16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Oh man, yes........I have tons of stink bugs all over the garden. This year has been incredibly worse than usual. I guess I had to trade them off for not having any squash bugs this year.
We' re not allowed to have everything we want, right? ;)
Doesn't sound like there's a question, but it sounds like a job well done and I'll ask:
Are you saying the 10 younger plants that are now bearing showed signs of the Early Blight on the lower leaves when you took the cutting from high up, or did you notice if the "mother" plants were disease free at the time you took the cuttings?
Not positive but am pretty sure the mother plants had blight started down low when I pulled the suckers. I might grow the late ones under lights next yr but I really think the that the disease here in the Ohio River Valley is almost unavoidable after July 1 because its in the air. I could be wrong I guess. But anyway the three plants set large tomatoes before the blight appeared and the fruit kept growing. Two of the plants didn't set additional fruit after the blight was halfway up but the pink one is still setting little fruit. Pretty sure I will pick 15 nice tomatoes from these containers and they are of avg size for those cultivars. And then maybe some smaller ones too. There are 26 tomatoes still on and I have picked two 24 oz bi color from the yellow/red plant. Mr Stripey I think.
I get lots of seeds from Tatiana website as well as Doublehelixfarms and Heritage.
Tatiana's site is good reference point as she does careful research.
If you have any specific ones in mind I can cross reference them with russian tomato forum.
Great majority of former USSR tomatoes will be fit for short summers and varied weather, since distribution was often done across entire USSR, the requirements for breeding was to be good for many areas. Newer varieties could be anything as zones vary across Russia.
For me growing main bulk of former USSR varieties is a norm as summer here in Chicago refects varied weather patterns. I need tomatoes that have good early friut set in cold weather and rather on early side. Nothing else will do good here. Some finds that Tania has are just excellent!
Why did I read the first 10 pages of that Amazon link, wellI was intrigued with all the wrong info given for many of the varieties and at page 10 it segued to buy your Russian Dressing here,so I left.
I would never never suggest that anyone buy tomato seeds at Amazon,nor for most offers at e-bay, with few exceptions.
Black Cherry is russian in origin?I think not, and Vince Sapp who bred it is in tomato heaven right now must be looking down and being greatly amused.
Rare this and rare that? I suppose to some, yes, but whatever.
Carolyn,now I'm really going back to tennis, I think.LOL
Ted, that Pink Flamingo one is a difficult one. The person who was doing seed production for me sent me pictures, they didn't correspond to what it should be, I sent the pictures to Tania. and even she had trouble figuring out what it could be.
And I can see why, see her link below and note that several different fruit shapes are possible.
I just checked my recent seed offer and I don't see it there for the past 3 years, so apparently I never offered seeds for it.
I'd have to do some searching to find the last list she sent me to see what I did get. But I think that might be two years ago now.
Carolyn, always interested in Russian varieties, hint, hint, re any trades, and got lots of new Russian ones from Reinhard Kraft in Germany that are being gown out for seeds this summer for my next seed offer, if all goes well. And some other Russian ones as well, and Tania is all excited about the two new ones I have from the Republic of Georgia.Aha, lots of new ones from Andrey in Belarus as well, most not grown out b'c my seed producers had no more room. Sigh. Why my interst in Russian ones? Probably b'c I'm of Swedish heritage and we Swedes were the first to settle parts of Russia. I hear a mens Russian chorus and dissolve into a pool of protoplasm which is why Andrey sent me some CD's as well as some icon cards.( smile)
Here is a link that might be useful: Pink Flamingo
Yes, Pink Flamingo was either unstable or mix as shapes reported were different, but majority of people reported excellent taste so it is on my list for next year.
Am looking forward to Ukrainka as Prue was less than stellar performance this year and I need another paste.
This year I've grown Malinovoye Chudo and Syzranka which is probably Syzranskiy Rozovyi. Syzranka is late one for me, otherwise is really good. Like Malinovoye Chudo too which translates Raspberry delight.
Oh goody for new tomatoes!!!!
Thanks WashTomatoes, sometimes I need to be told the more obvious things for painfully obvious reasons... Unfortunately I have this particular issue now, hence the searching for ideas. And while an old thread, I hadn't seen anyone approaching whitefly control this way (bait & kills) while maintaining organic on your primary plants, so I thought I'd post it.
How's that for trying to make my latent post sound timely? :)
Daniel_NY - The plant is hanging in there, no new dead spots since I cleaned it up and started watering and feeding more. Of the 20+ tomatoes that I had on the vine about half of those became ripe enough to pick this week, so I have about 10+ left on the vine. Thanks
Brandon, where do you garden and I ask bc Brandywine does better in many parts of the country than others.
I'm not one who thinks that brandywine has THE best taste around, although I do think that is has a unique taste, at least grown by me.
Yes, Brandy Boy F1 might well give you a better yield but I haven't seen anyone say it tastes like Brandywine and I read and often post at several message sites and have for several decades.
What would you say your most important criteria are. that is , Brandywine taste or yields, b'c I can think of several pink large fruited varieties, PL or not, that do have excellent taste, at least IMO.
Again, a lot depends on where you live as to the performance of any of the Brandywines, and there are several so called strains.
Carolyn
In addition to DDT being an insecticide not a herbicide, it was banned in the U.S. over 40 years ago. So if that is indeed what they threatened your raspberry plants with, they either didn't know what they were talking about, or they were yanking your chain, or both.
Are you getting a lot of Siamese twin tomatoes from them? Or is it just me?
I'm getting a lot of weird looking tomatoes on Steakhouse, Porterhouse, and Brandy boy.
Like this one in the link below.
Here is a link that might be useful: Ugly Tomato
I got a late start on planting my own Steakhouse 7 inch starts from seed on 5-16-14. The pic below shows the first and biggest sample. I am 6 ft tall and the steakhouse tomato plant is 7 ft at the time of this pic and about 8 ft now (8-27-14) and still growing. The tomato is 1.5 lbs, and the succeeding ones are about 1 lb each. I do not pinch suckers, and grow them in wire cages, in Tennessee. My 10 ft corn is in the background.
Thank you so much for the speedy reply, I'm really glad to hear they won't need to be replaced with a different variety. I was really dreading having to dig them up after I put so much time and effort into growing them lol.
I usually try to plant seeds instead of transplants, and the Home Depot nor Lowes seem to carry very many varieties of tomato's. Maybe you or someone else here can suggest a good place online to order some of the harder to find varieties that I may not be able to find here?
Again, I really appreciate your help, I'm really starting to fall in love with this site and all the good info it has!
Hi Pacman,
I would recommend this generous thread, take a look at it and just mention your gardening interests.
I've bought a few seeds from tomato community people that are self-proprietors and not the big ones. This is because I love the excuse and kind words I exchange with them with a personal touch, and I understand the difficulties involved with trying to do the hobby you love and they get a token bit of money back, but mainly do as a labor of love. It helps everyone because then they have good reason to keep their seeds pure and the enthusiasm up, just like you and me.
What happens is you can think they are great but if you endorse them, think of all the others that could use an extra $5 since diversity is key, we've got to keep them going.
There are lists and databases of larger seed suppliers, but they don't include everyone equitably IMO, so it is best if any commercial endorsements are kept offline IMO. That said, if you are interested in a particular variety LOL just ask people for input on how it grew, donâÂÂt be shy about posting here, it is a great resource with great people who really help. Then if you like it, ask them where they got it and see what happens.
You should start your seeds inside about 5-6 weeks before transplant date (well, IâÂÂm no expert but thatâÂÂs what I do in this climate). I got a packet of Cherokee Purple for $1.79 from Home Depot the other day under the Ferry Morse label. The seeds did fine, but unless that variety has a particularly weak seedling, IâÂÂm at day 12 now and it is about 3 days behind. That is perfectly fine and will make good plants regardless of whether it is super fresh or not, but my point is the other heirlooms I got from small guys and so far I am just so feeling great about them.
JMO
PC
IME Sweet 100 will be the biggest plant by far - in both height and diameter. Isis Candy next biggest. Never grown Green Grape. GRS will be next, then Mariana's and Earl followed by CP and Anna. Anna Russian is a wispy almost anemic looking plant.
You don't mention the height of your cages or what they are made of. That will make a very big difference as will if you plan to do any pruning.
Dave
Thanks Dave, they are about 6 foot but i will need to 'sink' them so 5 foot something when secured in place and are made from 2.5mm galvanized wire. I don't plan to prune, although i'll only plant 12- 15 so no trouble if i have to do a bit.
Funny, the S100 and Isis Candy look quite small compared to some of the others but i guess its still early days......the AR is by far the tallest but as you alluded, looks quite pathetic!
Steve, it's larger, more fruit per vine, and reasonably disease resistant. It doesn't mind the heat of mid-summer. San Marzano's all seem to shut down when the real heat and humidity of July and August get cranked up. And, it puts on more "sauce material" (i.e. the meat of the fruit) per plant.
It would take three San Marzano plants with a bumper crop on each plant to produce what I get from 2 Ukrainka plants in an average year.
I should note that I have grown every San Marzano type that I could get seed for. The "Redorte" variation seemed to have the better flavor here in my climate and soil. And remember, I'm in zone 6a.
Ted
This post was edited by containerted on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 9:40
Thanks for sharing! On my list for next year. I too do not have reliable results from San Marzano varieties. This year Petrovich was great plum for me and Lagidnyi, which great container size plant,very productive. Lagidnyi was more juicy, petrovich really dry,much drier than Tania shows,but mine were in container,so we will see for next year.