My best producers are Rutgers , Jet Star , Big Beef and Ponderosa Pink. And for a larger cherry type of tomato I love Ceylon. It's a donut shaped tomato about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter with excellant flavor.
We’re getting 100+ temps here in S. TX. so I’m just trying to keep my plants alive. I’ve got 48 plants mostly under 70% shade cloth. Still getting blossoms and the fruit appears to be ok. Best producers this year is Sungold for cherry and, unfortunately, the slicer is one we bought at a farmers market last year and saved the seeds. The grower lost the tag so had no idea what the variety was. It is our most vigorous plant and best producer so will just have to keep saving the seeds.
Here in Houston we had a long unusually cool spring, then the switch flipped and now brutal heat. I had the best year I’ve had with tomatoes due to the cool spring, but they are pretty much done now. The only one that still seems to be in good shape is yellow boy tomato, though not making any new tomatoes. Pulling about one baseball sized tom off every day. Got about half a dozen to go. Cherries didn’t due well. They like heat to a point, but it got too hot too fast.
@@rpdx3I'm a few miles outside of Houston, right on the bay. It's my first year actually putting effort into growing a lot of tomatoes. The plants themselves have been growing at an insane rate, but I only have a handful of fruits and I think most of the flowers may just be dying and falling off because of the heat. Question: should I just try to keep them alive through the summer in hopes of getting a fall harvest when the temps drop a bit, wait a few months and start over with new plants, or keep caring for them in his heat and hope for a miracle?
I’m an hour away from Austin. We had a really nice cool spring and then the weather jumped up to triple digits a couple weeks ago. I’ve been able to keep some fruit set with frequent watering and using heat loving plants to shade more fragile ones, but I still have some fruit not setting on my tomatoes and peppers. Sungolds have been doing surprisingly well, and for a slicer I decided to try the Canestrino tomato. It’s doing much better in the heat than I thought it would. I tried Romas also but they did so poorly. I’m with you though, just trying to keep everything alive until the temperatures start to cool in 2-3 months 😅
@@acatinthegarden It is stupidly hot now. My pepper plants are happy but that's about it. I have one Sungold tomato that's grown huge and looks healthy, but it hasn't given me one single fruit yet 😔 It has made a lot of flowers, but I'm not sure how to tell when they're actually about to start growing into a tomato. Seems like they just kind of turn brown after a while and fall off. The big currant type tom plants I grew from seed just started doing this thing last week where the branch tips curl under at a 180 degree angle, like they were bent in half. Terrible. Idk what it is but I really really hope it's not viral.
Super Sweet 100 and Sungold are my must-grows every year. The super sweet 100 always produces like crazy and are always delicious. Sungold is more finicky but so so yummy! I have such a hard time getting larger tomatoes to do well in my super hot area but I’ve had great success with Bella Rosa.
Had a lengthy comment but lost it, so here is the short version. I grew a number of varieties years ago in a side by side test. Big Beef won without a doubt the best of all. Perfect fruit and lots of them that were so easy to can(skins slipped off after blanching). Was our exclusive tomato for years until losing my wife to cancer.
Those cold tolerant varieties you told us about are really doing well for me, even in this heat. They are very hardy, thanks! "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord"
❤love your channel and knowledge. ??? Im dealing with scale (white type) but i wonder if you figure the dish soap would work or do i need to manually remove it from Allllll my plants. So hot out, i dread that idea. Thanks.
If I can recommend 2 open pollinated varieties that are delicious, disease resistant and do well in the south they are Homestead and Chadwick Cherry. Homestead is a medium sized slicer and Chadwick Cherry is a large cherry with a deep tomato flavor. I’ll never be without these. My location is Savannah Georgia.
Do you have issues with squirrels? Squirrels just discovered my plants and have singled out a few of them and just decimated the tomatoes in a few days. One plant had 10 big beefsteaks starting to ripen and the squirrels have taken 6 of them just in the past 5 days
I live in north Texas and it gets so hot here and even growing tomatoes here is hard. This year has been a perfect spring with cooler temps and more rain than we’ve had in a long time. I planted several tomato varieties and my best producer is called Heatmaster. It is a hybrid and I purchased the seeds from Burrell seed company. The plants have produced huge one pound tomatoes! I will definitely grow these again next year.
I'm glad to get a tomato tour this year! You should profile the tomatoes when you harvest them to give an op ed on each variety 😎 Also, thanks for your viewpoint on dwarf and determinate tomatoes. I got a couple of dwarf varieties growing: Jeremy's stripes (orange striped tomato - smaller fruit with a sweet complex flavor and a ton of production) and Adelaide Festival. Also trying out celebration (an improved celebrity supposedly) and creamy sausage.
Another great video! Hint: Up here in Washington State, Sun Gold tomatoes don't have any of those issues with the exception of occasional splitting. I've planted them in containers and in the ground but I always mulch and hard prune the bottom of the plant. Since I'm on the Washington/Idaho border, I don't get the humidity or the heat or the rainfall like you have to deal with so I think you're right about it being the climate. I'm interested in the taste of the pink cherry you mentioned. I don't think anything can beat the taste of a Sun Gold. Stay cool and keep us posted.
My top varieties in zone 6 are Indeterminate- Big beef, mountain rouge are tops then jet star, Amish paste Determinate- Red Snapper and then Bella Rosa , BHN 589, mountain merit Sauce or Roma type - Tachi Cherry - super sweet 100
I’m in Az. Summer is here. Finish cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes. Peppers are still thriving as well as all the figs. Extreme heat is hard on citrus as well as myself. Trying! Thank you for all your info. BTW the only thing Dales recliner was missing was his own directional fan like my dog has.
Really neat. Will have to try some of those next year! I actually grow black cherry across the river from you in Wilmington. It does get disease eventually, but it is also always the last tomato producing tomatoes in my garden. Plant in March and makes tomatoes until November. Even with disease it keeps making tomatoes when others die or quit.
Great video. So far our weather here in Southern California has been pretty mild. My tomato production is pretty good. Im struggling with disease on my Cherry Falls and my dog eating my tomatoes. I think he’s addicted to them.
Better Boys are the best producer I've ever seen. I have one plant with over 30 tomatoes on it and it's just July. Other's with 20 to 25 and they are only 4 feet tall. And big fruit also.
Great video - thanks for all your hard work to bring us new and good information - I garden in Myrtle Beach, SC so your info totally relates to my gardening endeavors.
siletz! siletz! siletz! I'm so glad you brought them up at the end. I've been growing them in southern Idaho for the last two years because of your recommendation and they're doing great. I also grow the super sweet 100. it seems like all the cherry tomato varieties I see are indeterminate. I wonder why that is.
One that I plant every year is the "Geranium Kiss" determinate tomatoes (from Renaissance Farms). I end up with a huge amount of tomatoes, but needs support.
My Electric toothbrush is coming in the mail this week and I'm anxious to try it. Is Black plum tomato the same as Black prince tomato because they really look the same?
Wow we have great production with Sungold with no splitting or disease. Last year was a low production for most of us in 7B , except for the Sungold. I can’t wait for your report on the Princesd
I decided to try quite a few new-to-me varieties this year and it has been a struggle! The one variety that I'm most excited about is the 'Domingo' just for its size potential... Guinness world record holder!
Great stuff! In North Texas we're unable to dependably grow beefsteaks and heirlooms year by year. For semi-large tomatoes most people grow Celebrity and Early Girl, which I don't find flavorful. I grow only smaller tomatoes for table use. I don't have the problem with Sungold (lack of vigor, splitting) that you have; mine are still going strong at end of June. My second favorite is Juliet, disease-free and very productive. It is now harder to find seeds and the substitute, Verona, recommended by Johnny's doesn't appeal to me. This is my first year growing Super Sweet 100, not yet as productive as Sungold and Juliet. You can bet I will look for Sunchocola and Pink Princess this fall or next year; I hope the flavor approaches that of Sungold. Thanks!
Hi there, I’m also from North Texas and this year I am growing a variety called Heatmaster. They have blown me away with how huge they have gotten! I’m also growing Early girl and another variety called Phoenix, which are supposed to be heat tolerant. They both have produced well, but the Heatmaster have really stole the show in my garden this year. It does help that we had a very nice spring this year.
Fun fact about plants. If you have a plant that's not native to the area...and you, by some miracle, get to to grow till seed...then transplant these seeds next year, do the same thing with the next gen... The plant will be hardened off genetically to the environment and will do A LOT better then the previous generation. (this is also technically termed GMO) That is why I buy my seeds from local farmers...instead of nurseries. Cuz nurseries primarily get their plants from Fl and Ca...
Great video!👍My sister loves tomatoes like you do. She's going to love this video. Thanks for the great information. I'm glad you are having such a super tomato year! Dale's even cute when sleeping.🐕
Thank you! The straw bales have helped a lot, but we've gotten almost 7 inches of rain over the last week, so it's starting to take its toll. I hope we dry out for a few days...
I have planted some of these varieties but my favorite is not mentioned Celebrity. 6 to 8 ounces. They are round, smooth, firm and meaty. Seeds are produced by NPK seed company.
🤯 Fall season tomatoes! I’m also in south east NC. I may have missed you saying, but could you specify varieties that you may not have mentioned. Thanks so much for this and all your videos. Dale too! 😅
im growing purple cherokee and big boys in my first garden ever. Got some big tomatoes growing however fighting sooty mold from the aphids tried to find stuff about it but couldnt find too much. Hope it doesnt effect my yield too much
I’m growing Arkansas traveler as well and the tomatoes are larger than my Big Beef plus tomatoes! I can’t even use my tomato clips because the main stem is too big.
MG Thank you so much for all your work trialing different varieties of tomatoes. I'm especially interested in the dark, purple types because they are supposed to be lower in acid. Being in Zone 5A I'm a long ways from taste testing cherry toms, but so far Black Cherry is performing better for me than Sun Chocola. Fascinating to see how much climate &weather affects the plant
I enjoy your videos and have learned a lot. However, I'm retired and trying to garden in the city and have no real soil to speak of. What can we do to be able to re use potting soil from containers?
I also use plastic tomato clips like those, but I get tropical storms here and some of my plants get open wounds from the wind. Should I wrap a certain type of tape or something over the areas that are prone to rubbing against the clips?
I gave up growing Cherokee Purple. It won't grow here. It dies as soon as June rolls around, so I gave up. Abu Rawan was so promising in our dry May weather, but the summer destroyed it. It's a desert tomato. I think if you have drier summers, both will do well, but they both seem to be allergic to humidity and rainfall. I haven't tried Rio Grande.
I started a garden this year and planted Big Beef as well. I noticed you have yellowish leaves with like a black outline on the edges on your plant as well. What is that?
I've found the opposite to be sure. SunSugar is quite a bit larger and thicker-skinned, hence the crack resistance. The thin skin of the SunGold makes it very split-prone. Make sure you're letting SunGold ripen fully. It isn't ripe until it is orange. Yellow tomatoes are not ripe.
I'm growing purple reign tomato also! I got it directly from one of the creators of the variety who happens to be local to me and sells his starts to a local garden center. I use your tomato videos each winter for my seed shopping since my climate (Georgia) is roughly similar to yours Thank you for making them!
My next door neighbor gave me an extra Purple Reign seedling he grew this spring and I really like it’s dense growth habit. It’s put on a few tomatoes already, looking forward to tasting them once they ripen! I’m in hot and dry Central Valley, CA
I’m a first time gardener. I grew my tomatoes from seed. They are huge and somewhat uncontrollable 😂! I’m not sure if I should trim them or not. I’ve learned a lot but I don’t want any of my plants to die 😢
You can prune them if you wish if you're 100% positive they're indeterminate tomatoes. Determinate and dwarf tomatoes should never be pruned *except* for the lowest leaves under the first flower cluster for airflow. Never remove suckers from determinate and dwarf tomatoes, because you'll get no fruit. The only reason to prune indeterminate tomatoes is to manage their size and provide airflow in climates where disease is a problem. If you don't have issues with disease, and if you can manage the size, there is no real reason to prune them. Technically, open wounds are entry points for disease. If they're already so large that they're uncontrollable, it may be too late to prune them and you'd be better off adding more support, like additional stakes and ties around them. Then, just chalk this up as a learning experience and plan better pruning and support infrastructure for the next season.
Super Sweet 100 is one of those big box varieties that's crazy for production. I also agree it's tough to beat Big Beef, but I think there's a Big Beef 2 that is supposed to be better. I'm trying sun sugar instead of sungold this year, because of the sungold cracking issues.
I've honestly never had a problem. If you turn your tomatoes into tomato puree, they go very quickly. Filling a 64oz mason jar full of tomato puree takes pounds of tomatoes, and if you do things like cook Sunday tomato sauce, you may have to grind up 20-30 lbs of tomatoes to fill a 10qt pot and reduce it down. When you do things like that, and also have a tomato salad with dinner every night, they don't last long.
Lack of pollination. You can hand pollinate your tomatoes to set much more fruit like this: th-cam.com/video/2kT_FISmGoo/w-d-xo.html However, keep in mind most tomatoes will not pollinate when daytime temps are over 90, nighttime temps are over 70 and humidity is high. If it's too hot and humid where you live by now, nothing you can do will help. We're past our pollination here in the coastal Carolinas, so nothing I do from now on will make my beefsteak varieties set fruits with any reliability. The only tomatoes that will set now are cherry types, roma types and some very specific heat-bred cultivars. If you live in a cooler climate than me, they will still pollinate if you hand pollinate using the method above.
Hey I love your channel! I have used so many of your tips to have somewhat of a successful tomato harvest for the last couple of years. One question though that I had was how much foliage should I leave on a tomato plant when pruning. 1/2, 1/3 or less?
Glad to hear it! The answer to your question is that you should only remove foliage from a tomato plant if you have to. Tomato foliage does two things: it absorbs sunlight, and it protects the fruits from sun scald. The more leaves you remove, the less energy the plant will get from the sun and the more likely it is your tomatoes will get damaged from the summer sun. I only remove tomatoes leaves on the bottom of the plants under the first flower cluster to provide airflow, and if the foliage is showing bad signs of disease. If the leaves are healthy, I don't touch them. Now, for suckers, that's up to you. If you're growing indeterminate tomatoes, you can pinch off suckers to limit side-growth if you wish, but that's your call. Never remove suckers on determinate or dwarf tomatoes, or you'll get no fruit.
Just found this channel and really appreciate clear, confident and tested approach to gardening...Question...I'm working through fertilizer requirements using guidance from your videos...are 6-12-12/ 3-6-6/5-10-10 the same? and can be used in same applications?
Thank you very much for all your efforts I have only just started to garden as now retired (71) I am trying different types of tomatoes here in Liverpool UK weather is a lot colder but I now have a small greenhouse. I can't work out your zones in the USA so don't know what to plant next year from your list. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Hope you have a fantastic yield and once again thank you.
We like salsa verde, green Mexican sauce. Traditionally, tomatillos are used, but we use green tomatoes. Green tomatoes do not have that special flavor. With tomatillos, this is delicious stuff! But tomatillos I have tried do not do well in central Georgia, similar climate to yours. Have you tried tomatillos? What variety grows well there if you tried them? Salsa verde: Tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, garlic, lime juice, sea salt, cumin, and if you want a mild version, add mashed avocado. Personally, I would add another hotter green pepper to spice it up more, but my wife cannot handle it, LOL
Production wise my celebrity still kicks every other plant's tail. Having someon water for me while on vaca caused some significant rot but most of my toms (2 dozen+plants) helf up fine I am rrgetting skipping the 100s this year.
I’m on the coast of WA so going to try siletz next year. Favorite that you might want to try is heirloom Berkley green tie dye. Beautiful and amazing flavor.
I also grow Siletz and think it's a very good tomato. I'm trying several Dwarf Tomato Project varieties this year including Rosella Purple, Uluru and Brown Berry. I'm in the SFBay and due to a long, rainy, chilly winter and a chilly spring, my tomatoes are not as far along as usual. Several early determinate tomatoes--Glacier, Bush Early Girl, and Moskvitch--have started to set fruit, but they are behind what they've done in the past. My Sungold and Super Sweet 100 are not doing well this year.
I'm going to try Siletz next year! I just planted all of my sun sugar starts this morning. Late but it is what it is. Started everything outside this year. Mostly great results for the tomatoes. Since last year's starts got decimated, I planted extras and ended up with 5 sun sugar, 3 pineapple, 2 vintage wine, six green zebra, 3 grape surprise (my name for a tomato that was supposed to be something else a few years back), 5 pink oxheart, and 5 Ukrainian purple (new to me). Didn't intend to grow that many of each...or of the squashes, or the tomatillos, or, or--pretty successful year so far!😂
Great job, my super sweet 100s grew like grape vines 5 plants nearly 20 feet wide each, dozens of quarts already and still going strong. My Celebrity tomatoes have done better this year than ever, 9 bushes and the best one I counted 55 large and all healthy, what a year for sharing. Cheers from Jacksonville Florida 🌞
I have some variegated, weird leaved tomatoes, with heart shaped, striped fruit. I was told they were called 'Painted Lady', but I can't find any information on them. 🤷 Also growing 'San Marzano' and they are about to ripen; I'm excited to add them to sauces and pizza.
i am in zone 7b/8a southern oklahoma/ border n. texas lol .. with all of that said .. i have had a horrible time getting tomatoes to produce .. this year even my neighbors had problems and they never had troubles, we both think it is some kind of environmental thing in the area .. BUT .. i am still wanting to grow some tomatoes, what types and which ones would you recommend for me to be able to have a tomato harvest please and thank you .. would a good roma be advisable and i really would like to have a sized slicer if at all possible .. and can i still start the seeds in time? my first frost date estimated around oct 31
I’m not sure about you but for me in Georgia, a little south of Atlanta, it’s been a lot cooler summer than normal so far. We usually are in the 90’s and miserable with some wilt action happening in the hottest parts of the day, but it just hasn’t been that bad. I’ve already had enough of cucumbers (I have 50 plants all up strings and I’m harvesting everyday and sometimes twice a day). I have 69 tomato plants ( 40 indeterminate and 29 determinate) just loaded with tomatoes. I even have some cabbages from spring planting still in the ground and not bolted. The bells peppers are doing great. It’s just been a good garden year for me.
Thank you for another great, well done and informative video. I did make some notes of varieties I might try next year. I notice you only grow 1 variety of paste tomatoes - have you considered trying others?
Oh new ideas! I haven't been growing long, but your videos have really helped me with tomato care! I live not terribly far from you, so similar climate. I really appreciate all the variety suggestions, esp the hybrid and dwarf varieties since i have a very small space for my garden, and want the best production for space that I can get.
I think I sm hard pressed yo find a cherry tomato that tastes better than Sun Gold! Last year I planted Sun Sugar because I heard so many people say it tastes better than Sun Gold. So I couldn't wait to try it. In my opinion, it's as good in terms of taste as Sun Gold. But the production of Sun Gold far outweighs the Sugar for me here in NY. If I ever can't get SunGold seeds, I'll plant several Sun Sugar plants. This year I planted Super Sweet 100s for the first time, so I'm eager t try it. I'm not expecting it to taste better than Sun Gold, but if we really like it, I'll plant it again next year, just to have a red cherry tomato in the garden. But, if you end up saying that Pink Princess cherry tomato tastes better than Sun Gold, I'll take you at your word and try it next year. But you have to do a video on that. Deal?
My Thai Egg was the first to produce fruit in my garden this year. The yellow & red pear heirlooms are close behind. I got behind on my suckers and we're in a drought so I'm jealous of how far along yours are!
I ended up having to leave town for family issues for most of the first half of June so by the time I was done with that I had lost control of mine. Many fell over in storms and such and so I have just let them go as they want. Still getting decent yields but its a tangled mess! Between that and the lack of water this is definitely the push I needed to work on getting drip irrigation setup this winter so I will be ready for next year with automated watering at least.
I noticed some of the tomato clusters are growing in the crotch areas where (I typically) remove those as suckers. How do you tell it's going to be a cluster, (so as not to remove it) instead of a sucker branch when it grows out of the crotch like that?
I was thinking about trying sungold next year, but now i think I'll wait and see how your pink princess plans turn out. All the tomato's look good, glad you're having a successful growing year so far.
I've seen many of your videos featuring great productivity, however not on taste test. so how do all of these selections taste? Thank you. I'd rather have half the amount if they taste better. Please do some taste test and comparisons at the end of your harvest thank you, A fan.
I have not. There are so many varieties out there that I think you'd have to live to be 1,000 years old to grow them all...but by then, they'll have thousands more to choose from 😅
I've been pretty please with my chocolate sprinkles plants. hardy plants, not as rambling as sun sugar and good fruit set and production. flavor is a nice balance of sweet and acid.
If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 My Most Productive Tomato Plants
0:37 Tomato #1: Big Beef
1:31 Tomato #2: Carmello
2:59 Tomato #3: Sunchocola
4:32 Tomato #4: Brandy Boy
6:01 Tomato #5: Pink Princess
7:30 Tomato #6: Black Plum
9:17 Tomato #7: Tasmanian Chocolate
9:53 Tomato #8: Super Sweet 100
10:51 Other Tomato Varieties I'm Growing
11:11 Tomato #9: Better Boy
11:53 Tomato #10: Lucid Gem
12:30 Tomato #11: Big Brandy
13:03 Tomato #12: Brandywine Yellow (Platfoot)
13:54 Tomato #13: Arkansas Traveler
14:27 Tomato #14: SunSugar
14:52 Tomato #15: SunGold
15:28 Tomato #16: Unicorn
16:08 Tomato #17: Purple Reign
16:29 Tomato #18: Rosella Crimson
16:43 Tomato #19: Rosella Purple
17:29 Tomato #20: Dwarf Emerald Giant
18:00 Tomato #21: Adelaide Festival
18:30 Tomatoes #22-25: Legend, Bella Rosa, Celebrity Plus, LaRoma III
20:03 Tomato #26: Siletz
22:02 Adventures With Dale
My best producers are Rutgers , Jet Star , Big Beef and Ponderosa Pink. And for a larger cherry type of tomato I love Ceylon. It's a donut shaped tomato about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter with excellant flavor.
We’re getting 100+ temps here in S. TX. so I’m just trying to keep my plants alive. I’ve got 48 plants mostly under 70% shade cloth. Still getting blossoms and the fruit appears to be ok. Best producers this year is Sungold for cherry and, unfortunately, the slicer is one we bought at a farmers market last year and saved the seeds. The grower lost the tag so had no idea what the variety was. It is our most vigorous plant and best producer so will just have to keep saving the seeds.
Here in Houston we had a long unusually cool spring, then the switch flipped and now brutal heat.
I had the best year I’ve had with tomatoes due to the cool spring, but they are pretty much done now. The only one that still seems to be in good shape is yellow boy tomato, though not making any new tomatoes. Pulling about one baseball sized tom off every day. Got about half a dozen to go.
Cherries didn’t due well. They like heat to a point, but it got too hot too fast.
@@rpdx3I'm a few miles outside of Houston, right on the bay. It's my first year actually putting effort into growing a lot of tomatoes. The plants themselves have been growing at an insane rate, but I only have a handful of fruits and I think most of the flowers may just be dying and falling off because of the heat. Question: should I just try to keep them alive through the summer in hopes of getting a fall harvest when the temps drop a bit, wait a few months and start over with new plants, or keep caring for them in his heat and hope for a miracle?
I’m an hour away from Austin. We had a really nice cool spring and then the weather jumped up to triple digits a couple weeks ago. I’ve been able to keep some fruit set with frequent watering and using heat loving plants to shade more fragile ones, but I still have some fruit not setting on my tomatoes and peppers. Sungolds have been doing surprisingly well, and for a slicer I decided to try the Canestrino tomato. It’s doing much better in the heat than I thought it would. I tried Romas also but they did so poorly. I’m with you though, just trying to keep everything alive until the temperatures start to cool in 2-3 months 😅
@@acatinthegarden It is stupidly hot now. My pepper plants are happy but that's about it. I have one Sungold tomato that's grown huge and looks healthy, but it hasn't given me one single fruit yet 😔 It has made a lot of flowers, but I'm not sure how to tell when they're actually about to start growing into a tomato. Seems like they just kind of turn brown after a while and fall off. The big currant type tom plants I grew from seed just started doing this thing last week where the branch tips curl under at a 180 degree angle, like they were bent in half. Terrible. Idk what it is but I really really hope it's not viral.
@@killodendron you can always try hand pollinating the tomatoes, that might help!
Super Sweet 100 and Sungold are my must-grows every year. The super sweet 100 always produces like crazy and are always delicious. Sungold is more finicky but so so yummy!
I have such a hard time getting larger tomatoes to do well in my super hot area but I’ve had great success with Bella Rosa.
Had a lengthy comment but lost it, so here is the short version. I grew a number of varieties years ago in a side by side test. Big Beef won without a doubt the best of all. Perfect fruit and lots of them that were so easy to can(skins slipped off after blanching). Was our exclusive tomato for years until losing my wife to cancer.
Im pretty sure my Bella Rosa and Celebrity bed of ten plants are going to yield 500+ fruits
Those cold tolerant varieties you told us about are really doing well for me, even in this heat. They are very hardy, thanks!
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord"
❤love your channel and knowledge. ??? Im dealing with scale (white type) but i wonder if you figure the dish soap would work or do i need to manually remove it from Allllll my plants. So hot out, i dread that idea. Thanks.
I have switched to mostly determinant varieties, for less maintenance. Unfortunately, the deer don't know that you're not supposed to prune them.
Can’t believe your production so early in the season! Amazing! Do you can or preserve your tomatoes or consume them all within the season?
If I can recommend 2 open pollinated varieties that are delicious, disease resistant and do well in the south they are Homestead and Chadwick Cherry. Homestead is a medium sized slicer and Chadwick Cherry is a large cherry with a deep tomato flavor. I’ll never be without these. My location is Savannah Georgia.
Do you have issues with squirrels? Squirrels just discovered my plants and have singled out a few of them and just decimated the tomatoes in a few days. One plant had 10 big beefsteaks starting to ripen and the squirrels have taken 6 of them just in the past 5 days
And the birds also!😮😂❤
I live in north Texas and it gets so hot here and even growing tomatoes here is hard. This year has been a perfect spring with cooler temps and more rain than we’ve had in a long time. I planted several tomato varieties and my best producer is called Heatmaster. It is a hybrid and I purchased the seeds from Burrell seed company. The plants have produced huge one pound tomatoes! I will definitely grow these again next year.
Hey fellow Texan!
Me too, outside Houston, celebrity did well for me.
Near Dallas here, Big Beef plus, LaRosa 111, and Bella Rosa r my most productive so far
I'm glad to get a tomato tour this year! You should profile the tomatoes when you harvest them to give an op ed on each variety 😎
Also, thanks for your viewpoint on dwarf and determinate tomatoes. I got a couple of dwarf varieties growing: Jeremy's stripes (orange striped tomato - smaller fruit with a sweet complex flavor and a ton of production) and Adelaide Festival. Also trying out celebration (an improved celebrity supposedly) and creamy sausage.
Another good one is Thorburn's terracotta tomato, its so sweet and juicy, really great for tomato sandwiches.
Another great video! Hint: Up here in Washington State, Sun Gold tomatoes don't have any of those issues with the exception of occasional splitting. I've planted them in containers and in the ground but I always mulch and hard prune the bottom of the plant. Since I'm on the Washington/Idaho border, I don't get the humidity or the heat or the rainfall like you have to deal with so I think you're right about it being the climate. I'm interested in the taste of the pink cherry you mentioned. I don't think anything can beat the taste of a Sun Gold. Stay cool and keep us posted.
My top varieties in zone 6 are
Indeterminate- Big beef, mountain rouge are tops then jet star, Amish paste
Determinate- Red Snapper and then Bella Rosa , BHN 589, mountain merit
Sauce or Roma type - Tachi
Cherry - super sweet 100
I’m in Az. Summer is here. Finish cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes. Peppers are still thriving as well as all the figs. Extreme heat is hard on citrus as well as myself. Trying! Thank you for all your info. BTW the only thing Dales recliner was missing was his own directional fan like my dog has.
Really neat. Will have to try some of those next year! I actually grow black cherry across the river from you in Wilmington. It does get disease eventually, but it is also always the last tomato producing tomatoes in my garden. Plant in March and makes tomatoes until November. Even with disease it keeps making tomatoes when others die or quit.
Great video. So far our weather here in Southern California has been pretty mild. My tomato production is pretty good. Im struggling with disease on my Cherry Falls and my dog eating my tomatoes. I think he’s addicted to them.
Better Boys are the best producer I've ever seen. I have one plant with over 30 tomatoes on it and it's just July. Other's with 20 to 25 and they are only 4 feet tall. And big fruit also.
Great video - thanks for all your hard work to bring us new and good information - I garden in Myrtle Beach, SC so your info totally relates to my gardening endeavors.
siletz! siletz! siletz! I'm so glad you brought them up at the end. I've been growing them in southern Idaho for the last two years because of your recommendation and they're doing great. I also grow the super sweet 100. it seems like all the cherry tomato varieties I see are indeterminate. I wonder why that is.
One that I plant every year is the "Geranium Kiss" determinate tomatoes (from Renaissance Farms). I end up with a huge amount of tomatoes, but needs support.
this is my 1st time doing d geranium kiss, and I'm excited to harvest some, no flowers yet but it's thriving ...
My Electric toothbrush is coming in the mail this week and I'm anxious to try it.
Is Black plum tomato the same as Black prince tomato because they really look the same?
Wow we have great production with Sungold with no splitting or disease. Last year was a low production for most of us in 7B , except for the Sungold. I can’t wait for your report on the Princesd
I decided to try quite a few new-to-me varieties this year and it has been a struggle! The one variety that I'm most excited about is the 'Domingo' just for its size potential... Guinness world record holder!
Great stuff! In North Texas we're unable to dependably grow beefsteaks and heirlooms year by year. For semi-large tomatoes most people grow Celebrity and Early Girl, which I don't find flavorful. I grow only smaller tomatoes for table use. I don't have the problem with Sungold (lack of vigor, splitting) that you have; mine are still going strong at end of June. My second favorite is Juliet, disease-free and very productive. It is now harder to find seeds and the substitute, Verona, recommended by Johnny's doesn't appeal to me. This is my first year growing Super Sweet 100, not yet as productive as Sungold and Juliet. You can bet I will look for Sunchocola and Pink Princess this fall or next year; I hope the flavor approaches that of Sungold. Thanks!
Hi there, I’m also from North Texas and this year I am growing a variety called Heatmaster. They have blown me away with how huge they have gotten! I’m also growing Early girl and another variety called Phoenix, which are supposed to be heat tolerant. They both have produced well, but the Heatmaster have really stole the show in my garden this year. It does help that we had a very nice spring this year.
@@laurab8547 Thanks for sharing your experience with Heatmaster. I might give it a go next year. Happy gardening!
Fun fact about plants. If you have a plant that's not native to the area...and you, by some miracle, get to to grow till seed...then transplant these seeds next year, do the same thing with the next gen...
The plant will be hardened off genetically to the environment and will do A LOT better then the previous generation. (this is also technically termed GMO)
That is why I buy my seeds from local farmers...instead of nurseries. Cuz nurseries primarily get their plants from Fl and Ca...
I’m in Wilmington, NC and I have really good luck with Midnight Snack from Burpee. Good yields and taste great.
Great video!👍My sister loves tomatoes like you do. She's going to love this video. Thanks for the great information. I'm glad you are having such a super tomato year!
Dale's even cute when sleeping.🐕
Thank you! The straw bales have helped a lot, but we've gotten almost 7 inches of rain over the last week, so it's starting to take its toll. I hope we dry out for a few days...
I have planted some of these varieties but my favorite is not mentioned Celebrity. 6 to 8 ounces. They are round, smooth, firm and meaty. Seeds are produced by NPK seed company.
🤯 Fall season tomatoes! I’m also in south east NC. I may have missed you saying, but could you specify varieties that you may not have mentioned. Thanks so much for this and all your videos. Dale too! 😅
I grew the Tasmanian Chocolate last year. Liked it so much I planted 4 plants this year.
Very much enjoy and appreciate your videos
I will give this a try.
It's really good! It's handling the somewhat drier June well. I think it likes the dry weather.
Beefsteak, Ox Heart, Cherokee Purple, Super Sweet 100 are my favs. Cheers from Ottawa, Canada 🍁
It's hard to beat Cherokee Purple!
Thanks for watching!
I’m growing yellow boys and they seem to be doing very well …I was hoping for a grow review but I guess they didn’t make the cut ….
im growing purple cherokee and big boys in my first garden ever. Got some big tomatoes growing however fighting sooty mold from the aphids tried to find stuff about it but couldnt find too much. Hope it doesnt effect my yield too much
Joir, how are you doing today, will you please tell me where do you get your stakes for your tomatoes? Thanks
I’m growing Arkansas traveler as well and the tomatoes are larger than my Big Beef plus tomatoes! I can’t even use my tomato clips because the main stem is too big.
hmm - and I find Sun Sugar sweeter by far than Sungold. I think there's a lot of strains floating around.
MG Thank you so much for all your work trialing different varieties of tomatoes. I'm especially interested in the dark, purple types because they are supposed to be lower in acid. Being in Zone 5A I'm a long ways from taste testing cherry toms, but so far Black Cherry is performing better for me than Sun Chocola. Fascinating to see how much climate &weather affects the plant
Where do you order your tomato seeds mentioned in this video? Thanks for your videos. Will grafting onto root stock improve the yield and quality?
I enjoy your videos and have learned a lot. However, I'm retired and trying to garden in the city and have no real soil to speak of. What can we do to be able to re use potting soil from containers?
Love your channel! Thanks for the time stamps!
I also use plastic tomato clips like those, but I get tropical storms here and some of my plants get open wounds from the wind. Should I wrap a certain type of tape or something over the areas that are prone to rubbing against the clips?
My taz chocolates are excelling in this high heat/humidity we're having as well. (east coast)
I absolutly love Fried Green Tomatoes, do you know of any that have that taste when ripe?
Cherokee Purple and Rio Grande have been awesome 🍅. Anu Rowan has also been great.
I gave up growing Cherokee Purple. It won't grow here. It dies as soon as June rolls around, so I gave up. Abu Rawan was so promising in our dry May weather, but the summer destroyed it. It's a desert tomato. I think if you have drier summers, both will do well, but they both seem to be allergic to humidity and rainfall. I haven't tried Rio Grande.
I started a garden this year and planted Big Beef as well. I noticed you have yellowish leaves with like a black outline on the edges on your plant as well. What is that?
I like my sun sugar better than my sun gold. Also sun gold has much thicker skin.
I've found the opposite to be sure. SunSugar is quite a bit larger and thicker-skinned, hence the crack resistance. The thin skin of the SunGold makes it very split-prone. Make sure you're letting SunGold ripen fully. It isn't ripe until it is orange. Yellow tomatoes are not ripe.
How did your neglect cause the wilt in the determinates? I didn't realize there was much that could be done to prevent it
Are you going to plant tomatoes for fall? If so will you plant the same varieties?
Those big beef tomatoes look like mine. I don't know what mine are.
I'm growing purple reign tomato also! I got it directly from one of the creators of the variety who happens to be local to me and sells his starts to a local garden center.
I use your tomato videos each winter for my seed shopping since my climate (Georgia) is roughly similar to yours
Thank you for making them!
My next door neighbor gave me an extra Purple Reign seedling he grew this spring and I really like it’s dense growth habit. It’s put on a few tomatoes already, looking forward to tasting them once they ripen! I’m in hot and dry Central Valley, CA
@@garden_geek it seems super productive so far! Several clusters of surprisingly large fruit. I'm waiting for them to ripen still too.
I'm in North Florida. Can I start new tomatoes for a late summer or fall harvest?
I’m a first time gardener. I grew my tomatoes from seed. They are huge and somewhat uncontrollable 😂! I’m not sure if I should trim them or not. I’ve learned a lot but I don’t want any of my plants to die 😢
If they are INDETERMINATE prune a few suckers to improve airflow.
You can prune them if you wish if you're 100% positive they're indeterminate tomatoes. Determinate and dwarf tomatoes should never be pruned *except* for the lowest leaves under the first flower cluster for airflow. Never remove suckers from determinate and dwarf tomatoes, because you'll get no fruit.
The only reason to prune indeterminate tomatoes is to manage their size and provide airflow in climates where disease is a problem. If you don't have issues with disease, and if you can manage the size, there is no real reason to prune them. Technically, open wounds are entry points for disease. If they're already so large that they're uncontrollable, it may be too late to prune them and you'd be better off adding more support, like additional stakes and ties around them. Then, just chalk this up as a learning experience and plan better pruning and support infrastructure for the next season.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you!
Which tomatillos plants would you recommend
Beef master is a very good large tomato I've had many over 3 pounds
Super Sweet 100 is one of those big box varieties that's crazy for production. I also agree it's tough to beat Big Beef, but I think there's a Big Beef 2 that is supposed to be better. I'm trying sun sugar instead of sungold this year, because of the sungold cracking issues.
I love sun sugar! We don't get rain during the summer so don't have to worry about cracking. Wonderful flavor!
Please don’t take this as rude, just curious-do you eat all of these tomatoes? If you preserve, how do? What an impressive garden!
I've honestly never had a problem. If you turn your tomatoes into tomato puree, they go very quickly. Filling a 64oz mason jar full of tomato puree takes pounds of tomatoes, and if you do things like cook Sunday tomato sauce, you may have to grind up 20-30 lbs of tomatoes to fill a 10qt pot and reduce it down. When you do things like that, and also have a tomato salad with dinner every night, they don't last long.
Why are the straw bale grown tomatoes doing better than regular bed?
Thank you for sharing this MG! The tomatoes look awesome! 😊👍👍
Thank you! I appreciate it.
Can any body help? Why my tomatoes are dropping the flowers?
Thanks in advance❤😊
Lack of pollination. You can hand pollinate your tomatoes to set much more fruit like this: th-cam.com/video/2kT_FISmGoo/w-d-xo.html
However, keep in mind most tomatoes will not pollinate when daytime temps are over 90, nighttime temps are over 70 and humidity is high. If it's too hot and humid where you live by now, nothing you can do will help. We're past our pollination here in the coastal Carolinas, so nothing I do from now on will make my beefsteak varieties set fruits with any reliability. The only tomatoes that will set now are cherry types, roma types and some very specific heat-bred cultivars. If you live in a cooler climate than me, they will still pollinate if you hand pollinate using the method above.
So what do you do with all your produce? Do you can some of it?
growing black cherry in greensboro nc and its doing well
Hey I love your channel! I have used so many of your tips to have somewhat of a successful tomato harvest for the last couple of years. One question though that I had was how much foliage should I leave on a tomato plant when pruning. 1/2, 1/3 or less?
Glad to hear it! The answer to your question is that you should only remove foliage from a tomato plant if you have to. Tomato foliage does two things: it absorbs sunlight, and it protects the fruits from sun scald. The more leaves you remove, the less energy the plant will get from the sun and the more likely it is your tomatoes will get damaged from the summer sun. I only remove tomatoes leaves on the bottom of the plants under the first flower cluster to provide airflow, and if the foliage is showing bad signs of disease. If the leaves are healthy, I don't touch them.
Now, for suckers, that's up to you. If you're growing indeterminate tomatoes, you can pinch off suckers to limit side-growth if you wish, but that's your call. Never remove suckers on determinate or dwarf tomatoes, or you'll get no fruit.
You either eat a ton of tomatoes or sell them! Thank you for the information
Just found this channel and really appreciate clear, confident and tested approach to gardening...Question...I'm working through fertilizer requirements using guidance from your videos...are 6-12-12/ 3-6-6/5-10-10 the same? and can be used in same applications?
Why did you take down your shade cloth? Im just about to put mine on as temps creep up into the mid 90s down here in South Carolina
I didn't. This was filmed right before I put it up.
Man I’m hype for my brand new tomato bed. I’m doing the lower and lean trellis just like that.
Nice! It's my favorite way to grow indeterminate tomatoes by far.
Thank you very much for all your efforts I have only just started to garden as now retired (71) I am trying different types of tomatoes here in Liverpool UK weather is a lot colder but I now have a small greenhouse. I can't work out your zones in the USA so don't know what to plant next year from your list. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Hope you have a fantastic yield and once again thank you.
👍👍brother. Poundage per plant, I like the Rutgers.
That's a variety I've never grown, which is funny because I was born and raised in NJ. Maybe one day.
We like salsa verde, green Mexican sauce. Traditionally, tomatillos are used, but we use green tomatoes. Green tomatoes do not have that special flavor. With tomatillos, this is delicious stuff! But tomatillos I have tried do not do well in central Georgia, similar climate to yours. Have you tried tomatillos? What variety grows well there if you tried them? Salsa verde: Tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, garlic, lime juice, sea salt, cumin, and if you want a mild version, add mashed avocado. Personally, I would add another hotter green pepper to spice it up more, but my wife cannot handle it, LOL
Production wise my celebrity still kicks every other plant's tail. Having someon water for me while on vaca caused some significant rot but most of my toms (2 dozen+plants) helf up fine I am rrgetting skipping the 100s this year.
I’m on the coast of WA so going to try siletz next year. Favorite that you might want to try is heirloom Berkley green tie dye. Beautiful and amazing flavor.
I also grow Siletz and think it's a very good tomato. I'm trying several Dwarf Tomato Project varieties this year including Rosella Purple, Uluru and Brown Berry. I'm in the SFBay and due to a long, rainy, chilly winter and a chilly spring, my tomatoes are not as far along as usual. Several early determinate tomatoes--Glacier, Bush Early Girl, and Moskvitch--have started to set fruit, but they are behind what they've done in the past. My Sungold and Super Sweet 100 are not doing well this year.
I'm going to try Siletz next year! I just planted all of my sun sugar starts this morning. Late but it is what it is. Started everything outside this year. Mostly great results for the tomatoes. Since last year's starts got decimated, I planted extras and ended up with 5 sun sugar, 3 pineapple, 2 vintage wine, six green zebra, 3 grape surprise (my name for a tomato that was supposed to be something else a few years back), 5 pink oxheart, and 5 Ukrainian purple (new to me). Didn't intend to grow that many of each...or of the squashes, or the tomatillos, or, or--pretty successful year so far!😂
It’s year 2 that I’ve added SILETZ to my tomato list! Thanks again for recommending it!! Zone 5b in the Midwest
Great job, my super sweet 100s grew like grape vines 5 plants nearly 20 feet wide each, dozens of quarts already and still going strong. My Celebrity tomatoes have done better this year than ever, 9 bushes and the best one I counted 55 large and all healthy, what a year for sharing. Cheers from Jacksonville Florida 🌞
I just had to pull two of my big tomatoes attacked by birds! 😂😂🤷♂️ but I have eaten a couple Berkley pinks and just had ananas noire
I have some variegated, weird leaved tomatoes, with heart shaped, striped fruit. I was told they were called 'Painted Lady', but I can't find any information on them. 🤷 Also growing 'San Marzano' and they are about to ripen; I'm excited to add them to sauces and pizza.
I see you didn't make a pepper video this year.. You know we waiting keep up the good work though
I actually filmed one today. It'll be coming within the next week or so.
i am in zone 7b/8a southern oklahoma/ border n. texas lol .. with all of that said .. i have had a horrible time getting tomatoes to produce .. this year even my neighbors had problems and they never had troubles, we both think it is some kind of environmental thing in the area .. BUT .. i am still wanting to grow some tomatoes, what types and which ones would you recommend for me to be able to have a tomato harvest please and thank you .. would a good roma be advisable and i really would like to have a sized slicer if at all possible .. and can i still start the seeds in time? my first frost date estimated around oct 31
You will have to report back on Pink Princess.
I'm looking forward to it. The fruits are very large and taking their time.
What do you do with all of the tomatoes alone?
I’m not sure about you but for me in Georgia, a little south of Atlanta, it’s been a lot cooler summer than normal so far. We usually are in the 90’s and miserable with some wilt action happening in the hottest parts of the day, but it just hasn’t been that bad. I’ve already had enough of cucumbers (I have 50 plants all up strings and I’m harvesting everyday and sometimes twice a day). I have 69 tomato plants ( 40 indeterminate and 29 determinate) just loaded with tomatoes. I even have some cabbages from spring planting still in the ground and not bolted. The bells peppers are doing great. It’s just been a good garden year for me.
Thank you for another great, well done and informative video. I did make some notes of varieties I might try next year. I notice you only grow 1 variety of paste tomatoes - have you considered trying others?
Oh new ideas! I haven't been growing long, but your videos have really helped me with tomato care! I live not terribly far from you, so similar climate. I really appreciate all the variety suggestions, esp the hybrid and dwarf varieties since i have a very small space for my garden, and want the best production for space that I can get.
LaRoma111 is great and big romas
Don't give Putin good ideas.
We have had a lovely season of tomato growing with a determinate tomato called 'Little Napoli Hybrid .'
I think I sm hard pressed yo find a cherry tomato that tastes better than Sun Gold! Last year I planted Sun Sugar because I heard so many people say it tastes better than Sun Gold. So I couldn't wait to try it. In my opinion, it's as good in terms of taste as Sun Gold. But the production of Sun Gold far outweighs the Sugar for me here in NY. If I ever can't get SunGold seeds, I'll plant several Sun Sugar plants. This year I planted Super Sweet 100s for the first time, so I'm eager t try it. I'm not expecting it to taste better than Sun Gold, but if we really like it, I'll plant it again next year, just to have a red cherry tomato in the garden. But, if you end up saying that Pink Princess cherry tomato tastes better than Sun Gold, I'll take you at your word and try it next year. But you have to do a video on that. Deal?
My Thai Egg was the first to produce fruit in my garden this year. The yellow & red pear heirlooms are close behind. I got behind on my suckers and we're in a drought so I'm jealous of how far along yours are!
Too much tomato does not a cherry make
I ended up having to leave town for family issues for most of the first half of June so by the time I was done with that I had lost control of mine. Many fell over in storms and such and so I have just let them go as they want. Still getting decent yields but its a tangled mess! Between that and the lack of water this is definitely the push I needed to work on getting drip irrigation setup this winter so I will be ready for next year with automated watering at least.
6our tomatoes look absolutely amazing. I will have to try Carmelo next year. Continue success with everything
I noticed some of the tomato clusters are growing in the crotch areas where (I typically) remove those as suckers. How do you tell it's going to be a cluster, (so as not to remove it) instead of a sucker branch when it grows out of the crotch like that?
I was thinking about trying sungold next year, but now i think I'll wait and see how your pink princess plans turn out.
All the tomato's look good, glad you're having a successful growing year so far.
Absolutely fantastic video and because of you I went and bought the dwarf tomato project seeds
I've seen many of your videos featuring great productivity, however not on taste test. so how do all of these selections taste? Thank you. I'd rather have half the amount if they taste better. Please do some taste test and comparisons at the end of your harvest thank you, A fan.
Have you ever grown a cherry called Chocolate Sprinkles? Very tasty.
I have not. There are so many varieties out there that I think you'd have to live to be 1,000 years old to grow them all...but by then, they'll have thousands more to choose from 😅
I've been pretty please with my chocolate sprinkles plants. hardy plants, not as rambling as sun sugar and good fruit set and production. flavor is a nice balance of sweet and acid.