Need recommendation for a tomato in the south.

[Fusion_power]

I hesitate to weigh in on a very polarized issue, but perhaps a few thoughts will help. Humidity is a huge factor in fruit set for tomatoes. It is not just the heat, but the combination of heat and humidity that does the worst damage and prevents pollination. The best of the heat set tomatoes gain about 4 degrees on the temperature side of this equation. Unfortunately, I've not yet found a really good heat set variety. Of the varieties I've grown that have decent flavor, Tropic, Creole, and Burgundy Traveler are my suggestions for best chance of producing fruit in the middle of the summer.

I generally do not set out tomatoes in June or July. It is too much work keeping diseases under control. This has nothing to do with heat. I have planted tomatoes in August that made a very good crop during the fall.

[jtjmartin]

Thanks Mischka. Until you just mentioned it, I never knew what the warning sign icon was for.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

I hesitate to weigh in on a very polarized issue, but perhaps a few thoughts will help. Humidity is a huge factor in fruit set for tomatoes. It is not just the heat, but the combination of heat and humidity that does the worst damage and prevents pollination. The best of the heat set tomatoes gain about 4 degrees on the temperature side of this equation. Unfortunately, I've not yet found a really good heat set variety. Of the varieties I've grown that have decent flavor, Tropic, Creole, and Burgundy Traveler are my suggestions for best chance of producing fruit in the middle of the summer.

I generally do not set out tomatoes in June or July. It is too much work keeping diseases under control. This has nothing to do with heat. I have planted tomatoes in August that made a very good crop during the fall.

You need to give ISPL a try. I have others that do okay in the worst heat and humidity but none of them compare to ISPL in both setting and making fruit in these harsh conditions. Surprisingly Pruden's Purple does fairly well in the heat which is really odd for a pink beefsteak, most of which do terrible in high heat and humidity. I have never tried Burgundy Traveler but Arkansas Traveler is one that always gets planted in June and July because it is fairly reliable in the summer heat but it does far better as it cools off a bit and the humidity lowers with fall conditions. Limbaugh's Legacy is a favorite of mine for fall production. It survives the summer plant out well and makes some really large nice beefsteaks in the fall.

I continue to experiment with more varieties trying to find more that are suitable for summer production but it is a slow and frustrating process because so many do so poorly during that time of the season. Last year I planted around 15 varieties that I haven't tried yet for late summer production but all were lost due to the unexpected arrival of TYLCV which wiped out my summer and fall tomatoes just when they were starting to set fruit. I may try again this year; but if I see any indications of TYLCV this summer I will just not plant for fall this year. I am hoping the cooler than average winter we had will prevent its re-occurrence.

Bill

[Goodloe]

Originally Posted by Dark Rumor

Roll Tide

Was wandering around on here...BAMA fans are everywhere! ROLL TIDE!

[ScottinAtlanta]

While I have about 1% of the experience of Bill, I wanted to add a couple of varieties that have done really well for me in the heat of Atlanta:

Cherokee Purple is the star of the show, every year. Keeps pumping.
Dona F1 has done really well for me (seeds from Paris, don't know how to get them in US)
Spears Tennessee Green - very reliable, a bit better than Cherokee Green for me.

Folks can laugh at Jaune Flamme, but I grow it on a trellis like a cherry, and it produces until the first frost. Great pretty egg-sized tomato.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

While I have about 1% of the experience of Bill, I wanted to add a couple of varieties that have done really well for me in the heat of Atlanta:

Cherokee Purple is the star of the show, every year. Keeps pumping.
Dona F1 has done really well for me (seeds from Paris, don't know how to get them in US)
Spears Tennessee Green - very reliable, a bit better than Cherokee Green for me.

Folks can laugh at Jaune Flamme, but I grow it on a trellis like a cherry, and it produces until the first frost. Great pretty egg-sized tomato.

Scott have you tried Spudakee? It is the potato leaf version of Cherokee Purple. I grew the regular leaf CP for a few years until I compared the two types side by side for a few seasons. I found that Spudakee had a bit more disease tolerance and put out more fruit and was more consistent overall so I just dropped growing the regular leaf CP.

I have grown a few GWRs and only had limited success with most of them. I have never grown Spears Tennessee Green. I did like the flavor of Grubs Mystery Green the best of all them that I tried. It also produced fairly consistently. I have actually set out two this year but grafted so I will see how it does. I did find that like the black tomatoes the GWRs were more prone to gray mold than the reds, pinks and yellow varieties.

As too all of that experience I have, a great deal of it has been fairly bad. That is the main reason I post of my trials and errors so others won't have to go through some of those unpleasant things. I am sure that a lot of my experiences seem bizarre to those in regions with less harsh growing conditions but maybe if all of us down here continue posting we can keep helping each other have a bit more success. I almost always mention Tomatoville and how helpful it can be by joining and participating in the discussions when I am asked by novice gardeners for some advice on growing tomatoes.

Bill

[ScottinAtlanta]

I have never tried Spudakee - I have some seeds, but never got around to them. I will give them a go this year. Thanks for the idea.

I am a huge fan of the GWRs, not least because the they confuse the squirrels and so have a higher survival rate. Spears for me is the most consistent larger slicer in that category - big sprawling bushes that need a lot of staking for heavy fruit.

[Gardeneer]

In my garden cherry and small size tomatoes did well last uear , like sungold , Stupice and couple of my own finds from store bought. ISPL did well too. Brandy Boy stopped early. Limmony and ARGG did ok.
Anyway
By then I was not looking for prodiction so much. I had shared alot and had made over 10 hallons of sauce.

[HoustonHeat]

I Houston I like the Big Beef, Black Krim, Brandy Wine.
I have a Better Bush Hybrid that seems to be very productive but am concerned I mislabeled it. Not 100% certain.