That the size of the fruit of the tomato is determined as soon as it it pollinated? No amount of fertilizer or watering is going to change the cell division that took place as soon as the flower was pollinated due to the nutrients available at that point. The same goes for deformed fruit on the plant. It is due to mineral availability which is influenced by many factors. The Ph of the soil is very important for the nutrient availability for the plant to process or take in the minerals in the soil. Which should be 6.0 to 6.8. A soil test should be performed at least every 5 years. I went to a growers conference this past week and learned more than I knew there was even possible to worry over growing tomatoes Being a real farmer means one needs to be a genius. If you ever knew how hard it was to produce acres of any amount of food for a profit you would find yourself faint of heart. I don't think of myself as a farmer nor do I think I will ever think of us as real farmers after going and learning all we could for the two days we were there. There was a session on pests, I went wondering what was I going to? pests, rodents? diseases, insects, what? it was all about insect pests. I attended a soil session. The man presenting the session was from Ohio State U. He was a soil scientist. he discussed Ph, soil amending, mulches, cover crops, no-til cropping... Greenhouse/tunnel tomatoes, Strawberry and Brambles, gobs of information.. Winter growing, A low tunnel vs. a High tunnel, presented by another OSU instructor. ALL of which, I or Kevin, learned much from. I wish I could go do it again and listen all over so I could absorb more information.
Tomato question: since the characteristics of the tomato is determined by the initial cell division at the moment of pollination. Are those qualities, good or bad, carried through to the seeds? If that is true, 'bad' can only get worse? Good can't get better? Jerry
And where is his garden ? I learned a long time ago to go with what you know, not what someone else says you should know. Because its likely that if he were growing tomatoes next door to you,, you would beat the heck out of him.
Jerry, I think that the genetics of each tomato is what is carried over into the seed, not necessarily the structure (if it's deformed) of the tomato. The flavor, the color, the growth habit etc. is locked into the genes. The nutrition available to the plant at the time of pollination determines the size (and deformity) of the tomato. It also will effect the flavor of the fruit, but doesn't determine it. We fertilize differently from one week to the next according to the fruit set, where the flower cluster is at on the plant and if there is flowering, green fruit and ripening fruit at the same time on the plant....oh so much to look for and fertilize accordingly when growing for the market. Thanks Mart for your confidence in me. I have grown a lot, but it doesn't compare to the knowledge of many when attending such an event. I wish I could have attended each and every session. It just wasn't scheduled more than one presentation for each topic for the two day event. I will attend next year if they do it again. The place where we get our greenhouse and garden supplies has talked about doing this for 5 years and finally got it all together to actually put it on. We told the man who runs the place today, when we went and bought more supplies, that we would attend next year if they do it again...he said it was an enormous amount of work to get it all coordinated with interesting and knowledgeable speakers all at the same time. The location wasn't the greatest ( a little hard to find) but it was close to home. Only an hour drive all in the country. The only bad thing was it was all Amish country and the schools are all on the main road. Every one having a school sign that reads...SCHOOL ZONE...during restricted hours. HUH? OR .... SCHOOL ZONE 7:30 am to 4:30 pm... Really? all day and there are no people present to see? The children are much more at risk farther down the road in the dark wearing dark clothing, than near the school, which has a fence the entire width of the property....just when are these hours enforced? I don't think there was one vehicle that actually slowed down to the 20mph. Next year they will move the location if they can get it together again.
