The official TOMATO thread

[Pepperhead]

Okay,  So my mom was at my house doing laundry yesterday while I slept (I work nights).  I wake up and she tells me she picked some of my tomatoes.  I'm okay with that, that's why I grow them, and my wife and the kids will pick and eat the Juliets and cherries and it's all good.
 
But I had one really big Burpee supersauce that was just starting to ripen.  it was orange getting redder and wasn't ready yet.  So I go outside to check on everything and lo and behold, it is not on my plant.  I ran into the house to look in the tomato bowl, and it is not there.  My mom had already gone home, so I called her "Did you pick the really big tomato by the deck?"  "No, didn't go near those."
 
I find it very suspicious that it was there in the morning and gone in the afternoon.  Ugh.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

... so you are saying we might have a really big killer-tomato on the run???
 

 

[jedisushi06]

Okay,  So my mom was at my house doing laundry yesterday while I slept (I work nights).  I wake up and she tells me she picked some of my tomatoes.  I'm okay with that, that's why I grow them, and my wife and the kids will pick and eat the Juliets and cherries and it's all good.
 
But I had one really big Burpee supersauce that was just starting to ripen.  it was orange getting redder and wasn't ready yet.  So I go outside to check on everything and lo and behold, it is not on my plant.  I ran into the house to look in the tomato bowl, and it is not there.  My mom had already gone home, so I called her "Did you pick the really big tomato by the deck?"  "No, didn't go near those."
 
I find it very suspicious that it was there in the morning and gone in the afternoon.  Ugh.

you got robbed!  Maybe it was the hamburglar.?

 
Early Girl.

 

[EBHarvey]

 
 
Oh boy does that Black Prince look good. Good enough for me to consider for next year.
 
Any opinions on flavor or flavor strength? Does it taste  like any other more common tomato?
 

 
 
I prefer Black Pear - it's smokier, larger, and overall more productive, for me at least.

 

[DasBhut]

I originally had a hybrid Totem tomato plant I bought for 6 bucks at a nursery, I got bored and started putting it in bad conditions to see how it would do. Long story short it died and I have 3 new ones growing, plus I ordered some Black Krim, Black Cherry, and Floradade seeds.
 
The Totem I had was an F1 hybrid so I'm interested to see how these new 3 turn out, they look fuzzier than the parent.

 

[Monkey Hunter]

We've harvested a couple tomatoes so far, just the odd early one though as most are still a week away.  Our plants have been stretching a fair bit, which I think is caused by all the rain we've been getting (we haven't had to water once so far, usually we're watering a couple times a week by now) and not getting enough light, causing them to stretch instead of bush out.  We'll still get a fair amount of fruit by the looks of it, more then enough to pig out on it's more a question of how much we'll have for canning/hot sauces.  Here's a couple snaps from the yard.
 
fruit on a monstrous Black Plum

 
Pruden's Purple plumping out, pretty slanky plants though

 
Earl of Edgecombe have been a surprise, short plants but lot's of fruit

Our most productive plant so far has been the Italian Heirloom Paste, the earliest to ripen with lot's of fruit to come although the taste wasn't the most unique or flavourful, it may have a place for sauces.

 
The true gem of the tomato patch though is the Green Zebra's which Rachel choose.  Easily some of the most attractive fruit so far, I can't stop taking pics of the little beauties.  Suffice to say I'll be trying more of Tom Wagner's varieties as soon as I can get my hands on them.

 

 

 

 
The last couple aren't ours, they're my parents but I added some pics for comparison.  First a Brandywine, which is related to the Pruden's Purple we're growing

 
The moskovich are quite prolific and among the earlier varieties.

 

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Green Zebras are awesome, grew them about 4 years ago. Have you tried one yet?

 

[Monkey Hunter]

nope, still waiting for them to ripen but they sound perfect for making sauces with their tart flavour.  What did you think of them?

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

nope, still waiting for them to ripen but they sound perfect for making sauces with their tart flavour.  What did you think of them?

Ripen to what? They were awesome on a burger

 

[jedisushi06]

Green Zebras are awesome, grew them about 4 years ago. Have you tried one yet?

green zebras are good for canning too.  Love em fried.

 

[Monkey Hunter]

Ripen to what? They were awesome on a burger

Ripen till they aren't rock hard, bigger is also nicer, but seeing as they're the youngest tomatoes in the garden they're doing well.  Good to hear they're tasty slicer's or canned though, it's looking like they'll be the chosen variety to grow for seed this winter.  I'll take clones of the best outdoor plants and start the rest of the seeds from the package and manually pollinate them, saving seeds from only the biggest, tastiest and most stripped plants.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

here's a (not too spectacular) update from my side ...
 
 
 
some San Marz love for you guys ... hope to be seeing some red here in 3-4 weeks ... those were late seedlings brought in and feeling very happy
 

 
 
 

pls bear in mind we are at the dead of winter here (my august is your february) - but its in an indoor soil garden
 
well there is nothing like munching homegrown tomatos in late february while its still freezing at night  ... 

 
 
cheers,
Al
 
 
pd: the white tray is filled with cubanelle, feher ozone, yolo wonder and cueno di toro - all sweet peppers that will go out to our greenhouse in a couple of weeks (as soon as nightly frosts stop)

 

[Monkey Hunter]

lol I'd love to be able to consider putting anything out in a greenhouse in the dead of winter, here that's about -10 to -20C without the windchill.  Even growing indoors I'll be using either a 600w or 1000w HID light to achieve any sort of decent growth, I'll be happy to have a couple odd tomatoes here and there.

 

[EBHarvey]

Suffice to say I'll be trying more of Tom Wagner's varieties as soon as I can get my hands on them.
 

 
PM me at the end of the season and I'll gladly send ya seeds from any of the following Wagner lines:
 
Skykomish
Striped Students
Fahrenheit Blues
Russian Cossack
Shadow Boxing (I have round and elongated ones)

 

[Wustenfuchs]

Homegrown tomatoes in the middle of Winter!  That's cool!

 

[Island_Dan]

Here is my tomato adventures!

My only hydro tomato. Just an experiment.

Bunch of different varieties. Don't ask me now what they are.

I just call this medusa... It's a tangle of tomato plants that regrow from seeds every year and I never bother to stop it. It's a mixture of early girl, cherry tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes.

And these are two yellow pear tomatoes in my aquaponic system.

Some close up of the hydro tomatoes. Been harvesting from this one for months and although planted the same
Time as the rest, only the wild plants can match it in size.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

like the hydro-red! ...
 
I will be doing some later this year (ebb-flood) - so I would be interested in any info you could share ... I imagine, it does better/faster than in soil, right?
 
cheers, Al

 

[Monkey Hunter]

 
PM me at the end of the season and I'll gladly send ya seeds from any of the following Wagner lines:
 
Skykomish
Striped Students
Fahrenheit Blues
Russian Cossack
Shadow Boxing (I have round and elongated ones)

 
Thank ya kindly, I'll definitely take ya up on that offer.

 

[kiddc]

Fantastic thread, i gotta jump start my tomatoes now.

 

[DasBhut]

going to be container growing some:
 
black krim
chocolate striped
 
cherry green grape
sun gold
frosted green doctors

any advice?