# Tomatoes 2021



## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

I have been trench composting fish carcasses in my garden beds for 8 years. I alternate back and forth so every two years each bed gets between 5-800 pounds of fish carcasses. I hot compost on top of the bed and that absorbs any odors from the fish. Bumper crop of super tasty tomatoes every year. No synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.

I turn this...






Into this...


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

I feed the soil, and the soil biology feeds the plants....


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## poacherjoe (Jun 1, 2021)

I too have been using fish for years. I used to take my speargun to the river and shoot  lot's of carp but now I just get the leftovers from fishing trips. I dug a trench with the rototiller and layered the bottom with carp and backfilled it with compost and soil and planted Asparagus crowns in it. My asparagus ferns are over 6 feet tall just like the tomatoes and everyone loves what comes out of this garden,,


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

That picture above is what I buried from our recent snapper fishing trip. About 100# of fish carcasses. I'll have three rows of trench compost by the time summer is over. I will plant in this bed next spring. All those salt water fish have all the micro nutrients that make tomatoes REALLY tasty! Plus lots of phosphorus and calcium from the bones...


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## Colin1230 (Jun 1, 2021)

A good friend of mine years back grew State Champion melons and pumpkins using fish emulsion.


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## poacherjoe (Jun 1, 2021)

I bet all your friends say you have the best tasting tomato's !  All that hard work pay's off in the long run . What variety of maters are you growing ? I think Brandywine is the best tasting tomato out there. You just don't get as much fruit off them.


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

poacherjoe said:


> I bet all your friends say you have the best tasting tomato's !



True that! The way a tomato is suppose to taste!!!



> All that hard work pay's off in the long run . What variety of maters are you growing ? I think Brandywine is the best tasting tomato out there. You just don't get as much fruit off them.


I grow oxheart and creole tomatoes mostly. The oxheart are a very meaty tomato with fewer seeds. Great for salsa! Some of my creole tomatoes grow to 24-28oz each!


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

Colin1230 said:


> A good friend of mine years back grew State Champion melons and pumpkins using fish emulsion.


Whole fish carcasses are even better than fish emulsion because nothing is extracted-you get it all in the ground...


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## crazymoon (Jun 1, 2021)

IDS, Nice fertilizer and no waste !


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

crazymoon said:


> IDS, Nice fertilizer and no waste !


Best there is IMO....

"It's only waste when it is wasted."


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## Hamdrew (Jun 1, 2021)

I am growing a new one me this year- white currants (tiny); I like to think I have a green thumb but they are VERY hardy and growing aggressively. 

Do you ever do any companion planting, to help the soil etc. another way? Licorice mint is my favorite for anything potted/contained. As a ground cover, it both provides some nutrients and acts as a GREAT pesticide being a fairly strong mint. It has never gotten close to choking out any established plants, and as a bonus is a great substitute for thai basil when cooking.

Mycellium in the soil is gaining a lot of popularity these days, too.


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

Hamdrew said:


> I am growing a new one me this year- white currants (tiny); I like to think I have a green thumb but they are VERY hardy and growing aggressively.
> 
> Do you ever do any companion planting, to help the soil etc. another way? Licorice mint is my favorite for anything potted/contained. As a ground cover, it both provides some nutrients and acts as a GREAT pesticide being a fairly strong mint. It has never gotten close to choking out any established plants, and as a bonus is a great substitute for thai basil when cooking.
> 
> Mycellium in the soil is gaining a lot of popularity these days, too.


Late summer after I have buried all the fish, I spread the compost out and plant field peas for a cover crop. Then in late fall I chop n drop; plant clover/vetch/rye/oats to over winter. Great soil builder mix. In the spring I chop n drop then cover with leaves right before planting my tomatoes and pepper...I try to keep a living root in as long as I can. I am no till except for the trench composting of fish....that is the only soil disturbance I do. Tons of worms!!


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## jcam222 (Jun 1, 2021)

indaswamp said:


> True that! The way a tomato is suppose to taste!!!
> 
> 
> I grow oxheart and creole tomatoes mostly. The oxheart are a very meaty tomato with fewer seeds. Great for salsa! Some of my creole tomatoes grow to 24-28oz each!


I’m planted 2 oxheart this year. Looking forward to trying them. Also planted Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, German Johnson, Chefs Orange Slicer, Potato Leaf Yellow Brandywine, Aunt Annie’s and Green Zebras. For cherries planted Sun Sugar and Chocolate Cherry. The sun sugar are the best and most prolific cherries. I grow them annually and friends beg for them lol. I have 40 plants in all. I really need to do a better job enriching my soil annually.


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## Hamdrew (Jun 1, 2021)

jcam222 said:


> I really need to do a better job enriching my soil annually.


Thats where mycelium come in. Something like-

Those Cherokee purples can really be something else. One  particular seed had unfortunately no yield, but the softest and least pulp I've ever seen. Only a handful of seeds in each fruit; practically bruised by looking at them lol


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

jcam222 said:


> I’m planted 2 oxheart this year. Looking forward to trying them. Also planted Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, German Johnson, Chefs Orange Slicer, Potato Leaf Yellow Brandywine, Aunt Annie’s and Green Zebras. For cherries planted Sun Sugar and Chocolate Cherry. The sun sugar are the best and most prolific cherries. I grow them annually and friends beg for them lol. I have 40 plants in all. I really need to do a better job enriching my soil annually.


I like cherokee purple but hard to grow here. I should grow some cherry tomatoes...never think about it though when planting seeds. I grow a salsa garden. 

I have been building my soil over the years...2 yards of homemade yard and kitchen waste compost every year, along with all the fish. I started using biochar 6 years ago and it makes a difference. The miccoryrsal fungi absolutely LOVE charcoal! they mine the metals held by the char particles...


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

My soil now has 11% carbon......


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## Hamdrew (Jun 1, 2021)

edit- dupe


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## Hamdrew (Jun 1, 2021)

Cherry toms can be REALLY rewarding. I do try to stress everything as much as possible, but even still, this plant was over 11ft long. These tomatillos (purple keepers from adaptive seed bank) spanned 15ft wide, each big branch about 10ft


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## zippy12 (Jun 1, 2021)

This is a smart thing to do...  some fish I prefer stock though


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

zippy12 said:


> This is a smart thing to do...  some fish I prefer stock though


I do make stock with some of the fish heads, then add that to the trench after....


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## WaterRat (Jun 1, 2021)

Can't do the composting thing myself but I'm getting some lobster compost from Maine to add into my grow buckets this year.
 Cherokee Purples are great from the few I harvested last year... it was a terrible year for tomatoes around here... blossom end rot galore, and not just me, everyone I talked to, just bad tomato weather, hoping this year is better!


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## jcam222 (Jun 1, 2021)

WaterRat said:


> Can't do the composting thing myself but I'm getting some lobster compost from Maine to add into my grow buckets this year.
> Cherokee Purples are great from the few I harvested last year... it was a terrible year for tomatoes around here... blossom end rot galore, and not just me, everyone I talked to, just bad tomato weather, hoping this year is better!


I had many plants last year that looked fantastic for months but when fruiting started to yellow. Yellow stems and leaves that would ultimately just die off. 2nd year in a row I had that. Cant figure out if it’s a disease or mineral deficiency. My Cherokee  Purple last year were delcious.


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

jcam222 said:


> I had many plants last year that looked fantastic for months but when fruiting started to yellow. Yellow stems and leaves that would ultimately just die off. 2nd year in a row I had that. Cant figure out if it’s a disease or mineral deficiency. My Cherokee  Purple last year were delcious.


Do a soil test for minerals.

Did the yellowing start at the bottom and go up the plant? If so, it was likely blight disease.


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## jcam222 (Jun 1, 2021)

indaswamp said:


> Do a soil test for minerals.
> 
> Did the yellowing start at the bottom and go up the plant? If so, it was likely blight disease.


Yes usually at bottom first, stems turn yellow and get brittle and will just pop off. Could mot figure out how to stop it last two years.


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

jcam222 said:


> Yes usually at bottom first, stems turn yellow and get brittle and will just pop off. Could mot figure out how to stop it last two years.


Then I bet it is blight.
Blight starts at the bottom of the plant and goes up. It is a soil borne disease that attacks the plant when water drops contact the soil and splash onto the plant. Trim the bottom leaves to 12" off the ground as the plant grows and keep the soil covered with a mulch to prevent muddy water from splashing on the plant leaves. Compost, leaves, leaf mould....straw...all good choices. 2-3" thick.....


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

and rotate where you plant your tomatoes and nightshade family plants. I would not replant tomatoes where you had blight problems for at least 3 years.


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## indaswamp (Jun 1, 2021)

I mulch with a cover crop that is chop n dropped, then cover that with live oak leaves run through either the mulching mower or my leaf vacuum mulcher...


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## Fueling Around (Jun 3, 2021)

Local organic farmer uses hydroylzed  fish fertilizer in 300 gallon totes.
Basically, he can apply it this year to active crop land instead of the 2 year wait for raw fish.
 I bought a couple of those totes from him last year to set up for rainwater collection.
I killed grass in the areas where I drained off the rinse water trying to get the stink out of them.


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## poacherjoe (Jun 3, 2021)

Fueling Around said:


> Local organic farmer uses hydroylzed  fish fertilizer in 300 gallon totes.
> Basically, he can apply it this year to active crop land instead of the 2 year wait for raw fish.
> I bought a couple of those totes from him last year to set up for rainwater collection.
> I killed grass in the areas where I drained off the rinse water trying to get the stink out of them.


If you place the fish deep enough say 15" or more you can plant a tomato on it right away. By the time the roots get to that depth the plant will be able to absorb the nutrients from the decomposed carcass. If you put too much fresh fish the plant will grow like crazy but won't set blossoms for fruit. If that happens starve the plant for water till it starts to look weak and then resume your watering schedule and it will rebound and start setting fruit


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## indaswamp (Jun 20, 2021)

First tomatoes are starting to ripen...


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## Fueling Around (Jun 20, 2021)

I'm way behind you.  Killing frost on May 29th ( no plants in the garden) .
Cursing you with blossom end rot.  That is  a jest.
First fresh tomato out the garden goes for a BLT.  Wife gets the end scraps for her salad.


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## indaswamp (Jun 21, 2021)

Fueling Around said:


> I'm way behind you.  Killing frost on May 29th ( no plants in the garden) .
> Cursing you with blossom end rot.  That is  a jest.
> First fresh tomato out the garden goes for a BLT.  Wife gets the end scraps for her salad.


Our planting date here is March 15th. I usually start seeds mid January. This spring, we had so much rain and late cool fronts, I waited and put plants in the ground April 10th...almost a month later. Im just now having fruit ripen on the vines. Everyone that planted early had cracking issues to deal with from the rains. We had 23.7" of rain in May....normal for the year is 5-6" in May.


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## Fueling Around (Jun 21, 2021)

Ah yes, cat facing in those wet years.
We have had a whole inch of rain since I got mine planted.
I used to plant around Mother' Day, but since global warming our last frost date has slid 2 weeks.
Now, nothing tender goes in the garden until June.  

How much did you get after the latest event?


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## indaswamp (Jun 21, 2021)

Fueling Around said:


> How much did you get after the latest event?


9 inches in 4 days about 10 days ago. suppose to get another 2-3" by Sunday. WE avg. 68-70" of rain annually, but we have a 16" surplus right now...


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## Fueling Around (Jun 22, 2021)

Can you send some up here? We are in the driest fall to spring on record


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## daspyknows (Jun 22, 2021)

I have lots of blossoms but only a hald dozen small tomatoes on five plants.  The other item I grow in my garden does much better.


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