So Texans, Where do you Stand on Tomatoes?

[worth1]

Just picked enough from the worthless garden for some tomato preserves.
1 pound 13 ounces.
Many more on the vines and more setting fruit.
I don't really have a recipe for tomato preserves so I'm going to wing it.
I know the rules anyway.

IMG_20230610_115110535_HDR.jpg

[karstopography]

IMG_6019.jpeg

Up over 170 pounds and 233 fruit. Pace of fruit coming inside is definitely slowing down. Hot and humid weather not doing the plant foliage any favors, but there’s plenty of recently set fruit on the vines that slipped in under the wire before the warm nights set in. Unfortunately or fortunately, all that means is that I have to maintain the plants for at least another month and more to get those fruit to color break.

[karstopography]

IMG_1743.jpeg

IMG_1750.jpeg

IMG_1744.jpeg

IMG_1745.jpeg

IMG_1747.jpeg

IMG_1751.jpeg

IMG_1758.jpeg

IMG_1749.jpeg

Gave the tomato plants a major haircut today, probably the last one they’ll get. Still enough tomatoes on them to make it worthwhile. I gave up on any maintenance on the cherry tomatoes. Coyote is a beast, well named tomato, roving monster it is.

[worth1]

Yes coyote is a gift that keeps on giving.
As well as wild cherry.

[worth1]

Juliet is still setting fruit in 100°F heat.
Unbelievable.
I was keeping an eye on a truss stuck out in the blazing sun and sure enough the blooms set with no help from me.
Every day I pluck a ripe tomato and eat it on the spot.

[karstopography]

IMG_6087.jpeg

In sort of a lull regarding harvesting of tomatoes after the flood of fruit in the first part of June. Picking mainly cherry tomatoes over the last few days. Some of those are getting ruined by leaf-footed bugs, I need to step up my control efforts on those stinky insects.

The Good news is that every slicer tomato plant still has fruit. Looks like I should have a steady supply of slicers coming into the house for the next few weeks. Some like Black Krim and Polish have double digits on the amount of remaining fruit, others appear to have maybe three or four fruit remaining. The plants themselves are reasonably healthy in spite of the awful heat and humidity recently. The fruit worm activity is ticking up and I might need to make an application of spinosad or something.

I see breaking 200 pounds for the season pretty much a certainty now even with some uptick in losses to the worms. That was the preseason number I had in mind. Squirrels might be pilfering a few cherry tomatoes and I toss the cherry tomatoes the leaf footed bugs fed on out into the yard so the squirrels can munch on them if the like.

I’ve frozen several gallon ziploc bags full of slicer tomatoes. I ended up throwing away the last two bags of frozen tomatoes from the 2022 season. I don’t really need to freeze anymore for 2023. I’ve dried three batches of mostly those larger cherry types or the extra small paste types like Principe Borghese. I did dry a few Japanese Black Trifele and they seem to dry well, but take more time. I might search out some more smaller paste tomatoes for 2024 for drying purposes. Drying slicers from what I read about that doesn’t appear to be a direction I want to take, but some of the 2, 3 or 4 ounce paste types might be perfect for drying. There’s nothing really wrong with Principe Borghese for drying so I might just grow more of those.

[worth1]

I was pleased with San Marzono one year.
You might try that one.

[karstopography]

IMG_6092.jpeg

I’m already working on my 2024 tomato grow list.

I want to grow 4-6 pinks, 3-5 darks, 3-5 reds, 2-3 Bicolor, 2-4 Yellow/White/Other, 2-4 Orange, 3-5 Cherry/small Paste.

Gray cells are seeds I have yet to acquire.

Potential Pink and Red tomatoes need the most culling. Probably won’t grow any of the hybrids in 2024, but I included a few of them on the list. I have a lot of pinks listed, but remain curious about those along with the reds. “Aussie” in the red column is sure to return in 2024 as it is such a pretty, clean and very large tomato with a firmer flesh than most other tomatoes I’ve had, firm in a good way, along with great flavor. Domingo will make a return in the pink column as I cannot resist a very, very big, beautiful, well formed and delicious tomato. Pruden’s purple will return simply for its superior flavor. The rest are up in the air. Premium goes to large and well formed fruit that don’t crack at the least little thing and that’s why Brandywine OTV and Big Zac get dropped off the pink or red lists.

I am pretty, very, pleased with the dark tomatoes I have been growing, not feeling all that curious about other possibilities, maybe I’ll drop one or two of those to make room for other colors. Bicolor, I might grow out three in 2024, but which three, maybe one or two tried and true and or one or two new. Bicolor tomatoes seem to be wildly popular with people I have given tomatoes to.

Maybe I will do one white, one yellow, and one GWR. I doubt I will grow out 4 orange tomatoes, 2 or 3 seem more likely.

Cherries and small pastes, I’m shifting my ideas towards longer keepers on more compact plants that dry well. Principe Borghese fits the bill and I’m curious about some others that are similar. I may still grow one or two sprawling indeterminate cherry tomatoes.

The spreadsheet will help me figure it all out and stay organized, I am hoping. If I end up sort of in the middle, I’ll be in the low to mid twenties in plant numbers, a bit below current numbers.

[worth1]

@karstopography
If you've never grown Striped Roman you probably should.
It fits your bill perfectly and it's beautiful.
It's also known as Speckled Roman.
It's flavorful and would be a big hit with the crowd.
I simply don't have the room right now to grow all the ones I recommend.

[Seven Bends]

@karstopography, what did you think of Gold Medal? How was the taste? If you haven't tried Oaxacan Jewel, I highly recommend it (and if I'm not mistaken, so does @pepperhead212). I also enjoyed Armenian. I can send seeds for either/both.

What is JPL?

Have you grown Steak Sandwich before? If so, what did you think of it? I'm growing it for the first time this year. The plant has a good initial set of perfectly-formed fruit and seems generally healthy, though it has been hit slightly harder by early blight than some of the other varieties. That may just be a function of its location in my garden, though. I think it will do fine, as it seems to be growing fast enough to keep ahead of the blight.

I wasn't able to get my Bear Claw seed to germinate this year (2009 seed). That's likely to be on my 2024 list if I get more seed before then.

Quite a few others from your list are on my 2024 Possibilities list as well, including: Daniels, Dester, Marianna's Peace, Rose, Pruden's Purple, Carbon, Bear Creek, Cuostralee, Red Barn, Great White, Sart Roloise, Lillian's Yellow, Dr. Wyche's, and Pamplemousse.

[karstopography]

@Seven Bends JPL should read Japanese Black Trifele.
Gold Medal hasn’t tasted as bright and fruity as Pineapple does in my garden, although the plants and tomatoes themselves look very similar. I feel like Gold Medal has less acidity or tongue tingling tartness as compared to Pineapple. I still like GM and they are very popular among those people that I’ve been giving tomatoes to. Although I haven’t saved any seed from GM, I have some of the original seeds from the commercial seed pack for gold medal if you would like some. I’ll have to check out Oaxacan Jewel and Armenian.

Never grown Steak Sandwich. I can send you some Bear Claw seed, although, I don’t remember the quantity or age, maybe 2020, of those at them moment. I’ve got plenty of Dester, Pruden’s Purple, Carbon, Bear Creek, Great White and Lillian’s Yellow seed. The first three I also have my un-bagged saved seed from 2023.

[Seven Bends]

Sounds like Gold Medal is maybe one of those bicolors described as "mild." Oaxacan Jewel was more lively/fruity for me; Armenian was a little more mild but not bland (at least, in my one year of growing each of them).

I'll happily send Oaxacan Jewel and Armenian seeds from my garden last year, with the caveat that I didn't bag the blossoms and the plants weren't isolated from other varieties. No trade necessary, but if you want to trade, I'd be interested in Gold Medal, Pineapple (my current seeds from a commercial vendor are giving me weird results), or Bear Claw. PM me your address if you'd like me to send them.

I have seeds for the others on my possibilities list, thanks mostly to the MMMM and Sand Hill Preservation, plus some kind people here and at TV.

[karstopography]

Sounds like Gold Medal is maybe one of those bicolors described as "mild." Oaxacan Jewel was more lively/fruity for me; Armenian was a little more mild but not bland (at least, in my one year of growing each of them).

I'll happily send Oaxacan Jewel and Armenian seeds from my garden last year, with the caveat that I didn't bag the blossoms and the plants weren't isolated from other varieties. No trade necessary, but if you want to trade, I'd be interested in Gold Medal, Pineapple (my current seeds from a commercial vendor are giving me weird results), or Bear Claw. PM me your address if you'd like me to send them.

I have seeds for the others on my possibilities list, thanks mostly to the MMMM and Sand Hill Preservation, plus some kind people here and at TV.

@Seven Bends pm on its way.

[pepperhead212]

This is only my second year I have grown the Oaxacan Jewel - only one plant last year, but it did great, and it produced more than any other variety, and tied for 2nd and 3rd for flavor with Amish Gold slicer, after Brandyboy F2. Also started ripening on 7-3, which was the earliest non-cherry I had. They also didn't get any disease, which is highly unusual for PL, and kept producing through the 2nd hottest summer on record here. The one bad thing that happened in the beginning was the BER, but I sort of figured out that it was due to the clusters with almost as many tomatoes as some cherries! So I started pinching them off, down to 4 fruits each, and it stopped, and eventually it just started putting out 4 or 5 per cluster. This year, when trimming them, and training them on the trellis, I started doing this from the beginning, and I haven't seen any BER. This year I have 3 growing, and I plan to bag some blossoms on the best plant, and save a lot of seeds.

[karstopography]

IMG_6121.jpeg

IMG_6120.jpeg

On the cusp of 200 pounds of tomatoes, should get there before July 1st. Worms are taking a much bigger bite out of the crop now, but I’m forgoing any more treatments of Bt and the like. I’ll smash a fruit worm if one happens to show itself. Pineapple was hit especially hard by fruitworms with at least 4 big fruit destroyed. Fruit totals don’t reflect any worm losses.

Some tomatoes are winding down and some still have quite a few fruit remaining. I’m still enjoying picking whatever is ripening, but I’m over doing anything like maintenance, pruning, supporting. The tomatoes get enough water to survive and that’s about it.

[karstopography]

FullSizeRender.jpeg

IMG_1966.jpeg

IMG_1967.jpeg

As of July 1st, I have harvested 203 pounds of tomatoes, 312 fruit, from 20 plants. I don’t think any of the plants are without fruit still on the vine. I’ve sort of been giving the plants palliative care at this point. I could decide to rip most of them out of the garden at any point or try to nurse them along into August. I’m not fighting bugs with treatments other than smashing leaf footed bugs or caterpillars if I see those. I’m not pruning any longer. I almost want the tomatoes to hurry up and get done so I can move on.

I need to freeze some more tomatoes before they rot. I’ve got ten one gallon zip bags full frozen already, but there’s still some more room in the freezers. It will be nice come winter to make some sauces and soups with these. Freezers are more efficient full than empty so why not freeze and store as many as can fit?

The tomatoes overall are running smaller than they were a month ago. Domingo and Aussie still have a big fruit or two. Fruit size has been way down on my two Beefmaster plants as compared to last season, enough to decide not to grow Beefmaster in 2024. Way too many odd shaped runts to grow that hybrid when the heirloom ones right next to them are producing beautiful fruit.

I will likely go all Open Pollinated in 2024. I don’t see any reason not to, the hybrids weren’t more productive this season than the OP types and I like the taste of the OP over the hybrids I grew. Maybe I’ll grow a couple of hybrid cherry types in 2024.

[MissS]

@karstopography You have had a great season with a wonderful harvest. I envy you in that you can have two crops of tomatoes if you desire. I only get a two month harvest and I'm then waiting and planning for next year.

Well done!

[karstopography]

IMG_6194.jpeg

215 pounds harvested to date. About 60 pounds from 2023 in the freezer now with the number based on 5 pounds of tomatoes per gallon zip bag. Likely given away 70 pounds or more and the rest we’ve consumed since the last week of April when the harvest began. I tossed some 2 bags of 2022 frozen tomatoes and I didn’t freeze as much last year as I have this year. I have to find more recipes to use up the frozen tomatoes.

In the pink tomato category, Dester and Polish are about even on total weight, Polish wins on numbers, Dester wins on taste and fruit size, although Polish is very good on taste. Dester has averaged 12 1/2 ounces per tomato and Polish 8.5 ounces. The more recent fruit on both are noticeably smaller and not representative of the sizes I was getting a month ago. Dester has been able to make bigger fruit later in the season than Polish. Both plants are still looking pretty vigorous, all things considered, and both still have fruit. Whenever the harvest is finished, both should get close to 15 pounds each of fruit harvested if not exceed that number and that’s not counting losses to bugs or accidents.

Domingo has two more fruit to ripen and I think it might be done. Domingo made it to and beyond 10 pounds harvested and will reach 10 fruit when and if the two remaining tomatoes make it inside. Big Zac, my sole pink hybrid, is on the cusp of 10 pounds and should smash through that threshold in a few days. SOTW is very close, one pound shy, and it might, barely, make it to 10 pounds. Pruden’s Purple is about a pound and a half away and may also make it to 10 pounds depending on the fate of the remaining small and growing fruit on that plant.

I was a little down on Big Zac, but these remaining fruit look nice and crack free. I might have to reconsider my opinion on Big Zac if it is able to produce in quantity clean looking, decent sized, tasty and relatively blemish free tomatoes this late in the season.

Beefmaster has been a big disappointment. I grew both plants from commercial seed vendor seed. Both plants are consistently making weird, undersized, non-symmetrical fruit that tend to ripen unevenly pretty much from the beginning of the season to now. Can’t really blame anything along the lines of environmental conditions when the neighbor plants are doing a much better job.

Brandywine OTV is another disappointment. That plant had a real hard time making a tomato that didn’t have a massive, three dimensional and ugly blossom scar. It was also weirdly seedy for a large tomato.

Brandywine OTV and Beefmaster are both now on my “life’s too short” to grow list.

I guess I’ll make a determination later on the rest of them.

Basically, at this stage of the season, I want to grow less tomatoes overall in 2024. I want to shift some of the emphasis away from sprawling cherry tomatoes and onto growing more compact types that dehydrate well. Fifteen big fruited OP tomatoes and five good for drying. Or 17 large ones and three smaller paste/drying types. That’s where thoughts are running now.

[PlainJane]

Agree @karstopography. I’m definitely planning to get more selective next season, plus eliminate some of the dups I grew this year.

[karstopography]

IMG_6199.jpeg

I’m already working up a list to grow in 2024. Anything other than in light gray I currently have plans to grow. Light gray means perhaps I haven’t yet nailed down a source of seeds, but it doesn’t mean I will grow it necessarily in 2024.

None of it is set in stone really. Just want to have something in writing to keep my ideas about what I plan on grow in 2024.

Planting Stupice is to get something early that is worth eating. I never much liked Early Girl and that might be the only early tomato I have tried. I might drop an extra big pink or two for smaller known for flavor pinks. Pruden’s Purple and Aunt Ginny’s Purple should follow on the heals of Stupice, then Dester, and then the bigger fruited ones after those. Hoy gave me good fruit in August of 2022 so maybe it can again in August of 2024.

I feel like my dark tomatoes are all settled.

Same for the reds.

There could be some jostling on the cherry/paste types and maybe a substitution on the white/bicolor/orange/others.

I’m a little over my target number of 20 or so, but a bit under what I grew this year.

There will be a few wildcards between now and January 2024 when I start seeds. I’ll start more seeds and more varieties than highlighted and plant the strongest of the bunch. I’ll see how much this current list will compare to the actual garden in 2024.