Tomato recommendations for humid climate

[karpes]

Below is the recommended tomato list for Louisiana from the LSU agcenter Vegetable planning guide. My favorites from this list are Big Beef, Celebrity and better boy because I like the taste and they always do well in our climate. Do you see any on the list that you have tried and really like? Thanks karpes Vine Type: Big Beef (AAS) (N), Champion (N), Terrific (N), Monte Carlo (N), First Lady (N), Better Boy (N), Jet Star, Creole, Husky Gold, Sun Gold, Pink Girl. Bush Type: Amelia, Floralina, Crista (N), Celebrity (AAS) (N), Bella Rosa, Mountain Fresh, Mountain Spring, Mountain Crest, Quincy. Heat Tolerant: BHN 216, Florida 91, Phoenix, Redline, Sun Leaper, Sun Chaser, Sunmaster, Solar Set Others: Cherry Grande, Brixmore (N), Small Fry (AAS), Mountain Belle, Niagra Belle, Cupid, Jolly Elf, Navidad, Jolly, Juliet (AAS), Sweet Million, Elfin, St. Nick, BHN 685, Spectrum 882 (N), Muriel (N)

[duajones]

I have had success with Jet Star and like the flavor real well.

[bigbubbacain]

Creole is a mainstay in my summer garden! It's a tireless producer. Sungold is good too. What's not on that list that surprised me in both late season production and in flavor is "Dona".

[amideutch]

Karpes, check your Bush Early Girl thread for the post I put in concerning Mountain Glory F1. Ami

[karpes]

Creole is one of the best tasting tomatoes that I have ever grown. It was my dad’s favorite and just about the only tomato that he would grow. I have experienced some difficulty growing it, but it surely is worth another try. Abraham Lincoln, although not on the LSU list was a very good tomato grown many years ago by the farther of a close friend of mine. It’s kind of unusual the way that he grew them but here are the details. He had a couple of 55 gallon steel barrels in the center of the tomato bed and they were filled to the top with cow manure. Both barrels had perforated holes all around the bottom at the lower part of the barrel. The only water other than rain that these tomatoes received was filtered through the column of cow manure. I would love to reproduce this growing condition but it’s only practical if you live near a dairy farm or politician. Karpes

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by karpes

Below is the recommended tomato list for Louisiana from the LSU agcenter Vegetable planning guide. My favorites from this list are Big Beef, Celebrity and better boy because I like the taste and they always do well in our climate. Do you see any on the list that you have tried and really like? Thanks karpes Vine Type: Big Beef (AAS) (N), Champion (N), Terrific (N), Monte Carlo (N), First Lady (N), Better Boy (N), Jet Star, Creole, Husky Gold, Sun Gold, Pink Girl. Bush Type: Amelia, Floralina, Crista (N), Celebrity (AAS) (N), Bella Rosa, Mountain Fresh, Mountain Spring, Mountain Crest, Quincy. Heat Tolerant: BHN 216, Florida 91, Phoenix, Redline, Sun Leaper, Sun Chaser, Sunmaster, Solar Set Others: Cherry Grande, Brixmore (N), Small Fry (AAS), Mountain Belle, Niagra Belle, Cupid, Jolly Elf, Navidad, Jolly, Juliet (AAS), Sweet Million, Elfin, St. Nick, BHN 685, Spectrum 882 (N), Muriel (N)

Out of that list, I have grown Celebrity, Big Beef, Jet Star, and Sun Gold.

I will never grow Celebrity again as I just don't find it to have much flavor. Big Beef was a little bit better, but nowhere near as productive or tasty as Jet Star in my experience. Jet Star is the most reliable tomato in my garden and has a decent overall flavor.

Sun Gold is a biennial favorite (spring crop and fall crop). My other favorite cherries are Black Cherry and Brandysweet Plum (actually a oval cherry).

I think most folks grow Amelia because they are facing a tomato disease like TSWV. Could be wrong.


Can I ask how much space you've got to grow tomatoes, how many plants you intend to grow, and how many tomatoes you're wanting to get? That might help decide if you need to grow mostly "predictable" varieties, and how many of the more flavorful varieties you can mix in.

[karpes]

Feldon Space is no problem. I own 10 acres of land minus 3 acres for house, orchard, greenhouse, shop and tractor/implement shed. After years of fighting the in ground growing crops (kids are gone, just the wife and I now) I have gone to growing everything in hydroponics and containers. Ironically my son in-law just asked if we could grow a garden in the spring so, I will be preparing a section to do this. I would not otherwise be willing to do this without the help of him and my grandchildren. Last year I grew 34 tomato plants (27 hydroponics and 7 raised bed) and that filled the freezer pretty quick and then it was give to friend’s time. The answer to your question about how many tomatoes would be no more that 30 plants and all will be grown hydroponially. Jet Star sounds like another tomato to add to my growing list of tomatoes to try but big beef has been my favorite. In the spring I will also use your recommendations as well as Ami and bigbubacaine. What the heck, there will be plenty room to experiment with the son-in-law and grandkids support. karpes

[Wi-sunflower]

2 varieties not on the list that should do well for you are Heatwave and Santiam. Both will set tomatoes at temps 5-10 degrees above where most plants just drop the flowers.

I can't comment on flavor as I don't care for red tomatoes myself. But I do know Heatwave produces lots of nice medium sized perfect tomatoes.

[ContainerTed]

I grew Heatwave, Sunmaster, and Talladega this past year. The Heatwave was okay, the Sunmaster was a "spitter" (Walmart has better than what I got this year), but Talladega was truly a wonderful tasting tomato.

I also got some Mountain Fresh from a local seller and it was maybe the best tasting Hybrid I've eaten in several years.

[Fusion_power]

First and foremost, the list of tomatoes published by LSU is seriously limited and does not include many tried and true varieties that will produce in your climate. With that said, do a little experimenting for next year. Here are a few varieties that will produce a heavy crop with flavor worth asking for.

Tropic - much better heat tolerance and excellent disease tolerance overall plus it tastes decent and produces a ton of tomatoes. The total package of disease tolerance and production is hard to beat. This is an older O.P. release from Florida.

Druzba - a very intense tomato flavor on heavily productive plants. Disease tolerance is good to excellent. This is a garden mainstay for me. If you want intense tomato flavor, this is the variety to grow.

Red Brandywine - This one produces more tomatoes than most hybrids and stands up to adverse conditions to do so. It has a place in my garden every year. I had about 50 plants this year that produced more tomatoes than we knew what to do with. We sold them by the 5 gallon bucket.

Burgundy Traveller - One of my garden standouts for total production. Flavor is not as intense as some of the others but if you are looking for a ton of tomatoes to slice, juice, sauce, and use just about any other way, this one will do the job.

Lyuda's Mom's Red Ukraine - This is my favorite determinate slicer. The plants are compact, loaded with tasty 2 to 3 inch tomatoes, and absolutely fascinating to watch grow. I sold these by the 5 gallon bucket this past year to people who wanted to can tomatoes.

Heidi - is a spectacularly good determinate paste tomato that I use in sauce and juice every year.

KBX - is an outstandingly good pale orange jumbo slicer.

Kimberly - an outstanding early ping pong ball size tomato.

Bloody Butcher - Very high production and very early ripe fruit combine to make this one of the best early golf ball size tomatoes.

J.D.'s Special C-Tex - Outstandingly good flavor and relatively good production make this black variety a solid performer in my garden each year.

One of the very best flavored cherry varieties I grow is Dr. Carolyn Pink. Try it, you'll like it.


That is enough to look at for now, check these out and see if you are interested. The above are varieties that have made the grade in the hot humid southeastern states for my customers year after year. Check out http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/ for seed for most of the above. I can also give a nod to Amelia, Talladega, Jet Star, Creole, and Sungold from your list above.

DarJones

[feldon30]

When you've got more space than patience, I'd just get some truckloads of shredded leaves and horse manure and pile it up into rows and then do a Florida Weave (put T-posts or fence posts every 10 feet and as the plants grow, run string or wire back and forth between them to keep the tomato plants somewhat upright.


If I had 10 acres, I would grow nothing but flavor blockbusters. Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Earl's Faux, Stump of the World, Marianna's Peace, Black and Brown Boar, Hege German Pink, JD's Special C-Tex, Black Cherry, etc.

Heck, I'd probably grow 6 plants of Black Cherry.

I'd grow so many plants that even if I only got 1/4 of the normal output per plant, it would still be enough.

But I am not trying to tell you what to do, only letting my tomato fantasy run wild a bit.

[creister]

I have had good luck here with Sioux, Break o'Day, and Eva Purple Ball. My humidity is not as high as yours, but the heat is high. I also grew Super Sioux and Thessoliniki this past fall, and both did well, even in the warmer months.

I have grown solar set and solar fire. Both produced well, and had some flavor, but not as good as others mentioned in this discussion.

[karpes]

Thanks so much for the many recommendations. I have started searching for descriptions on each and I like what I have found so far. Feldon, I just may take your advice. Plant a bunch ,use the Florida weave and see what happens. By doing this , I can quickly determine my favorites for next years crop. Run wild ,yeah I like that! Thanks again for sharing your help and experience! Karpes