heat tolerant tomato?
 

I was thinking of producing a line of "southern" tomatoes and wondered what the most heat tolerent tomato is ( the one that does best in heat and humidity). I would like to cross this with all colors of tomatoes in an attempt to get a full line of southern tomatoes in all colors ans sizes. Let me know

macmanmatty

Sounds like an interesting idea, i would be interested in what suggestions people have for heat and humid tollerance given that one of my growing spaces has both even though I am in Z4 we still get some hot and humid days.

I can help with the HEAT, but not the humidity so much. Two are standouts in my 100deg and above every day in the month of June every year. Green Zebra and Bonnie Best. They both go all summer here and Both were loaded with fruit in the second week of Dec 07 when the first hard freeze zapped them. Green Zebra gets over 12-15ft tall by the end of the summer and Bonnie Best hardly reaches 6ft., but both race to see who can produce the most fruit. When our humidity comes in during July with the monsoons, they both are very tolerant of most diseases that may have taken out other maters. The usual lower brown leaves, but nothing major. Heatwave also does pretty good, but the taste is not as good as the others, and it slows production the second half of the season. 8)

Kinda ironic that folks are catching onto the idea of doing more breeding work. I used to specialize in heat tolerance with thousands of crosses tested in hot spots of California. I would start in the Indio, CA. area near the Salton Sea or the Los Angeles area and work north to Bakersfield, Buttonwillow, Fresno area and way up above Sacramento in the central valley.

With many years of doing just that and with hundreds of crosses, sometimes different collections, but always with a heat tolerant aspect. I developed inbreds from many of the hybrids and tested lines from other programs. I did find some lines to be excellent for production, color, and firmness. Sometimes for flavor, but many times just to be acceptable but nothing to brag about.

Heat tolerant lines out of Fla. might be the best if you are living there with the humidity, which is different from the dry heat of California. The one inbred that I have used for heat tolerance for the last 14 years is so poor in flavor that I use it for comparison taste samplings. I could do a show on "What tomato not to eat" that would make "What not to Wear" seem tame.

I live in the PNW where heat tolerance would be oxymoronic; what a tomato that can tolerant 59 F for a high in middle of June?

I already have hybrids (seed is still OK), so why would someone want to start a "Southern" line of tomatoes from scratch? To each his own makes sense.

I was just on the phone with Dr. Carol Deppe who is the author of
[B][URL="http://www.chelseagreen.com/2000/items/361"]Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties[/URL][/B]

and we were talking how plant breeders rarely make any money on their varieties. She wants me to write a book soon with her publisher.

Back to breeding your own tomatoes, go for it. Funny that one of my own varieties, Green Zebra, was mentioned as a heat tolerant variety! Bred up in Kansas by a farm boy that was looking for something to take the heat, take the drought, take the 19 inches of rain in July, take the hail, take the tornadoes, take the wind, take the grasshoppers, and even takes the cake!

Just think, "Man made tomato for Man made Global Warming!" I am waiting for that ocean side property in Arizona! I'd better get the humidity tolerance bred into the Green Zebra fast. Oh, wait a minute; been there, done that. But not that the Global Warming Alarmists would ever care!

Tom, I want a signed copy of that book when it comes off the presses.... Lol...

Sorry about the property, too late. I've already bought up all the sand dunes in Yuma for my grandkids to build marina's on for whale watching tours.8)

Arkansas Traveler consistently produces even in 100/100 days....
That's hot & humid!

Another one is Maiden's Kiss. It was the only variety I grew last year that pumped
out the fruit like it was going out of style! And this was during a super hot
July/August with drought conditions.

Lee

Lee, thanks for the info on MK's heat tolerance. Wasn't aware of it but should have as Deer Park who brought out the variety grows them in Texas with excellent results.
I had rain almost everyday in July and August and it didn't phase my Maiden's Kiss either. Lee, looks like we got a winner. Ami

[quote=tuk50;87432]Tom, I want a signed copy of that book when it comes off the presses.... Lol...

8)[/quote]

I'm second in line, Tom!:D

mac, I was really happy with Rouge D'Iraq last summer. We have all sorts of extremes here in the Ozarks, but 'hot and humid' is a good general description (especially in my particular location where we are surrounded by two large lakes and numerous rivers.) You should try it and see how it does for you. RDI was one of my most consistent performers, very dependable right through to the end, even though it was part of the 'late batch.'

Well I have the hot & humid for you -- but it's not tomatos LOL I live on the Gulf Coast of Alabama and man oh man about the hot and the humid (humidity from the Gulf). So if you need any of those tomatos grown out, just let me know! I just commented on another thread that it's hard to find a tomato that will set fruiwhen it gets really hot here. But really, that's just half of it. The humidity will make it seem 10 degrees hotter LOL

In my opinion, an outstanding "heat tolerant" variety of
tomato that should be used for a parent for something
to be heat tolerant would be Thessaloniki ...

~ Tom

When the results come in this summer, I will know which of my proprietary 101 hybrids perform well in the "heat' of Mexico and California. The numbered hybrids 1-101, (no other data provided), will be fruiting soon. The investor will provide the data back and with this research, and I (ever hopeful), will relate the highlights here on TVille.

The growers in two or more locations will not know the parentage, but their information will guide me in making further or similar hybrids this summer. I hope to learn something before the end of May.

Normally, I don't send out seed for trials anymore, but since these are hybrids, the pedigree info is on a spreadsheet safe from prying eyes. I sent a pkt of each from 5 to 10 seed per hybrid.

I had to narrow down the hybrids to 101 from over a thousand hybrids. It was like which kid is going to college and which one won't!

Tom Wagner

Tom, I presume you are working with many tomato varieties? Thanks for keeping us informed. As a desert dweller this has always been an interesting aspect of tomato culture to me. Year after year, Green Zebra and Bonnie Best seem to thrive during June HEAT and both set just as heavily in the fall as spring, so that Frost always catches them both loaded with fruit. There are a few others, but these have the best flavor and are fairly disease free and dependable.8)

theres a everglades tomatoe that grows wild its a small type its been growing wild for over 50 years down there if you can get some of those it might be good to use it. paul

Sioux does well even when things heat up here. Another one is Tom's Yellow Wonder. Last year it set fruit until the mites got it (july). This is my second year growing it, and it is off to a very good start.

One that is supposed to be heat tolerant and able to take the humidity is "Creole". I'm growing it for the first time this year and will report later on its progress. With the early morning fog and the afternoon temps like they are right now, I have the environment to test it.

Ted