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MSP (Zone 4a)  repentantslide Jul 15, 2019 9:59 AM CST |
| Include what your weather has been like the past month or two. This will be helpful for people in the future to determine whether growing a tomato variety in their area is a good idea. Initialisms/acronyms are fine but please try to use the full name at least once in your post so people can search the thread more easily. The last two months have been rain 2-4 times a week, light but steady when it happens. Very cold high temps for summer, at least for what the vast, vast majority of the US would consider summer. Very few weeks have been significantly over 75 for a high, 57-62 for a low generally. Extremely humid, the lowest I've seen the humidity go was 40% (mind you that's quite high, it's said 35% is when sweating is significantly reduced and humidity becomes uncomfortable) and that was after the sun had been out for 3 days in a row. My only tomato that is doing great is the Wagner Blue Green, though it is a stabilized cross with a variety developed at OSU so that's probably why. My Costoluto Genovese is doing alright, very slow to grow but it's not in the sunniest spot to be fair, although fruit set is quite good for the cruddy weather we have. My "Red Brandywine" (note, this is not what it is, there is not a potato leaf Red Brandywine, but that's what they called it) is very questionable, it has alright fruit set but nowhere near as good as WBG. Doing absolutely terribly and literally one hundred percent reliant on blossom set spray: Big Rainbow, Carbon, Abe Lincoln, Great White, Mortgage Lifter, Aunt Ruby's German Green, True Black Brandywine. Perhaps the ones doing terribly in this climate would be much better off in climates where temperatures are steadily in the 80s and there are some lower humidity spells rather than just constant, never-ending humidity. |
Name: Paul Fish Brownville, Nebraska (Zone 5b)  PaulF Jul 15, 2019 11:12 AM CST |
| Hot and dry here and all tomatoes are about two weeks or more behind. Can't tell yet the good, the bad or the ugly. |
Minnesota (Zone 3b)  RpR Jul 15, 2019 12:56 PM CST |
| Old German, Husky Cherry, Grape (Tammi C), 4 -Green Zebra, 2 Abe Lincoln, Big Beef, Pineapple, Orange Oxheart None are doing poorly but only the cherry type tomatoes are fruiting right now. We have gone from below average and wet, to above average and humid, so right now they are finally really taking off, as is the whole garden which is a now a problem any crowding is obvious. I moved two tomatoes to the South garden but trying to move a third two days ago was failure as it is dying.dead in the pot but a squash vine seems to be reviving for a move. I did not pay close attention to the garden for the past five days and now I am paying for it as the tomatoes are outside the cages far enough I have to figure out whether to stake or trim off the branches out of control. Even though they are going wild they are not as woolly-bully looking as last years were when they went bonkers; maybe good, maybe not so good but so far no disease. |
Name: Kaso Western Idaho shule Jul 18, 2019 2:24 AM CST |
| Our weather has been between 85 and 100 for a while now. It's been pretty cool for this area, this time of year, actually (not many days on the upper range of that range). However, I think that (and the wet, and unusually cool late spring) has helped the plants to grow a lot faster. We're using black plastic for most of our plants. My elevation is 2,260'. We're not watering a lot (but more than last year, so far). I'm impressed with the following, this year (this could change a lot throughout the season): * Marion (excellent and clean germination; nice growth; large fruit that set early; production potential; I had to cut off a lot of the plant to cage it since I caged it late, though) * Matina (I kept an extra bushy plant, for Matina, and it has a lot of fruit on it; vigorous plant) * Sausage (most of the 17 plants; some got BER; one of my top two producers last year; it's setting fruit earlier, this year) * Sweet Orange Cherry (early; prolific; decent fruit to leaf ratio; handles tough soil) * Rio Grande (good-sized, nice fruits on a manageable plant) * Husky Red F1 (this is probably actually the mother of Husky Red F1, seeing as it wasn't rugose; I'm hoping it's stable; it has qualities of a dwarf, such as how the leaves are stiffer than regular plants', but it doesn't seem to be a dwarf; it's prolific, and has good-sized fruit, which are shaded well by the plant; I don't have it caged, and it's still growing upright long after others, including Tidy Rose F1, have sprawled) * Galapagos Island / Solanum cheesmaniae (this is generally always my earliest tomato, and it's doing well and fruiting productively, but I used a less than ideal soil when starting it, and it was pretty much freshly sprouted at transplant time; so, it's not its fault it wasn't first, this year) * Mountain Princess (lots of nice fruit; good fruit to leaf ratio) * Nodak Early (mine is probably a cross; similar to Mountain Princess this year) * Frosty F. House (mine is probably a cross) * Black Dragon (vigorous and productive) * My Brandy Boy crosses (several set fruit early; the fruits seem to get a good size; they seem like they may be prolific) * Bloody Butcher (a good supply of decent-sized fruit; does well in the cage) * My Gnocchia di Limone cross (pretty tasty, and one of the first two to ripen; unique light red color) * Early Girl F1 (grows and fruits fast) * Fourth of July F1 * Moravsky Div (kind of like Matina but earlier, this year, with a smaller plant; Matina has quite a bit more fruit, though) * Buckbee's New 50-day (probably not the ideal early for my area, but this year, with the cooler weather and being shaded by other plants, it's doing quite nicely; it has an open habit, and I can see all the fruit; the plant is small; I haven't grown it before this year) * Jerusalem I have mixed views on the following, currently: * Black Vernissage (it sprouted very fast, though, and that impressed me, but it was stunted after the transplant; I think something happened to it as the leaves weren't a healthy-looking color) * Matt's Wild Cherry (even a quite red fruit still tasted like it had excess tomatine or some such in it; other than that, the flavor is just like Husky Cherry Red F1, if I remember; the plant vines very long vines; it's early) * Coyote (the growth and earliness really impressed me, but it has a lot of leaves, making it hard to find the fruit) * Porter (the fruits are practically cherry-sized this year; it's probably the soil rather than the plant; they might get bigger, too, and at least it has a good supply of fruits setting) * Red Robin F1 (I loved it at first, and it does have awesome qualities, but I might prefer it in the house) In retrospect I would have liked to have planted more Marion and Husky Red F1 tomatoes. I'm glad I planted so many Mountain Princess tomatoes (and I'm also glad I gave them wood ash). |
Name: Marc SC (Zone 7b)     phish49 Jul 18, 2019 10:08 PM CST |
@shule, that is an impressive list and report. I wish I would keep up with things like that, my records are a mess. Great job.  The ABCs, Always Be Composting There is a road, no simple highway, Between the dawn and the dark of night, (Garcia/Hunter) |
MSP (Zone 4a) repentantslide Jul 19, 2019 10:58 AM CST |
| Update, the Wagner Blue Green not only produces well in this depressing weather, it tastes amazing! And I'm switching the costoluto genovese to good grower. It's slow to start but it's setting a ton of fruit with minimal attention. |
Name: Kaso Western Idaho shule Jul 20, 2019 5:24 AM CST |
| @phish49 Thanks! I'm probably kind of obsessed. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself there. Any effort you make is worth something. |
Name: Meg Central Maryland (Zone 7a)   wordywombat Jul 21, 2019 5:58 PM CST |
| MId-Atlantic, started from seed. Warm weather, and decent amounts of rain--though only two storms with huge amounts of rain. Chocolate Cherokee-going strong, thank goodness. 2 year old seed Brandywine--okay, not great, (around ten or so per plant.) and the seed is four years old. Celebrity-so-so, three year old seed. A few are in good shape, and others are gave me a few, and then went the way of wilt. Golden Delight--fresh seed--crazy amounts of vining. Romanesco Pantelone-fresh seed, happily growing and producing. Costoluto Genovese-grew huge, big production, then the leaves started dying off. I am still getting fruit, but no foliage. To be fair, this seems to happen a lot with this variety. Three year old seed Romas--started strong. Never got tall--but very full. The ones closest to the Costoluto got sympathy wilt--but stopped producing. Three weeks ago, transplanted some romas, some Pantelone, and some red russians. They are just starting to bud. I also have some volunteers--red and yellow cherry tomatoes. No clue what kind--They show up in my community plot each year. Crazy growers and crazy producers. Thanks all--this was a fun thread to read!! |
Name: Linda Carmel, IN (Zone 5b)              mom2goldens Jul 22, 2019 6:46 PM CST |
| We've had a crazy growing season here. Our spring was cold, rainy and miserable. Everything was planted at least a few weeks behind schedule. Even when planted, the weather wasn't great. Then suddenly last week, our temperatures (and humidity) soared into the 90s. My Soldacki tomato has a large number of huge tomatoes, although none are close to ripe. Humph--several good sized tomatoes; some BER Belmonte - good production, but tomatoes seem smaller than previous years Chocolate cherry-- very little production compared to previous years, and none even ripe yet Aunt Ginny's Purple-- little production, and small sized fruits Candy's Old Yellow - less production than previous years. Dwarf Sarandipity - lots of tomatoes, none ripe and some blossom end rot (and this plant sprawls--way bigger than any other dwarf I've grown) Dwarf Willas Cariboo rose - not great production I have 2-3 other plants that I can't recall at the moment. Seeing a lot more BER due to our horrible rain (I use drip irrigation and grow in containers so my watering has been consistant). My microdwarf tomatoes are the stars this season. We've picked tons of cherry tomatoes from these plants. Our first 4-5 are producing like crazy; the remaining 4-5 are a few weeks behind due to later planting. Being that we have no ripe tomatoes yet, other than the microdwarfs, our jury is still out. I'm afraid tomatoes may be watery due to all of our rain, although I'm not seeing much cracking, thankfully. |
Name: Meg Central Maryland (Zone 7a) wordywombat Jul 23, 2019 9:23 AM CST |
| I hate rainy summers---we had it here in the mid-atlantic last year. Cukes and lettuce went crazy, tomatoes were a bit anemic. However, we get enough heat hear to make up some for it. Do you likethe Aunt Ginnie's? I was considering them. |
Name: Lynda Horn Arkansas (Zone 7b) Eat more tomatoes!             gardenfish Aug 12, 2019 3:29 PM CST |
Hot, Hot Hot and VERY humid. In my area, you have to plant tomatoes early to get any fruit set. Alas, I was LATE this year; didn't plant till June 10th, and these were mail order plants! I plant OPs and Heirloom, this year I planted Purple Bumblebee, Vintage Wine, Pork Chop, and Wherokai, a new determinate dwarf. I got some decent fruit set before it got way too hot; now the only plant setting fruit is the Purple bumblebee, a cherry. It is a Brad Gates creation, I have grown it for 5 years. The one called Pork Chop is from Brad Gates, also. It is a beautiful striped yellow and green beefsteak. I have another Brad gates tomato called Dark Galaxy, Just coming ripe, now, awesome! I have had very good luck with his tomatoes. The Wherckai is a dud, and while the Vintage Wine seems to be a good bearer, it contracted a bacterial spot disease. Bacterial and fungal diseases are endemic here. Any cherry planted here usually does well and keeps bearing through the heat. I had a Purple Bumblebee last year that bore fruit until Thanksgiving.   “ Be kind whenever possible” 14th Dalai Lama |
Name: Rita North Shore, Long Island, NY Zone 6B      Newyorkrita Aug 12, 2019 5:26 PM CST |
| Most of the tomato varieties here have been doing really well. Lovely nice perfect tomatoes have been setting and I have been picking. Early Girls, Better Boys, Country Taste, Beefstake and Sungolds have been knocking out the tomatoes. Golden Queen USDA strain has put out some massive tomatoes. Less productive than usual for me this year have been the Romas but still getting enough. Amy's Sugar Gem has some sort of tomato leaf fungus and is not looking that well. Rose De Bern heirloom has been making much smaller than usual fruit this season but they still taste really good. My two stripy beautiful looking tomatoes- Bandelier and Banded Amazon have not been very productive this season but they do make such stunning tomatoes. |
Name: Linda Carmel, IN (Zone 5b) mom2goldens Aug 12, 2019 6:29 PM CST |
| My Soldacki has been the champ in my garden again this year. It had my first ripe tomatoes, and the first two I picked were 1.5 lb each. They continue to pump out these massive tomatoes. My Belmonte are much smaller than previous years. Still yummy, but much smaller than previous years. Growing Allegheny Sunset for the first time and they are also producing some huge tomatoes, and they are simply gorgeous. Cherry tomatoes--took a long time for my Chocolate Cherry to product but they are pumping out tons of fruit right now. My microdwarf tomatoes are also producing like crazy. My Broad Ripple Current is finally producing some ripe tomatoes, but they need to be really ripe to be picked or they are quite tart. It's been a difficult growing season here so I'm amazed I'm getting the tomatoes I am. |
Name: Lynda Horn Arkansas (Zone 7b) Eat more tomatoes! gardenfish Aug 13, 2019 12:59 AM CST |
| Hey, Rita, Gardenfish here. I don't grow hybrids, but Better Boy, Beefsteak and Sungold all do well here in Ar. My neighbor down the street gave me some Better Boys, they were very good. I have noticed a problem here in some tomatoes; some of mine, some I purchased from the local farmers market. I have seen this in hybrids, OPs, and Heirlooms; a white, hard inedible core. Not in all tomatoes, though. Here is some of my toms “ Be kind whenever possible” 14th Dalai Lama |
Name: Rita North Shore, Long Island, NY Zone 6B Newyorkrita Aug 13, 2019 10:27 AM CST |
| I don't know what that hard core thing is about. I don't get it here. Your tomatoes all look great!! |
Name: Paul Fish Brownville, Nebraska (Zone 5b) PaulF Aug 13, 2019 10:28 AM CST |
| The tomatoes have just begun to ripen so that there is a trickle coming in. One report: grew Dragon's Eye for the first time because Mrs. F wanted a sweet salad sized. It was supposed to have been just that; so far it is considered a spitter by the salad tomato expert in the family. Good thing there are two more small tomato varieties out there. |
Minnesota (Zone 3b) RpR Aug 13, 2019 10:36 AM CST |
| Tomatoes, are just starting to hit the point of being ripe but all plants have produced well. I picked my first Green Zebra today and I am going to have GZ even larger than some well beyond average ones I had a few years back. Right now temp. are slightly below average which may or may not be a good thing. I hate to say it but , for me, gardens that are a bit out of control, I.E. plants crowding each other , to a degree seems to give a better yield though it also means far more cut & throw to prevent plants from screwing each other up. Lack of hot dry weather is probably one of the greatest reason for yield this year in reality though but again in hot dry years crowding keeps more area shaded and not bone dry. Addendum: One bad thing, though -- in the yard not garden, thank God, -- I mowed two weeks ago and a former weed haven on the boulevard I poisoned often this year was still mostly clear. I did not mow the boulevard for two weeks due to slightly drier weather so I did not pay much attention to it; I went out yesterday to poison what had been the few nasties I had to find a HUGE weed infestation with some deep rooted weeds over a foot high and creeping like sedge and purslane gone amuck, therefore; today or tomorrow I will have to go out and pull weeds any way after thinking this will one of the exceptionally rare years I did not have to pull lawn weeds. I used a vegetation killer so all the paranoia about week killer ruining the soil forever is BS; this was a small area, long but narrow, mostly less than three feet wide and multiple applications did not stop new weeds from showing up en-mass. Again Thank God the garden , once hand weed heavily, has pretty much stayed mostly clear enough that I only pulled three times up North and twice down South rather than once every two weeks or facing a forest of weeds. |
Name: Paul Fish Brownville, Nebraska (Zone 5b) PaulF Aug 13, 2019 10:39 AM CST |
| Gardenfish: There are a couple of causes for the hard, white core. Temperature fluctuations early in the growth period and excess fertilization are the most common reasons. Some try to say the older more juicy varieties tend to develop white cores. I think that is an old stand-by reasoning because when the answer is unknown, just blame it all on old, juicy varieties because they are not hybrids. The first two are the best bet. |
Name: Lynda Horn Arkansas (Zone 7b) Eat more tomatoes! gardenfish Aug 13, 2019 12:41 PM CST |
Thanks, Paul. I think temps are the answer, we had some wild swings this year. I can't say fertilizer is the problem; I use organic 3-5-7 formula for tomatoes and peppers, supplemented with fish emulsion and kelp.  “ Be kind whenever possible” 14th Dalai Lama |
Name: SoCal Orange County (Zone 10a) Lazy Gardener or Melonator  SoCalGardenNut Aug 13, 2019 1:38 PM CST |
| Stupice did well, came from my compost . I pulled them all out. I try to grow everything, sometime not successful. |
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