Fall is here and I'm preparing for cooler weather, cleaning up the garden and reviewing how things went this year. My second tomato crop is going strong after the first crop was carted off by raccoons. The tomatoes in the greenhouse were started months later and are just now beginning to blossom like crazy and put on clusters of fruit. I'm thinking about starting a few more plants to see how they do in the greenhouse over the winter.
In the past I've simply bought tomato plants based on previous experience. Best Boy, Better Boy and Patio. Occasionally, I would pick a wildcard, based on the name, description or the picture on the marker. In doing my research for growing from seeds, I read a great deal and learned a few things no one ever told me before.
First of all, the term "heirloom" refers to plants that are open-pollinated--in other words, seeds can be saved, year after year, from the fruits and produce the same results.
Hybrid, a term I was familiar with, refers to plants produced from the seed of cross-pollinated plants. The two parent plants are chosen from carefully selected open-pollinated plants that have desirable traits--say one plant is disease resistant and the other produces extra-large fruit. When crossed you get extra-large fruit on plants that are disease resistant. The hybrid fruit's seeds cannot be saved for planting, as their seeds will produce wildly inconsistent results. Plants from the two original parents must be crossed every year to produce usable hybrid seeds.
Plants come in two basic types--determinate and indeterminate. Determinate refers to plants that grow to a fairly standard height and then stop growing. These are often referred to as bush types. They also put on almost all of their fruit at the same time and ripen all at once. These tend to be the canning and sauce tomatoes, developed over many generations to standardize particular qualities and allow for a single harvest.
Indeterminate refers to plants that continue to grow, requiring trellises or tomato cages for support. If left unsupported, the plants will double over, crimping or breaking the stalks. They produce their fruit over the entire season. This works best for slicing and salad tomatoes that are eaten fresh.
My tomato (and pepper) seeds came from tradewindsfruit.com late last fall. I wanted three basic tomato types: slicing, snack/salad, and canning/sauce tomatoes. Tradwinds Fruits has an amazing variety of tomatoes, so I had to narrow it down further. I decided to only grow red tomatoes and only two varieties of each, at most, and I used lowest price as the next factor. After all, it was going to be my first experience starting tomatoes from seed.
My first choice was a red beefsteak, an indeterminate. They produce very large fruit and make great slicing tomatoes. The seeds were only $.50 for a packet of 25. They germinated easily and quickly reached transplant size. I put tomato cages over the young plants and they soon needed the support. As they put on fruit they quickly became too heavy for standard cages and required extra stakes.
It may just be my imagination, but the beefsteak tomatoes seemed to take forever to ripen. After the first crop was stolen, it took awhile for new fruits to reach full size. The tomatoes were tender, with thin skins and a sweet, fruity taste. I've already bought more beefsteak seeds for next year.
For salad and snacking, I chose two cherry tomatoes, both indeterminates--Small Cherry tomatoes and Fat Cherry tomatoes, also 25 seeds for $.50. The fat cherries germinated better than the small and produced more robust seedlings. The fat cherries were much more productive. I have to say, this was just my experience, based on my soil and growing conditions. In the end, the cherry tomatoes both had the warm, sunny flavor that they are famous for and the second harvest has been heavy, with a steady supply of both small and fat fruits.
I had little success with romas in the garden, although they germinated and transplanted just fine. Romas are determinate and are world-famous for their use in both sauces and salsas. They tend to produce medium-size, pear-shape fruits that are firm, meaty and have fewer seeds.
In the greenhouse, I've had a different experience. The romas grew quickly, began to flower and have started putting on loads of fruit. I can't report on taste, yet, but I'll put that in a future update. The roma seeds were $1.00 for 30.
I plan to grow all but the small cherries again next year. Nothing against small cherries, but they aren't necessary, for my purposes. I may try something a little different for the novelty, maybe a black or striped tomato, but I haven't decided. There are so many to chose from.
Stephen
This is my average daily harvest of tomatoes from the garden right now. The jalapenos are included for scale.
In the past I've simply bought tomato plants based on previous experience. Best Boy, Better Boy and Patio. Occasionally, I would pick a wildcard, based on the name, description or the picture on the marker. In doing my research for growing from seeds, I read a great deal and learned a few things no one ever told me before.
First of all, the term "heirloom" refers to plants that are open-pollinated--in other words, seeds can be saved, year after year, from the fruits and produce the same results.
Hybrid, a term I was familiar with, refers to plants produced from the seed of cross-pollinated plants. The two parent plants are chosen from carefully selected open-pollinated plants that have desirable traits--say one plant is disease resistant and the other produces extra-large fruit. When crossed you get extra-large fruit on plants that are disease resistant. The hybrid fruit's seeds cannot be saved for planting, as their seeds will produce wildly inconsistent results. Plants from the two original parents must be crossed every year to produce usable hybrid seeds.
Plants come in two basic types--determinate and indeterminate. Determinate refers to plants that grow to a fairly standard height and then stop growing. These are often referred to as bush types. They also put on almost all of their fruit at the same time and ripen all at once. These tend to be the canning and sauce tomatoes, developed over many generations to standardize particular qualities and allow for a single harvest.
Indeterminate refers to plants that continue to grow, requiring trellises or tomato cages for support. If left unsupported, the plants will double over, crimping or breaking the stalks. They produce their fruit over the entire season. This works best for slicing and salad tomatoes that are eaten fresh.
These indeterminate tomato plants in my greenhouse have already reached seven feet tall.
My first choice was a red beefsteak, an indeterminate. They produce very large fruit and make great slicing tomatoes. The seeds were only $.50 for a packet of 25. They germinated easily and quickly reached transplant size. I put tomato cages over the young plants and they soon needed the support. As they put on fruit they quickly became too heavy for standard cages and required extra stakes.
It may just be my imagination, but the beefsteak tomatoes seemed to take forever to ripen. After the first crop was stolen, it took awhile for new fruits to reach full size. The tomatoes were tender, with thin skins and a sweet, fruity taste. I've already bought more beefsteak seeds for next year.
For salad and snacking, I chose two cherry tomatoes, both indeterminates--Small Cherry tomatoes and Fat Cherry tomatoes, also 25 seeds for $.50. The fat cherries germinated better than the small and produced more robust seedlings. The fat cherries were much more productive. I have to say, this was just my experience, based on my soil and growing conditions. In the end, the cherry tomatoes both had the warm, sunny flavor that they are famous for and the second harvest has been heavy, with a steady supply of both small and fat fruits.
I had little success with romas in the garden, although they germinated and transplanted just fine. Romas are determinate and are world-famous for their use in both sauces and salsas. They tend to produce medium-size, pear-shape fruits that are firm, meaty and have fewer seeds.
In the greenhouse, I've had a different experience. The romas grew quickly, began to flower and have started putting on loads of fruit. I can't report on taste, yet, but I'll put that in a future update. The roma seeds were $1.00 for 30.
These are the romas currently growing in my greenhouse. They are putting on dozens of small fruits. I hope to get enough to make some pasta sauce.
Next I chose Homesteads, large sauce tomatoes that grow on determinate plants. The Homesteads, $1.00 for 25 seeds, were the most robust of the seedlings and attained their full size quickly. They required stakes just to support the heavy plants. The Homesteads were the first to begin blossoming and putting on fruits. They produced tight clusters of three to five Florida-orange size tomatoes. I've been lucky to get a small second crop after the varmints stole the first crop. The fruits are very firm and heavy with few seeds. They are low in acidity, but not overly sweet.
I plan to grow all but the small cherries again next year. Nothing against small cherries, but they aren't necessary, for my purposes. I may try something a little different for the novelty, maybe a black or striped tomato, but I haven't decided. There are so many to chose from.
Stephen
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