I talked to Josh Kirschenbaum, who does product development for Territorial Seed Co., and was astonished to learn that of the 300 varieties growing in the trial gardens at London Springs near Cottage Grove, only about 10 had ripened by Aug. 25. And they know what they're doing.
The tomatoes that had come along were cherry types such as 'Gold Nugget' or ultra-early varieties like 'Glacier' and 'Stupice.'
The tomatoes that had come along were cherry types such as 'Gold Nugget' or ultra-early varieties like 'Glacier' and 'Stupice.'
In a last-ditch effort to get the red on, Kirschenbaum suggested:
- Cut back on water to twice a week. If you've got plastic mulch, go down to once a week.
- Pinch off flowers and some of the smaller fruit.
- You can go to the trouble of building a plastic tent, but that seems like a lot of work ... and iffy at this point.
comment: what we do is plant a variety of types, always including some of the "Russian" types - which in my experience do better in cooler weather years than the hot-blooded Mediterranean varieties... this year that strategy has paid off admirably for us.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/kympokorny/2010/09/tomato_woes_is_there_a_way_to.html
