Veranda Red, AG Heirloom Tomatoes (2/21/23)

[lynnee]

Started a new tomato garden today, 2/21/23, in a Bounty Wireless. Planted two pods of Burpee Veranda Reds, and two pods of AG Heirlooms (red). Photos to come when something starts to happen.

[lynnee]

Why was I thinking that the tomatoes were stalled? At 19 days, these are looking good! Burpee Veranda Reds at left, AG Heirloom Reds at right.

I'm pushing it, leaving 4 seedlings in a Bounty Wireless, so will probably move two plants soon.  AG nutrients only so far.

[scarfguy]

My rule of thumb is a max of:

1 tomato in a harvest (harvest isn't tall enough for a pepper)

2 tomatoes or 1 pepper in a harvest XL

2 tomatoes or 2 peppers in a bounty

[lynnee]

Yesterday I transferred the two middle seedlings (one Veranda Red, one AG Heirloom Red) to an empty Bounty. At 23 days, the roots on the four plants were already intertwined, but the roots weren't hard to separate with gentle tugging. I did lose some long white roots, but the plants seem to have withstood the relocation.

[lynnee]

As usual, I let the tomatoes go too long without pruning, so there were a lot of big lower leaves sapping energy away from the blooms. Waiting also meant that the pruned plant looks more misshapen, but the aim is to encourage fruit set.  The stalks with only blooms left will continue to develop fruit, using energy from the leaves elsewhere on the plants.

I did an R&R with one Bounty, and left the second one to continue on the preset schedule (R&R and add nutes in 5 days). The plants were started at the same time, but are now in different room locations, so the comparison going forward isn't exact.)

In both Bounties, there is a Veranda Red on the left, and an AG tomato on the right.  (I think they may be Golden Harvests rather than Heirloom Reds.)  The air circulation is much improved.  I also moved the pods on the right forward to give them more space to grow.  One of them was crowding against a wall, and the other was competing with my roller coaster!

[scarfguy]

Nice tomatoes.... but I'm more impressed with your roller coaster! 

[lynnee]

Apr 3, 2023 15:53:51 GMT -5 scarfguy said:

Nice tomatoes.... but I'm more impressed with your roller coaster! 

I just repaired my Loop roller coaster, which tore itself apart when the lift knot came loose. I love both roller coasters to pieces!

[scarfguy]

[lynnee]

The Veranda Reds are finally "breaking orange", so I harvested them and set them out to finish ripening in the kitchen.  

[scarfguy]

That's a healthy looking tomato!

[swimmom500]

They are looking good!

[lynnee]

This time I pruned them early, to encourage more fruit and larger fruit! There is an AG Heirloom Red in the same Bounty, with fruit that is beginning to ripen, but it doesn't have a lot.

[lynnee]

These four plants are on their second harvest now. I let the canopies go too long without pruning, but finally got around to the job today. Took a ton of stuff off, but a lot of canopy will be back in a week or two. Tomatoes really prefer to hide the fruit!

Regular pruning makes the task easier, and also increases fruit production. The point of pruning is to unburden the plant of unneeded leaves so it can concentrate on producing big tomatoes!


The tomatoes in the trays are the ones that had "broken orange" or that were casualties of pruning. The green ones will eventually ripen on the kitchen countertop.

For once I remembered to take before and after photos!

[lynnee]

Tomato canopies grow back so quickly after pruning!

Top 7/20/23; Bottom 7/29/23


Left 7/29/23; Right 7/20/23

[slw]

Your tomatoes look great, lynnee.   Now I need some Veranda Reds! 

[swimmom500]

Jul 31, 2023 13:05:47 GMT -5 lynnee said:

Tomato canopies grow back so quickly after pruning!

Top 7/20/23; Bottom 7/29/23


Left 7/29/23; Right 7/20/23

I have some Veranda Red seeds. Looking at your haul makes me want to set up another garden

[lynnee]

Pruned these guys again today. Both had regrown a solid canopy, and were hiding lots of ripe or almost ripe tomatoes. All four plants are nearing the end of their productive life.

The Harvest:



Veranda red and Heirloom Red in Bounty:



Veranda Red and Heirloom Red in Bounty:

[lynnee]

Last week I harvested a ton of tomatoes from one of my Bounties with Heirloom and Veranda Reds (shown in photo of Bounty next to Farm in previous post). Then the plants just died.

Today I cleaned out the garden, after 235 days. The roots were brown and mushy, and the water was very discolored. It had been three weeks since the last R&R, but I think that the AG location was simply too hot for such old plants (about 8 months).

The Heirloom and Veranda Reds in the other Bounty (same age as the ones that died) are still going strong. They have a thick green canopy that needs pruning, and a lot of ripening tomatoes.

[pfunnyjoy]

Wow! I did AG Heirloom tomatoes once, I for sure did not get anywhere NEAR that many! Color me impressed!

[Shawn]

I love your tomato pics