16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
It's true that the uniform ripening gene has been introduced into most modern hybrids, which eliminates green shoulders,but that's hybrids that have been the result of human breeding efforts.
But the recommendation to use only cherry tomatoes I think is a bit overboard since there are maybe 15-20,000, maybe 6 to 7,000 available commercially, varieties out there and only a few hundred are F1 hybrids which have been bred, quite honestly, mainly for the large commercial farming industry.
The rest are open pollinated, some heirlooms, some not, and there are many that naturally have the uniform ripening gene and many that don't. Yes, many of the non-F1 ones were also bred, but not many have the uniform ripening gene inserted into the genome, especially the older ones since that gene wasn't known back then.
Taste is both personal and perceptual and there are many variables that play into taste such as where a variety is grown, inground or in containers, kind of soil, if inground, kind of mix used in comtainers, amendments used if any and if so how much and when and what the weather is like in any ONE season when a variety is grown.
But the primary determinants with taste are the genes that a variety has.
The only way that a person will know if he/she likes the taste of a specific variety is to grow it b'c I know I can praise a variety highly and always there's someone who says that they will never grow it again. SOP as long as I've been around.
As for me, there are a few hybrids I really like but most of the now over 3,000 varieties I've grown have been open pollinated and I'll continue mainly with the OP's.
So one doesn't have to go to just cherry tomatoes and small types for taste, as the article suggested, for there are thousands of OP's out there that taste great as I know many here already know. Actually in making that suggestion the article seems to me to be anti-F1 hybrid and not be perhaps up to date on the thousands of great tasting OP's.
Carolyn
Until the last couple years, I was never able to find a tomato that tasted very good on sale in any of the large supermarkets in Southwest Ohio (Kroger, Walmart, Meijer, SuperValu). I think the reason for the recommendation for cherry tomatoes and other small types is meant for those who live in food deserts without access to farmer's markets and upscale grocery stores. One nice unintended consequence of the horrible hybrids in most markets is that Americans are returning to gardening in record numbers, primarily in search of better tomatoes.
I am using evaporation cooling in my high tunnel. It is working great. I am sure it would work outside too. Yesterday it was 106 outside, at the start of the cycle it was 97 degrees in the high tunnel. By the end of the 2 minute cycle, it was back down to 91 degrees. I have 6 spinner sprinklers that run for 2 minutes and shut off for 10 minutes. They have been running from 11 am until 7 to 7:30 pm. They tomatoes are all blooming now and I am seeing lots of them taking!
I am surprised how well it is working.
Jay
Jay, years ago I read here about misting used outdoors in the Southwest desert to cool tomatoes, but I don't know details (I don't think we got many details) except that the growers (gardeners rather than market-gardeners) were happy with the results.
Are you spraying above the plants, in front of fans, or somewhere else?
Do the plants get damp?
Luckily we almost never have to worry here about temperatures preventing fruitset. Our overnight lows for the next few days were supposed to be in the 68-72 range -- which is unusual -- but this morning they've altered that to 68 two times and the rest of the nights much cooler.
Gumby - how did you get that alert? Are you on a mailing list from UCONN? USA Blight? I signed up for alerts, also checked the map and USA Blight isn't showing any more cases in CT. I haven't heard back this week whether my samples sporulated, I don't know if CAES is updating anything to say I've got it, but don't see anything on UCONN (ladybug) link above. I emailed CAES this morning to ask about my samples and haven't heard back.
lionheart - what about you?
I've been cutting and pulling leaves all (rainy) weekend, and sprayed today, starting with the tomatoes that haven't been affected yet (ran out of fungicide so will finish the potatoes in the AM). But I noticed my uncle's potatoes showing the same brown withered spots, he thought it was drought stress but I told my cousin it might be LB and wouldn't hurt to spray.
augie,
I feel for you. Those mites are evil. I'd rather battle aphids, whiteflies or even sandworms.
Hope you can rid that one plant before they spread.
Miss ingto,
Consider yourself very fortunate. Our avg temp for this time of June is 86 and the forecast says we might set a record for today of 107.
I've been out on & off for the last couple of hours erecting a shadecloth umbrella of sorts over the plants. I can only last for about 1/2 hour at a time out there in the sun. I'm getting too old for this crap.
40+ tomato plants, all doing well. We had some 90+F temps in late May early June where the plants stopped growing, but cooler weather since have made them take off and flower like crazy.
Created a huge new bed in my sand using only a bit of manure and compost + mulch and those tomatoes are growing fastest and healthiest, actually overflowing and outgrowing cages already which is early here and lots of flowers. Only a few green tomatoes going so far. Containers have the most tomatoes for now, but smaller plants overall. New bed should yield huge amounts once they get going on fruit. They are laden with flowers right now. No pests or disease anywhere so far on toms.
Wish I could say the same for my fruit trees.
EB is soil-borne, not airborne, right? My uncle 1/2 mile up the road (not the one with potatoes and blueberries, he's 10 miles away) has EB and what I hope are just broken dried-up branches, not LB. I mentioned something to him about cutting foliage and spraying, he said they were his wife's plants. She's still working (he's retired) and hasn't planted the 2 cherry toms and 1 eggplant I gave her more than a month ago, so I don't know if she'll do it. Whole area is mulched heavily (by the kids' trampoline, which may be how the branches got broken...).
I've got some Husky Red (still green) in containers, 2 CP and 1 BW (my cousin started early) with fruit. A few of my BW and Glaciers I started from seed in mid-March have flower buds as do the volunteers in the manure pile. I thought it funny that my 50 DTM and my 90 DTM have buds the same time, the other varieties don't yet.
Those are adventitious roots. They may occur in damp conditions or when a stem contacts damp earth, and in some cases when the plant has certain problems.
Since you mention three days of solid rain, I assume high humidity in the greenhouse is the reason behind the roots appearing on your plant (or is it more than one plant?). They're just a bit odd-looking; they don't hurt the plant in any way.
Thank ya'll for the info I couldn't find a thing on that name but I'll tell you one thing they are delish. I looked at some images on the web and it looks like a pilcer Vesy listed on the Bakers creek site. I recieved the seeds on a swap so who knows I don't keep a list of what I get or who I swap with. Thanks again!
You say "large" plastic containers. How "large" specifically and what variety? The typical cherry tomato plant gets huge and to thrive it would need a container the size of a half whiskey barrel. Your plants may just be root bound and so dying off since they have out-grown their containers.
Dave
Others are far more expert than I am, but I have grown tomatoes in middle tennessee in a raised bed. I think the problem with crowding is not only about whether the soil fertility will sustain that many plants, as DarJones speaks to, but about air circulation. Middle TN is horrible for blights. Every year I grew I just had to chase time to try to harvest tomatoes ahead of the blight consuming the leaves from the ground up. The more crowded your tomatoes are, the poorer the air circulation, and the greater the chance of blight (at least, thats my understanding, and my experience supported that). Unless I misunderstand the transfer mechanism, I think you can still get blight from the surrounding environment even if you are container gardening.
So my two cents is that planting them farther than an inch apart might give you a better over all yield if it protects the plants you've got.
And if you keep the close planting, be sure to pinch all those suckers!
If you have some extra room and no shade or walkway concerns, I would let the outer tomatoe vines sprawl down the sides of the planter if it truly is almost 4 feet tall.
that planter is so massive that you probably used topsoil? It would take an awful lot of bags to fill the back of a pickup truck with an 8' bed.
Gaguy, what impressive looking plant and fruit!
Thanks for the compliments on my plants and fruit. Things
are going good here so far. Many of the plants have
this type of sets, but the CP was the easiest shot.