A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Which tomato?

I was looking over the list of tomatoes available at my local nursery and I don't know what I want. I have some nice heirlooms and some hybrids growing indoors but I still need a few more plants. I'm looking for something that has a very good yield and is heat tolerant. I would prefer heirloom but I do grow hybrids as well. So, what do you recommend? Thanks soooo much!

Ciao Sarah-

What do you intend to do with your tomatoes? Eat raw, make sauce, salads, BLTs? Cherries, saladettes, pastes, huge honking beefsteaks? That might narrow things down a bit.

Cheers,
Julianna

Sorry! I am mainly wanted these to can, make tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and the like. I've already got some brandywines, adelias, Ace 55, and mexico midgets.

Down here, we like Big Boy and Better Boy. They are very heat tolerant and produce large maters. I also bought some Creole to try this year. (Since I teach at High School, I get to choose lots of my veggies from the Ag's greenhouse. I am their biggest customer ha ha, but I also work in there with them when I can)

I've grown better boy and, early girl? I think. They seemed to have troubles setting fruit. Then again, that was before I discovered this site, so I was probably messing it up. Although, I will point out, I didn't use fertilizer that year. So it wasn't over-fertilized.

Did it produce a lot of mators? Since I'm going to do some canning, I need a lot of mators ripe at once or at least within a reasonable amount of time.

Thanks for your input!



I will confess, I went to the nursery today , just to look, I swear. And there was this lovely, robust purple cherokee and I remembered someone saying that they are awesome tasting tomatoes, and the little guy just jumped in my arms and gave me those puppy-dog eyes and said, "oh please take me home!" How could I resist?

I have grown early girl too. I have better boy and creole not. We usually do get better boy every year. My husband uses 8-8-8 initially but I like to use miracle grow weekly when I water. I have had lots of sucess with lots of maters. I grow some in the ground, but I also plant upside down in buckets. It helps with the cutworms, I seem to get a lot of those pesky things. I do dust with sevin dust, but I still seem to get a lot of cutworms. And you know, they can go through a plant in no time at all!

If at planting you take something like a toilet paper roll...

Plant your tomato as usual but then stick that at the base,
push into the ground a bit *say about 1"*, then push up dirt to it, and leave there.. then those pesky things should be stopped somewhat..

Tomato plants can lose their blossoms for a bunch of different reasons, most times it's because of some kind of stress.

Nitrogen can do it, either too much or not enough..

The outside temps can do it too, either too cool
or toooo hot...

Even wind can do it...

We do get a lot of heat here--sometimes weeks up in the 95-110 range with lows in the 80's. So that might be causing the fruit problem? :mad: :mad: First it was how I water, then no mulch, and then bad soil and now it's the sun. Sheesh. I just can't win.

Thanks weezie for the advice, I have lots and lots of toilet paper rolls at my house! I will definitely try this im my backyard tomato plot.

Sherri,
Yeah, I save mine too, they're just
for the hampsters though..

But that should help..
and it's okay to leave them,
they'll eventually breakdown.
and in fall, add them to the compost pile..
**already got a good start on one end too**

Sarah,
Sometimes it's hard to get them just right,
so don't beat yourself up over it..

I still have problems with mine too,
but it's all about just getting that ONE tomato
fresh off the vine...
Nothing else registers for me...

Keep pluggin' away and you'll get it..

I would consider Jet Star and Goliath the hybrid and not the OP. Bonnie's Original(Wal-Mart) also did very well for me in a bad year last year. By far the most productive of all. And I know our conditions are similar. Jay

Ciao Sarah-

Way to go getting the Cherokee Purple! You won't be sorry. It's a great BLT tomato. For sauce, if you're looking for nursery plants, you're probably going to be running into things like Roma and MAYBE San Marzano. Depending on how much sauce you want to make, consider getting a few plants. Romas are determinate, so they're not going to grow super tall and they're going to set fruit more or less all at once. Romas aren't the tastiest paste tomatoes in the world, but I'm not sure what options you'll be finding at your local nursery. If you wanted, you could write down the different varieties you see there and we could give you some feedback before you just close your eyes and point. It depends on how soon you need the plants.

Cheers,
Julianna

Here is a link for the tomatoes available at my local nursery. They're a great nursery, IMHO.

From that list I've had good luck with Jet Star, Caspian Pink and Heartland(very dependable here in KS). Also would recommend Amish Paste. JMO. Jay

I have seen the caspian's and thought they were very pretty. I'll have to do some research on those and see how they fit into my garden-scheme...

Sarah,
I only grew them twice before here and then last year lost the plants by one of my mistakes while they were young. So far have been the best producer and best heirloom/op tomato I've grown with no problems. I also had a boss who I gave them too said his wife thought they were the best she had ever ate. I will say for me way better producer than the Branywines and several others here in our wind and heat. After several more years can give a lot better evaluation. You are more humid than I am though so that could make a difference in what does well for you. JMO. Jay

Well, I'll head out, hopefully, today to pick them up. I don't plan on planting until Thursday. My sinuses are acting up, something terrible. Usually a good sign of a weather-system coming through. Is it raining over there yet, Jay? I can't wait to get some thunderstorms and, if we're lucky, some rain! Back to tomatoes, I'm thinking I'll get pink caspian and heartland. But we'll see what I really come home with!

Ciao Sarah-

You're very fortunate, this nursery has several winners. My choices would be Brandywine (large oblate beefsteak), Caspian Pink (large pink slicer), Cherokee Purple (large purple/black slicer), Giant Belgium (very large pink slicer), Mr. Stripey (striped red saladette), Old German (large bicolour yellow/red slicer).

Cheers!
Julianna

Thanks, Julianna! I haven't gotten out yet, it sucks being broke. I'm definitely going to pick up a few Caspian PInk tomatoes. I'll just have to remember to pick them pink and not wait for them to turn red!

LOL Sarah-

Here's the deal between pink and red: pink tomatoes have clear skin, red tomatoes have yellow skin. That's it, that's the extent of the difference, the flesh is the same.

Cheers,
Julianna

That's interesting. I never realized that tomatoes could have a clear skin. I went out this evening and picked up caspian pink and heartland tomatoes. The Caspian was about 1 foot tall, in a 4 inch pot, beautiful thick stalk, good number of leaves and only 1.49!! The heartland was only about 2 inches tall, in a 2 inch pot lots of dark leaves though, but it was still .99. Unfortunately, I only had room for 2 additional toms. I really felt guilty leaving all those other CP's there. They all wanted to go home with me.

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I'll keep you guys updated later in the year as to what did well and how I liked the new varieties.

sitting here reading about all the wonderful tomatoes makes me hungry & envious! With the kids gone, it is just me who will eat tomatoes with any regularity--But I am planting a Cherokee Purple, a giant cherry and 1 other yet to be named--but it too will be an eating tomato. Any suggestions?

Julianna and Johnct like their heirlooms..
So, they may have one to name for you..

If you're only finding regular hybrids at local
nurseries, I like a Celebrity and Rutgers..

weezie: I planted my last Tom plant.---Rutgers. I have had celebrity before so I thought I would try something different.--Now to wait for all the tomatoes to grow & do their job!!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND SUPER FANTASTICS!!!! SOO GOOD!!! I GUESS YOU CALL THAT A SLICER TOMATO. I EAT THEM TOO QUICKLY TO DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH THEM.

Cherokee Purple and Brandywine OTV are my 2 favorite tomatoes. I can't decide which one I like the best.

I planted 6 Celebrity, 6 Rutgers, 1 Cherokee Purple, 2 Brandywine, and 2 Roma.

My cherries are now the size of ping pong balls but still green. The tag just said cherry, no specifics, so I don't know what they are.
I wish they'd ripen though !

yep me too. Patience IS one of my virtues--except when it come to waiting for tht first Tomato.

Junie, I noticed flowers on my heirloom tomatoes and I've already checked them for budding tomatoes twice today. Although I can't claim to be patient, I am usually more forgetful.

Sarah: re-read my post--I said patience is one of my virtues, but not when it comes to tomatoes.....

My plants are far too small to have flowers. In the past if time gets away from me, I have been known to buy larger plants with either flowers or small green toms on them---but not this year---so wait I must----but hey, at least I've got green onions to eat-----

Ciao Sarah-

I'm so glad your tomatoes are doing well for you now! You're at the stage of the game where you can relax at least. I've got all of my tomato flats in the garage right now, sulking that it's not even 50F outside. I've been trying to harden them off for the last couple weeks and was hoping to get them transplanted this weekend, the usual major gardening long weekend here in Eastern Canada. I'm now hoping to plant them out on Wednesday although on Thursday evening, the low temperatures are forecasted to be 45F. It's a brutal rollercoaster spring.

I think our roller coaster ride is coming to a halt here. The heirloom plants that I got from the nursery are about 2 ft tall, thick, bushy and green, the heirlooms (brandywine, adelia, and mexico midget) are both growing like crazy, it seems that the Ace55 seems to be a little smaller than the rest. Then again, the bunnies seem to prefer to eat the Ace.

The pink caspian and cherokee purple are putting out quite a few blossoms. I haven't found any babies yet. Pink Caspians blossoms seem to be shriveling and yellowing instead of fruiting. Maybe the weather is just not warm enough--lows occasionally in the upper 30's, but usually mid 40's.

I'm sorry to hear about your long wait to get your maters out. I hope that this weekend has fabulous weather for you and those 'maters.