I haven't grown Black Prince, so I can't comment about it, but here in zone 9B, I start most of my spring/summer seedlings indoors in early January and began putting them out in March, covering them on cold nights.

Since you (almost) never have freezing temperatures in zone 10, you could probably start seeds in December and put the young plants out in February. You should get a nice crop before the steady killer heat sets in. And if you can keep the plants alive, you'll have another good harvest in the fall.

I too would wonder about your planting time. Is that considered the ideal planting time for your area? It is for mine but many zone 10 growers talk about Sept. planting or February planting as Jill mentioned. Local growers would know.

And then the underlying problems come to mind. Only 5 out of hundreds? There has got to be some really serious problems behind that ratio that need to be identified. And the astronomical length of time between planting and production is a sure sign of severely stressed plants. I'd be surprised to find much flavor, sorry.

Weather, we can't control of course and this has been a weird year for many but pests, good soil, proper nutrient levels, even most diseases can be controlled. Perhaps with a great many more details on your approach to growing them we might be able to make more helpful suggestions.

Are these in-ground or in containers, sun exposure, if containers what is the size, how much and often did you feed them and with what, what sort of potting mix or what type of soil do you have, what "worms", what other pest problems, treatment, general plant health/appearance etc.?

Meanwhile you might want to browse through some of these other posts from California tomato growers as many of them are from your same zone and the Florida gardening forum also has some helpful tips for zone 10 growers.

Sorry for the problems. Good luck next time.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing tomatoes in California

I grew Black Prince 2 or 3 years ago. It was rather prolific, however the taste was bland, insipid and overly sweet. I didn't even bother to save seeds.

Hi Dave!

To clarify, I'm growing in sub-irrigated planters, mostly from seed, some from seedlings. I followed the excellent planting instructions on growbetterveggies.com. I'm using high-quality potting mix, bone meal, dolomite lime, a 10-10-10 slow-release organic fertilizer, eggshells, foliar sprays of seaweed emulsion and Great big Plants. Adult plants are in an area sheltered from wind, southern exposure, about 8 steady hours of light per day, sometimes more. The plants that made it to 36" tall or more did great, it's just that there weren't that many to get that old.

None of the April seeds survived. I'd guess that this particular Black prince made it in the pot as a seedling sometime in early July. it doesn't surprise me that it took so long to fruit, what with the heat and all.

I planted seeds every couple of weeks as they died off constantly. I had problems with squirrels, fluctuating temperatures, sudden heat that would literally kill 90% of seedlings in one go in less than 3 hours in the shade. Then wind issues, a wave of grasshoppers, and more squirrels. Then more heat. Then, due to my moisture/heat frustration, they all started dying from dampening off from overwatering! GAH!

I started planting dozens more than I needed, seeing as how few were surviving. Sure enough, they all croaked. I bought expensive mature seedlings from Laurel, and sure enough, the day after I'd get them, It would reach 116 degrees or more while I was at work, and I'd come back to crispy plants. Then my landlord's dogs figured out where to dig to get under the fence and had a field day. The neighbors behind us decided to start throwing trash into our back area - and a plank they tossed flattened two promising plants.

I tried starting seedlings inside and hardening them off... didn't work once, since the heat had gotten too fierce then.

Add on and off aphid problems. yum.

I was determined at this point, and I finally got some return. ALL of them started thriving, and I ended up with 3 indeterminate tomatoes growing in EACH 3 gallon pot (I expected 2 in each to die), so I risked transplanting some of the extras. The transplants didn't make it, but the ones that stayed in the buckets did.

Then, the worms. I'm from Atlanta. Never had hornworm issues before. BT is my new best friend!

Then, the 97-cent San Marzano plant bore a fruit! YAAAAY! Oh, worms. Handled that problem, then a big 'ol dose of BER. Bought some foli-cal, and regular applications fixed that problem eventually.

I now have a couple dozen forming fruit on each of the black plum, black prince, and san marzano. They all seem healthy, no sign of BER. I destroyed the last grasshopper. The squirrel and I had a reckoning. I figured out that next year I need a birdbath so the birds will eat the worms.

So, to make it short, these plants probably reached maturity in August, which has horrid heat I'd say they were seeds in June, seedlings in july. I'd never have planted that late, but everything else was dead. I bought the San Marzano at that time, also. (and the 97-cent one did better than the $5 a pop ones that I had to pay shipping for)

I just had a rolling set of issues, and I'd fix one, another would roll in. I certainly will be planting earlier in 2009.

The main thing is how this tomato, which has grown well, and didn't set fruit in the heat as expected, doesn't taste tomatoey. not watery, not mushy, not bland, but not tomatoey either.

That, and I think it's crazy to try for 7 months and get one tomato so far.

I grew Black Prince this year (from seed) and they were spectacular - in taste, consistency of taste, and production. It is on my must-grow list from here on out. Sorry you had such bad luck.