Best zone/state/etc. for tomatoes

[camochef]

Originally Posted by tam91

What a great story - thank you !

Thanks! like many old men...I have a tendency to ramble.
Camo

[Worth1]

There is no perfect state to grow tomatoes in. What does well in one place doesn't do well in others.
Like corn there are so many different verities that you cant easily put a state as the best place.
But if I had to make a pick Texas and California would be at the top of the list.

California is a long narrow state the goes north to west with many climates thus some place just has to be a good place to grow tomatoes.( It aint all LA folks) I love the state.


Texas is so diverse in its climate from the coastal area to the high desert and everything in between that again somewhere there is that perfect place to grow tomatoes. (It aint all desert)

Worth

[oc tony]

The San Joaquin & Sacramento valleys 12 to 16 millon tons every year.

[stormymater]

Some varieties that have been good to us here in coastal SE NC -
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red
Chesapeake
Creole
Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red
Burgundy Traveller
Greater Baltimore
Mule Team Sioux
Marvel Stripe
Oaxacan Jewel
Pineapple
Virginia Sweets
Ananas Noir
several of the Porter line
Arkansas Traveler
JD's Special C-Tex
Cherokee Purple
Black Krim
Noir de Crimee
Carbon
Rio Grande
Jersey Devil
Haley's Purple Comet
Tom's Yellow Wonder
Many varieties of cherries do well here too.

That is off the top of my head & I could easily give you a list 3-4x that long of ones that didna like it at all here. Wilts, mildews, insects - they all abound here. We're building a hoop house next month to get a jump on the year. This past year with June, July & August all averaging 90 degree days was TERRIBLE! Folks who got my plants early did produce some nice specimens though - even with the heat. I put mine in too late (for a variety of happenings). We're eating tomato sauce & salsa from '09 still though - so here's to a better year in 2011.

[lemurian]

Originally Posted by PaulF

Having experienced only two areas, south central Iowa and southeast Nebraska, my choice is Iowa. The only drawback to Iowa is that it is too easy to have great results without really working at it.

I don't know that I see it as a DRAWBACK, but it is true that I get amazing tomatoes without putting in much work The only other place I've lived was in the SF Bay Area and I don't think you can grow tomatoes there, period. I don't know anything about growing tomatoes besides putting the plants in the ground and watering them, but that hasn't stopped customers from telling me that mine are the best they've eaten! A combination of amazing NW Iowa soil and heirloom varieties they've never had is responsible, I think. I certainly don't do anything special, I didn't even bother weeding last year! I'll be attempting to prune for the first time this season, and may even try to space them correctly So I nominate Iowa!

[mjc]

Personally, I don't think that there is one area/zone that is better for tomatoes...but rather, look for the tomatoes that are better for your area (zone barely begins to hit the number of variables involved)...