What tomatoes will you grow this year (2017)?

General Gardening
#134

Good to hear about your tom seedlings doing so well. Hey, whatever works for you or anyone else, it doesn’t matter. We’re all trying to reach the same goal. I won’t use this mix when I transfer to cups, I use some Organic Mix potting soil for that purpose.

Sounds you’ve got a lot going as well, hope things turn out well for you. Where in the world are going to grow corn? Did you buy the next door neighbor’s lot? I thought you were running out of room. Will be interested in seeing how your rasp cross works out, so you think you’ll get berries from it this year?

It’s finally stopped raining here, the sun’s out but chilly. I still haven’t put my new pear and peach tree in the ground, it’s still too wet. Got a note from Honeyberryusa saying my tart cherries are on the way, hope they get here today or tomorrow.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I sowed 42 planter pods of tomatoes, and 48 pods of peppers. In addition, I sowed a lot of leafy veggies (cabbage, lettuce, chard, broccoli) and herbs for a total of 144 pods, in two separate planters. They’re both on heat mats, with the clear greenhouse lid on them, very warm and steamy in there.

The first batch of mater’s and peppers were sown on Mon and the rest of them and others were sown Tue. As of today, I have 13 tom pods sprouting after 4 days and 10 of the lettuce seeds are already up, after only 3 days! But, the soil mix is moist and warm, so I’m sure that’s helped them get going. I’ve propped open the greenhouse lid, now that I have sprouts, don’t want it to get too humid in there at this point.

Doesn’t look like any of the peppers have broke thru, but I know they can take longer. In retrospect, I prob should have put all the peppers in one planter and the tom’s and other seeds in another. But, peppers usually take at least 7 days for me to get going. I have 11 varieties that @thepodpiper gave me, and the others are the usual jalapeño, Anaheim, bell, and banana peppers.

When I get more sprouts up, it’ll be time to get the light bank out. Do you remove the heat pads after putting the lights on your seedlings, so as to not dry out the soil?

#135

Yes, I’m thinking of using my DIY potting mix at first up pot. They need to get used to it anyway. I did use BM for the peppers, now I’m out, so that was a waste really. I’m only going to use it for seed starter and air layers. Now I have to buy a 2nd bag argh, I still need to do some air layers.[quote=“subdood_ky_z6b, post:134, topic:9320”]
Where in the world are going to grow corn?
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I redid my raised beds. I had a 8x12 and I grew corn there the first yar. I got about 65 ears. Strawberries have been in there since, but I had to walk on it, which is not good. So I split it into two 4x12 beds. One bed is going to be for corn this year. It’s small and less than the suggested size for corn. But I should be able to get about 30 ears out of a 4x12 bed. See how it goes. If it doesn’t work well, i will not grow it anymore. Next year I’m put something else in it. I’ll probably grow corn every third year. I have a 4x12 bed for pole beans, and rotate between vining cucumbers and pole beans. No beans this year. The corn bed will be a rotation of corn, peppers/tomatoes, and melons.A 3 year rotation. [quote=“subdood_ky_z6b, post:134, topic:9320”]
Do you remove the heat pads after putting the lights on your seedlings,
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Not at first as I put them under as soon as the first seed sprouts. I only use heat for peppers. Tomatoes come up either way. This year I did put heat under the tomatoes too as I got the soil too wet! Tomorrow I’m acclimating the peppers and up-potting the tomatoes. I don’t have enough lights for both once in bigger pots. I have flowers going too, so need the lights. peppers are being kicked out! I’ll bring them in at night and not put under the lights. If it’s above 50, i leave them out. I have a cold frame too, but not using it this year. I started later, usually by now my tomatoes are over a foot tall. i started later and like it better. less in and out of the house for little gain.

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#136

Impatiently waiting for my first ripe tomato.

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#137

That is terrible bill, my seedlings are 8 inches tall!

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#138

Ha! Mine are less than 2".

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#139

It won’t be long now.

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#140

Yum Bill, it looks like this is in a pot. Is this in a heated green house?

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#141

It is on our back deck and in a container that I got a fruit tree in. Seems to be happy

#142

Has anyone ever heard Munster tomato (also sometimes spelled Monster). I met a guy while I was buying tomato plants at a local greenhouse. I could tell the man was very knowledgeable about tomatoes. Said he grows 150 plants a year and keeps track off all the varieties and their performance. We talked about a lot of varieties and he noticed some of the same issues I’ve noticed about various varieties, which further instilled my confidence in his knowledge.

Anyway, he mentioned Munster tomato is the best tomato he’s grown. He said it’s an early, heavy producer of big flavorful tomatoes, which don’t have a lot of pith. He said he’s about talked another local green house into growing the starts to sell.

I googled Monster/Munster tomatoes and didn’t come up with much. I don’t know the Monster tomato seeds which Amazon sells are the real deal or not. I thought maybe next season I would call the other local greenhouse and see if they have the starts for it, but was wondering if anyone on the forum has heard of it.

#143

I looked on Tomatoville and nobody posted anything about it I could find. So i went to the largest tomato database I know of and that is Tatiana’s. Not there either. It’s not well known. I suggest asking the guy for some seeds, or a plant, or a fruit to harvest seed. I looked on Amazon and agree, any of the offers could be anything. I never heard of those seed companies either. I did buy some Romeo seeds on Amazon and they were the real deal. That is also a hard to find tomato.

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#144

Update on my tomato transplants. They have all recovered from their leaf curl issue, but some still are a bit weepy looking. I’m thinking that’s just the way some varieties are. Some of the stalks are thickening up, so hope that continues, as they were pretty leggy. But, since I stopped watering them they’ve responded well.

@Drew51, the GGWT and Indian Stripe seeds you gave me germinated, and the seedlings are doing well. I’ve got two of each growing now.

I’d like to get them in the ground in a few weeks. The ground ought to be warm enough for the tomatoes and peppers by then. I’m just now getting our plots disced, and will fert and till them soon.

In response to Olpea’s post, I’ve never heard of Monster, or Muenster tomatoes. Must be a local popular variety. I’d give them a shot if an experienced grower endorses them.

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#145

Tomatoes were planted out about two weeks ago. They are recovering from week long cold spell and transplanting. Most have flowerbuds. The first one to flower is Red pear Franchi. Also one of the grafted tomatoes survived and planted out.

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#146

@Drew51, here are pics of your offerings. The two GGWT are on left, Indian Stripe’s on right. They are doing very well. The Indian Stripe definitely has the potato leaves going for it. Did you say it is like a more productive Cherokee Purple?

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What size have you seen these plants achieve? Usually potato leaf tom’s can get quite large for me.

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#147

I just bought a Super Sweet 100, a Brandywine, and a Cherokee Purple. Going to put them in containers with 5-1-1. I learned my lesson about leaving them in the nursery/big box soil last year.

There were other options available, but I don’t eat that many tomatoes.

#148

Good luck with yer 'mater’s. We grew Brandywines of various colors over the last couple of years, and found that they grow into huge plants, but are pretty shy bearers. We’ve grown pink, yellow and blacks, to us, the yelllow’s tasted the best.

We’ve also grow Cherokee Purple over the last three years, and they’ve been hit or miss. When they’re good, they’re very good fruit.

Don’t know about SS100, I assume it’s a cherry variety? We’ve had very good luck with Chocolate Cherry, very tasty, and productive.

The 5-1-1 prob is good for getting a lot of green growth at first, but may not help with fruiting. You will prob eventually need a fert with more P and K as the plant gets bigger to help get those tom’s started and growing.

#149

Yes in a way. Fruits are smaller, but taste similar. And I found it more productive here.I believe it is a cross with Cherokee Purple and a unknown. Regular leaf versions are around too.

Yes me too, but these are not super large if I remember correctly. I’m still experimenting. The podpiper sent me some seeds, and I have found many he grows are very productive for me. One he grows is Omar’s Lebanese. I think this one might be worth looking into. Yes Brandywine is fantastic but a shy bearer, I agree. Out of the purples/striped GGWT had decent production, and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye had very good production. Worth trying. The podpiper sent me Rutgers, a small pink I think? Wow, those smaller size tomatoes, slightly bigger than a golf ball. man they produce like crazy.

#150

Isn’t Rutgers a pretty common hybrid tom? I think we tried them the first year here, but no luck, but that first year was a crap shoot, we were just getting settled in here, and planted a bunch of store bought plants. I can’t believe this will be our fourth season of growing veggies, and how much has changed here since then.

Those Berkeley Tie Dye look a lot to me like the GGWT. I wonder if they’re related. I know GG is a Green Zebra mutation, but it looks a lot like a TD.

#151

Maybe? 7 different open pollinated forms exist.
I was growing this one.

Yes, they look a lot alike, and once harvested it would be hard to say which plant the fruit came from? GGWT forms bigger fruit, sometimes strangely shaped. I suggest trying both if you like the flavor, as they do taste the same, as do many purple types. Which as you have found out are hard to grow. So I’m trying to find the best that perform decent. These two are leading the pack so far. I have seeds of Berkeley Pink. Which is a new cultivar out of Wild Boar Farms known for it’s future heirlooms (not old enough yet).
To me the most exciting new open pollinated tomatoes were developed at Wild Boar Farms, or in the Dwarf Tomato Project. Since I grow mostly in containers, the dwarfs are appealing to me and I forgot, but would add Tennessee Suited Dwarf as another decent striped purple. I’m growing Rosella Purple this year. Thickest stalk of all the seedlings. Shortest too! Nobody told these plants they are dwarf as they produce like a regular plant.

Oh I wanted to add we didn’t have a freeze or even a frost this morning! But down to 34F, man that is going to hurt my plants. I covered them all, still covered now.

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#152

5-1-1 is a potting soil mix. 5 parts pine bark, 1 peat moss, 1 perlite. I use it in all my potted plants for drainage.

Actual fertilizer is going to be a mix of 3 month 10-10-10 and some 9-3-6 Foliage Pro.

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#153

OK, gotcha. Good luck with them, then. We’ve had very poor results growing in pots, can’t seem to find the right soil combo for tom’s. Will keep your mix in mind.

We put just about everything thing in the ground, but do try containers sometimes. The wife planted some onions in some long containers a couple weeks ago actually, and they’re just now sprouting.