Wanted: Productive, wetfeet-loving varieties for SWC & defoliation cause ID

ruet · October 14, 2009

I'm looking for wet feet-tolerant varieties such as Sophie's choice or Boxcar Willy that are also Early, Determinate and Productive, for use in SWC. I'm looking for a cooking tomato, so bland flavor is ok. Heat tolerant is a must, as temps here in Madrid are regularly in triple digits around fruitset. Disease resistance doesn't matter much. The rain in Spain falls mainly in other places, and I drip irrigate.

This year I tried Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Costoluto Genovese and a mystery variety. 8 plants total.

Problem 1: Started way late. First fruit in late September. Damping off killed 3/4 my seedlings, which is good, because I planted 4x as many as I wanted.

Problem 2: Black Cherry (in SWC) was hit by leafminers, spider mites and thrips in August. Neem got rid of the leafminers and thrips, but the spider mites stuck around. I left for a few days of vacation two weeks ago and came back to a plant with a bunch of growing tips and hardly any foliage to speak of, with spider mite webbing everywhere... though with several dozen fruits which continue to ripen and taste darn good, so not all is lost.

Problem 3: Cherokee Purple, Costoluto Genovese and Mystery Cherry Pear were similarly defoliated, though the mites and miners didn't seem to touch them. Instead, their leaves turned yellow and then brown, working steadily up the plant. No sign of disease, they didn't see a drop of rain for 3 months and were drip irrigated. Again I'm left with pretty much just growing tips and fruit. Fruit still looks and tastes great, thankfully.

So BC was the only one in SWC, I'm wondering if it was attacked because it was too wet, though the suckers are 10ft long and the plant looked lush and happy. I don't have a non-SWC Black Cherry to compare against as the rest died to damping off.

I'm at a loss for what could have happened to the other 3 varieties. Fruit still tastes good, but there are hardly any leaves on the plant. Maybe too much water in the rootzone causing premature yellowing as Raybo theorized in his SWC trials? Not enough water? No blossom end rot on the fruit. Will take pictures.

October 14, 2009	#1
ruet Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Posts: 42	Wanted: Productive, wetfeet-loving varieties for SWC & defoliation cause ID I'm looking for wet feet-tolerant varieties such as Sophie's choice or Boxcar Willy that are also Early, Determinate and Productive, for use in SWC. I'm looking for a cooking tomato, so bland flavor is ok. Heat tolerant is a must, as temps here in Madrid are regularly in triple digits around fruitset. Disease resistance doesn't matter much. The rain in Spain falls mainly in other places, and I drip irrigate. This year I tried Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Costoluto Genovese and a mystery variety. 8 plants total. Problem 1: Started way late. First fruit in late September. Damping off killed 3/4 my seedlings, which is good, because I planted 4x as many as I wanted. Problem 2: Black Cherry (in SWC) was hit by leafminers, spider mites and thrips in August. Neem got rid of the leafminers and thrips, but the spider mites stuck around. I left for a few days of vacation two weeks ago and came back to a plant with a bunch of growing tips and hardly any foliage to speak of, with spider mite webbing everywhere... though with several dozen fruits which continue to ripen and taste darn good, so not all is lost. Problem 3: Cherokee Purple, Costoluto Genovese and Mystery Cherry Pear were similarly defoliated, though the mites and miners didn't seem to touch them. Instead, their leaves turned yellow and then brown, working steadily up the plant. No sign of disease, they didn't see a drop of rain for 3 months and were drip irrigated. Again I'm left with pretty much just growing tips and fruit. Fruit still looks and tastes great, thankfully. So BC was the only one in SWC, I'm wondering if it was attacked because it was too wet, though the suckers are 10ft long and the plant looked lush and happy. I don't have a non-SWC Black Cherry to compare against as the rest died to damping off. I'm at a loss for what could have happened to the other 3 varieties. Fruit still tastes good, but there are hardly any leaves on the plant. Maybe too much water in the rootzone causing premature yellowing as Raybo theorized in his SWC trials? Not enough water? No blossom end rot on the fruit. Will take pictures.