On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 10:47:59 -0500, Phaedrine Stonebridge
wrote:



That having been said, I replaced the 'Early Girls' with '4th of
July' in my garden. I had tried 'Stupice' which are also nice and
early and tastely, but they tend to green shoulders and give up
producing later in the summer while '4th of July' keeps going.


Ah ha..... I will try leaving them on the vine longer then and, failing
that, we'll look into "4th of July" for next year. Thanks!

We picked our first ripe Early Girls today - three of them.
Small but ripe. The taste is disappointing. Drat.

I'll definitely try 'Stupice' next year and will think about
'4th of July'.

Pat (Zone 5)

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 05:05:44 -0500, (Pat
Kiewicz) wrote:


One thing about Early Girls as they turn red several days before they are *really*
ripe. So if you pick them when they *look* ready, they will dissapoint.

That having been said, I replaced the 'Early Girls' with '4th of July' in my garden.
I had tried 'Stupice' which are also nice and early and tastely, but they tend to
green shoulders and give up producing later in the summer while '4th of July'
keeps going.

Pat, where did you get the seeds for "4th of July", please?

Thanks.

Another Pat

Pat Meadows said:

Pat, where did you get the seeds for "4th of July", please?

Off the rack, possibly at Meijer's (a regional mega-mart type store).
Or it could have been at a local nursery (Clyde Smith and Sons) which
sells Burpee seeds off the rack.

(I don't get Burpee's seed catalog, but that's where you would mail order them.)
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 06:02:18 -0500, (Pat
Kiewicz) wrote:

Pat Meadows said:

Pat, where did you get the seeds for "4th of July", please?

Off the rack, possibly at Meijer's (a regional mega-mart type store).
Or it could have been at a local nursery (Clyde Smith and Sons) which
sells Burpee seeds off the rack.

(I don't get Burpee's seed catalog, but that's where you would mail order them.)

Thanks. Burpee is online too. I'll look for them.

Pat

I don't know if they are exclusive from Burpee, but I got my 4th of July as
part of a package from Burpee's. I am pleased with the production. The fruit
is small, (about the size of fruit one would find in the so called "cello"
pack tomatoes) but excellent for eating, have decent (not great) flavor and
the plant is fairly prolific. Mine did not manage to produce by 7/4 but
rather began about 2 weeks later. Now that they've gotten themselves going,
I am getting 1 or 2 ripe fruit a day. All in all I'm pleased with the
plant...

"Pat Meadows" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 10:47:59 -0500, Phaedrine Stonebridge
wrote:



That having been said, I replaced the 'Early Girls' with '4th of
July' in my garden. I had tried 'Stupice' which are also nice and
early and tastely, but they tend to green shoulders and give up
producing later in the summer while '4th of July' keeps going.


Ah ha..... I will try leaving them on the vine longer then and, failing
that, we'll look into "4th of July" for next year. Thanks!

We picked our first ripe Early Girls today - three of them.
Small but ripe. The taste is disappointing. Drat.

I'll definitely try 'Stupice' next year and will think about
'4th of July'.

Pat (Zone 5)

I checked they are a burpee's hybrid, you can get them from Burpee.com for
ease sake. They sell the seeds all year round and the transplants early in
the season.

"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Pat Meadows said:

Pat, where did you get the seeds for "4th of July", please?

Off the rack, possibly at Meijer's (a regional mega-mart type store).
Or it could have been at a local nursery (Clyde Smith and Sons) which
sells Burpee seeds off the rack.

(I don't get Burpee's seed catalog, but that's where you would mail order
them.)
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

Besides diseasesbeing the cause, tomatoes can sometimes turn red without
ripeness when the fruit is on a blighted plant, in the presence of gases (like
the hothouse tomatoes in supermarkets) or in the case of excessive heat.

Are the tomatoes smaller than you'd expect for mature fruit? Do they taste
unripe?
Perfectly ripe Romas can sometimes have a lot of green in the central vein of
the fruit, too.
-=epm=-

In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small problems,
for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
- Albert Einstein

In article ,
(Pat Kiewicz) wrote:

The only thing I know of that may apply is b'lotchy ripening' which is:

"a fruit disorder that is associated with specific environmental factors and
possibly bacteria. The cause is not clearly understood. Graywall is
promoted
by low light intensity (a condition prevalent among dense vines), low
temperature
levels, excessive soil moisture, high nitrogen levelss, and low potassium
levels."
(Quote from _Identifying Diseases of Vegetables_ by Penn. State University
College of Agriculture.)

And...
I found this page of pictures of mineral deficiencies in tomatoes, just now:
http://www.luminet.net/~wenonah/min-def/tomatoes.htm

Phaedrine Stonebridge said:

All our plum tomatoes are in one garden and the rest in a completely
different area. The rest of our tomatoes appear to be ripening normally
but the plums (Romas and San Marzanos) are very weird. They look
totally ripe on the outside but when you cut them, they still have a lot
of whitish green on the inside. And if you leave the San Marzanos to
further ripen, they start to mottle and get bad spots! The Romas seem
much less affected but are still problematic. I have never seen
anything like this before. Does this anomaly sound familiar to anyone?
We also have Opalkas (in the same plot) but they have not ripened at all
yet. Might this be a nutritional problem? Missouri Z 5b


Very helpful as I noted in my email. We are checking with the extension
service about a soils test. Thanks again!

In article ,
"V_coerulea" wrote:

"Phaedrine Stonebridge" wrote in message
news

All our plum tomatoes are in one garden and the rest in a completely
different area. The rest of our tomatoes appear to be ripening normally
but the plums (Romas and San Marzanos) are very weird. They look
totally ripe on the outside but when you cut them, they still have a lot
of whitish green on the inside. And if you leave the San Marzanos to
further ripen, they start to mottle and get bad spots! The Romas seem
much less affected but are still problematic. I have never seen
anything like this before. Does this anomaly sound familiar to anyone?
We also have Opalkas (in the same plot) but they have not ripened at all
yet. Might this be a nutritional problem? Missouri Z 5b

Our paste tomatoes grow white insides if they are not watered heavily during
drought and don't have a good limng in the fall with micros added. Our sandy
soil requires that you add everything. Don't know where you are soil-wise,
but Missouri soils should have everything you need. The heavy rains may have
leeched what the soils need to produce.
Gary


Thanks for responding. We will reconsider our watering routines then.
Our soil is on the clay side but not too bad AFAIK. I think a soil test
is definitely in order--- especially since our other plot of non-paste
tomatoes on the other side of the house does so well. The paste tomato
plot has been a lawn for like 15 years and before that allegedly pasture
for cows. The ground was not too difficult to til the first time so the
clay is not too bad. But I have not tested the PH so we will have that
and other tests run. Thaniks!