Growing the following tomatoes..

This year I'm growing :

1) some unknown yellow tomato 2) purple prince 3) roma 4) bush beefstake 5) and one purple prince-yellow cross i created myself

I tried to cross the purple prince with the yellow last year and saved the seeds. I'm growing them now though i'm not sure if the cross was successful or it self-fertilized. I'll know soon enough when the tomatoes on that plant get their color.

The year before that I crossed a beefstake variety of tomato with a grape sized tomato and saved the seeds. I found out that you get a ping-pong ball sized tomato from that! The gene/s for small sized tomatoes appears to be dominant over large sized tomatoes.

I'm also doing another experiement this year. I saw this news clip on grape wine yards in France. They mentioned that the grape growers were very happy this summer. Aside from killing a whole bunch of people, the hot, dry summer over there has helped produce a very good crop of grapes. Because of the heat & dryness, the grapes have less moisture in them and hence taste sweeter. Wines therefore will taste better and be of higher quality (and command a higher price)

So i'm extending that same principle to tomatoes. I did not water the tomato plants. I figure the fruits will also be less watery and more full of flavor. Lets see if I'm right. So far the number of tomatoes are down compared to last year but if they taste better, hell it will be worth it.

Reply to
zalzon
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When last we left our heros, on Thu, 28 Aug 2003 23:00:39 GMT, zalzon scribbled:

So, where did your unknown yellow tomato come from? Mine was labeled as a Manalucie, but clearly isn't. I really wish I could figure out what it is, because it's a brave little soldier in The War of the Thrips. It's a potato leaf, yellow tomato that is about the size of a tennis ball. I thought it was determinate, but I have since then discovered several runners running a covert operation under cover of the sweet potatoes. I thought I had a mushroom under the sweet potato vines, but it was a lovely yellow tomato.

Pam

Reply to
Pam Rudd

I was lost driving around town and popped into a supermarket. There they had these round shiny yellow globes sitting neatly in the vegetable section. I took a closer look and found they were tomatoes.

I bought a couple, and saved the seeds.

don't let the tomato touch the ground/soil or it will be ruined. i stake and cage my plants.

Reply to
zalzon

When last we left our heros, on Sat, 30 Aug 2003 03:51:12 GMT, zalzon scribbled:

You should explain that to the tomato, I've picked 4 or 5 perfect yellow tomatoes from under the sweet potato vines.

So do I, but the mystery yaller tomato's philosophy is, apparently, "Don't Fence Me In...". I went on vacation and it made a break for it.

Pam

Reply to
Pam Rudd

LOL!!! Go on vacation and come back to tomatoes that went on vacation too, love it!

I have found my cages work well though I'll also be adding to the mix next year. What I've done as a semi-permanent maneuver is use field fencing which is made from a heavy gage wire and is designed in 6-inch or so squares. The top and bottom wires require heavy duty lineman cutters to cut and aren't the easiest thing to bend back into loops to made the circle, but the cages hold up well. The intermediate wires are still heavy but easier to manage. The plants go over the tops but haven't collapsed them. This year, I also have the lemon cucumber plant on one and the prolific thing is doing well on it. To secure the cages in the ground, I use four 8-inch long fabric staples on the bottom wire; it works very well this way; the cages would surely tip at some point when one side of the plant became heavier with fruit than the other if that weren't done. Pat's rebar application would work very well for holding them upright also and there'd be no stray staples to get caught in the rototiller the following spring which invariably happens with dozens of cages.

Initially, cutting the wire in different lengths, varying one square each way, allows nesting three cages to take up less winter storage space. While they could be flattened, sort of, for more efficient use of storage space, it would be a frustrating experience.

What I added this year is a cattle panel which is really heavy duty stuff and will not be bent without the proper tools and a strong hand. I just drove two 7-ft fence posts into the ground and fastened it against them to hold it vertical which is more than adequate with the heavy wire involved. It would be akin to "sheet" of rebar material. The "mesh" is 6-8 inches. It can be bent, but not easily. I'm going to be moving all my berries to the east side of the garden on the south end this fall and will be putting in cattle panels for them to climb on, trusting the metal will not conduct too much heat for the branches. It has not seemed to bother the half dozen tomato plants I have growing on one. Unfortunately, due to a delay in help to set the panel in place for the tomatoes, it's not exactly like I wanted since we had to work around 4-ft high plants already fruited, but putting it in with the initial planting will resolve that. Of course, the tomatoes are intermixed on the panel as the vines grow. Since I planted unlike cherry-type tomatoes on it, that's not a problem. There's a bit of a difference in a ripe Sun Gold and Sweet 100 and Yellow Pear. :-)

The panels are 16-feet long and 52 inches high and are not easily handled by one person. They are also rather heavy, remembering these are *cattle* panels designed to keep cattle contained. Most farm stores would surely cut them into shorter lengths for you; these were carried on a full-size pickup bent back over themselves which left a curve in the middle which I was not able to get completely straight again but that beat having to have them cut for hauling. They cost just under $20 each and will be a good investment over the years. One of the advantages of them is that if you want to make a really tall cage, you can . . . that is if you have the resources to cut and bend. I'm thinking a triangular design would be the easiest, given the heavy gauge of the wire. (I call it wire but it's really more like lightweight bars when you're working with it, no sagging there! )

I stumbled upon the cattle panels while actually visiting various farm/garden stores looking for hog wire. The hog wire of my youth isn't being sold around here so I don't know if it's even manufactured anymore. All I've seen this past few years is old stuff purchased many years ago; field fencing was the closest thing I could find. The cattle panels have the same "mesh" pattern but are much heavier and are not sold in rolls because of the heavy wire gauge. You would not believe what I would find when I got to a store after being told via telephone they had hog wire! One would think even a new employee would understand lawn fencing and hog wire might not be the same thing even if they didn't figure out that

2x4-inch squares are *not* 6-inch squares. Not many people put hogs on their lawns. Oh, well. Maybe some don't know what a hog is, ya think?

One day, I'll get my web page updated from a year ago and include the tomato cage stuff on it. Obviously, that hasn't been a top priority for me or it would already be done. One thing about our gardens, they don't leave a lot of "fluff" time, do they? But ain't it great?!

Glenna

Reply to
Glenna Rose

This is a good idea.

Thanks. I might use some of these, I've also seen them used to construct hoophouses - well, I've not seen this with my own eyes, but I've seen photos on web pages.

I wasn't sure how much they cost, but $20 for a 16 foot long panel is manageable.

I can't find hog wire here either (rural northern PA). That's what I *used to* use for tomato cages.

I suspect (unhappily) that most hogs are now grown in CAFOs

- Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations - and never see the light of day. No need for hog wire then.

Yes, I would. :) I've had many similar experiences - we had to drive for 45 minutes to get tomato cage wire.

Probably. Pork chops come in plastic packages, you know.

I never was really interested in painting my nails or fooling around with a hair-do in any case. :) (This is an understatement.) Yes, gardening is great.

Today's harvest: beets (four red, one golden), green beans, purple beans, yellow wax beans, fresh basil, pattypan squash, and my FIRST eggplant of the season - one of the long Asian eggplants. I'm going to have a big plate of roasted veggies for dinner, with a roll and a hunk of cheese, and a glass of white wine. It's cool enough today that using the oven will be OK.

I could have also picked cukes, tomatoes, zucchini, chard, peppers and various other herbs, but won't be needing them today (we have tomatoes from yesterday).

Pat

Reply to
Pat Meadows

Been there done that. Over the years, we have used; stakes with pruning- good, bush tomatoes- fair, comercial tomato cages-poor, comercial cage with strengthening- poor. This year We splurged, and I bought 150"x5" rebar, cut them into 5 or 6 foot sections. We made about thirty cages, with the expectation that we will not have to repeat, for many years. This years report, we have had tomatoes taller than our corn, have not suckered one. It has been a good year to be a vine, so we have had pretty good luck.len

Reply to
len

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