Growing in #1 nursery pots

[SeanInVa]

Paul, I am curious what your feeding schedule looks like, and with what plant food - given that you started with some fairly "hot" potting mixes. The plants look fantastic! Are you doing any supplemental pollination (shaking trusses, toothbrush, etc) or is it all nature?

[HL2601]

Paul your plants look terrific. I have never grown the birdie series and would be very interested to hear your impressions of fruit production and taste of those. Excited you have so many growing!

[wykvlvr]

Not Paul but I did grow Rosy Finch this year and was totally disappointed in their flavor.. They seemed ripe, deep dark pink color a little bit of give I am sure you get the idea. AND sigh they were tasteless bags of water. BUT after they had been on the plate for about 8 to 10 days suddenly they had some flavor. Sadly by that time I had use most in a recipe where the lack of flavor was not a problem. Yellow Canary was my least favorite of the three yellows but like Rosy Finch it was better after it sat on the counter for a few days. Monteka was second for my taste buds and Aztek was my favorite.

[PaulG]

Sorry to ghost the forum, but I had some difficulty
with image posting at the end of last season ,
and never got around to figuring why. That being
said, here is my take on the micros I grew last season.

Lukoshko on the Window - Bitter, juicy, tough skin.
Yellow Olle - Gift from Bunny Hop, would be awesome
in a #2 or #3 pot since it is definitely more
of a 'semi-micro' than the others. Fruit is
juicy and mild, tender skin and nice size.
Vilma - Very juicy, tender and mild flavor.
Rosy Finch - Mild flavor, juicy and tender.
Yellow Dwarf - Tender, juicy, a bit tart.
Andrina - tough skin, not so great flavor, tasted 'dry'.
Pinocchio - Tender and juicy, unique flavor.
Mohammed - Juicy, not much to say about flavor.
Hahms Gelbe - Fruit much like Yellow Olle, but a
micro-sized tomato plant.

For this season, I just dropped Bunny Hop seed for
Hahms Gelbe
Pinocchio
Rosy Finch
Yellow Dwarf

And from Rennaisance Farms
Vilma

They will be in #1 nursery pots.

Saving Yellow Olle for next season, will grow
in a bigger pot.


Just to test image posting...

Resized this pic...

Okay, that seems to work better. I will be
better about posting progress this season. I think I should see sprouts in a
week or so. Really looking forward to giving these varieties a second try this
year.

[PaulG]

Paul, I am curious what your feeding schedule looks like, and with what plant food - given that you started with some fairly "hot" potting mixes. The plants look fantastic! Are you doing any supplemental pollination (shaking trusses, toothbrush, etc) or is it all nature?

I did not do any feeding beyond my initial soil amending.
As for pollination, the wind seems to do a pretty good job.
I was impressed by how many fruit the little plants set.

[PaulG]

Paul your plants look terrific. I have never grown the birdie series and would be very interested to hear your impressions of fruit production and taste of those. Excited you have so many growing!

Sorry to say, I didn't make any notes about the Birdie.
Guess I wasn't real overawed by it : ) It was sort of
a middle of the road plant in last season's grow. If I
remember correctly, it was not a great producer.

I'll keep better records this season!

[PaulG]

Not Paul but I did grow Rosy Finch this year and was totally disappointed in their flavor.. They seemed ripe, deep dark pink color a little bit of give I am sure you get the idea. AND sigh they were tasteless bags of water. BUT after they had been on the plate for about 8 to 10 days suddenly they had some flavor. Sadly by that time I had use most in a recipe where the lack of flavor was not a problem. Yellow Canary was my least favorite of the three yellows but like Rosy Finch it was better after it sat on the counter for a few days. Monteka was second for my taste buds and Aztek was my favorite.

Thanks for your take on those. Mine tasted pretty good off the vine.
I live in an 8a/b zone. Maybe that had something to do with it.
Since you mentioned the Yellows, I'll give a shout out for the Yellow
Olle. While not a true micro tom, it was a great plant - nice growth
habit with decent trellises of cherry tomato-sized fruit. More akin to
a normal cherry tomato, but not near as large. I'll be interested to see
how it does in a little bigger pot in 2022.

[PaulG]

Nights were too cold to germinate the seeds quickly in the greenhouse,
so I moved them to the lighted grow shelf in the garage. They germinated
in a few days after that. These pics are from June 12...






There were 3 or 4 seeds in each pot. All germinated well except the
Yellow Dwarf, but at least I got one seedling of it. Rosy Finch popped
a couple of more right after this pic.

Seeds from Bunny Hop and Renaissance Farms.

[PaulG]

These pix from July Fourth. The hot weather has them
growing well. These were germinated directly in the #1
nursery pots. The plants have robust stalks.

[PaulG]

All the tomatoes re starting to flower. Pinocchio is the first to open:

[PaulG]

All the tomatoes have started to set fruit. These photos from July 28.
A handful of small tomatoes on each plant now. Will get some more
recent pics up soon.

[PaulG]

These pics from Aug. 20...

Pinocchio:


Yellow Dwarf:


Hahm's Gelbe:


Rosey Finch:


Vilma:


Now just waiting for some color.

[PaulG]

The dang tree rats got into my micro toms the night before last @&#*&)’hksb.
The Pinocchio was covered with nice, ripe pods, and they ate every last one,
leaving a few pieces of dried skins behind. I was going to pick them yesterday ?.

At least they only took a few off the other plants, mostly from the Rosey Finch.

[SeanInVa]

Man that's terrible.

Perhaps they are telling you which ones were the tastiest, and to try those again

I am battling mice in my garage right now, they pillaged a whole mess of seeds I had started

[PaulG]

Man that's terrible.

Perhaps they are telling you which ones were the tastiest, and to try those again

I am battling mice in my garage right now, they pillaged a whole mess of seeds I had started

Thanks for checking in, Sean. I think the moderate drought conditions the past few years and the intense drought this summer has driven them to search for water where they can find it. They ate the inside out of a cantaloupe that was so close to ripe last night. Left just the skin behind. This has only been a problem since last season.

I managed to get a bowlful of ripe micro tomatoes the other day, so will call it good for the season.