So Texans, Where do you Stand on Tomatoes?

[Mojo]

I am still at a loss to explain last year's disaster (apex necrosis?) This year I started hybrid seeds from scratch, and am hoping the Cutworm Demons don't take too many (sometimes toothpicks aren't effective). Mainly Umamin and Jersey Boy, plus some ancient Gregori's and Eva's PB from SETTFest 2009 [sic]. It rained quite a bit this morning.

[karstopography]

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Tomatoes here are blooming or about there, these being the First sixteen I planted in the beds back on or around February 15th. Sweated a few frosty nights, but maybe the reward will be worth the risk.

The seventeen tomatoes planted in March aren’t even close to blooming excepting the Cherry tomatoes.

[Wildcat82]

Looks nice! Obviously You escaped the 12-13 March freezes we had here in SA.

[karstopography]

Looks nice! Obviously You escaped the 12-13 March freezes we had here in SA.

Barely. I got a wee bit of frost damage.

[karstopography]

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My early star tomato might be Gregori’s Altai

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We had some cooler, below 55° nights, but Gregori’s Altai doesn’t seem to mind that. Setting fruit and tons of blooms.

Honorable mentions are Carmello, another good one for setting on cooler nights. Japanese Black Trifele also has been setting multiple fruit. Purple boy as well. Others are getting some fruit set, but three or four are the stand outs so far.

[karstopography]

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It’s been nice to see all the fruit setting over the past week. Most all the Mid February set out plants have at least a couple of tomatoes on them now, a few are in the double digits. I prune my tomatoes quite a bit to where many are single stems up to 4 feet. Others might have 2, 3 or 4 stems. I don’t have any determinates out there this year.

My one Gregori’s Altai is still setting well and looking good. I believe it’s the best of the open pollination types so far with 10 or 11 fruit and some more looking close. It’s the tallest tomato, now eye level in a 12” raised bed, and is pruned to one stem, but doesn’t seem to have a tendency to sucker as much as some others.

Japanese Black Trifele is another early standout that has now 3 main stems. It will be interesting to see how many fruit ultimately set. The blooms aren’t big like Gregori’s Altai, but are sort of slow to set.

The other OP are setting fruit. I don’t know if all will be especially productive when it is all said and done. Pineapple is characteristically slow early in the season, but tends to come on strong later. The others I mostly haven’t grown before, none of the OP mid February set out plants have I grown before except Pineapple.

Maybe if I start to really get some tomatoes that I feel like I must grow, I’ll plant more of them farther apart and allow them to sprawl and sucker more and prune less to max out production. For now, I’m kind of digging on more narrow, but tall, heavily pruned plants planted closer together. Maybe, likely Sacrificing production per plant by planting more closely together and pruning, but for gaining more variety is the idea.

I’ve got 6 total hybrids, all apparently indeterminate. The fruit setting star is purple boy. I hope I like the flavor because I have around 15 tomatoes on that one so far, with no signs of quitting. I do have 3 or 4 stems on it so it might be more productive than my one or two stem tomatoes. I’ve got two Carmello plants and they set fruit so fast compared to most of the OP it’s a wonder they are the same species. Big Beef lagged behind Carmello a bit, but seems to be catching up. Lemon Boy and Beef Master are gaining steam.

I don’t know if I’ll have any April tomatoes. Maybe a few sungold or sweet 100s. They both have fruit, but I set them out later than the first 16 plants that went in in February. Of the larger fruit varieties, its a race between Gregori’s Altai, Japanese Black Trifele and Purple Boy on the first fruits, I’m thinking the first week in May for the first slice ready tomatoes.

[SpookyShoe]

Carmello

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Cherokee Carbon

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Indigo Blue Berries

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Black Prince

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[karstopography]

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I hate how other entities get a sample of the tomatoes before I do, but it is what it is.
BER on Carmello, Caterpillar predation on Big Beef. I did get to express my displeasure with the offending caterpillar.

[PlainJane]

@karstopography, I’m watching my plants like a hawk as it’s definitely caterpillar season. My bigger issue at the moment is whitefly so more sticky traps going out.

[worth1]

Lost a lot of fruit to these worms one year.

[karstopography]

Found a couple more worms today and a couple more destroyed tomatoes. These are the type of caterpillars (looked at a regional caterpillar id chart, but couldn’t id these) that just go for the fruit and usually the lowest fruit on the vine, the tomatoes buried in the foliage.

I hate to think what would have happened to my tomatoes if I hadn’t found and destroyed as many caterpillar eggs as I did. Was going to spray Bt today, but with rain on the way I’m glad I held off. And it did rain a goodly amount, thankfully.

The worst time is waiting for tomatoes to break color and have things like caterpillars and BER harvest tomatoes before I get any. But,a couple of Sungold are coloring up. I planted Sungold and the other cherries weeks after the main event slicers. It cannot be long now.

[karstopography]

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Be aware, the tobacco hornworm has already made an appearance on my tomatoes. Found and destroyed two tiny ones this morning. Will be spraying Bt soon. Tomatoes, pepper and eggplant growers in the south of Texas, be on the lookout.

[Harry Cabluck]

WhiteFly infestation in south Austin. Using Safer soap spray every few days.

[karstopography]

Whitefly, humm, not been an issue here on tomatoes. Seen those on citrus though.

I pulled off something like 18 hornworms today, all tiny like in the photo. They won’t stay tiny. Better figure out or do something concrete soon. I don’t think it is possible to find them all visually.

I have pulled off several dozen eggs, now realizing they were hornworm eggs. I shudder to think what might have happened if I hadn’t found and destroyed those eggs.

[MissS]

Whitefly, humm, not been an issue here on tomatoes. Seen those on citrus though.

I pulled off something like 18 hornworms today, all tiny like in the photo. They won’t stay tiny. Better figure out or do something concrete soon. I don’t think it is possible to find them all visually.

I have pulled off several dozen eggs, now realizing they were hornworm eggs. I shudder to think what might have happened if I hadn’t found and destroyed those eggs.

Bt and DE are good choices to use for your hornworm problems. Both of them are very effective.

[karstopography]

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@MissS I’ve used Monterrey Bt in past seasons with great results and just did an application this morning.
It’s not all doom and gloom, most every tomato plant looks pretty good and some are getting close to breaking color. A sample above on the photos of some of the varieties I’m growing.

[MissS]

Yes those plants look great and have nice thick sturdy stems. Those are some nice PL leaves. My favorite.

[SpookyShoe]

Carmello

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Cherokee Carbon

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Black Prince

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Pigletwillie's French Black

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Indigo Blue Berries

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No worms yet...

[karstopography]

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@SpookyShoe my buddy across Clear Lake on the south shore is growing indigo Blue berries. Did he say his are starting to ripen. He gets his sets from Maas. He has 46 tomatoes plants, some from saved seed, bought seed or Maas. He’s gotten a few ripe sun gold and one chocolate cherry. He staggered his plants going in from late in February and all through March. He hasn’t had much sign of worms either.

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I picked my first slicer sized tomato this morning, Gregori’s Altai. Wanted to get it safely inside before something devoured it so picked at color break. I think next season I’ll put my tomatoes in a couple of weeks later. I can’t see a lot of advantages getting them in mid-February and a lot more risks. I have in past times put them in generally around the end of February or first of March and seem to get the first tomatoes around the first of May anyway so it’s not like I’m getting tomatoes two weeks earlier by planting two weeks early.

[karstopography]

It’s been an adventure growing tomatoes this season. Went for the early start and dodged a couple of frost bullets. I think I’ll delay things by 2-3 weeks next year.

Growing a lot of new to me varieties and got some relatively good fruit sets (never going to have A++ blooming and setting until I take out more trees), but trying to keep the fruit has been an ordeal. Bt has largely kept the worms at bay although they did get a few.

The nets I surrounded my tomato plants with to exclude the squirrels have largely excluded the squirrels, but with the very important asterisk of just because the squirrels cannot get in doesn’t mean they cannot still destroy the tomatoes. What the squirrels have done is reach up to the low hanging fruit and mouth, bite, claw it to smithereens through the nets. So the tomato is within the net, but so battered and abused by the squirrels that of course the tomato is destined for the compost bin.

So four squirrels now have received acute lead poisoning and their eternal reward which I hope is hot and fiery. That same fate shall await any more squirrels that venture too close to the garden. Even the dog Tate got into the act and attacked a squirrel hung up in a fold of netting, but Tate needs a little work on his killer instinct.

One more and hopefully that final tomato peril is BER. Never in my limited seasons of tomato horticulture have I had BER like this year. My buddy up the road is having a terrible time with BER also. We both agree something about our timing and something environmental is going on, maybe related to temperatures and the general and severe drought.

In spite of the many hurdles, I’m getting some fruit inside and have several slicers now ripening, plus a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes that need to find a mouth soon. Of the three slicers eaten so far, I put purple boy at the top, Gregori’s Altai in the middle and Japanese Black Trifele at the bottom. I might have sliced JBT too early. More Gregori’s Altai, JBT and Carmello are in the inside ripening pipeline. I’ve got a massive 1884 pretty low on the vine that is close to breaking color and likely within reach of the marauding rodents so I’m not putting money on this tomato getting inside, but I will do my best to protect it. Hoy and Beefmaster have other giants and are front side tomatoes, so far the squirrels have only hit the back side plants, so maybe one of those front side fruits will make it in before the squirrels get them.

Don’t even begin to tell me this nonsense about squirrels needing water from tomatoes so that’s why they eat them. There are water sources all around the garden and I’ve seen the squirrels access those. No, squirrels are Satan’s spawn and they destroy tomatoes simply for the sadistic pleasure it gives them. Tomatoes are toys to the squirrels and they enjoy riping them apart just like my dog Tate revels in tearing a plush dog toy to shreds.