16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Don't tomatoes taste the best if they are ripened on the vine?

I used to grow Stupice and prefer Matina which is a look alike in all ways except I think the taste is better and it too is early and productive and have tried Kimberly and Bloody Butcher as well.

But what I currently like the best is Moravsky Div, which is very early and for me has great taste.

There were four different Stupicka's developed in Czechoslovakia, two for outdoor growing and two for glass house growing.

At another site there's been a very long thread about Moravsky Div and there appears to be some agreement with research done with Moravoseed and other places in Europe that Moravsky Div may be one of the indoor ones but grows great outside as well.

In my experience the fruits of MD are a bit smaller than conventional Stupice or Matina but the taste is much much better and it has performed well for me in my area all summer.

Below is a link to Tania's T-base for seed sources and I was the source of seed to Glecklers, Jeff Casey, Sandhill and Victory Seeds, where I usually send the best of what I've grown each year. I also send to Linda Sapp at TGS but she's very behind in trialing varieties right now.

Glenn Drowns comment at Sandhill amused me b/c he notes in his catalog/website that he put out 4 inch transplants and had fruits 43 days later.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed sources for Moravsky Div

Blossom end rot, I had it and noticed it very early in the season. Lack of calcium is usually the cause. I called the hot line ortho 1 800 225 2883 described the problem and they said most likely not a blight or fungus.They suggested bone meal, liquid calcium,blossom end rot spray. I used all of the above and saved all my plants. I'm sure if I didn't notice the fruit rotting so early I would have no tomato's now.

This has been my worst tomato yr. ever. Many other problems. Critters,white fly weather. But I am harvesting tomato's just not as many.0719261017260

nerak, Blossom End Rot is a condition that only affects the fruit of young plants. Further, it mostly affects certain types of tomatoes (Romas and other pastes, beefsteaks, other large or medium size fruit), but is rarely if ever seen in cherry, grape, or currant tomatoes.

The spray does nothing to solve the problem -- and neither does adding other calcium supplements. The plant actually has plenty of calcium: it just isn't able to move the calcium fast enough to where it's needed (the developing fruit). BER is "cured" naturally when the plant matures a bit and can move nutrients more quickly to the fruit where they are needed.

Yes, your plants stopped having new cases of BER after you followed the hotline's instructions -- but that would have happened anyway, even without the sprays and calcium supplements. When I noticed my young plants' few cases of BER this spring, I did nothing about it (except to discard the most-damaged fruit), and the BER stopped without any sprays or additives.

By the way, the normally-colored parts of fruit with BER are perfectly edible. They don't look pretty, but if the BER spot is small, you may wish to leave them on the vine.

Why are they dying?

Sometimes a lack of watering is blamed when the real problem is wilts and blights have withered most of the plant. If the whole plant is the same stage of wilt/dryness that might really be a moisture problem. If yellow or brown leaves move from the bottom of the plant towards the top, that is a good indicator that you need to:
-- spray with compost tea
-- keep branches off ground and from touching other plants
-- water the base of the plant, not the whole thing
-- next year space the plants further apart.

those plants do have things that look like spider web around the leaves.

yes, since those things are growing on those leaves, so i tend to watch the whole plants to wash them.

oh, yes, i did want to grow more, so i planted a lot close by. why does that cause the plants to die early?

Agreed. It is an excellent tomato. I do grow mostly OPs with a few hybrids each year, this is one of the best hybrids I've grown.

This is not a cherry, this is a pink globe, average size about seven ounces though there are some which are closer to ten ounces--very pretty, no cracking, no BER, it is also a very good cropper. I just took nearly a dozen ripe fruits off one plant. Ate one fresh, liked it much, and turned the rest into sauce. This is juicy, satiny, it is sweet but there is also some tanginess, really quite good flavor for a hybrid. This is wonderful tomato. The sauce, btw, was one of my best batches.

I have to agree with Trudi_d. Everyone I gave plants to loves it also. Will grow it again. It's not as good as many heirlooms of course, but a great cross for hardiness, productivity, taste. Crops at a good time for me too and I love that it will sit on the shelf for a few weeks without going bad.

red on the bottom with black patches towards the top

Are the black patches like the dark, greenish-brown areas on the shoulders of some "black" tomato varieties? If so, your Park's Whopper may be a different variety. [This year my 17 purchased seedlings include at least one, possibly two mis-labelled varieties.]
http://heirloomtomatoplants.com/The%20Black%20Tomatoes.htm

Or do you mean black patches that might be mold or decay in the cracks?

Or something else?

Here are some photos of problems that affect tomato fruit:
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/DiagnosticKeys/TomFrt/TomFrtKey.html
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/tomatoproblemsolver/ripe/

Thank you for responding so quickly! Unfortunately I do not have a camera therefore I cannot take a picture of it. But based upon the links my problem is most likely early blight. The black patches on my fruit match the picture in the other link. I sprayed last week with a fungicide and I thought it was working but it didn't. My other tomato varieties remain good though. What should I use to prevent it from spreading farther? What do you recommend?

Here's my .02 on this subject: I wrap each ripening tomato with a paper towel or newspaper. No baggies. The tomatoes don't need the sunlight (or any light) in order to continue to turn red at this point. Also, I put a some apple cider vinegar or even apple juice into a small bowl with a few drops of dish detergent. The fruit flies will sink into the liquid immediately upon sampling. I usually place the bowl away from any tomatoes; I imagine that I'm luring them away.

Anyway, it works. ;-)

if you simply fill a container with apple cider vinegar, a bit of tomato juice and a drop or two of dish soap the flies will drown in it. The soap acts as a surfactant which breaks the surface tension of the vinegar. Normally when they land on it they won't break the surface tension. But with the soap, down they go.

Change it out so it doesnt smell too nasty.

Hi Greg,

Just about to go through the plants for the best to bring, we'll see you on Saturday.

Trudi and Steve

Thank You!

It was a wonderful day and my first official tomato tasting event. Thanks for all the effort all of you put into this. Absolutely great!!

Thanks again.

Cindy

I used wooden shish kabob sticks I had laying around. About 12 inches long each snapped in half, one half stuck in the soil on each side of the plant.

Only my second year trying it, but it worked ok last year.

Biodegradable is the key for me. Anything plastic ends up getting lost in the soil and popping up later looking like litter.

Cool. We used aluminum foil strips - right from the roll - cut them to size. But would like to try the 3 toothpick option mentioned re: biodegradable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Family Favourite Recipes

Black plum?
You don't say how big they are.

Here's a link to a photo of Black Plum

Carla in Sac

Here is a link that might be useful: http://tomatogrowers.com/black.htm

It is black plum.
I did buy 4 tomato plants this year and kept the tags.
This was one of those 4.
So sorry about that.
But you guys guessed pretty good. Thanks.

"Disproving what? Science doesn't DISprove, it either proves or fails to prove."

I disagree. What the data from properly designed randomized, controlled studies can tell you is whether to reject the null hypothesis. Rejecting the null hypothesis is synonymous with disproving the null hypothesis.

As far as what I was asking above, I will rephrase it for clarity's sake. I was asking whether or not there is any scientific evidence supporting the belief that pruning does not lead to larger fruit. There sure are a lot of people who believe it does lead to larger fruit.

Of course, just because lots of people believe something doesn't mean it is true. That is why I was asking if there is any scientific evidence.

My garden buddy prunes. I don't. He always gets better tomatoes, but his place is in a better location and my greenhouse is too shady. I keep telling him to try leaving one alone some season and I'll try pruning. But old habits die hard and we both can't stop following our old methods.

It's a simple enough experiment to try yourself and answer the question in your particular garden.

-Ed

My leggy tomatoes seem to be slower to bear fruit and not be as filled out as my short ones. Any tomatoes plants I have that wind up leggy get special treatment. I plant them as deep as I can and set a raised container (usually a tire) over the top of them. As they grow, I fill in the tire with soil and mulch. This gives me really good root systems and a chance to plant about three weeks early. A plexiglas frame makes it a nice hotbox. One day I will pick a ripe tomato in May, I've gotten close a couple of times.

Dave...you were dead on about pepper feet liking shade.

zackey - growing outside in south florida. They get direct sunlight from 7am to whenever it starts raining, which is usually between 2pm and 4pm, although some days it starts earlier and some days we have had rain all day due to a tropical system.

I think the Jubilee tomatoes are all about the same.....just different names.
I prefer the flavor of Pineapple, so don't bother with those anymore anyway. As you can see from the picture, they grow large and yummy:)

In the early 70's this is what my mom and then later I raised with FANTASTIC results. Relatives started planting them also. They would get about 5' tall and fruit(big + firm + few seeds) til the cows came home. We took extras to the town's rest home. + no canker sores from the acid Loved these tomatoes!

I think you should root a part of the sucker stem normally in the soil as you grow a tree from a seed........It works..Trust me..

I think suckers are easy to root in soil. I don't use root tone. I use a 4" pot or a bigger one for several cutting. I wet the foliage of the plant daily with a gentle squirt from the hose. This has always worked great for me. Water roots are weaker than soil roots. They don't have to work to get to the the water.