16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Space to grow, I know what you call Zhiraf by its translated name as Giraffe and grew it quite a few years ago.

Yes, it's a long keeper but don't look for taste;

In the Fall I used to run out to the tomato patch when frost approached and pick all those with a tad of blush, wrap them in newspaper and let them ripen ,going through them several times a week to take out the rotten ones.

it didn't take me too many years before I gave up on that,that's for sure.

Below I've linked toTania's page of longkeepers and Glenn at Sandhill lists some other ones as well.

Yes, it was common to hang what are called the small winter ones in the rafters years ago, in both Italy and Spain, one can find the Italian ones easily, but not so easy to find theSpanish ones.

And it's also good to remember tha tthis was done many years ago b'c there was no refrigeration back then so perishable fruits were pickeled and/or dried

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Long Keeper varieties

The original question was has anyone had experience growing the Italian winter storage tomatoes: Principe Borghese, Grappoli D'Inverno, Ponderosa Sel Oro.

I have. Principe Borghese is really a drying tomato; in Italy, (southern) they grow it, pull the entire plant and hang it outside to dry. Around here [I used to grow them in Massachusetts] the fruit will hold on the vine for a very long time. Obviously you do not dry them outside in Massachusetts, but a warm oven does a pretty good job with them.

The inverno is a large red cherry (maybe 2 ounces), holds well on the plant, and this is one of those plants that you pull, bring into your cantina (which most Americans do not have) and it will hold until well after Christmas.

I had the best luck with the Ponderosa sel Oro. The plant produces an enormous quantity of 2 ounce or so yellowish fruit. They will store for months. By November/December, they tasted pretty darned good.

The photo is a bunch of Ponderosa sel Oro tomatoes.

Bill McKay

annabelleducasse - to follow up on missingtheobvious post, while I am not certain it would be a direct reason for the yellowing/ lack of growth, the only issue that jumps out to me is the size of the pots.

Tomatoes can easily become root bound, and judging from the size of all the plants (they seem small for 2 months old unless they were started direct from seed) you could have a problem there.

The smallest pot I use is 7 gallons (27 litres), and is roughly 1/3 meter in height & width. Its hard to tell from that picture since there is no scale, but I am guessing the pots are much smaller than this?

Assuming thats the case, at minimum I would do what missingtheobvious said, and fill up the pots as much as you can (roots will grow off the stem). Also, if possible, you may want to consider putting them in a much larger container if you have one.

Either way, good luck!

Thanks for your responses and help.

The weather has definitely been extreme! We've had the regular heat waves which caused many bush fires. Check out http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/nsw/sydney.shtml .

The temperature was over 40 C for about 5 days so maybe Stumpy just couldn't handle the heat!

Yes I did start the plants from seeds. I got the kit as an early birthday present on Dec 23rd. The pots are 25L, and are the same width as yours (the picture makes them look smaller), and yes they have holes in the bottom :)

I'm going to mulch the plants as suggested, and give the Stumpy one a bit more TLC.

Yikes! I need acreage! Thanks for the detailed info mule.

I plant mine 15 to 18 inches apart with the Florida Weave. These are inside a high tunnel. I also prune all leaves up to the first flower cluster and I also sucker them until I don't have time for it.

Jay

Ah! Thank you! Now I can figure out what to do with it.

Lol! But Sunnibel doesn't check back too quick! Have fun with the potatoes.

About puny seedlings and small seed size; it's not theoretical since two folks I know have done the following.

They took the dried seeds after fermentation and divided them into three seed sizes, getting rid of the flat whitish immature ones, and them planted separately by seed size.

And both found there was no difference in time of germinaton, vigor, etc.

I haven't done it myself and still, at least when sending seeds to others, crumble the clumps, sit there and pick out the largest ones to send. LOL

But I do believe that such differences can be due to seed depth when sowing seed , that is, it takes longer for seedlings to come up when the seeds are lower in the artificial mix, And since watering, etc,can sends seeds to a deeper level, there you go, since there's no way of controlling for that as far as I know.

Carolyn

They look fine/normal to me. Other than that they are in awfully big cups of soil for such young seedlings. If you are going to use that size cup then only fill it about 1/3 to 1/2 full of soil when you seed then fill it as the plant grows.

Dave

Sorry don't mean to bum you out. If that is your frost date then you may be ok. I'm 7a and use Apr. 15th but most sources list 7b as 1-10 April but given the weather the past couple of years I think many are planning for earlier planting dates this season.

If you put them out say Mar. 10th or so the worst that can happen is you'd have to cover them some nights. But at least that way you can hopefully get some fruit set before the real heat kicks in in May.

Good luck.

Dave

Well, hopefully this means I just have some super awesome plants and they will produce super awesome tomatoes :) More of a reason to make sure you plants lots of plants so you get lots of fruit set before the dang heat, huh? My plan was to can lots this year. Sure hope it works out!

I start my seeds the first of April in 16 oz. clear beer cups with holes in the bottom (solder iron). I only put a couple of inches of soil in each cup then 4 seeds. Once the seedlings get true leaves and look good and hardy, I fill up to the top 2 leaves with soil. I continue this till the soil reaches the top. (tomatoes root all along the stems so you get a real strong plant.) I don't use any sort of extra lightling other than my south-facing windows and never get leggy seedlings.

I started 'Tiny Tim' and 'Red Robin', both dwarfs in pots that way on Dec. 12 and they have just now reached the top. I plan to transplant them into larger pots soon. I am hoping to get some real early cherry tomatoes this way!

M-
My thought is, if you're going to start tomatoes by seed, grow some killer varieties. My staples are Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Brandy Boy and Sunsugar. BK and CP are heirlooms and all perform well for me in Michigan.

I could send you some seeds if you like. My e-mail is attached to my member's page.

BTW, I started my seeds the other day. They'll go out the end of March/early April under Wall-O-Waters. Right now they're on heat. Once they sprout, they go off the heat and under lights - real close to the lights. Remember, if they do get leggy, you can plant them deep. Not the best way to do it, but it works.
Gail

This post was edited by monet_g on Sat, Feb 16, 13 at 8:49

I am curious what it is right to pick as well

German Queen is now on my "grow every year" list. The picture is of a couple of fruit that still have a day or two to go ripening on the counter. I pick them when they have a good blush all over.

Ted

Ohiofem. Thank you-- I didn't get email notification of replies so I only saw your reply now... I have moved it away from the others and I don't think that plant is going to be saved... It hasn't grown any taller since...

Another thing... Will the tomatoes that are on there be safe to eat if they are able to ripen?

Ameera: I don't know of any tomato disease that would make your tomatoes unsafe to eat. If you get ripe tomatoes that look OK when you cut them open, go ahead and eat them. Sadly, I've eaten many tomatoes from diseased plants.

My main problem with the tomatoes the past two seasons has been decently sized plants but very little production. Lots of flowers, but few of them actually turned into fruit. Based on some of the recent responses I'm wondering if it's a nitrogen issue? I'm having my soil tested this spring so I guess we'll find out!

Also, I know this is a tomato forum, but I also had a similar problem with my zucchini the past few years. Huge plants, lots of flowers, none of them maturing. Most of the zukes on the vine withered and yellowed at a small size. Perhaps I have a pollination problem?

It has been very hot here the last two seasons. The heat could cause your lack of production. I don't know if you got the terrible weather there but it has been a factor here.

I don't paint mine so that I can hit them with a propane hot mop at the end of the season to kill off any foliage pathogens. I also break the CRW into half the circumference with hog rings on either side joining them together. This is so that when I take them apart for storage I can stack them all together very easily.

Does anyone have photos of the cages made with the CRW. I'm not positive I even know what that stands for........but I think it is fencing that comes in a roll with big square holes. I've been thinking of using that stuff, but have never seen any made.

Many past discussions here about them with pictures but I don't know if they are still available but there are many YouTube videos on them. Linked one below

And Google pulls up 100's of images of them. CRW pics

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: CRW cages

I wouldn't say that Cosmonaut Volkov is consistently a "very large" tomato, but it is a nice one.

Some people pray for money .

humunga cowbunga from down under

A few of my favorite reds I have not noticed mentioned above are: Burgundy Traveler, Mule Team, and Thessaloniki.

All have been among the most productive, best tasting red tomatoes for me lately here in the heat capital of the USA.

Thanks Dave.

Or if you want to search all trade pages for a specific item try this link: http://members.gardenweb.com/members/exch-search.cgi

Betsy