Heat Resistant Tomatoes

[Sun City Linda]

Benny - I too was wondering about Texwine. You say Mariseed was mentioned as a source. Where? Did I miss something?

[Benny W5TYZ]

Sorry about the Mariseed statement, that was in a Private message, not posted here...So you didn't miss anything.

Benny

[Keger]

Hey Benny, right near you.

Anyway, I have tried, and tried a lot. The experienced here, Feldon comes to mind, advised it aint gonna happen down here, tomatoes in our heat. I have tried a lot, I grow for market and cant afford too many misses. After mid July tomatoes are done, I'm sorry, but they are done. When varieties say heat tollerant and heat setting gene, they aint talking this heat. I have also been beat up with fall tomatoes, just doesnt work here.

My advise would be to find a variety you like, start em at Thanksgiving, stick em in the ground late february, and rock and roll till July 4. Thats the window here.

Holler at me if you like, love discussing this stuff!

[riceke]

Originally Posted by Keger

Hey Benny, right near you.

Anyway, I have tried, and tried a lot. The experienced here, Feldon comes to mind, advised it aint gonna happen down here, tomatoes in our heat. I have tried a lot, I grow for market and cant afford too many misses. After mid July tomatoes are done, I'm sorry, but they are done. When varieties say heat tollerant and heat setting gene, they aint talking this heat. I have also been beat up with fall tomatoes, just doesnt work here.

My advise would be to find a variety you like, start em at Thanksgiving, stick em in the ground late february, and rock and roll till July 4. Thats the window here.

Holler at me if you like, love discussing this stuff!

After having lived in New Caney, TX for some time I have a tendancy to agree with you about when it's over it's over. Never had any luck w/tomatoes after July and even where I live now in Atlanta area I've never been lucky with after season tomatoes. Oh I get some green ones that if the bugs, disease or heat didn't get them the frost did. But I thought it was just me. I guess I'm hoping for some new development in tomatoes that will transcend this, but then it seems like all the experimentation is done in the northern environments with the exception of North Carolina. But even there doesn't experience the heat of mid summer Texas.

[Keger]

woops, repeated myself. My bad.

[Tracydr]

Here in AZ, best bet is to grow shorter season varieties. Get them in and out fast.
That said, anybody have good recommendations on big producers that are in and out fast? I like to can and dehydrate my tomatoes. My biggest problems are really, really low humidity,to the point of affecting pollination. Also, spider mites, also caused by low humidity and early heat.

[tuk50]

A few years ago I got a variety from Carol Knapp here on the forum called susie f3.. it has been my main crop ever since.. It lasts all summer and performs very well. I've been saving seed from them every year and they are very uniform and stable .. giant bush type that are about 5ft tall and 5ft wide here in Tucson. I think this is some of the reason that it does so well with the large canopy that shades the ground around the plant. I irrigate for about half an hour every day at 10 o'clock after the temps go over 100deg . set up on a timer and by august it starts setting for a fall crop... they are more like 6 to 8 oz here and we love the taste.
The second best one I've found is Celebrity .. I plant in March and get a great crop by the time the heat hits and this year I tried planting them the 1st of July and am still eating the last ones from the garden now.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Just noting from the post above that Arkasas Traveler is not an heirloom. It was bred by the U of Arkansas and someone somewhere added the name Arkansas. I think, with out checking, that Traveler, which is the correct name, was released in the early 70's and then an improved Traveler called Traveler 76 was released in 1976.

The problem with heat tolerant varieties is not just prolonged high heat which denatures the protein pollen, rather, it's the high humidity that clumps the pollen making it much less effective.

At one time Linda at TGS referred me to a breeder from Petoseed who was stationed on FL and looking into the clumped pollen issue. But to date I haven't seen mention of success from anywhere.

It gets so hot here in AZ that even if we get fruit set while it's cooler, sometimes the ripening enzymes won't work and fruit doesn't ripen. Also, when it gets that hot, fruit just stops growing and plants that should grow beefsteaks make little marbles.
OP- have you tried Cherokee purple or Indian Stripe. They work well for me. For cherries, Sungold and Matt's Wild Cherry are my best.

[gggeek]

Originally Posted by Sun City Linda

Welcome Benny. I have grown and had good luck with the usual nominees: Sioux and Big Beef. This year I grew Fourth of July Hybrid right thru August and September and we have had mostly triple digit. It really impressed me and it refuses to die.

I will second the 4th of July Hybrid. Produced through hot weather of SC and all the way till the first frost at the end of Nov.

[doublehelix]

As for anything from that Brandywine cross that is mentioned, I just don't think the genes are there for heat tolerance. Brandywine is one of the worst I have grown for flower bud abscission due to temperature extremes.


Genetics does not lie.

For the most part, there isn't much that can be done to get tomatoes to set fruit once the temps get over 93 degrees. From what I can tell, if a blossom is still at what I call the "half open stage" in the evening, then the pollen is going to clump before it opens. It seems that the blossoms that are just beginning to crack in the evening still set some fruit. I am assuming the pollination is occurring just around sunrise when the temps are lower but before the blossom completely opens.

Until something new comes along there are still a few tomatoes that can set some fruit in the heat. And by "heat", I mean what we experience in the South. Anyone living outside of Dixie can't imagine what we deal with in the summer.

I have had good luck with Bradley, Brown Plum, Red Global, Arkansas Traveler, Indian Stripe, New Zealand, Spitfire F1, Sungold F1, and Solar Set F1. None of these are bullet proof, but they are more likely to set fruit at higher temperatures and higher humidity.

Tomatoes that set fruit in the heat are my main focus.

I am seeing some promising results in my breeding experiments and currently have 11 groupings of breeding lines that are showing some fruit set above the 93 degree mark. Perhaps when I get something stable I can get you and a few others to trial them for me.

[Fusion_power]

There are some university researchers in Texas who are doing some serious work on heat tolerant tomato lines. Randy Gardner is working on some cooperative work with them to introgress late blight tolerance into heat tolerant lines. I don't know of anything significant that is ready to release.

DarJones

[Rockporter]

Benny, I am on the Coastal Bend and I just found this site for Tropical Hot/Humid seed collection. It is Tomatofest.com and I just made a purchase to see just how well they do here in my area.

http://www.tomatofest.com/tomato-see...ollection.html

[Fusion_power]

The varieties that tomatofest recommends for heat and humidity are not significantly tolerant. You hit 96 degrees and the very best heat tolerant varieties croak. I've seen 3 weeks with daily temps over 105 here in Alabama. There are NO tomatoes that will set fruit and most tomatoes that have fruit on them just sit there and cringe at the heat.

With that said, there are some varieties that I rely on to make a crop. These will do as much as any out there. Just don't expect them to make a crop when the heat is really on.

Arkansas Traveler, Atkinson, Burgundy Traveler, Creole, Eva Purple Ball, Muleteam, Box Car Willie, Tropic, Manalucie, Manapal

If you want to try the heat tolerant no flavor varieties, Heatwave, Sunleaper, etc.

DarJones

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

The varieties that tomatofest recommends for heat and humidity are not significantly tolerant. You hit 96 degrees and the very best heat tolerant varieties croak. I've seen 3 weeks with daily temps over 105 here in Alabama. There are NO tomatoes that will set fruit and most tomatoes that have fruit on them just sit there and cringe at the heat.
DarJones

I received my seed order from Tomatofest yesterday and found that all 8 seeds were packaged in the same packet with the very same photo and there aren't any descriptions of the tomato varieties on the packet, only names. To say I am dissapointed is an understatement, I can only hope I get good results from the seeds.

[Sun City Linda]

I never spend money at TomatoFest. Nice on line catalog but there are too many smaller, family vendors I trust.