16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Black Krim has been known to give a blunt heart shape, see the link below for a well known variety Brad's Black Heart.

You're in W MA and I'm in Eastern NYS not that far from you and I guess it might be best to say that IMO there is no such thing as local adaptation and this after growing 3,000 plus varieties and being raised on a farm, so up close and personal with tomatoes for a verrryyy longtime.

Folks have selected for larger size, for earlier versions of a known variety, for this and that and they never seem to genetically stabilize.

To me local adaptation means a landrace, such as Ethiopian Wheat and some rice cultivars and it took thousands of years of subtle mutations for those to adapt to local conditions.

Cold hardy? I guess it depends on how cold? Tomatoes were from the highlands of Chile and Peru where its a temperate, not a jungle environment,

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Brad's Black Heart

Re Brad's Black Heart

Tania says it's early and good-tasting, but not very productive.

My Black Krim was good tasting, but neither early nor productive. In fact the plant seemed miserable. The first BK was bought from a nursery too late in the season and was probably root-bound. It almost died, but I coddled it and it produced two tasty tomatoes. I saved the seeds and a friend grew them out and gave me two plants the following spring. Something happened and the young plants seemed to stop growing in her cold frame and everything else overtook them, but they eventually caught up and fruited. I think I will skip them next year.

My Purple Cherokee was early and tasted great, but that wasn't very productive either.

Perhaps Indian Stripe would be a good black tomato to try.

Linda

yeah i noticed the pale leaves its only on that one plant and its the biggest so maybe its using more nutes than the others. i had given some bird guana a couple days before the picture, it didn't seem like it helped so i gave it some fish emulsion today.

Yellowing bottom leaves are normal, trim and remove from the garden area as they might be blighted. Mulch plants to avoid dirt splash as it can damage leaves. I grow 'better boy' in cages with three stems (two are the lowest suckers) and remove 1/3 to 1/2 of all leaves to provide better air circulation. Very productive.

Earl I could not find you over there, I would like some MWC as well, can trade an extra pack of super sweet seeds I received.

Never mind I found the exchange Carolyn was referencing thank you.

Thanks for the feedback KCKook. Don't doubt your gardening abilities, though, based only on last year. We don't do that very often, thank goodness. But our summers down here just south of you are typically hot enough to stop fruit set. About the only thing that will set during July and August for me are cherries.
I've asked at the farmer's market what varieties they grow, and they are nice enough to share, but it seems silly to grow the same varieties when I can get those at the market. And none of the tomato farmers live in the city. We live in the heart of the urban heat island, and are several degrees warmer than the suburbs. It doesn't help.
I've ordered my Omar, so I'll let you know how he does. And I think he needs an Arkansas Traveler to keep him company.

Anyone have some spare seeds of an Omar for trade or the like? My wife's family on her Dad's side are from that area.

JD

Here is a link that might be useful: Pierce Farmstead

Wow! These look "fantastic-o"

Has anyone tried them? I wonder if they would be better than Red Robin - although I wouldn't be able to save seeds.....

Linda

Park's is sold out already per their website.

I can say that 6 hours of sun , in zone 9 Texas should be enough. Part of the sunlight is used as heat energy by the plants. In zone 9, TX, they will get lots of energy AND also consider the amount of indirect light in bright long summer days. Actually 6 hours is considered FULL SUN. I do garden at PNW, cooler weather with just about 6 hour of sun.

hard to grow large fruit from a small fruit plant

Mine have done the same. Green fruit that set early sat forever. Now they are all ripening at once since the weather has turned milder. Not many new blossoms or fruit though on the top of the plants. I figure maybe 30% production compared to the last few years. Flavor of Black Krim is not as good as usual. BooHoo.

bump:

Those were the days, my friend,
we thought they never end.
we couldn't wait for that mato to turn red..
and suddenly the fall fell upon us
..
when life becomes memories , it becomes of more value.
I dream of spring again.

how about you ?

My new task (dream maybe?) is a volunteer tomato that came up where I had tossed some kind of tomato in to the edge of the woods. Probably a "tomato on the vine" from the grocery store.

It grew so well and had lots of fruit, even though it was neglected and had too much shade. It had a really good taste, better than my old standby's. But my old standby's didn't have much flavor this year due to the coolest, wettest summer we have ever had.

I saved the seed from several fruits with hopes that I will get at least one plant that duplicates that one!

It just seems so risky to place even modest confidence in saved seeds from an unknown variety. Much of my delema is to retry remaining purchased seed packets which grew untrue or just toss them and reorder from a new source. I'll admit I have saved seeds from a few fruits that produced unexpected results just to see if I could get similar results but I never want to risk that with more than a few plants.
Each of us has different goals that we are setting for the coming year. I'm somewhat pleasently surprised how my cherry tomato season ended and I'll likely continue to plant ~200 plants, same as the past 2 years. My main shift will be to grow fewer heirloom varieties with simple red or pink color. I'll likely keep black varieties constant and include a few more newer striped heritage varieties- those seem to be the ones that I'm dreaming about.

dickiefickle:

i've seen images of magnesium deficient leaves and they do have some similarities to mine, i will look into this.

miesenbacher:

a soil test is logical but I've been quoted $220 ($US200) by a local soil lab, which is not within my budget. Yes we have molasses, seen it at home brew stores.

thanks for your replies!

If you are using a fertilizer formulated for Tomatoes and peppers, It already has magnesium in it. READ THE LABEL>
If not, put one Tspn of epsom salt in 2 gallons of water and water your plants with it. Or simply get some tomato fertilizer.

Certainly all the observations about differing taste buds and growing conditions are valid, but in my experience so is the advice that heart-types and red/yellow varieties tend to be more sweet tasting. (Ignoring cherries and red pear types, which seem inherently sweet.)

Growing in very different parts of the country, and much preferring sweetness over acidity, I've always found Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Clear Pink Early, and Pineapple to be larger tomatoes that deliver the sort of sweet taste I like. Your taste buds may differ, but I think any of these might be worth trying.

Aside from the personal taste/palate and the subjectivity issue, I think there are many tomatoes that can be labeled as "sweet" to MAJORITY of people. Everybody can tell the difference between a sweet and acidic tomato. Soil, weather and other growing conditions can also influence the genetics to some degree.
JMO.

Thanks Dave. I appreciate the instructions. I keep learning by doing. I watch as many YouTube videos that I can find each time I want to try something new.. The message I get is "ok, this is so totally going to work!" and it does for awhile until all of the things they don't tell you kick in, like the bucket is about to burst, or the top is so heavy it's going to topple over. Ah well. It's all lots of fun and I'l learning a lot. I figured the transplants would need a little TLC, so your welcome advice is most appreciated. These ten gallon pots just have to help get some plants through their crisis. In the future, the ten gallon sacks will be potato growing sack

IMO, if you are talking about the tomato plants that you have posted in another thread, I would say "NO". I would just let them run their course. Plants need moisture and nutrients to grow. In the case of tomatoes, their roots do not need more than a 5 gal. bucket. As I was pulling my tomato plants up, this past fall, I was paying very close attention to their roots size(planted in beds).
Obviously, if you provide them a bigger space, they will keep growing more roots an thus more foliage and not so much fruits that you want. Bigger pots have the advantage that need not as frequent watering as the smaller ones.

Zackey, you are asking for more info than most home gardeners are able to benefit from. These Late Blight resistant varieties are a huge stride in combating the disease and that is main focus of the original poster.
Not that the translaminar type sprays are taboo or highly toxic; Tanos and Curzate only list 3 day PHI(Pre-Harvest Interval) in our state guidelines. However they are regulated and are often recommended to use in combination with other fungicides such as Fixed Copper.
Under most guidelines gardeners and commercial growers alike are advised to use preventative spray materials and all-the-more frequently as the threat of a disease is looming. The difference in treatment occurs once you notice the disease. The logical decision then for home gardeners with little investment is likely going to be different than for a commercial grower with $thousands invested.

I am not a typical home owner. I worked in 3 nurseries and a garden center. I was just curious. I always want to learn more on how to take better care of my tomatoes.