16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

And don't forget the tomato mascot dancing on the side of the road.

That will be my boyfriend's job! hahaha

Indigo Rose is not really representative of what most of us think of as a "dark" tomato a.k.a. black tomato since its color is basically from the same stuff in the plant's stem, which is different from the coloration in other dark tomatoes. For example, I feel it has the most terrible taste of any tomato on the planet.

I'm growing growing the black tomato varieties Margaret Curtain and Purple Calabash, and if there is room I'll stick in an extra Cherokee Purple. Without them, the tomato season wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable!

PC

shijitake,

My local HD or Lowes (no longer sure which) has BrandyBoy in their Burpee seed rack. Even though Burpee had free shipping going on it was easier just to pop down to HD for the one pack I didn't order that I felt like trying. Of course while there I ended up buying 3 more packs of stuff I felt like trying.

Andrew

ARBUZNYI ( watermelon like ?). I have seem some green stage patterns that resembles watermelon rind. Its leaves also have similarity to watermelon leave. So this make ARBUZNYI an interesting tomato.

Now that ARBUZNYI is on my 2015 grow list , I like to get more opinions on it.
I like its color, both when green and ripe. I see some resemblance to Ananas Noire as shown in the last picture posted by habman

I also like its mean DTM (75 ?). That is early to mid season .

Lets see if anybody else has grown it since 2009 . (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 ). It has been a long time.

Seysonn

My ABRUZNYI is just germinating.
When I ordered the seeds (from SSS), I had no idea that it is a black/brown/purple tomato.
Now this year I will have a collection:

Arbuznyi
Cherokee Purple
Black from Tula
Japanese Black Trifele
Black Cherry.

I have grown CP and JBT before. They are not work horses but their fruits were outstanding. Now remains to be seen how Arbuznyi and BFT will do in my cool PNW garden.

Seysonn

cara took the words right out of my mouth...haha. The clamp lights are cheap...and most of all, handy. I think the 100 watt equiv are 23 actual watts. The reflector does intensify the rays...so back it off a bit.

Jennie, the other thing you might have done, is to run your lights 24 hrs, and rotate out half of the plants for each 12 hour session. I've never had to, but know others that have done it when faced with overflow.

Grew them both (CP and spudakee). In my opinion the spudakee blew the cp away in taste, size and production. I saved the seeds but am not sure if they come true since they were grown amongst many other varieties.

Interesting.
Right now, according to my unofficial survey, Cherokee Purple is among TOP 5 tomatoes grown by the members of this forum. Now comes SPUDAKEE.

Seysonn

mmm- Since the consensus is that it's not a BK, to me it looks like the one in your last photo is about ready to be picked.

Rodney

Seysonn, Your advice is very useful to prevent cracking.

Rodney, the fruit already picked and i love its farvor :)

PC ,
Seems like your spring planting is well underway which is expected in central Florida. I think perhaps shade can be beneficial in the Sunshine state in the summer.
I am still waiting on my Bear Claw to germinate. I have already potted all my seedlings >>>>> T minus 5 weeks..... until lift off hehe .

Today is a gorgeous day., Sunny, high reaching 62F. Despite some lingering cold I will get out and do something. Like refurbish my hops and cold frame.

Seysonn

Thanks Seysonn, In Central Florida they probably are well on their way, but I had planned optimistically the third week in March. Coastal Georgia is a walk before sunset from here and I just checked the forecast and would do the same tomorrow if I had the Brunswick GA forecast too.

It is the most exciting moment though, like you said the countdown to liftoff. Gorgeous day here, too, but the wind makes a little chill and no doubt all the cold bleach won't be fun (and then the peroxide spraying). Good luck on Bear Claw, looks pretty huge and I hope it tastes better than its name. I threw away all but one of my Brandy Boys which is starting to show a little life, the others simply were much too little and too late, real bummer.

PC

My final from seed list.

Black Krim

Box Car Willie
Abe Lincoln
Big Rainbow
Old German
Cherokee Purple
4th of July
Red Brandy Master
Brandy Boy
(Giant) Red Delicious
Gardener's Delight

For store bought plants I will do one large basket planter of Bush Goliath.

The jury is still out on repeating Black Prince. It tasted great. Produced well until the temps got into the high 90's. Then they pretty much died. I did root some cuttings. They gave me more tomatoes when the weather cooled off as well. Arkansas Traveler produced some tasty maters. It just did not produce a lot of them. (If I can find a 1 gal or larger to plant before Easter I will give it another shot.

It did so well for me last year I will be doing another this year as well. It is my insurance policy for some quick ripe tomatoes.

This is my third year gardening, and second year growing from seed. It is addicting, and makes the winter months even more painful, though starting the seedlings has been a welcome distraction.

I'm trying different types to experiment. Have only gotten seeds so far from the local Lowe's (Burpee), so would like to get into all of this seed swapping I hear about here.

Growing these in southeastern NC. * means I have never grown it before.

Honey Delight - a lovely little 4 oz. gold tomato
Yellow Pear*
Orange Wellington Hybrid*
Brandywine
Early Girl Hybrid*
Better Boy
Super Boy 785
Jelly Bean
Super Sweet 100 Hybrid*
Red Cherry (Large)*
Bushsteak*
Steak Sandwich Hybrid*

Tips welcome.

don't worry if you plants fail you have plenty time to do it correctly the next time.

Agree with PC that's it's probably not an issue at this point. But be careful about watering from here on.

Rodney

I built raised beds - 4 of them and had to buy 2 yards of soil a few years ago. That was about a $150 investment. I use my own compost to ammend my soil, and raise from seed I have saved and traded (I almost never buy new seeds now, except lettuce). I don't till, use wood chips from a tree that was taken down on my property for mulch, the lighting set up to grow the seeds was given to me by someone who wasn't using it anymore, etc. In just three years, those 4 raised beds will have raised 75 tomato/cucumber/pepper/eggplant plants. That's not counting lettuce, which is even more cost efficient. I don't count my 'time', because I am a stay at home mom. This is what I do to supplement our grocery bills with healthy fresh food. My kids love veggies, we eat well. It's hard to put a price on that.

Way to go, Aria.
That is how most experienced gardeners do, make your own compost, save your own seeds, etc

Seysonn

What would you two do without each other?

I can tell you what I could do - same as for the past 10 years here. Go back to having intelligent and at least semi-rational discussions about growing tomatoes. Instead of having to deal with all the silly claims and irresponsible, off-the-wall arguments posted just to create controversy.

It is either deal with them or just let them stand unopposed and risk new and/or inexperienced growers reading them and assuming they are accurate.

Many of us have a sense of responsibility about the quality of the forum and the info it provides to others. But now and then we get someone new like this who get their kicks in other ways.

kathy - it would be nice if you were correct but unfortunately that is exactly what he means. Hard to believe isn't it?

Dave

PS: seysonn - yes, I realize that it is pointless to respond to you but what the pics prove is what you asked for - proof that hundreds of thousands of tomatoes are grown unpruned every year and that pruning is not mandatory to grow tomatoes.

You demanded links - you got links from reputable sources. But I seriously doubt you bothered to read any of them. Hopefully others will take the time to do so.

It has been suggested somewhere a couple of years ago that if you germinate on a towel and transplant to a pot use a brown towel as the roots are less likely to get stuck.

You can also just cut around the root and plant towel piece and all.

Thanks Sharon. You explained it real well.
Now that have seeds of both, I'll plant one of each. I like the EARLINESS part of Azoychka. Maybe it will do ok in my garden.

Seysonn

I live right outside Big Bend National Park in west Texas. The summer temps here reach 100 degrees by the end of May and then hit over 120 until Sept. So, I've I've decided to search for tomatoes that I can start inside under a grow light early in late January and then plant in the ground after the last frost, which, this year seems to be happening well into March. One of them I chose was Azoychka. Has anyone that has grown tomatoes in a desert environment, had success with Azoychka? I also have seedlings grown from, Amana Orange, Green Giant, Cream Sausage (supposedly great in containers) and Black Krim. I hope my plan of starting seeds early indoors will mean success this year. The temperatures are just way to extreme in the summer and an unpredictable frost means winter can be a crap shoot even when winter temps for us are usually 60s and 70s.

Two of my favorites are Brandy Boy and Sungold.

How come this thread is so quiet ? C'mon guyys ! lets talk summer . hehe

After my initial choices , I cheated and added couple more. The DTM of 49, on the "Fourth of July" seed pack deceived me . So did the look of Big Rainbow. I am a sucker for bi color tomatoes. So I declare my innocence.
I have almost done germinating. The last 19 varieties have just germinated. They are:
Arbuznyi, Azoychka, Ananas Noire, Big Rainbow, Black from Tula, Mr. Stripy, Black cherry, Druzba, Japanese Black Trifele, Kelloggs Breakfast, ..Rio Grande, ..Legend, ..Willamette, ..Yellow Grape, .. Mini Roma, ..Red Cherry, Orange cherry, Fourth of July.
I think I am ok, timing wise. Have about 5 weeks till plant out. My other 8 varieties are doing fine for a head start. They are mostly dwarves and earlies.

After all that dreaming, seeds hunting/selections, ... what we need a real good clement weather. No pests, no fungus ..please.

Seysonn

aniajs, .. 5-7 days is pretty good.
Yes, heat pad/mat makes a big difference

I don't use cups because even if you fill them half way up and sow seeds way up there, the seeds might not get enough heat. I find egg cartons and commercial starter cells better.

Hi countryladies

It really depends on what you are growing. The above answers are for tomatoes (after all this is the tomato forum), but you mention you were germinating flower seeds. All species will have their specific requirements so you need to know what kind of flowers they are, assuming they are not tomato flowers LOL.

Best luck

PC