16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Marglobe is a determinate tomato which has some indeterminate 'blood' in its past.

There are lots of attributes to this heirloom. It's been fun to grow. I just wish it tasted better! To my palate, it tastes like the grocery store tomato it was bred to be. It's the truck farmers' delight.

I'm sure that I will get 100 tomatoes from the one I grew this year. Big, bushy 4-5 foot plant, zero disease or pest problems. I mean...I don't think I've ever grown a tomato without seeing at least one caterpillar, one aphid, one spider mite, or one whitefly. Sheesh.

Speaking of Marglobe, I had better get out there and do some more picking!

Try this link it might clear things up in regards to the heirloom tomatoes.

Thanks for the put down digirt!!!

Thank you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia

I'd consider bark fines as being about the size of one's finger nails...pinky to thumb. What are typically sold as "mini pine bark nuggets' are too big.

And don't forget that we're talking about conifer bark...pine or other conifers. Not plain wood chips.

Thanks. This particular brand is fir bark, which I think is a conifer, but not a pine. The chunks looked to be about the size of my fingernails, maybe a bit larger, but I will check again.

missingtheovious!

Thank you! That is one cute caterpillar! They are really reall hairy! :D

Is that a real hair like dogs' ?

Wow. :-D

rhizo!

I see. So I really need to sterilize my garden bed for next season! Thanks!!! :D

I guess I am going to see more worms then I hoped :-(

Thanks for your help!

Sterilize your garden?? Never. Talk about doing more harm than good. Best thing you can do regarding next year is to keep your eyes peeled for those little eggs. Inspect your plants every once in a while. Learn what the hornworm eggs look like and get rid of them before they hatch.

Don't remove ladybug eggs.

Don't worry about it Randy as there is no way we can ID it anyway. We get lots of please ID this plant or this tomato requests here and it simply isn't possible as there are way too many possibilities.

But if you want to post your pic anyway just copy the href code photobucket gives you. It is the one that begins I tried to do it for you but even with trimming your URL above all I get is a 404 error.

Dave

Here's a link to randy41's photo (thanks to Firefox's BBCodeXtra add-on, which does the magic stuff for me):

Gorgeous!

If it tastes good, save the seeds. If it's an open pollinated variety (OP, as opposed to a hybrid), you can have the same tomatoes next year.

Seed-saving instructions (various methods):
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0516104221142.html
http://wintersown.org/wseo1/YourChoiceTomatoSASE/Learn%20to%20Save%20Tomato%20Seeds%20300.pdf
http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/A_Beginner%E2%80%99s_Guide_To_Saving_Tomato_Seeds_Using_Fermentation

Starting tomatoes from seed:
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/tomato/2005015135020413.html

A tomato farmer told me tomatoes are actually bienniels. They produce fruit the first year (obviously) but if they don't die or freeze, will continue producing another year.

A tomato farmer told me tomatoes are actually bienniels. They produce fruit the first year (obviously) but if they don't die or freeze, will continue producing another year.

Bienniels? Not really. Look up the definition of a biennial plant. ;)

Indeterminate varieties, yes they will live for several years given the right conditions and will develop fruit every year. Determinate varieties, no.

Dave

I bought a sweet 100 and early girl one fall. The two plants had identical, small, cherry type tomatoes.
Speaking of Burgundy Traveler, is this a darker form of Arkansas Traveler? I grew AT this year and really liked it. It seems to tolerate the hot, dry climate in Arizona well.

Hi Nerak -

Unfortunately, some tomatoes have tags switched or, in my case as happened this year, they come mismarked from the supplier.

We here in Orange County have a well known retail nursery of which many of us religiously get our transplants both hybrid and heirlooms. I always get two Lemon Boys in the mix of a dozen or so as they're very reliable, disease resistant, taste good and tangy and prolific, not to mention the color which several of the neighbors find delightful when they get some. This year they both came up as yellow pear(s) which, altho cute, taste both mushy and bland. These came directly off the suppliers truck to the nursery mismarked so, yes, it can happen, even from reliable resources.

The heavier mixes have a great deal of bark in them. THAT'S the secret. They will never compact, as opposed to something that is mostly peat moss. These potting mediums will drain beautifully, support and very vigorous root system, prevent that dreaded overwatering and root rot.

These mixes will look different than something you are used to, especially the Nursery Mix. It's GOOD stuff!

Can I just mix in orchid bark if I can't get a nursery to order the heavier mixes for me?

Re. what edweather said, I think I've read that picking them early (as soon as the color breaks) lessens the irregular-ripening problem.

Since tomatoes grow in Texas where I suspect it gets very hot, the couple of weeks of hot weather here shouldn't have impacted them. Now we have cool nights (48-50F) so I suppose getting them ripe will be almost impossible.

Now I saw it with my own eyes! I had just went around and collected any rotted or half eaten toms from all my plants to put in the garbage. I was sitting on the porch when I saw a chipmunk run out from my rasberry plants, stopped under my hostas, then headed for my potted plants that I have around the shed. It jumped up onto the top of the pot, then jumped into the middle of the tomato plant. I quietly went back there to see it, in the middle of the plant, with its front arms around this tomato. Here is what it did to it in about a minutes time. By the time I went into the house to get the jar of peanut butter to put into the three have-a-hart traps, it did a job on another tomato on the other side of my shed. Chip has declared war!

Williston, do you have possums or raccoons in your area? They are possible suspects. I caught my dog eating ripe grape tomatoes. She didn't bother the bigger ones, but then she's a mini doxie and can't reach that high.

Thanks for the info on "Manapal". I would have ordered it and been disappointed. Thanks also for the photo of dg. Now, more than ever, I would like to try to grow some of the hp/dg or Ip tomatoes. The problem is obtaining seed for a start.
The book Vegetables by Kole is how I learned that dg and hp-2 are alleles on chromosome 1.
I can't connect to the kctomato account because it is twitter and social networking is blocked from the computers at our library.
I'm investigating dark leaf varieties because hp's often have darker foliage.

Tom Wagner might have some hp lines he is selling. The problem there is it may not be from a stable line though since it is recessive once you see hp it should always be in following generations. If it is segregating material with the potential for hp most of the seedlings that will grow wouldn't be hp and you will have a learning curve figuring out which ones are hp. There IS a way to segregate the seedlings using the yellow film technique but that would probably be a hassle for most to find the right material and setting up something to grow them in that kind of light. That info is even online I think via RTGC papers.
To me it was evident the first time when the fruit set. Even in the green stage it is noticeable. One can sort of tell before that if you know the material it is in anyway. Foliage will likely be darker and the plants will generally be shorter.

This is a picture from last year of hp-1 segregating in material that had other traits which might confound what you are seeing (dark green shoulders and heterozygous for green stripes). But when you see these fruit compared to others it is clear they are hp. The picture is taken about 10 days apart as the fruit ripened. Notice some faint stiping in the fruit from "gs" in the less mature stage. Also note the rather twisted PL foliage that seemed to go with it in this instance and this next generation (I did not note nor get a photo of that in the parent line which was RL). Notice the intense red color in the mature fruit. hp fruits have a wonderful color to them that really stands out.

hint - sometimes you can see cached blocked pages via google but that may not work for images.

See if they blocked twitpic from link below

In winter I will also post pictures at The Tomato Garden

Here is a link that might be useful: twitpic link

The varieties developed by UF for growing here in Florida are developed to suit the needs of commercial growers. In other words, the plants will set fruit in hot/humid conditions and grow in worm-filled sand and the fruits are firm so that they have good "shipability." However, they taste like cardboard. Not worth growing IMO. You can buy cardboard tasting tomatoes in Publix for not much money and a heck of a lot less work.

On your other post of this question I gave you some links to U. of Florida Extension services but forgot to mention - chatting up some local growers at the Farmer's Market (if you have one). They are often the best source of how-to-grow-here info and love to talk about it.

Dave