Seeking low-heat varieties

Parker Street · December 26, 2014

I'm looking for recommendations of tomato varieties (any color, any size) to try here in Berkeley, CA, Sunset zone 17. This is a maritime-influenced climate with little temperature contrast. In the winter we get rain and almost no frost; in summer we get no rain. Average daily high temperature in July is 74 degrees, with a low of 53; temperatures are not much different from May through September. Summer skies are often overcast, especially in the morning and late afternoon when what we call "fog" (though it's not on the ground) comes in off the ocean. Tourists from other states, thinking that summer means hot weather, freeze in their shorts and t-shirts after 5 pm.

The tomatoes I grow are OK, and folks tell me they are great, but they are not nearly as flavorful as some I've had in other states. The usual advice for us is to grow cool-climate tomatoes, but "cool climate" can mean a lot of things, like warm days and cold nights, short growing seasons, etc. The tomato challenge here is not so much cold as lack of heat. Tomatoes don't sweeten up, some varieties rot on the vine, and many varieties develop powdery mildew and other fungal diseases. (I have clay soil amended with lots of organic matter, and use drip irrigation. I grow on tall stakes and prune some.)

Varieties that stay healthy, produce well, and taste relatively good include Early Girl, Sungold, Sprite, Stupice, Tigerella, Black Cherry, Matina, Jaune Flamme, Red Currant, Sweet Million, and Sasha's Altai. Varieties that stay healthy and produce but don't taste good are Juliet, Taxi, and Blondköpfchen. Varieties that have failed for me include Green Zebra and Anne's Russian (early death), Siletz (micro plants, poor flavor), and Black Cherokee (rots on vine). The Wild Boar Farms varieties I've tried (Pink Berkeley Tie Dyed, Large Barred Boar, AAA Sweet Solano, Brad's Black Heart) did poorly. Maybe it was a bad year, but I suspect they need more heat, as there are many things grown in Napa Valley that fail here.

I will be grateful for any suggestions!
Kate

Cole_Robbie · December 26, 2014

Build a hoop house?

saltmarsh · December 27, 2014

Excellent post, a very good description of your growing conditions.

Tatiana is introducing a Russian tomato called 0-33 (I can't abide tomatoes with a number for a name, so all my customers will know it as "Bingo"). You can read a discription here, as well as purchase the seeds.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/0...b=General_Info

I'm trying it in 2015 here in Mississippi along with my son in Michigan. Tatiana is a treasure, I can't recommend her highly enough. Claud

joseph · December 27, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker Street

Early Girl, Sungold... Matina...

Those are varieties that are highly favored in my area: A mountain valley with cold radiant-cooled nights and short season. To this list for earliness and productivity I would add Jagodka. A longer season tomato that thrives here is DX52-12, also known as Hamson's available from Mountain Valley Seed. Celebrity is widely planted in this area. I think that tomatoes taste bad in general, so can't comment reliably on flavor. I want to grow Stupice this year (for the flowers).

joseph · December 27, 2014

.....

maf · December 27, 2014

The conditions you describe are similar to what we get in the UK. A few worth trying are Pervaya Lyubov, Tsar Kolokol, Japanese Black Trifele and Paul Robeson.

I can get a crop from the Wild Boar Farms varieties here, but to be honest they are generally pretty late when grown outdoors, they perform better in the greenhouse.

Fusion_power · December 27, 2014

I grew several early varieties last year. Some of them would be good suggestions for your area.

Krainiy Sever
Wheatly Frost Resistant
Early Wonder
Earlinorth
Pink Ping Pong
O-33 (I second this recommendation!)

If you have not tried them, I suggest growing a plant or two of Druzba and Nepal to see how they do. They are not in the category of the varieties above, but I've had better than average growth from them in colder and wetter than normal springtime.

daninpd · December 27, 2014

I'm on the back end of Monterey Bay and some years envy you your Berkeley climate. In difficult years Siletz, Clear Pink Early, Sheyenne, Sioux and Murray Smith (developed at Cal Poly for the Central Coast) have all done well for me. Last year Pink Berkeley Tie Dye was the 1st full size to ripen for me and was the taste winner for the season. You probably can't go wrong with any of the Wild Boar Farms varieties. Look for any varieties developed in Canada or at OSU (like Siletz). Look for anything with "Siberia" in the name-next year I'm planning Korol Sibiri (King of Siberia). Also check out the "cool climate" varieties Gary Ibsen offers at Tomatofest. He's a Central Coast guy and pays attention to that stuff.

Good luck!

heirloomtomaguy · December 27, 2014

One named after that dense overcast that might work for you would be san francisco fog. I mean its in the name it is meant to be.

Fred Hempel · December 27, 2014

Our first variety, Maglia Rosa, was bred in gardens in Berkeley and Hayward. Blush selection was started in these gardens.

Blush and Maglia Rosa were used to make the Artisan Cherry tomatoes which perform well in cooler sites in the Bay Area.

Other tomatoes that did well for us in the fog were Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, Speckled Roman, Northern Lights and Silvery Fir Tree.

December 26, 2014	#1
Parker Street Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Berkeley, CA Posts: 2	Seeking low-heat varieties I'm looking for recommendations of tomato varieties (any color, any size) to try here in Berkeley, CA, Sunset zone 17. This is a maritime-influenced climate with little temperature contrast. In the winter we get rain and almost no frost; in summer we get no rain. Average daily high temperature in July is 74 degrees, with a low of 53; temperatures are not much different from May through September. Summer skies are often overcast, especially in the morning and late afternoon when what we call "fog" (though it's not on the ground) comes in off the ocean. Tourists from other states, thinking that summer means hot weather, freeze in their shorts and t-shirts after 5 pm. The tomatoes I grow are OK, and folks tell me they are great, but they are not nearly as flavorful as some I've had in other states. The usual advice for us is to grow cool-climate tomatoes, but "cool climate" can mean a lot of things, like warm days and cold nights, short growing seasons, etc. The tomato challenge here is not so much cold as lack of heat. Tomatoes don't sweeten up, some varieties rot on the vine, and many varieties develop powdery mildew and other fungal diseases. (I have clay soil amended with lots of organic matter, and use drip irrigation. I grow on tall stakes and prune some.) Varieties that stay healthy, produce well, and taste relatively good include Early Girl, Sungold, Sprite, Stupice, Tigerella, Black Cherry, Matina, Jaune Flamme, Red Currant, Sweet Million, and Sasha's Altai. Varieties that stay healthy and produce but don't taste good are Juliet, Taxi, and Blondköpfchen. Varieties that have failed for me include Green Zebra and Anne's Russian (early death), Siletz (micro plants, poor flavor), and Black Cherokee (rots on vine). The Wild Boar Farms varieties I've tried (Pink Berkeley Tie Dyed, Large Barred Boar, AAA Sweet Solano, Brad's Black Heart) did poorly. Maybe it was a bad year, but I suspect they need more heat, as there are many things grown in Napa Valley that fail here. I will be grateful for any suggestions! Kate

December 27, 2014	#3
saltmarsh Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: 2 miles south of Yoknapatawpha Zone 7b Posts: 662	Seeking low-heat varieties Excellent post, a very good description of your growing conditions. Tatiana is introducing a Russian tomato called 0-33 (I can't abide tomatoes with a number for a name, so all my customers will know it as "Bingo"). You can read a discription here, as well as purchase the seeds. http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/0...b=General_Info I'm trying it in 2015 here in Mississippi along with my son in Michigan. Tatiana is a treasure, I can't recommend her highly enough. Claud

December 27, 2014	#6
maf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: England Posts: 512	The conditions you describe are similar to what we get in the UK. A few worth trying are Pervaya Lyubov, Tsar Kolokol, Japanese Black Trifele and Paul Robeson. I can get a crop from the Wild Boar Farms varieties here, but to be honest they are generally pretty late when grown outdoors, they perform better in the greenhouse. Last edited by maf; December 27, 2014 at 01:38 AM.

December 27, 2014	#8
daninpd Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: Prunedale, CA Posts: 134	I'm on the back end of Monterey Bay and some years envy you your Berkeley climate. In difficult years Siletz, Clear Pink Early, Sheyenne, Sioux and Murray Smith (developed at Cal Poly for the Central Coast) have all done well for me. Last year Pink Berkeley Tie Dye was the 1st full size to ripen for me and was the taste winner for the season. You probably can't go wrong with any of the Wild Boar Farms varieties. Look for any varieties developed in Canada or at OSU (like Siletz). Look for anything with "Siberia" in the name-next year I'm planning Korol Sibiri (King of Siberia). Also check out the "cool climate" varieties Gary Ibsen offers at Tomatofest. He's a Central Coast guy and pays attention to that stuff. Good luck! __________________ I started out with nothing and I've still got most of it left.

December 27, 2014	#9
heirloomtomaguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: glendora ca Posts: 2,560	One named after that dense overcast that might work for you would be san francisco fog. I mean its in the name it is meant to be. __________________ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

December 26, 2014	#2
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Build a hoop house?

December 27, 2014	#5
joseph Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: Cache Valley, N/E of The Great Salt Lake Posts: 1,244	.....

December 27, 2014	#7
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	I grew several early varieties last year. Some of them would be good suggestions for your area. Krainiy Sever Wheatly Frost Resistant Early Wonder Earlinorth Pink Ping Pong O-33 (I second this recommendation!) If you have not tried them, I suggest growing a plant or two of Druzba and Nepal to see how they do. They are not in the category of the varieties above, but I've had better than average growth from them in colder and wetter than normal springtime.

December 27, 2014	#10
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	Our first variety, Maglia Rosa, was bred in gardens in Berkeley and Hayward. Blush selection was started in these gardens. Blush and Maglia Rosa were used to make the Artisan Cherry tomatoes which perform well in cooler sites in the Bay Area. Other tomatoes that did well for us in the fog were Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, Speckled Roman, Northern Lights and Silvery Fir Tree.