I know that Raybo who lives in Northern CA and frequents this site wintered over cuttings of Purple Haze cherry by keeping them in his make shift Earthtainer. He then grew them out this past spring and they are still producing. So you may want to get a rubbermaid "Roughneck" 25 gal tote in light beige some miracle gro potting mix 64qt or 2 cu ft. and check the link below on construction of the Earthtainer.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0716575014810.html

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0921170111282.html

George

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthtainer II Construction Guide

Trim the plant by about two-thirds, then you can pot it up and grow the plant inside in a cool window. You can also save some seeds and do a growout--save seeds from the next generation of fruits on plants that fair the best in your garden. Repeat each year and continue to save seeds of the best of the best.

Tanya, what is the name of the discontinued hybrid?

• "I am a newbie gardener. I am by the ocean, and so tomatoes are a challenge."

I've suggested SoCal by the ocean may be the best tomato growing climate there is. Tomatoes shouldn't be too challenging there. I'm curious about the discontinued hybrid also. You should be able to get great crops near the coast in Southern California, and you should be able to grow any tomato you desire.

I used to grow on the back side of Mountaingate overlooking Pacific Palisades. My plants lived year round, produced as early as April and as late as January. The Be Wise Ranch is near the coast in Northern San Diego County and they brag about growing a variety of heirloom tomatoes outdoors year round. Laurel of Heirloom Tomato Plants fame also boasts about picking cherries through January, and lord knows she grows a wide variety of any heirloom she pleases. The huge tomato fields on Camp Pendleton are literally at the beach. They harvest two plantings every year from May through Thanksgiving. Not sure why I'm going on about this. :)

I don't miss much about the rat race, but I sure miss the perfect tomato climate.

i paid 6 bucks for a purple haze transplant, and it did quite well. i may try to take a small sucker, and put it in pot indoors, for the winter here.

First of all tanya47 does say she is a newbe gardener which is probably why growing tomatoes in the Perfect Southern CA climate by the beach is a challenge. I personally don't get great tomatoes the second season. Also I only grow op no hybrids. The plants don't need any winter protection so I am wondering where tanya47 actually is.

Zebraman, when I said they lived year round, I should have qualified that. I never got crops past 10-12 months and always treated tomatoes as annuals. It was just that the plants I took out were still alive and kicking. That's not the case in places that experience a frost, which is most places. Also by explaining how nice it is where you lucky dogs are, I wasn't trying to critique a newbie gardener. Just letting her know her options aren't so limited as she seems to think, which is a good thing. Her poor production could be from any number of things. Light, soil, fertilizer, container size, water, etc.

I just didn't want the blame to be being near the coast in Southern California. I had to check the weather before posting. 10pm, early October and it's 74 degrees outside there with an expected low of 56 and a high tomorrow of 85. That may continue right through Christmas give or take a little. ;)

I'm. So. Jealous.

Yea, I would also very highly recommend Raybo's method of "keeping a hybrid." He's quite the knowledgable dude.

Thank you all for so much good input!!!
First of all, the hybrid that grew so well for me is called Early Cascade. Below I am adding a link to an interesting article about these tomatoes.
This is just my second year of growing in my very small space. I was just so happy to have one tomato plant that really looked like I remember my Grandpa's tomatoes,healthy and full of deep red fruit, even though it was not an heirloom, I thought they were delicious!!
I have a small space, it is a community garden, so there is a problem with existing diseases in the soil, but I try my best to build up the soil with good organic compost and mulch. I put chicken manure and azomite in with the starts, and then only a bit of kelp/fish once or twice. I never directly water the tomatoes after the plants start off.
I am lucky that I do have nice full sun exposure.
I know that if I can get a better understanding of my conditions, and find and save the varieties that like it here, I should be able to grow tomatoes just fine.I am workin on it!
Saying close to the coast can be so many things , some areas get more sun, some more overcast. I am in an area where it can be overcast a lot, and although we are having a little heat wave right now, in summer, it doesnt often go into the 80's. So, as well as fog and "June Gloom",I feel like I don't get that real warm ripening. For example, in Lomita where Laurel grows, it is a lot sunnier. She is great,full of great advice!
I will try to take some branches off the plant I still have, root them and keep in a window till next spring. I don't really have room at my apartment for an earthbox, I wish! I will leave the plant in the garden and see how long it can go with out getting mildewy, but I tried that last year, with some starts from Laurel, by in December they were all sad and mildewy.
Thanks for all advice!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Denver post article about Early Cascade

Try Amazon.com or E-bay for seed.
After this, I bet they sell out.
KennyP

This place appears to have it in stock.

Here is a link that might be useful: EC seeds here

I found a place that sells it as heirloom/OP. I think F3.
Any one have knowledge about this or has tryed the grown out version?
KennyP

I read the Denver post article about Early Cascade where the author said Early Cascade = Cascade x Early Girl. Personally, I doubt that Early Cascade F1 commercial seeds are taken from Cascade (OP) x Early Girl F1 because I don't believe that crossing a homozygotous open pollinated variety with a homozygotous hybrid will yield consistent results in the subsequent F1 plants.

Additionally, "Early Girl" no longer is available having been replaced by Early Girl Improved (also an F1 hybrid, and having one regular leaf parent and one potato leaf parent, which goes farther to indicate potential inconsistent results from F1 seeds from Cascade x Early Girl Improved).

Also, I believe the orginal Early Girl F1 had one regular leaf parent and one potato leaf parent; so again, same comment.

Next issue is where does one get Cascade tomato seeds? Anyone know a source for just the open pollinated Cascade variety? I believe it's an old Campbell Soup Co. variety.

If you can obtain Cascade, you might try crossing it with PSR 37, the Peters Seed Research potato leaf, indeterminate, red variety bred down from a now extinct, aromatic strain of the previous Early Girl ... not Early Girl Improved. By doing this, you might take a look and see if that comes close to an approximation of Early Cascade, or at least something interesting to grow.

From the NCSU Cultivar Lists, Tomatoes A - J: "Early Cascade (PSX 15773) - Breeder and vendor: Petoseed. Characteristics: F1 hybrid, indeterminate: medium size, green shoulder, firm fruit. Resistance: fusarium and verticillium wilts. Similar: Early Girl. Adaptation: wide. 1979."

That may explain where the author got the idea that Early Cascade = Cascade x Early Girl. Just a guess.

I've read that growing your own saved seeds year after year results in tomatoes that are more adapted to your area. I've been growing Juliet hyb. for several years to see what would happen. The 3 plants I had this year have fruit that is getting larger and I believe the flavor is improving, so I am quite happy with them. But 3 OP toms I've grown several years seemed to have totally changed so as to be unrecognizable this year.??? Either they hybridized or the seed saving process had errors. I still think it's a lot of fun to save and grown out my own seed. You never really know what will happen.

take some cuttings from a healthy part of the plant, root them in a glass of water, and pot them up. Then overwinter them in a sunny window. If the plants don't look too good by spring, then again take cuttings of the healthy parts and when they root, plant them outdoors.

• "I've read that growing your own saved seeds year after year results in tomatoes that are more adapted to your area."

Hi Hemnancy,

I was hoping the same thing and even bought plants from a low desert grower who loosely claimed some of their strains are better adapted to our conditions. A little more research made me believe this is highly unlikely. As I now understand it, the time involved for a plant to "adapt" to new conditions is extended to many decades. I could still be misinformed and would be interested in one of our more educated members chiming in here.

It could take decades, but you can work to speed that up by regrowing seeds saved each year from the very best plants. Though cross-pollination is rare, you should make a consistant effort to remove plants that aren't thriving, are an off-type, or show stress when others sown from the same batch of seeds don't. In other words, saving seeds from the best of the best is a season-long committment. You cull the weak, the weird, and the wounded as they appear--this leaves you with the hardiest stock to take seeds from.

T

tanya47,
I live in Encinitas, California, which is a very similar climate to yours. I can literally see the ocean from my farm. Tomato growing THIS close to the coast has indeed been a challenge. We have good luck with some hybrids, such as Celebrity, but yield from heirloom varieties has been incredibly low. Mostly, I believe, this is because we've been planting too late, meaning that we've been planting them when we plant our hybrids. I'd recommend getting the heirlooms in the ground as early as you can. Also, hand pollination with an electric toothbrush really helps. If you can keep your Early Cascade cutting alive overwinter, I would save the seed, and plant as many of the seed as you have room for the next year, ruthlessly culling any young plants that look weak. True, you'll never get back to the original Early Cascade, but you'll probably do pretty well.
Best of luck,
ThisBud4U

I just read the blurb on the Sweet Corn Organic Nursery website and it says, regarding Early Cascade VF Hybrid, "Also known as Mountain Fresh." So, who knows if you have Mountain Fresh or Early Cascade? Maybe you could tell by comparing pictures.

Do your tomatoes look like the picture in the Denver Post article, or the Sweet Corn website? If you have Mountain Fresh then getting seeds would be easier and you wouldn't have to worry.

Here is the seed blurb from "Sweet Corn Organic Nursery:"

"If you love using tomatoes in salads, you have to try Early Cascade. This is one of the best-tasting salad varieties around, and when you taste it, you'll see why! This heavy producer generates abundant clusters of medium, deep red fruits, which are great for canning, on sandwiches, and salads. Also known as Mountain Fresh, this variety does very well in colder regions. Indeterminate. F-1. 55 days. 20 seeds."

The information in that blurb is incorrect in that Mountain Fresh is not and never has been Early Cascade. Two different kinds of tomatoes. Two different cultivars. Not the same breeder and not the same tomato. No way. No how.