Would you recommend...??

[Tomstrees]

I'm on the border of z-7 so I would suggest (based on what I've grown):

Aunt Ginny's Purple
Aunt Gertie's Gold
Black Cherry
Black From Tula PL
Cherokee Purple
Eva Purple Ball

[huntsman]

Thanks, Tom ~

The more these names crop up, the happier I am!

[stormymater]

Zone 7B - 8 here - Black Cherry, Super Snow White, Sungold, Hawaiian Currant, Amy's Sugar Gem, Swander Cherry - all great cherries here. Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Carbon, JD's Special C-Tex, Germaid Red, Taps, Purple Dog Creek, KBX, Honey, Aker's West Virginia are bigger maters all doing well here. Of the pastes I tried this year I am very impressed with Rio Grande (those little plants were not treated well & grown in bags to make things worse) - they are LOADED with perfect plump unblemished paste tomatoes - I may get 3 quarts a plant & they were not grown well - but not a bit of insect damage or blossom end rot. Smaller tomatoes that have done well are Flamme (really pretty orange with red-tinged innards), Rowdy Red & Ozark Pink (pink saladette sized - thought they were supposed to be bigger). Tom's Yellow Wonder, Virginia Sweets & White Queen look to be keepers for next year too.
Costoluto Genovese grown in bags have been underwhelming.
Interestingly it seems a lot of the Potato leafed plants got hit with something that caused yellowing from the bottom up & the regular leafed plants next to them have fared better. Much better. Go figure.

[huntsman]

Very interesting, stormy, and from what you've said, it seems that growing in grow bags is a no - no? Just as well I spotted that as I had the idea to grow a few dwarf species in a grow bag, as I would with a few peppers.

Forewarned, and all that...!

[stormymater]

My "12 gallon" growbags actually hold 4 1-gallon square milk jugs with enough room on top for another if it were cut in 1/2 - so really a little smaller than what I call a g-gallon bucket. My tomatoes have grown roots & rootlets throughout the soil so densely I can't stick my fingers in & they require daily watering. The "12 gallon" grow bags are too small for my full sized plants in our very hot environment. On the other hand they will be fabulous for pepper plants - I have several in 3 gallon pots that are 3 feet tall so the "12 gallon" bags will do nicely for them next year. I may get some 20-30 gallon black plastic landscaping pots for the occasional extra mater next year (don't let DH read this LOL)... otherwise all the tomatoes go into the raised beds.

[AZRuss]

huntsman, to answer one of your earlier questions, if the tomato plant is a determinate variety, it is usually finished, kaput, after producing fruit. Pull it and plant something else. I don't see any determinate varieties on your initial list. If the plant is indeterminate, it will continue producing throughout the season. Almost all varieties will shut down fruitset when daytime highs regularly exceed 92 degrees F and--very important--nighttime temps stay in the mid 70's. The reason for this is that pollen is not viable in high temps. Pollination CAN occur during high temperatures--I've seen it--but it's rare without the help of bees, etc. Self-pollination generally stops in very hot weather.

If you are able to nurture indeterminate plants and keep them alive through the hottest season, they will start up production again when it cools down, most of them producing till frost.

The reason you might be better off with earlier varieties (up to 80 days) is that they will have already set fruit before summer heat shuts them down. Fruit already set before the onslaught of regular high temps will continue to ripen.

[huntsman]

Originally Posted by stormymater

My "12 gallon" growbags actually hold 4 1-gallon square milk jugs with enough room on top for another if it were cut in 1/2 - so really a little smaller than what I call a g-gallon bucket. My tomatoes have grown roots & rootlets throughout the soil so densely I can't stick my fingers in & they require daily watering. The "12 gallon" grow bags are too small for my full sized plants in our very hot environment. On the other hand they will be fabulous for pepper plants - I have several in 3 gallon pots that are 3 feet tall so the "12 gallon" bags will do nicely for them next year. I may get some 20-30 gallon black plastic landscaping pots for the occasional extra mater next year (don't let DH read this LOL)... otherwise all the tomatoes go into the raised beds.

Thanks, Stormy -

I have totally under prepared for these maters, with too many of some, wrong sized bags, and I think I started some too early. Fortunately, I have this forum...!

Originally Posted by AZRuss

huntsman, to answer one of your earlier questions, if the tomato plant is a determinate variety, it is usually finished, kaput, after producing fruit. Pull it and plant something else. I don't see any determinate varieties on your initial list. If the plant is indeterminate, it will continue producing throughout the season. Almost all varieties will shut down fruitset when daytime highs regularly exceed 92 degrees F and--very important--nighttime temps stay in the mid 70's. The reason for this is that pollen is not viable in high temps. Pollination CAN occur during high temperatures--I've seen it--but it's rare without the help of bees, etc. Self-pollination generally stops in very hot weather.

If you are able to nurture indeterminate plants and keep them alive through the hottest season, they will start up production again when it cools down, most of them producing till frost.

The reason you might be better off with earlier varieties (up to 80 days) is that they will have already set fruit before summer heat shuts them down. Fruit already set before the onslaught of regular high temps will continue to ripen.

Clarity! Thank you so much, AZ!

Ok, time to remove a few indets and add some determinates to the mix.

BTW Once I rip the determinate out, can I replant another of the same?

Great post! Thanks again.