On Sep 29, 2:19 am, EV wrote:
I ended up with 2 dozen tomato plants by happenstance. I normally have
half as many or less. Too many tomatoes, but more varieties than usual.
We had a very hot, very dry season in southern Ontario, Zone 6. I had to
water a lot.

The Brandywines did well and produced a good crop, maybe about ten on
each of the 3 in the tomato bed, mostly in August. Last year and the
year before they each produced about 30 in all. So their numbers are
down, but the fruit is bigger this year. They're working on ripenening
their last half dozen big green tomatoes now, if the squirrels don't get
them. The tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and tasty and make fantastic tomato
potage, a recipe I found in this group years ago. Very easy, very tasty,
freezes really well in individual portions. It's like defrosting
sunshine in the winter months, or even on chilly fall nights.

Got one of Stokes' Health Kick tomatoes. Supposed to have extra
lycopene. Looks a lot like a Roma, but much more firm. Is good in soup,
but not all that tasty fresh. It's a short bushy plant that would do
well in a container. I won't plant this next year.

Tried Stokes' Ultrasweet. Terrible tomato. I've never seen tomatoes
crack that badly. They were rotten before they were ripe. OK flavour,
but not the best. I will not plant this next year.

Before I knew that I'd have a handful of cherry tomato volunteers in the
compost, I bought a Stokes Sweet Million. Interestingly, the seeds that
the cherries in the compost grew from were Stokes Sweet Million seeds
I'd started myself last year. But the tomatoes from the Stokes plant I
bought and the ones in the compost are completely different. The ones
from the storebought plant suck. They're smaller, less sweet, and, like
the Ultrasweet, really prone to cracking. I will start these from seed.

I have two kinds of San Marzanos, and both are solid, sweet and tasty. I
wash them and pack them into ziploc bags, and pop them in the freezer.
You can run the frozen tomato under hot water, or dip it in hot water,
and the whole skin slips off intact. Great for winter sauces, stews,
roasts, and pan fries with meat. A bit bulky to store in the freezer, so
when we have time, we cook them down 4 bags at time (about 120 tomatoes)
during fall and winter, into less bulky tomato sauce and chili and the
like and freeze it again in individual size portions. Very convenient
when work runs late and you come home starving.

How did your tomatoes do? Were there varieties that you really liked?
Any other amazing heirlooms out there that you can recommend?

Happy harvest, fellow food gardeners!

EV


I'm still working on it here in zone 10. I made up my mind to try
tomatoes in mid June, which is about 3 months late. Got some Ace
hybrid seedlings, they came up so good I tried Beefmaster too, a few
weeks later. Problem here is not enough full sun, although they fruit
with as little as three hours.

I'm pleased with the Ace hybrids, small 2 - 5 ounce fruits, but they
don't crack, but the lower leaves get eaten up too much by bugs. The
beefmasters do crack, especially when they ripen. Both are very tasty.

This was my first year growing tomatoes, and I had some problems. I
grow in containers, 8-12" pots, with saucers. I poke a hole in the
saucers near the bottom, and put a 1/4" barb in, and a tube to an
overflow collector, about 2 gallons for a half dozen pots. The larger
12" saucer tubes don't get clogged as often as the smaller ones do,
two or three times a week. I reckon because the bigger saucers are
also higher, they develop a little more water pressure.

When I put the beefmasters down in July, I used more and heavier cloth
at the bottom to prevent soil and nutrient loss. This worked OK
except in the case of the one I got a 4' high plastic trash can for.
I put a cloth, then gravel, another cloth, then wood chips, another
cloth, then the soil, and plants. Also had a couple perforated 1/2"
tubes clear to the bottom. The problem was that it drained too
slowly, resulting in nematode damage. I finally poked another drain
hole about 6" over the bottom, which results in OK drainage.

Most of the year I watered twice daily, but have gone to once a day
the past few weeks. Getting lazy.

Problem with the Aces, not the beefmasters, is bug damage to the lower
leaves, they get eaten. I spray with Malathion lightly, probably
should do it every other day, at 1 teaspoon of Ortho 50% per gallon of
water, and a teaspoon of Miracle-Grow Tomato Food. Lightly means two
or three presses of the sprayer per plant, keeping it moving. Maybe 2
months ago, I tried a much stronger mix of Malathion, and both the
Aces and Beefmasters leaves died. More grew eventually, but it seems
like too much Malathion is not a good idea. Even the light
application of Malathion seems to hurt the Aces bottom leaves, but
more grow on top so I don't sweat it.

Started some seeds, Ace 55 by Stover, 2007. Nearly 100% germination.
I tried an automatic hydroponic ebb and flow setup, just a 15 gallon
tote box with a big kitty litter tray above, aquarium air pump, and a
tiny fountain pump to occasionally fill the top tray. Got a couple
20W flourescent tubes over it, growing well. Got a half dozen compact
flourescent 23 Watt bulbs, and as many 30 Watts for later. I have a
dozen 16 oz cups with paper towel liners, soil perlite vermiculite
filled in which the seedlings grow. Got lucky, the 1/16" hole I poked
for drainage in the tray lets the pump fill to the 3/8" overflow holes
in 45 minutes. It's a 12 watt pump running for up to 6 one hour
periods a day, so there's little power lost there.

I'm wondering about mounting a 4" fan on top of the tray blowing down
to enhance drainage. maybe a second fan to aerate the leaves and
stems.

There were some caterpillars, but some Ortho bait seems to have
eliminated them.

An automated hydroponics system looks like the way to go, it can water
the plants many times a day, produce faster growth. You still need to
check it once in a while, but it saves a lot of labor where rainfall
isn't an everyday occurence.