Tomatoes - Ace versus Early Girl versus ?

 

I've been growing Early Girl for almost a decade, maybe more. At my
local nursery (Orchard Supply in Berkeley) at the moment the only 6
packs they have are Ace. I once grew Ace but it was way before I got the
hang of growing tomatoes. I'm very good at it now.

Is Ace going to be satisfactory? It's not so very warm here most of the
summer, not optimal tomato growing weather, and that's why I've stuck
with Early Girl. However, they have Ace in the nurseries, so I figure it
must not be a bad one for here. I just called Berkeley Horticultural
Society, and they said they won't sell 6 packs. That rules me out. I'm
not going to pay $10 and up for my tomatoes when I can get a 6 pack at
OSH for $229. In a week they are as big as the 3" potted plants.

The guy at Berkeley Hort said he prefers the Early Girl because "they
taste better."

What do you think?

Dan


Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net

 

BTW, Orchard Supply said they would probably get a shipment on Tuesday,
so I may just wait the 4 days and see if I can get Early Girl again.
Next year I really should pin them down on the phone before making
several trips. They said they'd get a shipment today, I called and they
said they did, I went, they didn't have it! Bleh! I'm going to be a more
fussy shopper!

Dan


Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net

 



Well, both are F1 hybrids, and what I can find Ace requires 75-85 days
from transplant to produce fruit, and Early Girl takes 52-65 days.

According to the blurb in Wikipedia about Early Girl, it is a favorite
of Alice Waters of Chez Paniss, if that means anything to you.
Dry Farming Early Girl is recommended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Girl
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.


http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:13:26 -0700, in rec.gardens.edible you wrote:

:
:> BTW, Orchard Supply said they would probably get a shipment on Tuesday,
:> so I may just wait the 4 days and see if I can get Early Girl again.
:> Next year I really should pin them down on the phone before making
:> several trips. They said they'd get a shipment today, I called and they
:> said they did, I went, they didn't have it! Bleh! I'm going to be a more
:> fussy shopper!
:>
:> Dan
:>
:>
:> Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net
:
:Well, both are F1 hybrids, and what I can find Ace requires 75-85 days
:from transplant to produce fruit, and Early Girl takes 52-65 days.
:
:According to the blurb in Wikipedia about Early Girl, it is a favorite
:of Alice Waters of Chez Paniss, if that means anything to you.
:Dry Farming Early Girl is recommended.
:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Girl

Ah, thanks. Chez Pannise is one of my favorite restaurants although I
haven't stepped into it for upwards of 15 years. I'm about 3 miles from
it. Well, Alice Waters said that she had a gastronomical epiphany (that
might overstate it) when she ate a dry farmed Early Girl tomato. A guy I
know admonished me to do something like dry farming my tomatoes telling
me they would taste better. I haven't particularly followed his advice,
although I've tried to cut back on the water and certainly have done so
especially when it's not too warm.

I guess I could try not watering them after planting. There's certainly
a lot of water in the ground right now!!!

I think I'll hold out for Early Girl even if I have to buy individual 3"
pots, the bastards! I'll see what they have Tuesday afternoon and make
my decision. Ace just seems way to slow in this environment. In June
it's often overcast here.

Dan



Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net

 

wrote:

:Dry Farming Early Girl is recommended.
:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Girl

The thing about dry farming them is this:

My soil is pretty heavily clay. I dig a trench that's about 2 feet deep,
around 30 inches wide and around 10 feet long. I stop digging when I
encounter standing water. Once I get that deep it's not only hard to get
more mud out, it just doesn't seem to make sense because I'm seeing a
pool of water. I don't know if it's at all feasible to get down to 3
feet depth. Never tried beyond about 2 feet.

So, although I hear that tomatoes are deep rooted and can send roots
down up to 6 feet, I figure mine aren't going to be able to get down
below 2 feet. They could maybe get into the clay soil, but there
wouldn't be much point, because my compost rich soil stops at about 2
feet. Thus, I figure their wouldn't be much point in their sending roots
down further just for water that wouldn't be wresting nutrients out of
sourrounding soil. If I don't water, the compost won't continue to
deteriorate and give up nutrients. My compost looks better this year,
but there's still a lot of potential nutrients that won't be available
to the roots unless there's a certain level of moisture in the soil.
This is why I water some, usually once a week, what I figure will get
all the soil wet down to the 2 foot level. That's been my thinking, far
from scientific.

Dan


Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net