• Everything other than hot peppers. Questions, discussion, and grow logs. Cannabis grow pics are only allowed when posted from a legal juridstiction.

Tomato talk 2009

Sorellina,

I'll have about eight Red Zebra plants this year; they earned their space in my limited area. So did the Green Sausage but only as a salsa tom. Got yo find a way to stake those fellas - they have problems getting two feet tall but wow - do they produce a lot of fruits! Twelve pints of salsa from two plants in a miserable growing year. They are supposed to be determinate plants but I harvested toms from late July until the killing frost in October.

Mike
 
Sorellina said:
Josh, I've grown Cherokee Purple, Brandywine Sudduth, Black Krim, and Aunt Gertie's Gold of the ones you mentioned, all good. I've heard good things about Soldaki but I've not grown it myself. Just a word about Brandywine Sudduth. If you're looking for production, don't bother with this one. It's not going to wow you in that department. But for a BLT or a burger, there are few tomatoes out there to match it for flavour. Also, Aunt Gertie's Gold is VERY late. I only got 3 tomatoes off of it in 2006. Hopefully your season is longer than mine. It does well in the American South. I'm growing Neve's Azorean Red for the first time this year on rave reviews from other growers. I'm very much looking forward to it and pray for an outstanding season comparable to 2006 or 2007. I grew it for a Portuguese friend from the Azores and she talks about it to this day. She and her husband saved seeds from it and will grow it every year now.
Click to expand...

Hey Sorellina,
Thanks for the input. I planned on picking up several varieties this season for my father. He is the tomato lover. He has grown some in the past but nothing known for great flavor. Mainly varieties found in Home Depot. I wanted to surprise him this season with several varieties but he asked me to start a few that he had left over from 2 seasons ago. Home Depot had Brandywine so I did pick that variety up for him. In terms of productivity, that really is not a concern. I figure if he has one main producer and then a few others that are delicious that will work. But that is a plan for next season.
Thanks again for the input.
Josh
 
Ciao all-

Poisonette, I've grown 3 "white" paste-type tomatoes. They're more of an ivory colour rather than true white. Of all of these, Powers Heirloom is my favourite for flavour. Old Ivory Egg has excellent production and is somewhat smaller than PH, making it a better choice for using in Insalata Caprese with fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. Cream Sausage is a good choice for containers as it won't get taller than 3 ft. I'd grow any of the 3 again.

Elliot, I'm growing Bloody Butcher for the first time this year on strong favourable feedback from gardening friends. It's a red saladette like so many other red saladettes, but it's supposed to stand apart in flavour and earliness, so we'll have to compare notes at the end of the season.

Josh, you're more than welcome. I have a lot to learn about growing peppers, but I know a fair bit about tomatoes, that's my contribution and I'm happy to help.
 
Sorellina,

I grew White Beauty (aka Snowball) last year and liked its flavor and color - very close to white. But it didn't produce many fruits so it didn't work its way into my limited grow list this year. I'm expecting nothing less than 1/2 bushel of toms per plant, hoping for 3/4 bushel or more.

My goals are not that high - 100 quarts of juice, 28 quarts of whole tomatoes, 48 pints of salsa.

Mike
 
I know it's no heirloom, but last year we bought 2 Lemon Boys to fill some spots in our garden, and they outproduced all the red beefsteaks in the plot. Nice baseball to softball sized yellow maters with great body and acid zip! Made the best tomato sandwiches of the season by far.

This year, it's Heirlooms we're after. Mortgage Lifter, Brandywinee, Cherokee Purple all starting from seed. The local nursery has an AMAZING heirloom from just across the mountain that's as old as the hillbillies called "Heirloom orange". We grew one in a pot last year and only got one tiny tomato from it, so we're trying a few in the ground this year.

Sorellina, it's great to have such a wealth of tomato knowledge here to compliment all the chileheads.
 
We raised 3 whites lasy year, white beauty, white brandywine,white queen. They were fair producers, good flavor but of course we liked the red ones better. Opalka did well, we had cold, wet long spring so tomatoes really suffered. This year I started a lot of the seed I had saved from past years trades so mostly new ones except for Opalka, we were impressed with that one. Mortgage Lifter, Amish Paste, the ones I'm getting from you, Silver Fir, Gulf State,On The Vine, etc so we'll see how they do. I am so ready for warm weather and garden!
 
How's everyones tomatos doing? I'm hoping the frost is done for the season and am just starting to get some of my big tomato plants into the ground. I started tilling the garden and am hoping to get 30-40 plants in by this weekend, and I always space them out really well, like 6+ft between plants. I'm also starting to get some crazy looking Reisentomates. I'll have to get the camera out soon since these are just incredible looking! Pics coming soon
 
My tomatoes are hanging in there, i planted around 25 kinds, and i have only lost my Abe Lincoln, and of course thats one that i really wanted to try.
Potawie, you sound like me, hoping that the frost is all done, wierd weather this year huh!
I do have a few flowers starting on my tom's, so thats good.
 
I had close to 80 planted but I think a couple of them did not survive. One that I planted in a container in Mid-May has three tomatoes on it. They aren't as big as a golf ball yet.

Most of the plants look great - it's been a good spring since Frost-Free Day (May 15). Generally warm and sunny with a couple of decent showers, though one dropped 2.5" of water overnight.

Mike
 
I took a quick pic of my first reisentomate tomato. I've got several of these plants growing this year and am hoping the toms will sell well as a novelty item

3613567257_0556446267.jpg
 
Mine are kicing ass so far. Not tons of fruit set, but they're still on the small side. Here are some pics from last night...

DSCN0668.jpg




A few black brandywines starting to set.
DSCN0669.jpg




Granny Bradley has a nice sized mater on her...

DSCN0670.jpg
 
Anyone getting many ripe tomatos yet? I've been picking some reisetomate, tinyTim and German red Strawberry toms but everything is a little slow this year with the wet weather and cold nights. I was hoping to be selling some cherry toms by now but it looks like that'll have to wait until August. Plants are looking quite healthy though, a lot better than last year's disaster thankfully.
How's your season so far?
 
I cut the number of tomato plants I grow down tremendously as I've been out of town a lot and I am growing more chili's.

That said, I ate 5 or 6 sungold last night, just picked a few sweet million, had a handful of tumbler tomato a few days ago and picked 8 or so "Mr. Stripey".

While I've had some ripe stuff, there hasn't been a lot of fruit setting on the tomatoes this year. Which is sad since this is a PERFECT growing season on the west coast so far. Very little rain, lots of dry & hot weather. I guess I just suck (and I did plant too close again).
 
POTAWIE said:
Anyone getting many ripe tomatos yet? I've been picking some reisetomate, tinyTim and German red Strawberry toms but everything is a little slow this year with the wet weather and cold nights. I was hoping to be selling some cherry toms by now but it looks like that'll have to wait until August. Plants are looking quite healthy though, a lot better than last year's disaster thankfully.
How's your season so far?
Click to expand...

I've never grown Toms before but so far I'm loving it. I'm just growing the newbie varieties like Early Girl and Better Boy, one of each. I've had about 30 ripe so far off the two plants and I have to pick another 3 or 4 today. I bought those seeds that are encased in a white shell and are guaranteed to germinate. They did, and grew quickly in Pro-Mix. I didn't anticipate how much water they would need so next year I'm going to switch them from 5 gallon to 7 gallon pots. I just use them as slicing tomatoes and I'm really enjoying them. I might grow 1 or 2 more next year. Can you recommend any other good slicer Toms?
 
There are so many great tomatoes, but this year for slicers I have: Omar's lebanese(Nice flavor and big), Summer cider, as well as Black from Tula, Zapotec, and German red strawberry(One of my personal favorites)
I'm sure the tomato queen will have some great suggestions for you too:)
 
POTAWIE said:
There are so many great tomatoes, but this year for slicers I have: Omar's lebanese(Nice flavor and big), Summer cider, as well as Black from Tula, Zapotec, and German red strawberry(One of my personal favorites)
I'm sure the tomato queen will have some great suggestions for you too:)
Click to expand...

Thanx for the suggestions! I'm guessing tomatogrowers.com is still the best place to get tomato seeds?
 
Can't beat good ol Brandywine for slicing either! I've also been impressed by Mammoth German Gold this year. Not too many tomatoes per vine, but they're big, juicy, and sweet as you please.

Both are indeterminate varieties though, and probly won't like being in pots.
 
I'm literally days away from ripe toms. As far as growing, I've never had better looking plants, as many blooms and as many blooms turn into fruit as this year.

Unlike last year, when I had 15 varieties, maybe more, this year I have only seven. I also planted extremely close - 18" between plants, 2' between rows. But the Florida Weave has really helped.

Mike
 
Anybody ever grow the Zapotec tomato? From what I here its a good stuffing tomato which has an interesting ripples/pleated shape and when sliced it has nice scalloped edges. I'm growing a couple plants this year for the first time, but I haven't heard any personal experiences with this one so I thought this might be a good one to discuss
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top