16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Very nice! I also rather hope it is true.

Love it. My sister says every time she pulls in the driveway she expects to see another raised bed. I took over about 6 years ago, our kitchen garden had been overtaken by the 'shrubs' planted at the back, So I pulled them out. The roots were so deep it rattled the house. Then I said I am planting tomatoes (my mother was in hospice and I was chief caregiver, and what she loved most of all was a BLT or tomato and cheese. and by gum she had them. Then I got some cedar lumber from my inlaws, what to do what to do... anyway. there are much worse addictions to have. Thanks for sharing.

I used to live in Sacramento. There is a reason it's called "Sacatomatoes" as they grow like crazy there which was my experience. I grew a variety of different heirlooms & OP varieties with a very few hybrids and always had an extreme glut of 'maters. I did grow in homemade earthboxes after the first year as it was difficult to keep them watered consistantly in the extreme heat if planted in the ground.
Like has been said, tomatoes are self-pollinating - there are no male or female flowers. Each flower contains both anther & stigma. All they need is a gentle breeze to pollinate.
Some of the heirloom/OP I grew in Sac were Black Cherry, Arkansas Traveler, Jumbo Jim Orange (sautesmom I *believe* won a Tomatofest contest with this one), Cherokee Purple, Kellog's Breakfast, Black Krim, Black from Tula, several different Brandywines, etc. They all set amazing amounts of fruit.
I'd find sneaky volunteers in the back of the yard that had fruit.

I'm now in the midwest and WISH I still had the temperatures of Sac to grow in.
I would definitely get your soil tested. It's not the temperatures.

Are you purchasing your plants from Capital Nursery? If so, I recommend that you stop. I did nothing but fight disease from their stock.

I know it's tempting, but don't plant out until April 1. It seems warm enough to plant sooner, but it really isn't. Planting any sooner causes the plants to stunt. As a matter of fact, I was just at Green Acres Nursery this week and they were throwing out their entire Tomato Plant stock because it had frost damage. We most certainly DO get frost this late in the season, no matter what the farmer's almanac says! :)

If the plant stunts, it won't put on its blossoms at the right time, which is during spring. Our summers are too hot for most any tomato to produce. So, you want to plant out at the right time.

One other thing, for the past couple of years, we had very strange weather. We went from rainy season, straight to extremely hot, with very little "spring." Most everyone I know had trouble with their gardens due to this erratic climate.

I've seen no better result with hybrids as I have seen with tried and true heirlooms. I really believe the secret lies in the condition of your soil, the proper light exposure, and planting at the right time. Is there plenty of organic matter in your soil? Most of Sacramento is known for heavy clay soil unless you're closer to the river, then you have a siltier soil. Nothing grows to its full potential in this soil unless it's heavily amended. Once it is though, watch out because it's great stuff.

Varieties that have worked exceptionally well for me:
green zebra
brandywine
black krim
watermelon
san marzano

I haven't grown Brandywine, but what I did notice last year was that the first tomatoes of the season weren't as sweet or intensely flavoured as later in the season. As other people have said, there are so many variables but I do wonder whether it is a matter of having more moisture and less sun. Even though you're getting 7 hours of sun at this time of year, perhaps later in the season you'll get 8 or even 9 and that might affect the sugar content. Give your plant a chance and see whether it changes ;)

Oh, we will definitely be getting more sun later in the season but the problem is that it will be too hot/humid to set fruit and even if you can set fruit, it ripens unevenly due to the day time temps being too hot.

But you all are probably right - the conditions were not optimal for the best tasting fruit and I probably over watered them.

The worst part of all is that squirrels got 5 of my largest fruits :(

If it was like most of the markets around here what you bought was the F1. None of the local growers in this neck of the woods use the OP varieties. If you tell us where you are others in that area might know.

But otherwise the only odds anyone can give is based on Mendelian Genetics - 1 in 4. If you have the room and the time give your seeds a try.

Dave

Thanks for the info everyone. Until I plant, I will check the farmer's market each week to see if the vendor is there, and then I can just ask. Otherwise, I think I will dump the "sun gold" seedlings I have. I don't have that much space so I would rather grow something more certain.

Since this is a tomato forum, I'm assuming that you have sandy soil and want to increase the water retention for your tomato plants. I can see some problems with your assumption.

First, in ground tomatoes usually have huge root systems, much deeper than "a foot or so" and definitely wider than the 9 or 10 inches of a pie pan.

Second the water capacity of a pie tin that is filled with sand (or soil) would not be significant.

So....

Amend your soil. Lots of compost and organic matter will help with water retention. You could even work in some of those water absorbing/releasing crystals. Add more compost and organic matter. It helps sandy soils retain water and heavy soils that don't drain well to drain better.

I hope that helps.

Betsy

Agree with Betsy. Consider these facts. First water doesn't drain straight down. It diffuses. So you'd likely catch less than 1/4 of the water added in the pan. Plus the pan would be full of soil so even less water would go into it.

Second you are assuming the plant roots would go straight down into the pan. They don't grow that way as Betsy said.

Third, a pie pan, even if it was full of water, is nothing to an established tomato plant.

Sorry but your plan, as you have described it so far, just won't work in any way.

If you have something else in mind then you will have to provide a great many more details. Minimal info provided tends to get minimal responses.

Dave

I once sprayed a skim milk solution on a hibiscus that had some kind of disease that was causing large black areas on the leaves. It cleared up, even the black leaves turned green again, which really surprised me.
But since then, I've tried it on other types of black spots (ie, roses) and it didn't seem to help. One good thing about this solution is it can't hurt anything, especially if you have milk that's starting to go bad.

I tried the milk solution on both tomatoes and cukes a couple if years age and it had no effect.
John A

Thanks so much everyone! Btw, my bad, I actually meant to type "Cherokee Purple" - I bought the seedlings from various farmer's markets, nurseries etc. as I only had space for one plant of each variety and it seemed to make more sense than raising from seed. Also, it's really hard to pass up a seedling that I haven't tried before - argh!!

I've decided to give my remaining two spots to 2 reddish tomatoes:
"Cosmonaut Volkhov" and "Moskovich". We'll see how well they do -- last year's Black Krim (also a Russian tomato) had its season extended into the beginning of November until I took it out.

Interestingly enough, the yellow and pink tomatoes I grew last year (Jubilee and Caspian Pink) had a disappointingly weak flavour. I don't know whether that was due to the particular strain, or whether lighter coloured tomatoes have a correspondingly milder taste?

spacetogrow -- Black Krim seemed to keep just as long on the counter as did other tomatoes. This year since I'll be growing more black tomatoes, I'll keep an eye out for how long they keep.

Rabbit, the only difference between red and pink tomatoes is the color of the skin. Red tomatoes have yellow skin, while pinks have clear skin. Peel a bit of skin off the fruit, rub the flesh off carefully, and you can see the color of the skin. [There is also a gene for striped skin.]

I believe yellow skin is a dominant trait, while clear skin is recessive.

Reds and pinks otherwise have the same red pigment in their flesh. IIRC, the flesh color results from multiple genes, which is why some reds are darker than others (and the same for pinks).

So pinks shouldn't necessarily be milder-flavored than reds, because the only difference is the color of the skin -- and many people don't even eat the skin!

Yellow, gold, and white tomatoes, however, apparently are quite different in flavor from the reds, pinks, and darker tomatoes. I haven't eaten enough lighter-colored tomatoes to say much about that.

Here is info about tomato genes:
http://kdcomm.net/~tomato/gene/genes.html
http://kdcomm.net/~tomato/Tomato/mutant.html

bj4l, that's beautiful!

I picked up the cardboard a couple days ago. It is mainly 48 x 50 inches, not feet... I was mistaken. This guy owns a shipping warehouse by the airport and has stacks upon stacks of the stuff to give away. If the rain stops today, I will finish my drip irrigation system, and then lay the cardboard on top of the soaker hoses. I will post pics once it is finished.

Yeah, they get huge. My Sun Golds typically vine to 8-10 feet. They top their cages and tumble over. Just be prepared.

I grow my long-vined tomato plants up a vertical stake to about 5 ft. high and then along horizontal support poles. They will grow toward the sun. I don't attempt to force them to grow away from the sun.

Production varies with each type of tomato, the soil and climate its grown in, availabile sunlight, and nutrients available. Looking at your list, I have grown San Marzano, Mortgage lifter, Cherokee purple, Black krim, Amish paste
Brandywine and Roma's. From that list San marzano, cherokee purple, Amsih paste and the romas were the most productive. Mortgage lifter and black krim were less productive, and depending on conditions, Brandywine is least productive. My results should be evaluated in the context of my growing conditions. I live in Northern Utah, and have slightly alkali sandy soils. Our nights are cool and our days are hot. I have noticed some inverse correlation to productivity and taste, that is the less productive the better the taste. However, that is not always true. Good luck growing. Kevin

Hi, My Black Krim last year was not as productive as some of my others, but I am putting in more of them this year because they are so delicious. My Brandywine went gangbusters, until we had about a week of 100 degree days and then nothing. It really does depend on so many variables

I grow mine in 35 gal garbage cans. Some of the plants have been 16 feet tall and none have ever been blown over (except during hurricanes :)).

Hey steve, would love to see a pix of that! (the 16 footers in big trash cans, not the hurricanes!) LOL