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Old July 16, 2018   #1
TomatoDon
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Default What Varieties Are Still Doing Well in this Heat?

I've had a very good crop this year and the plants are still pumping out a lot of tomatoes. I'm still selling about 1,000 pounds a week, mostly from my front porch, but now the leaves are starting to dry up and I can see the beginning of the end. The mid-summer decline has started.

I am curious to know if any of you still have solid green plants that haven't shown any signs of slowing down, especially in my home region of the mid-South and in east Texas. And, of course, what specific varieties are doing well in this heat.

Thanks!
Don
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Old July 17, 2018   #2
Johnniemar
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My big beef, early girls, dirty girls, indian zebra are still doing great and setting tomatoes.
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Old July 17, 2018   #3
TomatoDon
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Big Beef and Better Boy are still doing good for me. Goliath is still producing a lot but they are starting to split. Pound - wise, we sell more green tomatoes and canning tomatoes (minor splits and blemishes) than we god Grade A slicers, so I still have a market for them.

I hear that Creole, Arkansas Traveler, and I think it's called Florida 91 are doing well. Have any of you tried those?

Thanks for the reply!
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Old July 17, 2018   #4
Goodloe
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Hey Don,

I, too, am seeing the beginning of the end for my main producers...Big Beef, Early Girl, and Big Boy. I've still got Sioux, Delicious, Cleota Pink, and Chef's Choice Pink producing ok, but I figure I've only got about 3 weeks of production left....

Been a pretty good year, though. I grow to freeze for use in the off season, plus fresh eating, plus supplying all the moochers at work and the moochers on my wife's side of the family. I think when it's all said and done, we'll have about 20 gallons in the freezer, plus about 10 quarts of salsa.

Have you ever grown the Chef's Choice Pink? I grew it for the 1st time this year and have been pleasantly surprised with its production, taste, and size. I've picked 5 or 6 well in excess of a lb to 1 1/2 lb...

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Old July 17, 2018   #5
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It's been totally over for me for a couple of weeks.

Donna, Texas Gulf Coast
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Old July 17, 2018   #6
TomatoDon
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Has anyone tried the Big Daddy? I think it is a derivative of Big Boy. Here is a link that says everything I know about it. Never heard of it till a few days ago.

https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/to...rod002743.html
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Old July 17, 2018   #7
sic transit gloria
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I have browning of leaves, but tons of tomatoes, and we're in a significant drought in our area of Kansas. Big winners this year have been Rebel Yell (production and flavor), Linda's Faux (huge plants, slightly stingy production, but flavor is out of this world), Hungarian Heart (biggest tomatoes, and good flavor), Neves Azorean Red (great, as always).
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Old July 19, 2018   #8
Oregonfarmer
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All my plants are still green in Oregon. Just got the first ripe fruit of the year yesterday. It was a golden Nugget. Disappointed with the taste, a little bland for me. A lot of fruit on my plants but still no blushing yet. Days are in the high 80s nights in the high 50's.
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Old July 19, 2018   #9
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Most impressed with Paul Robeson. Continues to pump out tomatoes, with excellent pollination and fruit set. And not a sprawling, rangy plant- stout and compact. Love this one!
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Old July 19, 2018   #10
nbardo
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My plants that have performed best just set a lot of fruit when temps were better and have been ripening them slowly over time. Cherokee green has done pretty well, so has a variety called Bordovyi, production wise. They arent setting much fruit now though so once the fruits on the vine are gone i probably wont get much until things cool down a bit in september and october.

Exceptions are the small fruited varieties sun gold, mexico midget, and tiger tom. None of them were ever pruned and have been producing like crazy even into regular 88-95 day time and 70-80 night time air temps. I cant keep up with them.


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Old July 19, 2018   #11
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We are currently reaching 105 F in temp with 108 predicted for the weekend. My primary cultivars this year were Carbon, Big Beef, KBX, and Limbaugh s legacy with a variety of cherry tomatoes including Cherry Falls and Black Cherry. While some varieties are still alive and waiting for cooler weather to set fruit again, my Big Beef plants seem to be most resistant to both heat and disease. They are not blooming, but they are growing after being cut back. Carbon also has performed well in the heat but has stopped production, but it looks like it will also be ready to produce more when the weather cools.



Limbaugh's gave up fast as the heat approached with all of my plants dying quickly. Black Cherry also bit the dust pretty quickly. KBX produced a lot of really large, perfectly shaped tomatoes into the heat of summer and then died.


As a few plants died, I replaced them with more Big Beef and Heatmaster plants. I've never grown Heatmaster, but it is growing and blooming in the heat. Both varieties seem to have decent disease tolerance so it will be interesting to see if they produce in the fall.


A feed store near my house was preparing to dispose of their remaining tomato seedlings.The different varieties in the small containers were very leggy and near death with the exception of the Heatmaster plants which were healthy and blooming. The store owner offered to sell me the Heatmaster plants for $0.50 each simply to dispose of them. They had been priced at over $3.00 each. I bought ten plants and I am really curious how well they will produce tomatoes this fall and if the tomatoes are worth eating.

Last edited by DonDuck; July 19, 2018 at 12:21 PM.
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Old July 19, 2018   #12
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I pulled my spring tomatoes up on the weekend of the fourth of July, as is my habit. Fall tomatoes are planted out and looking surprisingly good at about 10" tall and growing in the heat. We are in for a long stretch of triple digit temperatures. When the fall tomatoes are ready to set fruit in mid August the nights will have cooled enough to allow it. For canning I put out a couple of plants each of a few determinates, and some Rebel Yell, Prudens Purple, and Zena's Gift for fresh eating. We also eat a lot of Porters in the Fall but can them when we can no longer keep up with them.
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Old July 19, 2018   #13
Dewayne mater
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It has been essentially over for me for about 2 weeks. I lost 15 large tomatoes one night 2-3 varieties. I was about to take a vacation, so I picked everything that had a chance of ripening on the counter and let the greedy critter(s) have the smallest ones. They missed 3 or 4 which are still out there, hardly growing. They are 1/3 the size they should be and will have tough, thick skins. Been trying to decide if I'm going go pull and start over for fall, or cut them all back. Too hot to do either right now with 105-108 highs and even lows just in the low 80s. Yuck!
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Old July 19, 2018   #14
DonDuck
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dewayne mater View Post
It has been essentially over for me for about 2 weeks. I lost 15 large tomatoes one night 2-3 varieties. I was about to take a vacation, so I picked everything that had a chance of ripening on the counter and let the greedy critter(s) have the smallest ones. They missed 3 or 4 which are still out there, hardly growing. They are 1/3 the size they should be and will have tough, thick skins. Been trying to decide if I'm going go pull and start over for fall, or cut them all back. Too hot to do either right now with 105-108 highs and even lows just in the low 80s. Yuck!

It's 107 at my house right now. I do my gardening early in the morning and late in the evening as the sun goes down. It's about 80 in the morning and low 90's in the late evening. I still have a few small cherry tomatoes scattered throughout the garden. I noticed a few of them on the ground this morning. The exposed half of each tomato was eaten. The side against the ground would be undamaged. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on until I noticed a lot of birds in my garden. I figured out the birds are knocking the tomatoes to the ground and then pecking them to get the moisture they contain. I will put a couple of water trays out for them this evening.

Last edited by DonDuck; July 19, 2018 at 05:05 PM.
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Old July 20, 2018   #15
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Most of my older plants set out in March are suffering from spider mites but many are still putting out significant amounts of fruit. The plants I set out in mid May are just now putting out ripe fruit.

The older plants that are still putting out decent fruit are: Crynkovik Yugoslav, Couilles de Tareau, Aunt Ginny's Purple, JD's Special C Tex, Red Barn, Barlow Jap, Donskoi, Delicious, 1884, Neves Azorean Red, Limbaugh's Legacy, and most surprisingly Brandywine Sudduth's.

From the May plants the ones that are doing the best are Gary O" Sena, Giant Belgium, Arkansas Traveler, Spudakee, Neves Azorean Red, and of course Pruden's Purple. I set out a single Red Brandywine from TGS in early June and it has been producing well though fighting EB and spider mites. I also set out a single Arkansas Traveler in mid June and it is loaded with fruit despite the heat but has not had one ripen yet.

I set out a small bed of tomatoes this past Saturday and finally got some Indian Stripe PL plants set out. If the spider mites or some disease don't get them I expect they will be producing ripe fruit before the end of August followed by some production from Arkansas Traveler in September and October. The rest of the varieties I am not so sure about.

Despite the heat and spider mite infestation this has been a very productive July. Usually during the blistering heat this time of the year I am just getting one or two fruits a day if that many but the past two weeks I have picked a surprisingly good variety of ripened fruits with more large ones than normal for mid summer.

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