Growing!
|
|
|
Post by clockworkpeacock on Jun 27, 2015 22:38:19 GMT -5
I have a single Juliette tomato plant in a container, but it's grown to a massive size. Not including the pot it's about 4 feet tall, 2 feet wide and full of tomatoes ripening on the vine, two of them are huge freaks of nature and they're going to be my seed tomatoes. I only grow stuff in containers on the deck because I hate grass and I hate kneeling down in grass or dirt to weed and tend to a garden. Maybe next year I will have an in-ground veggie garden.
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on Jul 8, 2015 21:20:35 GMT -5
...tomatoes are very vigorous if given the right conditions. A 4' by 2' plant is just a sign that you're doing something right. They can and do get much bigger than that. Enjoy those!, I can't wait for my first ones this year.
|
|
|
Post by bince on Aug 15, 2015 9:43:05 GMT -5
Looking at your line up of tomatoes that is very impressive amanitovirosa. How are they doing this year? What is the flavour like for the 'White Beauty'?
|
|
|
Post by amanitovirosa on Aug 17, 2015 21:22:43 GMT -5
...I've been enjoying my tomatoes for at least 2 or 3 weeks. Even though it is a bad year, mine seem to have come around, despite the very cold start to the season. I was trying to post pics of my 'Tomato Road' but flickr sucks. I must find another pic hosting site. The White Beauty is very delicious, and gets HUGE!!! The first year I had them they were actually close to white, this year they are a bright yellow. Flavour is slightly more acidic than a Brandy (for comparison). Cheers.
|
|