year end tomato report

[PaulF]

It was a beautiful November 1 afternoon. There were only a few tomatoes left on the vines so this day was chosen to pull out all the remaining plants, do the math and write a year end report. This is the eleventh year since retiring to Nebraska from Iowa where the numbers would have been different for sure. But you get what you get and don’t throw a fit (Thanks to granddaughters Emma and Willow)

Out of thirty-five plants grown, only 30 are included in the report. There were three cherry varieties and even I do not weigh and measure those. There were two salad sized and the same was true there. There were two dwarf varieties from the dwarf project that were included but one dwarf variety only produced salad sized fruit…it was an F-1 so maybe next year or so .

Thirty plants produced just over 636 pounds of tomatoes; 21 pounds per plant average. The ten year average here in Nebraska is 431 pounds for 30 plants + or - a couple. The high production years were 2016, 200 and 2008 and the low were 2007, 2014 and 2010.

Top producers: Kolb at 34 1/2 pounds, Helen’s German at 33lbs and Reif Red Heart at 33lbs

Largest single tomato: Orange Russian #117 at 29 oz., Kellogg’s Breakfast at 26 oz., Giant Oxheart, Helen’s German and Provenzano each 24 oz.

largest average size fruit variety: Helen’s German-16oz., Provenzano-14 oz., Dixie Golden Giant-13.4 oz

Top varieties for flavor (which for us is the most important part of growing tomatoes) Remember, this is our personal taste from our neck of the woods.

scale of 10; 9/10 varieties: Mortgage Lifter (which of the many ML strains, I do not know), Willow’s Bulgarian ( from a SSE variety called No-Name Bulgarian, renamed for our use only), Kolb and Joe’s Pink Oxheart.

8/10: no special order: Emmy T-115 (dwarf project), Italian Sweet, Virginia Sweets, Amana Pink, Reif Red Heart, Giant Oxheart, Hungarian Heart, Dixie Golden Giant.

You may notice I like sweet large tomatoes and the list is heart heavy. Never met a heart I didn’t like. Sorry for the length…I only get this long once a year.

[ContainerTed]

Hey, PaulF. I'll bet in those years when you got the heaviest harvests that you were using some of that "magnetized water".

[Gardeneer]

Very Good review, Paul. thanks.
. I will be growing two of the above in 2017:
-- DIXIE GOLDEN GIANT
-- KELLOGGS BREAKFAST

[PaulF]

Ted: I'm not sure whether I need South Pole water or North Pole water, but I did do a rain dance when it was dry and a dry dance when it was wet. It all worked out so I guess that is what everybody needs to do to have a good crop.

[peppero]

Paul, thanks for taking the time to get all the information together and sharing it with us.

Jon

[BigVanVader]

Nice Paul, I read top producer at first as 341 pounds and was thinking holy bleep! Always love reading your post and variety reviews.

[dustdevil]

Nice to hear you had a bumper crop. What did you do with your 636 pounds of tomatoes?

[Cole_Robbie]

How did you like the flavor of Orange Russian 117? I am surprised to not see it in your favorites list, as it was very sweet for me.

You might enjoy Northern Lights. It is very sweet, a large orange-ish tomato. Ambrosia Red is the sweetest red cherry I have had. Sweet Sue has been my sweetest dwarf.

I'd also rank several gwr varieties as tops for sweetness, like Dwarf Jade Beauty, Esmerelda Golosina, and Green Doctor's Frosted. Malachite Box is delicious as well.

[PaulF]

BigVanVader: edited so as not to cause heart attacks.

dustdevil: We eat lots, this year we froze a bunch and the rest were given away to the folks in our little village.

Cole: This year the Orange Russian #117 was a little better than just OK. Some years it is great and some years not so good. This year it was in-between. I will try Northern Lights, thanks.

Ambrosia Red has been one of my wife's favorite cherries along with Black Cherry. This year we tried Sweetie (very good) and Matt's Wild Cherry(also very good). I am not a fan of cherry tomatoes, so I plant the one or two varieties my wife likes.

Neither am I a fan of GWRs. In the past I have tried 6 or 8 different ones but couldn't get my taste buds to agree with my brain. All other colors are OK but not the greenies.

[b54red]

Great report Paul. I wish I had the discipline to keep up with mine that well but it does sound like a lot of work and as the summer heats up I try to work less and less in that heat. Seeing your list of favorites and your love of hearts I think you might like Donskoi. It is a very tasty heart that can produce tomatoes over 2 lbs. Even the one I planted at the end of July has produced a couple of tomatoes over one and a half pounds despite temperatures exceeding 90 degrees from the time it was set out til the fruit was ripe.

Are you making notes on the different conditions from one season to the next as to rainfall, temperatures and wind along with differences in fertilizing and growing methods to see what if anything accounts for most of the differences from one year to the next.

Bill

[PaulF]

Bill: I try to keep up with a journal of weather conditions and dates. Here on the Great Plains, besides soil composition, weather conditions are the deciding factor both good and bad. The wind is a very stable factor...it is always blowing and from the west. After a lot of years of attempting to perfect the growing methods, that rarely changes enough to be a variable. Methods get tweeked but not radically changed. Here soil pH and fertility IS a factor and the attempt is made to keep it all in line with periodic soil tests.

Thanks for the Donskoi suggestion. It will be in next year's line-up along with Northern Lights.