herbie43 said:patti - i can;t you much about them since it will be my first time growing them but i can tell you that they are all red and over one pound and sweet. i got those seeds from two friends from DG who were kind enough to shre them with me when i mentioned how much i wanted to grow big, red and sweet tomatoes.

I will look forward to hearing about them after you grow them. I love the red, large, sweet tomatoes. You should put "Mexico" on your list for the future, I grew it last year and out of 35-40 varieties it was my favorite, had all of those qualities. I think that it is a pink tomato but it was the biggest, sweetest tomato I have ever grown. I only grew 2 plants of it and everyone wanted them but I only shared with my husband and two grown daughters and towards the end of the season I quit sharing with them too. I put a lot of work into them and I was not going to give away or even sell my favorite tomatoes

patti - you are so funny. i will look for them next season.

I ordered a few new-to-me tomato seeds yesterday, from dianeseeds. (She sells all open pollinated, heirloom, non-gmo seeds.)

Brandywine Sudduth's strain
Tomato "Delicious"
Tomato "Stupice"

I have been growing Matina lately for an early one- it's something like 55 DTM and I like it. But of course my husband doesn't so we'll try the Stupice this year instead. (60 days DTM I think, so also early). He always wants the big monster size ones so probably won't like Stupice, either.

I think I also have a pack of Black Cherry somewhere. If so I might try those in place of Snow White, since my husband doesn't like the SW either. Really, I don't think he'd like any tomato that weighs under 50 lbs.

Karen

the list that i posted above is filled with large tomatoes

I sowed my tomatoes yesterday. Here's the list:

Dwarf Determinate Cherry or Small:Hundreds and Thousands, Tumbling Tom, Red Robin (waiting for Tumbler seeds to arrive)
Indeterminate Cherry:Chocolate Cherry, Green Zebra Cherry, Sungold, Sweet 100, Yellow Pear
Grape:Juliet, Christmas Grape, Sweet Mojo
Determinate Paste: Viva Italia Roma, Roma VF, La Roma, Mama Mia
Indeterminate Paste: Amish Paste, Bonny Best, Matina potato leaf, Stupice potato leaf
Determinate Medium: Manitoba, Celebrity
Indeterminate Medium: Early Girl, Black Prince,
Indeterminate Large: Mortgage Lifter, Lemon Boy, Ultra Sweet, Cobra, Super Fantastic, Big Beef,
T&T Monster, Purple Cherokee, Carbon, Green Zebra, Brandywine Red, Oxheart, Striped German, Mr. Stripey
Determinate Large: Ultra Sonic

Nice list, Joanne. You've also got several I've never heard of before. It's so fun seeing what everyone is growing. Are all of these for your personal use???

Goodness no, I only keep about 12 plants. Neighbours, relatives, friends and friends of friends are who most of the the plants are for.

Organized is right, something I've never been any good at. I just sent for some tomato seeds from Park's, never paid too much attention to names. I want to ask how big of a container do you need for one tomato plant? DH had a new shed put up and low and behold it gives half of my raised bed too much shade. Well, told him the shed has to come done, which of course isn't going to happen, so decicded I may have to put a few in containers so they can be in the sun. Tried the hanging tomato one which didn't do very good. Plants want to grow up not down.

very nice

How is the season going for everyone?

My season is going SLOW!!! First it was too wet and cold, now it's too hot....

Coldest spring on record here, followed by the abrupt onset of summer. I'm constantly explaining to people why their tomatoes are late this year.

Now, I'm a big fat cheater, so the plants I started in the greenhouse and then transplanted from 5 gallon pots are giving me yummy sandwiches and little ones to snack on while I water.
I'll have to wait a bit for the main crop to come in, though.

We had a very cold, wet spring and a late start on planting out, so I expect a late harvest here. We have been having really nice weather for setting fruit and that is making me very happy

It's a challenging growing season here. We went from a cool, extremely rainy spring/early summer. Now, it's blisteringly hot, humid, and no rain in site. My tomato plants are huge and healthy, with lots of blossoms (I grow my tomatoes in Earthboxes with a watering system), but very little fruit is setting. I've read that fruit might not set if it's too hot? Has anyone else heard this?

My tomato list (just one of each):
Silvery Fir Tree
Golden Queen
Black from Tula
Bloody Butcher
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Burpee's Big Boy hybrid
Sweet Million
Nebraska Wedding
Olive Hill
Black Brandywine
Berkeley Tie Dye
Black & Red Boar

I experienced that last year, the blossoms would actually dry up and fall off before they could set fruit. I did read that high temps can cause that. I am sorry that you are experiencing that.... it is very frustrating!

From your list I am growing Olive Hill and Berkeley Tie Dye. My first time for both.

Tomatoes will not pollinate if it's too hot, though tolerance varies, and some varieties are specifically bred for setting fruit in higher heat.

I don't recognize anything on that list as being particularly heat resistant, but I'm not experienced with all of them, either.

Linda, I'm not sure where Carmel is, but I'm near Cincinnati, I imagine we have pretty similar weather. I've got some fruit setting, but not a lot. That last hot spell we had, I think back in June... like Patti, I had a ton of blossoms that just dried up and dropped off.

I don't think much pollinates when it's 98 degrees outside.

Yep, our weather is very similar, Melissa. We're just north of Indianapolis.

This week has been tough on everything--glad it was only in the 80s today. It almost felt cool!!

Yes, today I could breathe! I don't mind the temperature as much as the humidity. Thank goodness it was lower today too.

I've started rooted cuttings from Black Krims, Momotoro, and Sioux vines that gave me a bumper crop this past spring. I had the healthiest plants EVER, and the most bountiful harvest EVER of all my growing seasons combined. I have what I believe is a Sioux plant that is filled with lush new top growth, so that'll be the start of my fall crop. I'll only grow those three varieties.

The substantial size shoots have been rooting in a bucket of water with a capful of H2O2 for oxygenation, since Saturday, and, the roots are huge already. I have to get them into some soil before the stems start rotting. Problem was figuring out what to plant those long suckers in, without using too much potting mix. Plastic two-liter COKE bottles to the rescue!

I cut the top off even around with the top of the label, filled with Tapla's 3-1-1 container mix, and sunk a dowel down to make a hole. Then, I threaded the stem carefully through the pourspout of the cut off top and into the hole, pressed in the soil and lowered and taped the top back into place. The plant doesn't tip over because of the leverage from the hole. Then, I watered them in and placed them under the patio cover to continue taking root, until plantout between 8/15 and 9/15 (my absolute cutoff date).

Once the bottles fill up with roots, I can just cut the plastic bottle away and lift the whole rootball in one piece for planting out.

I need more Coke bottles...

Linda