I have always found Celebrity to be "tougher than old leather" personally but many rave about them for some reason. Perhaps they do better up north.

The link below is to one of the previous discussion on heat tolerant varieties with many suggestions in it and it also links to other discussions on the question.

There are several varieties bred specifically for heat tolerance and most have 'sun' in their name - Sunmaster, Sunfire, Sun King, etc. but the few of them I have tried over the years lack taste IMO>

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Favorite tomatoes for hot climates discussion

Try Atkinson, it has done great for me this year. It probably gets a little hotter where you live but I don't think anymore humid than here and this variety has done really good. I've got six I planted last month that are blooming and three that survived whatever disease from the spring still producing. It's a good tasting tomato(subjective of course) and a great canning tomato. I'll be growing it again next year. I got my seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

Many folks in those hotter areas grow on a two season schedule - spring and fall. Also, in those super hot times, a lot of tomato growers give their plants some shade to keep things cooler.

Here in the Atlanta area, our summers are very humid and the temps push into the mid 90's for weeks at a time. I give my plants some shade during some part of the day, and that is continued for the entire growing season. They seem to be less "stressed". I also give my plants a cool drink in the mornings just before the main heat fires up.

If you focus on the temperature of the root system on your plants, you'll find things to do to keep that temperature down - mulching, shade, etc. With cooler roots and some shade at time of maximum sun intensity, your plants will survive those century temps.

Ted

You'll also find information on this recent thread:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg1113424818493.html?68

Thanks for the suggestions.

I did build a "shade shanty" which got my fall seedlings through and the hybrids, but the heirlooms didn't make it. Still keeled over.

I'm hoping for some heat-tolerant heirloom suggestions mostly (so far my Mariana's Peace and BlondKopchen seem to be quite happy baking away), but my husband doesn't care (just wants food!) so I might give in and plant some hybrids considering how well my Celebrity has clung to life.

I guess I'm curious as to how large were the plants that died. And, if small, how long they had been outside.

Ted

Ted-

The plants were about 4' tall, not as bushy as I would have liked, in 5gal containers. They were healthy and blooming.

Bought them from the local nursery and they went outside in pots the first week of April.

The temps started to get above 90 in June (just as they were blooming) and they started to stress. Hotter it got worse they got. By the first week of july they were miserable, brown and nearly dead. Pulled them up and tossed them.

No real reason why heirlooms should have keeled over just because they were heirlooms. They are as tolerant or intolerant as any other type. Heat tolerance isn't just a hybrid thing.

As Ted said perhaps you are just trying to grow at the wrong time of year. Dallas allows for much earlier and much later growing but mid-summer isn't it. ;)

Dave