I’ve started tying up the 11 “Phase 2” giant plants. This is the “small plant, heavy prune” group that is 4 months behind the “huge plant” group. Here’s a side-by-side look:
The tallest of the Phase 1 plants are about 8′ – that would be Church and Gildo Pietroboni, though the others are not far behind. All are very “bushy” and I’ve started pruning back, hoping to get some thicker stems in anticipation of fruit set of megablooms.
As a result of several weeks of almost relentless 95° plus heat, hundreds, or rather thousands of blossoms have withered and fallen off the vine. This includes numerous impressive looking megablooms. I’ve fallen back to a “hands off” approach to pollination, as dozens of attempts have failed.
However, I’ve finally got a double blossom on Big Zac? (4.20 Diaz 2011) (Phase 2) that has set fruit:
Yesterday I applied 400 gallons of diluted Actively Aerated Compost Tea to some 4,000 plants, including nearly 1,300 tomato plants. The most promising plants got as much as 2 quarts, most got about 3 cups. I’ll post my recipe (in development) in the next Blog post.
Delectation of Tomatoes, etc. 