So Texans, Where do you Stand on Tomatoes?

[karstopography]

Seventh, heavy mulching is vital to maintaining high plant vigor and prevention of disease. Mulching should be done shortly after transplanting. The best mulch I have found is a mix of dry hardwood leaves, dry pine and cypress needles.

Eight, there is high biological activity in the soil year around. Organic matter and compost amendments should be at least twice a year. The best overall bang for the buck and with safety from herbicidal contamination in mind along with disease prevention materials are hardwood leaves and conifer needles, brassica/mustard foliage and stems, cottonburr compost, and earthworm castings.

Nine, fertilizer inputs should be fairly light at transplant time and geared more towards slow release inputs like earthworm castings, cotton burr compost, bone meal, cottonseed meal, with limited langbeinite and greensand. By day 90 after seeding, side dressings of calcium nitrate, cottonseed meal and langbeinite are necessary every three weeks or so. Calcium nitrate will green up the plants in a hurry and seem to help stave off disease issues, but it is easy to overuse this nutrient. Foliar feedings of kelp emulsion has a beneficial effect on the plants. Fertilizer levels necessary are best understood and applied by examining the plants rather than following a rigid schedule with rigid amounts.

Tenth, there’s no significant or important benefit to growing hybrids here. They have not been proven by my experience to be more productive than heirloom tomatoes. They have not been proven to be necessarily more disease resistant than heirloom tomatoes. They are more resistant than heirloom varieties to nematode attack providing the hybrid tomato carries the N designation. The limits to production here are governed by the weather. Once nighttime temperatures are above a certain point consistently, there will be zero fruit setting. 75° is about that level. Anything above 70° is into the caution or danger zone. Only the very most heat tolerant currant or cherries really have a shot at heat setting.

Eleven, any heirloom I have grown to date has had a chance to be productive. What I have experienced with as far as the productive capacity of heirloom beefsteaks is that every last one will set multiples of fruit providing the temperatures are appropriate and the plant is blooming in a significant way. Some varieties are extremely late to get to flowering in a significant amount. Some plants are just duds, but it isn’t about the variety. Black Krim was my most productive tomato in 2023 and one of the least in 2024. Plants were in two opposite ends of the garden and this year’s version never got going. Every heirloom plant I’ve grown would have or has exceeded 10 pounds of fruit per plant. 20 pounds might be the upper limit per plant due to the nature of my garden and the climate. So, from 10-20 pounds any beefsteak type plant has that general range of production potential, this being what I have observed in my garden. Maybe the actual harvest falls below 10 pounds due to losses to accidents, insects, mammals, BER, etc. but the potential is there. The southeast side of the garden is more productive than the south west side.

[Seven Bends]

@Seven Bends as for Polish, I grew Polish in 2023 from seed purchased from TGS. What I ultimately got was a large Pink tomato with regularleafed foliage. I had understood Polish (elles) was a potato leafed tomato.

I think I might have Polish (Elles) in my swap seed stash. Bolgarskoe Chudo Is a new name to me, I’ll take a look on what I can find out about that one.

Dester, I think one recent extra delicious Dester tomato tipped me over into the “should grow again soon” category. I want my tomatoes to be spread out over the season as much as possible rather than have everything tend to come at once. Both years I have grown Dester, it has been a strong finisher. Not much earlier, but good mid-late and late in our season and even the late and very late tomatoes tend to be of a very high quality. Some tomatoes I have grown are better earlier in the season and the numbers, size and quality suffer later in the season, Dester defies that trend.

Pork Chop is relatively recently developed variety. Oaxacan Jewel is as I understand things a more ancient type. My experience with Sart Roloise and creamsicle grape, two more recent types, is perhaps cooling my ardor a bit for recently developed varieties. Sart Roloise was pretty no doubt, but the flavor overall was not at the level I want. Creamsicle Grape is good dried and definitely not terrible fresh, but again, not really anything especially above average and it is a well above average splitter. Maybe some of these newer tomatoes might benefit from more generations of perfecting.

Yes, Polish Elles/Ellis should be PL, and it was in my garden. I got nicely shaped, large-ish (10-12oz avg maybe?), meaty, dark pink, delicious tomatoes on a healthy, productive plant.

Dester is an interesting one to me -- many, many people rave about it as being one of the very best, but then there are more than a few posts (Tville) about it being disappointing/bad for various reasons, including productivity and taste. Those negative posts scared me off this year, but maybe I'll try it next year.

I'm kind of skeptical about Oaxacan Jewel being ancient. I have no facts to support that opinion; it just slightly sounds like a made-up marketing story to me, but I'd be happy to learn otherwise. Still, it's not a recently-bred tomato like Pork Chop, and like you, I think that's a good thing. Nothing wrong with new tomatoes, but I think sometimes they are met with initial rave reviews in part because they are new, and over time people realize they're not as special as they thought, just another good tomato. (Not saying that about Pork Chop specifically; I've never grown it.)

Sart Roloise is an example of a tomato that seemed to hit the scene relatively recently with some rave reviews, and I'm waiting to see how opinion settles out on it over time. It's another one I thought about growing this year, but it got bumped off the list for some of the old standards I haven't grown yet. I seem to be surprisingly conservative in my tomato-growing choices.

[Seven Bends]

Bolgarskoe Chudo Is a new name to me, I’ll take a look on what I can find out about that one.

I could have sworn I posted a Bolgarskoe Chudo review last year, complete with pictures and tasting notes (!), but I just did a search and there's no sign of it here or at Tville. Must have imagined it. Another instance of my good intentions exceeding my follow-through. I'll try again this year.

[karstopography]

@Seven Bends my Polish seeds came from purchased by me seeds from TGS. I’m discounting any chance of a mix up at my end and if that is true, what happened so that the Polish I grew out was regular leafed? Is there a regular leafed Polish tomato in circulation? Did TGS have a mix up? Was there some sort of mutation that got expressed in the otherwise true Polish seed?

I can understand with swap seeds there being unintentional crossing and other mix ups so that what I end up growing out might not be as advertised, labeled, or true to the type, but I have been operating under the assumption that reputable seed vendors package and sell seeds true to type. In my other words, if I want to be 99.9% certain whatever I choose to grow out is true to form, I would purchase seeds from a reputable supplier like TGS or other major suppliers.

I can think of two instances now, there may be more that are suspect, of purchased commercial reputable vendor, directly purchased, no third party involved, but purchased tomato seeds not being anything like or varying significantly from the advertised type.

I’ve had peppers vary even more or more grown from purchased seed peppers not be true to form.

If there’s nothing sacred or particularly reliable about a particular seed vendor’s seeds being as advertised or true to form, then I’m becoming disinclined to ever buy seeds from commercial vendors. Or, should I just expect a few off types as part of the deal with the major name vendors, the supposedly top names out there, and just learn to live with the occasional off type?

I realize this isn’t like a major problem in the big picture, but when I’m only growing a handful or two of tomato plants, I’d like to be reasonably certain a large majority of them will be true to form and especially any seeds I actually pay money for.

[TomatoNut95]

Today I pulled Nickys stalk and replaced it with Your Majesty seedling. Also planted Stick and Lebanese of the Mountains.

[Wildcat82]

@Seven Bends my Polish seeds came from purchased by me seeds from TGS. I’m discounting any chance of a mix up at my end and if that is true, what happened so that the Polish I grew out was regular leafed? Is there a regular leafed Polish tomato in circulation? Did TGS have a mix up? Was there some sort of mutation that got expressed in the otherwise true Polish seed?

I can understand with swap seeds there being unintentional crossing and other mix ups so that what I end up growing out might not be as advertised, labeled, or true to the type, but I have been operating under the assumption that reputable seed vendors package and sell seeds true to type. In my other words, if I want to be 99.9% certain whatever I choose to grow out is true to form, I would purchase seeds from a reputable supplier like TGS or other major suppliers.

I can think of two instances now, there may be more that are suspect, of purchased commercial reputable vendor, directly purchased, no third party involved, but purchased tomato seeds not being anything like or varying significantly from the advertised type.

I’ve had peppers vary even more or more grown from purchased seed peppers not be true to form.

If there’s nothing sacred or particularly reliable about a particular seed vendor’s seeds being as advertised or true to form, then I’m becoming disinclined to ever buy seeds from commercial vendors. Or, should I just expect a few off types as part of the deal with the major name vendors, the supposedly top names out there, and just learn to live with the occasional off type?

I realize this isn’t like a major problem in the big picture, but when I’m only growing a handful or two of tomato plants, I’d like to be reasonably certain a large majority of them will be true to form and especially any seeds I actually pay money for.

Completely agree. I try to purchase from the big name reputable sellers as well but I seems like I get zonked every year with a couple varieties. In the past 3 years I had the following misadventures:

Abu Rawan is supposed to be a short determinate but mine were the tallest (8 Ft) plants I had.

All 4 of my Habanada peppers produced perfectly round golf balls.

This year my Big Jim peppers turned out to be some kind of Purple Marconi.

All 4 Black cherry plants I grew from seed seemed really off and produced essentially zero. I'm honestly not sure if they were actually Black Cherries. My 2 purchased plants grown next to them were perfectly fine.

The worst has been the Porter tomato. I've purchased from a different vendor each of the last 3 years who advertise it as a pink cherry tomato. And every year I get nonproductive plants that put out 2-4 oz fruits riddled with splits and BER. Frankly, I'm ready to give up on this variety.

[karstopography]

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Before and after photos of what Beryl did for my light. Looking east, morning light.

The Silver lining of a terrible and destructive hurricane. I look at the additional morning light as a big positive.

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[karstopography]

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Garden looking west. Not as drastic as the change looking east. Definitely some thinning of major branches, but no full sized trees removed to the garden’s immediate west.

[karstopography]

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Shuffling the deck. New order came in.

Belle du College was the freebie. Looks like a Berkeley Tie Dye Selection.

[karstopography]

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The latest revision to the 2025 grow list reflecting a new order of seed received. Eighteen varieties.
Five pink
Four Red
Three Dark
Three multi/blue
One orange
Two small fruited.

Kind of feel like this is starting to congeal. Have my three raised beds organized in my mind with which tomato goes where and why.

4’x8’ 32 sq.ft bed, long axis WNW/ESE. Best sun of all, especially with the Hurricane Beryl revisions to the tree canopy. North side east to west gets Ashleigh, Dester, Huevos del Toro (Couilles de Taureau), South side, Red Barn, Cream Sausage

6.5’ x 3.5’ 23 sq ft bed, long axis WNW/ESE. Rivals the 4’x8’ for light. North side, East to West, Rebel Yell, Vorlon, Cleota Pink. South Side, Bulgarian Triumph, Cuostralee

4’ X 10’ 40 sq ft bed long Axis E/W. This bed gets a little more early mid afternoon filtered light especially as May progresses into June. North side, east to west, Pruden’s Purple, SOO, Alice’s Dream, Black Beauty. South Side, east to west, Brandywine Cowlick’s, J.D Special C-Tex, Abraham Brown, Captain Lucky.

Ashleigh, Huevos del Toro, Rebel Yell, Vorlon, Cleota Pink, Bulgarian Triumph, J.D. Special C-Tex all seed recently purchased from DofT in Wisconsin.

Dester, Alice’s Dream, Black Beauty seed all purchased from Baker Creek.

Cream Sausage purchased from another vendor whose name escapes me.

Pruden’s Purple purchased from TGS.

SOO, Abraham Brown, Captain Lucky, MMMM swap seed.

Red Barn, Cuostralee, Brandywine Cowlick’s saved seed (unbagged) from 2024 crop. Originally, seed from MMMM swap.

I feel like these eighteen plants are doable and check the most boxes considering time and maintenance requirements together with a desire for variety, flavor, novelty, earlier to later type considerations, and with reliability of seed factored in.

It’s a plan.

[TomatoNut95]

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@Cornelius_Gotchberg I'm sorry to say that Monster Guido has failed in this heat. But the other one I can't spell or pronounce is actually working on cute, odd shaped fruit. Aren't they cute???

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@Cornelius_Gotchberg I'm sorry to say that Monster Guido has failed in this heat. But the other one I can't spell or pronounce is actually working on cute, odd shaped fruit. Aren't they cute???

Inzhir Rozovyi? Dang cute; yer gonna LUV that baby once it ripens!

The Gotch

[karstopography]

I still have two tomato plants alive in the garden. Cuostralee and the Aker’s West Virginia Imposter. I’m toying with the idea of leaving in Cuostralee into the fall and see what happens. This would have been the summer, been pretty wet and relatively cool, to leave most of them in all summer well into the fall and I would have if I had put in more robust stakes that were Hurricane proof.

I feel like I’m on the cusp of having success with many of the open pollinated beefsteak tomatoes so that they could bear ripe fruit every month from May to November and perhaps into December on the back end and April on the front side. I’ll reevaluate Cuostralee come September and maybe give it a hit of fertilizer soon to jumpstart some positive growth and flowering timed for the end of September.

The Aker’s West Virginia imposter is feeding a massive Hornworm at the moment. I feel sorry for these invertebrate creatures so I am letting it have its way with the tomato.

[TomatoNut95]

Inzhir Rozovyi? Dang cute; yer gonna LUV that baby once it ripens!

The Gotch

Yep, that's it! I'm most anxious but in this heat I won't hold my breath. However, the plant is getting a lot of shade so maybe it'll pull through!

[MissS]

@karstopography I have not heard of DofT. Can you elaborate?

[karstopography]

@karstopography I have not heard of DofT. Can you elaborate?

https://www.delectationoftomatoes.com/

Sorry, I was being lazy and not wanting to write it all out.

[TX-TomatoBug]

Seventh, heavy mulching is vital to maintaining high plant vigor and prevention of disease. Mulching should be done shortly after transplanting. The best mulch I have found is a mix of dry hardwood leaves, dry pine and cypress needles.

@karstopography ,thanks for your helpful observations. About your mulch, I'm guessing that you have land access to the leaves and needles that you like. Can you make a recommendation for store-bought mulch for container tomatoes? I need to add a whole lot more mulch next year.

I used a bag of shredded wood from a big box store in 2023, but it dried into a hard plate on top of the soil. Made checking the soil and watering difficult.

[karstopography]

Seventh, heavy mulching is vital to maintaining high plant vigor and prevention of disease. Mulching should be done shortly after transplanting. The best mulch I have found is a mix of dry hardwood leaves, dry pine and cypress needles.

@karstopography ,thanks for your helpful observations. About your mulch, I'm guessing that you have land access to the leaves and needles that you like. Can you make a recommendation for store-bought mulch for container tomatoes? I need to add a whole lot more mulch next year.

I used a bag of shredded wood from a big box store in 2023, but it dried into a hard plate on top of the soil. Made checking the soil and watering difficult.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible ... -mulch.htm

Take a look at Cotton Burr Compost. Can also be used as a mulch. My garden seems to really thrive with this material getting added.

[TX-TomatoBug]

[/quote]

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible ... -mulch.htm

Take a look at Cotton Burr Compost. Can also be used as a mulch. My garden seems to really thrive with this material getting added.
[/quote]

Excellent - thank you for that. I will look into it.

[FatBeeFarm]

@karstopography I love your spreadsheet! I've got a pretty serious spreadsheet going on too, lol. I track what I've planted, when I got first fruit, tasting notes, and updates through the year on over 50 different types of tomatoes broken into Large/dwarf/cherry tabs, and I've also got a tab for 2025 possibilities too.

I also appreciate your gardening notes above and the link to Delectation of Tomatoes