Top 5 varieties for cooler climates

[Fritz77]

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine, who probably thinks that I have more knowledge and experience than I actually do, asked me what tomato varieties I would recommend her. She lives in Helsinki, where summers are cool and short but very bright: as a matter of fact in June and July they do get 18+ hours of light. The average temperature in Helsinki in July is 63° F while the lowest is around 12° F, with June and August being a little cooler. She’s looking for some medium size beefsteak tomatoes. If they have an interesting color (dark, striped, orange…) it would be a bonus. She has limited space in her garden but she could also grow a couple of varieties on her balcony which is surrounded by a glass balustrade and where on sunny days temperatures tend to go up. She could consider growing a couple of dwarfs. I think varieties with a DTM above 75 wouldn’t do well there as there is a risk nothing will ripen. But this is just my idea.
If you have experiences with similar climates or weather conditions, what would be the top 5 varieties you would recommend?
Thank you

[Gerardo]

Jeff Casey has a list of varieties that do well outdoors in Zone 3A, it could be a good starting point for your search, as well as a seed source.

It's on page 3, titled "Guide to the Best (Non-Cherry) Tomatoes
To Grow Outdoors in Calgary (Zone3A)"

http://caseysheirloomtomatoes.ca/ewE...loguesml-1.pdf

Hope it helps.

[AKmark]

Here are some I have got to grow well outside in zone 3-4 in AK, these I would consider reliable, and most are fairly tasty.
Early Girl
4th of July
Bloody Butcher
Matina
Stupice
Sasha's Altai
Most of the Saraev varieties
There are several ho-hum varieties that we won't mention, and there are many that barely do okay production wise too. Our summers can range from great to miserable, this list could be expanded for a good summer season, but these will work during a less than favorable one.

[bower]

Our season is a bit shorter and not as sunny, also shorter days than you have further north, so some of the varieties that are "early midseason" in Airdrie are at the "late" end for us, even in an unheated greenhouse (For examples, Pink BTD, Vorlon which I have grown here are as late as we can manage, just ripening their first at the end of season - though well worth growing as many tastier fruit can be found in that range of dtm).

Some non-red slicers that have been early for us:

Black Early - maybe the earliest of the black slicers and nice quality, very smooth
Pervaya Lyubov - a very early pink beef, nice and sweet
Oaxaca Jewel PL - an early bicolor, it has been earlier for me every year I've grown it.
These three have come in a few days - less than a week - after Stupice or Moravsky Div, and have much larger fruits.

Some early- middle season ones for us are about 7-12 days later, also set very well in cool temperatures but take a bit longer to ripen
Orange-1 - determinate, very firm, tasty Beta-orange rounds
Zolotoe Serdtse - semi-determinate, very firm sweet Beta-orange hearts; also grown outdoors
V. Desyatku - semi determinate yellow beefs
Chernomor - very reliable black slicer; also grown outdoors
Ukraine Purple - pointy plum shaped black; also grown outdoors
Malachite Box - great setting, green when ripe beefs

These would be the latest possible for us outdoors, and in a cold season they might only ripen a few on the vine before it's over, even if they grew and set well. My Mom has repeated ZS and Chernomor in her garden with no protection for a number of years, and always has to pick some (sometimes most) to ripen indoors - the quality is still fine for fresh eating as long as they are green-ripe. I expect they would do as well or perhaps better in Helsinki, for sure.

In Mark's thread, there are pictures of his outdoor grow using black mulch. We did the same thing one year at the farm for an outdoor trial, and it really helps the tomatoes to have warm roots. Tomato transplants in the ground at the farm greenhouse are always a week or more later than the same cohort of plants in my containers. Using containers is another way to maximize root warmth by keeping them in the sun's way. And one more thing that I noticed this year, you can also really encourage ripening by covering the outdoor plants with row cover at night, if it's not coming on as fast as you'd like.
https://weatherspark.com/averages/28...usimaa-Finland
https://weatherspark.com/averages/28...abrador-Canada
https://weatherspark.com/averages/33...-United-States

[cloz]

Helsinki, Finland is in growth zone 6a.

Cloz

[cloz]

This is a list of the ones I recently sent my cousin in Esbo, Finland. (just outside Helsinki). I'll be able to tell you how they did in the fall. She is in zone 6A.

Sungold F1
Sungold F4
Galinas
Ron’s Carbon Copy
Sunrise Bumble Bee
Orange Jazz
Daniel Burson
Girl Girl’s Weird Thing
Margaret Curtain
Green Tiger
Stupice and
Prudens Purple

Cloz

[Tormato]

Zone doesn't matter.

Your plants die in zone 1 on the coldest day, just as well as in zone 9 on the coldest day. It's about the weather during your entire growing season, not your non-growing season, that matters.

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Zone doesn't matter.

Your plants die in zone 1 on the coldest day, just as well as in zone 9 on the coldest day. It's about the weather during your entire growing season, not your non-growing season, that matters.

Tormato, one way that zone affects growing is the soil temperature, and that is a big factor up here when growing warmer weather crops. Every commercial farmer I know goes to the extremes to try to warm our soil, many different methods are used. We can get frost up until June, and beyond in most areas. I am in a special place that does not have permafrost everywhere, but the soil is still cool all summer. If you dig a hole and plant a tomato, it will just sit there with green fruit. We have learned to use IRT, make mounds, shallow trenches, or just go with containers, or returns are dismal.

In defense of your comment, in good years I have grown BW, FLLPT, Cherokee Purple,
Bear Creek, etc, with moderate success, but many years they would barely flower, just too cold and rainy. So indeed, the actual growing season is key, however, up here, even during our finest summers, cold season gardening technique is advised. To think otherwise is fantasy.

[cloz]

Finland is a lot warmer than most people on this side of the pond realize. Latitude wise where I lived would be at the northern part of Hudson's Bay in Canada. Temperatures are much warmer than that in Finland. My aunt had a small greenhouse (30 kilometers south of the arctic circle) and was able to grow tomatoes in that.

Cloz

[KarenO]

number of frost free days is one factor, there are many others. I should think most tomatoes that are considered midseason or earlier would be appropriate choices which opens up a huge number of possibilities.
I would be able to grow all of your choices Cloz in Zone 3 in Canada so those are all good choices. I agree that The list from Jeff Casey`s website is a good place to start as well.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that northern gardeners have to stick to early varieties. That Simply isn`t true but you wouldn`t know that from what is written and what is available in garden centers.
KarenO

[NarnianGarden]

Originally Posted by KarenO

One of the biggest misconceptions is that northern gardeners have to stick to early varieties. That Simply isn`t true but you wouldn`t know that from what is written and what is available in garden centers.
KarenO

Absolutely. Many, if not most, varieties that are touted to be very early, are not so much earlier than many so called middle season ones.
And most if not all of those early red ones are not so great in flavor.

Some exceptions of course apply, the Pink Pearly Orange I mentioned was both early and tasty...

What matters most imho is: proper seedling care. The stronger and sturdier the seedling, the earlier it is going to set blossoms. I would even recommend to allow the seedlings set blossoms indoors. That's my personal opinion as a northern gardener, I know others differ and prefer to pinch all flowers before planting...

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

Absolutely. Many, if not most, varieties that are touted to be very early, are not so much earlier than many so called middle season ones.
And most if not all of those early red ones are not so great in flavor.

Some exceptions of course apply, the Pink Pearly Orange I mentioned was both early and tasty...

What matters most imho is: proper seedling care. The stronger and sturdier the seedling, the earlier it is going to set blossoms. I would even recommend to allow the seedlings set blossoms indoors. That's my personal opinion as a northern gardener, I know others differ and prefer to pinch all flowers before planting...

I agree 100%
KarenO

[Fritz77]

Thank you all very much for your interesting tips and opinions. I didn’t expect such a return. I’m going to try to sum up your considerations and pass them on to my friend. Maybe she should join Tomatoville.
Cloz, if your cousin grew Black Russian successfully, there is one I can definitely suggest her (let me know what the other varieties were). Other agree on Siletz which I also read about, so here is another one I may recommend her. I also think that Russian (Siberian) varieties in general could do well. Good to know that black tomatoes perform well: that actually matches my taste!
Kudos to you all tomato growers from the very cold regions of this planet! You manage to grow tomatoes even in Alaska and I struggle to get good yields “Under the Tuscan Sun”…..
Finland is by far the coldest place I’ve ever been to. My wife comes from a town located 200 miles NE of Helsinki. We usually try to go there on holiday twice a year, in the late Finnish summer (August) and at Christmas. Last summer it was ok. Two summers ago it rained almost every day and the temperature reached 20° C (68° F) only in two occasions. It really felt to me like Fall already. Only a few of my mother- in-law’s tomatoes (I ignored the variety, some round, smooth tomatoes the size of a tennis ball) ripened at the very very end of the season (that is late September). Most of them on the kitchen counter. This past Christmas we had unusual very warm weather, hardly any snow and temperatures around 0° C (32° F). A week after we left they dropped to -25°C (-13° F). I have experienced a record -37°C (-35°F) one morning some ten years ago. That day I understood why Finns invented the Sauna….
In Helsinki the weather is a little milder, but not very much. At least that’s what I remember from the years my wife (at the time girlfriend) lived there.
Back to the controversial issue of the hardiness zones and temperatures: in some way I tend to agree with Tormato but at the same time I understand AKMark’s point of view.
Karen and NG: your posts are very encouraging and confirm my idea: it’s possible to grow bigger, tastier and more beautiful tomatoes even in cold areas. They don’t necessarily have to be early-mid season ones. You just have to dare and take good care of your babies.

[bower]

FWIW I also agree with KarenO and NarnianGarden about seedling strategies. Potting up to get even larger plants before the season starts is certainly a good way for a home gardener to grow later varieties than the normal season would allow. This would not be feasible on a farm scale but is doable for a home gardener. Cold treatment of seedlings is also a must for us here in my climate.

However in a summer as you described, with two days reaching 68 F, the large fruited midseason varieties are unlikely to do well, even if they are sturdy and flowering before they go out, unless there is (or even if there is) a lot of extra coddling and protection techniques used to warm their roots, moderate night time lows by covering, etc. We have had summers like that, so does AKMark, and while you will likely get a few mature green fruit it is a disappointing return for the effort. The smaller fruited varieties which he recommended are well worth growing alongside the others to ensure that there is something that does well. Some of them, like Moravsky Div for example, seem to be even tastier in cold conditions. While delicious later varieties like Indian Stripe may not taste outstanding at all in less than optimal conditions. Some beefs also have pretty bad catfacing and other defects in the cold. There are a lot of genetic differences hiding behind similar fruit, which affects their performance in less ideal conditions. So it is good to try many varieties and to grow a few reliable ones as you find them, that are sure to provide.

[cloz]

Just texted my cousin in Finland and asked her what tomatoes she grew last year. Said she would see what she wrote down next time she visits her cottage. She did grow Black Russian last year without any problems. That's a mid season (80 days on Tatiana's site) tomato. So any early to mid season tomato should work in southern Finland. The old timers there always talk about the "iron nights" (first frost) that can come sometimes in the end of August. If you make it past those you're good for several more weeks.

Cloz