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Seedling Follow-up 2017
Season 2017
2017-11-01: it's over! The big freeze, -4,5°C, suffered last Monday night sounded the death knell of the 2017 season. All in all, let's not complain about the duration of the season, we are rather above average, anyway even if there was some fruit left, the quality and the taste were not there anymore. The last harvest in Brioude was done on Monday as a preventive measure, all the fruits that had started to "turn" were picked and will finish ripening in a warm and sheltered place. In Ambert, where only the pepper plants remained, the frost did its work decimating all that there was inside the greenhouses where it was at its coldest -2,8°. The consumable fruits ended up in soup and coulis. The time will come to take stock of this year which, like the previous ones, has had its ups and downs and already to consider the next season, but we all have the winter for that!
2017-10-28: probably one of the last echoes of this season which should not be long in coming to an end, good frosts are expected early next week...The greenhouses of Ambert have been cleaned, only the bell pepper plants still carrying some fruits remain. In Brioude, the next few days, we will start to dig up the plants that are no longer bearing fruits in order to free the place quickly for sowing green manure if the
weather allows it!
weather allows it!
2017-10-22: The season is not ending this year. The good weather and mildness that continues into this month of October is a big part of it. Nice harvests again, fruits not too damaged with changing colors compared to those of the summer without doubt the duration of sunshine which has really shortened a lot is responsible!
2017-10-17: the production has started again thanks to the Indian summer which has settled for about ten days. Beautiful fruits with good flavor in this mid-October who would have believed it only a few weeks ago...
2017-10-12: after a few gloomy days the sun and mildness are back, and expected to last for several days, enough to play the extra time in the garden. Still some great harvests to come and grouting to come....
2017-10-05: beautiful harvests these last days but the fruits begin to bear the stigma left by the most variable weather of these last days. Despite this, some varieties are resisting and blooming again whether it is peppers or tomatoes, but it is without hope to see one day the fruits ripen.
2017-10-01: here is already the month of October and despite that many large fruits, especially in Brioude, are waiting to ripen, let's hope that the weather is good enough for them to come to term. To help nature a little, as soon as a fruit takes color it is picked and put "in the warmth" so that it can ripen more "comfortably". The cleaning of the greenhouses is started, the plants not bearing any more fruits are pulled out in order to let pass the maximum of light what will be favorable to the remaining plants. The peppers are producing generously offering magnificent colors at different stages of ripening, a real treat for the eyes! The peppers are not to be outdone, beautiful harvests to come, most of the fruits will end up in coulis associated with the tomatoes. After several tests it is a real treat and why not add a chili pepper, there is no lack of it, just to make a sauce base a little exotic ...
2017/09/23: after a very autumnal sequence, the sun is coming back at the price of cooler and cooler night temperatures, in some places the first frosts have appeared. Fewer and fewer tomatoes to harvest on the other hand at the level of peppers it is the opposite, the pickings are generous offering healthy fruits and filled with seeds of good quality appearance.
2017/09/19: It's feeling more and more like the end of the season! The ambient humidity, the morning mists, the lack of sun and heat are putting a strain on the still productive plants... They remain some beautiful fruits to come but the taste is not there any more, on their side the seeds are not so beautiful any more, the end of the graining is close.
2017/09/15: preparations for the Couhé show are coming to an end, the number of tomato varieties that will be on the trip is higher than I expected. In Brioude some plants have regained their vigor and have been able to provide some more beautiful fruits! This morning just 4°C in the greenhouses, the hope of an Indian summer is fading...
2017/09/11: in Ambert the season seems to end, many plants are dead or without fruits, on the other hand in Brioude it is different, many varieties have bloomed again and some plants still have big and beautiful fruits to produce. The most probable explanation to this phenomenon would be a cooler night in Ambert than in Brioude, +/- 2 to 3° difference... The bad weather has been going on for almost a week, with a lot of showers and little sunshine to warm up the atmosphere, which are favourable conditions for the development of diseases. For your information, this Sunday was the traditional tomato festival in Haverskerque, in the North of France, and the first prize in the tasting contest was awarded to a variety developed by Brad Gates: Candy Sweet Icicle.
2017/09/09: an autumnal weather seems to want to settle durably bringing coolness and moisture ingredients not very favorable to the culture of tomatoes... The production has clearly slowed down and the last nice fruits are slow to turn. The graining is coming to an end, the totality of the conform varieties has been saved. Preparations for the exhibition in Couhé will begin, few tomatoes will be exhibited but peppers and chillies will be in great numbers.
2017/09/06: The making of coulis, in order to sell the fruits once they are grained, is the main activity of these last days. This last one becoming tedious the purchase of a coulis machine is to be considered for the coming seasons... In the garden, some of the latest varieties, such as Todd County Amish, Amish orange Sherbet, Tree Bottom yellow, Hamilton, have finally decided to produce and in a generous way, leaving me some hope of nice sizes to exhibit in Couhé on September 17. On their side, peppers and chillies are magnificent and produce generously. Some varieties of peppers have been repotted in larger containers, as they are a bit cramped in their original pots, in order to overwinter them in good conditions. The purpose is to save them for the next season.
2017/09/04: back in our mountains after the escapade in the flat country. There is no lack of work between the graining of the exposed varieties and the harvesting of the fruits that matured during the absence. The first plants have been pulled out, in this case "Kozula". The places left vacant were immediately occupied by plants of peppers cultivated in pots so that they benefit from a more cosy environment for the end of the season...
2017/08/26 and 27: Brussels tomatofest . A few pictures of this convivial party with our Belgian friends who once again lived up to their reputation of hospitality and kindness. A more complete article will be published later.
2017/08/25: some pictures of peppers and chillies which seem to laugh at the suffocating heat of these last days. The plants, with healthy foliage free of stains, are magnificent and breathe health, promise of good and beautiful autumn harvests...
2017/08/24: the return of a hot period will sound the death knell of the season, at least for a good part of the plants, already in bad shape they will not support this new attack. At D-1 of the departure for Brussels we can't say that the boxes of tomatoes are accumulating, only a few hundred varieties will make the trip as well as +/- 30 varieties of peppers.
2017/08/22: la tension commence à monter à l'approche de l'expo de Bruxelles... Les quelques fruits suceptibles de faire le déplacement ont été repérés et voire pour certains déjà cueillis à mi-maturité pour les garder au "frais"afin qu'ils soient présentable pour le week-end prochain! L'annonce d'une nouvelle vague de chaleur pour les jours à venir n'est pas pour me rassurer, celle-ci pourrait encore réduire la quantité de fruits à exposer.
2017/08/18: unlike tomatoes, chillies and peppers are in great shape and the plants loaded with fruit and many flowers promise good future harvests. The good weather that is again prevailing is reducing day by day the number of varieties that will make the trip to Brussels. Indeed it is not rare to see varieties providing 4 to 6 fruits at once (Mr Stripey, Rengade, Summer of love etc...) at the same time leaving a bare plant or only a few small fruits in the best of cases...
2017/08/16: with the return of the heat the last two days were more than abundant delesting the plants of their fruits at high speed. Unfortunately many big and beautiful tomatoes will not be able to be exhibited in Brussels because of the lack of replacements...
2017/08/12: since a few days autumnal tendency especially at the level of the temperatures not more than 12 to 15° at the best of the day and the night temperatures are almost winter! Fortunately, in his middle land, the "hobbit" from Auvergne always keeps his hat and fleece at hand.... The production is like suspended very few fruits picked up these last 2 days and some plants even take autumnal colors. The last varieties to bear fruit are Chili verde, Victoria smile and Todd county Amish; on the other hand others have completed their cycle like Kozula 60 and 136 which is relatively early, victim undoubtedly result of the successive heat waves of these last weeks...
2017/08/08: today record harvest in Brioude more than 40 kg of fruit, including two Basinga of nearly 900 grams each, most will end up in soup and coulis after graining ... The downside is that the plants are getting lighter in a worrying way due to the absence of the majority of the upper bunches and consequently of new fruit. What will be left for the "Tomatofest" which is approaching, Brussels is less than 3 weeks...
2017/08/06: the abundant harvests follow one another, unloading the plants at high speed, so much so that some of them are without fruit because of the damage caused by the heat on the upper clusters. Peppers seem to be less affected by the heat wave and some varieties are already producing fruit. This year, if the attacks of noctuid moths have been well contained and almost non-existent, a new predator has appeared: the blackbird. Because of the drought, the latter, in their search for food, have started to explore the greenhouses and have found in them something to eat without too much effort... The installation of protection nets becomes a priority in order to stop the carnage!
2017/08/10: the return of much cooler or even cold weather conditions, barely 5° this morning, slows down the fruiting which in a way is rather good news. These last days it was difficult to treat such quantities of fruit without having to spend all his time... The installation of anti-birds nets had for effect to stop the plundering made by the blackbirds, it was time!
2017/08/02: only ten varieties have not yet fructified. It must be said that since this week the production has been put in "turbo" mode offering generous harvests and many fruits of more than 500 grams... There are some nice surprises and non conformities or at least some weirdnesses like "Sandburg" announced white on the site of "Mariseeds" harvested orange last year at a friend's and GWR type with a purple veil at my place this year (the seeds coming from the above mentioned friend), let's try to find out what is the right color because the shape seems to be the same in every case!
07/31/2017: some peppers ripe, it's been a long road to get to this point, with most varieties planted since January....
27/07/2017: the coolness and an unstable weather, seeming to want to settle durably at the end of July, impact the fruiting...Indeed since 2 days very few tomatoes harvested and the coloring of the immature fruits seems suspended. On the positive side, the upcoming harvest will be done in better conditions because, after careful inspection, many bunches have been destroyed by the excessive heat of the past weeks which will not fail to lead to a "hole" in the production.
25/07/2017: the return of a cooler and disturbed weather does not hinder the fruiting which continues nicely, offering each day new varieties. The watering has been revised downwards to avoid too much water in relation to the evapotranspiration, which could lead to cracking or even bursting of the fruit. For the peppers, the time of the first real harvest has arrived! In order to collect seeds of optimum quality, we had to wait for the fruits to reach their full maturity.
...the blue varieties in their turn start to take colors...
21/07/2017: appearance of the first caterpillars of noctuid moth. Identifiable thanks to the perforation they make on the foliage, it is at this moment that they must be destroyed because once inside the fruit the damage will be very damaging
07/19/2017: one after another the varieties are finally getting some color....
15/07/2017: slowly but surely the fruits are getting colored discovering new beauties but also new "non conform" or at least doubtful varieties...
07/07/2017: weather wise: the heat wave is back and despite this the fruiting is laborious and is done drip-feed despite heavily loaded plants. some new varieties have reached maturity and the surprises continue: Shah has turned red instead of yellow, Wolverine looks like a yellow plum, Texas star is heart-shaped, Belle de Neuville is oval-shaped and the list is not closed...
05/07/2017: return of the sun and the heat... The production increases little by little bringing its daily lot of new varieties to taste, after nearly 8 months of abstinence this is appreciable!
01/07/2017: the hecatomb of burnt flowers has been stopped thanks to the cooler weather, more conducive to a good fruit set. The plants are loading up more and more, promising great future harvests.
29/06/2017: every day new varieties arrive at maturity and this in spite of the coolness and the rain which prevail since 2 days. The disappointments are also news with the discovery of a good number of "non conform" cultivar...
26/06/2017: back to better weather conditions, the heat wave has gone and rain is now expected... The fruits are slowly getting colored, the tastings will be able to start!
06/21/2017: the heat wave is setting in, plants are starting to suffer and some flowers are burning.... Peppers and chilies are turning one after another and seem to be suffering less from the heat.
16/06/2017: weather conditions continue to be optimal for a growth that becomes spectacular! Tasting of the first peppers...
09/06/2017: the plants in Brioude are a little less developed than those in Ambert but paradoxically bear more fruit...
08/06/2017: despite a chaotic weather where temperatures are yo-yoing the plants in Ambert are doing wonderfully and breathing health.
01/06/2017: The most favorable weather of this last decade, associated with a split drip irrigation and dosed just right, gave rise to an exceptional sequence: solid plants with robust trunks and very healthy foliage devoid of stains and with exponential growth.
20/05/2017: the first fruits have appeared on some tomato plants as well as on almost all bell pepper varieties. For peppers and eggplants only a few plants have started to bloom which is quite normal...The return of the sun and a seasonal warmth, announced for several days, should finally favor a good growth of all cultivars. These last ones have been connected to their respective rope and the pruning has started, main activity for the next weeks.
18/05/2017:This season the growth of tomato plants seems to be more laborious than the previous years probably due to a capricious weather which plays yo-yo with the temperatures. These since 3 days are summer so much so that some plants had burned extremities more used to endure the coolness than to support such a heat. Probably a lack of aeration and a root system still too weak to support such conditions. Still, the damage is minimal and will not have any consequence except a slight delay in fruiting. As far as peppers are concerned, they seem to appreciate these weather conditions and are doing very well and most of them have already formed fruits.
10/05/2017: the plantings were completed yesterday: a total of 356 plants, tomatoes-peppers-eggplants, were installed in the various greenhouses in Ambert and Brioude. Now we have to hope that the weather will be favorable so that all this little world will develop correctly. The cat flowers are legion and are eliminated as they appear. To my great surprise, and in spite of the ambient coolness, an eggplant has formed on a plant of "Bambino", an early and robust variety it seems...
06/05/2017: continuation of the plantations, the greenhouse leaning against Brioude received in its turn its boarders, then it will be the turn of the greenhouse of Ambert and to finish the greenhouse of Brioude the less well protected. As for the weather, if the frosts have stopped, the thermometer is still flirting with very low values. On its side the sun is absent and the rain, absent the 3 previous weeks, is catching up... The first flowers appear, on the tomato plants, among which numerous "cat flowers".
28/04/2017: Ultimate winter offensive? This morning it's all white, after the frost it's the turn of the snow, when will it stop. The plants are ready and waiting in the shelter under tunnel to be put in the ground, obviously it is not for the next few days... In the meantime, the peppers are blooming one after the other and the first flower buds are appearing on the tomato plants, many of them are huge and will undoubtedly end up as cat flowers...
26/04/2017: at the beginning of this week, rain is back, 42 mm in one day which brings the counter for the month of April to +/- 52 mm. Unfortunately, the weather is gloomy and icy and since Wednesday, we are under the influence of the "red" moon which is rarely favorable.... The plants remain under cover while waiting for the end of this winter surge, hoping that it will be short-lived!
23/04/2017: we will remember this week especially the strong night frosts, up to -6°C! Fortunately the days remained very sunny making the temperatures inside the greenhouses rise quickly. It was preferable to have foreseen some subterfuges to maintain the nurseries free of frost because in the contrary case the disappointments were with the appointment and many are those which lost all or part of their plants.
16/04/2017: Big thermal difference inside the greenhouse for this sunny week and under a North wind regime, +/-10° in the morning thanks to the heating table and a temperature close to 45° in the afternoon and this despite an aeration. The potting is almost finished and about 800 tomato, bell pepper, chilli and eggplant plants are waiting to be put in place and/or distributed. The tunnel in the greenhouse having become too small to receive such a quantity, it was necessary to "move" a good hundred of them and to put them under cover in the veranda which will harden them a little more, this last one not being heated. The peppers on their side started to bloom and a fruit even formed on a plant of Lunchbox Orange!
09/04/2017: the first transplantings having hardly finished, it is already necessary to begin the second ones and to pass thus from pot of 8x8 become too narrow to pots of12x12, that in waiting of a setting not before the beginning of May. The summer weather of these last days is favourable to this operation, let's hope it lasts a few more days. It seems to me that we are a bit ahead of the ideal growth timing.
03/04/2017: These last two days have been devoted to transplanting the seedlings from the March 20 sowing. The rather favorable weather of these last days having favored a rather fast growth. In the end and after 3 attempts for some there will be 13 varieties missing! An abnormally high number compared to the previous years... They will be easily replaced by the varieties in development whose number of plant is surplus. The first fruits have appeared on the plants sown in December. The peppers do not grow in height anymore but on the other hand many shoots appear at the leaf axils, sign of a good growth.
26/03/2017: the germination for the second sowing seems to be much more regular and in accordance with the previous years, than the first one. Indeed, at D+6, only 2 varieties are missing. For the sowing of the missing varieties of March 10, the problem comes from the seeds since none emerged this time again. For the most part they came from an American site and I suspect that the passage to the shelves at the customs damaged them, these last ones having as protection only a thin plastic bag, too bad, still a site to be avoided... For the plants resulting from the first sowing their growth is rather fast and one can already discern the type of foliage. Thus a pointing at the level of the conformity of the type of leaf could be carried out soon.
23/03/2017:The unexpected return of winter in the form of snow has put an end to the spring period that we have known for about ten days. Out of bad luck you have to make good as the saying goes, it will make water and in the form of snow it is excellent! The plants resulting from the first sowing were transplanted yesterday, they are 223. Of the 136 varieties sown, 15 are missing, which is particularly important, in other years this figure was around 5. The missing cultivars were resown at the same time as the second sowing of March 20, whose first seeds are just beginning to emerge. In Brioude the green manure grown under the shelter started to bloom, it was buried under a good thickness of composted manure and generously mulched and in 5 to 6 weeks it will be ready to receive the first plants.
21/03/2017: there are 1448 tomato seeds that have been sown in the last two days. They represent +/- 300 different varieties and by the end of the week the fastest of them will have germinated. The seedlings from the first sowing will start to be transplanted allowing to establish precise statistics. As for the peppers, the most vigorous plants have been transplanted into 1.5 liter pots and placed in the heated tunnel under the greenhouse. The weather of these last 10 days was rather clement as long as it lasts... Although a little rain would be welcome because the amount of precipitation at the beginning of the year is insufficient and spring is a season known to be very water consuming!
18//03/2017: D+8: the results of the first sowing are rather mixed this year...A lot of varieties did not emerge at all! (+/- 30 on 130!!!) on the other hand others reach 100% of germination! It's a bit early to draw conclusions but I already have some hints and probably some sites to avoid from now on... Some seedlings have "spun", the causes identified are twofold: the fact of depositing the seedling plates in rather deep boxes must have limited the contribution of light and the sodium lamp used is in its 3rd year of operation. These lamps are known to undergo a strong deterioration of the light intensity after a certain number of hours of use. It has been replaced by a LED lamp, which behaves better over time, to limit the damage. For the second wave of sowing, the most important one, planned for March 20 and 21, the seedlings will be placed on the boxes turned upside down in order to better receive the light and thus avoid spinning.
The spring week that we have just experienced has allowed us to start preparing the greenhouses. The green manure was covered with a thick layer of composted manure, with an impressive quantity of earthworms, as well as straw. Nettle manure was added to the subsequent watering to stimulate the activity of the micro-organisms. In Ambert, a tunnel was set up in the large greenhouse, tempered by a heating grid to protect the young plants from the cold.
The spring week that we have just experienced has allowed us to start preparing the greenhouses. The green manure was covered with a thick layer of composted manure, with an impressive quantity of earthworms, as well as straw. Nettle manure was added to the subsequent watering to stimulate the activity of the micro-organisms. In Ambert, a tunnel was set up in the large greenhouse, tempered by a heating grid to protect the young plants from the cold.
13/03/2017: D+3: first births in the nursery, it took only 72 hours! The fastest to germinate were this year: Dirty little chicken, Elba, Zelepodny, Orlovskie Rysaki, Pertsevidny Cubaine, Mavritanskie and Giant of Siebengurgen to name a few. Within 3 days we will be able to start to establish statistics about the germination rate.
10-11/03/2017: The first tomato seedlings gave this day the top start of the new campaign! Here we go again for a new season with, I hope, beautiful discoveries in terms of taste and colors and of course beautiful photos!
In fact, it's been more than two months since the season really started with the sowing of peppers and eggplants. These are 136 varieties dwarfs, determined and late which constituted the main part of this first sowing, for the varieties of season, +/- 169, it will be made the next 20,21 and 23 March. Is the return of the sun and the mild and pleasant days a sign of a "normal" season? Nothing is less sure, as we are used to the versatility of the weather with its sudden and radical changes, but at the dawn of this new season let's remain optimistic...
In fact, it's been more than two months since the season really started with the sowing of peppers and eggplants. These are 136 varieties dwarfs, determined and late which constituted the main part of this first sowing, for the varieties of season, +/- 169, it will be made the next 20,21 and 23 March. Is the return of the sun and the mild and pleasant days a sign of a "normal" season? Nothing is less sure, as we are used to the versatility of the weather with its sudden and radical changes, but at the dawn of this new season let's remain optimistic...