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Tomato growers?

Rico Swazi

Active member
Good news bump

Found a variety 'Cherry Roma' that produces incredibly tasty fruits indoors with minimal lighting and heating requirements.
Room temps 68F to 72F oil filled heater, lighting is 6x23W LED (3x2700K 3x5000K) 18 hrs/day 2 small fans soil is home compost

Pics taken this morning
6x23W SIL  2700-5000 mix.jpg


roma and company70F indoors 3-17-22.jpg


Roma Indoor 3-17-22.jpg

​​

I have friends that grow these with more space/lighting and they are doing quite well supplying local chef(s) with a spicy sweet tomato that tastes like a tomato in the middle of winter no less. No one believes they are locally grown entirely indoor, and for some, a bit of twitching starts when solar panels are mentioned. 😎



I am not so lucky on a fixed income and no solar (like many of you I am sure) . I pay PGE 20 bucks a month to run the room as described. That is the budget to over winter some genetics and to have a flush of maters every few weeks during the winter. Keep in mind my priority was cost and not production.
YMMV... hopefully many times over.
Outdoors they grow very fast/bushy and prone to split before fully ripe if over watered or after a modest rainfall. Not very good heat/drought tolerance .
Pics below from 2020.



3 cherry roma plants, 2 too many.jpg




'cherry' roma.jpg








Nannymouse did you try DWC? growing indoors? Let us know what you found out.

Anyone else Tomato Growers?
 

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Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
"Found a variety 'Cherry Roma' that produces incredibly tasty fruits"

I've been growing a similar type called Ravello for the past few years. It's an F1 hybrid. Very prolific with high yields. I freeze them whole and when you need to add some tomato to a recipe you just take them out of the freezer and toss them in. They're like a mini San Marzano. I'm down to my last few seeds but for me I only need a couple of plants to fill bags for the freezer. I've only grown them outdoors but man do they produce.

I need to check out those black cherries. Sweet 100's have always been my go to for cherries but the originals are getting hard to find. The off shoots (Super Sweet 100, Sweet Millions, etc) are just not the same, lacking the sweetness and flavor of Sweet 100's.
 

zachrockbadenof

Well-known member
Veteran
i grew tomatoes in my green house in the winter... many years ago... what i remember is that they were very sweet, but that the skin was a bit tougher then the same tomato grown outdoors-
with space limitation, i can only grow some herbs over the winter
 

Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
Thanks for the heads up Lester. Where it goes wonky is a mystery. Thanks again.
Out of those fifty would Mortgage lifter be in the running?
Your favorite?




Nice tomatoes! Yes Mortgage Lifter is always one that I grow a whole row of. This season I have 30 started. Results are totally dependent on strain of ML and weather. This season I am growing a new to me strain of ML so we shall see. I corrected my previous post as I am closer to 200 varieties. Must have been thinking in flat speak ha
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Go and put some tomatoes in the mouths of those chefs.. or have the best quality at a local farmers market. Small places might accomodate buying from farmers for quality while bigger ones usually prefer better prices and standardisation the industry offers when you order in bulk. Maybe grow some greens too? The chefs love fresh greens!
 

zaprjaques

Well-known member
Used to grow some heirloom tomatoes every year in pots in the backyard just for fun, never yielded much but man were they good.

My all time favorites were 'Oaxacan Jewel' and 'Black Krim (Crimean)'.

Oaxacan_Jewel_a.jpg
Oaxacan_Jewel_fr.jpg

Black_Krim_quer.jpg

Black_Krim_gew.jpg

The crimeans usually were almost black, deep shades of brown and purple, so sweet plucked straight from the bush warmed by the sun, damn...
Oaxacan were so savoury, like they had a pinch of salt in them.

Maybe next year, before seeds go bad if they havent yet...
 

Rico Swazi

Active member
Go and put some tomatoes in the mouths of those chefs.. or have the best quality at a local farmers market. Small places might accomodate buying from farmers for quality while bigger ones usually prefer better prices and standardisation the industry offers when you order in bulk. Maybe grow some greens too? The chefs love fresh greens!

Friends were well known at saturday market and church/community gardens for over the 20 yrs I have known them.

First thing is it wont be hobby growing anymore @woolybear
A reliable supply of the amount of produce promised to the client will require work,commitment and contracts
Get yourself out there and get noticed doing good things.
The chefs love kind souls too!
 

midwestkid

Well-known member
Veteran
I pulled all of my tomatoes out of my 12/12 pheno hunt this winter. Compost is cool. And into the ground with them this spring.
Looks like a couple early girls, black krim, Cherokee purple, super sweet 100s.
 

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SamsonsRiddle

Active member
This is my second year growing tomatoes outside, and tomatoes are my favorite plants to grow (so far).

Last year I grew 3 varieties, this year i've added some purple cherokees to my list.

1. True Black Brandywine - These tomato plants required a ton of support because the tomatoes were huge. They were very easy to grow, but the tomatoes themselves would rot very easily. The taste wasn't my favorite, but better than most store bought. They were very meaty, but still pretty juicy. I kept them around this year just because of the amount they produce and their beauty.

2. Tasmanian Chocolate - This dwarf variety produces some huge tomatoes. The tomatoes were juicy, but they were a low yielder. These only grew about 3-4ft and didn't bush out a whole bunch, making it possible to put a lot of them in a small amount of space. I kept them around because they don't require much and produce a small amount of big juicy tomatoes.

3. Tappy's Heritage - These ones took the longest to start producing, but were worth the wait. They never got as big as the Brandywine's, but still produced a similar amount. Keeping them tame wasn't a huge chore, but did require persistance since they exploded in growth around fruiting time. They were easy to grow and put out tons of perfect looking tomatoes. The actual tomatoes were the best tasting i've ever had, while still being a larger size than what you would find at the local supermarket. These will always have a spot in my garden.

I enjoyed reading everyone's experiences and enjoyed all the pictures!
 

Slim Pickens

Well-known member
Veteran
This years list:

Amana Orange .......(we grow this one every year)

Wes .......(we grow this one every year)

Dester .......( we grow this one every year)

Crnkovic Yugoslavian .......(we grow this one every year)

Malachite Box .......this is a GWR (green when ripe) tomato. We grow it every year. It's awesome.

The following are on trial first year except for Akers which we are trying again and Donskoi which is a Red tomato with exceptional flavor, but didn't yield well at all. I'll grow it if it only produces 1 tomato.

Missing from the list is my fave cherry tomato (Tommy Toe) that I just plain ran out of room for. Now I regret not finding a place for it.

The rest we are trialing:

Taiga

Polaris

Blue Ridge Mountain

Aunt Ginny's Purple

Stump of the World

Akers West Virginia

Olive Hill

Dotsons Lebanese Heart

Donskoi

This is the last year for so many plants. I'm having a hard time keeping up.. btw: I say this every year. lol
 

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