16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Try watering them with salt water to see if that sweetens up the fruit if the plants are still producing. Don't use more than 1/3 of a cup of kosher salt to a gallon of water, maybe less.

To add some context, I haven�t done a comprehensive soil test, but have confirmed that PH is within normal range. Not sure of the comprehensive soil test as many of the kits that I�ve looked up on the web fail to have much positive said about them.

I live in Portland, OR, a region with a climate not always conducive to tomato growth. Nonetheless, I�ve had some success in the past with varieties like Early Girl, Better Boy, and Celebrity, but have not had much success with the beefsteak varieties, most likely due to the northwest climate and sometimes short growing season.

So, I got a little more ambitious this year and tried something new. The Brandywine that I planted is a grafted plant, spliced onto the rootstock of a heartier, disease resistant variety. Bingo, the health and production of this plant is remarkable in my experience here in Oregon, but the flavor is a disappointment. Maybe the grafting process is the issue, I don�t know, but since my other plant, the French Carmello, is also rather bland, I suspect something else.

On the bright side, I tried a topsy turvy with a grape variety and it has produced a lot of very tasty fruit.

Ted

PINK AND RED
Anna Russian, is early and reliable and tasty
Brandywine From Croatia (a definite), again, lots of hype and I've told Ray I don't think it originated in Croatia at all, but I have seeds as well but don't know when I'll grow it out
Bulgarian Triumph, absolutely outstanding cluster tomato, great taste
Druzba, a standard for many, very good
Goose Creek , haven't grown it and won't be growing it for several reasons
Kosovo (somewhat early is a plus). again, a very reliable heart although there are others I like as well

PURPLE AND BLACK
Black Krim , prefer Noire de Crimmee
Carbon (skip this one? have seen mixed reviews), ho hum
Cherokee Purple , yes
Indian Stripe , yes, and many like it better than Cherokee Purple

YELLOW AND ORANGE AND BICOLOR ETC. (I love yellows but this is too many)
Berkely Tie Dye, have not grown it and won't be
KBX , a must
Little Lucky, one of the better bicolors
Orange Minsk , outstanding, a must grow
Pork Chop , haven't grown it and won't be

CHERRY
Chocolate Cherry , mixed reviews, bred by Aaron Whaley, I prefer Black Cherry
Red Star (looks cute ... any comments on the taste and productivity? should I go for a different red cherry?); I haven't grown it so can't comment
Sungold, if you mean the F1 hybrid, sure, why not

EARLY
Mountain Princess , haven't grown it
Moravsky Div or Moskvich (if I can find seeds for either of them) , Moravlsy Div is a must grow, very early and outstanding taste
Sophie's Choice, also an excellent early with large beefsteaks not commonly found in earlies
I have Matina seeds but think the options above are better.

PASTE/SAUCE (only need one of these ... have seen lots of recommendations for Opalka but have a seed source for the other two and not that one)
Opalka , one of the best known and reliable and tasty to boot
Ernesto , also good
Romeo, haven't grown it, seeds not easy to get
For pastes I'd strongly also consider:

Heidi
Mama Leone
Sarnowski Polish Plum
Martino's Roma

Most of my tomato friends no longer use paste varieties that much, they just use the best tasting varieties they have for two reqasons, most pastes don't taste that great and many pastes are very suscetible to BER as well as Early Blight ( A. solani) You could use half pastes to lessen the cooking time if you wanted to.

Check out Tania's T-base for seeds for those you don't have access to and I know that M Div is at several places as are some of the others you mention. If yoou don't have Tania's link let me know and I'll link to it or go to Google and just enter it. it would probably read Tatiana's T-base but those of us who know her call her Tania.

Carolyn, who has not e-mailed with you, LOL, but N VA is nice as is Remy, a good friend here in NYS and has been for many years.

Thank you for your feedback, Carolyn! Yes, I'm planning on using half paste tomatoes and half other tomatoes ... tried that combination a couple times recently in cooking and liked the result. And definitely familiar with Tania's Tomato Base, great resource. And yes, I mean the hybrid Sungold -- my mom and husband love it and it's growing on me.

OK, so this is why my list is so long. It seems that all three of you (Remy, Carolyn, Dave) have different favorites, and I came up with that list in part by reading comments from you three. :D

Here's my shorter list for now:

Brandywine From Croatia
Bulgarian Triumph
Druzba
Goose Creek
Kosovo

Cherokee Purple
Indian Stripe (I want to compare these two together)

KBX
Little Lucky
Orange Minsk

Chocolate Cherry
Sungold

Moravsky Div
Sophie's Choice

Opalka

Assuming I can get seeds for all of them. Then, the following year, after I narrow down favorites from these, I can add some that I'm skipping this time.

But really, here's what will probably end up happening in practice. I'll order a small batch of seeds to start with ... then probably buy a few more here and there over the winter when it's cold and depressing outside, and end up with way too many varieties, including some that I just dropped. I'll start a bunch of them and will lose some in the process as this will only be my third year at starting from seed. Whoever survives gets to grow in my garden and a couple friends'. :) And then hopefully the plants won't die or get attacked by wily animals before I get to try the tomatoes. :D

Try this clickable link

Here is a link that might be useful: Stink Bug

Yes!!! This is it! Thanks everybody.

great, thanks!

OMG that gave me the chills!!! LOL

ewww it looks like a disease!

The heavy rains most likely caused the rot they should be OK in a week or 10 days. Good luck Bill
PS if you keep water away.

Thanks everyone! After reading your comments, I am thinking it was just due to the unusual wet weather and I will put these in the compost pile.
Gladys

I love tomatoes, love them. They make up about half my garden space, but if I get into a survival situation that space will go to root crops, not tomatoes.

And BTW, can't you just prune back the plants at a certain height? I mean if I am stuck in space for five years I will be looking for something to do, and pruning a couple of plants is not going to be overwhelming (unless the crew is busy fighting off alien attacks).

Sorry I let that go, it was more thought than this thread merited.

What I would like to take with me when I head out on a multi year mission to space, is a tomato plant that is not poisonous to cattle.

I like tomatoes, but I like steaks and milk as well.

my wife and i on friday. we did a pail of grean tomatoes thru our victro strainer and made juice.seasoned it with salt and liquid smoke.very good can't wait to make chily with it.

I put mine in a cooler (the kind ya take on a picnic). Sometimes I put an apple on the top of them, sometimes, not.

I just load the cooler, shut the lid & within a few days, they start to ripen. I've been able to have fresh mater's right up into December.

Hello fellow Texan! I live near Austin. I had to give up most of my vegetable garden when I noticed my shade trees were starting to look bad. I never watered them before (they're all native trees that should be able to take care of themselves), but I decided I'd better use my precious water to keep those old trees alive, since it takes a lot longer to grow a new tree than a new tomato plant.

Can't wait until this summer is over, but I heard that climatologists are predicting the drought to persist into next year.

So sorry to hear of all the drought Down there.

It is so sad especially when local native trees/plants can't get the regular moisture they naturally used to get. and it is especially tragic for trees to start dying because of how long it takes them to grow.

This thread just keeps reminding me how irresponsible some of us living in the middle east are... earlier this year I was asking for advice on another gardenweb forum about grass and such for when I eventually build our home.

I was advised to forget grass and to concentrate on getting local plants that are more drought tolerant, along with landscaping that makes sense with the climate here.

They are right and I have to just deal with the fact I live in the desert that is the middle east and not Colorado (where in am from) and need to stop thinking I can somehow make it work to have lush greenery on my property.

There are a lot of locals and western expats here who have huge monthly water bills because of needing so much water for the vegetation in their yards that aren't right for the climate.

Sun Gold is indeterminate. I chose a cherry because of its ability to set fruit in hot/humid climates and its earliness. I am also growing beef steaks but those take longer and don't set fruit as well in hot/humid climates.

Pruning FAQ

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ - To prune or Not to Prune

Carol "Which diseases can these pathogens cause? I don't know how to answer your question b/c I don't know which pathogens you're referring to. ( smile) "
I am refering to the pathogens you are trying to kill .Doh

*****

Well Doh back.LOL

I'm trying to kill the same pathogens that I think you are which is why in my post above I went into detail about what I would expect that you might have in WI b/c our gardening zones and weather are about the same as are the major tomato diseases.

Off hand I don't know the answer about pathogens such as the many fungal and bacterial systemic ones that are found much further south than us.

And Dr. Dillard's research was sponsored by either Heinz or Campbells, I can't remember which, and she worked at the USDA station in Geneva, NY so what she looked at is what they asked her to look as to mostly the folige pathogens as well as Fusarium. My info from her was mainly by phone and I have rememered it well over the years. I was referred to her by I think Dr. Tom Zitter at Cornell who is a tomato disease specialist and I knew him b/c of what I named CRUD and also b'c he's the one who taught Dale Riggs her tomato disease knowledge initially and she was the Cornell Coop Ext Director for the 5 county area around Albany, NY and did a disease survey of my heirloom varieties conducted by some interns she had.

I learned almost all I know about tomato diseases from her and Dr. Zitter with one other source which was very important. In the early 90's Craig LeHoullier and I were writing and co-publishing an international heirloom newsletter called Off The Vine. One of the projects was to ID the most important tomato diseases in different parts of the country. For background info I spent hours on the phone calling Coop Ext Directors in many states and asking them to give me the top 10 diseases found in their area and then sent out to all the participants a great little monograph, with pictures of diseases, that I got free from Ciba Geigy and i still have a half box full of those that weren't used since they sent me 500 copies. LOL

OK? (smile)

Carolyn

Will the seeds die if I soak em in Vodka? And will I die if I drink that Vodka afterwards?

Sorry couldn't resist :p