Tony .... I am so happy the Purple Dog Creeks are now working out for you. That's why it's tough to hand out recommendations. After your earlier fruit experience, you were probably thinking that Shell doesn't have clue (which may be true!). I have really enjoyed all of the great photos.

So far, my PDCs haven't been at their best. I noticed the other day that I've got the last of a few big greenies just starting to turn. I'm hopeful they will turn out to be like yours. Either way, they'll be back next year.

Kevin .... I envy your multiple seasons and your great photos as well.

NBM .... Quite the batch for processing. I have given up on processing any more this year. I told my DH that's it! I have lost count of how many pints of sauce I have canned or frozen this year. I think we are approaching lifetime supply and complete saturation!

Shell

Hi everyone, here are a few pictures of the hurricane damage. I have a few tomato plants that made it through and I will post some pictures of them soon-lots of blooms finally, but only one tomato so far.

Oh my! That's not good. I'm glad you're OK.

10-03-2017 update:

Pulled the rest of the OP's and heirlooms on 9-19 (all were dying from Septoria) and planted as cover crop on 9-20 snow peas. Here are the harvested ones from the few heirloom plants that survived till then.

Tony

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Cover crop as of 10-03-2017:

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The only Fall crop we planted on 8-05 were Oregon snow peas. The first pods we picked were on 9-20 (pretty impressive from seed to pod in 45 days). We've been picking pods by the handful every 3 days since then.

Today's snow peas:

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The Okra is still producing! Usually by mid September it is done --- but, we've been having very warm weather for the last 3 weeks...in the upper 70's to mid 80's. Also, the peppers are still producing huge quantities of fruit.

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And now for the best. Think Pink (already produced over 35 lbs) and Bolseno (50+ lbs) are still healthy and producing. These 2 plants are incredibly disease resistant --- we lost 7 heirloom plants to Fusarium Wilt by end of August, 3 more OP's died from Septoria, and the rest also from Septoria by mid September.

Think Pink (on the left) is about 7.5 feet tall and has predominately sweet fruits.

Bolseno (on the right) is 10+ feet tall and the fruits are well balanced btw sweet and tangy.

Both have blossoms that are still setting fruit, and the weather in the 80's is supposed to last for another 10 days. We'll keep them till frost kills them and report updates. Both were planted on 4-15, so about 170 days later they are still going strong!

Beautiful crop Tony, What are the purple one at the top of the upper basket in the middle on the top picture? Here are a few picture of the ones that made it through the hurricane and a few new ones.

Pruden's Purple, Super Sweet 100, Patio tomato plants, Tiny Tim, and Tycoon

How is it going Kevin? I have a bunch of Super Sweet 100s too and they are putting out massive blooms-I have about 25 or 30 little green tomatoes growing now. The only other plants I have with tomatoes now are the Pruden's Purple. I redid my little greenhouse with clear roof panels, so I can keep the younger ones alive even after it gets cold here (if it ever does-usually not until about January before it freezes). I had real good luck with the number of seeds that sprouted using the rockwool (like 83 out of 96) and the little blocks are very easy to handle and transplant using the tray I got for the cubes. I wanted to do all the rock wool at the end of August, but got a little delayed, so I am going to have work to get some tomatoes off the seedlings, but at least I will get a few this season.

Thank you, Kansas Farm Girl

RD -- happy to see you gardening (good indication of recovering). Hope the repairs are getting done.

Tony

p.s. the purple one is Pride of Flanders...so-so taste

RD - Your plants look like they are off to a good start. Hopefully they will continue and soon you'll be harvesting. I'll have to try Rockwood again, I've used it in past and you were correct about how simple it is to use. It's super convenient too when it comes transplanting time, just pop it in the hole and you're done. All my plants are doing pretty good, with the exception of 4 I had to pull because of southern blight, but it doesn't seem to be spreading, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Most of my plants have just started to put on fruit and will continue as it cools down. All of my plants look healthy and do not have any signs of disease yet. I've been trying to stay on top of a copper/mancozeb spraying regimen. I should have my first ripe ones in the next week or so, as long as nothing goes wrong. I'm watching this new storm Nate, but we shouldn't get hit too hard, as long as it tracks more to the west. Most of my plants are caged up, so I'm hoping they will be safe. I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks again,

Kevin

Group pic

My 2 SS100's and a bushsteak in the middle ( lots of fruit setting)

Black Cherry (tallest plant I have so far)

I think this is a Prudens Purple (Or maybe a Brandy Boy) either way, it's super healthy and growing like a monster, it has been staked since this photo

Not sure what one this is, but it's a monster too.

My sungold currently has the most fruit on it

Not sure what variety this one is off the top of my head, but it's doing great.

Those pics were taken at night, I think it really shows how big they are and yes, I'm kind of a tomato dork. Lol

Here's a far shot with the rest of my garden.

I have to watch out for this little guy, hope he doesn't develop a taste for tomatoes. I'm not sure if he fell from the nest or what, but he just hangs out when I'm there. It's pretty cool.

And here's a pic of what I believe to southern blight. This was a pink BB, but it was killed.

Beautiful garden Kevin

Thanks, I've really come a long way the past year and a half. Definetly learned a lot from everyone here. It's hard not to be inspired after seeing other people's ides and applying them to your own garden.

Kevin, I second RD -- beautiful garden!

Isn't is so rewarding to see hard work translate into something fantastic!

Love the 6 rows: lettuce (on the left) , next are bush beans? and the other 4 are hard to tell, but all look super healthy.

Tony

p.s. Looks definitely like southern blight, since a soil born pathogen won't spread to other plants unless you tracked dirt there. Haven't seen it here in decades, but remember Grandpa after removing the plant dig out some dirt around the rim and crumble newspapers add twigs and kindlings and get a fire going in the hole for 30 min.

What a great looking garden Kevin. I am in Chicago and these last few weeks have been very unseasonably warm and so dry. We are down 7 inches now on rain. It is finally raining today which will help all the lawns. I picked 4 cucumbers from my one and only plant the other day and I am still getting tomatoes from my two plants. I have top trimmed the plants of all the new buds and small fruit so they can use the energy to ripen the fruit that is already a good size. I just am so happy for all the information that is given freely to me here on the forum. What a great place to learn from others who have lived and learned. It is wonderful that everyone has shared their knowledge from past and enjoy helping us newbies. I will be planning to read more on the forum on different topics to help me next year be more prepared. I think I may even try to grow some flowers from seed next spring.

Red Rocket:

Took 80 days to ripen (so, not a 60 day early as advertized). 5-8 oz red fruits
with a hint of tang and some sweetness (nothing special taste wise),
some juice, but the main put-off is the mushy flesh.

Thumbs down.

Tony

p.s. Please, report on your disappointing tomatoes (not just the winners) so, we too can avoid them next year. Thanks.

Bush Early Girl -- NBM (others growing it), please, report your experience.

For next year I need a compact, early (is it really 54 days), disease resistant, determinate tomato plant that has decent flavor, and juicy.

Thanks,

Tony

Hey Tony -

Yes, I grew Red Rocket this year, as well. Fruits looked exactly like yours - gorgeous, perfect size with few blemishes. Mine were fairly flavorful, but the plant not overly productive. I'll keep the seeds around, but probably won't grow for a few seasons.

I happen to love the Bush Early Girl, as it has been reliable for me for several seasons now and maintains a very tidy growing habit. I had several 10oz fruit from one of the two plants I grew this season, but most are in the same 5-8oz range as Red Rocket, Paragon and other similar-sized varieties. No issues at all with cracking or splitting, flavor is great for salads and sandwiches. I haven't finalized my numbers on the season yet, as I just picked about 7 boxes of green/blushing tomatoes in advance of a season-ending hard freeze expected tonight (10/09/17), but the BEGs were among the most productive determinates in the garden. I most certainly did not get ripe fruit from BEG within 54 days, but then I almost always get ripe fruit from other plants long before I get Early Girls anyway (whether the bush variety or indeterminate variety). It's always been a mid-season producer for me no matter what. The quickest ripe tomato I've ever harvested was Stupice last season at 52 days. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about BEG, but for a very decent sandwich slicer, it fits my bill perfectly.

Tony (and others), please go see my write-up in this thread Shule started. It's probably a better place to discuss the actual tomatoes. This thread has become quite long and the title suggests discussion about the plants more than the actual fruit and it may be difficult for those unfamiliar with this thread to find the information.

TOMATO TASTE REPORT, 2017

It's early October and my plants are still producing. We've usually had a frost by now. Plants are looking pretty awful and honestly, I can't wait to rip them out, but if the fruits are still growing and ripening, I can't make myself do it. This is what I've picked over the past 2 days, and there's more out there. Tomatoes still look good! I'll be making some tomato jam today.

More cherokee carbon... and the sungolds! There are so many of them I can't keep up. Most have split and I'm leaving those out there for the fruit flies. :( Seems such a waste.

Jen --- I juice all splitters and the ones of lesser flavor.

Tony

10/10/17 update:

The trees are turning color and losing leaves, but Think Pink and Bolseno tomato plants are still going strong!

cover crop of snow peas is getting taller and bushy

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Lipstick peppers are still producing well.

We love Lipstick --- compact plant, medium sized, prolific, sweet red
roasting peppers. From 4 plants we've picked over 150 so far, and they
are still loading with new green ones. The great thing about them is the
skin is so thin that you don't need to peel them after roasting!

Lipstick gave us 3.5" to 4.5" sweet peppers that we roasted and canned over 2 gal so far. Our recipe:

Roast peppers, sprinkle with sea salt/ kosher salt and cover. While
cooling, chop handfuls of fresh parsley, chop garlic cloves and mix all
in gently with peppers. Start filling jars with the mixture to about 2"
below rim, whatever liquid is left pour into each jar evenly. Add even
quantities of red wine vinegar and canola oil (being neutral you get to
taste the product, not the oil) to taste --- or to 0.5" below the rim.
Seal, shake well and sterilize. Yummy!

Tony

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today's pic of a Lipstick pepper plant

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Here is where we got the seeds for them and their stock photo

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/peppers/sweet-peppers/lipstick-organic-pepper-seed-2342.html

Tony - when you say "juice" do you mean pressed through a food mill, i.e., like for canning tomato juice? Or do you mean pushed through your vegetable/centrifuge juicer for fresh drinking?

I check in every now and then. Love the photos. I will be checking the other threads for reports.

Jen --- by "juice" on roasted peppers I mean the left over liquid on the bottom of the roasting pan.

Tony

Hi Tony - no I meant for your split sungolds? :-)

Jen --- we've had this Power Juicer for over 20 years (made in USA) and it zips through whole apples, tomatoes, celery heads, bunches of large carrots, slices of cantaloupes with the rind on!...in seconds.

It pours the juice from the front and collects the pulp in the back.

Tony

10/28/17 update:

The amazing Bolseno tomato plant --- our most delicious, prolific and disease resistant from 30 varieties we planted --- still going strong after nearly 200 days from planting (4-15-2017 in 18 gal container)! 55+ lbs of production so far and still loading up with fruit. Even this late some blossoms are setting fruit. Looks like we'll get a couple of dozen blushing/ripe medium sized tomatoes before it's done, plus lots of small greenies for pickling.

Tony

Today's pics --- Bolseno is on the right side

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Think Pink --- after producing 40+ lbs of good tasting (on the sweet side) tomatoes is finally giving up. Lots of drying leaves, no new fruiting --- we'll be pulling it out once the few fruit left start blushing.

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Yesterday pulled the last two hybrid plants that still had some fruit on them --- Orange Pixie and Bella Rosa (both of mediocre taste) --- since they had nearly died with 90% leaf loss. Also the snowpeas are loving this cooler weather and producing pods nonstop.

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The Lipstick peppers are still producing --- from 4 plants we got well over 170 medium sized, sweet red roasting peppers so far!

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We got the seeds for the amazingly productive and most delectable tomato --- BOLSENO Italian hybrid --- here:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/tomatoes/beefsteak-tomatoes/bolseno-f1-tomato-seed-2771.html

The last tastes of summer?

So some of my tomatoes are slowly ripening, mainly cherries. Also I'm have some disease issues and some fruit setting issues.

Super sweet 100

Biggest fruit

Disease, virus, or nutrient issue. I'm thinking maybe TYLCV.

I don't think I'm getting good production right now, not sure if I planted too early/late. The weather has cooled down a bunch, so hopefully I'll see more fruit set. Otherwise I think it was maybe too much nitrogen. I have nice looking plants, but hardly any fruit. Still learning so maybe next season.

My Bushsteaks in containers were setting fruit but have stopped.

So some of my tomatoes are slowly ripening, mainly cherries. Also I'm have some disease issues and some fruit setting issues.

Super sweet 100

Biggest fruit

Disease, virus, or nutrient issue. I'm thinking maybe TYLCV.

I don't think I'm getting good production right now, not sure if I planted too early/late. The weather has cooled down a bunch, so hopefully I'll see more fruit set. Otherwise I think it was maybe too much nitrogen. I have nice looking plants, but hardly any fruit. Still learning so maybe next season.

My Bushsteaks in containers were setting fruit but have stopped.

Pcola Grower,

I have some SS100 too-lots of production-not sure about any type of sweet taste-more the opposite-might have to let them get a deeper red before picking.

You can see above that growing tomato plants in rockwool, doubles the size of the tomato plants.

Here are some of the SS100 and patio tomatoes

The temperature actually dropped down to 36 degrees, so I had to put all the tomato plants I had with blooms in the new little greenhouse. All came out of it without losing a blossom and the Patio and SS100 tomato plants are putting on several new tomatoes a day. I only have about 6 tomatoes on beefsteak type plants, but over 100 on SS100

11-07-2017 update:

Yesterday pulled the last two tomato plants from the back yard (nearly dead from leaf loss) and collected 12 lbs of green fruit.

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The incredible Bolseno is still up, still has lots of green leaves and new growth. It just won't give up --- lots of blossoms with some still fruiting, with daily temps in the 50's and nights in the 40's! Today counted 20 mid sized ones and about a dozen small ones. So far over 60 lbs of delicious, ripe tomatoes picked from this one Bolseno plant (2nd best producer was Think Pink at 45+ lbs). I'm not pulling this warrior till the first frost expected 11/11 with 23 F kills it --- it deserves a heroic death.... :)

The snow pea cover crop is nearly 2 feet tall, the tree leaves are yellow and falling, but Bolseno is still going!

new blossoms and still fruiting

Next year we are planting 9 Bolseno tomato plants!

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Our winter tomatoes are 6 Red Robins started from seed on 9/12 with staggered plantings to get different ripening dates. They were moved on Oct 6th to our daybed window which is 7' long and gets 6+ hours of direct sunlight year round. A little fan blows on them during the day to help the many new blossoms pollinate. Hoping to get the first ripe ones by Christmas.

Tony

Tony, I guess these are all my winter varieties-above are Patio, Super Sweet 100, Tycoon, and Sun Gold. I had one SS100 that grew to about 9 feet tall and finally broke the stem in heavy winds that blew it off the supports. It is still alive, but I lost several branches off it-maybe 50-75 tomatoes. The SS100 are massive producers of decent cherry tomatoes. The tycoons are very bushy and also large producers and the patio tomatoes have at least 10 tomatoes each on an 18 inch frame. I have gotten probably 50 or so ripe SS100s, but am still waiting for my first ripe full size tomato.

RD --- fantastic job! We also love compact bushy plants, I mean just look at your pics --- they are spectacularly healthy looking plants!

Tony

Thanks Tony, i appreciate it, it's been a long road but it is paying off now. I think leaving my seedlings under 24 hour light for over a month might be causing the stems to elongate. The ones I picked up at the local nursery are bushy especially the Tycoons.

7-12-2017 update:

Yesterday the first hard frost (21 F with windchill of 15 F) killed the heroic Bolseno tomato plant. The day before picked 3.5 lbs from it (also 2 lbs of snow peas).

nice to be still picking a few ripe ones when it's fireplace weather....

today's pics of Bolseno --- note it still had some new green baby fruits !!!

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today's pics of the snow peas --- not only did they survive, but are still blossoming and producing pods

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The winter tomatoes -- 6 Red Robins -- are already setting fruit, so looks like we'll have some ripe ones for Christmas!

Tony

Not accepting pics...?

Need your help.

Thanks, Tony

2018 Winter tomatoes --- for those growing, please share in the topic below.

Thanks, Tony

2018 Winter Tomatoes -- what, when and where are you planting?

Hey everybody just checking in with a few pictures of the latest tomatoes. I also have about 5 other purple varieties, Fred Limbaugh's Potato Top, Ponderosa Red, Tim's Black Truffles, Anna Russian, Black Jade, Black from Tula, Pineapple, Pink Pioneer, Dr. Lyle, Stump of the World, and Burpee's Delicious. It is supposed to get down to 36 this next week, so I will have to move a bunch inside-sure wish they would start to turn or at least blush. I have gotten about 200 cherry tomatoes from Tiny Tim, SS100, Sun Gold, and Sweet Million and the Sweet Million are by far the best tasting one. I haven't gotten any larger tomatoes (4 oz or better) that have ripened yet. I have had a few fried green tomatoes from the Tycoon and they have a really good flavor for green tomatoes-hope to try a ripe one soon.

How is everybody's winter tomatoes doing?

RD --- this topic seems to have no more room for posting pics, so I started a new one. Hope you post there so we all can continue with our Winter tomato adventures.

Tony

2018 Winter Tomatoes -- what, when and where are you planting?