16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Gardenwheels: My Black Krim have a few similarities to yours, but are different in many other respects. It's amazing how much different areas will vary with the same variety.
My BK are the most robust of the 11 varieties that I am growing. They will need my biggest cages next year. They are about 6ft tall, and a lots and lots on stems that have been pulled back to the outside if the cages with wire ties.The plant is so dense that you cannot see through it.
The BK tomato plants have a very heavy set of fruit, but are so slooow at ripening. I've only picked 1 BK so far (very good taste). But we have been picking CPs for about 3 weeks now. Seed start, and plant out date was the same for both of these. Maybe BK doesn't like cool nights. We have had a lot of night is in the mid to high 50s this summer.
I had some issues with Black Krim last year and this year Noir de Crimee is wonderful and full production. IS started very early and now taking break, 1884 Purple started later is large robust plant, just as productive as IS. Gary o'Sena is producing less than IS or 1884 but very nice flavor. The best is Haley Purple comet which is from doublehelix farms, tasty!!!!
Grown Amazon Chocolate this year RL and I think I prefer PL version of it, have to grow both side to side next year I think.
Black Yum yum was on early side, larged than Haley and more buttery in taste.
Now Tasmanian Chocolate, Rosella Purple and Wild Fred are still coming just got first ones to ripen but did not taste.
One that does not seem get mention often is Pierce Pride, stunning, loved the taste very much but am not growing this year, will do for next.
Yes, it is not definitely "Brown" . As I increase the light intensity/angle on my monitor it gets close to yellow. It also depends on the light exposure at which you took the picture. My opinion is that it is some kind of "Pineapple"
Now The most important thing (IMO) is how doe it taste to you ? is the plant producing in good numbers ? I personally don't care a lot about the name as long as I like it , it is heirloom/op that I can save seeds and plant them. That is all that matters to me, personally.
The ribbed tomato is far more productive. Tons of big tomatoes, even with a fair amount of blossoms dropping off. The taste is...just ok. Not very sweet, and more bland than my other heirlooms. The smooth round, yellow orange ones are little less productive. They are, however, delicious. Every bit as good as the best tomatoes I have in my garden. Very sweet. They're pretty dense too. However, I've noticed more splitting on them than my other varieties.
Worst year ever!
Same thing happened to me. Plants grew quickly to 6 ft
and then just stopped and started turning brown and
crispy.
What few tomatoes I got were without much flavor too.
I talked to my nurseryman and he had the same problem. He said it was blight.
We have had early heat and much higher humidity than
normal this summer. Usually humidity is in the teens
and 20s, but this year it's seldom below 35% with even
higher numbers at night when it hits 80-90%.
Don't know what's going on, but I sure don't like it!
At least here in Orange County, the temps have been perfect for tomatoes,
cept a hot spell back in march or April as I recall, (or maybe not)!.
At any rate I've had my best tomato year in the 10 years I've grown them,
but yes the high humidity has made some "challenges".
Here in Yorba Linda, we've seen "Night after Night",
a humidity of 100% and it takes a while for it to "Burn off" the next AM.
So this year, (first year ever) I have been spraying with a copper spray,
(and knock on wood), I've "Kept the Beast at Bay".
Had I not sprayed, I'm sure whatever "Beasts" cater to the high humidity,
would have done in my tomatoes~~~~So far so Good.
Sorry you were not as fortunate!!!
Gary
Well, I used Copper (Bonide) and IâÂÂm happy, no problems whatsoever â¦. I agree that Copper is not strong enough to fight LATE Blight, but for EARLY Blight, I think itâÂÂs ok. [btw, I'm NOT connected in any way with Bonide, just a VERY happy customer.]
Regarding the Daconil, I still prefer to listen to:
- EPA when it says: âÂÂOn September 4, 1987, the Agency classified chlorothalonil [Daconil] as a Group B2 or probable human carcinogenâ or,
- Pesticide Action Network who says: âÂÂ[Daconil (Chlorothalonil)]⦠Toxicity: Link to information on toxicity to humans, including carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and acute toxicityâ or,
- Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) when it says: âÂÂIn laboratory tests, chlorothalonil causes kidney damage, mild anemia, liver damage, embryo loss during pregnancy, oxidative DNA damage (damage to the cellâÂÂs genetic material), and cancers of the kidney and forestomach. Most of these effects have been observed in several test species.âÂÂ
The above statements are enough reasons for me NOT to use Daconil.
When I will read - on RELIABLE sources - that Copper is bad for health, I might rethink what fungicide I'll use. Actinovate is next on my organic fungicides list.
Obviously, people use whatever products they desire - organic or chemical fungicide - but it's always good to take INFORMED decisions.
Sherry_Bell, this year I used 2 types of mulch: Dewitt Weed Barrier Fabric and 
.
Both are good. Straw might be difficult to find. Fabric mulch allows easier water control from rain.
Here is a link that might be useful: Best mulch for tomatoes?
This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 14:19
Personally, Sun Sugar is my preference over sun gold. Rarely cracks and very sweet. I'm growing Neves Azorean Red and Indian stripe this year, which I haven't tasted but are starting to blush. Indian stripe is very productive and short for an I determinant, about 5'.
Depending on tomato size and meatiness, it's hard to say how many tomatoes you need to make sauce. I prefer the red and pinks, especially the hearts for sauce. I love to oven roast cherry tomatoes and smaller varieties. Next year, try growing Orange Strawberry for an incredible sauce. It has a sweet/tart taste which really came out when cooked and they are large tomatoes.
I am not a fan of black tomatoes cooked. Just a personal thing. To me they are best eaten fresh or oven roasted, especially black cherry.
Juliet is a Roma type cherry that made great sauce and was fantastic oven roasted, but bland to eat. So it all depends.
Sharon
To grow list are:
Neves Azorean Red (NAR)
Kellogg's Breakfast
Mariana's Peace
Brandy Boy
Returning are:
Opalka - productive (both plant and fruit) and good taste
Cuostralee - "
1884 - not quite as productive, but good taste
Paul Robeson... My wife's favorite black tomato of 2014.
Sun gold
SS100 (not my choice, but my wife's)
Sunshine...I feel your pain...hate is an OK word to use....it's emotional when you try so hard and your efforts are thwarted.
I've never used a fungicide but will research it also. My problem is that it is very labor intensive to apply (especially with 76 plants) and every time I attempt to spray we get a downpour. Perhaps less plants and a concerted effort to find a good organic fungicide and apply it from the get-go will delay the inevitable...there's always next year.
Hang in there, you're not alone.
This post was edited by LKZZ on Wed, Aug 13, 14 at 21:49
Septoria is airborne but yes, it could overwinter in debris, not the soil itself so cleaning up will work.
If you are interested in using less fungicides, you might want to look into aerated compost teas... idea is simple- replace bad microbes with good and let them duke it out...
Here is a link that might be useful: Compost tea
If neither you nor a neighbor use herbicide, herbicide-carryover in the manure is a possible source.
See the link, then do the suggested bio-assay to verify, or not.
Here is a link that might be useful: clopyralid in compost
I had the same problem a few weeks ago with some tomatoes few feet away from my neiborâÂÂs land. I didnâÂÂt spray chemicals on my lawn, but a few days later I saw my neibor doing it - again, I suspect.
Strange enough only 2 or 3 out of about 15 plants were affected. Other plants located in other areas, 10-12 ft. away were NOT affected.
I pruned the wilted branches and the lower branches that were too close to the ground. Then I sprayed Copper (Bonide) fungicide, and about 10 days later, the poor tomatoes were ok.
In your case, even if you manage to "fix" the tomato, I don't think you will be happy with the yield.
This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Wed, Aug 13, 14 at 14:47
Elisabeth, I think it's best to use the whole name, which would be Orange Russian #117, bred by Jeff Dawson in CA and which I've grown.
I've grown Blush, bred by Fred Hempel in CA and it doesn't have wispy foliage. The only other one he bred that comes close is Lucinda, which few know, but it has Silvery Tree type foliage. I've also grown Speckled Roman, aka Striped Roman, bred by John Swenson, and a couple of folks have found that it's not stable, yet, and throws some yellow fruited plants and that's been named Roman Candle.
Coyote is a curious one. Initial seeds given to my best tomato friend of over 20 years, Craig Lehoullier, best known for Cherokee Purple, and it's bounced back and forth in SSE listings but has pretty much settled in the Other Species section as a currant variety, S. pimpinellifolium.
I love your pictures since just greenies here, too cold and too rainly, but as is oft said, hope springs eternal. ( smile)
Hope the above helps,
Carolyn
The control plants are all the other growers around him that have the usual blight that shows this time of the year.
Neither he nor I are saying for sure that the aspirin is what is keeping the blight away, but we both have many years experience and either the blight just "skipped" his farm this year or the aspirin is having an effect.
Aspirin is an acid (acetylsalicylic acid ). It is also a thinner. Some people put a tablet in cut flowers water. I think it might prevent bacterial growth, as most bacteria cannot thrive in acidic environment. So that might the reason why the blight bacterium cannot live in that environment.
But, without a controlled study , I would not depend on it. OTOH, since it has no side effects on the plant you can use it.
Thank you for suggestions!
San Marzano and my garden are not friends...
but have found varieties suggested by brokenbar, very interesting if other Italian varieites will do better for me.
I been drying Glacier and Bloody Butcher. Both are fairly small tomatoes but have big tomato flavor. Being smaller, I don't think that it is worth the time to remove the skins before drying.
The skins are a little tough after drying, but they are still fine with me. After drying, they have that classic "sundried tomato" taste.