16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Here's my favorite tomato of 09 so far:

A little desert bounty with a blocky PDC in the middle.
This shows the deep pink better, hope.

The earliest ones were a little bigger. About half of them have an interesting cube shape. It's been over 100 degrees daily going on three weeks now, and these are going strong, still setting a few and looking like a plant that will make it to fall out here. I have harvested 38 and have another dozen looking good with about a dozen more very small ones recently showing. I imagine that number could be doubled or more in better conditions. They're a winner for appearance, taste, and heat tolerance. I wish I had more to share with friends.

4 more coming in soon:

I have a lot of blossom drop from the high heat, and the trusses could easily have held 10-12 maters in more hospitable conditions, instead of 3 to 6.

From what I understand, "Hybrid" didn't always used to mean F1. People used the word to describe stabilized crosses. Saw an article by the granddaughter of the founder of the Porter Seed Company (at Victory Seeds) which describes what seem to be stabilized crosses as "hybrids".

The nomenclature of the Porter family of tomatoes is confusing. I have what I think are the original pink Porter and the red Porter Improved (from Willhite seed). I've never seen seed offered for Porter Pink Slicing. Victory sells a pink "Porter Improved" (Porter's Pride), so maybe that's it. An inch and a half sounds a little small for a slicer, though.

TomatoFest sells a Porter Dark Cherry, but Bonnie has switched over to a pink "Porter Improved Hybrid" which they say is an inch long. They still use the same photo they've always used for various Porter tomatoes.

Your F1 results are impressive, HoosierCherokee. I've got Traveler 76, Burgundy Traveler and Bradley started this year. Also Indian Stripe and Eva Purple Ball. And some larger pinks. Drought permitting, maybe I can try a cross or two.

Great thread thanks to all.

They don't have to be exactly centered, just not so tight in the corners. As Destiny said a foot to a foot and half in (although I guess that would pretty much center the front ones anyway. :-)

Dave

Not going into details, I would/could plant 12 tomatoes in that raised bed/box or whatever, easily. That will be an average of 2.0 sqr-ft per plants. Considering that the planter is quite deep, this is my conservative approach. THAT IS 8 CUBIC FEET (over 50 gallons of root area/soil per plant)

I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but I was googling "Snowball" and it seems that there are some places that think that Snowball and White Beauty are the same tomato. Is that true?

Is it a small cherry tomato, or a large tomato?

I'm finding a lot of conflicting info :(

My mother grew snowball back in the 40's. I tried it here in Georgia about 2000. Did not seem the same as the one my mother grew. Produced small tennis ball size tomatoes. Good as any almost white tomato that I have grown but pretty bland. Mostly a novelty in my opinion. Shumway pushed it back in the olden days.

Everything else I grow is open-pollinated and produces very well.

Jay - curiosity - by "everything else" I assume you mean tomatoes? If so what other varieties are you growing that do well in your climate?

Reason I ask is climate, not variety, is your biggest handicap to overcome given the nature of tomato pollen and climate can be 'adjusted' somewhat.

Dave

Dear Dave,

When I say 'everything else' I mean I have found other vegetables that are open-pollinated - such as cucumbers, beans, lettuce, etc. that produce (and taste) good in my climate (often better than their hybrid counterparts). I just have not found any open-pollinated tomatoes that produce a decent amount of slicing tomatoes.

You are right in saying that climate is my biggest handicap. Some hot climates that do not experience freezes over the winter can grow tomatoes over the winter but those of us that have very hot summers (105F + day and 80+ at night) yet still experience freezing temps in the winter are often stuck with tomato plants that produce very little - if anything or with growing a few hybrid varieties.

What I do to adjust for the climate is the following:
1. I plant my tomatoes in a lowered garden (lower does equate to slightly cooler)
2. I grow tall shading plants on the West side (the sun is hottest and causes the most problems for tomatoes in the later afternoon).
3. I plant my tomatoes far from walls or other sources of radiant heat.
4. I water every 2-3 days with a soaker hose for 2 hours to encourage deep root growth (When I used to water every day I would have lots of disease and very few tomatoes).
5. I provide my plants with non-water soluble nutrients early in the season (near the plant) so that fertilizing does not occur during the greatest period of heat.
6. I provide a 2 foot deep bed that is full of rich organic material.
I am sure I could do something else, but this is all I can think of for now.

I believe the kind of tomato cultivar I am looking for most can be called vigorous determinate (something small with a lot of dense foliage) that can produce tomatoes in the heat. Though my Siletz plants seemed to fit everything I am looking for (including production), the fruit exhibited a lot of BER - just like some of dwarf varieties I have trialed. As there is plenty of calcium in my soil I attribute the BER to some factor related to the root system of particular cultivars. A friend of mine that grew Siletz in a much cooler climate also had problems with BER only on the Siletz.

I buy my seeds and would like to try saving my own, so I hope I will be as successful!

Now I'm really proud ! To be called successful ! I'm a gardener !

Seysonn- I'm not much of a tomato guy but I'm growing tomatoes so that I can make some great salsa. Are there any tomatoes that you can think of that you can think of that will be good in salsa but also for my conditions of growing?

For salsa you can use most any variety but your short season is your biggest handicap for growing. If you stick with short DTM varieties (aka Early varieties) then consider Grushovka, Siletz, Matina, and maybe Silvery Fir Tree or Clear Pink Early if you are growing your own from seed.

If you are buying transplants then it will all depend on what varieties are available for you to buy locally.

Dave

Visiting Germany I saw incredible tomatoes growing within thick high hedges. When I questioned lack of sun I was told Germans consider Tomatoes shade plants. This year I am doing an experiment on my west facing Lanai in Southwest Fl. I have 20 plants from seed in large pots - they get Sun only when the sun passes over our building (about 1:30 to 6:30 or 5 hrs). 10 get sun through a dark screen which is cuts down the sun quite a bit. The other 10 get it direct.
Results so far: All are thriving even with the 4-5 hrs sun they get. Those that get their sun through the screen have blossoms (35 so fasr), those with direct sun have no blossoms but the plants look great.
The ones that get direct sun wilt during the direct sun period, the others do not. Within 2 hrs past direct sun the wilted plants recover.
All are watered the same and I use a soil moisture meter to follow that (ususally every 3 days).

I will continue the expt a bit longer but will likely get my 10 Sunnies behind a screen.

Good info about shade tolerance of tomatoes.
In my garden I get about 4-5 hrs of direct sun. Last year it was ok. The problem was long extended rainy cool spring weather. I consider 5- 6 hrs quite adequate for tomatoes in warm climates like south and central Florida. In bright day, the plants also use the indirect light for their need, though it is of low intensity.Shade is not a TOTAL DARKNESS.

You have not said anything about fertilizing !!
How often you water it ? 200w for a single plant, under LED?

Probably it has been OVER fertilized, OR over watered. OR both.

The color of the foliage (if it is true, at correct camera light) tells me the plant has got a high dose of Nitrogen.

Thanks for the input. The plant has received no fertilizer yet except for the ferts in the Roots Organic Original soil. I've been watering up to 75 percent of field capacity and then letting it dry out to 30 percent before watering again. I do this by weight on a very accurate scale.
As for the light, I have grown a 4 foot "Red Cherry" plant with great results. (Got 92 golf ball sized tomatoes and another 80 or so on the plant when I switched to tap water and that killed the plant. Later found the pH of my tap was 8.31)

And "long run" is what you just did in your above post Keith.LOL

Excellent post.

I'll save this thread just for your post, or maybe I'll just cut and paste it to elsewhere.

Considering so much that you've included at your superb website, I wish that you'd consider writing a book, for the home grower mainly , because you write well, explaining many of the issues that have been dealt within this thread, as well as many more.

And yes, it was Keith who first clued me into the minor mutations that could occur such as differences in internode distances, as well as ways in which mutations could lead to, for instance, going from an RL leaf form, homozygous dominant, to heterozygous, still dominant
to homozygous recessive, then PL.

I knew of all the DNA mutations that could occur by looping out, repeats, inversions, etc, and knew them with viruses which I'd worked with, as well as some bacteria, but just never made the connection, never even thought about it when it came to tomato genes, Sigh,

Carolyn

Thank you! What great responses and what a wonderful education I am getting! My genetics classes in college came flooding back. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions so thoroughly. I have been known to "over think" things as Carolyn pointed out early on. But clearly I have been shown to be an amateur in this regard.Turned out to be one of my favorite threads. Thank you all for taking the time to educate me. :)

I like tomatoes canned whole. And I like them on the smallish side: this way, they fit better in the jars leaving less empty space between them and I also like when they fit whole into my mouth. :)
Last year, I had success with canning Juliet (red) and Joe Lauerer's Pink German Eggs (light pink) as whole-canners, they are small, keep their shape well in jars and stay firm, not mushy when canned. Somehow, I didn't like San Marzano Nano as whole-canners, maybe, they are better for sauces.
This year, I will also try for the first time these as my whole canners:
-Heidi
-Legenda Tarasenko
-Mountain Magic
-Principe Borghese

I am trying to locate the seeds for Kada tomato - someone on the forum recommended them as âÂÂsmall and hard as rockâ - just what you need for canning whole. :)

By the way, Green Zebra is not good for canned whole: I added a few GZ into jars to diversify the colors, but Zebras turn mushyâ¦.

This post was edited by green_go on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 14:14

I like San Marzano Redorta the best for paste and sauce but I throw in some Brandywine pinks for more flavor also.

Brian

I think you are right, Smithmal. I am going by 6 weeks (roughly speaking. Then I also have a small Cold Frame that I can shelter my seedlings overnight, while hardening them off. I am also going to build a portable hoop for early spring use.. Planting too early even when there is no danger of frost won't do any good if the temps are on the cool side.
My other plan is to cover the beds with CLEAR PLASTIC to warm up the soil a few degrees (Just leaving openings for the matoes.)

Thanks for the advice. I will probably wait until about March 1 to the 7th. I wanted to start early as my plants tend to grow kinda slow in a cooler part of the house. ...and then there's the darn "polar vortex" again! next week when we go back into the 30's during the day and the teens at night. uhhhhhh........ Thanks Brian