Just picked first tomato from bush golaith yesterday planted last of April--no rain yet this year but the wind will not stop -- has a large impact on rest of crop -- OH I have lots of tomatoe set but plants look like h--- .=

How will you use that information for your tomato growing in Utah when some may post data from many different geographic areas that would not be applicable to where you are.

Different soils, different amendments used, if so, which ones, how often and how much, different weather, how the plants are grown, etc. and the many variables that determine when different varieties start to ripen.

Honest, I'm not trying to be difficult, but I just am having problems seeing how anyone can extend such data as being useful, to not just you in Utah, but for folks anywhere.

Carolyn

It isn't just for me, though I am curious to see the trends and variability of different types of tomatoes in different areas. It obviously won't be EXACT info in any case, but I would be interested in hearing, in general trends, how different tomatoes are doing in different areas. For example, if a tomato is supposed to be a mid-season type, and it is producing late in some areas, that could be useful information, or vice-versa if it is a later type but comes on fairly early in some areas

In addition, if someone is growing a particular type of tomato and they want to know what level of development they should be expecting at a particular stage or time, then information such as this could be beneficial to them. I did not include a request for people to list things like dates they started flowering or dates they noticed first fruit set, because I think that gets just TOO complex for some people, but that could also be beneficial, if people actually noticed it, and if they wanted to include it.

One thing that is clear to me is that many people come on the board and want to know, "How are my tomatoes doing compared to other people? And what should I be expecting NOW?" Information like this could at least point them towards general trends.

We are up North here, in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, which is just north of Sault Ste. Marie Michigan. I started my Black Krim indoors from a cutting in February, so this is a 4 month old bush - it has 12 leaders on it, and is very healthy looking, it has about 30+ tomatoes on it - I picked a ripe two last week, and there is another one ripening today.

Our growing season here is so short, so I have to start all my tomatoes indoors, and I have a very nice setup with fluorescent strip lights - total of 4' x 12' of fluorescent, and 4' x 9' of HID garden - metal halide 575W pulse start lamps, and 600w HPS - our climate is kind of cold, so the use of the lamps cuts down on my heating cost :)

Thanks for your post. Sounds interesting. Even though you are way up north, you are beating a lot of people down here with your early production.

Sungold, Zone 9A, seeded in-ground, planted April 1st. First ripe tomato June 21st. Weather Normal SoCal Weather.

I want to compare with others. I have two other types growing, but they are not yet riped. I'll try to post when they are ready.

Sungold Sunset Zone 23, planted Easter Sunday. First ripe tomato June 15. Weather on dry side not so much June Gloom as usual.

Mr. Stripey Sunset Zone 23, planted Easter Sunday. First ripe tomato June 19. Smaller than last year so far.

What's shown in the picture and I ask b'c it's not Sungold and it isn't Mr Stripey,. at least the large beefsteak Mr Stripey, and if it was the small original Mr Stripey. also called Tigerella it should be a small red with gold Stripes. ( smile)

Carolyn

I also live in Utah (SLC area) zone 5b. I start all my tomatoes by seed, starting them around the last week in March first week April. This year I have 20 varieties all about 18 inches tall with no tomatoe sets. In my experience over the years my tomatoes don't tend to ripen until the first or second week in August. I have Stump in my garden again this year, and is usually on of my first ripe tomatoes.

I also live in Utah (SLC area) zone 5b. I start all my tomatoes by seed, starting them around the last week in March first week April. This year I have 20 varieties all about 18 inches tall with no tomatoe sets. In my experience over the years my tomatoes don't tend to ripen until the first or second week in August. I have Stump in my garden again this year, and is usually on of my first ripe tomatoes.

Sorry about the double post. There is no echo just my inability to post with a tablet.

Fanatic, I love Stump of the World. If you are getting it to ripen as one of your first tomatoes, you are lucky.

My first ripe tomato this year was "4th of July." Started from seed, indoors, about Feb 15th. Put out in Walls of Water on April 10th. First ripe tomatoes June 19th. So far it is beating Stupice, Kotlas and Early Wonder, but it was planted on the south side of a brown PVC fence and has been getting more heat than they did. Otherwise our weather was wet and cold until early May.

Spring 2013 results and impressions to date.

Average temperature has been about 3 degrees cooler than in recent years.
Rainfall has increased slightly, but is still well below normal.

Porter, from seed on Feb10, planted March 15 in a container, first ripe June 2
Prolific, bland unless picked fully ripe.

Porter, from seed on Feb10, planted March 15 in the garden, first ripe June 9
Less fruit but better quality than in container.

Improved Porter, nursery, planted March 23 in the garden, first ripe June 13
Few fruit, poor quality, early decline.

Juliet, Feed Store, planted March 15 in a container, first ripe May 20
Prolific, firm tasty fruit, outgrowing container

JD's Early Black, nursery, planted March 23 in the garden, first ripe May 26
Very sweet, cracked radially, my smallest plants

Sioux, from seed on Feb 10, planted March 15 in the garden, first ripe May 29
Good flavor, smaller fruit than expected 3-4 oz

Early Girl, feed store, planted March 15 in the garden
Full sized fruit, still green, a week or two away

Tycoon, feed store, planted March 15 in a container
Severe deer damage in early April, hand-ball sized fruit 3-4 weeks out

Cherokee Purple, from seed on Feb10, planted March 15 in a container
Severe deer damage in early April, marble sized fruit, 4-6 weeks out

Starting Fall seedlings this week.

Sungold.

Wichita, Kansas. I ate one couple of days ago so this isn't really the first ripe one. In general they are not doing very well IMO. Have had a lot more fruit at this date in past years. The weather has been very cool and wet then very hot. I'm a little worried.

We live in beautiful Star Valley, Wyoming where it is frigid cold!! Our last low - below 32 degrees day - was last week - but there are surely more days like that to come before fall. One cannot grow tomatoes here with out protection or a GH.

We planted all of our tomato seeds the same day - January 25th in our home under grow lights. We moved them to the GH on March 10th. Our first ripe tomato this year was Sweet Baby Girl on May 17th - Brandy Boy on June 11th - German Giant on June 18th and Better Boy on June 24th. As you can see in the photo - the ripening date means they were ripe to pick from the plant and enjoy! We definitely have bragging rights in this valley for the earliest ripe tomatoes!

Hudson, I used to live in Cheyenne, which sits at 6000 ft altitude, though on the east side of the continental divide, and I'm sure Star Valley is colder. While I lived in Cheyenne, I planted multiple fruit trees including several types of cherries and apples, that no one said would survive. However, they did survive, at least as long as we lived there. Tomato season was short and I never tried anything beyond early maturing and cherry tomato types. But it was nice during summer to NEVER need to use an air conditioner. Period. Of course, I remember the kids going Trick or Treat on Haloween with temps of 22 degrees below 0 F.

I already figured you were using a greenhouse. I wish I had a real one here. I would just love to extend our growing season here in Salt Lake, by a few months.

Haha - small world Fcivish - I lived in Ogden, Utah where I developed a love for Utah tomatoes - then moved to Star Valley where we couldn't grow them! Yes, we are much higher than Cheyenne - Star Valley is 6,500 - 7,000 depending where you live. Since we have lived here (almost 20 years) we have seen snow in every month of the year at one time or another - but that's what makes this place so beautiful !? That is great that you were able to grow fruit trees in Cheyenne - the problem here is that a tree may grow 5 years and then mother nature gives a punch and kills everything that shouldn't grow here. We have replaced 15 trees and now only grow trees that will tolerate this climate. A GH is a must for tomato lovers here and we have enjoyed ours along with the wonderful tomatoes we can grow - almost as good as those grown in Utah - haha.
Please stop by on your way to Jackson Hole or YellowStone Park and we will show you our GH (if you are interested).

I plantedout ist week of May. I have picked a Mr Stripey and a Parks Whopper and have a blush on a Estlers ML. My plants were a little larger than avg when I set them. I have Burpee Orange Slice that are large and plentiful but not ripe. Ditto C Purple and I Stripe.

Hudson, I might take you up on that visit sometime, but it won't be this year.

Bigpinks, Were your tomatoes grown from seed, or commercial plants? Did you have blossoms on your plants before you planted them out? I wonder because I routinely remove ANY blossoms or small tomatoes that are on plants when I put them in the ground, because I'm afraid it will slow down their long term growth. Maybe I shouldn't. I wonder what other people think about this.

The tomatoes that I have picked were from purchased plants. They were normal nursery size maybe 12 in and bushy healthy. No blooms. The Indian tomatoes and Burpee Orange Slice(maybe the nicest tomato plant in my garden considering size, vitality, taste and productivity) I grew from seed.

The plants that have had ripe tomatoes are from a nursery.

I live in Zone 6 (southern Ohio). Yesterday I Picked a Big Boy and I have another of the same variety that is almost ripe. I picked 3-4 Sun Sugars last week and I have a Tommy Toe that is ripe and still on the plant. I usually don't have ripe tomatoes until after the 4th of July.

I put my plants in the ground at the end of April which is a little early for my zone. I did have to cover them one time because of a frost risk but we actually didn't end up getting a frost.

This post was edited by Christacharlene on Sat, Jun 29, 13 at 19:16

Zone 6 , So.. Central Indiana . Bloody Butcher , Started seed Feb . 22 . Planted in garden May 22. First ripe tomato 6/30. Organic Garden . I mixed in 3 scoops of finished compost and 1 big scoop of rabbit manure with the dirt in each hole. The plant this tomato came off of has 28 tomatoes on it of which this is the only one that was even near ripe. None of the remaining tomatoes have even started to change color. The tomato was the lowest on the plant. Gonna slice it up and devour it right now . Yum Yum nothing like the first homegrown Indiana tomato of the year !!!!!

Sun Sugar (cherry tomato), Zone 6/NNJ, nursery plant, planted early May. First ripe tomato June 22nd. Strange spring, cooler than usual, followed by lots of early June rain and heat. Planted in 5 gallon bucket.

I'm not particularly fond of cherry tomatoes; Sweet Millions are too sweet for my liking, but these are HEAVENLY. I went out and just purchased another plant, from Lowes.

Sungold, 4b, nursery, planted out in large container June 5, first ripe tomato June 28. Tomato was already on plant when I bought it.

Sungold April 13
Brandywine June 5
Lemonboy June 10
Black From Tula June 10

Grew indoor from seed Feb 10, then planted outdoors March 10 protected by Wall of Water early season plant protectors, then removed the protectors April 5. I have the earliest harvest in my area. Most people in this area plant transplants in the ground April 15 to May 15 and start harvesting in July. I live in Northern California, inland, near Sacramento.

I picked an early girl on june 18th...west virginia..was dry now its wet..I have a sweet 100...8 feet tall..sungold hit 16 feet tall last year..growing up lattice..feeding epsom salts...dave in wv

Early Girl, Zone 9A, Six inch tall seedlings purchased from Lowe's and planted out April 20th. First ripe tomato July 3rd. Weather has been normal Southern California weather.

Picked first Sungold. Started indoor beginning of April, planted May 14, noted first green tom June 18. Am thinking Tigerella will be second and new for me Amazing Chocolate is looking promising.

Update- Amazon Chocolate and Paul Robeson have changed the color today. Yay! two fruits on each. Planted out WOW May 1. Have had few Sungolds and HHHS so far. http://www.rareseeds.com/hssiao-his-hung-shih-tomato/