In an 8b high desert climate, starting your seeds early and getting plants in on time (also being willing to occasionally protect or having backups) will be at least moderately important, I strongly suspect.

8b is "hot" for sure (you must be close to the border - I thought NM got to 7b-8a at most), but in any case, USDA zones aren't the full picture as they are based on avg annual coolest temps. High desert nights will tend to be cooler (and more unstable in spring and fall), than I would tend to see here. But you may already know that.

This can be an advantage in the summer, as all other things equal, cooler night temps might allow for some fruit set even though the days can get very hot. And, you also don't have the humidity to deal with.

In any case, understanding the proper timing of planting for your area is going to be important to get a good crop. Having said that, some varieties that may do well for you would include:

Any cherry type - smaller fruited vars tend to set better in heat (Sungold and Black Cherry are personal favs for taste)
Bloody Butcher
Jaune Flammee
Arkansas Traveler
Mountain Princess
Big Beef
Indian Stripe
Lime Green Salad
Mountain Princess
Sioux
Break O'Day

By no means an inclusive list, just a few that come to mind that generally do well in heat, taste good to great, and are readily commercially available (the seed, anyway).

Suze likes Mountain Princess a lot!

Based on the name alone, I'll bet Taos would do well there.

Greetings from Tucson, where triple digit temps are standard, late June into September. Suze is right, your cooler nights will benefit you and the health of your plants. Here are some of my recommendations for heat tolerant, indeterminate varieties (ones that keep on producing until frost):

Costoluto Genovese
Hawaiian Tropic (Very high heat hybrid)
Manalucie (Very high heat hybrid)
Super Sioux
Taos

I have also read recently that Stupice can withstand a lot of heat, and will try it myself this year. Many of the cherry varieties do better in the heat, also.

When seeking out heat-set varieties, keep in mind that most are hybrids bred specifically to set fruit in high heat, but even these varieties have their heat limits. Most are determinate, meaning they'll grow to a certain size and produce almost all their of fruit in a short period of time. After that, they're done. Examples of heat-set determinate varieties are Sunmaster, Heatwave, Solar Fire, Sunbeam and so on. I don't think you need these varieties, though. Here's why I say that...

I did a cursory review of summer temps in Deming, NM (which is zone 8, don't know if that's exactly where you are, though) on Weather Underground. Summer temps are high enough to shut down fruit set from time to time, but nights are almost always below 70 degrees, which is tomato heaven. August does not appear to be the hottest month, which is good. There are few if any extended triple digit daytime temps, also good.

That said, I'd even try some moderately heat tolerant varieties, such as these, among many others.

Aunt Ruby's German Green
Carmello
Cherokee Chocolate
Eva Purple Ball
Marianna's Peace
Momotaro (Hybrid)

You really have a huge selection available to you that should work well in your climate. Good luck!

One more thing... I forgot to mention that many (most?) of the heat-set varieties were bred to function in high heat AND high humidity, primarily for growers in the south. They may not perform as well in an arid climate.

The Taos variety, which I recently discovered, is said to be ideal for hot, dry climates, although there's not much fanfare about its flavor. Different soil, different water, different weather, different taste. I'd try it, and I'd be happy to send you a few Taos seeds if you like.

We have hot dry SW winds and arid conditions here. A new one I tried this summer that did well for me and has other growers in this area is Black from Tula. Kanora is a canner type that did well. Will look at my list and notes and add a few more later. These two stood out for me.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations. Now I start looking for seeds.

azuss, I would appreciate a few seeds. Contact me at: araxi2@comcast.com

Thnaks!! petzold6596

Suze likes Mountain Princess a lot!

Yeah, I have mentioned it a couple or three times. :-)) Honestly, it's not a 9-10 for taste, but it is still a very good tasting variety that seems to produce and grow well under a variety of conditions, including heat.

Also, I'll second the recommendation azruss made for Momotaro F1. I'd never gotten around to trying this var until this year for fall crop for whatever reason, but have been *very* favorably impressed. Flavor is just terrific (sweet, yet rich), high production.

Here is my list of ol' reliables, which I've posted before:

Large varieties for hot weather (above 100 degrees):
Mexico, Giant Belgium, Stump of the World, Marianna's Peace, Big Beef, Brandy Boy, Boondocks

Medium varieties: Stupice, Jetsetter, Arkansas Traveler, Burgundy Traveler, Manalucie, Moskvich, Orange Russian 117 (altough these can grow to beefsteak size), Peron, Jubilee, Heidi

and

just about all cherry/grape tomatoes.

Sacramento is probably close to yours as to hot, dry weather climates.

Carla in Sac

Btw, azruss above lists Manalucie as a hybrid, but I'm pretty sure it's open-pollinated and maybe even an heirloom variety (ie, you can save seed and it will breed true if not cross-pollinated)

Carla in Sac

Reimer Seeds (reimerseeds.com) sells Manalucie as an F1 Hybrid. I also have seen references to it as an OP. If someone along the line has de-hybridized it, both OP and hybrid could be available. For heat tolerance, I might lean towards the hybrid.

Reimer Seeds does not exactly have a good reputation (check it out on Garden Watchdog) so they wouldn't be my first choice for info.
Sandhill preservation also sells Manalucie, and they grow their own seeds, organically.
Maybe Carolyn can clear up the confusion about whether it's a hybrid or an heirloom, since she has access to all sorts of this kind of background info?

Carla in Sac

Carla, my recent searches for the Manalucie seed indicate that more places have it listed as an OP rather than a hybrid. Didn't know that Reimer didn't have the best rep. I've never ordered from them. Frankly, I didn't even know that the variety existed until I found a U. of AZ. study online. Apparently it did well in extreme desert heat. Tomato Lady in Las Vegas does not agree. However, summer in Las Vegas is a bit different from summer in Tucson.

Hi, why don't you send a sase to Trudi at www.wintersown.org,
she offers small samples of some of the hot weather choices. I got some from her & am planting (Florida). Costoluto Genovese Super Sioux, cherokee green, and she has lots of cherry types too, check her site out! Then you can try small pkgs of several to see what does better for you & cheaper this way too, free, only the cost of a few stamps! She gets them mailed back to you very quickly, about 10 days or so form the time you mail the sase to her.
Good luck!

Suze. I've heard good things about Mountain Princess from Remy as well, so I'm looking forward to trialing for the first time this year.

Our summer is more of a Las Vegas summer than a Tucson summer, so I have to ask--what does the Las Vegas Tomato Lady like, Russ?

I know this is late (nearly 1 1/2 years late). I live in Las Vegas (Sunset Zone 11). The Tomato Lady recommends Hawaiian tomatoes. I personally have had good luck with Hawaiian, Patio, and all heirloom Varieties from Italy that I've tried. I have successfully Grown the following Heirlooms in the Vegas Desert (I'm at 2900 ft elevation while the Vegas Valley is closer to 1800 ft.):

- Aunt Lucy's Paste
- Marzano
- Italian Tree

source for these seeds is out of california. Website: www.tomatofest.com.

I have also had good success with some from Mexico.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: TomatoFest