Ahead of schedule

[jackb]

I looks like the tomatoes that Ava planted for Santa are really going to be ready for Thanksgiving.

 

[journey11]

Come December, I'm sure Santa would much prefer a red, ripe tomato to those greasy ol' cookies.

 

[ninnymary]

Jackb, what kind of tomatoes are those? Are those all the tomatoes on the plant that we see in the picture? Maybe if there are smaller ones those will be ready for Santa. Lucky him...I miss Ava.

Mary

 

[jackb]

Jackb, what kind of tomatoes are those? Are those all the tomatoes on the plant that we see in the picture? Maybe if there are smaller ones those will be ready for Santa. Lucky him...I miss Ava.

Mary

Mary,
The plant is an indeterminate greenhouse hybrid, Trust. To limit the size of the plant I only allowed three trusses for form and then I topped it off. The reason being, that I have to keep the light 18" from the top of the plant, and space is limited. Limiting the number of trusses also hastens the development of fruit, and I think increases fruit size. The photo shows the bottom of the plant, and, yes there are more small fruit. The plant is growing so quickly though they may be ripe before Christmas. Perhaps I could make salsa and leave it out for Santa with some chips and a beer. Ava told her mother that she would like her own garden for Christmas. THAT may be a problem in upstate New York.....

Here is the top.

 

[jackb]

I just picked the first tomatoes and they are really early this year, as I did not begin to get ripe tomatoes until the first day of winter last year. There are still plenty of green tomatoes, so Santa may still have a fresh home grown tomato instead of a cookie. They really could not be more home grown than these.

 

[lesa]

Oh my, Jackb! I will tell you, looking at your pictures makes me grow green with envy! Those are perfectly, perfect tomatoes!

 

[jackb]

Oh my, Jackb! I will tell you, looking at your pictures makes me grow green with envy! Those are perfectly, perfect tomatoes!

I keep telling you Lesa it ain't rocket science.
Jack

 

[catjac1975]

Do you use seed especially for greenhouse grown tomatoes? I got fairly hard tomatoes until I used specialty seed. I finally stopped because I could not control whitefly organically, Though I was not hydroponic which must make a big difference with pests.

 

[ninnymary]

Ok Jackb, we always see your successes. Do you ever have any failures? Life is just not fair.:/ Those tomatoes look like they belong in a magazine photo shoot.

Mary

 

[jackb]

Do you use seed especially for greenhouse grown tomatoes? I got fairly hard tomatoes until I used specialty seed. I finally stopped because I could not control whitefly organically, Though I was not hydroponic which must make a big difference with pests.

These are a hybrid called Trust, and they are supposed to be the premier greenhouse tomato. They run about a dollar a seed, but my wife says they are worth it because they taste so good. I received some free seeds recently for a variety called Virginia Sweets and I am going to start one of them soon as a trial. They are supposed to be yellow with ruby stripes. Ava will love those.