16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Wow! I think there must be at least two strains of Mr. Stripey. I grew it several years ago. The ones I grew look nothing like the pictures above. They were salad tomatoes. The stripes were a lot more pronounced. The plants were productive (unfortunately). They were total spitters - very bitter / acidic.

Tigerella is also often called Mr Stripey. It is a small tart salad type.

Wherever Gary Ibsen found the tomato that became Julia Child, he obviously chose the correct one. Everyone who's grown it seems to describe it as tall. I'm assuming that the relatively few leaves emphasizes the height.

That's only right for a tomato named for a woman who was 6'2"!

You might consider giving your Julia Child tomatoes some extra potassium and phosphorus, and not giving them as much nitrogen (fish emulsion and lots of other stuff like that may be high in nitrogen; so, be careful). Then see if that changes anything production/leaf/stem-wise. I don't know if it will, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Thanks Shawn.
Good to know that they are also disease resistance.
If I had space, I would've grown one but I have toooo many already. I saw the other day HD selling Bonnie Juliet plants. I was tempted to get one. Plus I am growing a similar thing ( I call it mini Roma) from store bought fruits. Most probably it is Juliet.

Seysonn

I use Juliet for canning whole tomatoes - thanks to their thick skin, they stay whole and don't go mushy in jars. Long-lasting, disease-resistant plants and very productive too.

I also doubt that adaptation can take place in 3 years.
However it is know fact that plants in general do adapt to their environment and becoming NATIVE. But again, it is long process, I believe.

Seysonn

Well, I guess genetic variants that are less suited to the locale will fail to thrive, and fail to yield seeds for the next year. Of course, if genetic variants are that common, you're going to get them every year, and seeds from an especially well suited variety can't be guaranteed to retain that quality in the seeds they produce. So the idea sounds a little slippery.

Would be interesting to ask the MN State Horticultural Society exactly who "generally" thinks it.

I try to avoid both Chicken manure and rabbit manure. I have found bone in them. This tells me that they compost their dead animals. So what you get might not be REALLY just manure.

Seysonn

I don't compost my rabbits, but what if someone did? What would it matter? If it's fully decomposed, it's fully decomposed. Even a cold compost becomes pathogen-free if allowed to sit long enough. Of course, one would need to be knowledgeable to properly identify fully decomposed compost.

If you transplanted to bigger pots, best to use regular potting soil. Seed type is ok at the beginning because they don't need much to get started. Fish emulsion is a good source of Nitrogen.

Seed starting mix is for seed starting. Potting soil has extra goodies/nutes that seed starting mix doesn't have. Most nursery employees are there for a paycheck, and have little actual knowledge of life in the garden. Their expertise is in counting seed packets for inventory. Fish emulsion is a good … start ...

My raised beds are 11" but the underneath is native ground/soil. Most of tomato roots do not go straight downward. I think the tap roots serve an anchor.

But in a container 12" or more is better.

<Are you stating that when I plant tomatoes in the ground, the roots go downward, more than 10 inches?>

Heavens yes. I have dug up (when you pull them you never see all the length) plants with 3' long roots and even then very likely didn't get it all. Taproot plants can easily grow roots several feet long and in general, the bigger the plant the longer the roots. Article below talks about a measured growth of 22 inches in 3 weeks time. In a container they coil around but the deeper the container the better by far.

Interesting article on tomato root development

I grow okra and tomatoes side by side in rows 4 feet apart and 150' feet long, North to South. I am the one who developed the 'HEAVY HITTER' strain of Clemson Spineless okra that grew over 60 branches and nearly 300 pods of okra. I've picked 22 pods per day from just one plant. Currently this new strain is under seed increase through our State's Ag University and the Department of Agriculture. It will be released for limited distribution in the Spring of 2013.

In NE OK, the sun gets hot. Tomatoes won't produce flowers once the temp reaches above 85. Planting okra to block high sunlight/heat can prolong the fruiting of the tomatoes.

Relatively new (2 seasons only) but there are lots of reviews of them available online from sources other than Burpee and most are mixed. The fruit are clearly small, in the 3-4 oz. range, they aren't completely seed-free if that is important to you, when grown from seed the seeds have a very low germination rate apparently, and the flavor is rated at 5-6 on a scale of 10 (so average). If being relatively seedless (seeds are easy to scoop out from most any variety) then they may meet your needs.

Dave

I've grown Sweet Seedless for a few years now and I'm impressed with it on a number of levels. They come early and hang in there all season long. Flavor is reasonably good. Fruits are mostly in the 8 oz. Range although some are larger or smaller. I have a few dozen plants started again this year and although I've not separated them for sales in the past I'm thinking that this year I might promote this variety by offering it separately.

Most of batch 3 has gone down hill with the heat. One had a new sucker that looked good, so I trimmed off the dead stuff. The remains look good.

If there were not any mods before on Garden Web, surely there are not any now. No worries, it would appear you have the thread all to yourself now. Enjoy.

Sowed 6 different varieties on March 22 in 18 cells. As of March 30 sixteen of eighteen had germinated. As of today, one cell's seedling is starting to show its first true leaf (I think it's a grape if I labelled the cells correctly -- oh, well, surprise me!)

Today I separated my 3/1/15 sown seedlings. Now I have close to 40 inside and about 15 outside in the hoop and cold frame.

My last sprout is Kumato, just germinated yesterday.

Seysonn

Creek-side, I'm a little late to the party, but if you're still interested in seeds for the San Marzano Redorta, try Grow Italian. Great price, too!

Thanks for the tip. I managed to get some from Seeds From Italy.

healthy looking plant!

Jealous! Feel like I'm a season behind...