Dawn - thank you SO much for such a concise list! We have (to some degree) overcome the nematode issue after several years of work on the first garden spot aka the Salsa Garden. Things have done much better there this year. But that list perfectly explains why I STILL have Italian Goliath plants producing. They are the ONLY survivors in that garden space. We really, really liked this strain of tomatoes. They were the first producers. I got the seeds from Totally Tomatoes.

15 years ago when I lived in SW OKC, on a branch of Lightning Creek off of SW 89th & Penn...I had horrible trouble with Verticullum Wilt so I learned to buy plants that were VFN bred. HA! Look at me now! I can successfully start my own from seeds!

Paula

Dawn,
Thanks for the list, I've never had problems with nemetodes but had problems this year with a 5 minute nickle sized hail storm followed by two flooding 10" rains in the following month. Do you know of any varieties that are resistant to this? Thanks,

Keith

Oh my GOSH DAWN thank you SO MUCH.

I am copying this list to a word file and will choose from these varieties next year.

I probably won't be able to resist throwing in a Juan Flamme, but I guarantee you that 90% of my non-cherry tomatoes next year will be from this list. Maybe I'll do a Brandywine and a Black from Tula/tulsa and a Cherokee purple and a Juan Flamme in containers and do 6-10 of these varieties in my beds.

YOU are INCREDIBLE.

Jo

Dawn,
I know of a few op's that many of the growers who have had nematode problems say have good resistance. Like I mentioned in the other thread Atkinson is one of them. One I grew this year and one I'll grow again. Most of the fruit were 4-7 ounces for me. What I call an all around type. Very good old time flavor with a bit of acidic taste to it. I saved seeds from it and should have plenty for anyone wanting to try it. I will check my list for some more. Jay

Paula, You're welcome. I knew you'd had nematode issues and that Jo is now battling them, so figured a list might come in handy because it is likely other members of this forum have nematodes too. Lots of the gardeners here in our county have very sandy soil and nematodes plague them, so even though I personally don't have to deal with them on our land (so far), I have many friends who do.

The entire line of Goliath hybrids carried by Totally Tomatoes is very good and I think all but three of their Goliath hybrids are nematode-resistant and I consider those Goliath varieties about as close as you can get to "a sure thing" with bybrid tomatoes. I don't think any Goliath type I've grown has ever disappointed me. I don't think I had any Goliaths in my garden last year, but I started several for friends who are nematode-challenged last year, and they just loved them.

I remember the first year I started tomatoes from seeds, Paula. I was so excited because I thought I'd done something really special. Later on, after I realized how easy it is to do, I realized I wasn't quite the brilliant horticulturalist I thought I was. : ) Still, I love growing my own, although every now and then I'll buy a tomato plant because no matter how many different varieties I plant, you just know I'll walk into a store and see one I wished I'd planted and didn't. Tim has learned that even if I grow 100 varieties from seed, I still have to look at every plant in every store we're in "just in case", as in "just in case" they have one variety that I don't already have growing. He has the patience of a saint!

Keith, Don't I wish I did! For hail, just wait for me to transplant all my plants into the garden. It will hail here within 24 hours of that and then it won't hail again the rest of the year. So, if you wait for the hail storm after I plant, and then you plant your plants, you're home free and clear and with unshredded plants.

For heavy rainfall, I hear you loud and clear. In 2006, our exceptional drought of 2005-2006 ended with 9.25" of rainfall in one day late in April, and 8" of that fell in less than 4 hours. My plants were not amused. However, most survived. I figured the garden and I had survived the worst thing that Mother Nature would throw at us....until we received 12.89" in one day in April 2009. My rainfall solution is raised beds. They don't guarantee heavy rainfall won't drown your plants, but they help a lot.

IF I couldn't have raised beds for some reason, I'd deal with the ever-present threat of flooding rains by grafting tomato seedlings onto eggplant rootstocks because eggplant roots tolerate much, much, much wetter soil than tomato plant roots can stand.

Jo, You give me too much credit. All I did was sit here with some old notes I had in notebooks and compile a list, and then I flipped through a couple of catalogs to get the right 'VNF' codes to go with each variety on the list, and picked up and added some newer releases or some whose disease rating has changed as additional tolerances were bred into new versions of a given variety.

Jay, I am glad you have some ideas for heirlooms that resist nematodes because I don't have nematodes, and most of the folks here around me with nematode-infested soil only grow hybrids. I know some of our neighbors had nematodes when I was a kid, but I wasn't paying attention to what they were growing back then....I wish I could go back and spend one week with all the old gardeners I grew up around so I could pick their brains and ask questions now that I didn't know to ask back then.

Dawn

Here is some more info on Atkinson. I will post some other varieties later. Jay
"A 1966 round red from Auburn University. Fruits average 12 ounces. Originally a green wrap shipper now a home garden cultivar."

Atkinson Tomato
Description - Red, indeterminate, 75 days, vigorous, heavy foliage, firm, smooth light red flattened globes, 6-16 ounces, from Hastings Seed Company back in 1984, originally developed by Auburn University for southern climate.

Atkinson (AU 22 and STEP 500) - Breeder: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. Vendor: Corneli Seed Co. Characteristics: indeterminate vine, strong; fruit meaty, large to 1.1 pounds, small core, good color and flavor, green shouldered; suitable for green wraps, fresh market, and home gardens. Resistance: nematodes and fusarium wilt race 1. Similar: Marion. Adaptation: southeastern U.S. Atkinson tomato, Auburn Agr. Expt. Sta. Leaf. 73, Nov. 1966.

Thank you Dawn! I have really had trouble this year with several things. Will use your list for the up-coming year and hope for the best!