Tomato questions

[Tdog]

Our tomato plants are loaded, but so far the only ones to ripen have been some 'patio' tomatos my wife bought at the nursery with lots of fruit already set. The plants in my garden are all indeterminate species for sure - - they are getting taller than I can support. I've been using t-posts, driven in just far enough to bury the blade end. Are you supposed to clip off the tops of tomato plants to keep them from getting over 6 - 7 ft. tall?

Also, my wife wanted some Roma tomatoes & we planted a few - - does anyone know how tall Romas get? Are they indeterminates??

Thanks,

Jack

 

[MossRoad]

There are two types of tomato vines... I think they are called determinent and indeterminent or something like that. What it means is one is a bush and one is a vine. The bush type should never be pruned, but the vine type will keep sprouting new shoots and can be trained to a trellis.

Read about it here.

 

[Egon]

Romas should be a determinate tomato.

 

[farmerjim]

i grow roma vf and san marzano plum types they grow to about 2ft and are heavy producers.also somejuliets,sweet 100's and grapes, as well as some supersteaks. all are heavy producers, for me any way. the supersteaks and others i do trim some of the suckers off and have to cage them as they like to grow rather large. by trimming the suckers off it allows the plant to concentrate on bearing more quality fruit. i'm experimenting this year by growing some on the red plastic mulch, supposedly tomatoes like the red.

 

[jinman]

The plants in my garden are all indeterminate species for sure - - they are getting taller than I can support. I've been using t-posts, driven in just far enough to bury the blade end. Are you supposed to clip off the tops of tomato plants to keep them from getting over 6 - 7 ft. tall?

Jack, I think you need wire cages instead of just the t-posts. With lots of rain and the right conditions, you may need a ladder to pick the top fruit. You could trim, but the tomatoes bloom and produce on new growth for indeterminate types. I'd just let them grow.

 

[KaiB]

Jim is on the money here. The taller, vining plants will keep growing-and producing as long as there is new growth and conditions which allow bloom and set.

We have had heirlooms which grew over 7'-I will admit that they are a pain at times as they take a lot of space.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

I've grown Roma's for may yrs. In my garden they've never gotten more than 4' yet get large yield. None of my indeterminate get more than 5' and most don't even get that tall. Maybe it the NOrthern location. The tallest is the brandywine but as soon as fruit set on and get some size to them they weigh the plants down closer to 3-4 ft, they size of my wire cages.

 

[Tdog]

Thanks - - I should probably have used cages for the indeterminates - - they are so loaded with green tomatoes that some of the vines are trying to slide down the posts. Besides, some varmit is taking chunks out of some of them. I did use cages about 3-4 years ago, made from 1" chicken wire, just to keep the critters out. Sure would have been easier at the beginning of the season.

Jack

 

[Luremaker]

Our tomato plants are loaded,...

Jack

We just finished planting our tomato plants this evening. They are between 6 and 12 inches tall. We had frost last week. It will be 2 months before I see any ripe tomatoes.

 

[Chuck52]

Looking to be a good tomato season here in mid-Missery, too. I've got over forty plants in the ground so far and ran out of cages I built from concrete screen wire, so I've got the rest staked with t-posts, pieces of rebar, old walking sticks, and about eight are spread out along a cattle panel. Until I started heavy mulching of the caged plants I was getting so many weeds that were hard to pull in the cages that I thought about using only stakes. The mulching makes the cages work great. I've never had plants that out grew my 5 foot cages, at least out the top. They do usually grow out of the cages and I have to keep poking branches back in. Staking can be a pain for some types because they really want to have multiple main branches. Black Krim is like that. I guess you can keep them pinched back to a single main stem, but I usually have lots of plants and too little time to keep up with that. I don't support the roma-type tomatoes, just surround them with mulch and let them sprawl.

Black Krim, carbon, black, Annais noir, Park's Whopper, Mountain Fresh, black cherry, sweet 100's, and one that may be Mr. Stripey or Zebra....lost the label. Naturally, the one plant with the biggest green tomato is the one I'm not sure of the variety. I also have a few volunteers that I'm letting grow. Anyone else try the black cherry? As far as I know the seeds are only available from Tomato Growers Supply, and for me anyway they have a poor germination rate. They're so good I grow them anyway.

Chuck

 

[jinman]

Black Krim, carbon, black, Annais noir, Park's Whopper, Mountain Fresh, black cherry, sweet 100's, and one that may be Mr. Stripey or Zebra....lost the label. Naturally, the one plant with the biggest green tomato is the one I'm not sure of the variety. I also have a few volunteers that I'm letting grow. Anyone else try the black cherry? As far as I know the seeds are only available from Tomato Growers Supply, and for me anyway they have a poor germination rate. They're so good I grow them anyway.

Chuck

Chuck, over half of those varieties I've never heard of. I do want to try the black cherry next year. I just read some about it on another website.

It's funny how I guessed what the plants would be in size by their names and appearance when I got them. I thought the sweet 100's would be small plants...WRONG. My large red cherry plants are just barely 3' tall and slightly smaller than the early girls. Easily the tallest plants are my Porters and the better boys not far behind. Sugar snacks are also large plants. I knew I would have to add additional support to the sides of my 3' and 4' cages, but I just didn't expect it this soon. As soon as I can get into my muddy garden, I've got to add an additional foot to my cages because all my plants are over the top.

 

[Chuck52]

Jim,

I try to grow some "different" tomatoes every year, and because I have liked the "black" varieties I usually go for some of them. Last year the black cherries were just fantastic, both in yield and in flavor. I've grown Black Krim for three years now, and I really like the taste. The Annais Noir is one of this years experiments. A fella at the local farmers market had the plants for sale. Failed past experiments have included Brandywine (several times, no yield) and Cherokee Purple. I have some Cherokee heritage and wanted to try great grandma's tomato, but it hasn't worked out for me. What usually does in my garden is summer drought here in mid-Missery, and even though I usually keep some of the tomatoes going through the big dry, some seem to make it better than others. Sweet 100's are almost a sure bet to give loads of fruit, so I always plant some even though I much prefer the other varieties.

Chuck

 

[schmism]

we seem to have had what amounts to a tomato disaster

we plated 5 diffrent packs of tomato's in 3 diffrent areas of the yard.

Better boy, big beaf, 2 kinds of cherry, and some yellow ones.

in 2 weeks neary a single one seems to be pokeing out of the ground

so in despiration to broke down and bought some seadlings sat... we got 12 in all about a foot tall so we wont be totally skunked.

I keep hopeing that the others will finnaly decide to grow now they that they know what they are supposed to look like....

 

[jinman]

...we plated 5 diffrent packs of tomato's in 3 diffrent areas of the yard...in 2 weeks neary a single one seems to be pokeing out of the ground.

My uncle used to grow tomato, pepper, and onion sets in a hotbed when I was a kid. He had great success, but near perfect growing conditions. I can now buy tomato sets at a local supplier for about $1.75 per six-pack and onion sets are dirt cheap. I just cannot grow my own for that price. If I do seeds, it will be for some exotic or rare variety and I will build a small hotbed with an old aluminum window for a top.

I think buying and planting tomato sets is the way to go. As I found out last year, you can bury 80% of the plant and have a great root system. You can't do that with plants grown from seeds.

I hope your sets turn out okay and the cutworms don't get them.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Chuck, it just goes to show ya that things aren't the same everwhere. We have great success from Brandywine but they aren't know for high yields number wise but is size, that's another matter. Tried Black Krim once and no more. Was hard to tell when they were ripe due to their color and they didn't last very long after picking. We're moving away from sweet 100's and towards a yellow cherry variety called Sun Gold. They are far and away the best tasting cherry tomato we've tried. Here are some customer comments on Sun Gold. Tomato Sun Gold Hybrid (Cherry) - Cherry Tomatoes - Tomatoes - Vegetables - Burpee

 

[Chuck52]

Mickey,

Different strokes, for sure. I like the "winey" taste of the black tomatoes, but the guy I buy most of my plants from said he had several customers say they didn't like the Black Krim. Fortunately, I had told him I really liked them so he grew some. I grow some of my plants from seed, but I don't seem to be much good at it. A cold frame outside might be the way to go, but we often get real cold snaps during the time I'd have plants starting and I'd worry about it not being warm enough. I don't have a really good window either, and the grow lights don't seem to make up the difference. Gonna build me a greenhouse one of these days!

Chuck

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Chuck, HF has a couple nice greenhouses. We bought a 6'x8' last yr and it did the job for us this spring on starting our own seeds. Can find the model we bought for ~$300 when on sale.

 

[Egon]

Have any of you tried planting onion seeds in late summer/early fall and leaving them to over winter in the ground?

If you do you will have some nice early onions.

 

[MarkV]

Have any of you tried planting onion seeds in late summer/early fall and leaving them to over winter in the ground?

If you do you will have some nice early onions.

Egon we have done that here in N. Georgia with both onions and garlic successfully. Didn’t plant as many onions this year because the wife is hooked on Vidalia onions, a regional sweet onion here in Georgia. Just can’t beat that fresh Garlic though.

MarkV