Hi Charles and Cathy

I am not a tomato expert or even a longtime Florida resident, but I can offer my experience here which is very extensive, I have been growing tomatoes for a long, long time, lol.

Here in Florida I would not grow them in the ground because of problems with disease, soil, rotating crops and lack of space. All my tomatoes are grown in pots.

All the above mentioned varieties I have grown and have my personal opinions which other might differ. Taste and reviews are personal as you well know.

Celebrity is a good starter tomato and does well under a lot of conditions, Black Plum the taste is so bad I would not repeat it again, and as far as the Kiwano horned melon is such monstrous vine that I would not grow it again even if somebody pay me money!lol.

As far as grafting rootstocks it has been done already, people are buying some root stock I think from Japan and graft to any tomato, very costly last time I heard and would not be worth it for me, I get almost perfect and delicious tomatoes most of the time.

Yesterday harvest went to a savory tomato tart, the red ones are German Red Strawberry one of my favorites, the yellow one is Huang, the black Angolan and the green Kumato.

Chara if you see this how are your Kumato doing? Mine are very sweet and tasty.

Silvia

Funny you should mention tomato roots. Yesterday I pulled my five 'Goosecreek' tomatoes out of their large containers as they were finished for the season. I'd gotten probably 200 or more tomatoes from the five plants! All of them had nice, thick root systems, although the roots themselves weren't thick, but the root balls were, and a few were quite long as they must have reached for water and nutrients toward the bottoms of their containers. One of the plants had strangely-shaped leaves and smaller tomatoes than the others. Its root ball was a little smaller than the others, but no other signs of damage. Being in the containers prevented root-knot nematodes from occurring.

Happy Gardening,

Sheri

Hi Silvia

Growing in pots is a good option, we're exploring other options too.

Black Plum and Celebrity, if they turn out to be the best options, are only interesting for their roots, the top of the plant gets cut off. I wouldn't buy rootstock from Japan, I don't have any trouble starting tomatoes from seed. The cost of grafting is zero, well whatever the seed costs, which is almost nothing, plus the time it takes to practice doing it I guess. It's something I don't mind trying, just as an experiment.

I'm growing some okra for the purpose of building up high rknematode population there, just so I can practice killing them (evil grin).

Your dish and your garden look great

Cathy - I am growing this season Plum Regal, a hybrid developed for nematode resistance and disease.

I have not tasted yet but by looks alone they look very good and prolific, probably 1 will be ready to be sampled this week, if the taste is good I will report on that.

Here is Plum Regal tomato

Silvia

Silvia those look great your pics always make me hungry :) my tomatoes are just starting to ripen and the peppers and eggplant are starting to set fruit I'm so surprised by how big and full the tomato plants are this season usually by now they would start browning
Sal

Hi Sal

That tart you can easily make it yourself, if you have fresh tomatoes you can do it today.

Make a dough like if it was for a pizza, cook it and let it cool. Make fresh pesto, if you don't have a good recipe, I will send you one.

Put the pesto on top of the precooked dough and the fresh sliced tomatoes on top, next you put crumbled feta cheese on top and broil it for a couple of minutes. Bon appetit!

Congrats on your tomatoes!

Silvia

I'm growing some okra for the purpose of building up high rknematode population there, just so I can practice killing them (evil grin).

Well then, you'll be container gardening with the rest of us in no time ;-)

Wow, Silvia, that looks delicious. I think I'm going to try that sometime. Yum.

Anna

My Yellow Pear tomatoes have been bearing, heavy and sweet, and less acid.... I love them they are abt. the only kind of 'mater I care for.... and they are coming up all over in the garden, they volunteer everywhere.... I don't think nematodes bother them very much... but I also have several in pots just in case.... I have several eggplant in pots and have been eating them, also peppers in pots have a huge harvest... my pole beans are just abt. done they had several large pickings.... that's just abt. all I bother with for my veggie garden... roses and papayas are my main interest...... sally

Silvia makes a good point with noting new tomato varieties are getting stronger against diseases. I have 3 toms started from the seed of a nice store bought beefsteak-type that are doing very well, a lot of 1 pounders on healthy plants. My grafting experiment may soon become irrelevant as new varieties come out, but still I think grafting is a good skill to have, I can use it for different plants also.

Hi Tom, thanks so much for the seeds, we can't wait to try them in the fall. I have some ideas for killing off the sand devils that I'd like to test before going to pots. I'd like to think I can outwit a worm... but I may be overestimating myself.

Hi Sally, that's good to know, I'll check on Yellow Pear roots in okra soil. I have some Everglades tomatoes that I will test that way also.