2017 tentative grow list

I've planted mine for the year, too. I waited a couple weeks longer to start than last year since the tomatoes were getting old by transplant time then (with a few exceptions).

Here they are (including several repeats from previous years, from the seeds I saved the last year I grew each; I may be missing a few, but I think this is all):

* Brazilian Beauty
* Matina
* Thessaloniki
* Green Pear
* Chocolate Pear
* Pink Cheeks
* Porter
* Medovaya Kaplya
* Black Giant
* Mexican Yellow
* Yellow Trifele
* The tomato that was supposed to be Ambrosia Red last year
* Dark Galaxy
* Amethyst Jewel
* Menehune
* Green Giant
* Pruden's Purple (third year; hopefully that means it'll be more used to semi-arid air)
* Oroma
* Black Beauty
* Sweetie cherry (from two sources)
* Anna Russian
* Anna Banana Russian
* Orange and Green Zebra
* Thessaloniki Ox Heart
* Creole
* Aussie
* Mountain Princess
* Glacier
* Monroe
* Husky Cherry Red F4 (two different lines at F4)
* North Dakota Earliana
* Snow Fairy
* Early Cascade
* Girl Girl's Weird Thing
* Tiffen Mennonite
* Black Bear
* Early Wonder
* Urbikany
* Maglia Rosa
* Extreme Bush
* Bushy Chabarovsky
* Marmande
* Moskvich
* Missouri Pink Love Apple
* Cosmonaut Volkov
* Julia Child
* Ron's Carbon Copy
* Ildi
* Rosella Purple
* White Queen
* Golden Queen
* Tatura
* Grosse Lisse
* Pervaya Lyubov
* Sasha Altai
* Reisetomate
* Sub Arctic Plenty
* African Brown
* Evergreen
* Kara Market
* Graham's Good Keeper
* First Pick
* 42 Days
* Forest Fire
* Red Rocket
* Napa Giant
* Chapman
* George Detsikas Italian Red
* Jackie
* McGee
* Chocolate Stripes
* Clear Pink Early
* Soldacki
* Taxi
* Manitoba
* Silvery Fir Tree
* Good Old Fashioned Red
* Rosabec
* Payette
* Scary Larry
* New Yorker V
* Break O' Day
* Talbot Russian
* Parkenham Pear
* Red Beauty
* Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
* Sweet Orange Cherry
* Valencia
* Black
* Sweet Ozark Orange
* Blue Beauty
* Cuor Di Bue
* Indigo Apple
* Early Girl F2
* Sakharnyi Pudovichok
* Gregori Altai
* Super Snow White
* Gargamel
* Amana Orange

I tried to narrow it down, but I planted about the same amount as last year, and some of those I meant to plant will have to wait for another time.

[tryno12]

i have about 30 and no matches to any of yours? wow, i have a lot to learn. growing mostly dwarf determinate/tree types hope they germinate soon, or do i? then gotta babysit with a different kind of light bulb - "light" instead of "heat" i'm new at this.....................

Originally Posted by tryno12

i have about 30 and no matches to any of yours? wow, i have a lot to learn. growing mostly dwarf determinate/tree types hope they germinate soon, or do i? then gotta babysit with a different kind of light bulb - "light" instead of "heat" i'm new at this.....................

I updated my list (see my older post). The tomatoes are planted! =) So, maybe you have a few on it now. I got my peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries, some melons, and some other stuff planted.

There are probably over 20k tomato varieties out there, if you count hybrids. I wouldn't feel bad. I'm still scratching the surface of what's out there, myself.

Some of mine are dwarfs and several are determinate, but most should be indeterminate.

[JosephineRose]

Shule, tell me about your Thessaloniki. How big do the fruits get?

I tried seed from Sustainable Seed Co. a few years ago, that claimed to produce baseball sized fruit. I got small mealy, tasteless tomatoes. I was not impressed.

I continue to hear raves about the variety, though. And this year two local organic growers were selling Thessaloniki plants at the farmer's market, raving about the flavor and showing photos of their palm sized fruit. I'd try that in a heartbeat, if I felt confident it was the Thessaloniki I've been hearing about for years.

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by shule1

I've planted mine for the year, too. I waited a couple weeks longer to start than last year since the tomatoes were getting old by transplant time then (with a few exceptions).

Here they are (including several repeats from previous years, from the seeds I saved the last year I grew each; I may be missing a few, but I think this is all):

* Brazilian Beauty
* Matina
* Thessaloniki
* Green Pear
* Chocolate Pear
* Pink Cheeks
* Porter
* Medovaya Kaplya
* Black Giant
* Mexican Yellow
* Yellow Trifele
* The tomato that was supposed to be Ambrosia Red last year
* Dark Galaxy
* Amethyst Jewel
* Menehune
* Green Giant
* Pruden's Purple (third year; hopefully that means it'll be more used to semi-arid air)
* Oroma
* Black Beauty
* Sweetie cherry (from two sources)
* Anna Russian
* Anna Banana Russian
* Orange and Green Zebra
* Thessaloniki Ox Heart
* Creole
* Aussie
* Mountain Princess
* Glacier
* Monroe
* Husky Cherry Red F4 (two different lines at F4)
* North Dakota Earliana
* Snow Fairy
* Early Cascade
* Girl Girl's Weird Thing
* Tiffen Mennonite
* Black Bear
* Early Wonder
* Urbikany
* Maglia Rosa
* Extreme Bush
* Bushy Chabarovsky
* Marmande
* Moskvich
* Missouri Pink Love Apple
* Cosmonaut Volkov
* Julia Child
* Ron's Carbon Copy
* Ildi
* Rosella Purple
* White Queen
* Golden Queen
* Tatura
* Grosse Lisse
* Pervaya Lyubov
* Sasha Altai
* Reisetomate
* Sub Arctic Plenty
* African Brown
* Evergreen
* Kara Market
* Graham's Good Keeper
* First Pick
* 42 Days
* Forest Fire
* Red Rocket
* Napa Giant
* Chapman
* George Detsikas Italian Red
* Jackie
* McGee
* Chocolate Stripes
* Clear Pink Early
* Soldacki
* Taxi
* Manitoba
* Silvery Fir Tree
* Good Old Fashioned Red
* Rosabec
* Payette
* Scary Larry
* New Yorker V
* Break O' Day
* Talbot Russian
* Parkenham Pear
* Red Beauty
* Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
* Sweet Orange Cherry
* Valencia
* Black
* Sweet Ozark Orange
* Blue Beauty
* Cuor Di Bue
* Indigo Apple
* Early Girl F2
* Sakharnyi Pudovichok
* Gregori Altai
* Super Snow White
* Gargamel
* Amana Orange

I tried to narrow it down, but I planted about the same amount as last year, and some of those I meant to plant will have to wait for another time.

Shule, I think you forgot one. Let me check. No, you got em all! . Jimbo

[cecilsgarden1958]

Well, I have the seedlings started and I will buy 3 locally. Here's the list.

Think Pink
Big Daddy
Big Mama
Buck's County
Sky Reacher
Tye Dye
Orange Wellington
Champion II
Early Treat
Big Beef*
Carolina Gold*
Carolina Gold*
Jaune Flamme'
Mint Julep
Indigo Rose

*Will purchase bought grafted plants

[tryno12]

what type of light/heat do you use for the newly sprouted seeds - here in central Indiana it is too cold to put them out - incandecence - cfl - led?? i only have like 72 cells(200 seedlings)
thanks

[tryno12]

i do see a match!! one i wanted but did not get seed - maybe next year Ron's Carbon Copy

[Jonnyhat]

Originally Posted by tryno12

what type of light/heat do you use for the newly sprouted seeds - here in central Indiana it is too cold to put them out - incandecence - cfl - led?? i only have like 72 cells(200 seedlings)
thanks

I use a 400w MH set about 3ft above the grow area, gives me the room and the warmth to put 5 50 cell flats out, after 2 weeks I move them to cooler T5s so they arent lanky and bush out. it also helps with the hardening off process. and then my big light is there for other starter crops.

Originally Posted by JosephineRose

Shule, tell me about your Thessaloniki. How big do the fruits get?

I tried seed from Sustainable Seed Co. a few years ago, that claimed to produce baseball sized fruit. I got small mealy, tasteless tomatoes. I was not impressed.

I continue to hear raves about the variety, though. And this year two local organic growers were selling Thessaloniki plants at the farmer's market, raving about the flavor and showing photos of their palm sized fruit. I'd try that in a heartbeat, if I felt confident it was the Thessaloniki I've been hearing about for years.

Gladly. It's one of my three favorite varieties. Mine aren't baseball-sized. They're softball-sized! I got mine from here. However, it might be how you grow it that makes the difference; I'm not sure; I've only grown it once (that was in 2016). Here's how I grew mine: I grew them in clay soil that has been amended into something else over the years. I gave them wood ash and peat moss. I watered them a lot with an oscillating sprinkler the first half of the season (it's semi-arid here; so that's not as horrible for the plants as it sounds), with city water. I grew two plants. They were crowded by other tomatoes, except on one side. They were somewhat later than advertized, but bigger, too, and the productivity made up for it. They're super easy to find on the plant, and easy to harvest. I didn't give them compost or anything. I don't think I fertilized them at all, but I may have given them some monopotassium phosphate or monoammonium phosphate once at the beginning of the season. I started them in an unheated greenhouse in the middle of March with worm castings (with a little peat moss) for the seed-starting mixture. I transplanted them in May. We had a very hot and dry summer. The fruits all seemed to be uniformly softball-sized and round, without blemishes.

Creole's fruits had the same taste, shape and texture, and were almost as big (and they were earlier), but they weren't as easy to find on the plant.

Many big tomatoes were kind of mealy or mild in those growing conditions, until late in the season, but Thessaloniki had excellent texture and good taste consistently. Smaller tomato varieties usually tasted the best. Anyway, those aren't your typical growing conditions. So, I thought I'd tell you in case something in there helps.

Originally Posted by Jimbotomateo

Shule, I think you forgot one. Let me check. No, you got em all! . Jimbo

You're awesome.

[cecilsgarden1958]

Originally Posted by tryno12

what type of light/heat do you use for the newly sprouted seeds - here in central Indiana it is too cold to put them out - incandecence - cfl - led?? i only have like 72 cells(200 seedlings)
thanks

I just use shop light with two different type bulbs. Have for years. Works great. Keep 1" above seedlings. (This is after they germinate, not before)

Originally Posted by tryno12

i do see a match!! one i wanted but did not get seed - maybe next year Ron's Carbon Copy

Ron's Carbon Copy tastes great. It's very sweet (the most consistently sweet tomato I've grown so far). I grew that one last year.

About your other reply, for starting seeds, I use an unheated 6'x5'x3' Strong Camel greenhouse, with sunlight for light. It works pretty well, so far. I'm on my second year with it. I did grow lights before that (I used 6500k and 2700k CFLs) under and on folding tables surrounded with mylar emergency blankets (and just window light before that). I got tired of lights being on a lot, having all the lamps and stuff there, mold in my room from the humidity that seemed to be caused by the humidity resulting from watering all the plants, space issues, and indoor plant diseases/pests causing issues. Then there's the electricity requirement. So, I decided to be adventurous and see if I could sprout seeds in an unheated greenhouse. It worked! But I learned that you need ventilation even when it's freezing (if you want seeds to germinate during that time, or the plants to flourish), and that even watermelons can germinate in such conditions. Anyway, it's free light and heat. It only takes up garden space. The plants seem happier, and they're more used to outdoor conditions at transplant time. The plants don't get leggy, either.

I didn't do as many plants indoors.

I do overseed, though, a lot of the time, in case the conditions affect germination rates (although I'm not sure they do). If freezing temperatures do happen to kill a few plants, the overseeding is nice, since new ones germinate in their stead. I only had cold kill a few of my seedlings, and I think it was due to freezing wind.

The sunlight and ventilation seem to help keep diseases away. I think the worm castings in the seed-starting mix perhaps also help there, due to some beneficial microbes. It's too cold for many pests, still, and when it was warm, I didn't have issues with them coming in the greenhouse, other than a few slugs.

The greenhouse can be used for seed-starting here when the night-time temperatures don't go far below freezing. I keep both side vents open all the time, even when it freezes, unless it gets very cold (then I may close one of them, or if I don't mind losing a day on germination time and growth, both of them).

Well, my first greenhouse seeds are sprouting, today! But—it's okra! 'Red Velvet' and 'Jade'. That's pretty interesting, anyway. Okra took a really long time to germinate via direct-seeding last year (when it was warm, even). I guess it must either like the worm castings or the greenhouse environment (notwithstanding it's unheated). The greenhouse gets pretty warm in the day, though.

I'm guessing I'll have some tomatoes along soon, but they can take longer to germinate in an unheated greenhouse—at least in March (like two weeks to germination, or more for some varieties). Maybe they're faster in April. The ones in a foam cup that I planted in April last year only took a few days. This year, I've got one in a foam cup and the others in trays/cells, all planted in April. The others I planted last year were all in seed trays/cells, planted in March.

[Gardeneer]

Shule1,
Nice list. I went through it and realized that I have just grown/growing 8 of those in your list. ( 4 this year, 4 in the past). Not bad.