16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Congrats on the success ferro, if you are sure the union is well healed over, it is probably a good idea to not let the temperature get too warm (keep below 75 F) but mostly take your cues from the appearance of the plants (to keep a reasonably low height:stem diameter ). They look nice!
PC
They are in a fairly well controlled growth chamber at 24 degrees C (75.2F). It might be a degree or two warmer when the lights are on. There's also an oscillating fan in there to hopefully strengthen the stems. Hopefully they don't get too big before it's time to move them outside.
the wire fencing is from the farm and ranch store and costs about $1.00 per linear ft and the 3/8" x 4 ft rebar at Lowe's is $1.10 each so I guess my set up is about $5.00 per cage but so much better than the ready made cages available locally. CMM
It sure looks a lot like remesh but then must be thinner gauge (thinner wire). When you buy the 5' remesh in the 150 foot rolls it retails out to about $0.77 per linear foot if you can transport it home and buy the whole roll, but the 3/8" x 4 ft rebar here at Lowes is $2.30 per piece. My container height is around 16" or so, so that's why I need to use three stilts above the ground, or if I used a nice cage like you've got, if it is 4 feet tall, my plant being nearly 1 1/2 foot high could only use the upper 2 1/2 feet portion. I guess I could train the lower parts to hang into what is around the container somewhat., but that really needs to allow open airflow due to lots of mold and other pests. You have a great system and I wish the container were so economical. Suddenly a much wider container is sounding like a bargain, if I could only rest the cage on top, but mine are too narrow for that and now I'm paying more dearly$ for that than I expected in the beginning. Live and learn!
PC
This is an older post so I'm going to comment. The OP sounds like an experienced grower and gives excellent information. Your best bet for this sauce and paste variety is probably (link):
though if I were you I'd grow Costoluto Fiorentino instead, a nice ribbed (costoluto) variety grown supposedly in Florence but in many other places. The OP mentions a key point here about the tomatoes he photographed in Sicily. There are many types and no real variety, though a "Costoluto Catanese" was available a few years ago making quite claim on heirlooms (500 years old from Italy), seed from Sicily, I don't confide in that claim but you can email Reimer seeds and see if they still can sell it to you, but it is considered pretty identical to the other Costoluto varieties (see below).
You are dealing with what is called a landrace which means a spectrum of tomato mutts supposedly adapted to Sicilian growing conditions. From a practical perspective it is also a marketing gimmick, since basically any tomato that looks like the ones grown in the pictures above can be called Sicilian tomatoes because of the origin (where grown) and nobody growing elsewhere can have Sicilian tomatoes, because that is the European protectionist rules. If you go into it further though, it gets more beaurocratic and the local government is probably distributing the seeds to their growers making those the only official Sicilian seeds. Considering you are in Wisconsin, Costoluto Genovense or Costoluto Fiorentino might be best to get some authentic Italian ribbed heirlooms, but the Rosso Sicilian one I gave has a direct link to Sicily in the sense it was at one time grown there, but I'm rather sure it would be illegal to sell that seed in Europe due to having the word Sicilian in the name being protected, and that's probably why the Italian seed sites are not selling any "Sicilian" named varieties.
PC
Seeds don't go into your mouth either. And the pollution in China is not from seed production, but certainly from keyboard production. So it makes little sense to me what you say? Walk the walk if you talk the talk. I should boycott seeds, and not have them, but your keyboard is ok. Really? Wow!
Thanks Ralph for the suggestion. I will be trying Gold Gem for sure. And i won't even blame the woes in China on you.
I find the seeds labeled as "ORGANIC" just another gimmick.
It doe not matter if the seeds came from an organically grown plant or inorganically grow . Seeds carry just the genes.
One can argue about "Organic" fruit, but seeds ? Like drew said, unless you want to eat the seeds.
BUT having said all that , I have no problem with those who are organic purists.
Talking about alternatives to Sun Gold, yesterday I sow 4 different cherries from the seeds saved from store bought heirloom tomatoes. Not guaranteed that they be be better. We shall see in a few month.
Seysonn
Thanks David. Very nice plants and tasty looking tomatoes. It is amazing that those dwarves produced good size fruits.
Yeah. Like Linda said, there are very little info on most of these dwarves, as they are recent introductions. So I guess people like you guys are the best source of info.
Seysonn
Thank you all for your helpful comments. We have stared a demonstration vegetable garden in support of the Children's Program at the J C Raulston Arboretum here in Raleigh, NC. Last summer we planted a number of heirlooms tomatoes with mixed results. (Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, Pork Chop and Mortgage Lifter did the best.) This coming summer I would like to add a number of these dwarf varieties to demonstrate what people with limited growing space might do to still have home grown vegetables.
Thank you, Dave! I didn't realize this about early blight! I'll do the fungicides, definitely. I had jumped to the conclusion it was soilbourne.
I'd considered using tiny coffee stirrer straws instead of clips. I'll order the clips, then.
Thanks to both of you.
perL
I will try this sometime, just for fun.
The technique is very simple but doing it and taking care until the joint is fused is another thin. Obviously with high humidity comes higher infection possibility. So how do you disinfect the cuts and the environment?
Seysonn
I like it so much that I got to bring this up again.
Here is a few comments from Taniana's site :
ANANAS NOIR
Tatiana :
80 days, indet., regular leaf, tri-color beefsteak which is olive-green mottled with red, 3.5x3" oblate fruits with juicy flesh and creamy texture, sweet with a mild acid overtone. Not a good keeper. Excellent flavor.
85 days, indet., regular leaf plant, good yield of 6-14 oz green purple-yellow fruit with green-pink flesh, outstanding sweet smokey flavor.
The name means Black Pineapple. This is an interesting medium to large size tomato that has a green and dark purple exterior. The interior is mostly a vivid bright green with red streaks radiating throughout the flesh. A very tasty tomato that is an excellent producer but the fruit is unusually soft and must be eaten soon after harvest. Indeterminate, regular leaf foliage. (75 days from transplant).
Here is few more pictures:
As mentioned in the reviews and I confirm, It is sweet, with right acidity and with creamy texture. I was the only tomato of my 20 or so varieties that I used to slice and eat.
Unlike Carolyn, I love multi color tomatoes. I also had regular pine apple but d this is the top one for me .
This is the largest one I had ; almost 20 oz. 
.
A side comment:
I don't understan how they name thi BLACK pineapple. There is no trace of black, brown and even purple in it. If I were to name it , I would call it RAINBOW PINEAPPLE.This has more rainbow colors in it than any tomato that I know of. It has got RED, YELLOW ORANGE, AND GREEN in a very harmonious way.
Seysonn
How much rain can really get through the floating row covers?
The light Agribon row covers I have used are a bit hydrophobic, at least on first-time use. What I did to help water permeability on these was to soak the things in water for a few hours before erecting the fabric. The stuff seems eventually to permit almost all water deposited on its surfaces to penetrate the fabric and find its way to the soil underneath.
I am in 9A in SoCal. I would be starting tomatoes known to have some heat tolerance if I were just now starting my seed. The only thing I would expect to do well for you, based on my experience with it in heat is Mortgage Lifter. I will hold a good hope for you that you will beat the onset of heat and have a good season.
Yes, your 9a comment stuck out like a sore thumb since I've lived south of you in Texas, the difference between 8b and 9b is flipping the growing seasons from summer to winter.
The first 4 varieties I gave are indeterminates, and you wanted a good list and no one had worked one up for you. Try your varieties for a practice season since I'm guessing you may have gotten them onhand already from the seed rack at Lowes or HD. Maybe you don't sweat on warm nights there and have less humidity that we do here (both of us are nearby to the 8b line), and will have better results.
Good luck with those varieties my friend!
PC
I see. Not an easy choice. Guess I'll go with both.
They are very competitive. But according to most opinions, over all Brandy Boy has a slight edge.
Seysonn