16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Yay, and Christmas came early- Sen Say will be coming my way as well as Orange Minsk Heart and Daniel Burson with Margaret Curtain...
SuncityLinda, my friend just reported that Sarah Black was one of the most productive for her out of about 100 LOL
Indian stripe was real gem of tomato this year for me. Now we will see what Daniel Burson is going to do.

Good to know about Sarah Black, thanks!

Thanks Carolyn & Marv, I'll take a rain check on those seeds Marv unless Carolyn wants them LOL ⦠till I can figure out how to successfully grow big tomatoes in my climate, since it sounds like the crème de la crème of BZ breeding material. It is more of a sour grapes sort of thing, probably. The breeding pressure is for the single huge tomato which I'm not that keen about for the following reasons. Other traits have been compromised, that in a vigorous, stabilized OP line should be there. I think the BZ crowd is committing a terrible error by successively omitting excluding traits just to get the one. Could be wrong about it but there is no real target from what I see other than size ⦠seems logical that other traits are going to the wayside and that is not how a real head breeder would define a program. They are probably going the wrong way and need to incorporate new traits into it by reaching out to tap other genetic resources not present.

So in creating the monster among giants, the latest BZ doesn't appeal to me as much since it is too resource intensive to carry a plant for just one tomato in North Florida. I will be growing MegaMarv in the spring, not for Guinness, but just because you gave me some info on it and I value the personal connection. Here's the problem, to grow a giant I need to carry it through the summer, which is a lot of work for 75 days. Late March is transplant date and June gets too hot at night and requires vigor in a plant to do this. I'd like to see a southern bred, southern edition of Big Zac OP rather than protected culture more temperate climate ones currently coming out. TimmâÂÂs is quite vigorous, and that is pretty much the best compromise I can get. The newer one you have is probably some excellent breeding stock to backcross to F6 and then make the selections ⦠rather than continue selecting to an evolutionary dead end ⦠there is something great to be said about vigor IMO.

But you know what ⦠There was this guy that âÂÂinventedâ every single determinate tomato ⦠a stoneâÂÂs throw from where I grew up, a generation or two earlier, by just saving the seeds from one weird plant he caught with his eagle eye. The man was a natural and the stuff of legend. I bet when people saw that straggly plant that died at the end of its cycle there were similar comments from the peanut gallery. The proof will be revealed in time and all critics will disappear into the woodwork when a vigorous line comes out that is easy to grow for the masses. JMO

Thanks again.

Marv

Dominick, since the tomato is not the cherry you were expecting, it very well may not be the color you were expecting either. It's possible it may turn out to be a yellow or "white" tomato instead of a red. I don't know what zone you are in, but if the nights (or days) are starting to really chill down, you may want to pick them and continue to ripen them in the house in warmer conditions. If they continue to stay yellow instead of pink or red, you can determine ripeness by a gentle squeeze which will feel soft and giving, not hard as a rock. I know I have missed peak ripeness for paler yellow and green when ripe tomatoes many times, because they just did not look ripe -- until I noticed they were starting to split.

Did you get your seeds from the last year seed swap? I also planted Jagodka cherry tomato seeds from the swap.... and ended up with the flattened orange beefsteaks. Curious if yours are orange too....

Daniel, also to question whether to skip on watering during August, this was from market grower in one of the warmer zones, so yeah, it is doable for sure. Good mulch and good soil practices will give your tomatoes long roots. If your tomatoes roots grow only 8-10 inches down then there will be need to think why and what can be changed. Those ones will for sure need frequent watering. I know I tried to dig one tomato in June and it was job and a half for me.

I learned that I love growing tomatoes!! They were the most fun, reasonably easy, and rewarding, in yield and flavor vs the store.

They were so much easier and hardier than the eggplants and peppers.

Both pots are too small to grow tomatoes in. This 10-Gallon Smart Pot would be a better choice.

Also, I would be more worried about the limp stem of the tomato in the bigger pot.

RE: Is it normal for stems to start getting brown eventually?

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NO. your plant is expired.

We did not go lower than 45 last night and while I am wearing my fall coat, it is warming up slowly. Tomatoes did survived although feel like they are out of the fridge. I am anxious to check my cukes though, had a good supply going...

We picked this AM (DD and I) and while the sun was warm, she said the big tomatoes were cold. My cukes have been over for a while, I'm hoping the 2nd planting of squash survives the weekend b/c there are some nice ones coming, just slower than they were when it was warm. Still waiting for ripe peppers.

Could it be from chemical drift from nearby. Cut the stem after harvest to see if there is any discoloration. Do you spray early in the morning or late afternoon?

Thanks all. Lycopenequest, I spray in the early morning before the sun hits the plants. It isn't chemical drift from nearby, I lost almost all my tomatoes one year from herbicide damage, so know what that looks like. I am beginning to think Linda is right and this is Grey Mold. This plant sits in the back of the garden so gets much less wind and airflow than the other plants. I am getting a touch of it on the other plants, but I am able for some reason to contain it on those. The dwarf with the very dense foliage started out with white spots and then got the brown areas with visible fuzzy growth. But the end result of the leaves looks identical. So I think it must be grey mold and probably this plant suffered more as it was at the back of my garden. Thanks all,

Yeah . It cools off a bit when it is rainy, here too.
We have 70F in the forecast down the road.
Fall is inevitable.

Whatever I picked today was cooked up into Chili & Spaghetti Sauce.

I don't get a whole lot to keep, after using ourselves and giving to relatives. But whenever I do, I keep them in wicker basket that provides some aeration. That is how i keep just about any fruit. I have got different sizes of them.

Wicker can poke holes in tomatoes. Wire is better, or best (if you have the room) is stems down on a wire cake-cooling rack, single layer.

I pick at first blush, and try to put greener ones on the bottom so I pick into buckets and bins, sort them out and try to lay in a single layer to ripen when I get back to the house. The riper ones from the top of the bucket go into the market bins after I cull through what's left over from the last market (I cull every other day, sometimes 2 days in a row).

End of season greenies get laid in newspaper in a single layer in boxes I get from grocery stores or BJs. But it's just too hard to pick into those. And end of season are so hard I don't worry at all about picking into 5 gal buckets - I'm just trying to harvest them before frost!

It's pointless to spray when disease isn't preset.

We still don't know anything about fertilizer.
Was it used?
And if so, when and how much?

If only watered, even if the potting mix already contains fertilizer, it needs supplemental fertilizer.

It's pointless to spray when disease isn't preset.

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It is a common practice to spray tomato plants regularly, from early on , with anti fungal and anti bacterial, as a preventive measure. Often it is too late to try spraying when the plant is full infected. Most tomato plant diseases are fungal/bacterial.

So it is an option:, to prevent or to fight the disease.

I bet you wanted to say Indiana Red, not Red Indian, and here's Tania's page for it.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Indiana_Red#tab=General_Info

No current seed sources, Gleckler's is out of business,

Sen Say is new so no seed sources yet, I mean commercial sources,

And here's Nicky Crain

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Nicky_Crain#tab=General_Info

No seed sources for 2014, but Linda, Glenn's wife at Sandhill Preservation didn't get their listings in in time, so I'd check the current website or catalog

And I'd also check the Sandhill 2014 website or catalog for Nicky Crain b'c it has been listed in the past.

If you haven't dealt with Sandhill before see when they do and don't accept orders for tomato seeds and all ordering is done by mail, for the reasons Glenn mentions. With over 400 varieties listed and no tomato seeds over 2 yo and a low rate of crossed seed and high seed count and low seed and shipping prices, I think it's a great place to get not just tomato seeds but lots of other stuff theyl list.

No, I'm not getting paid to say such nice things about Sandhill, LOL,but I've known Glenn and Linda for many many years, just outstanding folks. Glenn has a full time teaching position as well and finally they are very well known for their heirloom poultry and I get a kick reading about those as well.

Hope the above helps, and I did say where I listed the varieties that I was listing some extras in case no commercial seeds were available, but you post at one place where I do and you know how to make your WANTS known,

Carolyn

This year I am growing Kellogg's Breakfast, orange beefsteak, and Bobbie, large deep pink/red heart, that have been meaty with a mild taste and very productive.

Also growing a Brandy Boy F10 which is meaty but more moist.

The tomato very well may be the Tomato Costoluto. These are very beefy tomatoes full of acidity intense flavor, great for sauces. They are available from growitalian but also park seeds and various other sources.

"Costoluto" again is not a variety just as "ox heart" is not a single variety. But there is a famous Costoluto called "Costoluto Genoves " (spl ?). Its seeds is widely available.