What to choose for new weather in the North East?

[Elliot]

Last year we lost our tomato crop by mid august due to heat stress. What one garden expert advised is to choose tomato plants that grow better in hotter Souther climates. Any ideas?

[TightenUp]

in my norther NJ garden

kelloggs breakfast and cherokee purple both did very well last season

all my cherries did well - black cherry, sungold f1, husky cherry, sweet 100 and super sweet 100

for years my father had good success with rutgers, ramapo, burpee big girl, early girl, and any other seedlings bought at the local garden center.

[Elliot]

Originally Posted by TightenUp

in my norther NJ garden

kelloggs breakfast and cherokee purple both did very well last season

all my cherries did well - black cherry, sungold f1, husky cherry, sweet 100 and super sweet 100

for years my father had good success with rutgers, ramapo, burpee big girl, early girl, and any other seedlings bought at the local garden center.

Did Kelloggs breakfast and Cherokee purple do well for you last summer in the heat? We tried both and both got wiped out. The only tomatoes that lasted into the end of the summer were sweet 100 and some of the grape tomatoes.

[pinklady5]

I live in Central Jersey and last year I did 18 plants. I stepped it up from the usual 4 plants in the past. All produced well except for MP and lasted into September. It may have been luck. My hybrids were actually the worst producing plants for me. This is what I planted:

KBX
Earl's Faux
Marianna's Peace - survived but few fruit.
Cuostralee
Prudens Purple
Barlow Jap
Better Boy
Ramapo
Black Krim
Juanne Flamme
Black Cherry
Sungold

[TightenUp]

Originally Posted by Elliot

Did Kelloggs breakfast and Cherokee purple do well for you last summer in the heat? We tried both and both got wiped out. The only tomatoes that lasted into the end of the summer were sweet 100 and some of the grape tomatoes.

yes they did great. i heavily watered when the temps got high

[Father'sDaughter]

I don't recall if it got as hot here as it did where you are, but most of mine didn't seemed to be too bothered by our weather. The only ones that had low production for me were Perth Pride, Yukon Quest, Terhune, and a couple of the Tastywine and Boronia plants I grew for the Dwarf Project. But I don't know how much the weather was the cause.

The others were all happy as could be, and some of the pastes only really started producing when the weather got hotter. In addition to those mentioned above, I grew:

Red Pear
San Marzano Redorta
Rocky
Opalka
Casino
Jersey Devil
Costoluto Genovese
Russo Sicilian Togeta
Sorrento
Virginia Sweets
Pink Honey
Franchi cherry
Kimberley
Ailsa Craig
Iditarod Red
Yapnskiy Karlik
Dwarf Champion Improved

[Elliot]

[QUOTE=pinklady5;319274]I live in Central Jersey and last year I did 18 plants. I stepped it up from the usual 4 plants in the past. All produced well except for MP and lasted into September. It may have been luck. My hybrids were actually the worst producing plants for me. This is what I planted:


I wonder if you got the same degree of heat and humidity that Long Island got in the middle of the summer. It may only be a couple of degrees different that may have made the difference. I know that I had the worst tomato season in history. Most of my plants turned brown and died by the middle of august. One expert said it must have been a fungus and others say it was heat stress and I have to look into the varieties that they grow in the south . Who knows

[b54red]

I don't know if they are a pest up there but spider mites are usually a real problem when the weather gets near 100 for an extended time. I usually have good luck with most of the black tomatoes even when the temps exceed 100. The tomatoes will be smaller and there will be fewer of them in very hot weather. Judicious pruning of the plant to stop too many suckers will also help. I have found through trial and error that tomatoes need a lot of water and a bit of extra fertilizer to set fruit when the temperatures get above the mid 90s.

Over the years the following full size varieties have shown themselves to be fairly productive during the warmer times of summer and fall. They don't succeed every year but they have been repeatedly productive despite the heat. The one thing that will always slow or stop production is spider mites so be vigilant in watching for them.

Indian Stripe
Big Beef
Cherokee Purple
JD's Special C Tex
Dana's Dusky Rose
Gary O' Sena
Eva Purple Ball
Neves Azorean Red
Black Krim
Frank's Large Red
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red
KBX
Zogola
Lescana
Dr. Wyches Yellow
Terhune
Stump of the World
Kosovo
Fish Lake Oxheart
Marianna's Peace
Lumpy Red

[Elliot]

We tried black crim and prudence purple last summer. No good. The only tomatoes we got anything out of it was sweet 100 and grape. Even those dies early. What happened is that the branches started turning brown and this went right up each plant. Could it have been a blight? Maybe. Could it have been heat stess? More possibly because in September when the temperatures dropped, the plants looked like they were attempting to rejuvenate themselves but it was too late.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Elliot

We tried black crim and prudence purple last summer. No good. The only tomatoes we got anything out of it was sweet 100 and grape. Even those dies early. What happened is that the branches started turning brown and this went right up each plant. Could it have been a blight? Maybe. Could it have been heat stess? More possibly because in September when the temperatures dropped, the plants looked like they were attempting to rejuvenate themselves but it was too late.

That sounds almost like fusarium wilt which I have heard is not a problem up that far north but maybe it was verticillum wilt. I have never had good luck with Prudens Purple late into the summer but have done well with it early in the season. Black Krim has done well during the heat sometimes but not always. The best are Indian Stripe, Big Beef, Cherokee Purple, Neves Azorean Red and Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red.

Are you growing in containers? Did you check for spider mites?

[Elliot]

Originally Posted by b54red

That sounds almost like fusarium wilt which I have heard is not a problem up that far north but maybe it was verticillum wilt. I have never had good luck with Prudens Purple late into the summer but have done well with it early in the season. Black Krim has done well during the heat sometimes but not always. The best are Indian Stripe, Big Beef, Cherokee Purple, Neves Azorean Red and Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red.

Are you growing in containers? Did you check for spider mites?

I grow in containers and some in the ground. All of the plants had the same problem. Some were VNF resistant and these too went down.

[b54red]

Elliot it sounds like you either had a bad case of spider mites or insufficient watering. I doubt that you will have to worry about those blistering summers every year as we do down here; but if you do have another real heatwave like recently make sure you have a magnifying glass to check for spider mites and be generous with the water.

[Elliot]

OK, this is new to me. I never used a mag glass. How small are these mites and what do you do about them?

[b54red]

They are very small. If you have really excellent eyesight you should be able to see them moving on the underside of the infected leaves if you look long enough. It is much easier with magnification. As to what to do about them there are whole threads on the subject on this site which you can read.

I think it is interesting and almost funny that someone in the New York/New Jersey area is asking for suggested varieties to grow in his or her area. When I think of tomatoes, my mind seems to automatically picture New Jersey because it has such a rich historical relationship to commercially grown tomatoes. I also believe Cornell University performed some of the earliest research and development on tomatoes and tomato varieties. Florida later developed a historical reputation for commercial varieties. I seem to remember asking for heat tolerant suggestions when I first grew tomatoes in Louisiana and Texas. I would have been very happy to find a resource like Tomatoville when I first started. Unfortunately Al Gore didn't invent the internet until much later.

Ted