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The official TOMATO thread

cactusMD said:
going to be container growing some:
 
black krim
chocolate striped
 
cherry green grape
sun gold
frosted green doctors
any advice?
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just leave them alone - they will grow like crazy anyway if you are in FL :-D

so far I like what I see from my indigo rose ... lots of prolific flower clusters, first fruit showing (true!)
 
(again, its an indoor grow in winter)
 
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cheers, Al
 
I'm having good luck with yellow varieties this year: Hawaiian Pineapple, Pork Chop, and Yellow Jubilee. The yellow ones have the right amount of acidity for me.
 
Another one that's produced well this year is Cherokee Green.
 
kentishman said:
I'm having good luck with yellow varieties this year: Hawaiian Pineapple, Pork Chop, and Yellow Jubilee. The yellow ones have the right amount of acidity for me.
 
Another one that's produced well this year is Cherokee Green.
 
I agree...the yellow varieties especially the variegated ones have a fine flavor.
 

 
Here's a shot from last season......Hawaiian Pineapple. This season I grew a similar heirloom. The Arkansas Marvel.
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So far most of my tomatoes have been splitting, I think from all the rain.  The only varieties that haven't are my Juliets and the new Supersauce.  That supersauce by the way is very tasty, very fleshy, with few seeds.  My favorite so far this year (until I can get one that isn't splitting).
 
Well it was our first year growing at this address so a lot of factors might have had an affect on our results but out of all our peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers very few did well.  Most did poorly.  Even though we assumed it was mostly our soil causing problems many growers at a local farmers market told us they were having problems as well.  I think last year a few miles away I got several times the produce from maybe 1/10 the amount of space so I'm hoping it's just a bad year and next year will be better. 
 
Has anyone started their tomato grow list for 2014 yet?? Me, I'm trying to decide and waiting on a few trades to come in before I can finalize my list ;).....and is it ever really final :rofl:
 
my tomatoes sort've sprouted and grew themselves this year. The sprinklers may have helped a bit.
 
I thought  I spied some amidst the weeds I was pulling.
 

 
 
 
 
 
Has anyone started their tomato grow list for 2014 yet??
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i have my 2014 tomato grow list and i don't believe it will change, unless i get an impulse.
 
Hybrids: F1 Sungold, F2 Sungold, F1 Honeybee, F2 Sugar Snack, F2 Sun Sugar.
Heirloom: Sweet Raisin(tomaccio), Purple Cherokee, Red Brandywine, Black Krim, Black Zebra, Green Zebra, Nebraska Wedding, German Striped. Mystery Mix(a package of mixed heirloom so you don't know what you will get - I think it is Mckenzie's Rainbow mix).
 
i won't be growing black cherry, black from tula or lemon boy anymore and 2014 will most likely be my last year growing green zebra.
 
so, the debate about whether seeds saved from sungold produce fruit as tasty, the simple answer: depends on your taste buds. for me F1 Sungold has a complex flavour and i can taste all of its complexity(which i like). The F2 were just as sweet but were missing that "other" taste that the F1 carry but doing a side by side flavour test with my wife and neighbour both chose the F2 for taste.
 
i am most interested to see how the sweet raisin turns out and what the mystery rainbow blend produce, this year they produced red brandywine and nebraska wedding, i am hoping for either white wonder or yellow brandywine.
 
good growing in 2014.
 
That's a great list you've got there, and I know what you mean about impulse. I always start way more plants then I can use, but then I also give quite a few away too.
 
Not growing black cherry next year, that's one of my staples for my garden, everyone LOVES them here, when my daughter and son in law come over they are always picking those ones, might start a couple extra's of those next year.
I did grow Manx Marvel, not sure if you've heard of it before, hard to find tomato...for all the hype on it, not sure if it'll be in my garden next year, very bland tasting tomato.
 
perhaps it is my black cherry seed stock but compared to others, they lack any "wow" flavour, the original plant came from a nursery. or perhaps my growing season and cool nights stop the plants from producing to their full potential.  but if it works for you, keep it growing!
 
black from tula also delivered a mild taste compared to black krim. after tasting nebraska wedding and german stripe, lemon boy had to go.
 
my green zebra came from "the cooks garden" brand and have an unusual texture around the seed sack, almost like a soft mucus. i spent all 2012 & early 2013 constantly researching it before growing, so i would know when it would ripen for my big taste test day...... let down. then thinking it was me, i gave some to a neighbour, same result. left some on the plant to split thinking they were not ripe enough - no difference. then did the 180 and pick some without yellowing, thinking over ripe. nope! just a snotty tomato!
 
i did have a hard-on for momotaro at one time but they are too costly but if any i may try to source black japanese trifele. ambrosia gold is another i have been investigating, the package author says "he believes they are better than sungold" but after some googling, it looks like i would be buying into someone's opinion.
 
these aren't the only ones i have whacked from the grow list over the years, just like peppers, after awhile you start to eliminate varieties.
 
i grow in both ground and containers, here is my prime tomato grow area. it gets full south exposure for maximum sunlight. that is my patented white soil....just kidding, blizzard conditions today. under the snow is a raised bed made of 2x10 and filled with potting soil. the wood strips running in lengths allow me to drape the entire length with painter plastic and secure it with strapping, that enables me to plant out by june, so if it is 6C in front of the plastic, it can easily hit 18C behind, with even the smallest amount of sunlight. plus, i use a online draw package www.draw.io to create a page of circles with tomato names mapping to their garden location. that way, i can print a copy and not forget what i planted. the lengths us tomato growers go to..... for the love of tomatoes.
 
 
LOVE the space you've got there, I start all my plants at my husbands shop, upstairs on a mezzanine, and he installed lights for me. If you need any black Japanese trifele seeds, just let me know. I grew it last year and loved the flavor, really nice tomato.
 
I think it was an odd year, growing wise for a lot of people, tomatoes that normally have a great taste were bland, or just didn't produce. Our summer here started off amazing but then we had 2 1/2 weeks of solid rain and it all sucked after that.
 
I do plan on starting my seeds earlier then I normally do next year, planning on around the first week of January instead of the end of Jan early February, try and give them a few weeks head start in case we have another lousy summer.
 
i tried the growing early thing and my plants just became very long and leggy. they would no longer fit under my grow lights, so in may, i would put them in the back of my van in the morning and drive around town with them. bringing them back in at night. it really didn't make the plants produce any sooner, if fact, once in soil the plants had to harden off later and with smaller stocks.
 
the nice thing with my set up is the shielding provided by the over-hang of the garage. so, i does get rain but not drenching rain. just at the front portion and being a raised bed allows run off. another plus with the wood straps i can put the painter plastic back up for shielding and in the fall i drape old bed sheets over the wood as frost protection. Then, July is hail season that in the past that has claimed a few plants, before i built my current set up. 2014 i may run plastic piping under the soil, with holes, that way i can directly feed the roots, our summer dryness can really ruin watering cycles, then i can cover the growing area with sheets to prevent moisture evaporation, meaning less watering.
 
just to the left, in the picture, is my homemade 8 foot wide greenhouse. built from an old sliding glass door, has drywall siding and insulated with bubble wrap on both the inside and outside, 6 foot mirror at the top and tinfoil throughout the rest of the inside. that is mainly for peppers but the young tomatoes spend may in it.
 
i'll PM you about the seeds but first i have to go shovel, the drift in front of the garage door is now deeper and wifey is going to pick the girls up from school in an hour - the windchill is brutal.
 
I'm growing Black Cherry, Green Zebra, Yellow Pear, and one more I can't remember. I really only like growing cherry types. The big tomatoes always split on me when we have torrential rains. 
 
hey greenman, those are all the types i have whacked from my growlist, gulp...... hey all tomatoes are good but with so many times eventually you eliminate types as your portfolio grows, just like peppers. for years i grew black cherry and yellow pear.
 
there were years when black cherry and yellow pear were staples in my yard. can't believe how long i avoided sungold because of price. now, i will gladly pay $3.99 for the 20 seeds just because of their unique flavour.
 
and splitting is not a bad thing, it describes the natural process of an heirloom tomato to repair itself, if you hate monsanto, then you learn to reappreciate scabbing. natures natural bandaid. i too disliked scabbing until i taste tested scabbed vs hybrid. just cut around the scab, the flavour is far better than the appearance.
 
good growing and please investigate heirloom tomato varieties.

.....akin scabbing in tomatoes to corking in peppers.
again, good growing.
 
I agree with you Greenman, its a hit and miss with the beefsteak tomatoes when it rains...one that I grew this year that was great for not splitting after rain, was Mrs Maxwells pink beefsteak. I think I had one off the whole plant that split and the rest were great.
 
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