Winter Hawaii 2022/23

[Mark_Thompson]

Just a photo dump, some garden helpers, Aunt Molly’s GC, my eves tomatoes hit about 7’ tall, baby Big Zac plant with a likely looking blossom.

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[Mark_Thompson]

Oh and also Mr. @pepperhead212 I got a sweet new almost long bean with this speckled/variegated pattern if you want to give it a try sometime.

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[pepperhead212]

What variety of bean is that, @Mark_Thompson? I grew something similar years ago, that was "almost" long (around 10-12"), and mottled.

[Mark_Thompson]

Not sure exactly. Came from a friend. She’s a big Baker Creek shopper so wouldn’t surprise me if was from there.

[Mark_Thompson]

My eaves tomatoes are finally bearing some larger tomatoes, I have SOTW, Paul Robeson, and Big Zac with healthy fruits. The Big Zac I pruned, stopped watering and am just pumping with fertilizer, trying to see how big that fused fruit will get.

Then I prepared one plot with the grass mulch for a bunch of wild tomatoes that I’m interested in.

The plot with the cover crop will be my main tomato plot this summer.

And of course more bananas than I can handle, currently have four ripe bunches and the freezer is already full.

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[Mark_Thompson]

Got some Pineapple ground cherries in, the kids love them so I can’t ever have enough going. Also got lazy and got a solid leaf miner infestation. My big fused Big Zac got a rotten spot, so my March two pounder just isn’t meant to be. Oh well

SOTW has some likely looking fruits, been a while since I had a slicer so those are welcome. Also the F1 Jasper is a cherry that looks like it’s managing pretty well with my Bacterial Spot pressure, for what that’s worth.

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[bower]

I get leaf miners on other crops like beets and chard that look like that, but not the tomatoes. There's something that looks like a miner but doesn't have the serpent-like tunnel look.

[Mark_Thompson]

Yeah if I don’t use Azamax a couple times in the plant’s lifespan they will turn the leaves into like 90% tunnels

[OhioGardener]

Your bananas look amazing. That's one think I wish we could grow in the North. The other is citrus.

[Mark_Thompson]

End of February update, still no ripe slicers but inching closer. Not many ripe cherries either, had to buy at Costco the other day (ugh, awful)

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[MissS]

Well even one little fresh homegrown cherry sounds good to me! I have to endure 9 months of the year with those Costco tomatoes because they are better than those at the grocery store. This year's cherry tomatoes (Honey Bombs) at Costco are so darned sweet that they don't even taste like a tomato anymore. If I want some color in my salads I forego the tomatoes and use red bell peppers.

Your plants are looking nice and healthy there. It won't be too long before you can have some fresh tomatoes on your salads.

[pepperhead212]

Tomatoes looking great! Still about 5 weeks until I plant seeds!

I don't even buy tomatoes in the off season; though I did one year get some black tomatoes at TJs, that were just about as good as I grow, the ones I see now are outrageously expensive, so I just cook differently in the off season, and wait for those first ripe tomatoes from the garden!

[bower]

What a sweet place to be at the end of February.
I cook with my own frozen tomatoes all winter, rather than brave the horror of overpriced and underflavored supermarket toms. We get the worst here, you can believe it.

[Mark_Thompson]

Yeah my daughter loves tomatoes and has the typical 18 month old’s palate, so the store boughts are mostly for her. Need to do better at planning and timing so I don’t go through droughts like this in the future.

12 inches of rain for February, not the best not the worst. The grass is green, so there is that.

[GoDawgs]

@Mark_Thompson , I have a question for you. I came across an eggplant I'm going to try this year and it's a Hawaiian one called Poamoho. I was wondering if you have heard of it or grown it. The blurb I found on it (I think it was from Bunny Hop) said:

“Poamoho Dark Long” eggplant was bred by Dr. Kenneth Takeda of the University of Hawaiˋi at Mānoa, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR). Dr. Takeda crossed Waimanalo Long with a South Pacific eggplant variety, known for its bacterial wilt resistance potential. Several segregants were grown and selected over the years for fruit size, fruit set and quality. The result is the open-pollinated and beautiful long deep purple eggplant now called Poamoho Dark Long. The 10-12” long fruits have dense flesh, firm skin and few seeds. Highly recommended!"

They look similar to Millionaire which is an F1 and I'd love to find an OP that is just as good and just as prolific as MIllionaire.

[Mark_Thompson]

@GoDawgs It’s a shame no one in my family likes eggplants because they do so well here. I think my friend up the road grew that variety before. Check this out for background info

https://gms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/gs/handler ... &dt=2&g=12

[pepperhead212]

I almost ordered that Poamohu from Bunny Hop for this season, but instead I got the U of HI Green eggplant seeds, just to compare it to 2 other greens I have this year. I'll be curious as to how it grows for you. I have 6 varieties this year, 4 new ones.

[Mark_Thompson]

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/

If you want to see what else UH has to offer. I only grow the chinese peas, lettuce and corn. The soy beans grow real well but I don’t grow them when store bought is so cheap.

[GoDawgs]

I found that link to PDL right after posting the question yesterday but thank you for posting it anyway as others might find it interesting too. The PDL sure looks like Millionaire which I've grown for a long time. Now it's getting hard to find among my usual seed sources and I'm not one to buy just one pack of seeds from a company and pay shipping for just that.

This spring I'll be growing the Poamoho and the Chinese String eggplants. Then I'll start another String and one Millionaire in late June for the fall.

[Mark_Thompson]

One big boy Big Zac. Got some wind from the opposite direction from our prevailing breeze. No fun but got off easy. Lost a bunch of leaves and had one fruit half chafe away. I think the windbreak helped a little. Cover crop is ready to till in for summer.

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