Done with Heirlooms for a while. Favorite Hybrids?

[Postmanrings]

I give up! The last 5 years after trying countless things to prevent the blight, I am giving it a rest and will do Hybrids this year to see how it goes. I read somewhere that a lot of the hype on Heirlooms is just for the nostalgic aspect of it! Looking deep inside they may be right on that! I live in Pennsylvania, so if you have a favorite, please give my your thoughts!

[Worth1]

What type cherry medium large grape color?
I honestly think if you are getting covered up in the so called blight you wont do any or much better with hybrids.
But if you insist you cant go wrong with Lemon Boy for a pretty good tomato.
I managed to pick from my plants for a long long time here in Texas last year and that is without any sprays or any prevention of any kind.

What were your countless things to prevent the blight?

Worth

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Postmanrings

I give up! The last 5 years after trying countless things to prevent the blight, I am giving it a rest and will do Hybrids this year to see how it goes. I read somewhere that a lot of the hype on Heirlooms is just for the nostalgic aspect of it! Looking deep inside they may be right on that! I live in Pennsylvania, so if you have a favorite, please give my your thoughts!

You say blight, but that is a generic word used most times to indicate the 4 most common foliage diseases

Early Blight, Alternaria solani
Septoria Leaf Spot.

both the above are fungal and the bacterial ones are

Bacterial Speck
Bacterial Spot

But the fact is that almost none of the hybrids have any tolerance (no such thing as resistance) to ANY of the above, one exception being a couple of varieties that have weak tolerance to Early Blight, which can occur both early and late in the season.

The best prevention for the fungal ones is to spray with an excellent anti fungal starting when you first set plants outside.

Prevention for the bacterial ones is not that simple.

I was raised on a farm where we grew both OP's and hybrids and when I started growing my own I did grow some hybrids, but the reason I like so called heirloom varieties better has nothing to do with nostalgia. It's b/c there are many hundereds, yea thousands to chose from and most important to me is taste, which is my priority, maybe yield next, and for any OP (open pollinated,,a/k/a non hybrid) I can come up with an heirloom that produces just as well as a hybrid.

When you say nostalgia, I understand, and that would refer to the category of Family heirlooms, and their are other categories of heirlooms as well.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

[kath]

Not sure what you mean by 'blight', but also living in PA, and with leaf fungal diseases making plants really ugly, really fast without spraying, I can say that before I found T'ville, I tried growing lots of hybrids as well as heirlooms and none of them were safe- some maybe more resistant to Early Blight or Septoria than others but eventually they'll all be affected and lose leaves. I'm pretty sure that the resistance that is bred into some hybrids helps with soil-borne disease, which has never been an issue where I live. I don't think you mean "Late Blight" because that can't have been a problem in PA 5 years in a row, but there are some hybrids available that have some resistance to that kind of blight.

In general, darks are harder for me to grow because of being more susceptible to Grey Mold, and potato-leaved varieties get that bare look and expose fruits to sun scald more quickly than regular-leaved plants when it comes time to removed affected leaves.

kath

[Yak54]

I also have struggled with disease on my plants whether hybrid or open pollinated heirlooms for many years. I have learned some tricks to minimize this problem. As stated above, having a PREVENTATIVE spray program from the time I set out plants has helped a bunch. Also drip irrigation and cleaning up the garden of plants and debris in Oct. to start prepairing for next season has helped along with good mulching discipline. All this has made a big difference in how well my tomato plants perform each season. Of course lots of wet weather has a negative effect on the whole "blight" issue.

[ContainerTed]

Do preventative sprayings with an antifungal like "Garden Safe". Most folks who give up on heirlooms are the ones who don't spray anything to help their plants. Dang it, people. You have to fight for what you want. Mother Nature is always looking for your weaknesses to steal your plants away.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Do preventative sprayings with an antifungal like "Garden Safe". Most folks who give up on heirlooms are the ones who don't spray anything to help their plants. Dang it, people. You have to fight for what you want. Mother Nature is always looking for your weaknesses to steal your plants away.

Ted I was wondering where you were and was about to ask.
Glad to see you are doing okay.

Sometimes people do more harm than good not even realizing it.
They do this by running a mower and having a cloud of dust settle on the plants.
A big no no.

Worth

[PaulF]

When I first began gardening in the early 70s all the tomatoes in the garden were hybrids. Disease took them all out before much of a harvest was possible. As the years went by I discovered how to reduce problems but hybrids just did not do well.

Then I started growing heirlooms and as if by magic there were almost no disease problems. Magic? Not really. The information I gathered from other tomato growers on line turned it all around.

Most important was a good mulching program to keep water from splashing up on leaves. Never watering overhead in the heat of the day or evening. Sanitation program including removing all vegetation from the garden and completely washing all cages with bleach solution before planting tomatoes.

I have not utilized a spray program because so far there has been no need.

I am positive because of the preventative steps I now take I could grow hybrids again without losing them all to disease, but since I really like the flavors, colors, shapes and sizes of heirlooms/OP tomatoes I will never go backwards. Tomatoes are tomatoes and are all prone to the same problems. Mine are disease resistant only because experience has taught me how to give them a better chance.

Listen to the good folks at Tomatoville; they have been though it and give good advise.

[Postmanrings]

Thanks, maybe I will give it another try as taste is my main focus also and I can only fit around 15 plants in my garden. The plants grow very nice, tall and healthy, then after about a month leaves turn nasty. I get fruit, but probably about half. I sprayed when I first saw a problem as I thought the instructions said, but guess will start earlier. I layed down plastic around plants and used a dripper for watering. Think last year in PA it rained one month solid and knocked off the blossoms. So guess I talked myself in to trying them again. THanks

[Postmanrings]

I live in Washington County and remember last year was a mess I think in April or May. Rained the WHOLE month each day which made for less blossom. But it just bugged me as I put down plastic around plants, used a dripper, and sprayed when I started to see the brown leaves. Plants grew tall and healthy, then after a couple months leaves went brown and I got maybe half of what I should have gotten. Oh well maybe I'll give heirlooms another try as taste is my top goal. What are your favorites? I plant maybe only 15 plants to fit in my garden.

[AlittleSalt]

Big Beef VFFNTA is one I would try.

Our favorite two hybrids are Sungold and Super Sweet 100.

[Jwb4707]

I fight off differing diseases every year, daconil seemed to do a good job. Any hoo, big beef's have been extremely resistant for me so far.

[jmsieglaff]

Originally Posted by Postmanrings

I live in Washington County and remember last year was a mess I think in April or May. Rained the WHOLE month each day which made for less blossom. But it just bugged me as I put down plastic around plants, used a dripper, and sprayed when I started to see the brown leaves. Plants grew tall and healthy, then after a couple months leaves went brown and I got maybe half of what I should have gotten. Oh well maybe I'll give heirlooms another try as taste is my top goal. What are your favorites? I plant maybe only 15 plants to fit in my garden.

To me what you describe are fungal foliage disease, likely early blight or septoria leaf spot. Even with the plastic and drip watering the spores come in on the rain. No hybrid or heirloom will be immune to those. You will find some varieties are more tolerant than others. I've had some heirlooms be more tolerant as well as some hybrids and some that fall with a glass jaw. Ultimately it will come down to weather, and how deligent you are on preventative spraying and pruning when you see leaves starting to go south.

[jmsieglaff]

What plant spacing do you use? Airflow is critical to helping the leaves dry which makes infection less likely.

[oakley]

Gardening is a tangle of knots, all rolled up in a big ball of excitement and frustration. It takes patience and knowledge to sort through and loosen each knot, one by one.

You have been gardening at least five years?. As mentioned above, you may have a specific problem in your environment that needs addressing.

I don't think i'm just lucky that i don't have many problems with over 75 varieties the past twenty yrs. (I should call that 30yrs, with ten years of learning and getting to know my soil and climate.)

I grow for taste, my neighbor, a new gardener, grows for volume. He learned from me how to get the best plants in our difficult climate.
(i get my 50-100 lbs of jersey sauce toms from a local farm for free with a trade, -and they are friends) so i don't want the volume toms in my garden. I smoke/roast and make a ton of sauce.

I've learned more from here than anywhere. Rarely post because others know so much more...

With a few pics and your specific 'want and needs', those here in your area will help out. And those with knowledge about all climates can give advice.

I'm in full sun, high winds, in the Catskill mountains. Short season. Drip irrigation from a natural spring via simple re-directing 'down-hill' gravity. Heavily mulched with straw.
Rocks and clay now replaced with light no-till soil over the years.

You may have damp soil, lots of rain? lack of wind?...every year is different.
Every person has a different need. Like i mentioned i grow for flavor. My first producers are hearts and meats like Cherokee Chocolate, then AnnaRussians, etc....but just a few toms per plant and that is all i care about.

Dig a bit deeper into what you want and those here will help.