So Texans, Where do you Stand on Tomatoes?

[TomatoNut95]

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I picked my first Omar's weighing in at 12.6 oz. That's a relief, I was afraid it was going to be like 10 or less. After Googling, I think 12.6 oz wouldn't be considered a runt for this variety so I'll save seed from this fruit.

[karstopography]

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One pattern I believe that I’m teasing out over the seasons is that the south and east portion of the garden is more productive as far as tomatoes go. Just an observation.

Another is that Brandywine Cowlick’s has been a slam dunk hit. I was on the fence about growing it, given the reputation of group of Brandywine being difficult to grow, especially down south. I had grown plenty of the derivatives and half children of Brandywine without issues, though. Turns out, Brandywine Cowlick’s is just another heirloom potato leaf and performs similar to the other heirloom potato leafed tomatoes I’ve grown, except it was exceptionally late to get going. But, once the plant grew and got up in size, Brandywine Cowlick’s bloomed abundantly and set a lot of fruit. I did lose a number to BER, but it wasn’t unique in that way this year, several other heirloom beefsteaks got BER in a bad way. I don’t blame the plant, I blame myself for how I handled fertility and water and possibly put a little of the blame on the weather. There’s still several good looking tomatoes on the plant. Brandywine Cowlick’s will be in the middle of the pack when it’s all over as far as production goes, in spite of the big BER losses. The flavor is superb and superior to any other tomato that I have grown. Definitely making a return in 2025.

Red Barn is the other particular standout of 2024. Big, delicious, beautiful tomatoes and Red Barn will be the most productive tomato in my garden for 2024. No BER, but the plant was blown over and ravaged by a severe thunderstorm and one entire mainstem out of two was completely severed and the tomatoes lost. No telling the production this tomato might have had if that storm didn’t defeat the bamboo supports. Another certain return for 2025.

[karstopography]

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Some of the plants today. They are absolute monsters at this stage. Basically, these all are around six months old now. Fortuitously, the stakes and plant were curved inwards so now it is almost a vaulted arch of tomatoes. Seems to be a stable structure in spite of the enormous mass of vegetation. Mostly all vegetation, I don’t think there’s more than six tomatoes on any one of the plants pictured except tiny A’Grappoli D’Inverno at the left end. I’ve abandoned any pruning, I probably will remove the plants once the remaining fruit are ripe. There’s some ugly foliage down the vine, but the upper leaves are all healthy.

Hornworm was happily munching away on the Black From Tula flower until I touched him

[PlainJane]

@karstopography you got a lot of fruit out of Black from Tula. I’ve never had it do close to that well for me, and that’s how I ended up trying Daniel Burson.
I will keep Red Barn in mind but Karen Olivier is coming out soon with a big deep red, I think she named it Bloodstone. I like her Cowboy so much I want to keep room for her new one. Definitely not growing Hoy again. And I swore off all Brandywine variants but now … maybe I’ll reconsider.
What was your seed source for Cowlick’s?

[karstopography]

@karstopography you got a lot of fruit out of Black from Tula. I’ve never had it do close to that well for me, and that’s how I ended up trying Daniel Burson.
I will keep Red Barn in mind but Karen Olivier is coming out soon with a big deep red, I think she named it Bloodstone. I like her Cowboy so much I want to keep room for her new one. Definitely not growing Hoy again. And I swore off all Brandywine variants but now … maybe I’ll reconsider.
What was your seed source for Cowlick’s?

Cowlick’s seed came from the 2023 MMMM swap. I imagine it is true to form, though. Superb flavor and the fruit looks correct when compared to photos online. I’m collecting Brandywine Cowlick’s seed from my harvest and have set aside one more tomato to save seeds from. The plant itself has been very healthy and robust, but was very, very, very slow to get to the flowering stage. Earlier in the season, I thought it might never get around to flowering in any meaningful amount, but the foliage looked great. The first fruit was a runt from a weak early flower and more than a little misleading on the timing of this tomato. Cowlick’s was at least as late as pineapple and that’s always been super late for me. But, Cowlick’s eventually started flowering like crazy and I had I think four main stems all firing off multiple blooms. Had not it been stricken by BER like Black from Tula, I think Cowlick’s could have been my top producer.

Black from Tula was grown from seed acquired, purchased directly from Baker Creek. I have my doubts I really have Black from Tula, though. One thing is certain and this tomato was absolutely hammered with BER, I lost dozens to BER. Whatever I do have is a fruit setting monster of a plant, but the fruit never get very big. This plant also has heat setting ability that’s better than anything else I’m growing this year. However, the flavor and texture have not captivated me. It’s okay flavorwise and that’s about it.

[PlainJane]

Yeah, that doesn’t sound like the Black from Tula I know @karstopography.

[TomatoNut95]

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Had a bunch of green runt Delicious tomatoes I got sick of waiting on so I fried em.

[TomatoNut95]

I didn't realize how bad my area would get hit until yesterday. If y'all don't hear from me again, it means I blew away in a twister spawned from Beryl.

[TomatoNut95]

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I survived Beryl, but uptown got some damage from a tornado.
Our power was restored at 2:45 this morning, I heard the generator shut off.
This morning cell signal was dead but returned by the time I finished spending my morning doing 'soil labor'. The sand was easy to work with, so I was able to pull up tomato stalks and dig holes there to put the next plants there. But my body couldn't handle the humidity by 10 am so I quit immediately after I got the hard labor part finished. But I still have plants to plant. Above is my competition Sutherlund Domingo plant. I hope it gives me something before frost this year.

[karstopography]

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The tomatoes as of July 9th. I did pick that 250 gram Pruden’s purple breaking color.

[TomatoNut95]

@Cornelius_Gotchberg Here's my Monster Guido.

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Its noisy in my squash plants. Lots of little bees licking the pollen.

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[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@Cornelius_Gotchberg Here's my Monster Guido.

Very gratifying; sure looks healthy! If it gets half the monsters my one plant did last season, you'll be one happy camper!

The Gotch

[TomatoNut95]

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This is my Your Majesty seedling. It looks as if the top growth is fused together with a branch. Will it thrive like this or is it genetically deformed?

[MissS]

@TomatoNut95 It's fine and quite common. No worries unless it's main stem is terminated and there aren't any side shoots.

[karstopography]

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Current plan is to start 24 tomatoes come January 2025, likely the first or second week of the month. Select the best 16 or 17 plants from the starts and transplant those whenever conditions look favorable during the second half of February 2025. I transplanted 15 tomatoes into the beds this year and that was a good number, all things considered, but adding one or two more shouldn’t tip the scales out of balance.

I figure one cherry/small fruited plant is enough. No one is particularly crazy, I’m certainly not, about cherry tomatoes in our household and two or more plants always end up producing more than we know what to do with.

The most popular and craved for in the house year after year are the large beefsteak type pinks and reds, with dark beefsteak types tomatoes also figuring in. The oranges, yellows, multi colored, blues are enjoyable diversions and “fun”, but not necessarily the tomatoes that are desired day after day.

I think Red Barn and Cuostralee are sure bets provided the transplants end up strong. So are some of the famous named pinks. Generally, I grow 1/2 previously grown varieties, types I have grown in past seasons and 1/2 new to me. 2025 looks skewed a bit towards the new. But, not really all that new. The horticultural aspects of growing Gary O Sena vs. Bear Creek I don’t think will be any different. Name difference, perhaps flavor differences, but the nuts and bolts of the actual grow out and care aren’t going to change.

I’m sort of over growing giant tomatoes. I could add something like Domingo or R.W. Cephei if growing the kilogram plus tomato becomes interesting again. This 2025 effort will be for a tomato garden focused on flavor. There is no need in my plot to grow any hybrids since hybrids haven’t proven to be anymore productive hereabouts, at least in my plot, and disease issues have not been a big factor.

Specific types could change, but the basic outline will likely be what it is now. Plenty of pink and red beefsteak types, 2-3 darks, a few novelty types, and minimal cherry tomatoes. 24 varieties to seed is manageable with my current grow light setup. I plan to scale back the number of peppers a little in 2025.

Seed sources will be a mix of trusted commercial seed sources, swap seed and self saved seed. Two out of 15 of my tomatoes this season seemed very unlike the variety they were supposed to be. One was Aker’s West Virginia from the 2022 or 2023 swap and one was purchased commercial seed from what had been a reliable source. I definitely don’t want a garden full of off types.

[Ken4230]

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Current plan is to start 24 tomatoes come January 2025, likely the first or second week of the month. Select the best 16 or 17 plants from the starts and transplant those whenever conditions look favorable during the second half of February 2025. I transplanted 15 tomatoes into the beds this year and that was a good number, all things considered, but adding one or two more shouldn’t tip the scales out of balance.

The most popular and craved for in the house year after year are the large beefsteak type pinks and reds, with dark beefsteak types tomatoes also figuring in. The oranges, yellows, multi colored, blues are enjoyable diversions and “fun”, but not necessarily the tomatoes that are desired day after day.

Specific types could change, but the basic outline will likely be what it is now. Plenty of pink and red beefsteak types, 2-3 darks, a few novelty types, and minimal cherry tomatoes. 24 varieties to seed is manageable with my current grow light setup. I plan to scale back the number of peppers a little in 2025.

Basically the same routine for me. I will start my tomatoes a month later. Switching over to dwarfs in 2025,(have a list of two dozen or so to try) will still grow some of the old indeterminate heirlooms , maybe a dozen or so. Knowing me, I'll just build more beds. It's going to be hard to whittle my list of several dozen old reliables down. Will definitely keep Limbaugh's Potato Top, Kentucky Cabin and Vincent Watts and Daniels. Just typing this, I can see already that it is going to be impossible to give up tomatoes that I have grown for years. So I will start planning for new raised beds. The last several I have built have been out of plastic boards, they will outlast me and maybe whoever winds up with this place will be a gardener. I sure hope so.

I have already expanded the garden to the East/backside of the detached garage. Have plenty of space for new beds. I do not have a pretty garden, what I do have is a very productive garden. I use a lot of containers and rear lawn mower tires with one sidewall cut out . The bottom sidewall retains water and is perfect for tomatoes. As long as I keep them hidden, Brenda can tolerate them, kind of

[Seven Bends]

Looks like a great list. I haven't heard as much about Moosolini, McMurray #10, Alice Roosevelt, and Ashleigh, so that will be especially interesting to follow along. Ashleigh has been on my wish list for awhile.

I loved Summer Cider, and Lucky Cross was very good, but I'm a big fan of bicolors and orange tomatoes so that makes a difference. I love Oaxacan Jewel, too; looks like you subbed that in for Pork Chop from your last draft list?

What made you change your mind about growing Dester again in 2025? In late June you said you were going to give it a year off in 2025. (Nothing wrong with changing your mind! I was just curious, because it's one I consider growing each year and then drop off the list at the last minute.)

I really loved Bolgarskoe Chudo and Polish (Elles); maybe consider them for your 2026 or future lineup. They fit your "pink" & "big-but-not-huge" criteria. I'm growing Bolgarskoe Chudo again this year and will report on it again when I get some ripe ones. Skipped Polish (Elles) because I don't have enough room to grow many repeats when I'm still enthusiastically trying new ones, but it was one of my top favorites last year.

I'm growing Aunt Ginny's Purple for the first time this year; the plant is very healthy and has set some beautiful fruit, but nothing ripe yet. Rebel Yell is super. I skipped it this year after growing it a couple years in a row, just because I wanted to try more new ones, but I miss it.

Based on your reports and those from @JRinPA, Cuostralee and Red Barn are way up on my candidate list for 2025.

[karstopography]

@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.

[karstopography]

@Seven Bends Moosolini might get dropped for the same logic about being too new, I don’t really know yet. Moosolini is a reportedly mid season, smaller beefsteak type and I want some smaller earlier beefsteak types with great flavor.

McMurray #10 has great pedigree (Brandywine X Neves Azorean Red) and sometimes great parents make great children, Bear Creek (Cherokee Purple X Brandywine) and Vorlon (Pruden’s Purple x Cherokee Purple) are exa, although I’ve yet to grow Vorlon.

Ashleigh was according to Tatiana’s TB grown by Michael Gunn right up the road from me in Pasadena, Texas and he said about Ashleigh

80 days, indet., regular leaf, outstanding yield of superb tasting, 1-2 lb, ruffled fruit, a favorite.

Alice Roosevelt is said to be an old red variety from France with some of the rich old timey tomato flavor and I’m definitely in the market for red beefsteak tomatoes with old timey rich flavor.

[karstopography]

Just some observations or impressions from now a few consecutive seasons growing tomatoes hereabouts.

First, our weather patterns over the heart of the tomato plants in the beds time period is remarkably consistent year to year. Our driest stretch of the entire year coincides with the bulk of the tomato season and this is a very positive thing. Dry weather is a friend to tasty fruit and healthy plants. Supplemental watering will be necessary, but adding water is always easier that trying to take it away.

Secondly, there will be exceptionally windy storms that pass through quickly generally centered around mid May. Supports should be extra robust to handle the inevitable gale force winds and the large wind loads created by bushy indeterminate tomato plants laden with fruit.

Third, BER will strike at various levels of severity, irrespective of Calcium levels, once the dewpoints get relatively high in April. There isn’t much to do about it other than be judicious with nitrogen. The plants will shake it off in May. Accept the losses and know that in general, the plants will tend to recover and make up for the losses, albeit, delaying the production by a few weeks.

Fourth, realize that the tomatoes will bloom profusely and set much more fruit than the plant can handle and develop at any one time, but as ripening fruit is removed from the plant, the dormant set fruit will spring to life and begin to develop, therefore extending the season.

Fifth, it is important to have the plants flowering profusely during the prime fruit setting weather thar runs from late March into mid-late May. More flowers, more fruit.

Sixth, pruning should be geared towards establishing in general three to four mainstems, with some Missouri pruning of suckers to provide shade for the fruit to prevent sun scald. One stem, severe pruning is detrimental. Zero pruning is detrimental in regards to providing hiding places for injurious insects. The ideal plant will be a tall, full, columnar kind of shape with plenty of foliage, but not a wild, sprawling,out of control monstrosity of a plant. About 30” between plants is a minimum. Five square feet of soil is needed at a minimum.