So Texans, Where do you Stand on Tomatoes?

[worth1]

I figured the basket weighs about 1/2 pound at most.
8.5 pounds of Juliet tomatoes just picked today.
There isn't a ripe tomato left on the vines but more coming on.
I've actually got more than my moneys worth out of those tomato plants.
The only expenses were fertilizer I bought years ago and water.

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[karstopography]

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Not quite done here. Tomatoes still trickling in.

Everything did or could have reached 10 pounds of fruit harvested except maybe snowball. There were naturally losses, but all things considered, the losses were much lower than in previous seasons.

Black Krim could have topped 20 pounds harvested if not for the losses. It still got to almost 19 pounds. I think there’s one or two fruit left, but they are pretty small. The other dark tomatoes, Carbon, True Black Brandywine and Bear Creek, were well behind Black Krim on production. Carbon isn’t quite done yet, but I think it won’t get to 15 pounds.

The pink tomatoes all would have or did reach 10 pounds. Dester is the champion Pink to date and may reac 15 pounds and Polish is a close second. Big Zac might overtake Polish still.

Many of the tomato Plants are looking rough to very rough and I might start taking some out soon, whatever tomatoes are still on the vines or not. Most plants have at least a rough looking or runty tomato or two on the vine. Big Zac, Dester, Domingo and maybe a couple more have reasonably good looking fruit remaining. I might leave a couple of the better plants with the better looking fruit until the end of the month just to say I got decent quality slicer sized tomatoes in August.

I don’t see carrying any plants into the fall this year like I did last year. I don’t think I’ll try for fall tomatoes by planting any seeds or cloning. Need a break from tomato horticulture. With three months of very good fruit to eat with over 100 kilograms and over 350 fruit harvested, that’s been a successful season.

[karstopography]

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Pretty pleased with the tomatoes as of July 15th. Tomatoes are winding down and attrition due to worms and critters is up, but still getting some quality fruit inside.

Need to remove some of the plants soon.

[worth1]

I have more on the vines and I need to do some trimming..
It's just old wore out leaves turning yellow.
Nothing serious.
New growth coming on regardless of the heat.

[Donnyboy]

This has been one of my better years for tomatoes. My wife has experienced some intestinal difficulty with acidic foods this year including tomatoes. Since I am the sole consumer of tomatoes in my house currently, most of our friends have been blessed with copious amounts of tomatoes, peppers, and okra.

I have not been diligent in harvesting this year. 80 years of age and 100 degrees F of heat have not seemed compatible.

[karstopography]

The season looks to be over not counting the few stragglers out there. I might leave the plants alone for a little longer just to feed the hornworms.

Impressions of each type are as follows:
Bear Creek, Outstanding flavor, 20 tomatoes per plant production, nice fruit shape, minimal cracking, average disease resistance, relatively compact plant.
Prudens purple, best flavored pink tomato, best tasting tomato I have eaten. 15 tomatoes per plant production, nice fruit shape, minimal cracking, scarring, good disease resistance, tall plant.
SOTW, very good flavor, 20 tomatoes per plant type, fruit better in first half of season, moderately well shaped fruit with some blossom scarring issues, average disease resistance, relatively compact.
Polish, very good flavor, 25 tomatoes per plant, mostly clean tomatoes, good disease resistance, good sized plant.
Persimmon, 15 tomatoes type, very good flavor, larger clean tomatoes, average disease resistance, large plant
Carbon, outstanding flavor, 30 tomatoes per plant type, clean tomatoes, very good disease resistance, large plant
TBB, very good flavor, 20 tomatoes per plant type, clean tomatoes, average disease resistance, compact plant.
Big Zac, very good flavor that got better in second half, 25 tomatoes type, prone to radial cracking early in season, good disease resistance, large plant.
Black Krim, outstanding flavor, 45 tomatoes type, mostly clean fruit, good disease resistance, large plant
Kellogg's B, outstanding flavor, 20 per plant, nice fruit, good disease resistance, large plant
Beefmaster, fair flavor, 20 per plant, badly formed fruit, average disease resistance. Big disappointment from previous grow out. Wonder if I got some bad seed, but both plants this season produced identical fruit and results.
Snowball, 10 fruit per plant, very good flavor, average disease tolerance, tall plant.
Brandywine OTV, 15 per plant, very good flavor, very badly shaped fruit with the majority having major blossom scarring, seedier than most other tomatoes, average disease resistance, moderate plant size.
Dester, outstanding flavor, 25 per plant, held size better than other pinks, clean tomatoes, good disease resistance, large plant,
Gold Medal, fair flavor, mild, 20 per plant, large fruit, good disease resistance, moderately large plant.
Domingo, excellent flavor, massive and well formed fruit, 10 per plant type, good disease tolerance, big, open and sprawling plant.
Aussie, excellent flavor, unique, buttery texture, massive, well formed fruit, 10 per plant type. Average to good disease resistance. Big plant
Pineapple, outstanding flavor, 20 per plant type, tall and narrow columnar plant with very good disease resistance, pretty tomatoes.

Not exactly sure what I will grow from the list above in 2024. As of now, Pruden’s Purple makes a return on the basis of flavor. Dester returns on the basis of flavor, production, disease resistance, and late season staying power. Domingo gets another shot on size, beauty, and flavor. That’s likely all of the pinks that will make a repeat for 2024.

Blacks, Carbon and Bear creek return for flavor and Carbon also for production. I might also grow Black Krim again.

Reds, Aussie is the sole returning tomato planned for 2024.

Pineapple might come back as a bicolor.

Kellogg’s Breakfast for the orange should be returning.

Brandywine OTV, Beefmaster, Gold Medal won’t be back in 2024.

[MissS]

@karstopography It sounds like you had a very good year and have found more than one that will make your return list too. I usually will grow a bunch of new to me tomatoes and then only find one or two that will be grown again, but then I grow those that are not so well known hoping for a gem and to keep that varieties in circulation.

[karstopography]

@karstopography It sounds like you had a very good year and have found more than one that will make your return list too. I usually will grow a bunch of new to me tomatoes and then only find one or two that will be grown again, but then I grow those that are not so well known hoping for a gem and to keep that varieties in circulation.

It was a very good year. The three biggest disappointments weren’t really all that terrible. Brandywine OTV I had high hopes for based on the various things I had read about it such as good in hot weather, great flavor, but for whatever reason it seemed almost unable to produce a tomato without an enormous blossom scar. OTV had Good taste, but horrible looks. None of its neighbors had any particular trouble with that scarring issue, so I don’t think I can blame averse environmental conditions. Anyway, I don’t want to grow tomatoes that have strong tendencies to form ugly tomatoes, no matter the taste. Ugly tomatoes was the main reason I stopped growing Cherokee Purple, great flavor, lots of terribly deformed fruit. Why grow tomatoes that consistently give out ugly tomatoes when there are so many others that produce mostly beautiful tomatoes? It goes beyond looks because scarred and misshapen, fused blossom fruit tend to invite other negative issues such uneven ripening, areas where undesirable organisms can get a foothold, lots of trimming and “surgery” when trying to eat the fruit. I never saw any comments on OTV doing these types of things so it was a surprise. Cherokee Purple is well documented to be a tricky tomato that can make a lot of ugly fruit.

Beefmaster was so good last year and so not very good this year. Different seed source this year so maybe that’s to blame. Gold Medal lacked the fruitness and tasty zing of Pineapple although it was hard to tell apart the tomatoes on looks alone.

The rest of them I’d consider growing again or will plan to grow again. Most of this season was new to me types. I plan on doing about a 50/50 split next season, tried and true vs. something new. Fun to see what is over the next hill, but have a nice home to come back to.

[Wildcat82]

The season looks to be over not counting the few stragglers out there. I might leave the plants alone for a little longer just to feed the hornworms.

Impressions of each type are as follows:
Bear Creek, Outstanding flavor, 20 tomatoes per plant production, nice fruit shape, minimal cracking, average disease resistance, relatively compact plant.
Prudens purple, best flavored pink tomato, best tasting tomato I have eaten. 15 tomatoes per plant production, nice fruit shape, minimal cracking, scarring, good disease resistance, tall plant.
SOTW, very good flavor, 20 tomatoes per plant type, fruit better in first half of season, moderately well shaped fruit with some blossom scarring issues, average disease resistance, relatively compact.
Polish, very good flavor, 25 tomatoes per plant, mostly clean tomatoes, good disease resistance, good sized plant.
Persimmon, 15 tomatoes type, very good flavor, larger clean tomatoes, average disease resistance, large plant
Carbon, outstanding flavor, 30 tomatoes per plant type, clean tomatoes, very good disease resistance, large plant
TBB, very good flavor, 20 tomatoes per plant type, clean tomatoes, average disease resistance, compact plant.
Big Zac, very good flavor that got better in second half, 25 tomatoes type, prone to radial cracking early in season, good disease resistance, large plant.
Black Krim, outstanding flavor, 45 tomatoes type, mostly clean fruit, good disease resistance, large plant
Kellogg's B, outstanding flavor, 20 per plant, nice fruit, good disease resistance, large plant
Beefmaster, fair flavor, 20 per plant, badly formed fruit, average disease resistance. Big disappointment from previous grow out. Wonder if I got some bad seed, but both plants this season produced identical fruit and results.
Snowball, 10 fruit per plant, very good flavor, average disease tolerance, tall plant.
Brandywine OTV, 15 per plant, very good flavor, very badly shaped fruit with the majority having major blossom scarring, seedier than most other tomatoes, average disease resistance, moderate plant size.
Dester, outstanding flavor, 25 per plant, held size better than other pinks, clean tomatoes, good disease resistance, large plant,
Gold Medal, fair flavor, mild, 20 per plant, large fruit, good disease resistance, moderately large plant.
Domingo, excellent flavor, massive and well formed fruit, 10 per plant type, good disease tolerance, big, open and sprawling plant.
Aussie, excellent flavor, unique, buttery texture, massive, well formed fruit, 10 per plant type. Average to good disease resistance. Big plant
Pineapple, outstanding flavor, 20 per plant type, tall and narrow columnar plant with very good disease resistance, pretty tomatoes.

Not exactly sure what I will grow from the list above in 2024. As of now, Pruden’s Purple makes a return on the basis of flavor. Dester returns on the basis of flavor, production, disease resistance, and late season staying power. Domingo gets another shot on size, beauty, and flavor. That’s likely all of the pinks that will make a repeat for 2024.

Blacks, Carbon and Bear creek return for flavor and Carbon also for production. I might also grow Black Krim again.

Reds, Aussie is the sole returning tomato planned for 2024.

Pineapple might come back as a bicolor.

Kellogg’s Breakfast for the orange should be returning.

Brandywine OTV, Beefmaster, Gold Medal won’t be back in 2024.

I love it when people take the time give an assessment of the different varieties they grow. It's a a big help to me and all the others in our area. Thanks for the writeup!

[Donnyboy]

@karstopography,

I looked at your grow list for this year and your comments. I've grown almost all the varieties you list and essentially agree with your observations on each.

You listed KBG in the positive category and I agree. I grew it for many years with good results. At some point, I got hooked on KBX which is the potato leaf variation of KBG. I wanted to grow KBX this year but I could only locate seed at one vendor where it was listed as "the potato leaf variety of KBG. It wasn't listed as KBX. I germinated and planted all ten seeds with very mixed results. Of the ten, only four had potato leafs. The remaining six seeds produced a mix of regular leaf plants. I have no idea what they were because all ten seem to be late season varieties and succumbed to the mid season high temps of North Texas without producing any harvest-able fruit. Next year, I hope to locate a seed saver willing to share a few KBX seeds.

I grow very few open pollinated varieties today opting to grow proven great, hybrid varieties. I had a fantastic early season harvest of Heat Master and Big Beef Plus hybrids. I gave most of the large, great tasting tomatoes to friends and my extended family. Now I will wean them off by telling them tomato season is over until fall when a few varieties growing in shade start producing.

[karstopography]

I pulled up the 8 tomato plants in the 4’ x 10’ bed. No sign of nematodes. Very good to see that.

[karstopography]

I’m sort of shocked there were not any signs of root knot nematodes on my 8 tomato plants that I removed today.

One, none of the tomato plants were rated N for nematode resistance. All but one were heirloom types, the one hybrid was Big Zac and AFAIK Big Zac isn’t an N rated hybrid. The 4’x10’ bed is completely open to surrounding soil meaning there are no physical barriers other than the cedar forms that delineate the shape above ground level.. The bed seven feet over is infested with nematodes based on the roots of the celery I dug up a couple of weeks ago. I don’t sterilize tools that gets soil contact from RKN infested beds to other beds.

My thoughts now turn to why this particular bed was RKN free.

[karstopography]

I’m letting the tomato plants ride for the time being. I had already pulled up the eight in the 4’x10’ raised bed, but the rest of the tomato plants remain. They mostly all have been getting “pruned” some by hornworms. I’ll do a cursory hornworm search, but no all out effort or Bt sprays. A few worms end up as fish food.

I picked a color breaking 6.5 ounce Dester yesterday and even more runty 2.5 ounce True Black Brandywine and a smallish Japanese Black Trifele. I’m really happy I got that Dester tomato before any worm got to it. It is a decent looking tomato even if small for a Dester. Funny how one small Dester is exciting, but my tomato census on the counter inside is very low and almost all will have to be eaten very soon.

I did decide to sprinkle some granulated fertilizer around the tomato plants. There’s enough tomatoes on the plants that I’m considering doing a Bt spray to help combat fruitworms and hornworms, but I’d rather do nothing and just get lucky with whatever fruit remains.

The idea is that I maybe can get a dribble of fruit through August and maybe some of the plants can get going for a fall crop. I’m at a point of how much do I invest in the plants to nurse them along until fall. My hope is that giving them adequate water and a little food, maybe pick off a worm or two, that’s all I’ll need to do for the next month. Probably wishful thinking.

[PlainJane]

Am in the same boat @karstopography. Will be pulling out a bunch of truly spent plants and freshening up some others to ride out August and see what happens. Then it’s time to start seeds for fall, yippee!

[worth1]

I have more tomatoes to pick.
.

[karstopography]

Am in the same boat @karstopography. Will be pulling out a bunch of truly spent plants and freshening up some others to ride out August and see what happens. Then it’s time to start seeds for fall, yippee!

What were your best tomatoes as far as staying power, disease resistance, overall flavor and ability to set fruit, in the weather there? Always on the lookout for more varieties that perform reasonably well and have good characteristics in hot and humid conditions

[karstopography]

One thing in the favor of Big Zac is its ability to stay ripe without rotting for longer than any other pink tomatoes I have grown. I don’t know what accounts for this tendency. Perhaps more acidity or something about the skin. I’ve got 2 big zac tomatoes still remaining on the counter and they never seem to rot. Maybe the pink deepens just a bit over the days.

[worth1]

Juliet still setting fruit in 104F temperatures.
Posted in Worthless garden also.

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[Docmom]

I'm fascinated by the challenges you Texans face in growing tomatoes, and how different your season is from ours in Michigan. I'm just getting excited for my tomato season to begin, and you're calling it a day. I have every expectation of tomatoes starting and continuing to produce generously until our first frost, which could be into October. I am lucky to have minimal experience with any sort of disease. I hope you are able to keep some plants going through at least August. I wish I could send you some Michigan tomatoes, because I will be overwhelmed in the next month or so. Thank you for the review of various tomato varieties.

Martha

[karstopography]

I’ve got a very good situation for growing tomatoes here at my place on the Texas gulf coast. A proven chance for quality ripe slicer and other tomatoes coming inside from April through the remainder of spring and on through the summer and fall into the end of November and perhaps beyond with some additional effort. I once upon a time in inner city Houston grew tomatoes outdoors all winter and enjoyed ripe tomatoes in January and February.

I look at some of the challenges Northern growers face trying to squeeze in a decent crop between the late spring cold snaps and before the inevitable autumn chills shuts it all down and wonder how difficult and possibly disappointing that might be, especially if the heart of the growing season weather proves uncooperative. The one weather window to work with at the end of spring into the summer and maybe early fall to make it all happen. It’s got to be tough wondering how much of the fruit will get a chance to ripen before the autumn weather closes the window.

Does anyone anywhere not growing climate controlled greenhouses and such have it easy year after year?