Here's a link to those pics on a page I set up.

For those on Dial-up...the page will load slow. Broadband (DSL/Cable modem)

 

3 tomatoes on the vine.
What's on top of the tomatoe, we call that the crown.
How would you call that.
The crown is attached to the vine.

My neighbour is growing tomatoes on the vine.
He does not pick the tomatoes one by one but he cuts the vine with 4-8 tomatoes on it.(Depends on period of the season)
All tomatoes are red.

Squash=courgettes



Green courgettes.



Yellow courgettes

 

Squash=courgettes

I did not know that, thanks for sharing.

What's on top of the tomatoe, we call that the crown. How would you call that?

Never really realized that as a 'vine' but if that is what that is, then cool. I have alot of vines then. All 5 plants are loaded with fruit (tomatoes). One of the taller plants has over 14 tomatoes on it. Ranging from the size of a marble to the size of a softball.

I picked 3 tomatoes yesterday. Those pictures were taken about a week ago, BTW.

 

BTW F150Europe,

I appreciate you informing me to trim the lower limbs with a knife. I was just pulling them off. I know it's time to do that too. I haven't done that in a long time.

Thanks

 

That's the kind of little garden I'd like to fool with. My dad has always grown one 10+ times that size. Of course he grows corn, pumpkin, tomatoes, carrots, etc. I tell ya, nothing is better than semi ripe corn on the cob right out of the garden.

 

Thats a fact.

Wish I had more room. I have tons of veggies

 

I am sure I will have a problem with the fungus Botrytis, this season.
I will post a pic when the problem occurs.
It usually infects the stem where you pulled the limb.
The tomatoeplant will die eventually.

Something about the size and color.
What you are growing are probably beeftomatoes.
I am growing the normal/standaard tomatoes, we call them Round Tomatoes.
We have to sort them in 4 different sizes:

A-Tomatoes: 47-57 mm
B-Tomatoes: 57-67 mm
C-Tomatoes: 40-47 mm
CC-Tomatoes: 35-40 mm

Most of the tomatoes we pick are the A and B-Tomatoes.
Hardly CC-Tomatoes.

3 different colors: On a scale from 1-10
Depends on the period of the season which one we are allowed to pick.

Light (Slightly colored, green)
Medium
Red

Red tomatoes are always the cheapest whereas the Light ones are the most expensives.

 

True.

The two taller plants are "bigbeef" tomatoes. The three shorter, "thicker" looking plants are "round" tomato plants.

I'm learning alot as I go, and your helping.

You know your stuff.

 

F150Europe, you sound like my brother. He has a small grape operation he's been doing for the past few years. You want to know something about a grape, you go ask him

 

Here is what I call a brain fart.

I left the water sprinkler on over night, and all day until I came home from work ( a good 24 hours).

Will that hurt my garden by over watering it (understatement).

 

I grow tomatoes here in California. Just a small garden.

When I started quite a few years back. I learned you need to water on a regular schedule. Every third day for me. My point being is if you over water them when they have fruit they might split. The plant carries most of the water to fruit and the skin doesn't expand fast enough.

The good news is that they will heal and it probably won't affect the taste. They look funky though.

May I suggest a water timer that shuts off after a predetermined time.

Good luck

 

Yes you may.

I am getting one tomorrow.

thnx

 

Took these pictures at my neighbour this afternoon at 13:15.



It's not very clear to see but the whole systeem is hanging +_ 2 1/2 feet above the ground.
2 plants using 1 root, every root has a small black hose attached to it. It's for watering +nutricients. Run by computer.You can tell the computer how many times you want to water the plants per day, how much water you give each time and how much nutriticients you want to give.

The 2 pipes lying on the ground are used for the heating.
They are also used for the transportation system.
You can see it like a railway track.
They are using small electrocars with hydraulic lifts to get to the head of the plants which are like 12 feet in the air.



Shown here are the hooks the plants are hanging from.
Stems of this species of tomatoes become +- 28 feet long.
Other species may end up longer to 36 feet.
There is a lot of white rope on that hook as you can see.
The hook is 22 cm long, right now the tomatoe plant is growing 22 cm's each week, therefore they lower the plant each week by flipping over that hook. If the tomatoeplant grows faster, they flip it over twice thus 44 cm's.
Not only do they lower the plant but they also move it forward each week.
So your root may be at point A, while the head of the plant is at point B, lets say 6 feet further away. BTW you can see that in the pic. If you look closely, there is another hook close to the ground where the stems are lying in.



Todays harvest ready for shipping to the Eastcoast of the USA.
Tomatoes are headed for Boston, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia.
These ones are shipped by plane, they will leave tonight and will be sold in the stores the day after tomorrow.
Tomatoes are also shipped by boat however.

.... will post some pics and a vid of the bumblebees tomorrow.

 

That is AWESOME ! ! !

 

As promised, here are some pics and a vid.





Each box contains 50-60 bumble bees and 1 Queen.
25 of them are actually flying in the greenhouse collecting pollen.
The rest is taking care for the nest and it's queen.
At the bottom of the box is a container with sugarwater or something. The quality of the pollen is not that good so that they can feed themselves. Also we want them to stay in the greenhouse, we don't want them to look elsewhere for food.

Don't expect to see a lot of them in the greenhouse.
It takes some time before you discover one.
They fly back and forth thru the greenhouse, visiting plants multiple times. It's not that they visit one plant and collect pollen at every flower on the vine and then take the next plant. They are not very efficient.

=====

It's the same bumble bee you see on the vid.
It's hanging up side down, shaking the flower, pollen falls on his belly and with his paws (tr!) the bb moves the pollen to the side of his body. This one has been collecting pollen for some time. If you watch closely, you can see 2 small white/yellow ***** next to his body, that's pollen.
If the bb is fully loaded it returnes to it's nest and dumps the pollen.The other bb's will take care of it.

You have to protect these boxes from the sun otherwise temperature will get to high inside the box.
What will happen is that the queen will turn on the AC.
All bb's will move their wings to cool the air, some of them are even at the exit/entrance, just to cool the air.
You don't want that to happen because they won't collect pollen that way.

Over time their activity will get less and I just get a new box of bb's.

Bumble Bee at work (4.7 Mb)