My Teeny Urban Garden (updated; even more photos post 43/page 5)

[bluelacedredhead]

Everybody has thrips & mites in their gardens, Joz. They are both so small that people have a hard time noticing them.

By the time you can see mites, the plant is often in serious trouble.

Thrips are the "flower bugs." Are they really a problem for tomatoes? . . . production?

Steve

I just did some reading on Thrips and there are several species including Western Flower Thrips, Eastern Flower Thrips, Onion Thrips and Echinothrips? Western flower thrips spread viruses called tospoviruses, of which tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV) are the most common in greenhouse crops, according to the OMAFRA site.

Blue sticky traps work for some, yellow sticky traps for others, and the smallest of parasitic wasps.

 

[RickF]

Thanks for the heads-up on these.. I'm thinking we've had this issue in the past -- it never killed the plants but they never really matured well and had very poor tomato production.. I'll take a look at our plants from last year (yes, we've still got them growing -- they never died over the winter here in the LA area).. If they're infested I'm going to toss them out and be done with it.. Do I need to do anything with the old soil or is it OK to re-use? I could sterilize it if needed with the help of a BBQ..

 

[joz]

More updates.

Dill has taken over my cucumber bed. I don't know if that's why the cukes aren't growing much (there is rather a lot of shade in that bed... but they get sun from the other side...??), but they have FINALLY started moving. If they're anything like the melons, they'll be over the fence shortly.

Speaking of the melons....

The Tomatoes are trying to take over the world.

I promised to continue taking pics of the Tigrovies as they ripened. The photo with the stripes isn't showing the best color (they're redder than that), but it does show off the stripes nicely. The other photo is supposed to be another Tigrovy, but they're not striped. I've picked all these, set them out to finish ripening (I'm afraid of the rats/squirrels/possums/raccoons/bugs getting to them if I leave them much longer), and shall see if they taste the same. The plants have identical (insofar as I can tell) habit.

And, a wee mystery: I have a volunteer tomato. It's shaped rather like a strawberry. The end is biforcated. Anyone know what it might be? My best guess at present is Juliet. My neighbor likes them and I may have planted one of his leftover seedlings last year. I don't recall getting fruit from it, however.... I suppose a bird may have carried the seed over the 7' fence and across my backyard and placed it square in the middle of that bed.

 

[vfem]

Thank you, I'm drooling like crazy over your tomatoes! I'm thrilled to see flowers at all on mine.

I'm not sure about your cukes, but mine ALWAYS start out slow and then grow into a frnezy all of a sudden. They end up very productive, but I find eventually they succomb to wilt or downy mildew.

 

[897tgigvib]

I have definitely saved seed from Juliet F1 hybrid tomato, and yes, you get all good tomatoes in the following generations. Each plant is a bit different, and each plant's tomatoes are a bit different too, but every one of them is good. They were all small to almost medium sized plants with stems not fat but good and tough. I would call them all bush plants.

Yes, a couple made tomatoes shaped like that, but none of mine were what i'd call bifurcated, but I can see that happening.

Just like Taxi F1 has become stabilized into a regular variety, and so was Lemon Boy F! stabilized into a regular variety, I think Juliet F1 can be stabilized by several folks into several slightly different good regular varieties.

I have Razzleberry F1 stabilized kind of, but it needs more work. What I accidentally stabilized from it is not quite that same shade of pink that Razzleberry F1 tomato is known for, but it's still good. (The 3rd generation lost that particular shade of color, so I guess that subtle color is from at least partially a Dominant gene. Dominant genes are harder to stabilize.) That kind of thing should not stop a person from growing seed from hybrids.

What does stop a person from growing seed from a hybrid is when ya get lousy 2nd generation plants!

Several times, from several different sources, I have tried to grow seed from "Brandy Boy F1" tomatoes. Don't waste time trying it. The tomatoes those all make are bleyecchy, half rotten, all goofed up around the seeds.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I grew Juliet last year, and they pushed 7-8' tall.
And, I harvested 444 red-ripe tomatoes off of 2 plants. Yup, counted (and ate) every last one of them.
Then the drought did them in. They were still loaded w/ flowers, but too hot to set fruit, and the heat eventually burnt up the vines.

I have 2 Juliet plants this year that are showing promising growth as well... LOADED w/ green tomatoes.
Dealing w/ blossom end rot on one of the plants tho. Argh...

 

[joz]

Yes, a couple made tomatoes shaped like that, but none of mine were what i'd call bifurcated, but I can see that happening.

I looked up pictures of Juliet tomatoes, and SOME of them looked like these.... others looked more roma or grape shaped; some had pointy ends. These aren't sharply divided at the bottoms, but you can definitely see an indentation.

The plant is kinda spindly, and currently (75 days?) topping out at ~4'.

If they're tasty, I'll save some seed to do again. I started to wonder if they were a green or red type... I did put in some green grape tomatoes last year too, I think... tho these didn't seem to be grape shaped. Guess I'll pinch 'em periodically if they don't start going red.

I hadn't looked up Juliet's hybrid/OP status. Should've known tho... my neighbor likes the hybrids.

 

[lesa]

Everything is looking really great! Such a great garden, in a small space!

 

[joz]

Thanks for the heads-up on these.. I'm thinking we've had this issue in the past -- it never killed the plants but they never really matured well and had very poor tomato production.. I'll take a look at our plants from last year (yes, we've still got them growing -- they never died over the winter here in the LA area).. If they're infested I'm going to toss them out and be done with it.. Do I need to do anything with the old soil or is it OK to re-use? I could sterilize it if needed with the help of a BBQ..

Spotted Wilt? Or Thrips? Or both?

The spotted wilt was fairly easy to identify: Brown spots relatively evenly distributed over the leaf, then leaves, then branches wilt and leaves get crispy. The plant may survive, but the fruit will be worthless. It's carried by thrips. I don't believe it's a contact-spread virus. But... thrips live in the soil. And people recommend burning/disposing of the plants rather than composting them.

I don't know that much can really be done about thrips. They're rampant in my garden. I've sprayed for 'em a couple times, and maybe that's what's keeping my garden looking better than my neighbor's (his tomatoes are 3' tall and yellow, but with clusters of fat red fruits).

 

[897tgigvib]

All of Juliet's progeny will be red, maybe some scarlet. They will all be approximately salad sized tomatoes with various longish vaguely pearish or small roma shapes.

Daisy, your plants grow huge! I was growing them in Montana where the season begins June 1st or so, and can end as early as September 1st, but usually protectable to October 1st, and my last year there almost to November 1st, but by September the cool nights slow things down.