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Hi there.

I have following growing under light for April plant out

ARGG..BIG BEEF..BRANDY BOY ..

CHEROKEE PURPLE BLACK KRIM

COSTOLUTO CUOSTRALEE HILLBILLY GOLDEN JUBILEE

Seysonn,

Those all look like great varieties. I hope the seedling process goes well for you. I'm hopingb to start pepper seeds this weekend and tomatoes in another few weeks.

Martha

Which Costoluto?

One I'm most excited about is the

Dwarf Uluru Ochre,

many 5 star reviews on Victory seeds website . I must have missed the detail before that it's early, just what I need in North Idaho. Uluru Ochre sold out at Victory , Bounty Hunters carries it.

I have to try

Bloody Butcher,

another early variety. It's sold out at Bounty Hunters , I ordered mine at GardenHoard.

I can't plant a fraction of all the seeds I collected but I might try

Xanadu Green Goddess

Blood Moon

Tiny Tim

and I need Aunt Ginnys Purple for my ultimate tomato experience.

It's so hard to narrow down the choices.

With Uluru Ochre, you've picked just about the most controversial tomato out there. Reading reviews on gardening forums, not seed vendors sites, most people either love it , or hate it (being completely underwhelmed). I haven't trialed it, due to the many lackluster reports.

Tiny Tim, a micro dwarf, would likely be best grown indoors over the winter into spring.

Most of the very early varieties simply don't have much flavor, in my garden.

I highly recommend Pervaya Lyubov (First Love), the earliest very good tasting slicer that I've ever tried. It ripens at about the same time as SunGold.

And finally, Aunt Ginny's Purple is my all-time favorite tomato, out of 2,000+ varieties trialed.

THANKS for all the information Gary, I'm venturing into tomato world in the dark except for what I can glean online. No gardening wisdom to be found among my close neighbors, apartment dwellers that would rather buy fast food. The local nursery isn't much better.

I did find an online source for Pervaya Lyabov , now if I just give away 5 late seed packets for every new tomato I want to order, I'll feel it saved me years of trial and error.

I still can't part with my package of Everett's Rusty Oxheart, it was a dream to move to a warm climate someday. I may have to give up both, but a good first love would sure make it easier.

I'm going to baby my Aunt Ginny's purple plant .

I encourage supporting the small mom and pop seed vendors. Without them we wouldn't have all of the wonderful varieties that they hunt down, and then produce large quantities of seeds.

The only real problem I have with some seed companies, is that there is virtually no negative remarks about varieties. That would likely translate to lost sales. There are some very mixed views for some varieties, that will never be found at those sites.

If you are ever looking for any tomatoes (and many other types of veggies/fruit/flowers) that you cannot locate, I've supplied a link in an above post to tomato varieties that pass through my fingers.

As for babying Aunt Ginny's Purple, the mistake that almost all of us make when starting out, is to over water and over fertilize our babies.

Somehow I hit the jackpot ordering Aunt Ginny's last year, but didn't have the sense to plant one prioritizing the others.

So true about seed companies presenting the angelic qualities of their inventory. I learned that lesson from mail ordering roses that came so viciously thorny I had to dispose of them. Over a ten year period I learned to look closely at rose leaves and know just what the rose needed. I hope in time to study and become a tomato whisperer, I already learned most of the ways how to kill them.

I've found that the best tasting tomatoes comes from ALMOST starving the plants of water. It's a fine line between that and actually killing them.

If you live in a warm not too rainy area, about 3 to 4 inches of mulch keeps the soil moisture steady, with much less chance of killing plants when bare soil drastically dries out.

Hey, booberry! I'm happy to see you on the forums again.

Yes, I'm still here, still farming, still cooking and still canning. I've cut my tomato varieties WAY down this year. Several years ago I grew 96 tomatoes plants, this year I promised my DH I'd cut it down to 30, but I just don't think I'm going to be able to, LOL.

Great White (one of my favorites, but very sensitive to overwatering as a seedling)

Barnes Mountain Pink

Pineapple

Golden Jubilee

SunSugar

Rutgers (my canning tomato)

Black Cherry

Stupice (gift seeds)

Sophie's Choice (new to me and seeds were a gift)

Garden Peach

Green Zebra

Pink Oxheart (also new/gifted seeds)

Phil's Choice One (new to me)

I like open pollinated varieties best because I save my own seeds, but that doesn't stop me from ordering more, like the Phil's One which is just unusual and so I had to have it. You never know, you might find a favorite that way!

My acre of garden has room, but I can only use just so many tomatoes. Last year was the heirloom bean year, and the tomatoes didn't do really well anyway. The big gully washing rain(s) in August after a very hot/dry July just didn't do them any favors. So, this year I'll need extra to can. My pantry is full of dried beans, time to stock up on tomato products. THat's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Annie

Annie,

Don't grow Sophie's Choice close to the others, or it might get shaded out. It's a determinate that only gets to about 2 1/2 feet high.

Here's my list for this and last year's notes:

Beliy Naliv - Juicy and a tad tart.

BrandyFred Dwarf - Yum. Great Brandywine flavor.

Buckbee's New 50 Day - High yield all summer. Great flavor. This was a producing machine!

Dwarf Pink Passion - Oxheart shape, sweet flavor.

Giant Doochov - Rich flavor. Low yield.

Grightmire's Pride - Robust sweet tomato flavor. Heart shaped Earlier than I expected.

Les's Sweet Japanese - Yum. Paste type.

Lida's Ukranian - Good all around.

Mrs. Maxwell's Big Italian - Pink beefsteak. Great flavor.

Northern Lights - Good yield. Middle of the road flavor. Yellow, orange.

Nyagous - I love black tomatoes. Smokey and salty.

Rab Orjak - Old fashion tomato flavor.

Severnye - Heart shaped complex flavor.

Thunder Mountain - BOLD flavor. Tri color, orange, black, red.

I haven't be able to get seeds for my favorite Orange Russian 117. Long DTM and low yield but the flavor is tomatey, fruity and sweet with a nice texture. Big beautiful orange and red, heart shaped slices.

Moosemac,

I'm amazed that I don't think I've heard of a single one of your varieties! It continues to amaze me how many incredible tomato varieties exist in the world. How can anyone ever experience them all? And everyone has their own opinion of what constitutes a great tomato, so the process of chossing is thatmuch more difficult.

I have seedlings under lights, currently. Those that have sprouted thus far include:

Azoycha

Amish Paste

Ananas Noire

Brandywine (not specified which)

Black Cherry

Cherokee Purple

Chocolate Cherry

Johannisbeer tomate orange

Nepal

Opalka

Paul Robeson

Pink Berkley Tie-dye

Sungold

I had a few sprout, but wilt due to damping off, though all are under identical conditions, with gentle fans blowing full time. I should get some hydrogen peroxide spray going.

I also have peppers, basil, spinach sprouted, with others I'm waiting on. Come on Spring!!!!

Martha

Martha, I agree the choices are endless. Moosemac's Thunder Mountain is interesting, have to look that one up.

The descriptions of Azoychka sound good to me, I've had seeds for two years but have not planted them yet. I bet it looks pretty among a dish of other colored dark tomatoes.

It's such a battle to fight off damping off...

The battle against damping off is to water from below, not too much, or some watering from the top at the container's edge. Keep water far from the plant stem.

Gary, I wish I would have known a lifeguard for my drowning tomatoes last year. I tried the Rusted Garden method of bottom soaking , I see why the poor seedlings couldn't make it to shore. This batch is going to be happy.

I do water exclusively from the bottom, and make sure the surface has dried before I water again. The vast majority of my seedlings are fine. I've probably had less than 2% loss.

Martha

Years ago, I knew someone who would put a layer of very fine sand on top of the growing medium. The sand essentially doesn't retain any moisture. I've never had to go to that extreme. I just use less water at a time, but water more frequently. Less than 2% loss is fine with me, as I always start plenty of extras.

I just finished potting up seedlings into their own individual pots. I kept 4 or less plants of any particular variety, and now have 45 tomato plants. There are a few more that sprouted late and aren't big enough to transplant. I didn't get any successful San Marzano or Speckled Roman sprouts, but I have Amish Paste and Opalka for sauce. Plus, I mix all varieties that are ripe when I can sauce, anyway. Our weather is going to hit 70 degree temps most of this week (yay!) so I'm going to start hardening off. This is really early for Michigan, but if I need to, I can keep bringing plants back inside, as long as I don't put them in the ground.

Happy Easter/Spring!

Martha

If you have to bring them back inside for several days, and then move them back outside, the newest growth will get a bit of sun burn, but it generally isn't very serious as to the overall health of the plant. You sort of have to treat the plants like you are hardening them off all over again.

That's amazing Martha, a sea of tomato plants ! Last year I dropped a whole tray upside down hauling seedlings in and out the door for their sunbath. This year I downscaled mightily to avoid the same catastrophe from happening .

What do people do for fun that don't go wild over tomatoes... I don't have cable tv and hardly ever watch movies, but yesterday I watched the 007 movie " No Time To Die ". I'm going back to more thrilling tomato videos.

When you have the 'tomato sickness', Waterworld becomes a movie about a tomato plant.

Now I won't sleep wondering what variety it was...

A bit more movie trivia ; " No Time to Die " was actually written about Dean Slater's 007 tomato - you may not have recognized the ketchup.

I just spent a beautiful 2-3 hours on the back deck potting up more tomato plants. In addition to the seeds I chose for myself, I'm also growing seedlings for my sister, because she is currently traveling to Sweden, so wasn't going to be able to hover over her own seedlings during a crucial stage of development. So, I have many Happy Jack and Peron's Sprayless plants growing (as well as several peppers). I clearly started them way to early, because they are already requiring staking, and I can't move them outside for at least two more weeks. But, my indoor lights seem to be semi-adequate, so far.

My own tomatoes are a few weeks behind the others, but are also thriving. I don't know where I will plant them all, but I have an excellent start. Hopefully, friends and neighbors will be able to use any excess plants I have. I already have volunteers to take potential excess tomato harvests. Clearly, I'm getting ahead of myself, but I can't wait for summer!

I planted spinach over the past few weeks, and now I've planted sugar snap peas and a bunch of herbs. My basil already smells heavenly under the lights.

I hope everyone else is having half as much fun as I am!

Martha

Your garden sounds lovely Martha, off to a wonderful start. I love the smell of basil too.

Even though the seedling phase is exciting, I hope we can get our plants out in the sunshine in a few weeks for nature to take over the job.

Slowly hardening off indoor starts, right?

Gary,

So sweet of you to remind us to take the hardening off process slowly. I've been lucky during the few years that I've had hardening off to do. The weather seemed to warm at just the right time for me to put things out in total shade for a few hours, followed by an hour or so in the sun, and gradually increasing, typically falling over a weekend. The hardest part is finding an appropriate time of day when I'm home to accomplish the required maneuvers. I used to take a week off work the first week of May, but now I don't have that flexibility. But, I can do the initial hardening off in the afternoon/evenings. I can't wait for the process to begin.

Martha

I generally do 1/2 hour the 1st day, 1 hour the second day, 2 hours the 3rd day, and leave them outside all day after that. If cloudy or hazy, they go out in the open.

If intense sunshine, I try to have the sunshine filtered through the canopy of fairly sparse bushes or small trees.

I'll have to try the 2 hours of total shade (toughens them up?) then one hour of sun.

Afternoon/evenings likely would be the best time, with less intense sun, and the warmest part of the day.

My method/s of hardening off have been far more dependent on my time constraints than on what was probably best for the plants. i figured full shade (north side of the porch) on the first day was safest, if i wasn't going to be able to bring them back in for some unforseen reason

Martha.

I now have 55 tomato plants and 32 peppers under lights. Around half will go to my sister, but that still leaves me with quite a crew for the summer. I just pray I can keep the ground hogs away.

Martha

I would not wish a groundhog on anyone, as one can clean out a small garden overnight. The best way for removal is using a very large Havahart trap (I can't remember the model number), with the best bait being 2 inch cubes of cantaloupe.

I would like to set my expert hunter brother after the ground hogs, but we live amid a family of multiple vegetarians and gentle hearts, so he is reluctant. The family allows deer hunting, understanding that the deer would otherwise starve to death in winter, and the meat doesn't go to waste. But, ground hogs are "so cute!" and aren't edible. Unfortunately, they have an extensive warren dug around our rarely-used fire pit. They are protected by the accumulation of brush and leaves that are piled on the pit, waiting for a yearly bonfire. I assumed a bonfire would dispatch the ground hogs, but their dens are apparently deep or long enough to avoid the heat and/or smoke. We burned about a month ago, and I saw a chubby varmint wandering around the yard just a few days later.

Is it possible that I could lure the ground hogs away from my garden by planting squash, melons, etc. outside the fenced portion of the garden? We have plenty of acreage, though the deer would certainly join in any feast that was made available. Maybe I'll have to invest in electric fencing, plus rabbit fencing buried along the base of the deer fencing and chain link. It is nerve-wracking to think all my work starting seedlings and prepping garden beds could go to waste down the gullet of some giant rodent.

Martha

Some people have good success planting sacrificial crops outside of the fencing. Broccoli, peas, melons, etc... But, if it doesn't work, it may attract even more looters.

A mix of extremely hot peppers, garlic, and cinnamon, in a vegetable oil base, is also used my many people.

I hear that an electric fence, smeared with peanut butter (and some additives?) in a few strategic locations on the fence, so that deer will lick the electric fence (ouch!), is what to aim for, rather than just a standard electric fence.

Hi Everyone,

I'm, glad the thread is still alive. I've generally had very good germination rates with my tomatoes with the exception of a few. I did get poor germination with Dad's Sunset, but that might be because my seeds were old (from 2017). I did start another batch of Dad's Sunset, and a again, germination was poor to ok. Hugh's also had poor germination. This was new seed so I don't know what the issue was there. They were started the same as the rest of my seeds. German Johnson had ok germination, but seems to have brittle stems. I broke a couple when I was repotting them. I tried rooting the broken stems in water, but I think the seedlings were just too tiny and didn't make it. Everything else has done rather well.

I did see my first gnat flying around my seedlings today. I've really tried to stay on top of things and only water when the plants are dried ot and watering from the bottom. I did try and kill the nasty little bugger, but I don't think I got it. So I just need to be diligent in watching my seedlings.

I handed off a significant bunch of seedlings to my sister on Saturday, so I have more space under my lights. Unfortunately, some of my tomato plants are getting so tall, I can't raise the lights much higher. Actually, I can adjust the height of the shelves themselves, so all is certainly not lost. But, I would much rather just plant the buggers outside. Some are now in gallon pots, and they are NOT being moved again until they transition to outside.

I should be keeping track of this moment, so I will learn from experience and not start so early in future years. But, realistically, in the cold of February/March, am I going to be able to resist playing in the dirt? We'll see how this years' plants perform outside. It would be fun to have early-ish tomatoes.

I only had one Chocolate Cherry seedling germinate, and it got snapped off during transplant. (Darn!) So, I'll have to try another year. Or, if I have more seeds, maybe I should try to plant some more. Cherry varieties tend to produce a bit earlier than larger varieties, right? I've got eggplant seedlings that sprouted within the past two weeks, and I'm hoping they'll produce. So, why not re-try the cherry tomatoes? I do have a few Black Cherries, and Sungold plants (which I've never grown before). So, I won't be without cherry tomatoes, regardless.

Hope everyone's season is progressing well!

Martha

If I remember right Wide World of Sports used to open with the line " the agony and the ecstasy ' . If this tomato gardening was easy the triumphs wouldn't be so sweet.

Berrypiez,

You definitely strike me as a glass-half-full personality (the best kind, of course). I appreciate the pep talk.

Martha

Thanks for the kind compliment Martha . I spent most of my life empty , now only because The LORD is my Shepherd my cup runs over.

Still it's an uphill climb.

Whatever works for you.

Martha

Martha - Did you know that you can take the part of the plant that snapped off and root it in water? They actually root fairly quickly. It can also be done with branches that you remove (for some reason) from a tomato plant.

I did put the stem immediately into sopping potting medium, but it wilted beyond recovery.

A broken off stem needs to be in water, only, and fairly quick. I learned my lesson years ago. I had one stem tip only 3/4" long, and it grew.

Good to know. Maybe I'll prune some lower branches this year and try again.

Martha

Well I had a bit of a glitch with germination and an over zealous child hence my list ended up shortened. This weekend the ones that survived plus a couple additions were transplanted. Final list is:

Beliy Naliv

BrandyFred Dwarf

Buckbee's New 50 Day

Giant Doochov

Grightmire's Pride

Les's Sweet Japanese

Lida's Ukranian

Nyagous

Plum Regal

Purple Bumblebee

Rab Orjak

Rose de Berne

Severnye

Thunder Mountain

It's hard to lose an investment of time and effort but you still have some wonderful choices Moosemac , a few I've read about that I'd love to try someday. Congratulations with your transplants . Take heart , you will have some good eatin' down the road. .

Some of the unfamiliar names will be fun for me to research - I wonder if you are sitting on a tomato goldmine...

I'm growing tomatoes bred in my own garden (big yellow round all-purpose PL indeterminate cherries), Roma VF, Cal Ace^, New Yorker V, Early Cascade, Amana Orange, Carolina Yellow, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Lime^, Brandywine Pink, at least one volunteer, Jubilee^, Super Marmande, Marmande, and Sunray^.

^: These are those I haven't grown before this year.

The tomatoes I'm breeding are two different projects stemming from a cross-pollinated Medovaya Kaplya plant. The F1 had red ovate fruit. I have two separate main lines. One is a lot more vigorous than the other, but they taste different. Although the F1 did taste like Medovaya Kaplya, they have a more complex, more savory, all-purpose taste, now, and are not as sweet as Medovaya Kaplya. They are the same honey yellow color, though.

a more complex tasting Medovaya Kaplya sounds delicious Mokinu .

I read on Tomatoville someone asked how Medovaya Kaplya compared to yellow pear - one has to wonder why that insipid plastic tomato keeps popping up everywhere.

While the F1 tasted almost exactly like Medovaya Kaplya, the F2 did taste like a more complex, but less sweet verison of Medovaya Kaplya. However, the F3+ don't taste much like Medovaya Kaplya. They're still good, but definitely more complex and more all-purpose. Much different flavor, though.