This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Seedling Follow-up 2021
Season 2021
This year, no follow-up of seedlings, properly speaking, that became redundant, we pass directly to the follow-up of plantations. This season the 300 plants, set up in the different greenhouses, were in great majority grafted (+/-95%). It should be noted that about fifty plants were damaged by a late frost, nevertheless most of them, after 3 weeks of gestation, have resumed a normal growth.
Until the end of May the development of the different cultivars was more or less chaotic but with the return of the heat and the sun at the beginning of June the things returned in order.
Until the end of May the development of the different cultivars was more or less chaotic but with the return of the heat and the sun at the beginning of June the things returned in order.
2021-10-23: The end of the 2021 season! The morning frosts of the last few days have killed the last plants, it's a pity because the days were still very sunny and could have given us hope for a prolongation. Still, this campaign will remain in the annals as one of the most bizarre, the worst next to the best in terms of weather, harvests with nearly a month behind a "normal" year if we ever find "normal" seasons ....
2021-10-19: in this mid-October a last harvest of quality and weight!
2021-10-15: the first frosts are back announcing the imminent end of the season. Nevertheless, some large fruits were still picked, mainly late varieties. The first plants have been pulled out to make way for green manure to improve the soil for the next season.
2021-10-09: the season is coming to an end, temperatures are falling, frosts are approaching... The plants still bearing fruits have been severely pruned to accelerate their ripening. The graining is coming to an end and the sorting of the seeds has started, the harvest remains below the other seasons, indeed this year very few seeds in the fruits!
2021-09-24: the exhibition of last Sunday, in spite of the rainy weather, was a success, a lot of visitors and people particularly surprised to see so many kinds of tomatoes... The first real harvest of peppers and chillies was not particularly abundant, especially the peppers which, apart from Ferenc Tender, gave only 2 or 3 fruits.
2021-09-17: in spite of a not very sunny weather but with rather soft temperatures, the production continues, at a lesser rhythm certainly than ten days ago but sufficient to be able to expose more than 120 varieties at the time of the festival: "l'étonnant Festin" which will take place this Sunday in Clermont Ferrand.
2021-09-13: the peak of production was exceeded this week, the graining is going well but the seeds are still not numerous, that is undoubtedly due to the bad weather conditions of this season.
2021-09-06: with the return of the sun and the heat we know a peak of production, the crates of fruits pile up waiting for graining.
021-09-04: some nice sizes! Seeding has started, more than 100 kilos of tomatoes processed this week, but unfortunately seeds are few this year...
2021-08-31: a cool and sunny weather has settled and seems to last for a long time... The ripening of the fruits is strongly slowed down, hence lesser harvests. The half-ripe tomatoes are harvested and put in a warm place to finish their ripening, the big sizes are still legion, the prize being held to this day by the variety "La Nénesse" with a weight of 1,440 kg! As for peppers and eggplants, it's a very poor season, very few fruits so far and little hope to get more this fall because of the weather...
2021-08-27: the weather is still hesitant, alternating heat and coolness but without precipitations. The production is fluctuating but remains steady, the large sizes are numerous, probably due to the grafted plants which generally provide larger than average fruits.
2021-08-22: in spite of a mixed week, cool and not very sunny, the greenhouses light up, it was time! The fruits are finally turning and are getting brighter colors than the green that was omnipresent until then. The first big size fruits are harvested, the prize going to a "Rozovyi Kilogrammovyi", a variety that bears its name, weighing 940 grams...
2021-08-15: the sun is back and with it the heat. With such conditions one would have thought that the production would take off, but no! The crops are certainly bigger but with the numerous green fruits we could have hoped for much better. For most of the varieties, the heads/ends were cut off in order to stop the growth of the plants and to favor the ripening of the fruits.
2021-08-08: another cool and wet week but let's stay positive as the weather forecast announces the arrival of summer for the next few days... As far as harvests are concerned it's still at a minimum! Note that only 20% of the varieties cultivated this season produced at least one fruit, there are still beautiful discoveries to make...
2021-08-01: here we are in August and the summer is still absent... Persistence of a cool autumn weather unfavorable to our dear tomatoes, it was rather a year to plant cabbages... Some brave ones finally ripen but the taste is not optimal! If this rotten weather continues like this, the fruits of the upper clusters will never have time to ripen before the first frost... The preventive treatments follow one another every 5 days, so far no trace of disease.
fruits waiting for heat and sun....
2021-07-23: for the last 4 days, cooler weather has returned. No precipitations but the forecasts for the weeks to come are not very optimistic. After a few decent harvests it is again misery! It is the status quo in the greenhouses, nothing is moving. The rainy episode of the beginning of the month did some damage, many flowers of the upper clusters did not tie and fell. As a precaution, all leaves with suspicious spots are systematically removed and preventive spraying continues at a lower frequency. This year the Russian varieties are doing well as they are the only ones to date to produce. This season will be remembered as one of the worst for tomatoes.
2021-07-23: since the beginning of the week, sun and heat are back after almost a month of bad weather. The damages are considerable for our friends who cultivate in the open air, most of them had to pull out the plants blackened by the mildew. The association Jardin de Rêve, based in the Angevine region, lost all of its 600 tomato plants and consequently had to cancel its event on the weekend of August 21 and 22. On our side the damage is minimal, some plants showing worrying symptoms have been pulled out as a precaution, it should be noted that all these plants were located in the least well ventilated greenhouse... No doubt that the frequent treatments with liquid manure have played their preventive role. The month of August is already showing its nose and the delay in the ripening of the fruits is becoming worrying : the crops remain thin and the tomatoes picked all show growth anomalies. The upper clusters are bearing correctly formed fruits but remain hopelessly green!
2021-07-14: after a well watered June, +/-130mm, and a first fortnight of July of the same kind, +/-70mm, the persistence of a stormy and humid weather favors the development of cryptogamic diseases. Our friend Franciscolulu, based in Germany, had a cruel experience, the season just started is already over, indeed these 250 tomato plants were victim of a lightning attack of mildew which in 48 hours decimated everything despite preventive treatments with bicarbonate of soda. In order to anticipate possible damages, sprays based on fern purin, whose anti-fungal properties are recognized, have been programmed every 3 days, when the plants are sufficiently drained. The greenhouses are ventilated as much as possible but the humidity level is difficult to lower, often reaching 90%. The plants are loaded with fruits but they do not ripen much or not at all, the rare small harvests only offer tomatoes with a bland taste because of the lack of heat/sun. Paradoxically, some varieties of eggplants ripen despite the lack of heat, allowing a good harvest for mid-July.
2021-07-08: persistence of a stormy regime for about twenty days with an ambient humidity favorable to the development of fungal diseases (botrytis, mildew etc..), preventive spraying with bicarbonate of soda and horsetail manure are necessary to guarantee a certain immunity. The lack of light on some days made it necessary to fold the shade sails, some fruits showing heterogeneous colorations probably due to this deficiency. Most of the plants are strong and already exceed two meters, although they are trained on 2 to 3 stems/ends. As far as tomatoes are concerned, the fruits are ripening slowly, the first ones often showing defects due to the very cool beginning of the season. Peppers and eggplants suffer from the lack of heat, only the Russian varieties are doing well.
2021-06-29: the first fruits are ripe, for the most part they are not free of defects but we will not be too picky after long months of waiting! For the last ten days the weather has been very changeable, with hot and sunny periods alternating with more or less violent stormy sequences. However, the vegetation under the greenhouse does not seem to suffer from it. Probably due to the grafting, the plants are particularly strong, big stems (for some of them the 23mm diameter clips are not big enough), abundant foliage and exuberant flowering, we even have to reduce the clusters by removing some flowers. Many fruits are formed and the first "non-conformities" appear...