R.I.P. Ace 55

I pulled the trigger and dug up the Ace 55 plant yesterday (6/29/11).  I bagged it and trashed it.

Good bye Ace 55.  I hope you didn't spread your viral infection to your brothers and sisters.

So it was a self diagnosis with a little help from online bloggers.  I determined it was Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV).  Here is a link to some good info on CMV, Cucumber Mosiac Virus

Here is a pic from the above link that was very similar to what I was facing (Shoe String Appearance in leaves)

The plant started real nice, but then hit a patch of stunted growth and very odd looking leaves and blooms.

Almost like a miniature tomato plant.  In addition the tomatoes I found growing on it, were very very small and malformed.  I do not regret the decision to pull it. 

Ace 55 not doing so well

My tomatoes are doing great for the most part.  Only issues I have experienced have been 1 in a pot is suffering from early blight.  Fertilome has worked great.

My Ace 55 in the back row isn't too good looking.  Its smallish and the leaves are curled.  The blooms look weird too.  Check out the pics.

Weekly update 6-15-11

Seems you go out of town for a few days and come back to a jungle.  I stand by the best words of wisdom I read online.  "More plants have died from too much love than from neglect." -- Some online poster

Here are some pics of the garden as it stands.

Here is a pic of  one of my experiments.  I took a stem of a tomato (don't know which) and placed it into dirt.  She already has a tomato growing.

Here is a pic of the BIG CAGE for the Black Krim

A pic of the JUNGLE!!!!

Here is a pic of another experiment.  I placed this cutting into a jug of water for about a week.  When we pulled it out to plant into dirt, you should have seen the hundreds of roots growing.  It was amazing.  I hope this takes and is not too hot out there.

Mandy's sunflowers.  Hope they pop out soon.

This is Gertie.  She loves to dig and eat whole bags of miracle gro soil, natures helper, and mushroom compost.  Every now and again she takes plants for a run around the back yard.

Final experiment.  I took a gardenia cutting and placed it in water for a week.  Lets see if it takes.

FIRST TOMATO ---- OxHeart

Well. As I tended to the plants yesterday I noticed this guy

I'm pretty excited to see this as this is a plant from last year.  This is pink OxHeart and from seeds I saved from fruit of last year.  So this is the odd ball.  Plus to add he is grown in straight Georgia Red Clay with no remediation of the soil or special additives.

Side Note:  I am running a few other experiments too.  I have one shoot trying to root in some water, another rooting in soil.  Also I have started to try and root a gardenia.  Boy if I could root the gardenias, my whole house will be surrounded. hehehe

Current State of Affairs

Its been awhile since my last post.  All plants seem to be growing strong.  Most have blooms.  No maters yet.  Close, very close.  I did notice on one of them they had some blossom die.  I'll have to look into that.

I did some stringer setup today as well as built a monster cage for my Black Krim.  When you use the string method, its recommended that you prune your plant and train it up the stringer.  Some of mine have sprouted 2 or three plants out of the one because I did not prune well in the beginning.  I think that has been my hardest part is knowing what to prune and what not.  Oddly enough most people I have encountered online do not prune.  They let them bush out for higher yield.  We will see.

Here are the pics