Good midsummer and late summer tomato

[b54red]

As I have said before I like to try different tomato varieties to see how they will perform in the heat of our steamy hot summers. I found two that I had never set out late that so far have done exceedingly well. By that I mean they have produced in good numbers and have had nice big tomatoes which is a rare thing in mid summer.

The first one is Gary O' Sena which has never been my favorite black tomato but the size and quality of the fruits coming off the two that I planted in mid May are amazing and like most black tomatoes they are much better tasting once it gets really hot. There are two drawbacks to this variety. One it is exceedingly vegetative and if you do not prune it you will get poor fruit production and way too much plant. The second is the same one that all black varieties have down here and that is gray mold will attack them so you have to keep an eye out for that. I'm sure this wouldn't be true every year but it beat Indian Stripe PL hands down so far this summer not in number of fruits but in pounds it wasn't even close.

The second one that really surprised me was 1884. The fruits produced in the summer heat and rain are more blemished than the ones in the spring but 1884 is pumping out surprisingly large fruits and a lot of them. It is good to have another large fruited variety that will actually produce large fruits in the summer heat.

I don't know if I have any grafted plants of those two for my fall planting but I would love to see how they do in the cooler weather of fall. Fall is one of those times when a lot of varieties will do good but many do not ripen evenly or well and the only way to find out is too try them.

Bill

[PaulF]

Here farther north, 1884 has performed much like it has for you in our heat and humidity, which is not quite like Alabama heat, but still hot. The flavor has been very good all season long

Gary has not been one of the best here for production or taste. Neither variety had any disease problems in the several years in my garden.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by PaulF

Here farther north, 1884 has performed much like it has for you in our heat and humidity, which is not quite like Alabama heat, but still hot. The flavor has been very good all season long

Gary has not been one of the best here for production or taste. Neither variety had any disease problems in the several years in my garden.

I had not grown Gary O' Sena for several years because of those very problems you mentioned. Since I last grew it I have gone from growing plants up a trellis to single stem plants using the lean and lower method. The difference in the fruit set is amazing. It is by far the most productive tomato I planted late this year and it was a surprise to me. I knew it would not produce much if it wasn't kept well pruned but the production on a single stem was amazing but it takes a lot to stop it from growing more stems. Maybe it is the TTF that I feed my plants but I am amazed at how good Gary O' Sena tastes now compared to years ago. Years ago I liked the size and beauty of the tomatoes it produced but found the taste a bit on the bland side compared to some of my favorite black tomatoes but no more. It is right up there with JD's Special C Tex, Spudakee, IS, and Big Cheef at least this year.

Bill

[imp]

Good information, thank both of you. This will play into what I decide to plant out for myself next year or the bigger tomatoes.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by imp

Good information, thank both of you. This will play into what I decide to plant out for myself next year or the bigger tomatoes.

I just picked an 1884 off a plant set out in mid May and it was about a pound and a half which is huge this time of the year. This time of the year a big tomato is usually around the size of a tennis ball or at most a baseball. I am getting some surprises from a variety of plants this year. I really do think that the number of tomatoes I give up by using the single stem method is just about made up for by the increased size coming off most varieties and the increase in the number of plants that will fit in a given space.

Bill

[PaulF]

The reason I keep a journal with weights and numbers of fruits is to back up what my faulty memory tells me to say.

1884 was last grown here in 2015 giving 24 tomatoes averaging 9.4 ounces with a 16 ounce tomato the largest. The flavor rating was 7/10. Only three others rated higher that year, Cherokee Purple, Butter and Bull Heart and Kolb. 2015 was middling for historical productivity. Not so good as I remembered but still OK.

Gary 'O Sena's best year for me was 2012. By mid-September there were 23 tomatoes at 8.4 ounce average with the largest, the first of the year, at 18 ounces. After the September count Gary kept producing4 to 6 ounce fruits until frost in October. 2012 was a bad year in Nebraska for productivity. Flavor was rated at 6/10.

I do not prune except for bottom leaves and just let the plant grow as it will inside CRW cages. I like big tomatoes but don't work at it to force things.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by PaulF

The reason I keep a journal with weights and numbers of fruits is to back up what my faulty memory tells me to say.

1884 was last grown here in 2015 giving 24 tomatoes averaging 9.4 ounces with a 16 ounce tomato the largest. The flavor rating was 7/10. Only three others rated higher that year, Cherokee Purple, Butter and Bull Heart and Kolb. 2015 was middling for historical productivity. Not so good as I remembered but still OK.

Gary 'O Sena's best year for me was 2012. By mid-September there were 23 tomatoes at 8.4 ounce average with the largest, the first of the year, at 18 ounces. After the September count Gary kept producing4 to 6 ounce fruits until frost in October. 2012 was a bad year in Nebraska for productivity. Flavor was rated at 6/10.

I do not prune except for bottom leaves and just let the plant grow as it will inside CRW cages. I like big tomatoes but don't work at it to force things.

The last year that I let Gary O' Sena go without pruning was a disaster. I was growing it on a 7 ft tall trellis that extended the whole length of the 30 ft bed. By July I had only gotten two tomatoes off of the plant which had extended to 16 ft. wide and was over 10 ft tall. It looked like a hedge with tons of blooms but almost no set fruit. I took the clippers to it and after two large wheelbarrows of Gary foliage were hauled away I had a plant that was only four stems and no suckers. Within two weeks after that whacking the Gary had over 20 fruit on it and it ended up producing til it froze and I kept it pruned.

That experience taught me a valuable lesson about Gary O' Sena that I have heeded since. The plant is just too vegetative for its own good. If left to its own devices it will become huge and with so many growth tips that fruit set has little chance to compete with its uncontrolled growth. There are other varieties that also show this tendency but I have never seen one like Gary O' Sena. Even when kept to a single stem and Missouri pruning the thing gets massive. It is almost twice the size of the next biggest plant in that bed and has produced more than twice as many fruits as any other tomato variety in that bed.

Even if you don't believe in pruning this is one variety that should be the exception. In all my years of growing and experimenting with pruning I have never seen another variety show such positive results from pruning as Gary O'.

Bill

[pmcgrady]

I ran across this pic today, thought you would enjoy it Bill!




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[Starlight]

Originally Posted by pmcgrady

I ran across this pic today, thought you would enjoy it Bill!




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Thanks for the chuckle. Too true. I have thinner 4" seedling pots that from this summer heat look like that. All melted.

Bill.... Since you like the blacks, have you tried Japanese Black Trifele or Sara Black yet? Japanese Black Trifele makes black with green shoulder tomatoes. No problem with any diseases on it. Same with Sara Black. I'm waiting on her to ripen to taste. No blights or fungal molds.

I've learned from you this year, to cut back to only so many leaders. I had so much foliage and like you said, once they got some major pruning, more tomatoes.

JBT is a fat pear shape and is sweet. Almost as sweet as Black Cherry. Just lots more to eat.

[Gardeneer]

I have one discovery too. It is Cuostralee.
It is late but seems producing more now than before.
I Have also one of my own . I call it "Brown Heart ".

Cuostralee on the right and 2 Brown Hearts on the left.