23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
It could have been eaten by something like a squirl or racoon, try an all natural spray, either store bought or homeade. I fill a windex bottle with warm water, add a tbspn of hot sause, murphys soap and cayanne pepper, plray it on the fruit.
Well, based on my gardening experience for many many years, you're getting a perfectly normal crop. I don't know why the little short chubbies appear. My guess is it has something to do with pollination. But, they do appear regularly, and, as you say, they taste just as good as the pretty ones. I wouldn't worry over much about it.
My favorite way to deal with them is to pick them off and feed them to the chickens. I figure they are improving the omega-3 content of the eggs. This year I stopped counting after removing 6 dozen but I am sure there are still more out there. No way that I would let that many be. If things are quiet enough, you may be able to hear them munching.
Donna, we are in a different climate with different growing conditions than you, but I thought I'd throw this out for your consideration... we don't plant paste-type tomatoes but we do plant oxheart types - most notably German Red Strawberry and one just simply called Yellow Oxheart. These cook up beautifully; they are much larger tomatoes so it doesn't take as many to make a kettle full, great taste and very "meaty", not to mention prolific. You might try a plant next year to see how well it does in your climate.
Edie
Thank you all. I have done some occasional stalking over on the Harvest forum, and you bet those folks know their stuff. Maybe I worded my search wrong, but couldn't seem to find the info I was looking for. (maybe because most people have enough sense to figure it out for themselves...)
Thank you, Dave, for your words about Victorio. I bought it last year for dealing with blueberries, but it was an incredible help with my tomato harvest this year. It absolutely does leave the pulp. Last year (when I grew sauce tomatoes), I had lots and lots of sauce after I ran it through a wire strainer. I just didn't have enough sense to know what to do with it. This year, I did strain the first couple batches of tomatoes I ran through it, and the small amount of pulp that was in those beefsteaks made lovely sauce. Just not enough of it. What I especially liked was how quickly the pulp cooked down into sauce once it was strained out.
After using this amazing gadget this year, I don't think there's much of anything that anyone could say to make me fall out of love with it. It's a huge labor and time saver!
As a note, I discovered by accident, that if I filled the hopper with tomato pieces before I cranked them through and then emptied the bowl right into a hot pan, I had minimal separation of pulp and water in the jars.
Re: Determinate Sauce tomato. I grow my vegetables organically, and honestly don't even like to spray organic concoctions. Add to that the fact that the entire county here seems to have Early Blight in the soil, plus the fact that our incredibly hot mid summer heat puts a stop to tomato production anyway, and I have decided that it really doesn't matter whether I grow determinates or indeterminates. I am still only going to get the first crop. I will try Opalka as an experiment. Sounds intriguing. But I am very grateful for the extra mention of Italia. All three recs are on my list to try.
Well that explains it for me. Last year I had what was shaped like a spaghetti squash but had a pattern on the outside resembling a hubbard. i as both and some other varieties in the same squash patch. Thought i'd gotten a random mystery seed or simething. Didn't know I could get a mix from cross pollination. Tasted pretty good as I recall :)
Only the seeds are affected by cross-pollination, not the fruit in this season. You only see weird fruit if you save seeds that have crossed and plant them the following year.
So if you had a weirdo then it was from a random crossed seed.
Dave
Doesn't mean the habs are still not susceptible. I grow a lot of varieties and one thing I have noticed --- the smaller and less fleshy the pepper, the less chance of BER.
Does Mel's mix have any added calcium in it or instructions to add lime or gypsum or bone meal...something to supply calciium to the plants?
Try to find some water soluble calcium(maybe at a hydroponics store) and the season may still be salvageable. Next time, make sure you get some bone meal or gypsum in the mix well before planting.
You may also want to google "smokemaster witch's brew" He makes soluble calcium acetate out of dolomite lime and vinegar.
Good luck.
Kevin
Yeah, it's amazing how the grocery stores can get it right and sell a ripe melon with shipping times, etc. Must be the hybrids. But me, standing over mine while it ripens, still sometimes gets it wrong. ltilton is right. One day they look totally unripe, so I take my eye off the ball for a couple of days, and then whoops, it's overripe. I usually also give mine a little squeeze with the thumb and forefinger. When there's a little 'give' I can tell they're ripening.
As soon as I see that pollen is ripe, even with close planting, I go out and shake the plants several times if no wind. Of course in Ks there is alm,ost always wind. do this several days in a row. I have sometimes had 4 ears to a plant. I learned this trick from my Dad many years ago.
"I am using intensive planting this year for the first time with my corn. They are planted 6 inches apart with rows 12 inches apart. This is a block of 4 rows wide. The first planting of 4 feet x 8 feet was June 9. The 2nd planting was a week later and the 3rd planting was a week after that. The first planting has tassels on all stalks but still no ears. ???? The corn gets at least 8 hours of direct sun."
How would you harvest that corn if it produced any ears? Silver Queen will produce lots of leaves. You would not be able to walk between rows of mature corn planted 12 inches apart! I grew Silver Queen for years, but switched varieties this year to varieties more resistant to smut. To Silver King for my late white corn.
I plant my corn in rows spaced 8", but my rows are 3' apart!
I don't see how you can cultivate, fertilize, or harvest corn planted in rows 12" apart.
Sorry folks I should have looked down a few threads. Found the answer.