Tomato varieties.

 Greetings,

Not all my varieties are even ripe... yet still I'm planning what to grow
next year.

What are your favorite early varieties? I grew a variety named 'Glacier'
this year. Nice looking tomatoes, but no flavor whatsoever.

Next year I'd like to try a yellow variety, and a black/purple variety. Any
suggestions?

Suggestions for large, bold flavored heirlooms are always appreciated.

Here's a list of what I'm growing this year:

1884 - 2nd year growing this one. Large, and great flavor. This one has
earned a lifetime residency in my garden.

Rose De Berne - One ripe so far. Great flavor.
Russian Rose
Sweet Millions - 2nd year. Produces a boatload, and very sweet.
Green Zebra - 2nd year. Makes a mean salsa.
Aussie - None ripe yet... but they're HUGE.

Hungarian-Italian Paste - Picked the first ones today. Good flavor.
Indeterminate... makes a good substitution for Roma, which I don't much care
for because the fruit seem to fall off the vine very easily, and it's
sometimes hard planting them where they won't get shaded by the big
indeterminates.

Brandywine - 'Nuff said.
Brandywine Red, Landis Valley Strain - See above.
Costoluto Fiorentino - Remarkable flavor.
Drubza
German Giant - Not so giant, as of now... Though it bears some nice size
fruit.
Glacier - Bland.
Pantano Romanesco
Violacium Krypni-Rozo - Very good flavor.

This is my 3rd year gardening, and my 2nd year starting my plants from seed.

Ah... another question. I read that you should sow tomato seeds 6-8 weeks
early when starting them indoors. At the 6th week, the plants were gigantic,
and it was still too cold to plant. They weren't leggy.. just HUGE, with the
roots growing through the sides of the 3" diameter peat pots.

I think I may know what I did wrong. I started them in my basement, which is
kinda cool.. as basements tend to be. I left them on the heat mat the entire
time. I'm thinking those seedlings may have grooved a little too much on all
that heat. The light was always withing a couple inches of the top of the
seedlings. They just got happy.

Next year, should I remove the heat mat right after they germinate?

Thankya,
Gary
NorthWest Ohio

 Don't have much in the way of experience but

Fourth of July from Burpee did really well last year. Slightly larger
than cherry sized. About 2-2.5 oz. I liked them, got about 18 lbs from
one plant. My friend had a very meaty cherry tomato growing. Very
good--cherry sized but more like a meaty plum inside. She hasn't
divulged the variety yet. I don't care for fruit that are like
balloons of juice.
 
Health KIck, a plum style, from Burpee seems to do well for me. Big
bush, productive. I screwed my flas this year and lost my first
batches. I ended up buying plants form Home Depot in  May. For giggles
I planted Healthy Kick seed in late april(after last frost). I now
have two healthy plants each about 18" tall and spreading 2'+ out from
the tiny pot I put them in. I thought the flavor was good and I
experienced none of the falling off the stems as you have. About 23
lbs from one plant.

Grew Sweet 100 (grape sized) this year. Flavor is decent, but there is
a slight flavor that doesn't strike me as tomato in them. Not
bad...just different. About 80% of them split on me so far. They do
fall off the plants easily. Hard to pick ripe ones without knocking
off the next not-ready one. I will not grow this one again.

Burpee Burger tomatoes were okay. But they were fightig a wilt all
season so the bearing was light and the tomatoes smaller than they
were supposed to be.

My beefsteak is a "SuperSteak VFN" I think--have to go out and see.
Got it at Home Depot. It is growing well, 7 feet tall with 3-4 major
vines off the central stem. (I just suck at pinching out!!) I got two
ripes from this last week which were very good. Meaty and they were
eaten with a little salt and a little mayo...nothing else. I'm low
carbing so a tomato sandwich is a little rich for a snack.

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, <1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/

 Thanks for the suggestions.

I may try the 4th of July next year in addtion the Sweet Millions. As you
mentioned with the 100s, it can be difficult to pick the ripe ones without
knocking off the green ones. .

I may try the Health Kick as a potted plant, since you're having good luck
with yours. I tried conainer varieties the two previous years, but they did
poorly. Thin foliage, which was causing some sun scald. I probably wasn't
getting the watering just right. My peppers, on the other hand, love the
containers.

Good luck with the low carbing. I dropped 40 pounds on low carb.

Gary
NorthWest Ohio

 

I wanted to try Sweet Millions but I was very disorganized at the
start of the year and did a horrendous job on getting seeds and
starting my seedlings. Better next year!


I've had very decent production with peppers in plants too. There are
some products I rely on with containers:
    Terrasorb - a potassium crystal/gel that holds water. They last
                3-5 years then break down into potassium.
    Hydromats - I call them "plant diapers". You line the bottom of
                the pot with them. They hold water and the roots even
                grow into them some. Extends the moisture holding.
I've given up on clay pots--dries out too fast for me. Needs to much
attention. Self watering are nice but expensive during the heat spells

Healthy Kick isn't meant as a container variety. I just didn't have
the heart to kill off the seedlings once they started. They were the
healthiest of the May seedings. I had this round bowl planter, 9-10"
round, 5 inch deep. I stuck them in there since I wasn't using it.
Because it is shallow it dries out pretty quick. I water it deeply
twice a day on warm days. The plants just grew admirably. Last year's
were remarkable--in size and crop.  I'm thinking the variety is just a
good strong one.

here you can see the shallow pot they are in but much of the growth
and tomatoes are obscured.
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/detail?.dir=/c8d7&.dnmPe6.jpg
Here you see better how it has grown--only 10-12 weeks from seed.

http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/detail?.dir=/c8d7&.dnm=cfa2.jpg&.src=ph


That's great. I'm down 70-75 pounds and on maintenance for the rest of
the summer to enjoy my harvest!


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, <1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/

 


ground.

I tried a Sweet Millions for the first time this year, in a large container.
I don't have any cracking but the leaves are beginning to turn yellow.  I
don't know much about tomato disease--could it be some kind of blight?
There is plenty of fruit and it tastes great.  I planted tomatoes in the
same container the past two years and only mixed in some compost this year
so I imagine it's time to completely wash it out and replace the soil for
next year.

Here's a picture of the plant though I'm a little embarrassed to post it
because they look so sad!
http://tinyurl.com/4xvcy

LauraJ