Post by macmex on Sept 2, 2015 8:32:15 GMT -6
It's been a crazy spring and summer. With all the rain it was actually difficult to get things in the ground. Plus, since tomatoes started ripening, I've had a lot of fungus, splitting and rotting. Here are some observations on what varieties and my garden have done, to date, in this summer with normal highs in the 90s and periodic heavy rains.
Little Bells - A Russian variety with more contained indeterminate vines and fruit about the size of a ping pong ball. Quite prolific, not quite a cherry, really this one doesn't quite fit any category that I can think of. I'm not overly impressed with the flavor, though there's nothing wrong with it. I've lost quite a few fruit due to rotting, since the weeds have overrun the plants. Still, the plants haven't quit and appear that they are not about to quit. This one needs more testing.
Baker Family Heirloom - large indeterminate plants producing large, tasty, slicing tomatoes which are easy to process for cooking and canning. I got these in late and put them in a garden which has had less than optimal conditions this year. Slugs actually girdled and killed about half my plants. (In Oklahoma?! Yes!!) The surviving plants are shaping up now, in early September, for a decent crop. We'll see. This is my mainstay variety.
Sioux - Planted this one in my main garden. Was late in staking and the weeds, of course, overtook them. But they have survived, with only about a 25% mortality rate, due to so much rain. The survivors are looking good and loading up on nice, baseball sized fruit. Sioux is one of my all time favorites. The flavor is excellent. It is heat tolerant, indeterminate and very tasty. It is also a good canner. Its only real weakness is a tendency split and rot, if left to fully ripen. Its fruit has a very thin skin. I simply pick Sioux when the fruit first start to turn color, letting them finish ripening in the kitchen. Problem solved.
Tuxhorn's Yellow and Red - Very large yellow beefsteak fruit with red streaking and marbling. I received this variety from Mrs. Ed Tuxhorn, of Warsaw, Indiana, in 1985. This variety is better suited to the North. The plants handle Oklahoma conditions just fine. But they will not set fruit during our hot season. They will start loading up in September. The fruit on this one will often rot if left to ripen on the vine. But again, I just pick them when they start to color up and let them ripen in the house. This one has two redeeming features: 1) The fruit are truly huge and impressive. & 2) This is the absolute best tomato I've ever tried, for fried green tomatoes, having a nice sharp flavor. The plants are huge and indeterminate. Fruit has a large core.
Tomato Rocky - tall indeterminate vines with wispy foliage, large plum or "bomb shaped" fruit. Sharp flavor. After growing this one since the 1970s it only just occurred to me that Tomato Rocky is, in fact, an oxheart variety. Fruit is meaty but not dry. This one generally doesn't do well in Oklahoma, being better suited for the upper Midwest. But last summer it did much better. This summer it has done alright. But the fruit often rots in our humid conditions.
Heidi -indeterminate, medium size, plum shaped fruit. Heidi has had a hard summer. She's handled our conditions alright, in spite of being put out late. But I have a woodchuck or two, and maybe some other predator, ravaging the garden where Heidi is planted. I have salvaged few fruit. The predators have even eaten some of the leaves and stems of this tomato. Yet, Heidi continues to flower and set on tomatoes. I will grow Heidi again, but in a better location. This one has proven itself quite dependable in our hot Oklahoma conditions. Heidi is not a paste tomato, just plum shaped. Flavor is alright. But I most value it for cooking.
Black Cherry - large cherry tomato, brownish color fruit. SUPERB flavor. Tall, indeterminate plants. Black cherry has had a great year, producing lots of delicious fruit, 90% of which, never reach the kitchen. We eat them every time we walk past the plants! For fresh eating out of hand, this is our favorite tomato.
Carbon Copy - large cherry tomato, brownish color fruit borne in nice clusters. Indeterminate plants, though noticeably more stocky than Black Cherry. Flavor is alright, though it's possible that all our rain has watered it down a bit. Prone to radial cracking (probably due to the rain). VERY prolific. This was our first year to grow Carbon Copy, which was developed by Ron Rhyne of Muskogee, Oklahoma.
That's it for me, this year. How have your tomatoes done and what are your observations on varieties in this year's conditions?
George
Tahlequah, OK
Little Bells - A Russian variety with more contained indeterminate vines and fruit about the size of a ping pong ball. Quite prolific, not quite a cherry, really this one doesn't quite fit any category that I can think of. I'm not overly impressed with the flavor, though there's nothing wrong with it. I've lost quite a few fruit due to rotting, since the weeds have overrun the plants. Still, the plants haven't quit and appear that they are not about to quit. This one needs more testing.
Baker Family Heirloom - large indeterminate plants producing large, tasty, slicing tomatoes which are easy to process for cooking and canning. I got these in late and put them in a garden which has had less than optimal conditions this year. Slugs actually girdled and killed about half my plants. (In Oklahoma?! Yes!!) The surviving plants are shaping up now, in early September, for a decent crop. We'll see. This is my mainstay variety.
Sioux - Planted this one in my main garden. Was late in staking and the weeds, of course, overtook them. But they have survived, with only about a 25% mortality rate, due to so much rain. The survivors are looking good and loading up on nice, baseball sized fruit. Sioux is one of my all time favorites. The flavor is excellent. It is heat tolerant, indeterminate and very tasty. It is also a good canner. Its only real weakness is a tendency split and rot, if left to fully ripen. Its fruit has a very thin skin. I simply pick Sioux when the fruit first start to turn color, letting them finish ripening in the kitchen. Problem solved.
Tuxhorn's Yellow and Red - Very large yellow beefsteak fruit with red streaking and marbling. I received this variety from Mrs. Ed Tuxhorn, of Warsaw, Indiana, in 1985. This variety is better suited to the North. The plants handle Oklahoma conditions just fine. But they will not set fruit during our hot season. They will start loading up in September. The fruit on this one will often rot if left to ripen on the vine. But again, I just pick them when they start to color up and let them ripen in the house. This one has two redeeming features: 1) The fruit are truly huge and impressive. & 2) This is the absolute best tomato I've ever tried, for fried green tomatoes, having a nice sharp flavor. The plants are huge and indeterminate. Fruit has a large core.
Tomato Rocky - tall indeterminate vines with wispy foliage, large plum or "bomb shaped" fruit. Sharp flavor. After growing this one since the 1970s it only just occurred to me that Tomato Rocky is, in fact, an oxheart variety. Fruit is meaty but not dry. This one generally doesn't do well in Oklahoma, being better suited for the upper Midwest. But last summer it did much better. This summer it has done alright. But the fruit often rots in our humid conditions.
Heidi -indeterminate, medium size, plum shaped fruit. Heidi has had a hard summer. She's handled our conditions alright, in spite of being put out late. But I have a woodchuck or two, and maybe some other predator, ravaging the garden where Heidi is planted. I have salvaged few fruit. The predators have even eaten some of the leaves and stems of this tomato. Yet, Heidi continues to flower and set on tomatoes. I will grow Heidi again, but in a better location. This one has proven itself quite dependable in our hot Oklahoma conditions. Heidi is not a paste tomato, just plum shaped. Flavor is alright. But I most value it for cooking.
Black Cherry - large cherry tomato, brownish color fruit. SUPERB flavor. Tall, indeterminate plants. Black cherry has had a great year, producing lots of delicious fruit, 90% of which, never reach the kitchen. We eat them every time we walk past the plants! For fresh eating out of hand, this is our favorite tomato.
Carbon Copy - large cherry tomato, brownish color fruit borne in nice clusters. Indeterminate plants, though noticeably more stocky than Black Cherry. Flavor is alright, though it's possible that all our rain has watered it down a bit. Prone to radial cracking (probably due to the rain). VERY prolific. This was our first year to grow Carbon Copy, which was developed by Ron Rhyne of Muskogee, Oklahoma.
That's it for me, this year. How have your tomatoes done and what are your observations on varieties in this year's conditions?
George
Tahlequah, OK
