good topic enrique. I'm not sure what variety, but I'm planning on downsizing the amount of tomatoes next year. for the past 4 years I've planted half the garden in tomatoes then the next year rotate to the other side. since tomatoes are such heavy feeders I believe they are sucking too much nutrients from the soil. I'll be only planting a quarter of the garden in tomatoes next year, so I can do a four year rotation.
Cricket
Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~Russel Baker
I'm growing Beefsteak at the moment- hard to beat, I find, and Roma for sauces and general cooking. Had to put some extra ties on the stakes today because of gale-force winds but other than that they'e looking really good. Does the US have fruit-fly to worry about like we do?
Yes, on occasion we have the Mediterranean fruit fly infest areas of California. The med fly is one they work hard at eradicating. Although we really don't like any of them. That is the most destructive.
~Tina
Drama Free Zone. What every gardener loves the most, Begins and ends in rich compost. (Tina)
somewhere in my highjacked data there is a tomato that I plan to plant for 2009. But until the trojan horse is fixed I can't get to the data and I can't remember the name of the tomato. But as soon as I can I'll post it here. It is suppose to be nice and sweet and that is what I'm looking for.
I plan to use the florida weave method of holding the little darlings up and I plan to do 2 rows of 6 plants each.
I'm amending the clay that is there with 50% compost and adding powdered egg shell for the needed calcium to inhibit the BER.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it lol.
Oh, if I can find the seeds I'll be planting them in the house in January.
I'm sowing seeds indoors in late January or Febuary; planting out will be in March or April.By the way how many tomatoes(in lbs.) can you expect from one plant?
I'm still just forming my list. Hope to get all holes made this week and prepared. Then will have a good idea of how many plants I will have a home for. Planning on cutting back to around 60 plants. Will see if that works out. Will add names later on as the list starts shaping up.
I've heard that in general 6 plants per person will handle fresh usage and to multiply that by 3 if you plan to can. I think you have to look up each individual type of tomato to find out their specific yield. And even then the yield is affected by the soil and amount of water and other variables. I know that roma's love the 50 percent compost mix but I didn't have nearly the same results with brandywine.
elkhwc you must have a huge veggie garden. How do you manage to care for it all?
It is fair sized and I keep expanding some. I've went to lots of mulch. Have cut my water usage by 2/3. Even last year in a record setting drought, high winds and hot temps. I only watered every 7-10 days most of the time. And there was only a couple of times the plants showed any signs of needing water. With all the mulch I don't have much weeding to do at all. Most of the labor has been hauling and applying the mulch. This year I'm too the point I'm not going to do much tilling. Let the worms do most of it. In the new area where I will put some of the tomato plants I'm drilling holes with my post hole digger on the tractor now. They are 12" diameter and 24" deep. Then going to fill them as soon as I can to within 8" or so of the top and add the amendments I use as I fill. Will water well and let set all winter. Then in Dec or Jan. will direct sow about half of the holes. The rest will be left for transplants later. I hope to lay out all row crops and sidedress the rows with manure and amendments. Then I will cover back up with mulch. In the spring will just pull back the mulch and plant. I did turn over the area where I planted my garlic with a shovel. With all the mulch and worms the shovel would just sink up to the top. That convinced me I don't need to do much if any tilling. Just sent off soil tests to see for sure where I'm at. I will also lay down a layer of tree leaves over most of the garden. Will mix some of them in the holes also. Next spring besides planting and putting out drip hoses will have little to do but check for pests. So doing it this way I can have 3 times the garden and still less work. I need to add I have deep sandy loam soil. Several feet deep. At 24" it is still pure sandy loam. But if I feel I need to loosen it for any reason I will put a sub soiler on my tractor and just rip through the mulch. Don't intend to turn it under. Will let you know after next season how this works. Also will add I like grass clippings as a mulch for garlic and onions. As if you let them dry well they will stay loose and not pack and compact like other mulches including straw. Easy for the tops to come through. Jay
Sounds great, Jay, good luck with them. Are you in a warm, frost-free area? I have had big problems with wilt even though I ensure the lower leaves are removed along with the shade leaves, when using mulch, but that may be specific just to this area. Did you get your (PH I assume)soil test results back yet? It's quite acid here, and they thrive on it.
Hi aussiepete, To answer your questions. No our last average frost date is April 16th and the first in the fall is around Oct. 10th. The last 4 years have all been later that the 16th. The last two have been May 10th and 13th. And with hot temps following within 7-10 days. Last year we went to almost Nov. before our first frost. This year Oct. 13th. We usually dip down to zero or just below a few times. In a normal winter don't usually have the long extended cold periods they do north of us. But can. Then can have days in the 100's in the summer. With 108 being about as high as I've seen. So we have the extremes. The main problem for us is we are flat and very few trees with lots of wind. The wind causes more problems that anything. Can sure stress plants. My climate is semi arid and normally low humidity. Think this helps some with some of the problems some have with mulch. Also I have sandy soil which drain well. The wilt hasn't been that much of a problem here. In our record setting drought we did have an increase of problems this year but attribute that to the stress the plants went through. Every grower in this area experienced that. I don't expect the results till the end of this coming week or the week after. With the holiday things will be slower. Yes a basic test and I also requested a nitrogen test just out of curiosity. The basic includes a PH test. Have never had one in 15 years with this garden. And have had good results most years. But with a few changes in practices just wanted to see where I'm at. Didn't send one from the new area may next year. Don't hurt to know where your ship is headed. I've always said it is easier to make decisions if you know where you are. But feel I'm in fair to good shape. The ground look good. Just dug several holes to 24" deep and the soil looks good. Will post the results when I get them. Jay
Hi. I received my soil test results today. Was surprised by some results. N,P & K were all high. They recommend no fertilizer this year for any crops. My PH was high on one half. Soil in this area is known to be akaline but I had never saw it before. Like I said I've been changing the practices I used for several years and this tells me where I'm at. Didn't add any horse manure last year. I've been mulching and following the same principle as Ruth Stout but had never even heard of her till this year. I feel I may be able to stop using manure like she did. Will add some sulphur to the area that is the highest. Hopefully I can get it some lower before I plant. The south half is ok. I had put some cottonseed hulls in that area two years ago when I had potatoes there. I did add about 1 lb. per foot of alfalfa mulch that I tilled in last fall and then around an inch of alfalfa/manure compost. Shows how easy it is too get too much fertilizer without adding something commercial. I will run tests next year before I add anything. I added some amendments to tomato holes last weekend. Wish now I hadn't. But the holes are deep so should be ok. Will add 2/3 tsp. of sulphur to each hole. Jay
Here is a rough draft of what I plan to plant. Will be some adjusting. I already have thought of a few I've left out and a couple I'll remove. So will update as time gets closer. 2009 Tomato List -OP's Vendor Number of plants 1.Lyuda's Mom's Red Ukraine 2. Glick's 18 Mennonite 3. Flammee' 4. Carbon 5. Matt D Imperio 6. Indian Stripe 7 Black Cherry 8. Lynnwood 9.Lancaster Big Pink -PL 10 Matt's D Imperio 11. Illini Star 12. Eva's Shoeneck 13. Sarnowski Polish Plum 14. VB Russian 15. Kanora 16. Amazon Chocolate - PL 17. Mr Bruno 18. Kellog's Breakfast 19. Wisconsin 55 20. Heinz 21. Cowlick's Brandywine 22. Korney's Cross 23. Black from Tula 24. Gold Medal 25. Kosovo 26. Cherokee Purple RL 27. Cherokee Purple PL 28. Spudakee - PL 29. Cherokee Green 30. Bradley 31. Millet's Dakota 32. Lucky Cross - PL 33. Cheetham's potato Leaf 34. Mary Robinson's German Bi-Color 35. Cowlick's Brandywine - PL 36. 36. KBX - PL 37. Caspian Pink 38. Purple Calabash 39. Chapman 40 Hazelfield Farm 41. Rostova 42. Pork Chop 43. JD's Special Pink
Hybrids
1. Goliath 2. Porterhouse 3. Shady Lady 4. Old Fashioned Goliath 5. Brandy Boy 6. Ramapo
Last edited by elkhwc; Dec 27th, 2008 at 08:11 AM.
Best of four, The list is a rough draft of what I'll plant. Some on there are musts and some will be removed. I just received one new variety yesterday (Barlow's Jap) and have another that I received a message today saying would be mailed this week. So when I add them will try to remove some to keep the numbers manageable. I do hope to attend a new farmer's market that just started last summer 40 miles from me some this summer. Why I'm going back to raising a wider selection of veggies. Also have been trying lots of new tomato varieties every year trying to find those that will do better here in this climate. Have found a few. My plans were to cut back to about 10-15 op varieties and 5-6 hybrids with just a couple of new ones every year but so far haven't been able to restrain myself from trying more new ones every year. Last year was my worst in 40 plus years of growing so was hard to judge a tomato by last year. I will edit my list as I modify it. So if interested just keep watching it. Jay
I'm in extreme SW KS. 120 miles straight north of Amarillo, TX. I usually can some and make salsa. I eat a lot and give some away. A farmers market opened 40 miles from me last year. I hope to be able to have somethings to sell at it this year. Last year i was trialing so many tomatoes and we had such a bad year I didn't have anything to take. Hopefully they will have it again this year. When I stopped by they had more buyers than produce. Especially tomatoes. Last year was terrible for everyone in this area. I don't seem to have much trouble getting rid of the extra's. Jay
Holy cow, elk! That's a lot of 'maters. I look forward to seeing what you plant and how they turn out.
For my garden this year, I think I'll have enough room for 10 plants.
Brandywine San Marzano Husky Gold (on hand from last year)
How much do you think these will yield?
Last year I planted Sweet Cluster and Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes. My Husky Gold died before transplanting (totally my fault). The Cluster had a decent amount and I had what seemed like millions of cherry tomatoes. I made a jar of salsa and a small jar of tomato sauce. They were delicious. I can't wait to see what I can do with this crop.
Blackberrygrl, Like I stated this will be close to what I plant. I keep getting a few new ones to try. Most of them will have to wait till next year now. But if they "can't wait tomato comes" I'll have to adjust the list. As to production with the old standy's in an average year I can depend on 2-25 pounds per plant and have went higher. But with so many new ones that some won't like this climate I don't really know. Just take what I get. I imagine 10-15 pounds if it is an average year. Last year was the worst year we've even had around here and although I didn't weigh them all probably ended up with 5 pounds or less per plant. Many couldn't take the heat, drought and wind. Hopefully this year will be better. My plans are too expand into the farm market more and as I do in the future I will cut down on varieties and go more with what I can depend on here. But has been interesting growing so many new and different tomatoes. Jay
I'm anticipating on growing at least six tomato plants. I'll plant some Early girls because, as my mother and father have said, they do well and Brandywine to try. I'm trying to find a good paste tomato for making tomato sauce but I'll probably be getting Big Mamas. I'm not really a big tomato fan because of the mealy supermarket varieties I'm hoping my garden will change that.
Hi tk, elk. How ya liking your new place, tk? I haven't been here in forever, it seems like. Yeah, Roma's are reliable almost everywhere, you should be ready to do a little freezing or canning once they really kick in, they're determinate or at least semi-determinate. I liked San Marzano better, quite a bit better, they look just like Roma, really. They're one of Europe's most famous paste tomatoes. Keep in mind that paste tomatoes, the plums, at least, tend to have Blossom End Rot at first but often grow out of it, Don't water them heavily or let them dry out badly, and don't believe any of the quick fixes you hear about, it's all about water uptake, the whole mineral/nutrient issues are just as well ignored with BER unless you're doing everything else right... Some of you may be disappointed with Brandywine, it takes forever to set fruit, forever to ripen, it splits sometimes, and it's considered ugly, plus most seasons you may get only a few huge 1 lb. fruit per plant, but I have never tasted anything on earth to compare to a good one. You often do okay with whatever your local Lowe's or Wal Mart offers in the Bonnie plant selections, but if you're willing to grow from seed, you're often best off, as a newer gardener, to go with the cheaper seed companies offerings, the reason they're cheap is that they're out of patent, the reason they're offered is that they tend to produce reliably in most regions in most years and have superior flavor to most hybrids. Seems to defy logic, I know, but that's the facts. If any of you decide to play with a lot of varieties, like elk does, once you get some experience at starting seed, there is a whole world out there to explore, literally thousands of tomatoes from every part of the world, in all the colors of the rainbow, believe it or not, from the size of a pea to the size of a dinner plant. Have fun. Dave Later, elk. Later tk and all.
i haven't posted much here, but i will say, when it comes to tomatoes and peppers, dave and jay know their stuff! and for getting started sucessfully, tk is the one to talk to!
Dave nice to have you drop in. Dave always gives good advice. I agree Brandywine in many areas should be grown as an experiment with no hope for much production. I have searched for the Brandywine that will do well here in this climate and my garden for at least 8 years now. So far limited results. The most production I've experienced is 3 fruit. Trying another strain this year called Cowlick's. Hopefully it will do better. I'm just hard headed enough I don't give up easily. Not I like better than a challenge. And taste so far here hasn't been what others experience elsewhere overall. The best tasting tomato I've ever tasted is a Brandywine bi-color cross called Lucky Cross. But only two fruit. And the only tomato I will grow for 2 fruit. I rate it a 9.25 on a scale of 1-10. Those who know me know I don't grow many pastes. I haven't made much paste in the past and for salsa I just cook down a little longer. Matt D Imperio is a meaty tomato with very good flavor. It can be cooked down to work in sauces. But the taste is so good none of mine have survived that long. Several of the others I raise are what I call all around types. And talking about my list changing. Since I posted the list I received seeds for one called Barlow's Jap. A tomato from KY that originally came from Japan after WWII. I have shared seeds with several growers. It is a PL beefsteak. And beefsteaks are my weakness and being PL only makes it worse. So it has been added along with around 4 more varieties. Guess the histories behind them and then the suspense of how they will produce and taste in my garden is what drives me to grow so many. And Dave forgot to warn you if you get started it is addictive and hard to stop. Just better for your health than drinking or smoking. Jay
You're already kicking it into high gear, I see. I'm still working on "weeding" my list for 2009. I was wondering, though, if you could spare about 5 seeds of Matt d'Imperio and KBX? I tried growing KBX last year, but it ended up an RL White Beefsteak, lol. Still pretty good for making white pasta sauce, but I'm keen to see how it compares with the RL Kellogg's Breakfast.
Cutting back to 60 plants, eh? Are you sure your willpower is that strong? I can't wait to get seeds started, but I can't put the cart before the horse. The grow list has to be finalized and I have a LOT of work downstairs in the grow-op. I have about 100 trays and pots to clean and disinfect before I can get going.
Right now, I'm threshing the remainder of the flowerseeds and pouring over catalogues from last year. Up here in Canukistan, we're the last to get our catalogues. Dogsleds are really slow.
I know for sure i'll be planting some better boys, love those and some baby grape tomatoes, I had some of those this summer I loved picking them ffresh and just eatting them for a snack
I try to take one day at a time -- but sometimes several days attack me at once. -Jennifer Unlimited- Yard Update -April 2012
I'm getting some Costoluto Genovese from one of our members, I can't wait. I'm very excited.
I also have some Beefsteak, Brandywine, Green Zebra, Roma VF that I would like to grow but I'm worried about cross polination. Can some one tell me where the post is that explains how to avoid that if I can't plant way far apart?
I think you'll like Costoluto Genovese, especially for sauce. I didn't use it much for fresh eating, except maybe for panzanella, an Italian salad of large chunks of fresh tomato, large stale bread cubes from a good dense crusty Italian loaf, purple onions, LOTS of shredded basil, good fruity olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. It's easy to make and it's forgiving. Don't make it with your best fresh-eating tomatoes. C. Genovese makes outstanding sauce, that's what it's meant for.
I grow heirloom tomatoes so I can save the seeds and trade for things I want to grow and also to give them away to people just getting started. It's wonderful to see people get excited over gardening and expand their minds of the types of varieties that are out there. Indeed, I grow mostly non-red tomatoes. I save the first ripe fruits from my plants, before the pollinator populations have gotten large and my cross-pollination rate has been very low. In fact, no one I've given seeds to has ever reported a cross so far, although I know there must have been something somewhere. The odds are not in my favour for 100% pure seed. I have not had success with bagging blossoms. Our summers are just too humid and the blossoms abciss or fall off before being pollinated. Harvesting the first fruits and saving those seeds has worked very well for me and I'll continue to do it that way until I find something better.
I wouldn't worry about crossing unless you want to share seed with people and keep pure strains going, most will be true to type anyway. Tomatoes self pollenize, so no need for more than one plant for that or for good fruit. Wind pollination never occurs for the most part, and most insects would rather gather pollen from any other flowering plants. Having flowers around that attract insects is a very good way to keep them from crossing your tomatoes with each other.
Thanks Sorellina and peppereater your advice is very much appreciated. I do like to trade so I try to keep everything pure. I wouldn't want someone or me to be disappointed with a crop after spending all the time to grow from seed.
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