16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Glad to see your recommendations Carolyn, especially in light of a post I just made regarding wispy leaved foliage on most hearts. I was so tempted to try Danko (from Gleckler seedmen, among others I'm sure), but for the reasons I mentioned in that post, am extremely reluctant to do so. Hearts, I am told by my other Oklahoma friends and expert tomato growers, do not generally perform well here, and I'll leave it at that since I posted this question as a separate post. But, apparently, another issue is that we are anticipating another extreme heat, continued drought summer here. It is not exactly the appropriate time to test a heart.
Susan
I had great luck growing Sun Sugar in the past, but I couldn't find seeds or plants locally last year, so I grew Sun Gold. That one plant branched off in ten different directions and grew like crazy - I had cherry tomatoes for the entire neighbourhood! I've grown SG in the past, but never as successful as last year. I had thought Sun Sugar was the more vigorous plant but now I'm not sure. Taste-wise they were similar and if I remember correctly, the SS cracked less.
I prefer Sunsugar. To me, Sun Gold has an odd off-taste or aftertaste by midseason and I don't like them anymore. I eat Sunsugar all season and don't get tired of them. Also, in my summer-dry climate, Sun Gold splits when it's picked, and Sunsugar doesn't.
Tomato Timeline from fruit set to ripening. You can reduce watering to improve flavor but it doesn't really speed up ripening.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Timeline
Just noting that the timeline Dave linked to was done by Paul, who used to be here at GW and uploaded all of the new FAQ's that seveal of us wrote and cleared with the then memebers who were here at that time, in fact solicited their opinions on what should be included and what not to be included.
You can find his name at the bottomof several of the Faq's we did such as How To Prevent Cross Pollination, the Foliage one and now I can't remember the others and if I go back to look I lose this post. LOL
I miss Paul very much and never had his contact data so don't know what he's doing these days.
Carolyn
Puzzlefan, I didn't take the timeto read the link Dave gave,and I probably participated in some of them, but I see you're in a zone 5 area so you have few if any soilborne diseases.Rootstock and grafting is directed against soilborne diseases.
What's most common in zone 5 and similar are the fungal and bacterial foliage diseases, and off hand I don't know of any rootstock out there that helps with foliage diseases.
Carolyn
TrpnBils
If you had good results with last year's seeds, you can probably get those seeds to germinate again this year. And if you liked em, and they did well...grow em
If you want to can some tomatoes, you might want to look at a determinate paste/Roma type of tomato.
It is only going to get harder on them. Right now, with care it should be relatively easy to do. Just carefully dump out the cup into your hand and carefully work the plants out of the soil and apart. Next time try to do it earlier.
But either way 2 of them have to go. If you don't want to risk it then snip off all but one at the soil line.
Dave
Tell me how the raised bed does Wipa. I had a problem with nematodes getting into a potted plant once!
ameera, I have mine in a tomato cage and now I've added some 8' bamboo sticks to support the plant and the cages. I pinch the very top of the growth now so they will branch out more instead of growing taller.
As with tomato sauce, the best salsa comes from the best tasting tomato, not from a particular type. If you have a slicer you love, that will probably make a great salsa. Personally I like a tangy tomato, not the 'sweeter' varieties. In salsa, the taste should be bold, because it's mixing with other ingredients. You could mix a red and a yellow just for appearance and get a great salsa - anything goes.
My favorite Salsa mix is Kelloggs Breakfast mixed with a good strong red or pink like Brandywine or one of the heart varieties. So pretty, and whatever your best tasting tomato of the year is, mixed with KB, which is always good, makes an awesome combination.
If it lasted as long as you say it could well be what's called a keeping variety, they ripen very slowly and in geneneral have lousy tastes with a few exceptions.
I've linked to a list of longkeeper varieties below from Tania's excellent tomato data base so you can see how many there are.
But with no information given to you I think, actually know, that it will be impossible to ID it.
The only one on her list that I've grown, is the one under the Z category, which is also known as Giraffe.
Hope that helps.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Longkeeper varieties
I am in NW IL - Z5 and have been WS for many years. I tried tomatoes the first few years but found that they never catch up with the ones started indoors and our growing season is too short. BUT since I started WS, the ONLY things I start indoors are tomatoes and peppers. No more with the trays and trays of germinating plants!
Regular leaf = RB Landis Valley
Potato Leaf = something 'called' Red Brandywine but isn't. As Carolyn has posted many times on the subject, there are no strains of the real Red Brandywine so the leaf is the clue. Ask Renee which leaf.
TGS specifies their 2 as Red Brandywine Landis Valley or Brandywine Red Potato Leaf. So which did you grow?
Dave
Is the Red Brandywine from Renee's garden the original Landis Valley "strain" or that yucky fake one (my opinion) from TGS?
I ask because my local hardware store has them in stock and I would like to give the real variety a try. I know Renee's Garden has a good reputation and I've had good experiences with that brand in the past. Thanks.
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THe Landis Valley one is NOT the original one. It (RB)was listed in the SSE Yearbooks for members for many years and it was Tom Hauch at Heirloom Seeds in PA who got it from a yearbook and made it known to others on a commercial basis and he still considers it his signature variety.
Those of us who are long time SSE members, I joined in 1989 have had it since the early 90's and have offered in my annual seed offers at several places.
It was Tom who sent it to Steve Miller at the Landis Museum in PA and it was Steve who got most of the background info.
I could link you to a nice review of all the Brandywines if you want, and they are in two places, at Victory Seeds and also at Craig LeHoulliers blog site. Craig did the heirloom ones and I did the ones that arose via X pollination, directed crosses and the like.
Yes, for many years Linda Sapp at TGS has listed those two NOT RB's from Seeds by Design not retail,and I've pleaded with her, I've known her since the early 90's to do something about it but she says that many like them and so she keeps them.
I don't know why she went to the Landis Museum to get her seed stock when there are many other places that carry the true RB, and she listed it as a strain but there are No strains of RB.
There's been a lot of wrong RB out there, with PL foliage and whatever, and below I'm going to link to Tania's superb tomato data base and indicate all the places that list it and which ones I'd go to for true RB, but I don't have to since I have my own from an SSE member long ago.( smile)
When you click on thelink below read that page first, then go to the top of that page and click on Seed availability.
From that list I suggest the following sources:
Sandhill if Glenn wasn't sold out for 2013
Tania
Heirloom Seeds,Tom Hauch's website
Victory Seeds, Mike Dunton
TGS, for the Landis one
Hope that helps.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Red Brandywine
Larger containers is the solution. Even smaller determinate varieties can develop BER when grown in small containers. Shoot, even cherry types can.
It simply isn't possible to maintain consistent soil levels of moisture and nutrients. Using a drip set-up on auto timers helps but takes a great deal of ultra-fine tuning and adjustment.
Dave
I think a better topic would be "What can you do to prevent BER". Ami