Best varieties for coastal California?

[venturabananas]

I'm looking for advice on good varieties of tomatoes to grow where I live. I've only grown tomatoes for a few years, and not very seriously. Last year was my first attempt at plants not in containers, as we bought a house and I built a raised bed. Based on my limited attempts, I'd say Black Cherry and Sungold are the two clear winners to date. Black Krim was delicious, but was taken out by late blight before most fruits ripened. Green Zebra did fine, but I didn't love it. Stupice was early and reliable, but unremarkable in flavor. Green Grape struggled with fungal diseases.

Fungal diseases and fruit set seem to be my main problems because of the cool, humid, coastal climate I live in. I'm going to increase the spacing between my plants to increase airflow, but even so, most mornings during the spring-summer have near 100% humidity, temperatures in the 50's-60's, and the plants have wet leaves. I assume because of the cool temperatures (cool nights with daytime highs that seldom exceed mid-70's), the bigger "slicer" size tomatoes I've tried set fruit really late and mature them slowly -- and not before the plant is already diseased.

I'd really appreciate your suggestions on your favorites that you think would do well in my climate.

This year I'm focusing mostly on small-fruited varieties that are said to be tolerant of cool temperatures. I've got seedlings of the following varieties going: Black Cherry, Black Plum, Black Prince, Blondkopfchen, Carmello, Cherokee Purple, Druzba, Eva Purple Ball, Lime Green Salad, Paul Robeson, Sophie's Choice, and Sungold.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

[feldon30]

It always amazes me how different a climate can be just 60 miles away from, say, Los Angeles.

Are you watering in the morning using soaker hoses? Have you got a thick layer of mulch?

Increased spacing will help, but I know I feel like I am "losing" space and opportunities to grow more plants! But I guess if increased spacing increases yields it's worth it?

[venturabananas]

Originally Posted by feldon30

It always amazes me how different a climate can be just 60 miles away from, say, Los Angeles.

Are you watering in the morning using soaker hoses? Have you got a thick layer of mulch?

Increased spacing will help, but I know I feel like I am "losing" space and opportunities to grow more plants! But I guess if increased spacing increases yields it's worth it?

Yes, the climate varies hugely in SoCal, mainly depending on how much ocean influence you get. Even if you only go 5-10 miles inland, it is very different.

I water in the morning, but not with soaker hoses, just by hand, but I keep the water off the foliage. I did have a layer of mulch, but to be honest, it wasn't very thick. Anything you'd recommend in particular as mulch for tomatoes? Straw, red plastic, etc.?

Last year I crammed way too many plants in my raised bed, not realizing how big they'd get when they are happy. (Previously I'd only grown them in pots that were really too small, 5 gallon). This year I'm going to increase by spacing by putting way fewer in the raised bed, with 3 foot spacing, prune the lower suckers to increase airflow, and the majority of plants are going to have to go in well-spaced containers. I'm going to use 15 gallon plastic pots, which is part of why I'm trying several varieties that are supposed to stall reasonably small -- though I guess I could achieve that with any variety if I pruned heavily.

[Sun City Linda]

My brother migrated to PNW from SoCal. I ordered something called "Coastal Pride Orange" for him this year. There is a whole series of the OP Coastal toms bred to thrive.......on the coast! Check them out! I and several other SoCal gardners had good success with Moskvitch tomato last year, during the cold, never ending rainy Spring season. It seemed much less prone to disease and tasted quite good. LInda

[walkinggin]

I think your list looks pretty good. I produce plants for my sister who lives 1/2 mile from the beach. She finds the most reliable are Eva Purple Ball, Heidi and Dr. Carolyn. She has been unable to get any fruit from Cherokee Purple for the last 3 years and has given up on it. Cherokee green has been better, delicious but not too productive and late. She sprays her plants with Actinovate every couple weeks.

[Jeannine Anne]

Hi, I don`t know how much differnt your climate is to mine here further uo the West Coast but we have terrible blight.

I don`t know if you are familiar with Tania`s website, she has a tremendous data base of tomatoes and many are suggested fro the PNW as she lives there too

She has a great selection of earlies and will give you lots of info. She may be along here soon and answer your post herself.

XX Jeannine

www.tatianastomatobase.com

[venturabananas]

Thanks for everyone's advice so far.

I just realized that I mistakenly posted this tread in the "Photo Gallery" section. Anyone know how to move the entire thread to the "General Discussion", where more folks might see it?

[janezee]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.
Mischka just might be along soon to fix this for us.

I am in the same coastal weather predicament. I, too, am growing smaller, earlier varieties this summer to combat the fog. Sophie's Choice, Black Cherry, Black Prince, and Lime Green Salad are on my list this year, too, as are Red Robin, Moravsky Div, Yamal, Alpatieva 905A, Siberian, Pale Perfect Purple, Kimberley, Skorospelka, and San Francisco Fog. I hope to have a roster of tomatoes that will do in any bad weather here in a few years, so I am trialing more than that, too. We should compare notes in the summer and fall.

jane

[venturabananas]

Thanks Jane. Yes, we should definitely compare notes.

My neighbor grew San Francisco Fog last year and he said it was no better than Early Girl, or anything else he grew -- though he didn't try very many varieties. It did fine for him, but didn't impress him.

-- Mark

[Structure]

I'm farther north and 10 miles inland, but we're still cool and foggy most summer mornings. I've had great luck with Cherokee Purple (or Indian Stripe) and Kosovo. Most of the smaller varieties also do OK (as you mention). I tend to get pretty good production and flavor out of almost any variety, but it varies a lot by year and many will start to suffer from gray mold.

You may want to consider your control methods. If you primarily suffer from late blight, then it's something you should be able to control. I have problems come August/September with TSWV and occasionally Curly Top which are much harder to do anything about.

You might also consider Murray Smith a variety developed at Cal Poly for foggy coastal conditions. IMO it's overkill as like I said, I can still get good taste and production from most varieties, but maybe for closer to the coast?

There are some other threads on this issue too if you're curious to search for them.

[b54red]

I have had to deal with wet morning leaves and rampant foliage disease since I started gardening nearly 40 years ago. Although our temperatures are much higher in the summer. Over the years I have found a few larger tomatoes that do well in the spring and fall when it is cooler and a couple that seem to love the cooler weather. One is Red Siberian, and others are Dr. Wyches Yellow, Kosovo, and Fish Lake Oxheart. I have also found one hybrid tomato that thrives in cooler weather but is unsuitable for our midsummer heat and that is Jetsetter and it is highly productive. One of the ones on your list has also proven quite good during cooler weather and that is Eva Purple Ball though it is not very large. I know some of the blacks like Indian Stripe or Spudakee should grow well in your climate; but since you have such low temperatures I don't think they will ever taste as good as they should. They really need full summer heat to develop their unique flavor.

With the weather conditions you are describing I would try to keep my plants to only two stems to allow the necessary air flow for proper drying if you are going to plant them 3 ft apart. I would also try to grow them on a trellis instead of cages or stakes because you can keep the plant spread out better which also increases air flow and light. We have humidity hovering near 100% most of the growing season and my results since moving to trellising from cages has been amazing.

I also think you would be wise to start weekly spraying with Daconil as a preventative. If you do get a foliage disease then use a dilute bleach spray late in the evening to stop it before the whole plant can become infected. I use 7 to 8 ounces of regular strength Clorox bleach added to a full gallon of water and spray all surfaces with a fine mist. It will kill most of the diseased leaves but not hurt the healthy growth unless you spray in the middle of a sunny day.

The best mulch I have found is a cypress mulch; but I don't know if it is available where you live. I get it at any Lowes or Home Depot for around 2 dollars a 2 cu ft bag. It is great at holding in the moisture and really cuts down on the need for water.

[John3]

Have you tried Biota Max, Actinovate, MyGrow and cold pressed Neem oil?
here's a link to some info
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=18010

As I was working with the mixes I linked to I gave a friend some Sioux and Mule Team seeds he said they produced very heavy (he liked the Sioux best but liked them both) had high moisture and summer high heats.

[Sun City Linda]

Turns out there is no "T" in Moskvich. My bad!

[Elizabeth]

As a fellow South coaster (I'm 1/2 mile from Mission Bay) that hardly sees the sun May to mid-July because of the "late night and early morning low clouds and fog" I'd say your list looks pretty good.

If you are interested in adding a couple of hybrids to the mix, Celebrity and Early girl do great here by the coast. My dad has grown those on the coast a couple blocks from me every year for decades. I'm easing him into heirlooms, but he always grows those for a guaranteed crop.

Others to consider from personal experience are Azoychka, Gold Dust, Sasha's Altai and Zarnitsa. There are lots more that I hear that do well, but I'm still testing to see what does well in this screwy microclimate we have here on the coast. I'm still looking for a purple one that does really well for me. So far I have only gotten a few tomatoes from the purples before they kick the bucket. I'm trying the purples Chernomor Regular Leaf, Chocolate Cherry, Dwarf Wild Fred, Indian Stripe, and Tasmanian Chocolate this Spring to see how they do.

The powdery mildew or whatever it is that nails all the maters and squash is kinda a fact of life here. What my dad and I usually do is let the spring ones go until they get worn out by the fight around midsummer and plant new ones to take us through the fall (and winter if they survive). We even replant zucchini in July/August. If you live in a frost-free area (or frost every few years) try going year around. Plan on 2 or 3 plantings per year to keep fresh tomatoes in the house every month of the year. All the ones you listed should grow year around in a frost-free area. They produce slower, but they will produce. Some like Kimberly, Glacier and Stupice don't seem to slow much, I don't think they are great slicers - but they are tasty for cooking.

My September planted Carmello and Blondkopfchen and a few others are still alive out back (straggly and ugly, but alive). I'm going to have to pull them while they are still producing to get my spring stuff in.

[janezee]

Originally Posted by Structure

If you primarily suffer from late blight, then it's something you should be able to control.

Right.
Late blight can turn your tomato plants and fruit to black slime in less than 48 hours. Ask the people who lost their whole crops to it. It's happened to me.