August... the final stretch

August is the major month of reaping for tomatoes. While some late maturing varieties will roll on over into September before yielding first fruit, most varieties will have exhausted their load by the end of the month.

DTM or "Days To Maturity" is something you'll see commonly mentioned with tomato varieties and it is an estimate on how long it will take to go from a newly transplanted seedling to producing fully ripened fruit. The time from set flower to ripened fruit is probably a little shorter with a mature plant.

Black Krim DTM is approximately 75 days. I actually got my first tomato in about 65 days, but if you've been following my blog you'll know that I went a good 3 weeks before seeing any signs of other fruit set. Presently there are two definite tomatoes in progress, but only two others at a fragile stalled early stage that is still uncertain of future growth. There are many other blossoms that look like they might have been pollinated with thick stems and sepal elongation, but the anther cone remains stuck fast and there's no signs yet of swelling fruit growing within. If they don't mature, I could very well end up with having only *3* tomatoes from this plant for the whole blasted season. No blight. No pests. Just... failure.

We just had another big rain and unfortunately I'd let the Lemon Boy's reservoir run dry (I've been filling it daily whenever possible), so two fruits ended up with concentric ring cracking. Nothing too serious, though. After a day the cracks healed. But it may mean the fruits will be a little watery in taste. They're also still rather young, so I hope this doesn't mean they'll be stunted in size.

Lemon Boy -- Concentric Ring Crack

The Black Krim seedling I'd started from a rooted sucker is growing like gangbusters.  It seems like it's growing an inch in two days, comparing one day to the next.  Here's an example:

Black Krim -- July 29th

Black Krim -- August 3rd

There are blossoms already that I'm hoping will fertilize. It's quite possible that with the alternative potting medium and organic fertilizer, it may end up producing more than its parent. I may get lucky and have some fruit ready by the end of September and a continuing stream of them until late October early November (if I bring it indoors). But the late season brings other challenges to it, namely lower overnight temperatures and more dynamic weather conditions. Growing this seedling is really more of an experiment than anything else--any fruit produced will just be a side benefit.