I may have the "complete" list of diseases for which at least one tomato cultivar is resistant. Info from Cornell: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath... In table form they list every tomato claiming to be resistant from Fedco; Harris Seeds; High Mowing Organic; Holmes; Johnny's; Rupps; Seedway; Sieger; Stokes; Takii; Territorial; Totally Tomatoes. It also includes physiological problems.

Diseases:
Angular Leaf Spot
Alternaria Blight
Alternaria Stem Canker
Black Rot
Bacterial Leaf Spot
Bacterial Speck
Bacterial Wilt
Corky Root (Rot)
Crown Rot
Downy Mildew
Early Blight
Fusarium Wilt
Fusarium Wilt 1
Fusarium Wilt 2
Fusarium Wilt 3
Fusarium Crown Rot
Fruit Soft Rot
Gray Leaf Spot
Late Blight
Leaf spot
Fulvia Blight
Leaf Mold
Nematode
Phytophthora
Powdery Mildew
Root Knot Nematode
Southern Bacterial Wilt
Stemphyllium
Spotted Wilt Virus
Tomato Blight
Tomato Mosaic Virus
Tobacco Mosaic Virus
Tomato Spotted Wilt
Verticillium Wilt
Verticillium Wilt 1
Verticillium Wilt 2
Yellow Leaf Curl Virus

Some of the above may be duplicates: I believe Gray Leaf Spot is the same as Stemphyllium, but catalogs can list them differently.

Physiological:
Blossom End Rot
Blossom End Scar
Cold
Cracking
Heat
Splitting
Sunburn

I downloaded the file to Excel, so if anyone wants a copy it's in Dropbox: http://db.tt/IIojJowW or for those with pre-2007 Excel: http://db.tt/lljEXINo

With all the diseases (and those for which there are no resistant varieties), it's amazing we get even one edible tomato a season.

So, does this take care of diseases?

I think that certainly takes care of diseases - thank you. We can adjust the values later easily enough.

As for the sizes, I like Evan's idea of using generic names. Tiny as the first option and Gigantic as the last. Then Mexico Midget gets classified as Tiny.

(I also grow Mexico Midgets every year! Love them).

dave said:I like Evan's idea of using generic names. Tiny as the first option and Gigantic as the last.

Looking back thru the thread, didn't Rick propose a roll-over that gave approx. size and/or weight to the generic name. Just measured my Mexico Midgets: largest 5/8"; 5 tomatoes = 1/4oz. I guess I like the idea of approx. size but not weight.

dave said:(I also grow Mexico Midgets every year! Love them).

How can we not love a tomato that explodes with flavor, bears all summer in Texas and happily self-seeds. My only problem with it is the 1/4 acre each plant wants to take over. Read a post once from someone in Alaska who grew them and they reached 8' there!

krancmm said:I guess I like the idea of approx. size but not weight.

That's my preference. I don't see a reason to get extremely precise because I don't think anybody will be looking for precision when they are searching the database.

I agree. A name that is recognizable is simple and clear. Maybe when it gets to "medium" and "large" some guidance for the breakoffs would be nice.

>> BTW, the numbers will be rounded, won't they, please??

Hopefully! I was just translating the metric sizes someone found on some "official" list.

>> <1" for grape and 1"+ a bit for cherry.

That sounds right to me.

I've seen a "Brix Scale" mentioned for sweetness, but my guess is that sweetness depends as much on growing conditions as genetics, and WE can't measure a Brix Scale, so we would be dependent on vendors' descriptions.

My High School Chemistry Inner Nerd perks up at the thoguht of measuring "acidity" with a pH meter, but I think the best advice there is: "DOWN, Rick!" (hmm, we don;t have a geeky nerd smiley or Mad Scientist smiley ... big black glasses with THICK frames and a wild light in its eyes...)

Probably that kind of comparison science projectr would be better done as a forum thread, with the consensus (if any) added to the Parent Plant Page for tomatoes:
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)

Rick, regarding "Brix Scale" or acidity monitors - those may be absolute scientific measures, but I think taste/flavor is as individually subjective as flower scent, no matter what the growing conditions. Just read tomato forums where posters discuss the flavor of various tomatoes. There isn't even a bell curve.

Although I'm pretty geeky (even with thick lenses) about science and precision, there comes a point...and I respectfully suggest that YOU'VE REACHED IT

>> there comes a point...and I respectfully suggest that YOU'VE REACHED IT

I like the saying "I've gone so far around the bend, I can't even see it in my rear-view mirror".

If there is ever a poster boy for O. Seed D., I want to be that poster boy!


>> taste/flavor is as individually subjective as flower scent,

I agree with you that, within something as complex as "flavor", even sweetness and tartness are not as simple as sugar content and acidity. Those two probably are objectively measurable, but only slightly more intesting than text descriptions of Janis Jopin's voice compared to Pavarotti.

And of course climate, watering and soil conditions can produce "eww", "ahh", "yuck" or "hunnh?" from the same seeds. And one gardner's "eww" will often be another's "ahh".

RickCorey said:Janis Jopin's voice compared to Pavarotti

Unfair..I've spent hours now imagining Pavarotti's rendition of "Ball and Chain" and Joplin's take on "Nessun Dorma" and I can't stop laughing.

Okay, here's my take on the fields incorporating input (with my own suggestions for additions and requests for clarification).

Proposed fields for Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum ):

1. Growth Mode checkbox:
Determinate / Indeterminate / Semi-determinate

2. Heredity checkbox:
Open Pollinated / F1 Hybrid

Suggested Addition
3a. Days to Maturity:
_____ days (all seed companies list this)

Suggested DELETION?
3b. Earliness checkbox:
Ultra-early / Extra-early / Early / Mid-season / Late
Do we need this if Days to Maturity is listed, or in addition to Days to Maturity?

4. Disease Resistance checkbox:
Angular Leaf Spot
Alternaria Blight
Alternaria Stem Canker
Black Rot
Bacterial Leaf Spot
Bacterial Speck
Bacterial Wilt
Corky Root (Rot)
Crown Rot
Downy Mildew
Early Blight
Fusarium Wilt
Fusarium Wilt 1
Fusarium Wilt 2
Fusarium Wilt 3
Fusarium Crown Rot
Fruit Soft Rot
Gray Leaf Spot
Late Blight
Leaf spot
Fulvia Blight
Leaf Mold
Nematode
Phytophthora
Powdery Mildew
Root Knot Nematode
Southern Bacterial Wilt
Stemphyllium
Spotted Wilt Virus
Tomato Blight
Tomato Mosaic Virus
Tobacco Mosaic Virus
Tomato Spotted Wilt
Verticillium Wilt
Verticillium Wilt 1
Verticillium Wilt 2
Yellow Leaf Curl Virus

5. Physiological Resistance checkbox:
Blossom End Rot
Blossom End Scar
Cold
Cracking
Heat
Splitting
Sunburn

6. Climate Tolerance checkbox:
Cold-tolerant / Heat-tolerant / Cold-sensitive / Heat-sensitive

Suggested Addition
7. Heirloom checkbox:
Yes / No

Suggested Addition
8. Suitable for Greenhouse checkbox:
Yes / No

Request Clarification
9. Plant Size
(The existing "Spread" field would be good for holding "4 foot - 6 foot vines")
Do we need size? Most aren't listed except for those being touted as "Patio" types. Depends on environment, length of growing season, etc.

Request Clarification
10. Leaf Type checkbox:
Potato leaf / Regular leaf
What is the purpose of this one? Is it related to leaf coverage?

11. Fruit Shape checkbox:
Globe
Flattened Globe
Plum
Other – text

12. Fruit Size checkbox:
Currant / Grape / Cherry / Small / Medium / Large / Extra Large / Gigantic
with mouse over for avg sizes (to be determined)

13. Fruit Color checkbox:
Red
Orange
Yellow
Gold
Pink
Purple
Russet
Pale
Other - text

14. Best Uses checkbox:
Slicing
Salad
Snacking
Canning
Drying
Sauce
Paste

14: Flavor
Very subjective, so maybe each new comment could add a row
Looking ahead, you might have 50 text rows in the specialized section.

Ooh, ooh, just had a thought…could there be a section under the above specialized fields for Personal Experience rating, rather like a poll, also checkboxes, with a table/spreadsheet look?

Location: ______________ Year _____
Health: Excellent / Good / Poor (Overall) / Poor (Unusual Conditions)
Productivity: Excellent / Good / Poor (Overall) / Poor (Unusual Conditions)
Flavor: Excellent / Good / Poor (Overall) / Poor (Unusual Conditions)
Will Grow Again: Yes / No

Phooey, can't seem to add a table w/ HTML code so I can't give example of several lines. Imagine header row columns with Location / Year / Health / Productivity / Flavor / Grow Again? Data rows relating to columns: Row1. Lake Jackson, TX, 2010, Excellent, Excellent, Excellent, Y. Row2. Seattle, WA, 2011, Good, Poor, Poor, Poor, N. Row3, etc.

Doing this would allow users to see quickly what grew best where without wading thru verbiage.

Could still have "Comments" under everything as now.

Now Totally Tired of Tomatoes. Gonna go listen to Ball and Chain now...

krancmm said:Okay, here's my take on the fields incorporating input (with my own suggestions for additions and requests for clarification).

I can't thank you enough for summarizing this all together for me. This ensures I can put the data fields in without accidentally missing something. Thank you!

krancmm said:could there be a section under the above specialized fields for Personal Experience rating, rather like a poll, also checkboxes, with a table/spreadsheet look?

I love the idea and I think it's probably going to have to become my latest "Biggest item on my wishlist" but for now the database has zero support for something like that. Databox fields are programmed to be fixed to a single value. We can't currently have it where multiple users can select different values of the same item and have those differing values all appear. It's an "either or" kind of thing. Person "A" says something and if Person B wants to change it, it gets changed.

But having this feature would be an incredibly useful addition to the database. It's going to go on my wishlist.

I mostly agree ...

The reason I suggested "Early / Late" instead of "days to maturity" is that "days" are so sensitive to climate, i.e. warmth. If different vendors have somehow standardized that, "days" could be as good as "Early / Late". But even people in very different climates can agree that 'Stupic' is earlier than 'Rutgers'. Either way is OK.

An "Heirloom" checkbox would be c ool, even if it is dubious when claimed by some vendors! That's another checkbox that coluld use a free-text field following it, for text like "Czech family heirloom from Morzuich section" or "1880's heirloom from West Virgina".

"Suitable for Greenhouse": definitely!

I'm thinking that "parthenocarpic" or fruiting without pollination is rare enoguh that it can be left to the Comments sectfion.

"Plant Size": you're right, it's not needed as a tomato-specific field. When I see a vendor claim "2-6 feet" or "4-8 feet", or "compact", I copy it into my notes. The plant database already has a "suitable for containers" field, and that serves a similar purpose.

"Potato leaf / Regular leaf" - I don't know what practical value that has, unless your labels blow away and you're trying to remember which was planted where. I just see it listed by tomato mavens so I did, too.

"Potato leaf / Regular leaf" - Some people find the potato leaved varieties off-putting. Others seek them out. Either way, it's a useful thing to know.

Fruit color doesn't necessarily have much practical value either, but it certainly impacts people's decisions on which varieties to grow.

I have inputted the new data architecture for tomatoes! Thank you everyone who participated in putting this together. I love this aspect of our database.

You can see the architecture here:

http://garden.org/plants/propo...

A few things:

1) I included both "Earliness" (which contains language descriptions like "Early" and "Late") as well as Days to Maturity. We can search on checkboxes but not so much on text fields. So we have both and I think that's a fine idea.

2) Under "Physiological Resistance" we are including Cold and Heat, but then under Climate Tolerance those are mentioned again. Is this not redundant?

3) I moved "Heirloom", "Greenhouse", "Potato Leaf" and "Suitable for containers" into one group called "Miscellaneous". Any future one-off type data items will go under Miscellaneous.

Very nice

Maybe just lose "Climate Tolerance" completely.

Miscellaneous category is good, except "suitable for containers" is already included in the general description fields. Are both required? Instead, could the field be "Suitable for Patio" which is being used for compact plants that supposedly don't require staking or trellising?

to all.

I disabled Climate Tolerance and I renamed "suitable for containers" to "suitable for patio".

2) Under "Physiological Resistance" we are including Cold and Heat, but then under Climate Tolerance those are mentioned again. Is this not redundant?

I agree. Some how I just never noticed "Physiological Resistance".

Thanks, Dave!

Now I know what I'll be doing when I get too sore to work outside.
Add tomata data!

Hmmm ... should the "Fruit Color | Other " checkbox bring up a text dialog? So many online sources called Vorlon "purple-black" that I thought I would add that besides just checking the "Purple" box. And then the tempatation to call 'Jaune Flammee's color
"orange, deep gold or red blush" called to me. Maybe waxing poetic and verbose are not the the best uses of a checkbox!

RickCorey said:Hmmm ... should the "Fruit Color | Other " checkbox bring up a text dialog?

It should, and it does.

And then the tempatation to call 'Jaune Flammee's color
"orange, deep gold or red blush" called to me.

Please wax poetic after you've checked one or more of the boxes. As Dave mentioned somewhere, text only is much more difficult to search. Thanks heavens my tomatoes are red, except for 'Chocolate Cherry', a bronzed deep russet

Hmm, maybe this is another IE7 gotcha. It looks like I can get as far as IE8 at work ... I'll try agin from home.

I find that if I check the checkbox, then also click on the word "Other", the dialog will appear ... but if I click on it so I can enter text, it disapears!

... edited to add ...

Hmm, this time I made the dialog appear by clicking the checkbox, then hitting Tab. Then a RIGHT-click let me enter the dialog without closing it.

... edited to add ...

This time, clicking the checkbox, then hitting Tab, then LEFT-click in the dialog worked. I've run out of tomato flavors to test with! But I noticed that one of the other "Other" dialogs needed a little coaxing like "Tab" to appear after I clicked the checkbox.

... edited to add ...

I've confirmed that for me, I have to hit "Tab" after clicking on "Other" under "Color", to get the dialog box. If I left-click on the word "Other", after clicking the checkbox, the dialog appears coyly, but disapears before I can get a cursor into it.

But If I click the checkbox, then hit Tab, the dialog appears and I can get a cursor by left-clicking the dialog, can enter text, and it works fine.

Remember, this is all with Microsoft IE7 under Windows XP Pro. Who expects anything to work?

Just tested. Works okay for me.