Brandywine and Mortgage lifter doing poorly

[Hal_Colorado]

I have had some good success with some tomato varieties, but last year my brandywine grew, but produced very little and this year mortgage lifter is acting the same way. I am in the Denver area, can altitude effect the success of certain varieties? Black krim and pineapple are doing well.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Hal_Colorado

I have had some good success with some tomato varieties, but last year my brandywine grew, but produced very little and this year mortgage lifter is acting the same way. I am in the Denver area, can altitude effect the success of certain varieties? Black krim and pineapple are doing well.

Hal, I lived in Denver for about 10 years and grew tomatoes there. I lived on Locust St, one block down from the 17th ave PKY and one block over from Monaco PKY. I also know the suburbs and when I was there Aurora was a suburb and yes, I've been to Aurora as well.

No, I don't think altitude has anything to do with it, but no two seasons are the same as to weather, and different varieties can respond to weather differently, as well as a single variety doing the same.

Carolyn

[Hal_Colorado]

Thanks, I think I will try Mortgage Lifter again next year and give it another chance.

[pondgardener]

Hal,

I am about 100 miles south of you in Pueblo, and I have grown a couple of varieties of Brandywine in prior years and Estlers Mortgage Lifter this year with no problems. Maybe next year try growing them in the spot where the other two did well this year.

George

[Goldie321]

Originally Posted by Hal_Colorado

I have had some good success with some tomato varieties, but last year my brandywine grew, but produced very little and this year mortgage lifter is acting the same way. I am in the Denver area, can altitude effect the success of certain varieties? Black krim and pineapple are doing well.

I'm in Florida and last year tried Mortgage Lifter with little success, so I don't think it's altitude lol! Since we have a second growing season I'm trying a different variety Bonnie Best. It was supposedly very popular in the post WWII years across the country. Also, for home gardeners in Central Florida, our spring growing season for tomatoes gives a somewhat short window for optimum success. If the freaky freezes continue too long into spring, like last year, our plants are in the ground later (still early by northern standards), but fizzle out when our real summer heat hits (while northerners are just starting to enjoy their harvest). So I'm going to see if a fall planting has better success. We don't get our first freeze until December or even January some years. If it does better, will bypass the spring season and save the tomatoes for fall from now on. If you've ever had Florida tomatoes from the supermarket they are grown south of here in the Ruskin area - south of Tampa. Florida is weird weatherwise. The state has different weather concerns going north to south. The freeze-line is just slightly north of us.

[Hal_Colorado]

Thanks, I will keep trying. Tomatoes are a good challenge.

[guruofgardens]

Hal - this just doesn't seem to be the best year for tomatoes here in the Denver area with so much rain and much cooler temps.

This is the first year in at least a decade that I had hornworms, both tomato and tobacco. I didn't even know what tobacco hornworms were. We had many more insects and fewer ladybugs. Just not a normal summer for us.

Some of my tomatoes have had BER on every fruit so far, despite the fertilizers. The red fruits are few are far between, so I'm hoping we don't get any early freezes like last year.

Maybe we could trade seeds for next year. Hopefully I'll get ripe fruit to save seeds from! Luckily other vegetables are doing well, except for the nightshades.

Nice to see another gardener from close by.

[Hal_Colorado]

Great to hear your response. Yes, this is our 6th year in Colorado. This is our first season to experience such weather. Nice not to water the lawn so often.