Tomato varieties
Comments
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I'm drooling. I've had zero luck with tomatoes this year. I bought about a dozen heritage varieties. The German Striped did best but then they rotted and fell off. We've had crazy rain this year. Rethinking the greenhouse style. All I want is one fresh tomato every day!
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I got quite a few different varieties this year so it should be interesting
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My nights dip down low here, even in the summer so I have switched to growing them in a greenhouse or at least having a place to cover them at night. I have less problems with blight if they are grown in a greenhouse too
As for varieties? Too many. I grow about 20 different kinds and all colors
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@Denise Grant In case you have not tried 'Early Girl' I started growing them 2 years ago here in zone 7 and they have done very well even in the heat. The do get a bunch of black spots on a lot of the foliage but they keep on producing. They are not large, and not the best tasting but they do very well to pick up the 'heat of the summer' slack. Their taste is certainly good enough to eat, and better to make sauce then spice up for spaghetti sauce etc. This year I am trying a new early variety just for a change and to see which one is best in taste and for my area. It is Earliana I got from seed savers exchange. 4 - 5 ounce fruit, 70 to 80 days, indeterminate. I don't know how disease resistant they are..yet.
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@silvertipgrizz Yes, early girl is one of my favorite. They grow very well here.
Let me know how Earliana does.
I need to get bak to seed savers again. Lovely program but so addicting. Oh seeds, addiction - here we go again ;)
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You can never have too many varieties of tomato! I always want more than I can fit in.
@Sharie I wish I could figure out how to get at least one fresh tomato every day for six months. But with no greenhouse, it's impossible here. We wait forever to get the first tomato in late summer, then they pour in faster than we can eat them. Last year was the first time I did the logical thing and canned them, as we really prefer fresh tomatoes. But our winter pizzas have been great with homemade sauce!
We only grow early and mid-season tomatoes. Late tomatoes would be risky in a 120-day gardening season and might produce little or nothing. I've had reasonably good luck with Sub-Arctic, Siberian, Black Cherry, and Snow White from seed indoors myself, and Mortgage Lifter, Sungold, New Girl, Roma, and Granadero from a local nursery.
Some years I've struggled to get tomato seeds started indoors myself, but the ones that self-seeded from last year came up late on their own and still produced a lot of tomatoes before first frost. Go figure!
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@VermontCathy Picking tomatoes green, before a frost and putting them in newspaper and a box will help you to have tomatoes in to january. It takes a bit of practice to get it down for you area but I have tomatoes to mid January in NW PA
Bring in a cherry tomato plant. They are easiest to keep producing and you can have a few small tomatoes most of the winter. Shake the plant when you go by to help it pollinate. ( I have actually had small peppers in the winter too.)
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When I worked on a farm in the fall we hung the tomato plants upside down in the greenhouse to ripen up.
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@Sharie Yes, that works very well too if you have space
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@Denise Grant When first frost arrives, I pick all the remaining green tomatoes and put them on the counter to ripen in the sun. They gradually turn red over the next few weeks and are eaten fresh.
I haven't tried the wrap-in-newspaper trick. I have considered trying to track down the Long Keeper variety that was especially bred for that usage, but since my tomato transplant technique is still iffy, I haven't done it yet.
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Sharie - aw, so sorry your tomatoes haven't done well... I feel your heart's pain! This past summer/fall my heart was set on my Jarrahdale pumpkins most of all. I was SO extremely disappointed they didn't do well. When you mentioned you just want one tomato per day, that made me smile because I remember I was asking God to please just let me get ONE Jarrahdale pumpkin, I'll be happy with even just one, please! And I did get one! It was a good one too. =) haha
silvertipgrizz - my favorite heirloom tomatoes from last season were black cherry, blue beauty, and Atomic grape!
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@happy-trails A couple years ago I planted several black cherry tomatoes. Every year since I have a volunteer or two pop up somewhere and they're always black cherry tomato plants. Can't wait to see if we get on this year too!
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This David the Good movie just came out yesterday with all our favorite gardeners.
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When I lived in the far North, a friend shared this with me:
just before the temp is too cool, pull the entire tomato plant up roots and all..gently shake the soil off the roots. Put in room and hang upside down and the maters will all ripen at their own pace just as if the plant was still...well, planted lol. It works every time. And/or, have some fried green maters.
Note: The first time I did this I hung them upside down on a hook on the house by the door...moved it in and out as the weather fluctuated. Then when I moved back to OK I just brought them in the house and put them in a room that was a mild temp with some air moving, fan or open window...It always worked and to me is the easiest way esp when you have garden chores and a short timeline before the next frost or first freeze and other plants to tend/move/pull up....I hate pulling up plants..to me it's like killing something..because it is 😢
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I have pulled them too and had tomatoes longer. Sometimes I do not have the room to put it in and place the fruit in a box. It works but not as well at leaving them on the plant. At least the plant has the opportunity to continue giving you fruit even when it has ended it time in the soil when they are pulled.
I also take suckers with roots sections off plants and over winter them. You get good sized tomato plants earlier and they produce fruit earlier
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@Denise Grant I'd like to hear more about your technique for taking suckers with roots off tomato plants and over-wintering them. Anything that helps me get fruit earlier is always welcome!
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@Denise Grant I am familiar with taking suckers of the plant, but if you could share a little more detail as I am not versed in the roots..other than what I learned years ago from Okla Gardening / plant the tomato all the up to.. just enough leaves at the top for photosynthesis...as you prolly already know that provides a fortified root system not only for extra nutrient gathering, but also aids greatly in withstanding the morbid summer heat and potential drought. Since I learned this back in the 80's I only plant in this method and even in the heat of the Mohave Desert where I planted some for my in laws once..their gardener...mind you their professional gardener asked me how the tomatos were so green and healthy looking.....So I am really interested in your 'suckers with roots sections' if you have time to explain in a little more detail I would sure appreciate it..
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@VermontCathy @silvertipgrizz Will do so later today.
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@Denise Grant Thanks am anxious to learn something new esp re tomatoes.
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I was looking for a photo with a tomato plant with roots on the stem and I found this article. I know more people are starting tomatoes from grafts or grafting two tomato varieties together to create a better or different tomato. I thought it was interesting
https://tastylandscape.com/2017/03/30/propagating-tomatoes-from-cuttings/
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@Denise Grant This was a good demo and in watching it I'm thinking you meant just take a cutting and root it is that correct?
I have done this but always using a 'sucker' since I prune them after the plant is well established anyway. Thanks for the site I'm signing up for their email growing tips.
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@Denise Grant my mom used to wrap the green tomatoes in newspaper and put them in brown paper bags. We had fresh Jersey tomatoes at thanksgiving... I too am interested in starting new plants from the suckers. I always remove them but toss them.
Also heard about pulling the plants and hanging them upside down in the greenhouse; but no longer have access to the greenhouse. Am hoping to get one once an old shed is removed. Any recommendations are appreciated 🙂
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I've started my Sub-Arctic and Amish Paste tomato seeds a couple of days ago. This will be the first time that I've tried Amish Paste, so we'll see how it goes.
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I tried a San Marzano last year. It was a start I bought. Wasn't real excited about it. It had blossom end rot on most of the fruit and wasn't very prolific. This year, I'm trying the same variety but have started from seed. I just recently read a suggestion that if you put a calcium pill or a Tums or two with each plant, it should really help with the end rot problem. Worth a try anyway.
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@marjstratton My san marzano's have always done well. The plant may have suffered too much stress when being grown. You never know how starts were treated before you get them
@VermontCathy I also like amish paste. Its a big brand in my area. They always grow well and are a weighty tomato, really good for sauces. I like them cut for table use too.
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If you can find them Pollock tomatoes do well in cooler temps and can handle higher temps as well. I have grown them in semi-desert with vines up to 12' and here on the BC coast with cooler rainier conditions with great success. They also do well in greenhouses and I have brought them in over the winter in large pots (5 gal bucket actually - my version of a large pot!) and had them give me tomatoes through the winter. They are not a huge tomato but they excel in flavour and they make great sauce. I grow a wide variety of tomatoes everything from Early Girl to Yellow Boy and I have to admit Pollocks are still my favourite. I dig a trench about 12" deep fill the bottom with about a 2" layer of compost then add a layer of crushed eggshells that help with blossom end rot and keep away cutworms and wire worms. I then lay my tomato plants in horizontally until I just have the upper leaves above ground and bury the stem. This gives a good root system and I always have bumper crops.
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@Denise Grant I should probably order more Amish Paste seeds and start over after losing the first batch. I saw some still available at Annie's, and it's earlier enough in the season that I could restart this week and still do okay.
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@VermontCathy Yes, there is still time go get another round of tomato seeds going. Good luck
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