Oh, Dear. You have the condition for which there is no cure.

Excessive'materitis.

I have it too, have had for years. It gets a little uncomfortable when you are wanting to tuck in a few cucumber plants and just have no room because of the 'maters. Just relax, and begin to think about the lovely, red, ripe, DE-Lectable fruit that will be your reward.

Myself, I am into seeds. I have 512 tomato plants, most of which are Champions, which produce an average of 72 pounds of fruit. EACH.

What is WRONG with me?

Janie

512? As in... more than half a thousand?

Wow.

How much land is that on?

JANIE!!! You gots to grow more than one kind of mater!!! I hereby order you to get yer catalogs and order 600 more seeds!

MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Janie, if my calculations are correct, that is almost 37,00 pounds of tomatoes. What, pray tell, will you do with that many tomatoes. Janie, what is WRONG with you? LOL

I want a couple JD's too if you find any.

Flip, I've got Aunt Gertie's Gold, Cherokee Purple, Neves, Azorian Red, Merced, Amish Big Rainbow and Sweet Baby Girl. I will be picking up an Early Girl too since they've always been dependable for me.......This is my first attempt at heirlooms so we shall see. LOL, I don't even eat tomatoes other than cooking with them :).

Kristi

Kristi - that sounds like a friend of mine. Last year he grew about a dozen plants and didn't eat any of the tomatoes fresh. He only cooks with them. :)

Cherokee Purple is delicious. I don't think I've tried the others.

I am trying an Italian tree tomato this year. I saw photos of my friend's husband on a ladder picking tomatoes. This should be fun getting this one staked. LOL

My tomato plants are all in flats. I am growing them for the Master Gardener plant sale. heheehe

But I do exactly what flip did, and I always wind up with more tomatoes than we can eat, or give to all the kids, neighbors, and friends. Then I have to can them, or freeze them.

Along with the Champions, I am growing Bush Champion, which I tried for the first time last fall, and was VERY impressed with. I also like a Sweet Million, or Sweet 100, Early Girl, Black Krim, Bloody Butcher, and the little pear tomato. The Roma is great for throwing in the freezer for cooking later, or to make salsa with.

I have not heard of the JD, but will be on the lookout for it.

Janie

I bought only four 4 inch pots. I don't care for cooked tomato. But I love fresh and eat them like most eat an apple.

I haven't bought mine yet - but like to grow up to 8 plants of the purple varieties. I eat them fresh and dry them.

I make a pesto that is out of this world with the dried tomatoes.

Grilled pizza with fresh tomato slices, mmmmmm

Can't wait.

Looks like fried green tomatoes, on the early menu.

My sweetie pie neighbor MrsBox has been subject to watching this disease take me over. I sneak in plants so she does not see...Last year she busted me.She counted 48 plants and I just have a back yard that is taken up by pool and giant oaks and pines!Wabash and Another place in Time, Arborgate, Joshuas, Buchanans, prolly have my pic up above their time clock and under it, it says "Cha Ching".
I also am trying seeds from SSE this year!

Wow--you were able to find those varieties? I went out yesterday and only saw Early Girl, Better Boy, and Patio. Hoping to get my teeny bed ready very soon...maybe tomorrow if everybody will stop being sick around here. Now all I have left to figure out is a better staking system that will fit in a four by four foot bed. And don't worry...I stick to one mater plant in the ground....and maybe one or two in pots. :) The rest is herbs or flowers. I like to hedge my bets. If you ever decide to charge admission to your tomato garden, let me know. That many plants has got to be a sight to see......

Srburk- whereabouts are you? If you're anywhere close to Buchanan's Native Plants, or Wabash Antiques & Feed, or a Houston Garden Center, they all have a good variety. I was surprised by HGC's offerings this year. They have Cherokee Purple, which I might go back and get tomorrow, raising my total to nine plants.

I planted Black Prince one year, but I dind't like it much. And I think it may have been just because of the color. I just couldn't get past a purple tomato. Isnt' that stupid?!? Txgardn, I bet that pesto is good. I could prolly eat that with no problem.

I do have the red and yellow people about five miles away, but I bought plants there last year (a Celebrity and something else) that were just terrible. (Chef Jeff's, I think.) I'll go back and look.

I live in suburbs south of Houston. I don't know where Buchanan's is. Does Cherokee Purple do well for you? Or is it a first time try? I might attempt it, if budget allows me more than the cherry tomato the kids want.

"I live in suburbs south of Houston. I don't know where Buchanan's is."

Sounds like you might be in the same general area as me! You take I-45 N to the N. Main St exit (#49 B), hook a left on Main and almost right away there's a street that kind of swerves off to the left instead of being a sharp turn. (This is where I messed up the first time I went. I passed it up entirely and had to call Buchanan's for directions.) This is Pecore St. which becomes E. 11th street after about 3/4 of a mile. Go another half mile to 611 E. 11th and Buchanan's is on the right. Link to their site.

I think Another Place in Time is not far from there, and so is Wabash Antiques & Feed.

Last year, Congo Nursery and Robertson's Nursery in Pasadena had some good plants, too, though not nearly as many as the ones above.

I haven't grown Cherokee Purple myself yet, but I tasted one from someone else's garden. It seemed to do well for them.

A gardening friend recently did some checking as to what tomatoes are currently available in the Houston area. This was the list he sent me (along w/some peppers):

Houston Garden Center TOMATOES
-----------------------------------------------------
Cherokee Purple
Old German (bicolor)
Brandywine
Rutgers Select
Marglobe
Sweet 100

Wabash Antiques TOMATOES
---------------------------------------------
(Arkansas) Traveler
Black
Black Cherry
Black Krim
Black Prince
Brandywine pink
Brandywine Red pl
Cherokee Purple
Costaluto Genovese
Eva Purple Ball
Fox Cherry
German Johnson
Ghost Cherry
Green Grape
Green Zebra
Jaune Flamme
Jubilee
Lemon Boy
Limmony
Lollipop
Marmande
Matina
Matts Wild Cherry
Mortgage Lifter
Mule Team
Principe Borghese
Rose de Berne
Super Italian Paste
Sweet Chelsea
Yellow Pear

Wabash Antiques PEPPERS
-------------------------------------------
Ancho San Martin
Brazilian Red Olive
Carmen
Chiltepin
El Jefe
Explosive Blast (ornamental)
Golden Marconi
Habanero
Hungarian Paprika
Serrano
Spanish Spice

http://www.wabashfeed.com/plantstock.htm

---end

If anyone is still needing tomato transplants in Houston, here is some current information (as of today) on where to obtain some that I'm reposting from another forum:

For anyone in the southwest Houston area that may need replacement starts or who is just getting around to planting, I was just at Southwest Fertilizer 5828 Bissonnet at Renwick. They had an amazing assortment of tomato varieties in stock. My guess is they had about 15 heirloom varieties and about 20 more standard OP and hybrid varieties. They were in 3" pots, with the standards going for $.99 and the heirlooms going for $1.49. All looked healthy and well cared for. I just wanted to pass the info along.

Also, from another poster--

I was at Houston Garden Center on 610 near I-10 last night and they still had a ton of tomato starts, both 6 packs (even Homestead 24) and 4" pots of heirlooms and hybrids alike (almost all the ones at ChefJeff.com) plus a ton of spices. They had about 1,000 Sweet Basil starts, as well as some other varieties of Basil. They also had cantaloupe, watermelon, and squash starts too. In Houston it's really time to just start seed of those, so for $1 you're shaving off 2 weeks of growth.

Hope this helps someone.

I went to the Ace hardware in DeSoto and they were a little worried because they had so many tomatoes in stock. And they had a good selection too. I've already bought my 6 plants, but I picked out 3 more.

Cherokee Purple
Mortgage Lifter
Brandywine
(they had Arkansas traveler)

At Calloway's I found:

Black Krim
Roma Plum
Grape
Celebrity(had to try a normal one)
forgot the name of the last one

I don't have a shortage of space, but I do have a shortage of things to tie them to. I cannot find affordable large cages, and have no way to get cattle panels to the house.

A neighbor who does very well with tomatoes has a "room" built for them. It has walls of wood up about 3 feet and then a cage of screen up another 3 feet and over the top. I guess this is for the bugs???

TxGardenlady, year before last, I had a lot of Tomatoes on bamboo tepees and it worked well. Then I was able to put them anywhere
jolana

Did you buy the teepees or harvest the bamboo and make them? What do you tie them together with?

I bought the inch diameter ones at Lowes.
My bamboo isn't big enough to harvest yet.
I use that green garden velcro to keep the bamboo together and tie the maters to it.
I buy it at Home Depot

txgardenlady, you could do Florida Weave

Another option would be to just stake them. You do not have to prune to stake (I don't). Either T posts or those green plastic coated 6 or 8 foot metal notched poles you'll find at the box stores work great. I've fit those in a car before.

That Florida Weave sure makes holding up tomatoes seem easy. Even when I have a cage - I think I'm making it too difficult. Don't know what to tie up or what to cut off!

I will try a few stakes and a few bamboo teepees and see what happens. How do you tie up all the vines to one stake though?

You can make a teepee with as many bamboo poles as you want as long as they aren't so close that the vines can't come thru.
I usually use 4.

txgardenlady writes:
How do you tie up all the vines to one stake though?

Part of it is starting early and staying up on it. I prefer that stretchy green plastic garden tape to twine (less likely to damage the plant).

Also, making a tie in the shape of a figure eight instead of a loop is more effective in creating a tie that will actually hold.

I'm using that green garden tape for the first time this year and I love it so far. Last year I used jute twine and had a problem with it digging into branches.

Also, I almost bought a Sun Gold plant from Congo Nursery yesterday. I have nowhere to put it. I'm completely out of space, in ground and in containers. Unless I can figure out a way to rig a planter to the hood of my car---Hmmm....

Nah!

Is the tape a velcro type tape? I like that stuff.

That's what I use green garden velcro, love it

You could use the green garden velcro, but it wouldn't be practical for me because I grow so many plants. I'd need way too much of it.

I was talking about the tape used in this picture to tie up the pepper. It comes in a roll and can be easily cut to whatever length you need.

{{gwi:1337909}}

This year I WILL only plant 6, now 10 ,now 16, but if I getr a cheroke purple mabe 1 more. Can someone tell me what happened to feldon,he was pretty entertaining. Why don't yall save your seeds and grow your own plants? I don't because I am to LAZY, so you have to come up with a different excuse!

Flip on OP...YummyKaz is my neighbor...I understand :)
Dani/Janie: The only thing wrong with you is that you don't live next door to me...and Yummy.,...:)
Kristy: Butter Beans, sliced red onion, fresh tomatoes w/salt and pepper and corn bread...best meal in the world!
Yummy: Wait till grands have outgrown trampoline, you can have that entire area for your maters girl...lol (I don't have a pool - more room for Yummy to plant maters...also I have less trees than she does in tramploline area...if I tried to get rid of tramp now, kids would kill me..lol)

Has anyone tried Mr Stripey or Lemon Boy? Those are some new to me varieties, along with the Sweet Baby Girl that Kristi gave me. I am now up to 12 plants, I am hoping for lots of maters this year.

Pam

Well, I too suffer "from Excessive'materitis" and have got 42 varieties growing this year, and it is already starting to look like a jungle...I still have a bunch of seedlings I can't bring myself to just throw out...

I know some people are going to think this isn't a good idea and might damage tomatoes etc, but it worked great for me last year on 30+ plants for staking, support etc. I went to Home Depot and bought a big ol' bag of zip ties and used those. You can start them off loose, tighten them off, cut them off and resize etc., and they worked great for attaching cages up along a chain link fence for even more support....just a thought...

I already have about 4 little tomatoes on a Sungold, and 1 forming on Mortgage Lifter....can't wait!

I'm thinking about going to the nursery sometime this week to see if they have any more heat tolerant tomatoes in stock. I have NO idea where I'd plant it.

My Creole plant has already started setting fruit. Has anyone grown this one?

Hey Flipper, you got fruit set yet? I do, but only on the SP varieties. Early girl and Sweet Baby Girl. Got blooms on several of the OP varieties, but no fruit set yet...

Pam, I had two Early Girls and one Sweet 100 last year and had tomatoes coming out of my ears......I think you're set for tomatoes this year ;). This year I've got 5 OP (open pollinated) heirloom and one Early Girl and one Sweet Baby Girl (cherry tom). Darn it, I was planning on keeping you and your family in tomatoes for the season.....Me thinks you need to google some good tomato sauce recipes!

Kristi

Home Despot did not have any bamboo poles, but I found them at Lowe's. Then I passed them over for Green Plastic bamboo poles.

Ready, Set, Go!

Kristi - Yes, I do have fruit set! My Sugary plant has something like four dozen little tomatoes on it. Silvery Fir Tree has four. Creole has two. I think Arkansas Traveler has two. Jaune Flamme has three. I'm waiting for Anna Russian, Marglobe, and Top Gun to join in now. :)

"Yes, I do have fruit set!"

Good for you!! I went and bought row cover today. Temps in the 30s Saturday night....keeping fingers crossed here!

Kristi

I went on a terrible tomato seed buying binge yesterday, ordering from 4 companies, and already had seeds from Scheepers, and ones I'd saved. Plus the 8-10 plants I've bought and several volunteers I am letting grow. Each year it's, oh I'll have a dozen, which ends up being quite a few more. This time I don't know where they'll all go. Cherokee Purple was initially good, but has been crappy the last few years; this may be it's last chance. I don't usually grow cherries, but discovered Black Cherry this year and am trying it and am excited by all the good reviews I am reading about it.