San Marzano Nano- any experiance?

[where_with_all]

I am looking to grow a paste tomato next season. I had some bad disease experiance with Opalka so I am looking for a good disease resisitant tomato.

Of course, I am looking for very high yields (for canning sauce) and great taste too. (i want everything)

I have heard san marzano is a pretty hardy. I have heard this variety will ripen all its fruit at once (handy for making suace).

Any one had any first hand experiance?

Thanks

Where_with_all

[Sorellina]

Ciao Where,

I've grown several different San Marzanos..the Nano is a smallish Roma-looking thing, indeterminate in my garden at least, but growing it one year didn't yield a ton. Gigante, on the other hand, will give you larger fruit, more on par with Opalka, 6-8 oz or so, and a ton. That was my sauce machine my first year in Toronto and it worked very well for us. Redorta is another really huge San Marzano, but I only grew 2 plants last year, one in a 15 gallon bucket and another, a clone of the first one, in a somewhat smaller container. Yields weren't spectacular, but I imagine they'd be better in the ground as most are. So from my first-hand one growing year experience, I'd recommend Gigante and I've got some seeds if you're keen on growing it.

Cheers!

[carolyn137]

I am looking to grow a paste tomato next season. I had some bad disease experiance with Opalka so I am looking for a good disease resisitant tomato.


What specific disease tolerances are you looking for in a paste tomato?

I ask b'c the most common tomato diseases are the foliage diseases and no paste tomatoes have tolerance against those. Actually NO tomato varieties, hybrid or OP have tolerance against those save three varieties that are of no use at all to the home gardener.

And being on LI I'm assuming that it's the foliage diseases that might be your problem. In which case you should start a rigorous spray program with a good anti-fungal such as Ortho Garden Disease Control, aka Daconil, as soon as you set out the plants since all NEW foliage infections are airborne.

[where_with_all]

Sorellina, thanks for the offer. Judging from what you told me you probably have a good handle on san marzano. Where did you get your seeds from? I'd love to learn more about gigante.

I don't necessarily want larger fruit like an opalka or Gigante unless it results in higher overall yields. I was under the impression from reading the seed catalogs that smaller fruit may equal higher overall yields. They are certainly easier to pack whole.

I am confused a bit. I thought nano was a bush determinant plant.

Carolyn, I am not much good at figuring out what disease I had-- The plants just died and looked horrible. I thought BER was a common problem in paste tomatoes and that San marzano was not as horribly afflicted.

Whats wrong with Long Island and foilage disease? I know plenty of people who don't put any chemicals on their plants and have great yields. My opalka's were not so good. Bad yields too. Not worth the effort again unless I can figure out what I did wrong.

Hence the interest in San marzano- I need lots of tomatoes to make enough suace to last me a while

[carolyn137]

Whats wrong with Long Island and foilage disease? I know plenty of people who don't put any chemicals on their plants and have great yields. My opalka's were not so good. Bad yields too. Not worth the effort again unless I can figure out what I did wrong.


Absolutely nothing is wrong with LI and foliage diseases but they are the most common diseases in the US and worldwide and most folks have problems with them.

And it's also true that some folks have no problems with them and don't use chemicals, but if your plants or plants in your area have been infected it's kind of a losing game b/c there will continue to be airborne as well as splashback infection in your own garden.

I don't know what the problem was with your Opalkas since most folks get a large yield per the thread that you'll find here at Tville and per my own growing it for many years not that far from you.

If you don't know what the problems were with your plants you might want to consider posting in that Forum here to try to get help. It could be that you have a Verticillium or Fusarium problem in which case there's no spray to be used and other methods need to be considered.

Finally, I'd like to point out that Daconil, while synthetic, has very low toxicity and can be applied up to the day of harvest. Its toxicity is lower than Rotenone which is approved by every Organic certifying agency that I know of.

To me the concern is not whether something is synthetic or natural, the concern is possible toxicity to humans, pets, and the environment as a whole. Just my opinion.