Tomato growers?

outsidegrower · Apr 9, 2009

I am growing this list of tomatos this year, has anyone grow any of these? I like some input.
black, pink, red and yellow Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, White Wonder and orange Nebraska Wedding

DoobieDuck · Apr 10, 2009

Well OSG I grow a bunch of tomatoes every year, new varieties, heirloomers..tomatoes are pickier than pot! I buy large plants and transplant them..one of my biggest problems is birds...knats and mites on pot are worse though! Wish you well..DD

hansel · Apr 11, 2009

Heirloom tomatoes are great. It sounds like you have some nice varieties.
The black and purple varieties are very flavorful. Really they all have their own great unique flavor.

Red Brandywine are very nice. I have also grown Georgia Streak, Prudens Purple, Black Krim, Beefsteak, Mortgage Lifter, among others that I have forgotton. The larger tomatoes like Georgia Streak that are yellow with red stripes in them are really good.

The only problem that I have had with some heirloom types is that they are not as disease resistant as more modern hybrids and do not yeild as well.

Last year we grew Parks Whopper, Mortage Lifter, and another is Goliath.

Check out www.tomatofest.com for a lot of interesting info.

Best wishes with your garden.

puffdragon · Apr 12, 2009

I plant the red brandy wines every year. They do not have as much acid as most tomatos and tend to be sweet and jucy. I have never had trouble with illness on thease plants.

ohh one other thing you can not can brandy wines due to the reduces acid.

madrecinco · Apr 12, 2009

Does anybody know a good tomato to plant to sorta hide my few weed plants>

I live on the 3rd floor facing south toward a great daily dose of Florida sun. I grew a couple of weed plants recently with a tomato plant in just Miracle Grow and got 2 tomatoes and a really good smoke from the two plants.

But for having been a first generation not a farmer....I don't know much about growing tomatoes. But I have floor to ceiling windows facing south in my meditation area.

Strainbrain · Apr 12, 2009

OSG! I'm an heirloom tomato nut myself. I do have some experience firsthand with a couple of your varieties:

Pink Brandywine: I run 'Sudduth's Strain' which is a pink one thought to be the original. Not a great producer, but the tomatoes lived up to the hype when I grew them in '05 as far as flavor went. Looked great, too. I'd bet the other colors are all variations on that same theme.

Cherokee Purple: A favorite of mine. I'm not running it now because I'm trying to find other purple tomatoes. I know I can always go back to it, and I probably will. Mine had a skin-cracking issue, though it was really only cosmetic. I believe it was mostly the weather - extremely hot and severe drought. They taste rich and fantastic. Also not extremely productive.

Green Zebra: I'm running Black Zebra (a GZ cross) right now. I ran GZ three years ago. The tomatoes were about 1.5", spherical, striped and had the nicest slightly-tart, rich and sweet candylike flavor. Those were actually my favorites the year they were in the garden. They were pretty productive. I think I ate most of them while tending to the garden over the summer... pull 3 weeds, eat a Zebra. Repeat.

Hope that helps a little!

-s

quadracer · Apr 13, 2009

Strainbrain said:
OSG! I'm an heirloom tomato nut myself. I do have some experience firsthand with a couple of your varieties:

Pink Brandywine: I run 'Sudduth's Strain' which is a pink one thought to be the original. Not a great producer, but the tomatoes lived up to the hype when I grew them in '05 as far as flavor went. Looked great, too. I'd bet the other colors are all variations on that same theme.

Cherokee Purple: A favorite of mine. I'm not running it now because I'm trying to find other purple tomatoes. I know I can always go back to it, and I probably will. Mine had a skin-cracking issue, though it was really only cosmetic. I believe it was mostly the weather - extremely hot and severe drought. They taste rich and fantastic. Also not extremely productive.

-s

Nice! I got Sudduth's Strain and Cherokee Purple going too! The Cherokee Purple are doing so much better though. I also got Amish Paste going too.

Gotta love heirloom tomatoes and tomato season.

puffinpass · Apr 14, 2009

i've got 26 varieties of tomatoes going this year about half of them r in their seedling stage the rest r still germinating in dixie cups...cherokee purple is one of my faves from last years crop...good choice, you'll love 'em!

VerdantGreen · Apr 14, 2009

im in uk - i grow red/pink brandywine every year, one of the best flavoured and it also cooks very well. easy to grow but needs a long season. i use them to hide my weed plants too (in a greenhouse). i sow a second, late crop of toms in may/june so they dont fade too early

do you get gardeners delight over there? thats the best small tomato imo - bigger than a cherry but still bite sized.

jaykush · Apr 15, 2009

fellow tomato grower here, got 130 plants this year 12 varieties.

outsidegrower · Apr 15, 2009

sounds good thanks for all the info!

TheKnow2Grow · May 24, 2009

ive got a question real qick and instead of making a new thread i hope to have it awnsered by you guys:

I just started growing some tomatos myself under a 250w MH light. Everythings going good the true leaves are just starting to show but ive had it on a 20/4 light cycle for a couple days now, but the leaves look a little "damaged" i guess you could say. Nothing major but i was thinking i should change the cycle to 18/6. Would this be a good idea and is there a better light cycle i should use? Thanks.

Donald Mallard · May 24, 2009

TheKnow2Grow said:
ive got a question real qick and instead of making a new thread i hope to have it awnsered by you guys:

I just started growing some tomatos myself under a 250w MH light. Everythings going good the true leaves are just starting to show but ive had it on a 20/4 light cycle for a couple days now, but the leaves look a little "damaged" i guess you could say. Nothing major but i was thinking i should change the cycle to 18/6. Would this be a good idea and is there a better light cycle i should use? Thanks.

im not sure how they respond to light cycles, but we never get long days in the tropics where i live and tomotoes are no faster than anywhere else it seems , why not save some power and take the hours down to 12/12 and see what happens, im pretty sure they will just keep growing as normal.

Grew some green zebras the year before last, loved the stripey fruit , doing some black russians this year.. Ive noticed the supermarkets offering some different coloured tomatoes of late , not sure but they looked like black russians or a similar variety .. good to see them being sold in the shops i thought ...

One thing is for sure , nothing beats the tomatoes you grow at home.

TheKnow2Grow · May 25, 2009

ok ill try that and see what happens, the true leaves of one tomato are coming in really well and im about to transplant into a bigger container tommorow or next so ill change the light cycle tom. and hopefully it dosnt change the grow. It would be great to save some power tho. Thanks!

jawnroot · May 25, 2009

Belgian Pink (in my experience) is the best all-around tomato, and it's an heirloom too. Great flavor, can take anything you throw at it, will grow successfully in [large] pots, etc. In my opinion, if you can grow good herb you can grow good tomatoes. One or the other isn't necessarily harder to grow, you just have to know what each one likes.

That said, growing tomatoes indoors requires some thinking, planning, and effort. You'll need some pretty decent wattage, and the plant would have to be a determinate variety (ie: bush). If you get an indeterminate they'll be 8 feet tall before you know what happened.

Wait...What? · May 26, 2009

My workhorse tomato is Sioux. I've tried BW Sudduth's repeatedly, as well as Stump of the World, and the other BW variants, and they all suck for me in my growing zone. The late finishers have always disappointed me.

For an early finisher that kicks ass, Bloody Butcher [its better than Stupice, but I've not yet grown 4th of July]

Black tomatoes Ive done well with: Paul Robeson, Japanese Black Trieffle, Black Cherry

Pruden's Purple has done ok for me as far as pinks go, and as far as yellows go, Persimmon rocks for me. most yellows/oranges/whites taste way too creamy for me, and that is everything i don't want out of a tomato. i want tangy, zingy tomatoes, not creamy.

Everyone has to try Sun Gold Hybrid at least once. I've grown a bunch, but its one, like Sioux, that I grow every year, becuase its got THE BEST TASTE hands-down of any cherry/grape tomato you'll find. Easy to grow, too.

All tomato varieties have about the same pH. None is any more or less 'acid' than any other.

MiaWallace · May 30, 2009

Alright the main thing that I learned from my last garden is that you really need a lot of room between plants. This is what happened to mine:

We named it the Tomato Bush. I had to have my boyfriend hold my foot so I could lean in to grab the tomatoes from the middle. They were good though. -Mia

Mrs.Babba · May 30, 2009

We have 27 tomato plants and they are all early girls...they have a great flavor and a good size..

ohh I think theres one Medford tomato...just trying something new.

biggertom · May 30, 2009

I've got Beefsteak, Early Girl, and Sweet 100 cherry's. I am fighting huge hornworms BAD! Spinosad is like $7 at Home Depot.

MiaWallace · Jun 1, 2009

Can you take a clone from a tomato plant? ~Vince

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