Tomatoes in Texas

[Annie]

Thanks for all the info. He is also growing Gary O'Sena, KBX JD's Special C- Tex. and Jet Star. Anxious to see how they all do. I usually use rice straw instead of mulch around the tomatoes and it has worked great to keep down weeds.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by Keger

50+ gusts here. Hoophouse blown up, lost some smaller plants to wind and burn.

Gonna get cold this weekend, whatch it guys!

Bummer Keger, I hope you will be able to get things together before the cold.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Keger

50+ gusts here. Hoophouse blown up, lost some smaller plants to wind and burn.

Gonna get cold this weekend, whatch it guys!

Luckily my low tunnel held fast. A miracle. The storm was marching right at us and basically stalled a couple counties over. We still got some wind and some snow & sleet, but ultimately stalled out short of the blizzard they predicted for us. The panhandle got hit hard though. One guy died when his roof collapsed from too much snow. So count yourself lucky!

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Luckily my low tunnel held fast. A miracle. The storm was marching right at us and basically stalled a couple counties over. We still got some wind and some snow & sleet, but ultimately stalled out short of the blizzard they predicted for us. The panhandle got hit hard though. One guy died when his roof collapsed from too much snow. So count yourself lucky!

Yes indeed, in San Antonio a woman and her twin children died in a fire that was made far worse from the winds. I think the fire started at another home and moved to hers very quickly.

[Vespertino]

While reading this thread I realize I probably made a mistake picking red brandywines for one of my two earthtainers. So I'm looking at something to replace it with for the fall, I'll have room for 2 plants and I'd like to grow 2 different kinds. JD's special C Tex is one, but I'm not sure about the other. Some varieties I'm interested are Aunt Ginny's purple, Arkansas Traveller, purple calabash, terhune, indian stripe, momotoro, stump of the world, siberial altai and japanese black trifele.

I have a lot of homework to do Not to mention my hubs is picky, he doesn't necessarily like sweet tomatoes. He likes them earthy, meaty, tomato-ey....

[OldHondaNut]

I choose a smaller fruit, quicker to mature plant for Fall as the race is on before the first frost. What I have seen is that in fall they fail to set in September cause it is still so hot. You need an indeterminate that constantly blossoms so that you can catch the weather when it cools enough to set. It might not set until late September.

Better Boy is a good fall hybrid - it tastes better than Early Girl (to me) and seems just as early. If you like OP or Heirlooms, Campbells 1327 has been quite early for me. Or a cherry like Gardeners Delight would be a week to 10 days faster to ripen.

[Dewayne mater]

Agree with Old Honda Nut. The best toms for fall are cherries. The problem is, it is too hot for fruit set for a long time. Then they set and it starts cooling off before large fruited varieties ripen. Then you end up with tomatoes that have poor flavor and worse, poor texture from the cold nights. The only non cherry that didn't have this problem for me so far is black and brown boar. Good news is, between reds varieties, black cherry and sun gold, you can get a variety of flavors from cherries in the fall. Good luck.

Dewayne mater

[OldHondaNut]

I am a bit surprised by the cold weather hanging on. DFW is forecasted for 39 tomorrow night, that is quite cold for tomatoes for the last week of April. 39 is not cold enough to cover but it is cold enough to set the plant back a couple of days.

Originally Posted by Vespertino

While reading this thread I realize I probably made a mistake picking red brandywines for one of my two earthtainers. So I'm looking at something to replace it with for the fall, I'll have room for 2 plants and I'd like to grow 2 different kinds. JD's special C Tex is one, but I'm not sure about the other. Some varieties I'm interested are Aunt Ginny's purple, Arkansas Traveller, purple calabash, terhune, indian stripe, momotoro, stump of the world, siberial altai and japanese black trifele.

I have a lot of homework to do Not to mention my hubs is picky, he doesn't necessarily like sweet tomatoes. He likes them earthy, meaty, tomato-ey....

For me, KBX has been the most "tomato-ey" tasting tomato. It fools you. The first time you eat one, you just aren't expecting that taste from a bright orange tomato.

Ted

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

I am a bit surprised by the cold weather hanging on. DFW is forecasted for 39 tomorrow night, that is quite cold for tomatoes for the last week of April. 39 is not cold enough to cover but it is cold enough to set the plant back a couple of days.

The chilly weather of this spring has delayed my tomato plants by a full month over last year. My cucumbers and squash germinate and die when they get a taste of the cool nights. I keep replanting the seeds and they will eventually hang on and grow when consistent warmer weather arrives.

Ted

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

I choose a smaller fruit, quicker to mature plant for Fall as the race is on before the first frost. What I have seen is that in fall they fail to set in September cause it is still so hot. You need an indeterminate that constantly blossoms so that you can catch the weather when it cools enough to set. It might not set until late September.

Better Boy is a good fall hybrid - it tastes better than Early Girl (to me) and seems just as early. If you like OP or Heirlooms, Campbells 1327 has been quite early for me. Or a cherry like Gardeners Delight would be a week to 10 days faster to ripen.

Doh, darn hot summer *grumble*... I should have done some more research, and thanks for the explanation on how to juggle the season change with the right plants. I was hoping to grow larger beefsteak ones for spring and fall, but from the sound of it biology and weather will make that a no-go. I have two sungolds going into my other earthtainer, so I hope that will be enough cherries for the summer.

I will look into Better Boy and Campbells 1327. Thanks for the suggestions!

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Agree with Old Honda Nut. The best toms for fall are cherries. The problem is, it is too hot for fruit set for a long time. Then they set and it starts cooling off before large fruited varieties ripen. Then you end up with tomatoes that have poor flavor and worse, poor texture from the cold nights. The only non cherry that didn't have this problem for me so far is black and brown boar. Good news is, between reds varieties, black cherry and sun gold, you can get a variety of flavors from cherries in the fall. Good luck.

Dewayne mater

Thanks for the explanation and the recommendation for the black and brown boar. I wish I had more room to grow plants, it's going to be tough picking only two when I really want to plant everything

Originally Posted by tedln

For me, KBX has been the most "tomato-ey" tasting tomato. It fools you. The first time you eat one, you just aren't expecting that taste from a bright orange tomato.

Ted

hi Ted, what tomato name does KBX stand for? It sounds like it would please the hubs.

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

I am a bit surprised by the cold weather hanging on. DFW is forecasted for 39 tomorrow night, that is quite cold for tomatoes for the last week of April. 39 is not cold enough to cover but it is cold enough to set the plant back a couple of days.

In my newbish paranoia the cold has made me second guess when to plant my tomatoes in the earthtainer. I overheard a few people at random gardening stores lamenting over the loss of their tomatoes due to the frost. I keep thinking about keeping my tomato babies warm.

Originally Posted by tedln

The chilly weather of this spring has delayed my tomato plants by a full month over last year. My cucumbers and squash germinate and die when they get a taste of the cool nights. I keep replanting the seeds and they will eventually hang on and grow when consistent warmer weather arrives.

Ted

That might explain why my sungold tomato plants haven't taken off yet. They look healthy but for a while they weren't getting very big. I was just putting them on the patio for light, I don't have an indoor growing setup (lights, heating pads) so I'm reliant on mother nature at this point.

[b54red]

I don't live in Texas but have the same weather as east Texas with a one day delay. It has been a while since I have had to delay planting this long with a variety of things. Even after waiting I still lost tomatoes to the cold and had to replant a good number of them. Just looking at my plants I would say they are about where they usually are in late March and it is nearly the end of April.

I grow fall tomatoes every year and every year I find another variety that does well. The largest beefsteak varieties that usually do well in the fall for me are Dr. Wyches Yellow and Rose. Big Beef almost always produces well in the fall. Last year Carbon was my most productive heirloom in the fall. Indian Stripe, Cherokee Purple, Zogola, Eva Purple Ball, Lumpy Red, JD's Special C Tex, Kosovo, Spudakee, Limbaugh's Legacy, and 1884 have all been good producers in the fall. The trick to getting good fall production is starting to set out plants in mid June and continue every few weeks through early August. You can never tell when the best time to set them out will be from year to year and so it is best to set out a few each time. Don't give up just because a lot of the plants die soon after setting them out; just keep setting more out til you have a nice stand of tomato plants. Heavy mulch and shade cloth also are a big help for the plants during that unbearably hot time. Don't allow too many stems to develop and keep them sprayed. Give the plants more water and supplemental fertilizer during the blooming stage to encourage more fruit set. If the plant is allowed to dry out too much during blooming the blooms will just fall off without setting any fruit. I actually over water the plants in late summer when they are blooming and it really increases fruit set despite 100 degree weather. Don't expect the heavy fruit set of spring nor for the tomatoes to be as large. If the first frosts are very late in arriving you can sometimes be blessed with a few really large fruits but it isn't the norm.

Bill

[KLorentz]

Has anyone tried the Iraqi maters down here? I think Al-Kuffa would do well here.


Kevin

[mdvpc]

Kevin

I have-I grew Al-Kkuffa and it did well for me in a 5 gallon container-both in the winter greenhouse and outside during the summer.

Vespetino.

Like Bill, I also get some pretty large beefsteak tomatoes in the fall by planting them in July. Many of my spring plants survive the heat of summer and also produce some nice tomatoes in the fall. They don't match the spring planted fruit in size, but they are large. The fall tomatoes do have a different taste due to the changing weather as we approach winter, but I wouldn't describe the taste as better or worse for most people; just different. It seems to me, the slightly smaller tomatoes have a more concentrated flavor. A sweet spring tomato seems sweeter in the fall. An acidic tomato seems a little more acidic in the fall. That could easily be the way my taste buds interpret the flavors and not the same in other peoples gardens.

The KBX tomato is a variant of the Kellogg's Breakfast tomato with potato leaf foliage instead of regular leaf. I can't tell you the KBX tastes better than KB, but the foliage seems to provide a healthier plant resulting in more and larger tomatoes in my garden.

Good luck!

Ted