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Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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Posted by
zander123 (
My Page) on
Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 23:57
| I live in zone 9 in Arizona in the desert at about 1500 ft elevation and would like to know which varieties of tomatoes would be best for growing in my location? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| Here is a bunch of previous heat-tolerant discussions. And here are tomato recommendations/methods from over on the Arizona Gardening forum here. Looks like proper planting times is the crucial factor. Hope this helps. Dave |
Here is a link that might be useful: Heat tolerant tomato discussions
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| Porter will outsurvive any tomato in the heat and produce but is a bit bland in taste. You can't have everything. It's also very prolific which is a bonus. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| zander, where in Arizona are you? I'm in Phx and am trying one called Super Sioux that is said to like hot dry conditions. But no tomatoes really are going to produce in the heat. Here at zero elevation, I am going for short dates to maturity and let the beds rest through summer. I'm interested in others comments. And although the link digdirt provided has lots of good info, new conversations can bring new enthusiasms. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| @marymcp I live near Florence, but not in the town, so it's a little higher in elevation and can be a little cooler. I found Super Sioux in a search too and it sounds like it would do good. I found a variety called Thessaloniki though and I would like to try that out. Also, I'm going to be planting within a week or two, so it shouldn't be too bad in terms of heat, but I wanted to find a heat tolerant variety, so that just in case it gets real hot one week I wanted to make sure they would survive, which occasionally happens. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| I'm in Pueblo, CO. We have two months straight with highs over 95 and my tomatoes were in direct sunlight from sunup to sundown. It's nothing like AZ, but it is still very arid and during the most brutal spells of 100+ days Super Sioux really did take the heat along with direct sunlight better than the other two dozen varieties I planted that year. At your elevation, you might also want to look at Cold Set, if your nights still get cold in the spring. It's not as tasty as Super Sioux, but it is very tolerant of both cold and heat. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| I am a fan of Florida 91. I am also trialing Phoenix (suppose to be similar to FL 91). I plant these in June and try to have them produce in September-November. Even with last years scorching heat, they did produce a good crop. Jay |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| You can always try those varieties supposedly bred for heat-tolerance. They all seem to have "sun" or "heat" or some similar "hot" element to their name - Heatmaster, Solar Fire, Sun Set, Solar King, etc. With the possible exception of Florida 91 that Jay mentioned, I have found most of them to be quite tasteless and not worth the space. You all are fortunate to have 2 growing seasons and such early planting allowances that I'd think it would be much easier than for most of us to push the early-planting envelope. Even if some early protection is needed. That way you'd beat the worst of the heat as long as you stick with short and/or mid-season varieties. Dave |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| I'm in the hottest part of the San Fernando Valley and certain varieties definitely do better than others here. Kelloggs Breakfast, Persimmon, San Marzano and Aussie all do great in the heat. So do Arkansas Traveler and Homestead and they both produce mid-season. Last year I grew several grafted plants to see how they would hold up in the heat. I cannot stress how pleased I was! We had four weeks of 100 degrees plus and most of the conventional plants, in spite of mulch and shade cloth couldn't hold up to it. The grafts, on the other hand did beautifully and without being watered for four weeks! I encourage you to try some. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| <...Last year I grew several grafted plants to see how they would hold up in the heat....> What does that mean exactly?....grafted plants. Could you provide more detail about that phrase? Thanks. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| Here Mary - lots of discussions about grafted tomato plants. They are available from many different sources. Dave |
Here is a link that might be useful: grafted tomato plants discussions
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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Mary, grafted tomatoes are heirloom varieties (and some hybrids) grafted (attached) onto very strong tomato root stock. The root stock is incredibly resitant to disease and is less sensitive to cold and hot temperatures. It allows us to grow plants, including some varieties that are typically difficult to grow, without some of the usual problems. There's almost no soil borne disease and since the roots get much larger and stronger than conventional tomato plants, they grow into healthier plants that produce a higher yield of fruit and for a longer time. The grafted plants cost more than conventional tomato seedlings but are so worth it! Planting them is a little different, too. I'd be happy to tell you more about that if you decide to try some.
Laura |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| There are a few different ways to look at heat affect to tomato plants. Some varieties just have such a prolific vegetative growth (more respiratory water loss) that they will be naturally stressed more by heat; others drop blossoms at higher temps. Even though an improved root structure will help, the best thing you can do during hot weather is provide more water. Shade will also go a long way in helping. I haven't seen any benefit of using grafted plants in PA but I'll acknowledge those graft rootstocks (I used Maxifort) develop a massive root system. Varieties that develop sticky stamens that will drop blossoms should be avoided. I know of very few heirloom varieties that handle heat well except the golf ball sized variety, Pusa Ruby, from India. If you google that variety you find that much tomato research in India includes it. Orange Blossom has always had a good reputation but it isn't a great eating tomato. My suggestion would be to use any of the suggested varieties, but keep them well watered during hotter weather. I find that all will tolerate spikes in temperature and resume fruiting as soon as daytime high temps return to 80's (60's at night). |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| What are sticky stamens, and how are they related to blossom drop? |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| i stick with juliet, yellow pear and early girl i grow german queen and black prince for flavor too but by 4th of july they're done the juliets and pears slow down in the heat i prune them back and they fire right back up in september and produce till january frost had on plant go 2 years then it dies of in april |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| I'm curious about shading tomato plants in the heat. When I first started gardening it was in Tucson. I remember back then that some people had good results using shade cloth over their veggie beds. Here in GA there is a farm not far from us where they grow some tomatoes under the outdoor eaves of their barn, in the shade. They say the tomatoes do really well there in the heat. I haven't tried shading yet, but if you can afford it or have a good location, it might be worth trying with a plant or two. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| Sorry, Missingtheob.., that I didn't explain more but I should have probably put "Sticky stamen" in quotes because it is a generic term for a theory that the male flower parts get sticky in hotter temperatures and do not release pollen. Naturally, if the flower ovary isn't polinated there is no initiation of fruit and the flower just wilts and drops. But what should be emphasized is that there are many varieties, mostly hybrids, that are more reliable in setting fruit at both higher and lower temperatures. Some heirloom varieties seem to stop setting fruit when high temperatures even reach to mid 80's F. |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| Thank you for the answer, bmoser. Interesting theory. I suppose it has to be either the stamens or the female parts to blame for not setting in hot weather. (Unless, as all-too-often here, it's Late Blight.) mto |
RE: Best heat resistant tomato varieties?
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| Like so much of the US, we got unusually hot (many 90 & several 100 degree temps.) and dry weather last summer. Of 20 or so varieties, Porter was the only one that kept producing right through the heat waves, so was my most productive (by total fruit weight) by far. I agree with everything else that grow4free mentioned above as well, including the flavor. I also grew Sioux, which has a more zippy flavor, but did have slow-downs in production. |
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