Slicing Tomatoes (8/4/23)

[lynnee]

Today I started 5 varieties of determinate slicing tomatoes in a Farm 12XL. I'm hoping to find one variety that will produce and grow well entirely indoors.

Seeds purchased from Territorial Seeds, varieties are Galahad, Emmylou, Mountain Merit, Tasti-Lee, and Bobcat. Harvest is 70 days or more.




EDIT:

[slw]

I will be watching your progress on the slicers, Lynnee.  I recently ordered some patio tomato varieties... not large tomatoes but bigger than cherry varieties.  I'm thinking I'll try them in the Farm when it arrives. 

[maskedsonnet]

I’m eager to see these grow too, now that I’ve found a dependably delicious cherry variety I want an equally good slicer to go with!!

[scarfguy]

I just started an AG of these tomatoes:

renaissancefarms.org/product/dwarf-awesome-tomato/

They are called "dwarf awesome".  At 3 ft. they should grow in a farm ok.

There is a group in Australia that are breeding dwarf tomato plants 2-3 ft tall that sport an abundance of full size tomatoes. Check it out:

www.dwarftomatoproject.net/

[lynnee]

scarfguy, you're several steps ahead of me, as usual!

Looks like you have done your research, and come up with a really good candidate for larger AGs (Farm and Bounty models)! I may order some of "your" seeds later (they're currently out of stock), because the yellow varieties are usually low-acid. Low-acid is my strong preference, but of course H loves all of the higher-acid red and green-striped varieties. And I grow tomatoes for him.

Scarfguy, slw, gingercat, swimmom500, and maskedsonnet, I edited the original post to add a photo of the five seed packets. Apparently a lot of us have been thinking about growing larger-than-cherry-sized tomatoes that have good flavor!

[scarfguy]

Actually, lynnee, I didn't order the dwarf awesome seeds from the supplier I linked. (just liked his description of the plant).  I actually ordered them from an Etsy seller.  Usually, buying seeds from Etsy sellers can be a crap shoot but I've had good luck with this lady. She has a variety of different stuff but seems to specialize in interesting patio sized tomatoes.

She has the "dwarf awesome" in stock as well as some others that are part of the australian project.

Check it out:

www.etsy.com/shop/TheGiftedTomato

[lynnee]

Dwarf Awesome seeds on order, scarfguy! Etsy says stock is running low, maybe 8 left (25 seeds).

[swimmom500]

Aug 4, 2023 15:05:39 GMT -5 lynnee said:

scarfguy, you're several steps ahead of me, as usual!

Looks like you have done your research, and come up with a really good candidate for larger AGs (Farm and Bounty models)! I may order some of "your" seeds later (they're currently out of stock), because the yellow varieties are usually low-acid. Low-acid is my strong preference, but of course H loves all of the higher-acid red and green-striped varieties. And I grow tomatoes for him.

Scarfguy, slw, gingercat, swimmom500, and maskedsonnet, I edited the original post to add a photo of the five seed packets. Apparently a lot of us have been thinking about growing larger-than-cherry-sized tomatoes that have good flavor!

Thanks for the edit. I have been thinking of trying I slicer tomato as I am getting tired of cherry tomatoes - although my grandson will only eat cherry tomatoes. I will be following your progress

[Shawn]

These all sound delish

[swimmom500]

Aug 4, 2023 13:27:16 GMT -5 maskedsonnet said:

I’m eager to see these grow too, now that I’ve found a dependably delicious cherry variety I want an equally good slicer to go with!!

What is the delicious cherry variety? I just ended my Mighty Minis which were disappointing and now started the Mega Cherry tomatoes which I am hoping have more flavor.

[maskedsonnet]

swimmom500 the Red Velvet from Park Seeds (other places might carry it, I've never checked) is the best cherry tomato I've ever grown, they're delicious! I'm always a little puzzled by the description though - it says it's a "vine type that requires a trellis" but it only gets about 9 inches tall max, I've never trellised mine. They're always rather bushy when I grow them, not very "vine-y". A trellis may make it easier to find and pick the ripe tomatoes, but I've never minded just moving the plant around (gently!!) to harvest.

This is how they look for me, small enough to grow in a harvest and even a sprout!!

[maskedsonnet]

Got my Dwarf Awesome seeds today, that seller ships fast!! They also have lots of neat stuff in their store, I have them in my favorites for Christmas shopping now.

Tomorrow I'll be ending something and starting these seeds!! Probably the sickly habanero plant is the one that's going to get axed, although my will-power flagged and I turned my AC up to 75 (I was COLD and hate to wear a sweater in the middle of August) and may have killed my orange pepper plant. We'll see if it bounces back now that I've turned it back down to 73.

[scarfguy]

lynnee and maskedsonnet, 

If your dwarf awesome tomato seeds grow well in an aerogarden, please remember I suggested it...

If they don't, please forget where you heard about it.

My dwarf awesome seedlings are about 5 inches tall at 24 days. They are looking very healthy. 

So far, they have compact leaves and stocky, strong looking stems.

[scarfguy]

Here's my dwarf awesome today.  It's really a handsome looking plant at this point. Healthy leaves and strong straight stalks.  Hope it continues to grow well.

[slw]

maskedsonnet --I love the tomato plant in the Sprout!  Whenever there's a "which unit should I buy?" discussion it is always mentioned that the Bounty model is "needed" to grow tomatoes but obviously that is not the case.  I'm sure the Bounty lights will grow faster but the Sprout gets the job done.  Inspiring!!  (I have never bought a Sprout but maybe I "need" one...haha.) 

As far as the Slicing Tomatoes discussion, I received the hybrid patio tomato seeds from Hometown Seeds in Utah.  I started a pod of them along with some of the AG Mega cherry tomatoes yesterday. 

scarfguy--your plants do look "awesome!"

[lynnee]

scarfguy, I'm going to start a Dwarf Awesome very soon. I got the seeds from your seller on Etsy--very fast shipping! Yours look wonderful!

[lynnee]

Today I started a Dwarf Awesome in an empty Bounty. Thanks again for the suggestion, scarfguy !  

In a few weeks, this Bounty will probably receive one seedling from the Farm12XL that has the original slicing tomatoes.  Those six pods have healthy seedlings that are about 3" high.  They look the same, except two are slightly shorter.

[lynnee]

The slicing tomato seedlings got an R&R today, plus AG nutes, CalMag, and Koolbloom. They hated having their roots out of water, even for the short amount of time it took to drain the reservoir, but are mostly recovered and standing straight up again.

[scarfguy]

DWARF AWESOME UPDATE:

First flower at 38 days.  How cool! the flower is different than any other tomatoes I've grown. It's a double flower! Very pretty.

I like the open branching of this plant. It's growing up rather than sprawling out. It's less dense and should allow better air flow.

[scarfguy]

Well crap!   The lovely double flower I just posted a picture of may not be as cool as I thought.

Read about tomato catfacing!

www.tomatobible.com/tomato-catfacing/

It is quite likely to produce a very deformed tomato.