2012 Tomato successes & disappointment

[Yak54]

Hi all. I thought I'd share some comments about this years tomato selection in my garden. I grow 3-4 new (for me) varieties every year as well as 2 or 3 standbye favorites. And this year the new varieties for me are Olena Ukrainian, German Giant, Bulgarian #7, and Wes, along with my regular Momotaro and Cher. Purple. The Momotaro is as usual very very good tasting with good production from healthy plants. No surprise there. My Cher. Purple are very vigorous this year and their production is the best I've ever had out of 12 years of growing this very good tasting variety. Now for the new ones. The Olena Ukrainian is producing such wonderful tasting tomatoes from 6 ft. healthy plants. I'm really glad I tried this variety. The Wes plants are my biggest at 6 1/2 ft. and they are very vigorous and loaded with large tomatoes. My largest has been 1 lb. 11 oz. And they are meaty and great tasting like a good Oxheart. I'm very pleased with this variety also. Next are my German Giant plants which are on par with my Olena Ukrainian's but not producing as many tomatoes as the Olena Ukrainian and in my opinion not quite as good tasting. And that leaves the Bulgarian #7 as my only dissapointment. The plants are very vigorous and healthy with lots and lots of fruit. Very productive for sure. Only thing is the taste is described by me as a very unremarkable grocery store tomato flavor. My friend calls it a "good throwing tomato". So thats my story so far this year. Only one dissapointment out of 6 varieties. I'm happy

[bwaynef]

What was the production like for your Olena Ukrainian? You said that it tasted good, but did your plant(s) produce a lot of good tasting tomatoes, or was it stingy?

[Yak54]

Originally Posted by bwaynef

What was the production like for your Olena Ukrainian? You said that it tasted good, but did your plant(s) produce a lot of good tasting tomatoes, or was it stingy?

I wouldn't say they were stingy by any means. I wouldn't say it was high either. I guess somewhere in between high & stingy. How about moderately high, or on a scale of 1 - 10, I'd say they were a 6 1/2. Hope that helps

[Alpinejs]

Barring another severe hailstorm this summer in Canada, I hope to be much
more diligent in record keeping and reporting to the board as you did. I
will be growing 93 varieties it looks like. I care only about production and
taste. The size of the vine is not a determining factor to me.

ot...I can't find the thread discussing this. I will need more planting spaces on
my floating docks this summer. Today, I bought a bunch of the blue bags from
IKEA for .59 ea. They look like a poorman's gro-bag and I think will hold two
tomato plants in each. Anyone had experience with this? I heated a large drill
bit and melted drain holes in it. If those bags do work out, the price is a super
bargain.

Soldering irons also work well for melting holes in plastic!

I don't believe the Ikea bags will last more than a year in the sunlight before they start decomposing. I've used the big tarps made from the same material and they don't hold up well in strong sunlight. You might think of using two bags for the added strength.

Ted

[spacetogrow]

I planted them late, and my Terhune kept getting failed blossoms in the intense heat. I had to pick them still green when the frost came. Even though they had to ripen after picking, they were still the best tasting tomatoes this year.

I did a side by side taste test with late season Moravsky Div and found that the 2 varieties tasted amazingly similar, with a slight nod to Terhune for better flavor. The Moravsky kept producing until Fall.

The Porter was mild flavored, but kept good productivity through the heat waves.

[Tracydr]

I tried cloth shopping bags last summer but they fell apart in the sun at about 2-3 months.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by Alpinejs

Today, I bought a bunch of the blue bags from
IKEA for .59 ea. They look like a poorman's gro-bag and I think will hold two
tomato plants in each. Anyone had experience with this? I heated a large drill
bit and melted drain holes in it. If those bags do work out, the price is a super
bargain.

The next time you makes holes, put them two or three inches up from the bottom, on the sides. I'm convinced that every container tomato will do better that way. If you like experiments, try that design side by side and see if I'm wrong. With a reservoir of moisture, any container becomes a sub-irrigated planter. My container tomato plants have loved it, cukes too. I had plants that didn't seem possible out of 5-gallon buckets, and I think it was mostly due to that design. I'm building a greenhouse right now that will hold 100 bucket plants to produce for the early spring market.

The other thing I'm convinced about in regard to container plants is that the roots need protection from the hot summer sun. All of my bucket plants are early determinates, and I'm happy to throw them out by late June when the sun starts to get hot, so I don't have to fight that battle. I would be doing drastic things like burying them in holes in the ground or building air-conditioned boxes for the buckets. Otherwise I get tough skins and bitter fruit. If you're growing on a dock, it might not be so bad, due to the temp regulating effect of the water.

I think the idea of growing on a floating dock is really smart. Good luck with everything!

[doublehelix]

Give these a try. I have some that are 3 or 4 years old and still usable. I tried tomatoes in the 3, 5, and 7 gallon size. The 7s are just too big and hard to deal with. I liked the 5 gallon size and they are cheaper than your Ikea bag.


http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/p...ags/containers

[Diriel]

Thanks doublehelix.

Gary