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Simi valley, ca

Does anyone know the seed starting date for comp tomatos - (Delisous-variaty) for elkgrove weighoff begenning of oct ??? And has anyone had any luck with monster-variaty ??, Or what variatys grown with success ??? Thanks Glenn

3/11/2006 3:38:30 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Later in the season that regular tomatoes...

3/11/2006 9:23:49 PM

wrong earlier in season and timing is the incorrect way to get big tomatoes when you want them for contest. As for the correct way i am not telling.

3/11/2006 10:37:22 PM

Midway City, California

BAD motfox

3/11/2006 11:02:24 PM

Leamington, Ont.

Glenn, I know the what motfox is trying to say. And for being rude, I'm gonna ruin it for him! HA!
Count back approx.80 days from weigh off.
Stagger you seed starting dates starting june 1st then again on 15th and 30th.

3/11/2006 11:31:29 PM

shznit try again.

1.you want to start tomatoes for size as early as possible.
2. you want the plants huge before they start flower.
3. proper purning is required.

3/12/2006 1:04:17 AM

Leamington, Ont.

Wrong....

3/12/2006 1:18:18 AM

Leamington, Ont.

To each his own, i guess!?

3/12/2006 1:28:49 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Mark until I see what you grow at a weigh off or pictures...you can shut up. He wants a tomato to bring to a weigh off in October. Alot of good that tomato plant is going to do for him when the tomato matures and is ripe in August.

3/12/2006 8:52:50 AM

West By God Virginia

Mat is tippy toein' around telling you "his" technique. Of course it's book learned not field proven by him. Mat is talking about starting his plants inside sometime in December, Then transplanting them outside in a wall o water in February. He then feeds the plant high nitrogen fertilizer for a majority of the season so the plant will get very tall. At the time he wants to start flowering he stops the high nitrogen feeding then begins feeding the plant high potassium fertilizer. This should cause the plant to bloom profusely. Then he looks for a "king" or fused bloom and probably prunes all but the fused bloom from the fruiting branch. He keeps this "a secret" like he invented it. He didn't. He got it from Gordon Graham's book. As I've said before and I'll say again book smart patch stupid. Grow something this year Mat. A good attitude would be a fine crop for you to start with.

3/12/2006 9:11:58 AM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

Doug, thanks for the input, its nice to see a helpful grower!

3/12/2006 10:15:10 AM

Simi valley, ca

Cool i got some good ideas now ! but i got another question? (King- or Profused bloom), Im supposing that means large bloom or thouse that look almost like two stuck togather ???

3/12/2006 10:20:37 AM

Simi valley, ca

Anyone grow the monster variaty from p&p it was recomended & i tryed it last yr but planted very late -plant grew great but no tomatos (none) all my other tomatos did great iv harvested as many as 65 tomatos in 1 day off forth of july,& 40 next day & so on for months off just 1 plant !!! ???

3/12/2006 10:27:00 AM

Simi valley, ca

And for the other stuff talked about,It reminds me of a saying a fisherman- scuba diver buddy of mine says (Iv got Bigger fish to fry) -anotherwords its not worth wasting time over !! In this case iv got Bigger tomatos to grow !!! even though iv never tryed to grow giant tomatos & have only grown 2.25 lber but i know from trying you can succeed , while scuba diving at channel islands iv chased a particular sheephead fish every week in summer & threw the winter once a month for 3 yrs & continued to hunt (30 lb class) for over 10 yrs,& got thousands of pounds worth of smaller ones , but one day while 60 miles out i speared a 37.5 lber weighed in garage at home later, I found out that world record is 40.5- So with the guts that would have been new world record, ( see there i go getting on to bigger fish to fry,, now its time to get on to bigger tomatos to fry !!!

3/12/2006 10:47:27 AM

Simi valley, ca

Thanks everyone for responding to post, & the good info !!!

3/12/2006 10:56:08 AM

DTM Mountaineer (Doug) good theory but i have never seen Gordon graham's. as for the high nitrogen/phosphorus idea it was independently discovered by me since no written source even suggested it. as for the rest you are correct dtm but all other info on growing giant tomatoes i have posted various place around the net. As stated in beginning timing is not easy or likely to work.

3/12/2006 11:00:39 AM

Eddyz@efirehose.net

Glenn
No expert here, but I have had decent luck with tomatoes.
I like delicious, because they also taste good. Big zac has the potential to do something huge. I find the delicious varity takes between 80-85 days from blossom, the hotter it is the faster the ripening will happen. Big Zac's take between 90-95 days from blossom. These are based on my weather. Under cool conditions, it may take up to 110 days to ripen. P and P's Phil's Fantastic is a great tomato to grow, very easy plant to prune etc. Basically you need to find a variety you like. I also believe you should start the tomato plants around the first of April, and set them out around the 15th of May.
You want to pinch off all flowers from the plant until about the 20 of June and try and leave only the multi blossom flowers, the more the better, I believe the world record was from a blossom of 6 fused flowers. Try and keep the flowers used between 18" and 36" off the ground. Trim off all suckers and blossoms after you have set fruit, I like 3 or 4 per plant and then cull them down, Stop the top growth between 5 and 6 feet.
Eddy

3/12/2006 11:09:12 AM

Maine

Matfox you and jordan must be friends.

3/12/2006 11:35:55 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

There are lots of ways you can try to time your tomatoes but success will not come easily unless you know how to predict the weather. If the days are warm, the tomatoes come early. If they days are cool, they come late. This applies whenever or wherever you start. An approach used by Chris Lyons and his dad in Canada is to start seeds in batches, one to two weeks apart and starting maybe three batches. This is just another idea. The suggestion about setting your tomatoes around 80 days before your event is also a good one. But, you still have to depend on the weather.
Marv

3/12/2006 4:54:10 PM

dr greenthumb who the hell is jordan

3/12/2006 7:42:34 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Wasn't Jordon the kid who used to post here?

3/13/2006 9:58:41 PM