Planted out tomatoes and peppers

I have tried Carmine only one season, it was not very productive here. I’ll try again in a couple years. One season isn’t enough to evaluate.

Early blight has been terrible here, You aren’t seeing any signs of infection @alan up by you?
The humidity in the middle of June did mine in, they are still producing but it’s been a struggle.

I love the look and relative productivity of that one too. I don’t really know about paste tomatoes because the ones I’ve tried here never did well and Roman seems pretty juicy to be suited for paste compared to the store version It is fine sliced in salads or whatever- nice flavor. I’ve been growing it for quite a while and it’s one of only 6 varieties I bothered with this season.

[quote=“Moley, post:202, topic:6191”]Early blight has been terrible here, You aren’t seeing any signs of infection @alan up by you?
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A couple of my plants have succumbed but given how early I stopped spraying copper I’d say it’s a low blight year here. My garden obsessed neighbor says the same.

I think I didn’t start spraying early enough, will be on the lookout next year. Snuck up on me, I’m using new table tops and new growing medium this season, I think they are probably draining too fast, will add vermiculite and some organic matter next year.

Not tomatoes, but in the same family. These are not the first eggplants but they are the largest so far.

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My two San Marzano plants were prob the first ones this year to get diseased, and it was one of my first varieties last year to get it. The plants tend to be shorter than the others, and more dense with the foliage, so I imagine that contributes to the problems.

I did pick a full sized ripe fruit today, and it was very good, like it was last year. But, it doesn’t look like I’ll get much more off the plants. I really like the flavor, and it’s a good paste tomato, but its susceptibility to disease may get it left off of next year’s “rotation”.

Wow- I’ve always thought of tomatoes (and potatoes, beans, squash, corn, etc) as no-spray. What timing do you normally do it at? I can’t imagine getting out and mixing up the fungacide just for tomatoes, but I suppose it wouldn’t be much trouble to spritz them, if I can do it as part of sprays I’m already doing for grapes or peaches.

I did find this guy (tomato horn worm, I think), but he was easily squashed. Though I almost got myself in the face when I stepped on him…

I understand how you feel about the weather and early blight. It has been like living in a rain forest here over the last month. Ocassional downpours mixed by periods of scorching sun makes for a fertile ground for tomato disease. I did spray before it got too bad, but haven’t stayed on top of it, and it’s taken its toll.

Plus, getting out there every day in such an environment is not a pleasant experience. I just get soaked being out there maybe an hour, and I’m not a person who sweats a lot. Friday I was out picking green beans and then tomatoes, and the sweat was just rolling off my nose. Now I’m reconsidering thinking the heat + humidity wasn’t so bad back in Dallas!

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I started this year with the spraying. Folks on the GW forums recommended Bonide copper spray, so I bought some in a ready to spray bottle for about $9 for a 32oz (?) jug. You are supposed to spray before any disease shows up, because it’s harder to control once it gets going. Plus you’re supposed to spray all leaves, top and bottom. Obviously, that makes for a lot of work, and uses a lot of product. I went thru that first jug in just a couple of sessions on maybe 50 plants being treated. So, it doesn’t seem too economical. I have since bought a 16oz jug of concentrate for about $15, but haven’t used any of it yet.

Yep, stepping on a hornworm is disgusting. I haven’t seen that many on my plants, but have seen plenty of what appear to be stinkbugs on my fruit. Today I was out in the patch, which has got kind of weedy, and I almost stepped on a rabbit! It seemed to be reluctant to leave even after I shooed it. Of course my dog was no where to found, when I really needed him…

Tomatoes were no-spray until early blight came to stay. I used to grow your Big Beef and Beefmaster without spray, cover them with plastic in Sept and harvest perfect fruit into Nov. with no spray. Then I’d bring the vines and tomatoes into the basement and use those till Christmas. The last of them were better than store-bought. Back then we didn’t need to fence out the deer either. A lot can happen in 25 years. There are new pests in my fruit trees as well.

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OK, @BobVance, here is one of our Orange Kentucky Beefsteak’s we picked yesterday that hadn’t rotted on the vine yet. It really is that orange. I’m letting it ripen a bit more before trying it out. I think I may have jumped the gun on some of the other fruit and picked them too early, and weren’t very good. I’ll give you a taste report later.

The remains of another tomato, a Paul Robeson, are on the plate as well. It is kind of a brown/purple-ish fruit. It was pretty good as well, but my plants are pretty much toast due to blight, and I don’t have a lot of fruit left that’s not rotted because of the intense sun we’ve been getting. Actually, right now, it’s been raining pretty good for about 2 hours, so I’m sure that’ll contribute to more split fruit. But, what can you do…

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Today, we’re taking our ripest tomatoes and making salsa. I think we’ll have enough to make about 20 pints. We had to buy our jalapeño, green peppers and onions, but we needed to do something with all the tomatoes that seem to ripening fast. We’re sparing some of which I want to sample, like the OKB above. I’ll post pics when we get the salsa done.

Nice! Are there any which have been particularly healthy with regard to rot? If so, do they intersect with the group that is most productive? I suppose if all are rotting, it isn’t really a mark against the OKB.

I mentioned I would report back on Cowlick’s strain of Bradywine. It is very good, I love the red color. It is meaty, and has excellent taste. Good for raw eating for sure. Production was very low with the high heat this year. I’m sure some Russian beefsteaks are just as good with better production.
It’s like your all around tomato for taste, not too acidic, not too sweet, very well balanced. My favorite eating tomatoes though are the black ones. I much prefer them myself. Speaking of which here is Girl Girl’s Weird Thing. A fantastic tomato. Classic black tomato flavor.


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That’s a very beautiful tomato at least on the outside.

It was found in a pack of Green Zebra seeds. It is an unknown cross. Not really a black but tastes like them. Like Indian Stripe, or Paul Robeson. Both I like a lot too. Indian Stripe is one of my all time favorites. It comes in regular leaf, or potato leaf. A small tomato though. I have a few big beefsteak type blacks I will try in the future.

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We’ve had a few OKB rot, but they aren’t particularly worse than any of the other varieties. It’s just been a bad year as far as weather is concerned. But some of the blame is on me, for not fertilizing enough. I should say the rot I’m talking about is really sun scalding because of loss of foliage due to disease. We also have seen quite a bit if blossom end rot, which can be because of inconsistent rain, and/or calcium deficiency. The frequent rain causes fruit to split as well.

But as far productivity and disease go, the OKB are very vigorous plants, I had to stake them a lot, with a lot of branches. Their fruit production seems pretty good considering their size. Disease resistance looks to be better than most other types. The fruit above is about 13oz, which probably about average for OKB.

As far as other varieties that have resisted on the vine rot, blossom end rot, and been relatively productive are the smaller varieties like Chocolate Cherry, Yellow Pear, Mischka, De Barao, Mr Bruno, Jaune Flamme and Cream Sausage. Yellow Pear plants, though were among the first to get diseased.

The Pink and Yellow Brandywine’s have been healthy, vigorous plants, and the fruit haven’t shown any rot either. They’ve just been very shy bearers. I have a Black BW, which is a regular leaf BW, that’s very productive, but disease hit it hard, so its fruit has been rotting bad. Seems like a lot of my purple/black fruit has been showing rot. Best tasting dark tom so far has been Paul Robeson, but still waiting on Black Krim and Trifele to ripen.

I brought in some Great White fruit yesterday, I’ll try to get some pics and taste review when they ripen a bit more. They have yellowish skin when ripe. My wife cut up a properly ripe Pink BW, and she loved it, but it just didn’t do much for me. Kinda sweet, but not much tang, and a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste. Very meaty flesh, not watery, or seedy.

That GGWT is intriguing, I love the stripes.

The one Paul Robeson I harvested that hasn’t got sun scalded had a good flavor. Kind of smoky, sweet, but not much tang. My plants have had some significant disease pressure though. Have yet to harvest another of my favorites, Cherokee Purple.

Yeah I like the tang too, and it is lacking in some of the darker tomatoes, and Brandywine. i would agree with that. Problem for me is those with tang, well usually that is all they have. I like Cherokee Purple too. I have so many I need to try yet I have to keep good notes, as it may be a bit before I grow favorites only.

So what is the significance ,or, why would you choose one over the other?