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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 31, 2011 11:24:16 GMT -5
A few weeks ago I posted this photo of the earliest tomatoes I have ever grown. They came out of my breeding/selection program.  The tomatoes from the photo came from two open pollinated plants. They have continued to produce tomatoes in ever increasing quantities. They are still way ahead of the other tomatoes growing in my garden. The other varieties of similar sized/aged plants are still weeks away from ripening fruit. I planted a few huge plants (commercially obtained) under floating row covers, (growing in 1-3 gallon pots when transplanted). Some of them are just starting to produce ripe fruit. However,  , the fruits of my earliest tomato have a tendency to get sunburned easily, so they need to be picked when just starting to ripen. Seeds are available for sharing. Send me a personal message if interested. Include your address even if we've corresponded recently since my record keeping skills are so bad. |
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Post by MikeH on Jul 31, 2011 15:10:35 GMT -5
Nice looking tomatoes, Joseph. How stable are they? I don't mind for our own personal use but we grow a few plants for the local farmers' market and wouldn't want to sell a surprise tomato. This would be a great tomato plant to sell at a farmers' market. Are you swapping or sharing? The only possibly interesting tomatoes I've got are longkeepers - Ruby Treasure, Winter Gold, Winter Treasure, Longkeeper, and Mystery Keeper. I can't comment on the first four since I've never grown them or harvested them before but I can on the Mystery Keeper which we grew for the first time last year. Minimal catfacing. Indeterminant but not hugely vigorous. A fantastic keeper - we had the last tomato on May 30, 2011. It was still edible but just barely since it was beginning to dry out. Pix here - picasaweb.google.com/PortagePerennials/KeeperTomatoesI'll PM you with my address. Thank you. Regards, Mike |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 31, 2011 17:20:16 GMT -5
All of my seeds are promiscuously pollinated. The varietal purity and stability of my seeds is unknown. The focus of my variety improvement projects is the creation of land-races so my varieties tend to be genetically diverse. A tomato seed is stable in that it will always produce a tomato plant, and children tend to resemble their parents and siblings. So these might be stable inbred seed, or they might be F-1, F-2, F-3, etc seed. And since I don't keep records.... Mathematically and biologically they are very likely to be stable selfed plants. Grow them out for a year or two: See how they do under your growing conditions. Then sell the heck out of them at the farmer's market if they work well for you.
As far as I am concerned with nursery tomatoes: They are all surprise tomatoes, I never can tell if they are going to be mislabeled, or if a particular variety will thrive in my garden, or if this year's sungold will grow the same as last year's.
I'm swapping/sharing whatever.
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Post by steev on Jul 31, 2011 19:43:13 GMT -5
You say they are very sun-sensitive; does that mean the plants are thin-foliaged? I know where I garden the air is too clean, so the UV comes blasting through, and the best tomatoes seem to be grown in some shade.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 31, 2011 21:05:07 GMT -5
It is still very early in my tomato season so most of my varieties are somewhat thin leaved. My earliest may be a bit more thin leaved than the others, but not dramatically so. Also, my elevation is about 5000 feet, and we go for weeks on end without a cloud anywhere, and I plant rows 6 feet apart so they don't have any shade from any source for 14.5 hours per day.
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Post by raymondo on Aug 1, 2011 4:25:35 GMT -5
I'm at about 3200ft (1000m) and tomatoes and other plants can get bad sunburn. UV levels would be seriously higher at your elevation Joseph. This season, for the first time, I will be noting foliage cover and how quickly it develops. Good cover developed quickly is a characteristic I want to encourage, not just in tomatoes but for cucumbers, melons and squash as well.
As an aside, I avoid growing hearting lettuces (the iceberg types) because they burn then rot in high UV environments. I could shade them but it's not worth it.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 2, 2011 10:38:48 GMT -5
As an aside, I avoid growing hearting lettuces (the iceberg types) because they burn then rot in high UV environments. I could shade them but it's not worth it. I've never been able to grow iceberg types of lettuce because they rot, even in my very low humidity. Nice to know it's cause they are getting burned first. |
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Post by ottawagardener on Aug 2, 2011 14:43:27 GMT -5
I got sunburn for the first time this year as I normally grow in more shade. It's annoying. As is BER.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Aug 4, 2011 6:57:50 GMT -5
Eggshells and lime will take care of that BER easy peasy. The first fruit off the Miracle Gro tom had BER. I squished up a single, unwashed eggshell and put it at the base of the plant and no more BER. You might need to sprinkle a little lime around as well but give it a shot! Sooner might save you a lot more heartache than later.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 9, 2011 22:51:57 GMT -5
So my earliest tomato has been producing a few fruits per week for the last 5 weeks. (I harvested 6 for seed on Saturday August 6th from 2 plants (maybe not the same variety), and there will be that many more for the farmer's market on Wednesday the 9th. They are still getting sunburned... And no wonder, since they are ripening months earlier than my average tomato they are getting all those extra hours of sunlight per day, and the daytime temperatures are hotter than for my typical tomato harvest that doesn't normally start until September. Finally today the second earliest tomato produced a ripe fruit. The second earliest was started in the greenhouse 4 weeks later, so it's not an accurate comparison between the two, but this second plant is weeks earlier than the other tomatoes in the garden of the same age.   |
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Post by DarJones on Aug 10, 2011 10:40:03 GMT -5
I suspect the first to ripen (top post) is on a potato leaf plant. And if it is, then it is probably either Stupice or Bloody Butcher. These varieties are known for open leaf canopy which leads to sunburn.
DarJones
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 14, 2011 22:57:19 GMT -5
My earliest two tomato plants are still producing fruits: About this many per week all summer. They are not getting sunburned any more now that my day-length is so short.  That second earliest fruiting plant has produced almost nothing since then. |
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Post by peppero on Oct 28, 2011 7:14:14 GMT -5
:)i received the tomato seeds yesterday and i am certainly looking forward to trying these. thank you for kindness. jon
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Post by turtleheart on Oct 28, 2011 7:23:09 GMT -5
i have some varieties that i think you will appreciate for their drought tolerance and earliness. i plan on sending you an array of tomatoes including a swath of f2 lines for you to select those that do the best in your soil. im creating a swarm of wild samples of tomato also.
the new drought tolerant variety i want to try for 2012 is ciudad victoria from native seeds SEARCH. it looks promising for the dry field with the three sisters.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Oct 28, 2011 10:54:02 GMT -5
The only tomatoes i've ever had good success with has been those small oval-ish shaped cherry tomatoes. They taste great when freshly picked after they've been in the sun all day. Needless to say I'm not big on tomatoes since i haven't found the right varieties yet. I will be watching to see if you guy's come up with something interesting.
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, the fruits of my earliest tomato have a tendency to get sunburned easily, so they need to be picked when just starting to ripen.
