Almost forgot to update. Last weekend (Aug 1) I picked a decent amount of tomatoes. And a neighbor gave me a bunch of romas, so I froze about 4 quarts of tomato puree (seeds strained out).
Some notes on this years' results... Since I have fewer plants, my yield is lower. But a few things are different this year. Of course, the plants that got a later start are behind and not really turning ripe yet - so the big plum varieties are not ripe yet, for example, but I see good fruit set.
My florida weave setup was mostly good - except for the southwest corner, where the end pole tipped over so much it's hardly effective. So I think the take-home messages are:
1. Use stronger poles. Maybe go with metal posts next year... More $$$ and heavy to move around but they would be an investment. Also they won't bend like the wood.
2. The twining really does have to go left then right around each successive plant to hold them in place. If you skip the alternation, they will lean over into the next plant.
3. It's probably really important to prune the low branches. I lost a lot of fruit to critters and rot, because they were on the ground, close together and covered by foliage.
If I am really going to try to attempt an F2 grow-out next year, I'll have to work hard to get a serious florida weave setup for a lot of plants.
Finally, I managed to try a few more crosses too. I am up to ~8 total attempts so far. The first few failed but I think it's a war of attrition.
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