Distributing seeds in Equatorial Africa - Suggestions?

[k3vin]

My wife and I are going on a mission trip with a small group to Uganda for two weeks in June. The area we are going to is just north of Kampala, essentially right on the equator. I would like to take some tomato seeds for distribution. From my research, as one would expect, early and late blight, bacterial wilt and a host of pests are a problem... I am by no means a tomato disease expert.

It appears tomatoes are an important cash crop for local farmers, so production there is quite doable. Perhaps varieties that do well in the deep south would stand the best chance. Does anyone have input on OP varieties that may perform well in an equatorial area.

Kevin

[kygreg]

Maybe the folks from Florida and Texas might have some suggestions. I think JD's Special Tex may be one that is heat resistant, not sure how it handles diseases.

[stormymater]

Isn't Heidi supposed to be from Africa (where? dunno) & do well in steamy hot climates?

It gets mighty hot & humid & droughty with intermittent torrential rains we we garden - some varieites that did well last summer for us were - Chesapeake (red slicer/canner), Sioux (red slicer/canner) , Arkansas Traveller (red slicer/canner), JD's Special C-Tex (black beefsteak), KBX (golden orange beefsteak), Arkansas Marvel (bi-color beefsteak), Aunt Gertie's Gold (golden beefsteak), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red (red slicer/canner), Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red (red beefsteak), Germaid Red (red beefsteak), Jaune Flamee (gold-orange saladette - coral pink inside) - they were also tops in taste.
I reckon many cherries of different colors would do well though I will say, DH's fav, Isis Candy, survived through the season only because I took cuttings - not entirely the plant's shortcoming though - I discovered horribly knotted arthritic stubby roots when I did garden cleanup - root knot nematodes were feeding on the original plant - the cuttings in big planter produced until November.

[habitat_gardener]

Heidi is from Cameroon, West Africa, and
Wuhib is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and can "withstand high heat"
and both are tolerant of or not highly susceptible to foliar diseases
(all according to Carolyn's book, saving her some typing...)

I grew Heidi one year and it was unbelievably productive in my cool-summer climate.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by habitat_gardener

Heidi is from Cameroon, West Africa, and
Wuhib is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and can "withstand high heat"
and both are tolerant of or not highly susceptible to foliar diseases
(all according to Carolyn's book, saving her some typing...)

I grew Heidi one year and it was unbelievably productive in my cool-summer climate.

Tadesse Wuhib was a student of mine and it's he who brought me the varieties I named Tadesse and Wuhib which he got for me in the market in Addis Ababa. He studied with a healer in Africa in between Medical School at Johns Hopkins, joined CDC and was sent to Armenia to develop a progran of pediatric Health Care for the country. Last I knew he was still at CDC doing special assignments. A remarkable man.

Tadesse had told me that most of the tomatoes being grown in Ethiopia were hybrids.

The variety Heidi I named for Heidi Iyok who was also a student of mine. She was from a very wealthy family in Cameroon and would fly back there for almost every vacation. She also told me that in Cameroon that the majority of tomatoes grown there were hybrids.

There is no tradition of family heirlooms in most of Africa as far as I know. When the English settled south Africa they did bring tomato seeds with them so one finds some varieties such as Roi Humbert being grown there.

My suggestion is for you to go to the Legacy thread here and look at the thread on the tomato variety Carrot and ask Geoff, who is from South Africa what he might suggest and ask him to post in this thread.

Edited to add that in the above paragraph I meant Legacy Forum, not thread.

[amideutch]

Kevin, went on vacation to Kenya back in seventy something and mostly saw tea and coffee plantations. Talked with a local there and was talking about growing lettuce and why didn't they grow the bibb or loose leaf types as the only one to be found was Iceberg lettuce. His answer was they sold lettuce by weight and of course the Iceberg was the most profitable crop. Enough of that but came across this site as your question interested me as well. But I think the main problem with OP's will be disease. I still remember seeing all the satellite dishes pointing straight up in the air like bird baths. Ami

http://www.seedquest.com/News/releas...gust/23357.htm

[k3vin]

This has been a rather interesting thought experiment for me. I've found a couple interesting articles from Ohio State that deal directly with their efforts for promoting more successful tomato production in Uganda:

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:...&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://203.64.245.61/fulltext_pdf/eam0106.pdf

My initial thought for an OP variety that shows good disease tolerance, produces abundantly, has good shelf life, seems like something you would find in a market, and for which I could readily obtain seed would be Brandywine Red. Thoughts or other suggestions are welcome on that.

I imagine I'll stash away a couple hundred packets of one or two varieties to distribute. And then there is always the possibility a few local seeds will end up in my suitcase for the journey home.

[habitat_gardener]

Here's another idea. I got the Bountiful Gardens catalog this week, and it's sitting on my desk. I'd read before about the worldwide interns and projects of its parent group, Ecology Action, and in this catalog I see they have projects in Kenya. You could e-mail bountiful@sonic.net and ask if they can recommend tomato varieties for Uganda, or you could look at the website bountifulgardens.org

[amideutch]

Kevin, good information and I wonder how silver mulch would work for them. Might be an interesting experiment. Ami

http://www.territorialseed.com/product/1665/171

[BlackestKrim]

I grow in Central Texas and have been trying out different heat-tolerant tomatoes (mostly from seedman dot com.) Last year the Cherry Belle worked out great for me, but that is just little cherry tomatoes. The Sunmaster and Solar Fire did not do well in our last summer. (That site has more heat-tolerant tomatoes in their tomato section... their website is not terribly well organized.)

This year, trying out the AN-67 hybrid and more of the Cherry Belle, which did so marvelously in our record drought/heatwave.

The other technique, the one that most gardeners near me use, is to go for early-season tomatoes. That way, we can get a good crop in before the heat of summer hits. Here, we have spring and a slightly longer fall season and summer is given over to okra and beans. I don't know what Uganda's seasons are like.

By the way, if anyone knows a seed site that has a good heat-tolerant section, please cue me in.

[amideutch]

I don't think you can equate Texas temperatures to equatorial Africa. Not as hot in the summer and not as cold in the winter. Ami

[k3vin]

My understanding is that elevation is high enough to moderate temperatures. 90's during the day, 60's at night pretty much year round. I think Disease tolerance would be the top concern. Cultural practices like mulching to reduce soil splash and staking vs allowing to sprawl would probably be important. It also appears fungicides are routinely used.

My focus on the trip will not be tomatoes. I am however planning on taking some seeds of the best OP variety we can come up with for trial by the local farmers.

So here is my question for those of you who have grown many varieties - What is the most disease tolerant variety you have grown?

[amideutch]

Burgundy Traveler, Akers West Virginia PL, Spudakee Purple and JD's Special C-Tex. Ami