No Big Box tomatos this year

 

After last year's late blight fiasco I've sworn off buying plants from
the Big Box stores, I'm doing everything from seed.

I started the germination process on Friday for the first four varieties,
they have all started to sprout, my plan is to give them a few more days
on wet plates and then move them to containers at the end of the week and
then start the next batch. I'll put them in the ground in the middle of
May.

I've doing the following varieties,

Cosmonaut Volkov (Ukranian)
Black Prince (Siberia)
Black Sea Man (Russian)
Legend (Univ of Oregon, supposedly late blight resistant, we'll see)
Italian Grape
Yellow Pear
Sun Gold Cherry

Has anyone tried any of these varieties, how did they work out for you?

 


Good for you!  Last year I got my slicing and Roma tomatoes from department
stores, and when they grew to 1/5 the size of the heirlooms I started from
seed (and with much less fruit), I decided to start ALL of my tomatoes from
seed this year.  In addition to them probably being healthier overall, I
also get to decide what to grow them in, and can keep them clean by only
using organic potting soil and no chemical fertilizers.  Old habits cause me
to get excited every time I see trays of seedlings at stores, but overall I
LOVE that I am growing everything from scratch this year.
--S.

 

On Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:07:14 -0600, Suzanne D. wrote:


I tried doing it from seed a couple of years ago but I started way to
early (February under grow lights) and they all died before I had a
chance to plant them so I ended up buying plants from the garden center
and from the big box stores. Last year with everything drowning from the
rain except my fruit, which did terrifically (blueberries and
strawberries), I did a second pass of plants (not tomatoes) in summer and
fall by starting them on wet plates, planting them in containers and then
transplanting them to the garden. That technique was pretty successful
given the limitations of our short growing season so I feel comfortable
doing everything from seed this year. The good thing about seeds is that
there are so many more varieties to choose from, the garden centers only
have the major modern varieties, they hardly have any heirlooms.
 

 

General Schvantzkoph wrote:

Last year was just bad for tomatoes whether you bought plants or
sowed them yourself.  I grew Porter and Legend last year, both from
seed.  The Legends were eat-up with late blight even though they
were supposed to be resistant to it.  The Porters faired much
better, but were so late I didn't get many fruit at all before the
first frost.

This week I'm gonna start the tomato seeds; Porter, Better Boy, and
Stupice.  And some tomatillos to get an early start on them, instead
of relying on volunteers.

Bob

 



I'm not impressed with the Yellow Pear, except for the color it adds to
a salad, but it is a consistent producer, and has volunteered for me the
last 2 years.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.


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