Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - Best tomato types (large and small) for Central Texas?

feldon30 · October 21, 2011

I would also not draw any conclusions from this year's summer. It was absolutely absurd to have months and months of 100's and no rain. Everything about this year was totally atypical.

I think what tomato varieties you grow will depend on how many plants you are going to grow, how much space you have, etc. I've always believed you want to grow a certain amount of "sure thing" plants and then the rest can be a bit more experimental. I grow a mixture of about 70% heirlooms and 30% hybrids. Here are a few:

Gregori's Altai - heirloom - pink early beefsteak (20+ fruits per plant)
Jet Star - 1948 hybrid - medium red-orange tomato (30+ fruits per plant)
Momotaro - Japanese hybrid - very sweet medium pink tomato
Cherokee Purple - heirloom -- purplish pink beefsteak
Earl's Faux - heirloom - large pink beefsteak

Sungold - hybrid - orange cherry
Sweet Quartz - hybrid - pinkish red cherry
Purple Haze - stabilized hybrid - purple cherry/saladette

To pick out which varieties to grow, I would look for posts by Suze and others from Austin who are most familiar with the Austin area. Given the right circumstances, most tomato varieties can do well there, if large healthy transplants are planted early enough. You might also drop into Bloomer's nursery near Elgin. It's one of the best nurseries I've been to and they have a tremendous selection of tomato plants each year as well as organic fertilizers, soil amendments, etc. It's really a one-stop-shop and no doubt they will know what tomato varieties do well.

In Austin, Suze has typically started seeds January 8-15th but this is under ideal conditions (soilless seed starting mix, fluorescent starting lights, proper fertilization, hardening off, etc.). To be safe you could start January 1st. Plants go in the ground the 2nd or 3rd week of March depending on overnight temperature predictions. You cannot wait until all risk of frost is gone (mid-April) or you will get few if any tomatoes.

I personally grow in raised beds because they only need watering every 2-3 days. Raybo's Earthtainers would need daily watering and possibly twice-daily watering in June and July.

The problem with winter sowing is that the timing is up to nature. However being even a week late on planting tomatoes in Austin can mean the difference between a table full of tomatoes and just a few basketfuls. It's a myth that we have a long growing season in Central and S.E. Texas. We actually have an extremely short growing season analogous to parts of Canada, just hotter.

Suze and I have written many articles about growing tomatoes in Central and S.E. Texas. We're not experts by any stretch, but hopefully you find some interesting info. http://www.settfest.com/

October 21, 2011	#2
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	I would also not draw any conclusions from this year's summer. It was absolutely absurd to have months and months of 100's and no rain. Everything about this year was totally atypical. I think what tomato varieties you grow will depend on how many plants you are going to grow, how much space you have, etc. I've always believed you want to grow a certain amount of "sure thing" plants and then the rest can be a bit more experimental. I grow a mixture of about 70% heirlooms and 30% hybrids. Here are a few: Gregori's Altai - heirloom - pink early beefsteak (20+ fruits per plant) Jet Star - 1948 hybrid - medium red-orange tomato (30+ fruits per plant) Momotaro - Japanese hybrid - very sweet medium pink tomato Cherokee Purple - heirloom -- purplish pink beefsteak Earl's Faux - heirloom - large pink beefsteak Sungold - hybrid - orange cherry Sweet Quartz - hybrid - pinkish red cherry Purple Haze - stabilized hybrid - purple cherry/saladette To pick out which varieties to grow, I would look for posts by Suze and others from Austin who are most familiar with the Austin area. Given the right circumstances, most tomato varieties can do well there, if large healthy transplants are planted early enough. You might also drop into Bloomer's nursery near Elgin. It's one of the best nurseries I've been to and they have a tremendous selection of tomato plants each year as well as organic fertilizers, soil amendments, etc. It's really a one-stop-shop and no doubt they will know what tomato varieties do well. In Austin, Suze has typically started seeds January 8-15th but this is under ideal conditions (soilless seed starting mix, fluorescent starting lights, proper fertilization, hardening off, etc.). To be safe you could start January 1st. Plants go in the ground the 2nd or 3rd week of March depending on overnight temperature predictions. You cannot wait until all risk of frost is gone (mid-April) or you will get few if any tomatoes. I personally grow in raised beds because they only need watering every 2-3 days. Raybo's Earthtainers would need daily watering and possibly twice-daily watering in June and July. The problem with winter sowing is that the timing is up to nature. However being even a week late on planting tomatoes in Austin can mean the difference between a table full of tomatoes and just a few basketfuls. It's a myth that we have a long growing season in Central and S.E. Texas. We actually have an extremely short growing season analogous to parts of Canada, just hotter. Suze and I have written many articles about growing tomatoes in Central and S.E. Texas. We're not experts by any stretch, but hopefully you find some interesting info. http://www.settfest.com/ __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]