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What tomatoes are you growing in 2016?

Noah Yates said:
I heard that one is an "heirloom of heirlooms" type tomato too... very old school tomato genetics!!!  
Im sure there are older since tommys come from america and its an Italian heirloom, Cherokee is supposedly 500 years old.  Costolutos have a great, bright, acidic flavor with enough juice for sauce while still being firm enough for sandwichs plus their really pretty and the skin isn't overly thick.  If you need something rugged Black Plum is your guy they are extremely determined to grow
 
Noah Yates said:
Well... I have yet to decide just exactly what I want to do...  My primary intention with this grow, aside from the loads of fun, is discover which varieties do well in my local conditions,  seek desirable phenotypes of each of those varieties, and save seeds from those.  So in that sense it would be good form me to grow out decent numbers of each variety.  However, as my grow list increases, its becoming difficult to imagine how I can take care of so many tomato plants regarding the staking and caging.  My main tomato garden this year will be the spot that last years pepper patch was on:
 
 
 
 
On that plot I have 9 rows 100 feet in length... my most extreme plan would involve there being 50 plants down each row (5 plants each of 10 varieties down each row.)= 450 plants
 
 450 plants would correspond to 450 tomato cages that I dont have currently.  I am probably going to make my own cages using some cheap source of wire mesh with a large gauge.  My ultimate dream would be to actually run 9x 100 foot fences down the rows as permanent trellis.  Last season I planted a whole bunch of tomatoes in a dense row along my mom's new fence... the tomato plants interwove themselves along the fence perfectly, and it was the most productive tomato patch last year.  If anyone has an idea about how to (relatively) cheaply cage 450 beefsteak tomato plants, please pass it on!  
sweet looking yard !!!!!!!
 
Topsmoke said:
Im sure there are older since tommys come from america and its an Italian heirloom, Cherokee is supposedly 500 years old.  Costolutos have a great, bright, acidic flavor with enough juice for sauce while still being firm enough for sandwichs plus their really pretty and the skin isn't overly thick.  If you need something rugged Black Plum is your guy they are extremely determined to grow
Could be... I was just referring to a google talk with Amy Goldman that I watched recently, where she said that the costoluto genovese is an italian heirloom that represents the some of the first tomato genetics to enter europe from Mexico... and that Mexico is where the tomato was originally domesticated-- so that the pedigree and general taxonomic features of the costoluto genovese are that of some of the first domesticated tomatoes.

https://youtu.be/qTv1PmYK8w4?t=19m37s
 
I am allergic to raw tomatoes, but I need them for most of my sauces and such, so I will be looking for just one type to grow this year.
I need something good for cooked sauces that will be relatively hands off till harvest. I am considering an Amish paste type from KY, but if anyone has suggestions I am open to them.
 
Yeah, you probably want some sort of roma/ saucing style tomato... jersey devil, casady's folly, purple russian, and san marzano are the saucers that I will be growing.  San Marzanos are apparently the gold standard of paste tomatoes, but I don't have any experience with them myself.   After all of my research, if I were going to pick up one more paste tomato it would be the polish linguisa... they look great...   The Amish paste is probably good too.  And although its not a paste tomato, I feel like I have to mention there is a tomato called Goose Creek!!
 
CheriLBW said:
I am allergic to raw tomatoes, but I need them for most of my sauces and such, so I will be looking for just one type to grow this year.
I need something good for cooked sauces that will be relatively hands off till harvest. I am considering an Amish paste type from KY, but if anyone has suggestions I am open to them.
why do you need them for your sauces if you're allergic?  like hot sauces? I actually always found it interesting to put tomatos in a hotsauce, isnt that just hot ketchup? anyway why not use bellpeppers for a base, people also seem to like carrots as a filler.  back to tomatoes,I would suggest a cherry type as they fruit heavily, early and with almost no problems.  But if you dont want to touch the actually plant, which even i get itchy from the leaves, your solution would be to grow determinate varities and then trellis them in an espalier fashion so as to make the fruit more accessible.
 
I am only allergic to the raw form. What ever is in them I am allergic to is cooked out.
I love the taste of them, but it is bad enough I carry an eppi pen when I travel or eat out.
 
I cook allot of Italian style foods that have a tomato base in them. I prefer to use all my own fresh grown ingredients, but have avoided tomatoes for years  just because it is such a hassle to work with the raw fruit.( I look like I am going into a hazmat area when doing it ) I want to try it this year. I do have people wanting the fresh fruit if I find I can not deal with it though so it will not go to waste.
 
amazing how tomato grow lists get finalized before the pepper list.
 
i sow tomato seed in march then plant outside end of may or first week of june depending on nighttime temperatures.
 
pink brandywine
red brandywine
paul robeson
black zebra cherry
chocolate stripe
black krim
cherokee purple
black triefele
sun sugar F2
sun gold F1
costoluto genovese
green zebra
 
then every year i select a few seeds from a package of McKenzie Rainbow Blend for a surprise tomato, so far it has only delivered nebraska wedding and purple cherokee, every year i hope for yellow brandywine or white wonder.
 
i'm going to scan the tomatoes in this post and see if i am missing out on anything.
 
Every time I look at this thread, I think--maybe I need more tomatoes....? Bad influence!

I did rescue some weird volunteer I found in my lawn. It turned purple from the cooler temps so I'm curious to see what it is. Up to 9 plants.
 
My first seeding to pop this round was a tomato! Wonder if 2016 will be Year of Tomatoes for me.

Also figured out my purple tomato plant is probably a Safari. Certainly looks like some tomatoes I remember buying a few months ago.
 
Every fall I curse my tomatoes - what a mess of rotting, green, spotted, gooey glop during final cleanup. Every fall I swear I won't do as many tomatoes, just a couple of plants I say ... that's all I need ... yeah, yeah ...
 
Now it's several months later, and I'm thinking about growing more tomatoes again - damnit ! In addition to last year's favorite (Juliet), I'm thinking of growing these four heirlooms (Brandywine, Striped German, Cherokee Purple, and Amish Paste) instead of my usual hybrids (early girl, cherry 100). I would just grow 1 (or 2) each, then maybe mess with some heirloom grafting for heavier production. Any thoughts on these? I think it would give me a good variety of eating, saucing and pasting.
 
So... after further investigation I stumbled upon a really awesome paste tomato called Opalka.  Anyone looking for a large, prolific paste tomato should check it out.  I added amish paste, opalka, and polish linguisa to go along with my other paste tomatoes: jersey devil, casady's folly, purple russian, and san marzano.  
 
My list of tomatoes is complete!!! Its an even 120 varieties.  I will be planting 6 seeds of each= 720 plants/72 cell trays=10 trays of tomatoes.  
 
You won't be disappointed with Opalka. 
 
Still haven't had time to figure out my list, probably not until January after I figure out my pepper grow list.
 
I just planted brandywine, yellow pear and black krim seeds this weekend. I might add 2 or 3 other types of tomato's this year. Those will most likely be small plants I buy in February/March.
 
Since I have space at work now I'll be doing more tomatoes that usual this year and other veggies too... (not to mention chilies :onfire: )
 
red brandywine
purple cherokee
german stripe
black krim
green zebra
and blondkopfchen for a cherry size.. and maybe some from the garden centre if they have anything interesting.
 
and loads of green tomatillos for salsa verde!
 
I'll also be trying my hand at sugar snap peas and eggplant for the first time this year.           :cool: 
 
Getting much closer to my main grow list
 
Sungold
Tomatoberry
Sweet Quartz
Sweet Million
4th of July
Dester
George Detsikas Italian Red
Sheryl's Portuguese Red Heart
Thessaloniki
Ample
Gildo Pietroboni
Reinhard's Purple Heart
German Johnson Benton Strain
Raspberry Miracle
 
 
I anyone wants seeds to George Detsikas Italian Red.  I saved seeds from last year.  Very delicious tomato. Great for tomato sandwich's.
 
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