• Everything other than hot peppers. Questions, discussion, and grow logs. Cannabis grow pics are only allowed when posted from a legal juridstiction.

Growing Tomatoes

Pam said:
The problem is in determining what will grow well in your area. Every area has a regional disease or weather condition that seems to give local tomato growers fits. So, I would suggest you ask other folks in your area what they grow and what problems they encounter before you decide what varieties to try.
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Thanks for the advice, I think I'll do that.

pharmerphil said:
we grow heirloom tomatoes exclusively, and completely organically, we harvest aprox. 80-100 pounds every two days in season.
The variety that we use for our sauces and salsa are a cross that I have raised for several years, one of it's parents is the Amish Paste variety.
Lots of folks talk up the romas, but the roma is much smaller.
and the taste pales in comparison to the Paste we grow.
the first pic is four of the variety we grow with a roma in the center, the second is the average size of this variety
4avgand1roma400.jpg

averagesize400.jpg

we normally raise 60 75 plants per year.
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That's BIG. :shocked:
How big is the plant?
 
pharmerphil - nice looking tomatoes :cool:

omri - like I said it depends on what you want to use the tomatoes for, yea cherry tomatoes can be good for salads but pretty much worthless for anything else IMO. figure out what you want to do with them then figure out which tomatoe fits your needs. & of course your growing conditions.
no point in growing salad tomatoes when you want to make salsa or ?
 
pharmerphil said:
we grow heirloom tomatoes exclusively, and completely organically, we harvest aprox. 80-100 pounds every two days in season.
The variety that we use for our sauces and salsa are a cross that I have raised for several years, one of it's parents is the Amish Paste variety.
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So, what's the other parent?

Tomatoes can be very regional. That was one reason I tried the Brandy Boys last year. I usually grow only heirloom or open pollinated varieties, but Brandywines are so marginal here. If it's a hot summer, they just don't produce. The Brandy boys did produce some nice tomatoes, but I'm still a bit squicked about growing a Burpee hybrid.
 
Thats whats good about seedsavers exchange, you can get varieties from growers in your area that have been acclimatized to certain conditions.
 
POTAWIE said:
Thats whats good about seedsavers exchange, you can get varieties from growers in your area that have been acclimatized to certain conditions.
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Yeah, I love Seed Savers. Back when I was shiny and new at gardening, they were my gateway catalog.
 
sorry, at the moment I have pending business with a large hydro producer in my area and cannot tell you the "other" parent.
once the contract is inked, I will gladly tell you the lineage
It is a heirloom however.
The amish paste tomato is a fine tomato, what we have done though is breed it to increase the size, increasing it's marketability over romas.
The plant Omri is indeterminate and will reach well over 7ft. tall (2.1 meters)
I do not know the restrictions on seeds being send to your country, but would happily send you some seed to grow out.

Seedsavers Exchange is a short drive from here, the tour is well worth the time.
 
pharmerphil said:
sorry, at the moment I have pending business with a large hydro producer in my area and cannot tell you the "other" parent.
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That's exciting news! I'd love to hear the whole story when you're free to tell it.

Seedsavers Exchange is a short drive from here, the tour is well worth the time.
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Oh, now I have to hate you!

I would love to make it to their big festival sometime. I'd get to do the tour and chitchat with like-minded gardeners.
 
I was really busy, so didn't have the time to go to any of the nurseries around here.
I'll do it as soon as possible.

pharmerphil, 'officially' you need all kinds of permits and documents to import seeds, but I got plenty of seeds via mail without. ;)
I would really appreciate some seeds, and would gladly give it a try. :)
 
I grow tomatoes every year, this year I'm growing only heirloom organic (Amish Rose (deep red beefsteak), Summer Cider(orange beefsteak), Omar's Lebanese (red beefsteak), Pink Flamingo (Bella-Russian heirloom) and Ladybug cherry tomato.

I prefer heirloom because I have found the taste to be much better than hybrid varieties but they don't yield as much fruit and aren't as disease resistant.
I have grown them in pots and in ground, and found I really like pots better...its easier to weed and stake them and I got better yields and less pests and diseases.
Starting tomato seed is similar to peppers and they are usually pretty quick to germinate....just use regular potting soil,plant 1/4 inch deep, provide a little warmth and moisture and they should germinate in 7-14 days.
When ready to transplant, remember to dig a deep hole and bury the plant an additional 3-6 inches (depending on how tall the plant is),...roots will develop from the covered stem and this is the key to getting a good root system which will result in better yields and better tasting tomatoes.
Fertilize with any good standard vegetable fertilizer. Good Luck.
 
Seven to 14 days to germinate? I'm averaging about four days! When I was a kid/teenager/young adult, dad use to raise about an acre of tomatoes. He would sow a few packets of seed at the end of a tobacco bed and we used a tobacco setter to plant them. Obviously, we didn't stake them.

Last year, I grew about 60 plants, this year I'll have about half that. They will be staked.
Giant Belgium
Roma
Long Pink Bulgarian
German Pink
Jersey Giant
Delicious
Beefsteak

Mike
 
I'm officially jealous Mike, an acre of tomatoes....I'd be in heaven....I would so love to live in a warmer climate *sigh*
Nice grow list!....Roma is a great paste tomato.
 
Daisy,

You say that now, but trust me - when we had to hoe the weeds out of them and then pick the tomatoes - bugs that bite and all, it was not all that great. Not to mention, do you have any idea how hard it is to pull the stems off, cut the rotten parts out of, and then slice those beautiful red fruits? Not a few gallons, or even a bushel or two, but buckets and buckets of them?

I admit, I love it now, but I certainly didn't enjoy it when I was 16 and had someplace else I would rather be!

Mike
 
I currently have some tomato plants under fluros and the top leaves are starting to droop down, could that be caused from being too close to the lights??
 
I would move them away from the lights a couple of inches and see how they react....it sounds like they're too close.
 
Since I am constrained (for the time being) to growing my tomatoes indoors, do I need to pollinate the flowers to produce tomatoes? I'm not about to turn a bunch of bees loose upstairs. I know potatoes don't need to be pollinated, but I've never tried growing tomatoes indoors.

Mike
 
Just shaking them or useing a fan should help. Large greenhouses use leaf blowers and they do it before 11am. I've also heard of electic toothbrushes being used.
 
Can I Bhut in here (bad joke sorry :rolleyes:) I'm up for expanding my chili collection, I happen to have a rather large collection of tomato seeds (too many to list!) how about 2 chili varieties for 10 tomato varieties (5 seeds of each)? I love growing tomatoes but I'm getting more turned on by chilies!!!! :hell: PM If you want to trade, one condition :!: saved seeds must be pure
look forward to your PM's
 
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