What is your most productive tomato?
ania_ca
14 years ago
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jwr6404
14 years agoRelated Discussions
What are the most foolproof tomato varieties and types
Comments (17)Carolyn, I do not have any ambitions of being a national seller. All I am trying to do is partially subsidize the $350 I have invested in my tomato seedling setup, actually $390 now because I just order $40 more worth of seeds from Hazzards. I figure my variable costs at about 65 cents per plant just for the pot, very expensive Pro-Mix seed starting mix, and the seed, taking into account not all seeds sprout. Now that I found Hazzards my per seed cost will go down, but I have to buy packets of seed that cost anywhere from $4.35 to $9.65 for a pack of 250 seeds to do it, plus shipping. Then I have to spread the $200 cost of my wire rack and 14 fluorescent lights I use, actually it will be more because I just bought 7 more lights because I am running out of growing space. So my goal for this year would be to sell at least $150 worth of plants which would at least pay for the Pro-Mix and seeds. Next year if I keep doing this my seed costs will be much lower because I now will have enough seeds to last for the next five years assuming the germination rate doesn't drop too much. Actually I keep thinking of more costs I forgot to add in. $8.80 for a bag of pumice, $2 for a bale of peat moss I got off the clearance rack, the gas to go buy all this stuff, the electricity to run my lights, about 15 plastic trays and containers, watering cans, $8,87 for Miracle-Gro, plant markers, barrels and garbage cans to store all the seed starting and transplant potting soil in. Actually come to think about it I probably have $500 directly or indirectly invested in seed starting equipment and supplies. If I can't sell enough plants to subsidize at least part of this I guess my own tomatoes will end up costing ten dollars each for big ones and a dollar apiece for cherries....See MoreYour most disease-tolerant tomato plants?
Comments (27)What I'm now wondering is whether home-grafted tomatoes that use a rootstock that's tolerant of blights would be worthwhile. So, of course, you'd have to know which ones are! **** The word blight is totally non-specific as you know. ( wink) Almost everyone in this thread is talking about foliage diseases as far as I can tell and with two exceptions that I know of, both commercial varieties and with minimal EB tolerance, there are no tolerant varieties out there in terms of known varieties that everyone agrees on as to Foliage disease tolerance.Ja, I said everyone or at least several to many folks having the same experience which is difficult to determine. I think it's good to remember that the fungal spores and the bacteria that can cause foliage diseases are egalitarians at heart and will land on the foliage of ANY variety without respect to race, religion or political affiliation. LOL And no two seasona are the same in terms of the presence of those foliage pathogens in air, rain or dust. A person may grow a variety for one season and note that it's either tolerant or not to this or that foliage disease, but that's just one season. If the same variety is grown for many seasons and other varieties are coming down with this and that, then that's much more meaningful, as pennyrile noted above with his Indian Stripe selection. Anney, I can't see doing any grafting to help prevent foliage diseases. maybe some systemic diseases depending on what the problem is every year in a certain area with systemic diseases, and depending on the specific root stock seeds that are purchased, which aren't cheap, mind you, b'c it just wouldn't help b'c the foliage is still out there and susceptible to the bad guy spores and bacteria that drop in for a visit from time to time from season to season or in any one season. About the only observation I have made is that PL varieties, for me, are more tolerant of both fungal and bacterial foliage diseases. Near the end of the season my RL's may be struggling but the PL's almost always do much better. And with the non-stop rain and cool weather where I grow my tomatoes here in the NE it's looking like I may not get much fruit production at all. Here it is almost August and no blossoms, no fruit set yet. They couldn't go out earlier b'c we had two frost in June/ And then there's the Late Blight issue to be faced as well here in the NE. Quadruple Sigh. Carolyn...See MoreWhich is your most productive 'Beefsteak type' variety ?
Comments (13)Of the non-hybrid varieties, I'd say that Chapman, Brandywine OTV and Zogola have all been very productive red beefsteaks. Chapman is really a terrific tomato, so give that one a shot if you have room. I've never grown a regular pink Brandywine that I would call productive, so I'm a little jealous that you've got one. Instead, I grow Aunt Ginny's Purple, Pruden's Purple and Tidwell German. AGP is a personal favorite, with very good production over a long season of great tasting Brandywine-like tomatoes. PP is an EXTREMELY productive plant for me, and the tomatoes are pretty good as well, although I prefer Brandywine and Aunt Ginny's Purple. Tidwell German churns out slightly rounder tomatoes than the others I've mentioned, but it also gives me a really nice crop of flavorful and blemish free tomatoes....See MoreMost productive, most disease resistant tomato
Comments (12)I agree that it's important to know what disease(s) were the problem. I see you're in a 6b area but could you give us at least a hint of where that 6b ares is? And I ask b'c different diseases are present in different area of the US. And the reason I ask b'c I know of only one disease that will turn the foliage all BLACK and that's Late Blight ( P. infestans) and if that were the case with all your foliage turning black then that disease would be lethal in a week or two and the plants would be a stinking mass of tissue. Once it's known what diseases are in your area I think it would be easier to help. But hybrid or OP there's NO variety that is completely tolerant of foliage diseases. And foliage diseases don't cause wilting, but systemic ones do, those are diseases that are in the soil already, either by planting purchased plants where the soil carried the bad guys into the garden, well, thats the usual way. So were all the leaves black, and before that did you see any spots starting to appear on the green leaves and if so could you describe them as to color and size and shape? Again, hard to help without knowing what diseases. But moderate to severe wilting, when the plants had enough water, speaks to me of a systemic disease. Have you looked at any disease sites to try and ID what the problem might be? Last I knew in the Tomato Pest and Disease Forum, link at the top of this first page, there was a PROBLEM Solver there that listed several disease sites. Two that I like best are the TAMU site and the Cornell site. Hope that helps. Carolyn...See Moremojavebob
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