16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Celebrity has shown much more tolerance of low water conditions than most other tomatoes I've grown outdoors. The fruit is not huge, but makes reasonable slices. I find that the fruit is not as sweet as some other tomatoes. I've allowed the plant to sprawl on the ground, and this also does seem to help with the low water conditions: fewer of the leaves are exposed. Stupice might be considered a low water variety also by some, but you may find that you need to deal with some blossom end rot if you don't provide more water. For me, BER is not too big a deal; I can just cut off the affected portion. The other hint for Stupice would be to plant the transplant really deep in the ground when you transplant so that there are lots of roots at different levels in the soil. Stupice is not a super vigorous variety so you may not need to prune or train, and the compact growth probably does protect the plant from too much moisture loss.
Renais

Thanks for that info, Renais!

On the online catalog website in the cherry section, it does say "Indeterminate, open-pollinated" right at the beginning of the description by the picture of Sugar Gem. So you're in luck!

Hmm. Amy's Apricot cherry sounds interesting too ....

Ah, great. Thanks! Now, Apricot Cherry is indeed marked as "heritage" in my printed catalog. Yes, that one seems to be a winner too.

But I'm still interested in anyone who's had some experience with, well, either.

I was Very disappointed with the Husky Cherry Red I planted this year. It was planted next to a jet star plant which remained healthy all year. But the Husky Cherry got some kind of a disease which caused all the branches to turn brown and die. I do not intend to plant Husky Cherry again.

Thanks, BeeAnn. Sorry that happened, but I have to say that so far mine is just chugging along in its slowish, imperturbable way. Has the first teeny little buds on it now, but the weather here has been pretty cold at night so I don't know if anything will come of them.

I suppose that I answered my own question. "Amish Paste" is any paste tomato grown by the Amish! LOL

Just a few comments.

I used to grow Amish Paste for my SSE listings and never had it cross and I grew too many varieties to bag blossoms. I do not consider it to be a paste tomato since it's far too juicy IMO. But xing percentages do differ in different parts of the country as well as in different seasons

Tania's page for Amish Paste/

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Amish_Paste

I introduced one called Amish Salad

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Amish_Salad

What's my point? Names are given to many varieties, and here we're talking about Amish, and it;s not always clear that they were grown by the Amish, just presumed so as seeds are passed around.

Cherokee Purple, it was NOT a phony story at first b'c When John Green gave the seeds to Craig Lehoullier John said it was a 100 years old as told to him by the woman who gave him the seeds, It was only after Mulio aka Keith Mueller,, who posts here occasionally posted the information about which gf alleles differ between so called blacks had that it became clear that it was NOT 100 yo.

Such gf DNA analysis was not known in 1992 when Craig named the variety

And there are several scenarios that have been put forward as to where it might have come from.

I've linked to that gf data at the bottom of the page and scroll down until you see the post by Mulio in April.

And no, Amish Paste is not any variety grown by the Amish, I could list quite a few here that were grown by the Amish, or Mennonites as far as that goes, that are not pastes at all.

All for now.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: gf alleles

As mentioned , it depends on several factors:

--- Growth habit ( determinant, indeterminant, aggressive, bushy )
-- Spacing: Example: if you space them 3ft apart and use a tall (6ft) sturdy cage, there would be less need for pruning. But if you practice sqr-ft gardenin or space them closely ( I do 18") then you'll need to do some pruning.
---- Climate: In warm, sunny climates foliage can be a plus to shade but with cooler weather, rainy conditions it is opposite.

But at any case, it is recommended to prune any and all the leaf branches close to the ground, to provide air flow and prevent soil borne disease, molds.

You have to do some reading and familiarize your self with the issue, pertinent to your growing conditions and the varieties.

Seysonn

I personally prune the heck out of my tomato plants, but that is b/c I try and get as many different varieties within a square foot space as possible.

I typically allow 2 to 3 stems and use the drop-line technique, which excels at allowing for space efficiency as well as air flow (see link below).

For this reason, I tend to have less quantity of tomatoes per tomato plant, but of the ones that grow tend to be larger than normal..

smithmal

Here is a link that might be useful:

Yuck!

It's exciting that you stumbled on a named variety and all that, but why would anyone bother to grow a tomato that tastes bland when there are zillions of great-tasting OP varieties out there?

Linda

why would anyone bother to grow a tomato that tastes bland
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I will grow it as "stuffer".
It is like "sauce" tomato. The taste of tomato is not that important. When you make sauce, you (can) add all kinds of things to it, a dash of salt, a pinch of sugar, a touch of vinegar, red bell pepper, garlic, basil ... So who is going to know how the tomato tasted ? It is the same with stuffer. The taste and flavor of the stuffing should be so dominant that the taste of tomato won't be noticed.

Seysonn

Of course you can. Just move down to South Florida. Winter is growing season here. I have begun to start plants for my crop.

Of course you can. Just move down to South Florida. Winter is growing season here. I have begun to start plants for my crop.

Sigh, indeed.

I just wanted to follow up on the Burpee Brandywine Red variety. I harvested a fall crop of green, but starting to ripen (on the inside) tomatoes (we had an early frost). I have attached a picture of a ripe tomato after it ripened fully in my garage.

I have also attached pictures of the skin. I always have trouble making a definitive determination, but does this look like yellow skin to you? I know it's tough to capture everything in a picture, but to me it looks clear (I also have the benefit of seeing it in person).

The flavor is very strong and acidic as you might expect from a classical tomato. It was a little mushier than other varieties that ripened under similar circumstances. Since I didn't grow it side by side with Brandywine Pink it is hard for me to discuss flavor similarities/differences. Altogether the flavor was OK, but it seemed to be lacking balance and I found it a bit bitter. Maybe this is attributed to the non-ideal ripening conditions.

Hi,

I've seen many posts for stunted tomatoes, but all apply to the
plant. My plant is growing fine, its the fruit that has problems.

I am growing my tomatoes hydroponically indoors under LED lights in clay pellets. I am able to control grow room temps,
humidity, and nutrient temps within the recommended ranges.

I have four Kumato plants. Plenty of blooms, many set, I
have mature fruit on all of the plants.

My question concerns blooms that set to a BB size tomato
and grow no further. I have some that have been like this
for two months. I have other blooms that set and grow
fruit to the size of a large marble, then it stops.

On the four plants, I probably have 20 tomatoes like this. If
I could discover the cause of this problem I could greatly
increase my yields.

Conditions:
Using three part Flora nutrient in a flowering and fruiting formulation.

18 hours lights on, 6 hours off. Tomatoes do not need shortening days to produce flowers like some plants do.

Feeding six times per day for 15 minutes. Clay pellets, so the roots are getting a lot of O2.

Temperatures never get above 77 degrees F. Night temps drop to 62 -65 degrees F

Nutrient temps range from 65 - 70 degrees.

I maintain the nutrient PH between 5.8 - 6.3 and between
1100 - 1500 ppm.

I use Reverse Osmosis (RO) water and supplement with General Hydroponics CalMagic (Calcium and Magnesium).

Thanks for any ideas you might have.

I think what you are describing is fruit abortion and I've linked to a Google Search below where there are several links that deal with that topic.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Fruit Abortion

Some of it has to do with what tomatoes you are growing- seems like some varieties are always good or not so much regardless of how they are grown.

But I think that most of it has to do with the soil, like others have stated.

"Taste" is a complex matter and it can also vary from one person to another. However, the "sweet" and "sour" are obvious and can be measured, in terms of sugar contents (Brix) and acidity (pH).
So if your definition of "tasty" is sweetness, then it can be easily obtained by selecting varieties that are genetically sweeter.

Soil , amount of sunshine,and weather are yet important factors. Sunshine and dry climates make tastier and sweeter fruits in general..

Seysonn

This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Dec 13, 14 at 16:36

Paul,
We plant another whole round of tomatoes in August here, in Aiken.
We get tomatoes til the end of November, beginning of Dec, sometimes later depending on the weather.
I also think you are not feeding your tomatoes plants, miracle grow and epson salts work wonders in this sandy soil.
If you have them in pots, it works on them too.
I don't plant Determinates, only the long producing plants the Indeterminates, and usually get tomatoes all summer, and go buy some new plants in August, and have them til winter.
Good Luck.

Thanks butterfly4u!

May I ask, which "red" indeterminate varieties do you plant in Aiken?

Paul

Well money is always a concern on heating as I watch propane use closely as I rarely run the heater during the day unless its rainy and cold. I am always trying to improve things to save on heating costs. This GH is positioned east-west and gets full sun, I have a single 52in exhaust fan I use when warm enough otherwise I keep it closed off. Internally I move air with 4 box fans from the ceiling. The tomatoes are on a suspension system in the center as the peak is 12ft and I have tomatoes to the top now. My biggest problem is with whiteflies attacking my peppers, I have traps out and spray daily. The tomatoes are doing well, good growth and still bearing new tomatoes.

BTW I have canned 62 qts of tomatoes since Sept of this year.

I think the only hope for these tomatoes is to replace the contents of the planter, whatever it is filled with and start over.

If your tomato plants have stuff in the soil that's killing them, you can always do this (for tomato plants specifically): pull or dig the plant out (and as many of the roots as will come) and put the roots in water for two or three days (there's no reason it should die in the water, but it should grow out its roots some). Then repot in new soil. Keep the plant away from direct sun during this process (and for a short while afterward, maybe).

You also might consider rooting cuttings from your tomato plant. People say you can do it in soil. I root them in water, though, so far (just stick it in water and wait a couple weeks, and it should grow roots). If you add something crazy like diatomaceous earth or 24-8-16 fertilizer to the water it probably won't grow roots (and will likely die). However, the plants tend to lose nutrients after being in plain water so long. So, maybe an even, mild fertilizer would help (like 7-7-7). A tomato cutting I took last night and added 7-7-7 fertilizer to is still looking healthy. So, it won't immediately kill it, at the very least. Remind me to update this after a couple weeks to tell you if it worked better than plain water.

Some people say to add hydrogen peroxide to cuttings to help them root. I've tried this and it cleaned the cuttings, but it actually made them so they didn't grow roots in the portions of the plants that were under water. So, it seems kind of counterproductive. I haven't tried the food grade kind (the food grade kind is much safer, at least if you dilute it considerably due to its potency, considering the regular kind may have organophosphates, heavy metals or other chemicals in it). After I changed the water (and added no hydrogen peroxide), they grew roots (but not before).

[Hydrogen peroxide does seem to be great for helping seeds to germinate faster, though (soak the seeds for an hour in a diluted solution of it and water). I've tried that. I'd recommend the food grade kind there, too. If you use the regular kind, drain the solution and rinse the seeds before planting (so the chemicals don't pollute your soil).]

If you root tomato cuttings in soil, keep them out of direct sun. I think that's why my first attempt at that failed. Plants with disturbed (or no) roots seem to wilt quickly in direct sun.

This post was edited by Shule on Tue, Dec 9, 14 at 23:51

Thanks for the reassurance about the seeds' viability. And I've missed early planting now, but I'll try anyway, and also do a late planting at summer's end.

Any ideas on the varieties I mentioned having?

Temperature stops fruit set and ripening if it gets too high, so you have to avoid the temps somehow.

My successful tomatoes have been tiny (Matt's Wild Cherry) or varieties from India (heirloom from one the SO's co-workers from India) or found thriving in Baja California.

One technique that works is to use short-season varieties developed for far north to get in the harvest before it turns hot, or for late-summer planting and an early fall harvest.

Another is to accept that the plants will sulk all summer with little activity and set fruit when it cools off in the autumn.