What to choose for new weather in the North East?

[Sun City Linda]

Originally Posted by tedln

I think it is interesting and almost funny that someone in the New York/New Jersey area is asking for suggested varieties to grow in his or her area. When I think of tomatoes, my mind seems to automatically picture New Jersey because it has such a rich historical relationship to commercially grown tomatoes. I also believe Cornell University performed some of the earliest research and development on tomatoes and tomato varieties. Florida later developed a historical reputation for commercial varieties. I seem to remember asking for heat tolerant suggestions when I first grew tomatoes in Louisiana and Texas. I would have been very happy to find a resource like Tomatoville when I first started. Unfortunately Al Gore didn't invent the internet until much later.

Ted

[lakelady]

Elliot, last year was a horribly hot summer for us. I'm not sure you need to change all your varieties, but why not intersperse some of the usuals with one or two that are more drought tolerant. For me, I found the bigger healthier plants did better during drought/stress. Mule Team did fabulously well, as did Berkley Tie Dye during the heat. Spider mites DID try to invade my garden, and a few dwarfs got them, but I kept hitting them with the hose and made sure I would mist the leaves too (usually I do NOT wet leaves due to septoria problems where I am).

[efisakov]

Hi, Elliot,
I am in NJ right next to NY City. 2012 had strange weather during the winter as well: too warm, we were fishing through the winter. Summer time for me was rainy in June and then hot in July. But weather was not the only problem. I do not recall a year with so many different bugs: all sizes and shapes. I grow organically, I only spray with soap, epsom salt and backing powder. It was not an easy to save some of the tomatoes.
At the end of August Rutgers University has its tomato tasting day. I went there with many questions on my mind: what do they use to spray their tomatoes, what varieties did well for them. I know few years ago they have Black from Tula as one of the most productive. But apparently they do not grow organically. So, no help for me.
The best producers/survivors last year were: Carbon, Eva Purple Ball, Japanese black Trifele, Cherokee Purple, Golden Cherokee, Matina, Black Cherry...
good luck

[lakelady]

Elliot, I seem to recall hearing that Long Island had pretty bad cases of late blight last year, and I was on the watch for it in my garden because it was reported all around me. Fortunately my little lake sits low with big hills all around it, and perhaps that prevents some things from blowing in with the wind.

Some of the best varieties for me last year were:

Dwarf Wild Fred
Berkley Tie Dye
BTD Pink
Liz Birt
Pantano Romanesco
Gildo Pietroboni
Mule Team
Sandul Muldovan
Legend
Black Sea Man
Yukon Quest
Belmonte
Franchi Red Pear
Vorlon

[gardenjefe]

I'm down a lot further south in Annapolis. Not only was it hot, but every rainstorm missed us, was still sauna hot and never cooled off at night. Better boy was great early, but when the oven turned on, it faded. Cherokee Purple was far and away the best in heat for mine. Sungold was great. One black Krim plant did ok with a little pm shade.

[Alfredo]

Originally Posted by Elliot

Last year we lost our tomato crop by mid august due to heat stress. What one garden expert advised is to choose tomato plants that grow better in hotter Souther climates. Any ideas?

Hello Elliot, I also lost a few tomato plants last summer due to the consecutive high heat days we had here in the Northeast (I'm in Clifton, NJ). The tomato plants that still did well for me, even with all that heat were Aunt Gertie's Gold, Black Krim, Great White, McClintock's Big Pink and Rosella Purple (from the Dwarf Tomato Project). All of these had a full, distinct flavor, for me, except for Great White, a little too mild a taste I thought. All of these need support throughout the growing season as the indeterminate plants get quite large, even the short Dwarf Rosella purple plant gets top heavy from the fruit and can snap with a strong enough wind (I know because it happened to one of my Rosella Purple plants). Hope this helps in some way. ~Alfredo

[Tapout]

I didn't lose any tomatoes last year to the heat, but at one time "all" my blooms fell off! I almost cried...

[nnjjohn]

I live in Hawthorne new jersey, I only grow anbout as much as I can which is at best three dozen plants, I usually get fruit even during bad weather seasons,, I'm on a hill and don't get as much sun on some beds but, I do still harvest some years more so than others .. this season I'm confident to harvest several dozen fruit of the size labeled per variety..but only if the weather is not too wet or too cloudy or worse stormy winds etc. just a normal season for tomato plants ,, that is why I am here as a member, you can learn good habits and rid the bad habits of cultivating these sensitive plants. Hoping we get a bit of luck with the weather this growing season. Just glad for this site should I need professional advice.

[Elliot]

the weather patter last summer was more like texas than Jersey. If it persists this year, we will need to look for plants that tolerate heat

[Worth1]

The weathed yawl are gettin iz from a voodoo spell I put upon ya fer ye sins★agenst us southern folks.

Enjoy ye weather and the plagues for thall surely be more to come.

Worth

[Elliot]

This is very funny. On the other hand the weather people are warning of additional "Southern" weather for this summer in the tri state area

[clkeiper]

Elliot, We live about 40 mile or so south of Lake Erie directly south of Cleveland. We get very humid summers and can't get through the summer without spraying a fungicide on a regular basis anymore. Spider mites were really bad last year, but they were on my eggplants not my tomatoes. That said, I would love to try being organic, but that can't happen since we have apple trees. I do want to try compost tea as an early spray on a portion of the garden to see if that is as effective as a fungicide. I have seen people claim it and show pictures, but that is not the same as actually doing it. Healthy soil makes a difference as to how disease and insect tolerant your plants are, too. Make sure your soil is balanced and healthy. Do a soil test to see if there is a lacking nutrient or more than one. Don't water irregularly nor get any water on the foliage if you are hand watering, if possible. Disease starts with wet foliage.

[Elliot]

what fungiside do you use on your tomato plants and at what intervals do u apply it?

[nancyruhl]

I'm just wondering when that "southern Weather" is going to start. It's been unusually cold and dreary here. I was thinking I should take a look at what they grow in Washington State.

[Elliot]

The last few summers have been unusually warm and humid with last summer being the worst. What was freaky is that there were weeds growing in our yard that I had never seen before and the gardener told us that these only grow down South but are now growing in our area because the climate has changed. Is this due to global warming? A weather expert on local television told me that he thinks its due to just a freak change in weather patterns but he would not rule out global warming. Another factor is the extent oftropical storms hitting the area which never experienced before. We generally get two tropical storms a season and last summer with hurricane Sandy, it was the worst ever.