16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
I don't know if these are ALWAYS in my rotation (I really like to experiment each year), but the varieties below have done well and I would recommend them to someone in a heartbeat:
Cherry:
Black Cherry
Sungold
Mountain Magic
Dr. Carolyn (more ping pong size than cherry)
Sweet Million
Early Varieties:
Kimberly
Pink Honey
Reds:
Rutgers
Celebrity
Marianna's Peace
Omar's Lebanese
Yellow/Orange:
Azoychka
KBX
Hugh's
Bi-color:
Pineapple
Berkely Tie-Dye
Greens:
Cherokee Green
Blacks:
Cherokee Purple
Indian Stripe
smithmal
This post was edited by smithmal on Mon, Aug 4, 14 at 22:22
Growing as I am in Toronto I may be the northernmost person to chime in here but I've always had good success with Paul Robeson's. \
Reasonably loose well composted soil.
Blood meal, Bone meal and Muriate of Potash plus a small amount of epsom salts and calcium phosphate to start the season. Jobe's organic tomato spikes as soon as the plants get to about 16 inches tall.
Drip irrigation set so that the plants get at least a small amount of water every 3 days,
I find I have to trim/prune the plants to keep them under control or they grow (VERY) tall and thin then fall over.
In a normal year they leave my basement around May 15 and have ripe fruit by mid/late July.
My PR was one of my first dark tomatoes to produce... and the fruit was good. Not real productive (~12 fruit), but tastes good. The plant now looks like it is dwindling... more than any other of my tomato plants.
Cuostralee, Opalka, beefsteak and 1884 still going strong!
Had my first CP! it was great! We haven't had much rain and I've been careful not to overwater. Tried my first Azoychka and I wasn't crazy about it so I'm hoping the ones ripening will be better.
Edie, ripening inside does not affect the flavor. If you've had a lot of rain, that would do it, taste wise. I bring mine in at the first sign to avoid splitting from rain, weak flavor and the squirrels.
It is called Momotaro Gold and apparently, based on earlier discussions here about it, seeds are only available from Japanese growers as it is supposedly an unstableF2 hybrid of the regular F1 pink. Some are gold, some are red, and some are stripped.
Save your seeds from any yellow ones, grow it out next year and see if you can get it to stabilize.
Dave
People thing a mend is successful if the tomatoes ripen but if you just pick those tomatoes they will likely turn red. I'd concentrate on the remainder of the plant by supporting and training a new lateral branch to keep the production flowing. A bend (Kink) in the branch is less of an issue and tape is less needed than string to keep it from bending down again.
Three days ago, main stem broke when I neglected to properly secure it my plant, it rained and weighed down everything causing this. Unfortunately the break is on a stem that has half of the flowers and was the most vigorous.
The break was about 2/3 clean snap and 1/3 connected remaining. I panicked and just made do with what was handy, mostly because I didn't want it exposed to the spores in the air and microbes that the rain carries in the wind from the leaves of the higher trees around. Maybe I just made it a breeding ground, but so far, choked or not, it appears mending. I think one more day with the cut tube and I'll undo the wires, hoping scar tissue has the wound protected and then I'll better support it and see.
Don't know if this will help or if it was a mistake, but take a look in case it gives you and (good) ideas if it happens again.
I dont think that temps 86 to 95F are critically high temperatures for tomatoes. Even if they were, the thing to remember is that 95F high reported/forecast lasts just a few hours in 24 hours. I can estimate that within 24 hours period, when the high reaches 95F that no more than 6 hours the temps will be in 86F to 95F range. In the remaining 18 hours the temps will be lower than 86F. You can verify this by checking your hourly temperatures.
Don't agree with the ripening statement b/c I notice oodles of my tomatoes ripening in my greenhouses when temperatures are very high. However, when temperatures are very high they don't set fruit as well ( variety dependent) and the stress on the plants leads to more Blossem End Rot (variety dependent). What I have predicted very well is a lag in production 50-60 days after a period of very high temperatures.
From the looks of it, would be a miracle for that plant to come back and give you any tomatoes. I would hazard a guess that it is simply too hot in your zone right now. Plus it looks like you have too many plants growing in that small area, not enough sun judging by the legginess of the plants, and the soil seems to be quite heavy. I have also heard that gardeners in the warmer areas have to contend with soil nematodes, but not sure whether that's a factor.
There is a forum member who gardens in Florida and she plants a second crop of tomatoes in the Fall. Good luck.
Yes, nobody grows vegetables like Silvia can. But Donna is right. Most of us pull out tomatoes and many other vegetables starting in May, then either take the summer off or switch to hot weather veg like okra, sweet potatoes, gandules, malabar spinach and so on, and start up again with tomatoes in the fall.
The summers here are just too hard on plants, not only the heat, but the explosion of pests. And many of us stick with containers for tomatoes because of the nematode problem.
If you aren't familiar with it, the University of FL publishes an excellent guide to vegetable gardening in Fl, including suggested planting dates for each region.
Also, you might want to read around at justonebackyard.com. He's in West Palm, but his blog and videos will give you a good idea of what produces when.
Here is a link that might be useful: IFAS Planting Guide
Thanks for answering me.
I don't think one can overwater a plant in a self watering bucket. There is an overflow pipe at the bottom, and I can't add more than 3 litters at once.
The plant is supposed to drink as much as it needs from the reservoir, by capillarity action.
The roots of the plant don't come in contact with water also.
I did wrap an aluminium foil over the buckets as some of you suggested and it seems to drink less, probably about 4 litters per day.
I also used the fertiliser dose as indicated by Earthbox manual with respect to my bucket volume.
What has been done, has been done. It will be a lesson for the next year.
But, is there anything I can do to save the plant now ?
I'm glad you took the aluminum foil suggestion. Even though they are self-watering containers, there was no barrier to the reservoir around the perimeter of your pot because of the design of the bottom. I think that is a design flaw but in Romania maybe it is popular and works if the humidity is low enough, I don't know.
seysonn also commented the same thing in that thread, as he was concerned they were too moist, so I'm not the only one.
To see what can be done, water only once in the morning and remove everything to keep the top exposed to the air, in hopes it will dry out. Go lighter on the fertilizer, too. Good luck.
Same in my area with Bonnie being the one and only choice in BBS. Just don't like paying $4 per plant when I used to get a SIX pack for $1.80. At $1/lb at summer farmers markets, I'm 4 lbs in the hole months before picking any.
I'm more motivated to start my own from seed now; lower cost and I know I'll get the variety I want.
My local Lowes hosts a Bonnie Plants display with about 100 starter tomato plants and they are the saddest leaf eaten yellowest tomato plants I've ever seen. They are $6.40 with tax each. Too bad, they had some Mortgage Lifters, right next to the 42" tomato ring cages LOL Look around for a local nursery for 6-packs. Bonnie Plants pulls a few good varieties out of the hat these days, but they are reshaping the costs of gardening here with a total monopoly.
I don't think it is working out well and I think we have the highest prices of anyone mentioning their Bonnie prices in the thread because Florida is about as hard as it gets on their consignment strategy. I think they are losing three plants to every one they sell, so in the end it is the home gardener who is paying for their monopoly. Support your local nursery if you can!
Today I removed ALL the suckers that have no flowers. Here in Long Island (NY) I hope we will have about 1 month of nice weather. 1 month might not be enough for all the late season tomatoes - that now are flowers - to ripe, but cherries and mid season will be ok.
According to a "tomato timeline" posted here before and linked many times, It take about 52 days from the bud to the ripe fruit. This is for large fruits in the middle of growing season. But it can take shorter/less time for cherry types/sizes and smaller tomatoes. But I think later in the season and in cooler climates it can even take longer.
So then you have to factor in the effect of late season cool weather that will slow down the growth and ripening of fruits significantly. For example my FFD is around mid November but our October weather will be too cold (and rainy/cloudy).
So I would count backward 50 days from my average frost date ( say Nov. 10 -20th ) and start my pinch off schedule ( Sep 20 to 30th). And that is an optimistic outlook here. Even then probably I will end up with plenty of green tomatoes to pickle.
So you have to decide what is best for you.
mmm, not what you ask but Sweet Olive F1 hybrid I am told one of the best grapes in taste. I got the seeds from Johnny's just to try because it is being discontinued here and it is UK seed I think...
This post was edited by lindalana on Fri, Aug 8, 14 at 14:39
best grape taste for a $1 how can I refuse lindalana.. thanks I quickly ended up with a nice little seed order from Johhnys. :)
great info fusion_power thanks... I think I am going to end up either with sugary or sprite... I am tempted by sprite because it would be nice to have a determinate in the mix (I currently have none) but the "very sweet" description of the sugary is tempting.
MANY comments on various gardening forums over the years about Burpee re- naming known varieties.
What good information. Thank you! Yes, that Pennsylvania Vegetable Research Program study was what I had found. Don't know why I was remembering a peculiar number 17.
That is disappointing if Burpee is renaming varieties. It is frustrating enough with nursery grown plants mislabeled or renamed, or of course, not named at all. I had thought that growing from seed, I might have more certainty.
At least the packet told the truth where it said "high yielding."
I think I'll be saving these seeds.