Tomato Growing Project

[cranky]

Bugs, these were eating last years crop.

They are definitely not friendlies.  Don't be fooled by their cute little green disguise.   They are merciless vegetarian terrorists.  Nuke em, or face tomatoless pizza.

[Pete-zza]

cranky,

I even made a carrier from a sheet of plywood with casters and placed my potted plants on the carrier. I would move the carrier from time to time on my patio so that the plants would get more sun. But pots--even large ones--can dry out quite quickly in the hot Texas heat. Eventually, the material of the pots breaks down and can even shatter.

As far as my degree of passion is concerned, it is not really the pizza that commands my passion. I am not all that fussy about my pizzas. It is the passion of learning about them that is the problem. Perhaps I should lie down more frequently.

Peter

[sear]

I found another F'er on another one of my plants. The only reason I saw it is because I saw a bunch of little black things on leaves, I followed them up and saw the other one. I am assuming those little black things were his waste... free fertilizer.

I also saw that the one before that I found had eaten half a tomato.

did you find 2 on the plant in the first picture ?, if you look closely it looks like another one in the backround

and Yes those black things he left are turds, only the moths lay eggs

[cranky]

cranky,

Yes, where I live it can get very cold in the winter, with much snow and in the summer it can get very hot, hazy, and humid.  I really don't like the temperature changes. At least our area is good for growing.   We do have plenty of all kinds of bees and butterflies for pollination. When I go outside in the summer, there are always bees and butterflies.

Norma

Norma,

Every place has its beauty.  All it takes is an appreciative eye, or soul.

Years ago all the monarch butterfiles disappeared from my area and I think the entire west coast, not sure.  This year they are back, or at least there is some new yellow butterfly in numbers.  

Last year in July my wife and I visited the northeast corner of OR, bordering Idaho.  It is a very long day's drive, called the Hell's Canyon area.  It is nicknamed the American Alps.  While there we drove an entire day on dirt roads to see the sites.  The end of this road was an old abandoned fire lookout station.  7,000 feet below was the Snake River.  There were literally thousands of mating butterfiles all over the place swirling in the air, several types and colors, and acres and acres of fields of various wildflowers.  The mountain vistas were magnificent.  It could be the most beautiful place I have ever been.   Hardly anyone lives there, mostly ranchers. There was one pizza place we saw in the town of Enterprize.  We tried to go one night and it went out of business.  Rich in beauty and pretty tough to scratch out a living.

[cranky]

cranky,
 Perhaps I should lie down more frequently.

Peter

Probably wouldn't hurt, but you might as well face it, you enjoy a harmless pastime that is interesting and the forum provides a venue to share it with others who enjoy or suffer the same passion.  The forum is frequented by what seems to be a lot of people who might be a little wacky, but they seem pretty easy to get along with and easy to like. 

I have a lot of unusual interests.  I don't have hardly any normal hobbies.  Could care less about basketball, football, golf, movies, movie stars, or politicians.  My wife is highly amused and makes jokes at my expense.  Wait till you hear what he is up to now.  I tried to make homemade hot dogs this winter.  Disaster!  Her friends all laugh, but always ask to be invited for pizza or whatever.    The idea is to get through life without doing any harm, make friends, be kind, spread some cheer, love and be loved.  Pizza is a good thing.  It fits in all those categories.  The more of it there is the better.  A chicken in every pot and a pizza in every oven.   There is a lot of talk about America having a new party.  We are sick of the donkeys and repubs.  I vote for the Pizza Party.

[norma427]

Norma,

Every place has its beauty.  All it takes is an appreciative eye, or soul.

Years ago all the monarch butterfiles disappeared from my area and I think the entire west coast, not sure.  This year they are back, or at least there is some new yellow butterfly in numbers.  

Last year in July my wife and I visited the northeast corner of OR, bordering Idaho.  It is a very long day's drive, called the Hell's Canyon area.  It is nicknamed the American Alps.  While there we drove an entire day on dirt roads to see the sites.  The end of this road was an old abandoned fire lookout station.  7,000 feet below was the Snake River.  There were literally thousands of mating butterfiles all over the place swirling in the air, several types and colors, and acres and acres of fields of various wildflowers.  The mountain vistas were magnificent.  It could be the most beautiful place I have ever been.   Hardly anyone lives there, mostly ranchers. There was one pizza place we saw in the town of Enterprize.  We tried to go one night and it went out of business.  Rich in beauty and pretty tough to scratch out a living.

cranky,

“Hell’s Canyon” sounds like a beautiful place with all the butterflies and wild flowers.  The mountain vistas sound great, too.  My brother lives in Loveland, Colorado and he lives right at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  Their land is flat where he lives and right in his backyard you can see the Rocky Mountains, which also look beautiful.  He had me up in the Rocky Mountains different times and he had me so afraid of going off a side of a cliff.   He was going to come here to visit earlier this summer, but says he can’t stand our heat and humidity anymore and I think he is waiting until fall now to come visit. I believe each area or country has it’s own beauty.  Just like pizza making, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Norma  

[Pete-zza]

The idea is to get through life without doing any harm, make friends, be kind, spread some cheer, love and be loved.  Pizza is a good thing.  It fits in all those categories.  The more of it there is the better.  A chicken in every pot and a pizza in every oven.

Very well said.

Peter

[norma427]

The idea is to get through life without doing any harm, make friends, be kind, spread some cheer, love and be loved.  Pizza is a good thing.  It fits in all those categories.  The more of it there is the better.  A chicken in every pot and a pizza in every oven. I vote for the Pizza Party.

cranky,

I agree with Peter, you have a great philosophy in life. 

Norma

cranky,

                         Perhaps I should lie down more frequently.

Peter

Peter,

I also agree with you on lying down more frequently.  Maybe I wouldn't get my mind going so much and I could finally get a rest.   

Norma

[cranky]

 Just like pizza making, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Norma  

You are right.  There are things to appreciate almost anywhere.  I am headed to NJ tomorrow.  Return home Monday.  I agree with your brother.  Its not the heat though.  The humidity is the killer.  I have been to right where he lives.  It is pretty nice.  I have no bias.  Lots of people know about CO Rockies.  If it were not so far away from everything and the economic climate were better I would think of going to the Hells Canyon area.  I have never been to a place so pleasing to the eye.  The people are very friendly.  They work very hard to make a living and when a tourist shows up the appreciation is there, but tourism is in the tank with the recession.  A drive I did not take is a big loop through Joseph.  It climbs and drops and winds from the river to the heights.  Next time.  It could be that July is the best month for butterflies and flowers.

[cranky]

cranky,

I agree with Peter, you have a great philosophy in life. 

 
Norma

Yeah, life is kind of like pizza, seriously.  It can be excellent, but always needs tweaking and improvement, because it is impossible to know when you have it just right. 

Similarly, happiness is appreciating what you have, but at the same time we are never satisfied either, always wanting better.   That is ok.  We can do both at the same time, being simultaneously full and hungry, or empty.  Seeing all the butterflies was truly stunning, but I wonder what is around the next corner?  That is how we are made.  When the family shows up and I make them pizza and it goes on the table I want to hear how they like it.  They always do and the last one is usually the best.  Sometimes they say this is the best try yet.  Next time I want it to be a little better, and I know it is all kind of crazy or silly.  It does not really matter.  It is just for fun.   

Pizza gluttony is a bad thing.  Some pizza is good, but there is too much.  Makes us too fat.  Having some money is good, but there is too much.  We get so we can't get through the needle's eye.  But spiritual gluttony is a good thing.  You can never have enough peace of soul, faith, hope and love, just be thankful for every bit you have.   Gratitude is the trick to getting more.   We always crave more good no matter how much we have.  That is how we are made and that is good.   

[BrickStoneOven]

did you find 2 on the plant in the first picture ?, if you look closely it looks like another one in the backround

and Yes those black things he left are turds, only the moths lay eggs

There was only one on the first one. I see what you are talking about though in the picture, those where two tomatoes. The other one I found wasn't as big as the first one but it was on another plant not the same one. I didn't kill them but if I find more on the plants I am going to kill them and hang them around the plant so that their friends see them and don't try eating more. Just like in the old days when they would put cut off heads on pikes.

[sear]

Rex just said "NOM NOM NUM" 

[Jackie Tran]

Sear those are so cool looking. I've always wanted one of those as a kid. Are they relatively easy to care for?

[sear]

Sear those are so cool looking. I've always wanted one of those as a kid. Are they relatively easy to care for?

Yes fairly easy, as long as you can deal with feeding crickets/worms. some people feed some dry food, but mine has always gotten live. so if it doesnt move hes not interested.
unless its collard greens. Hes about 4 years old now

[Matthew]

From my dad's garden. 

The 2nd shot is his fig tree.

[Jackie Tran]

Thought I would give you all an update on my first season's progress. 

I have roma tomato plant that I bought from Lowes when it was about 8" high or so.  This plant is how 3 feet tall.  I have only eaten 2 ripe tomatoes from it.   There are now 40 medium sized tomatoes on the plant but none of them have ripened yet.   I'm thinking they will be ready in another 3-4wks?

All my other tomato plants were grown from seed.   With proper fertilization they are now growing.  My tallest plants are also 3 ft tall but they are vine-like and not bushy like the roma plant.   I got them caged late in the game and just now realizing they they will grow faster if caged.  Next year (if there is one) I'll cage them early.   From the plants that I have started from seed, there are only 4 tomatoes so far and they are the size of cherries.    It's already August, so I'm not sure if I'll be eating any tomatoes from the plants I've started from seeds.   Oh well, not a bad half a$$ first attempt anyhow.

First 2 pics are of the Roma plant.  The others have were started from seeds. 

JT 

[norma427]

Jackie Tran,

You are doing a great job on growing tomatoes for your first year.  When I first started growing tomatoes I never started any from seed.  They were all bought already started.  You are to be commended for trying to start the tomatoes from seed.  I even had problems with starting tomatoes from seed and didn’t think any of mine were going to make it this year.

Your tomatoes plants do look nice and healthy. 

Thanks for posting pictures and telling how your tomatoes plants are doing.

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

Thank you for the encouragement Norma and the tips you've posted on what works for you.  I've benefited from many of those. 

Chau

BSO, how are your plants coming along?

[cranky]

Thank you for the encouragement Norma and the tips you've posted on what works for you.  I've benefited from many of those. 

Chau

BSO, how are your plants coming along?

Jackie,
I have been growing tomatoes over forty years and have never started plants from seed.  It is a lot of effort and the fact that you managed to pull it off from seed to harvest on your first try is probably more of an accomplishment than you realize.  In my opinion the most difficult part is in the beginning.  Norma says put em in the ground and feed and water them and things work out.  She's right.  There may be better ways to trellis, cage, prune, fuss over them, but it always works out.  The healthier a start is on the other hand at the time it goes in the ground makes a big difference.  In order to get a healthy strong ready to go transplantable start you need pretty optimum conditions., light, heat, soil mix,  water, root space.  The commercial greenhouses have it down.  I might try it next year, but that means building a hoop house, providing heat and light.  I grow many varieties, maybe two or three plants per variety.  That means I buy a $2 pack of seeds for two plants when I can buy a plant for a dollar.  This is financially a loser, but all hobbies are. 

[Jackie Tran]

Some good advice there Cranky. I feel very fortunate to have been able to benefit so much from so many knowledgeable ppl here whether it's growing plants or pizza making.
After this first year I have much of the same intuition. Get a good early start, a good compost, good fertilizer, plenty of sun and water, minimal pruning, and voilà.

My dad bought a few regular garden variety tomato plants this year as well.  He picked 4 green tomatoes way to early and gave them to me as a gift. I chided him a bit for picking them early. It took over 3 weeks for them to ripen on my counter. I was pleasantly surprised that they were some of the sweetest tomatoes I've eaten. I think I see the appeal in growing your own tomatoes now.