RobinD said:I know they suck me right in....always buy too much....Rita, that list is just awesome......wish I lived closer, would love to try some of those varieties....I've had Green Zebra & Black Cherry.....my fav toms are Cherokee Purple & Ramapo.....

I would give you my extras if you lived closeby. I will not be planting all of them. But then I have never done the tomatoes from seed before so am not sure they will all come up.

I read through your list WAY too fast...cause after REALLY looking at it I see I've actually grown a couple more of those...

These are fantastic! A rather big cherry type with outstanding flavor.
Big, plump, yellow tomatoes with excellent taste. However, low yielding for me.

Excellent!

I figgure I can afford to try some with lower yields because I will be growing so many that I should have plenty of tomatoes.

However I have stuck to pretty much hybrids for years after being dissapointed with heirlooms I had tried. Mostly for not much fruit. So we will see. This year is a big experiment for me. We will see just how many of this very long list I fall in love with and plant again the following year.

I have wanted to try Chocolate Cherry for years. I do like Black Cherry but also this year trying quite a few of the smaller chocolate tomatoes. Like Garnet and Sunchocola also. And Chocolate Pear. We will see.

I did it. I planted them all. It took most of the afternoon but now it is done. I hope I get good germination on my seeds.

Of course I still have no idea what I will do with them all. I don't have room for my 216 seedlings that I planted.

Once you get them started and you decide which ones are going into the garden, perhaps you could offer some seedlings to others who would like to attempt to grow their own, or even sell them cheap on a curbside 'honor box' type table. Or perhaps donate some to an elementary school that could grow them with students. I dunno...216 seedlings...that's a lot of sauce.

robertduval14 said:Once you get them started and you decide which ones are going into the garden, perhaps you could offer some seedlings to others who would like to attempt to grow their own, or even sell them cheap on a curbside 'honor box' type table. Or perhaps donate some to an elementary school that could grow them with students. I dunno...216 seedlings...that's a lot of sauce.

Well, 216 is way too many but I suppose I will have the luxury of being able to choose what I want and how many.

My friends will not take seedlings from me as they don't grow tomatoes cause I give them tomatoes.

When it gets to that point I will have to askl around and see if there is any local organization that would be in need of some tomato plants.

Donating to a school or a community garden is a great idea! Toms are easy to grow as seedlings.....they get leggy though.....

RobinD said:Donating to a school or a community garden is a great idea! Toms are easy to grow as seedlings.....they get leggy though.....

I don't much care if they get slightly leggy. I plant them deep anyway so leggy is not much of a problem.

That's what I have always done, too....not starting any this year though...just doing some annuals like scabious & anchusa....

RobinD said:That's what I have always done, too....not starting any this year though...just doing some annuals like scabious & anchusa....

Well, you can always buy afew starts if you want too.

Will buy my toms at WFF's sale in May....they usually have over 100 varieties ....I'm giving up on peppers & eggplants ...they don't do well in my garden....squash & cukes I direct sow....also have loads of flower seed packets that I can direct sow in May....

It is easiest just to buy the veggie seedlings. I had always done that, buy my tomato seedlings. I do seed cukes and summer squashes. Those are both easy from seed.

Just ordered some more Texas Tomato Cages. Love them as they are so strong and sturdy. I already have some but no where near enough.

Tomato cages are great....I keep using old wooden & metal stakes, & tying up the plants 3-4 times! Then a heavy rain comes, & they are all on the ground....

RobinD said:Tomato cages are great....I keep using old wooden & metal stakes, & tying up the plants 3-4 times! Then a heavy rain comes, & they are all on the ground....

I don't much like the stake em method. Best are really sturdy cages. I also use those somewhat flimsy green coated wire triangle cages. And I have some 54 inch tall round wire cages. The round wire ones smaller than those are totally useless for tomatoes. Though they do work for peppers.

I do Florida Weave many plants cause I simply can not get enough cages no matter how many cages I have.

Yeah I used to put a tomato plant between the two square cages .. and added that stretchy tape between them.. had to make it work with the space and equipment I had

I set up my lights to shine on my tomato seedlings starting this morning as a very few have poped up already today. The start of all those seeds I planted growing.

I have a very, very basic setup. The trays are on a shelf directly at the windows and then I simply set up two reflector clamp ons to shine light on them. I have two different fancy growth bulbs for plants. One puts out the strangest red light but I do know that one works as I tried a test case in the fall of seedlings just to see how I do. They grew great with that light.

From what I have seen.. red and blue are good for seedlings

Didn't know that.....I just stick mine in a west window....I have no south windows....& hope for the best....

Onewish1 said:From what I have seen.. red and blue are good for seedlings

Mine is a light made for starting seedlings with lots of the proper wavelengths.