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To: Paul R.; Diana in Wisconsin; All
My Mortgage Lifter tomatoes

Your tomatoes have the best names! 😀

My "Flowerers" are actually Early Girl, which I've been complaining about all summer, and which should have been called Late Girl. Funny how now, all my hopes for a fall crop are pinned on Early Girl / Late Girl. LOL

368 posted on 09/13/2025 3:28:08 PM PDT by AFB-XYZ (( We have two options: 1. Stand up, or 2. Bend over))
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To: AFB-XYZ

Heh, maybe sometimes I try varieties based partially on the name?

I’m in Zone 7a, and have never had good luck with Early Girls* (and **) past mid July. They seem to be a one crop and done tomato. Even to get that, I usually have to have them going inside pretty well (usually ~15” tall) in my “pots” made from 2L soda bottles (use bottom 2/3, add holes to bottom) and transplant as early as I dare. Last year I had to cover them from frost 3 times, IIRC. This year I tried “Early Treat” and “Independence Day” tomatoes instead, to try to get an early crop, and then the super soggy Spring conditions just wrecked them. I have a couple of both hanging on - don’t know if they’ll produce anything or not.

*That sort of makes sense, as they are an early season tomato, so, I’d think, not bred at all to take warm temperatures.

**I once dated an Early Girl and she... Oh, wait. Wrong thread. (Just kidding!)

The tomato plant that is most freaking me out is the “unknown” volunteer that sprang up in our chicken manure pile. “All nitrogen”, Diana would say, but this thing has grown very well (not skinny / spindly), flowered well, and fruited well. All the fruits are still green, so I don’t know if they’ll get bigger than the 3” or so of the largest fruits. But, if these taste good, I’m definitely saving some seeds.

Anyway, your Early Girls are flowering in Sept., something mine never did, as mine were usually long dead by then. So, maybe hand pollinating will work! Good luck!


376 posted on 09/13/2025 5:14:31 PM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
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