16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I add Sungold tomatoes to my sauce and paste to make it sweeter. 1/4th to 1/3rd of my plants are cherries too.

Oh yea! give me those cherries.

It does depend on how many plants you plan on having. I ironically don't like most tomatoes but I grow a LOT for friends & sales out at a farm I have access to.

In my own tiny backyard I'll have just 4 tomato plants this year. Black Cherry, Sungold Select and one other cherry TBD will be 3 of them as *I* DO prefer sweet cherry sized tomatoes.

At the farm this year I'll have around 100 plants, only *maybe* 5-10 will be cherry tomatoes. When you sell to restaurants & at farmers markets they prefer larger tomatoes I've found. And ironically they're still adjusting to different colored heirloom tomatoes. Those here in KC just don't buy the "weird colored" tomatoes so this year I'm going to stick more with red/pink/orange/yellow heirlooms that I find tasty. It's sad because if they could just get past the color, most black/purple/brown tomatoes are just amazing.

I favor medium/large yellow and black varieties

Then consider Black from Tula and Carbon, especially Carbon for blacks and Kelloggs Breakfast. I agree with Carolyn that NAR will be a hit with you also.

Dave

Carbon and KBX are on the list of 2012 starts. Will give Black from Tula a go as well.

Thanks Dave

I haven't bought seed from Burpee's for a few years, but never had a problem with the seeds being other than advertised. In fact, that's where I first bought Sun Gold seeds many years ago.

I order from TGS every year and have run into problems with seed not being as advertised. No company is infallible.

I grew Sweet Tangerine on and off for several years now. It is not going to taste nearly as sweet as sungold but it is a good tasting mid size tomato when fruits are ripened completely. I don't think I've tasted anything as sweet as sungold.

Sweet Tangerine is determinant but the fruits won't actually ripen at the same time, so the harvest period is about 2 months for me. It has always been healthy and vigorous in my garden with very good yield. The size is perfect for sandwiches or salads. I really like it even though I mostly grow heirloom varieties.

It's Bear Claw and I grew it many years ago, my seeds directly from Fax Stinnett whose name you'll recognize when you read the link below. Fax was very active in SSE and listed many varieties and passed away quite a few years ago, I don't remember the actual date.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Bear Claw

I gre it as well several yrs ago when my garden was partly shaded......my neighbor had a peck basket full on his truck with the red ones and they were large and mostly uniform .....round if a little oblate....maybe 5 inches or more across. Reminded me a lot of my MLs and about the same size, def more than a pound each.

Carolyn,

Thank you! I guess I'll have to keep my container plants away from my garden soil!

Beth

I'll also put in a vote for insect transmission. I mean if
garden tools can transmit it, why couldn't those evil insect teeth as well?

Lee

For tomatoes, my main staples are brandywine sudduth, opalka, black krim, sungold f1, and indian stripe or cherokee purple.

I have some staple varieties that I know I will be growing but always try a couple new ones...Bought some tom seeds from Diane's Seeds this year for the first time. So no clue as to their viability and true-to-type parameters (I would think that C Male could provide sound insight in those regards). Anyhow, Diane has a good selection and seeds as well as seeds of some unusual tom cults. Also, the blurbs applied to the tomatoes' descriptions mercifully do not exude a hyperbolic measure of each varieties' virtues, as the cats of some do.

Reggie

Here is a link that might be useful: Diane Lindsey

Here's the tomatoes that I've not grown before but are have piqued my interest. If anyone is familiar with any of these varieties and would recommend I try, I'd appreciate. These varieties are listed in the Tomato Growers Supply Company 2012 catalog:

Early Season varieties- Fireworks, Gregori's altai, Kimberly, Matina
Middle Season varieties- Big Raspberry, Brandywine Red,Costoluto Genovese, Holland, Kewalo, Pink Ping Pong, Wisconsin 55
Late Season varieties- German Giant, Arkansas Traveler, Aunt Ginny's Purple, Sudduth's Strain, Italian Sweet, Mortgage lifter, Pink Ponderosa

In terms of Cherry's here's some varieties that I found interesting:
Supersweet 100, Sungold, Sweet Million, Isis Candy, Black Cherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Growers Supply Company

Can really only commment on the Black Cherry. Last year was the first year i grew it. Had two plants. Both were the most prolific in my plot, and one of the best tasting. I won't ever be with out some again.

Black Krim, although they sometimes get bigger than 6 oz.

I personally like the black prince tomatoes. might run a little smaller then what your asking for (2-3oz-ish). Very pretty and unique tasting tomatoes. Not very pretty in salsa though, my mother remarked that it looked like baby vomit after i blended a few.

Don't pay for shipping, use Coupon Code: 12-1005 for free shipping from Johnny's.

Silentway, thank you!!!

Is it worth using a desiccant in a seed container to reduce the RH... or is it a rather worthless endeavor at best and a possible seed viability terminator at worst ?

Lots of info and a FAQ on this over on the Seed Saving forum but basically it's your choice. Can't hurt - might help.

The goal as Darrel said is 55% or less. This time of year RH is normally much lower than that anyway.

Personally I store mine in paper envelopes organized in plastic totes in an old fridge in the basement. But that is more convenience for me than anything else.

Dave

I've saved seeds that I've processed at ambient temps and humidity for well over 20 years now and never did anything about controlling the humidity or temps. Those seeds at even 5 years old will usually have germination above 50% except for most hearts whose seeds that I and others have found have seeds that don't remain viable as long others.

Admittedly I live in upstate NY and the summers can be very humid and hot, but for far lesser times than those in the deep south have. So that's another condsideration

I have too many seeds to store in the fridge so many of them are in vials in 100 place scintillation boxes and others are in non-sealed envelopes large envelopes and a few in used pill bottles.

If I were going to freeze them I'd use silica gel to get the humidity down to between 6-8%. And that would be at normal home freezer temps of about 0 degrees F.

For even longer term storage many places have -20 and -80 F freezers but that would be for very long storage. USDA does that for many of their tomato seeds at Fort Collins, CO, which is the backup for the Geneva NY, USDA station that I know.

Carolyn

Agree with the above - drip irrigation is best. But soaker hose is almost as good and allows for more flexibility in set-up. Why won't soaker hose work in the location? Incline?

Dave

Here in Colorado we have to water regularly. One time I built an array of sprinklers about waist high that covered the whole garden, Boy, was that the absolute wrong thing. But I learned.
My best is drip, but I modified it a bit by using the largest dripers I can find so they don't plug up. Since they are large, I time the application. Like 30 minutes to put on 1 gal of water to each plant. I think my best was with 2 dripers to each plant, one on each side, spaced about a foot apart. Plants were about 3 foot apart. Can I call it a "dribble" system?

Sometimes the problem is not disease, but instead yourself or a neighbor (and the neighbor does not have to be directly next door) having one of those yard services spray to kill off the weeds and dandylines. The stuff is lethal on tomatoes!

If the wind wafts it into your garden it's all over. I have not had this happen but one of my good friends did.

I am not convinced that being able to diagnose the specific disease is that important. There are many possible tomato diseases, but only a few ways to treat them. The most important thing is to try to prevent them in the first place. You do that by first ensuring that your soil is appropriate for tomatoes: with good fertility, the right pH, good drainage and weed free. Next you need to use a fungicide soon after planting out to protect against the rain and airborne fungi that are the maincause of disease. Many people use Daconil. If you prefer organic methods, neem oil offers some protection against fungus and also kills most of the insects that attack tomatoes. They are another source of disease. If you are vigilant about preventing fungal and insect attacks and treating them if they occur anyway, you can minimize the damage.

I wonder if a straw bale garden might be more suited to your needs. I've been thinking about trying it out using this conditioning formula... wood ashes followed by lime and then bat guano or compost followed by a little topsoil.

I've thought about straw-bales, but don't have the money or the ability to transport them ($4 a bale is the best I've found around here).

I planted two reusable grocery bags with greens today and put them in the barn, elevated. I'm wondering if the elevation is going to make the dirt too cold, or if it matters. They are the fabric kind that's not cotton. I imagine the regular plastic ones would fall apart pretty quickly since I can rarely manage to get them into the house without breaking half the time!

I may look into doing a few grow pots - I did see them for pretty good prices on eBay. Definitely worth a look. I just figured if I could do it with an $.89 bag, all the better! Will report back with my findings as things progress.

Do you add the citric acid, red food coloring, and sugar to your home canned ones like the commercial canners do?

If that is the taste you prefer (most folks prefer the fresh grown flavor over any canned variety) then you'll need to add those ingredients no matter what variety you grow.

Also keep in mind that variety isn't the only variable that controls taste/flavor. Growing conditions provided, nutrient levels, watering regimen, and soil pH are just a few of the many variables that dictate taste just as much if not more than variety.

Dave

I add lemon juice to bring the acid level up to where it is safe to can, but never thought of sugar and food coloring. Maybe ill just try some black krims this year to darken the color up, the sauce we have been making almost looks like a vodka sauce.