tomatoes in SE Texas

txhydro · October 19, 2013

Has anyone grown floradade, rutgers, kewalo, homestead, or czech bush tomatoes in the SE texas area?

I am currently building a 12x32 foot greenhouse with a 5 foot sidewall, using cattle panels for support of the plastic and shade cloth.

I am also building 24 inch tall raised beds that will have plastic/shade cloth coverage to control the rainfall to keep cracking to a minimum.

Thanks,

--Kev

newatthiskat · October 23, 2013

I have grown Rutgers in the East Texas area. I did not do anything to protect them. Thinking about putting frame around my raised bed and putting up shade cloth next year. I did get some sun scald.

tlintx · October 23, 2013

I grew Homestead last spring here near Houston. It did very well in a south-facing location but burned up by June. Very nice tomato, in my limited experience! Pretty, smooth, tastes like a tomato, looks standard enough that people who are not into heirlooms don't object.

None of the tomatoes I had in full sun did well over the summer and only a couple plants survived. The fall ones all melted pretty much as soon as I put them out.

Will you be heating the greenhouse and/or using it over the winter? I'm planning a small scale hoophouse for over one of my gardening areas, just to see what kind of plants I can overwinter.

October 19, 2013	#1
txhydro Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Texas Posts: 2	tomatoes in SE Texas Has anyone grown floradade, rutgers, kewalo, homestead, or czech bush tomatoes in the SE texas area? I am currently building a 12x32 foot greenhouse with a 5 foot sidewall, using cattle panels for support of the plastic and shade cloth. I am also building 24 inch tall raised beds that will have plastic/shade cloth coverage to control the rainfall to keep cracking to a minimum. Thanks, --Kev

October 23, 2013	#2
newatthiskat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: texas Posts: 1,451	I have grown Rutgers in the East Texas area. I did not do anything to protect them. Thinking about putting frame around my raised bed and putting up shade cloth next year. I did get some sun scald.

October 23, 2013	#3
tlintx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: SeTx Posts: 881	I grew Homestead last spring here near Houston. It did very well in a south-facing location but burned up by June. Very nice tomato, in my limited experience! Pretty, smooth, tastes like a tomato, looks standard enough that people who are not into heirlooms don't object. None of the tomatoes I had in full sun did well over the summer and only a couple plants survived. The fall ones all melted pretty much as soon as I put them out. Will you be heating the greenhouse and/or using it over the winter? I'm planning a small scale hoophouse for over one of my gardening areas, just to see what kind of plants I can overwinter.