| Hi all, My 2008 Summary Overall, a pretty disappointing year. In 2007, I had 10 earthboxes and harvested over 600 tomatoes from twenty plants. For 2008, I built 18 additional boxes for a total of 56 plants and only harvested 400 tomatoes. I grew 17 varieties from seed (see below)...some were heirlooms and some were hybrids. I started my seeds six weeks before planting in my boxes on 1 April. My seedlings were on the "leggy" side but seemed to do fine once transplanting them.
I’ve decided that my great tomato variety experiment for 2008 ended up a "bust". I guess I’m a heretic because 2008 taught me that I like the hybrids much more than the heirlooms. To me, the heirlooms don’t taste any better than the hybrids and can’t say I’m wild about the catfacing, heavily ribbed/malformed fruit, and small fruit I got from the heirlooms. My hybrids produced much more fruit, larger fruit, and "prettier" fruit than did the heirlooms. The hybrid exception was Brandy Boy which had a lot of catfaced and malformed fruit. I understand beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I like big, round, smooth fruit...and plants that produce a lot of it. The hybrids give me the fruit I’m looking for, the heirlooms didn’t. Have included my list of varieties planted, how they did for me, and my Journal for the year. There may be a few useful tidbits in there you might find helpful. Also have some PICS at the end of the post. Some Thoughts:
Spring 2008 could not make up its mind as to whether it wanted to be nice and warm (normal) or cold/windy so we got both…on a day to day basis. April and May are normally beautiful months for growing with warm days in the 70’s and nights in the high 50’s to low 60’s. Our April had days from the high 70’s down to the high 30’s…right in the middle of blooming, pollinating and setting fruit. I’m sure this probably accounts for a lot of the malformed/catfaced fruit I experienced. June was much hotter/humid than normal with temps that were more normal for July than June. I pruned heavily in the beginning so did not get my first clusters of fruit until about two feet up the stem. Next year I will rebuild my trellis system into a box so I can use a Florida weave around the perimeter of the plants because I don’t plan on pruning next year. I’ll also build my trellis higher…to 7 feet. I may also rethink two plants per container. I’m convinced it doesn’t affect production at all but it sure ends up being a jungle come mid-June when the plants are over 6 feet tall, very robust and growing into and around each other. I will use plastic truss supporters next year. Lost a few clusters I didn’t catch in time which got so heavy from fruit that they broke the stems. Got hornworms first week in June…just like always. Bought a "Dustin Miser" from TGS…worthless IMO!! Still had some problems with BER, especially with the Whopper CR from Park seeds. Had the same problem with them last year. Used some lime in my soil mix but it did not seem to help the problem. Wanted to try some cherry and paste types this year. Was not impressed with any of them (Linguisa and Rocky did the best) so will concentrate on all beefsteaks next year. My boxes and fertilizer strip worked fine just as they did in 2007. The fertilizer...couple cups epsom salt, couple cups of lime, couple cups of Fertilome tomato food. So here’s next year’s list: Supersteak, Big Beef, Beefy Boy, Better Boy, Whopper CR, Lemon Boy, Brandy Boy, and maybe…Cherokee Purple. Hope all of you have had a fun and bounteous gardening season. Cheers, Bing
2008 VARIETIES NUMBER TYPE NAME COMPANY 1-51318 BEEFSTEAK SUPERSTEAK BURPEE
2-61101 BEEFSTEAK BRANDY BOY BURPEE
3-6301 BEEFSTEAK PORTERHOUSE BURPEE
4-5433 BEEFSTEAK BIG BEEF PARKS
5-5339 BEEFSTEAK BEEFY BOY PARKS
6-5380 BEEFSTEAK WHOPPER CR PARKS
7-5600 BEEFSTEAK LEMON BOY PARKS
8-3722 BEEFSTEAK MARIANNA’S PEACE TGS
9-5207 BEEFSTEAK CHEROKEE PURPLE TGS
10-5618 BEEFSTEAK AUNT GERTIES GOLD TGS
11-5833 BEEFSTEAK KELLOGG’S BKFST TGS
12-54965PASTE BIG MAMA BURPEE
13-5045 PASTE OPALKA TGS
14-5070 PASTE ROCKY TGS
15-6260 PASTE POLISH LINGUISA TGS
16-6148 CHERRY BLACK CHERRY TGS
17-5645 BEEFSTEAK MEXICO TGS
RESULTS: SUPERSTEAK
FAIRLY LOW PRODUCTION BUT VERY LARGE 16-20 OZ FRUIT
BEAUTIFULLY SHAPED TOMATOES
NO CATFACING OR MALFORMED FRUIT
TASTE WAS GOOD
BRANDY BOY
VERY ROBUST PLANTS—LARGE TOMATOES (10-16OZ)
PRODUCTION SEEMED TO DEPEND ON THE PLANT
SOME GOOD
SOME WITH LITTLE PRODUCTION
ONE PLANT WITH ONLY TWO TOMATOES
A LOT OF MISHAPEN FRUIT AND CATFACING
MOST FRUIT WERE PRETTY HEAVILY RIBBED
SOME NICELY SHAPED—LITTLE RIBBING
VERY GOOD TASTE
PORTERHOUSE
LOW PRODUCTION BUT VERY LARGE FRUIT (14-20OZ)
HEAVILY RIBBED FRUIT
LARGE AND DEEP STEM SCARS
BIG BEEF
VERY GOOD PRODUCTION
VERY NICELY SHAPED FRUIT
LARGE FRUIT—9-11 OZ
BEEFY BOY
GOOD PRODUCTION
NICELY SHAPED FRUIT
8-10 OZ FRUIT
WHOPPER CR
NICELY SHAPED FRUIT
GOOD PRODUCTION
ALWAYS SEEM TO GET BER ON QUITE A FEW TOMATOES
VERY GOOD SIZE—10 TO 14 OZ
LEMON BOY
VERY GOOD PRODUCTION
VERY NICELY SHAPED FRUIT—7-9 OZ
TASTES GOOD
MARIANNA’S PEACE
VERY POOR PRODUCTION
SMALL FRUIT---3-4 OZ
RIBBED AND SOME CATFACING
PLANTS GOT SOME KIND OF DISEASE AT TOP OF PLANT IN
CHEROKEE PURPLE
MEDIUM/LOW PRODUCTION
MOSTLY SMALL FRUIT—3-5 OZ; ONLY 1 GOOD SIZED TOMATO
GOOD TASTE
AUNT GERTIES GOLD
NO PRODUCTION AT ALL FROM 2 PLANTS
KELLOGG’S BKFST
LOW PRODUCTION
MOSTLY SMALL FRUIT—LARGER ONES VERY MISSHAPEN/CATFACED
THE TASTE DID NOTHING FOR ME
BIG MAMA
VERY LOW PRODUCTION
OPALKA
LOW PRODUCTION
SICKLY LOOKING PLANTS
ROCKY
BETTER PRODUCTION
5-6 OZ FRUITS
POLISH LINGUISA
BETTER PRODUCTION
5-6 OZ FRUITS
BLACK CHERRY
GOOD PRODUCTION
PLANTS NOT VERY ROBUST LOOKING
TASTE—NOTHING SPECIAL FOR ME BUT FRIENDS LIKED IT
MEXICO
VERY LOW PRODUCTION
2008 JOURNAL ENTRIES: 17 FEB 108 POTS PLANTED IN 30 AND 42MM PEAT PELLETS.
TWO SEEDS PER POT.
PLANTED 5 PELLETS OF EACH TYPE TO GET 4 PLANTS
PUT ON HEAT MAT TIL GERMINATED THEN TO LIGHT RACK
THINK IT’S BETTER TO JUST PUT ON REFRIGERATOR 24 FEB
PLANTED ANOTHER 35 POTS DUE TO 80% GERMINATION RATE
ALSO PLANTED 5 LEMON BOY AND CANTALOPE
CANTALOPE GROWING VERY QUICKLY-SPROUTED 3 DAYS 26 FEB
ABOUT 80 PERCENT GERMINATION RATE.
BRANDY BOYS DID VERY WELL.
NONE OF THE WHOPPERS GERMINATED.
REPOTTED 64 PLANTS INTO 2X3" POTS
ALLOWING THE OTHER 20 OR SO TO GROW A LITTLE MORE
42MM PELLETS MUCH EASIER TO TRANSPLANT THAN 30MM 6 MAR TRANSPLANTS SHOWING SOME SIGNS OF DISTRESS
NOT DARK GREEN BUT SOMEWHAT PALE GREEN
CAN SEE SOME VEINS
WILL WATER AND FEED TODAY WITH NITROGEN MIX 15 MAR
REPOTTED INTO 4X4 POTS
SEEDLINGS "LEGGIER" THAN I’D LIKE 25 MAR TOOK FLATS OUTSIDE TO HARDEN OFF
FIRST COUPLE OF DAYS BROUGHT BACK INSIDE
LEFT OUTSIDE WHEN LOW AT NIGHT S IN THE UPPER 50’S
SEEDLINGS IN THE SHADE—NO SUN 29-30 MAR REPLANTED INTO CONTAINERS
ALL SEEM TO BE DOING WELL
WILL LEAVE IN FULL SHADE UNTIL 6 APRIL 5 APR BAD THUNDERSTORM BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF SEEDLINGS. FIXED THEM THE BEST I COULD…WE’LL SEE 6 APR PLANTED THE OTHER 10 BOXES. SEEDLINGS IN POTS PRETTY BEAT UP SO TRIMMED ALL LOWER LEAVES. ON A FEW, ONLY HAVE TOP GROWTH…WE’LL SEE. BOXED PLANTINGS SEEMED TO RECOVER SOMEWHAT 7 APR BRIGHT AND SUNNY…FULL SUN FOR FIRST TIME…WE’LL SEE 13 APR SEEDLINGS PLANTED 29 MAR ALL DOING VERY WELL
BEAT UP SEEDLINGS ALSO DOING WELL..NO PROBLEMS SO FAR
SET UP THE REMAINING 10 TRELLISES AND STRING 25 APR PLANTS THAT WERE DAMAGED ON 5 APR HAVE RECOVERED NICELY
HAVE SOMETHING ON SOME OF THE LOWER LEAVES OF SOME PLANTS—CAN’T IDENTIFY WHAT IT IS
FIRST BUDS STARTING TO APPEAR—ALL LOOKS GOOD 30 APR FED PLANTS LIQUID BLOOMING FERTILIZER ON 28 APRIL
HAVE A FEW BUDS BUT THEY ARE HALFWAY UP THE 3 FOOT HIGH PLANTS—NEXT YEAR DON’T PRUNE ALL THE LOWEST SUCKERS—LET SOME GROW OUT
PLANTS ARE DOING WELL—NO PROBLEMS SO FAR
MORNINGS ARE A LOT COOLER THAN I REMEMBER FOR LATE APR 1 MAY FIRST TOMATOES SET 7 MAY LOTS OF FLOWERS NOW 10-15 MAY LOTS OF TOMATOES SET NOW
ALL PLANTS LOOK GOOD EXCEPT THE TWO PASTE PLANTS (OPALKA AND ROCKY)
PORTERHOUSE -UGLY FRUIT (HEAVILY RIBBED) BUT A PRETTY GOOD FRUIT SET-BIGGEST TOMATOES SET
FIRST CASES OF BER SEEN ON A COUPLE OF TOMATOES
FED WITH BLOSSOM FOOD AND CALCIUM
SOME PLANTS ALREADY OVER TOP OF TRELLIS AT 6 WEEKS 23 MAY-27 MAY REMOVED 9 WHOPPERS WITH BER-RETHINK FOR NEXT YEAR
CATERPILLARS HAVE SHOWED UP-WILL TREAT WITH BT
BIG BEEF HAS BEST FRUIT SET-20 OR SO FRUITS
PORTERHOUSE FRUIT LOOKS GOOD
LEMON BOY ALSO LOOKS GOOD
NOT IMPRESSED WITH ANY OF THE PASTE TYPES
LOTS OF BLOSSOM DROP AND NOT SETTING FRUIT
SOME PLANTS 7’ PLUS
MAYBE ONLY 1 PLANT PER BOX NEXT YEAR WITH NO PRUNING 28 MAY TREATED CATERPILLARS WITH BT 3 JUN PICKED FIRST RIPE TOMATO…A SMALL BEEFY BOY WITH BER!!
FIRST TWO BLACK CHERRIES ALMOST RIPE…A DAY OR TWO
CATERPILLERS A PROBLEM…KILLED 2 BIG ONES
PORTERHOUSE ARE GETTING REALLY BIG NOW
SOME MORE BER ON PASTE TYPES
SOME LEAVES STARTING TO SHOW PROBLEMS…ESPECIALLY BOTTOM LEAVES 10 JUN PICKED FOUR RIPE TOMATOES…1 PORTERHOUSE, 1 BRANDY BOY, 1 BIG BEEF, 1 BEEFY BOY AND ABOUT 12 BLACK CHERRIES 11 JUN LOTS OF TOMATOES NOW STARTING TO RIPEN. CUT AWAY A LOT OF FOLIAGE SO I CAN SEE ALL THE TOMATOES. REALLY IMPRESSED WITH THE SIZE OF THE SUPERSTEAKS…NOT A GREAT DEAL OF FRUIT BUT THE FRUIT ARE VERY BIG AND WELL FORMED. DEFINITELY REPLANT NEXT YEAR. THE PORTERHOUSE ALSO PRODUCE A NICE BIG TOMATO BUT ARE HEAVILY RIBBED. NOT A GREAT DEAL OF PRODUCTION WITH THEM. THE BEEFY BOY AND THE BIG BEEF HAVE BOTH SET A LOT OF WELL SHAPED FRUIT. THE LEMON BOYS HAVE ALSO SET A LOT OF FRUIT. NOT IMPRESSED WITH MEXICO…THINK ONLY ONE OR TWO TOMATOES. BRANDY BOY SEEMS TO DEPEND ON THE PLANT. SOME HAVE A LOT OF FRUIT AND OTHERS HAVE NONE. A LOT OF THE FRUIT IS MALFORMED OR CATFACED. WHOPPER…SOME GOOD AND SOME BAD. THINK I’LL FORGET ABOUT ANY PASTE TOMATOES FOR NEXT YEAR. NOT IMPRESSED WITH OPALKA. SPINDLY PLANTS AND NOT A LOT OF FRUIT. THE ROCKY AND POLISH LINGUISA ARE THE TWO BEST. BIG MAMA PRETTY MUCH A DUD. THE BLACK CHERRY TASTE TO ME WAS NO BIG DEAL. HAVEN’T SEEN TOO MUCH CATERPILLER DAMAGE LATELY. 14 JUN
TRIED THE FOLLOWING:
BRANDY BOY---VERY GOOD FLAVOR
LEMON BOY—VERY GOOD ALSO
CHEROKEE PURPLE—ALSO GOOD
KELLOGG’S BKFST----NO FLAVOR—DID NOT LIKE IT MUCH 19 JUN CUT STEMS ON ABOUT 8 PLANTS
CATERPILLARS ARE GETTING BAD—HAVE NOT SPRAYED AGAIN
SUPERSTEAK ARE HUGE TOMATOES—1-2 POUNDS
PORTERHOUSE—ALSO BIG BUT HEAVILY RIBBED
MOST OF CHEROKEE PURPLE VERY SMALL-ONLY ONE BIG ONE
AGG—LOSER!
KELLOGG’S BKFST—LOSER
MARIANNA’S PEACE—LOSER
PASTES—NOT IMPRESSED, POLISH LIGUISA AND ROCKY THE BEST 25 JUN ABOUT DONE FOR THIS YEAR
ESTIMATE ABOUT 70 TOMATOES LEFT ON THE VINE
CUT STEMS ON A BUNCH OF PLANTS LESSONS LEARNED:
PLANT ONLY 4/5 WEEKS PRIOR TO PLANTING
GROW IN COOLER TEMP…GARAGE
TRY "SUNGOLD" CHERRY NEXT YEAR
DON’T PRUNE AT ALL NEXT YEAR
BUILD SQUARE PVC TRELLIS TO GO AROUND OUTSIDE OF BOX AND BUILD TRELLIS ANOTHER FOOT HIGH
MAYBE ONLY ONE PLANT PER BOX—VERY CROWDED
BIG BEEF LOOKS LIKE A WINNER
WHOPPERS HAVE BER AGAIN BUT NICE 11OZ TOMATOES
LIKE PORTERHOUSE AND SUPERSTEAK FOR BIG FRUIT
CATERPILLARS SHOWED UP AROUND 21 MAY LIKELY CANDIDATES FOR NEXT YEAR:
LEMON BOY
BRANDY BOY
BIG BEEF
BEEFY BOY
SUPERSTEAK-BIG TOMATOES
CHEROKEE PURPLE
WHOPPER
BETTER BOY
CELEBRITY 
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