Tomatoes in Texas

[Urbanfarmer]

The only variety that is still setting for us is JD's. Amazing! We have plenty of others yet to ripen. Skins are getting a bit thick.

The big story so far is zero stinkbugs. But we've been spraying regularly with an encapsulated pyrethrum.

Chiles, eggplant, beans, cukes, zucchini going wild.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Urbanfarmer

The only variety that is still setting for us is JD's. Amazing! We have plenty of others yet to ripen. Skins are getting a bit thick.

The big story so far is zero stinkbugs. But we've been spraying regularly with an encapsulated pyrethrum.

Chiles, eggplant, beans, cukes, zucchini going wild.

I have found JD's to be one of the ones that still puts out some good sized fruit even in the heat of summer; but Indian Stripe is the champ for me. I didn't plant many of my black tomatoes out until mid May and I'm still putting them out. IS, CP, JD's, Spudakee, DDR, BK and a few others are the main varieties I plant for late summer and early fall production because of their ability to set fruit in the heat and the improved taste from growing in the hot drier weather.

Bill

My J.D.'s was only mediocre in a great tomato garden last year. This year, it is the star of my five member, black tomato grouping. It has a lot of large fruit on it while the other four are only mediocre at this point. J.D.'s has a large number of large tomatoes ready to ripen. Amazon Chocolate, Black From Tula, Indian Stripe, and Bear Creek have only a few tomatoes each. All of them are about three weeks behind in development compared to last year.

Ted

[Algyros]

Now that it's mid June, I was wondering when other Texans (or gardeners with similar climates) put out new tomatoes for the fall.

[Keger]

Algyros, you will see them in July. But if you want to give it a shot, I would do mid-late August where you are.

[tlintx]

I sowed in mid-April for plant out over the last couple of weeks. Will sow from last week until the end of next week or so for plant out in August.

The ones from April look just fine, as a whole, but I planted a lot of Wild Boar Farms and they're ridiculously hardy. Still relatively small (just about time to trellis) -- just hasn't been a lot of sun, and then when there is, there's too much!

I'm putting together a list of heat-set varieties for my summer tomatoes from this thread for next year. JD's Special Tex is on the list -- I'm sorry I passed it up when I had several chances at it this year!

[Urbanfarmer]

Originally Posted by tedln

My J.D.'s was only mediocre in a great tomato garden last year. This year, it is the star of my five member, black tomato grouping. It has a lot of large fruit on it while the other four are only mediocre at this point. J.D.'s has a large number of large tomatoes ready to ripen. Amazon Chocolate, Black From Tula, Indian Stripe, and Bear Creek have only a few tomatoes each. All of them are about three weeks behind in development compared to last year.

Ted

It's always interesting how seed batches differ for the same named variety. Some good, some not so........

[Dewayne mater]

Ted - it was a strange Spring by Texas standards with the cold fronts that kept on coming. I spent some time this morning removing diseased leaves that I hit with Bill's bleach spray 48 hours ago. Then I followed up with a dousing of a mix of copper and manzecob to hopefully protect them going forward for a bit. Fair amount of early blight on some plants, fair amount of grey mold on some others, but probably 1/3 of plants have no disease at all.

It is astounding how behind the plants are this year. I definitely won't have the numbers this year, but the plants are huge, green, still blossoming like crazy, most have their main crop still green and most also have little tomatoes a long ways away from ripe. With the results from Tx Tom Food, I'm going to have to learn how to prune much better next year. My plants are a jungle of growth, both in the ground and in earthtainers. I'm going to try to take a few pics to document the overall hugeness and healthiness of them. The healthiness has been also aided by more proactivity on my part of removal of diseased leaves and a rotation of various anti fungals.

So far, I've basically only had sun golds and black and brown boar ripen, but, a wave of all kinds of beefsteaks appear to be days to a week or more away from ripening. It will be interesting to see if the skins are thick and tough because of the super late ripening. That hasn't been the case on the sungolds so far. Weird, weird year.

Dewayne mater

[coastal bend]

How will the hotter weather effect the fruit. Down here it is already in the high 90's. My crop was not what it should of been because of the Cold fronts that showed up the 2nd week of April. That 50 mph cold wind messed up my tomato's and even though they rippend and looked good they had no taste. The plants lost the blooms and didn't start again for 2 1/2 weeks. I finally did get some toms that tasted like a tomato. With the heat the only plants that still hanging in there are Arkansas traveler and some Big Beef. After last years great tomato crop this one was disappointing.

I picked my first ripe cherry tomatoes a few days ago and they tasted really good. Blush is outstanding in taste, but only one half as productive as Cherry Roma. So far Cherry Roma is producing a tiny plum shaped tomato with a great tomato taste. I think the fruit will get larger as the season proceeds. I can't describe the taste of blush except to say it is very good with possibly a fruity after taste. I like the Blush variety because it does make a larger plum shaped tomato. My other two cherry varieties are performing very well as usual. Juliet is a tomato producing machine, as is Porters Improved. For production, you can't beat them; but they do not have outstanding taste. The Juliets do have a decent tomato taste this year unlike most years.

We have eaten a few full sized tomatoes that ripened on the vine. Orange Minsk was very good, but the normal red and pink varieties are a little flat in taste. I always expect the flat taste from the first tomatoes harvested. As summer heats and tomatoes mature in the heat, the flavors normally improve dramatically.

My biggest surprise of the season has been a hybrid named Phoenix. I planted one purchased plant in my fall garden last year and it performed very well. I purchased two plants this year and they suffered through the weather problems this past spring as my open pollinated, varieties did. When the weather stabilized, the Phoenix plants started growing very well. I didn't believe they were setting any fruit as most of my tomato plants seemed reluctant to set fruit. I picked one ripe tomato last week. While moving the foliage to reach the ripe tomato, I noticed the plant/plants are absolutely loaded with tomatoes of various sizes. They will probably be the most productive plants in this years garden with perfectly shaped and flawless fruit. They are supposedly a determinate variety, but they are not acting determinate. They continue to bloom and set fruit as I pick ripe fruit.

I had an accidental cross last year of Limbaughs Potato top and Fourth Of July hybrid. I planted a single RL plant of the F1 last fall which produced tennis ball sized tomatoes . The plant was healthy and large in my fall garden. I planted another F1 of the cross this spring in a large container. Again, the plant grew quickly and is again producing tennis ball sized tomatoes unlike either of the parent varieties. I will harvest seed and plant out a couple of F2 plants this fall. It is an interesting tomato.

Ted

[Cindyb1969]

I'm now fighting either rabbits or big birds. Seriously....can a girl catch a break? Just got calcium for the BER a couple of days ago, lightly sprayed for the grasshoppers that probably won't be an issue. Off to get more bird netting. I still have nothing ripe yet. One of the munched ones from last night (low hanging, but in an Earthbox) had blush on the backside. I'm patiently waiting, but apparently a watched tomato never blushes!

[Cindyb1969]

Does anyone use suckers or the tops of their spring tomatoes as their fall plants?

[tlintx]

I wasn't planning on it, but my Juliet is overrunning its space and will need to be removed soon. So maybe I'll try with that one.

Question of my own. What is the bug that's four inches long, silver, and has iridescent green wings? Besides horrible, that is? Is that what makes the noise in trees that no native Texan seems to notice but I hear constantly... chitter... chitter... chitter...

Originally Posted by Cindyb1969

Does anyone use suckers or the tops of their spring tomatoes as their fall plants?

Yep! All the time.

Ted

tlnitx,

I've never seen one four inches long, but the singing in the trees are cicada as you described them. Many people call them locusts, but locusts are in fact a migrating form of grasshopper. It's funny, but I no longer notice them. Right now, they are so loud outside the house it's difficult to hear anything else but until I read your post, I hadn't thought of them. I'm waiting for the coyotes to start howling and drown the cicada out. In southern Louisiana, we had tree frogs capable of drowning out the noise of the cicada with their constant chirping. There is no such thing as a quite summer evening.

Ted