Slicing Tomatoes (8/4/23)

[lynnee]

The Dwarf Awesome tomato that I harvested while quite green did finally ripen on the kitchen countertop. It tasted okay, but the vine-ripened ones are more flavorful. These tomatoes ripen very fast once they start to change color.

It would probably have ripened faster on the vine.  I let it ripen a couple more days, to a pale orange, and we ate it this morning.  

The DA in the Bounty has three developing tomatoes. It also has blooms that extend a foot above the lights. I can't wait to see whether they will set fruit!

December 12


December 26

[LoveSalads]

Paul Robeson slicer. Turned ripe pretty fast, kinda small. But going to have a BLT tomorrow looks yummy.... 90 days old. Another long wait. There are at least 6 more so hopefully worthwhile grow. Several more flowers maybe will keep producing.


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[lynnee]

So glad that I started some Paul Robesons, LoveSalads! Yours look scrumptious.

[LoveSalads]

Was cleaning out dead leaves and branches and 1  Paul Robeson fell off the vine. While still green on top I think 2 days sitting it will be tasty.




20240101_193222 


Not really big but I think will be great on top a few cheese burgers .  3 more moving right along and a few more in the back maybe next week.
I have a few flowers around but they seem to be drying up. We shall see if this Paul Robeson plant is done.

20240101_193444 

When all is done that will be at least 8 toms. Maybe I will plant these again in a bucket with a 100w light with AG nutes. Give me more growing room.

[scarfguy]

Hey lynnee !, et. al.

Check this out:

www.etsy.com/listing/1204399249

This seller has a ton of unique seeds I haven't seen elsewhere.  This tomato looks like it might be similar to the Dwarf Awesome!

She also has a nice selection of peppers, unusual eggplants, and strange cucumbers varieties.

www.etsy.com/listing/1198506465

She has a couple of varieties of Pak Choi for mike too!

www.etsy.com/listing/1081293486

[lynnee]

That is a fascinating assortment of seeds, scarfguy! There are a lot of peppers that I'd like to try.

[tdse]

This one needs a couple days on the counter to ripen up a bit, but I'm excited...I might have that tomato sandwich in January after all. 

The angle is a bit off in the pic, it's right about 3 & 1/2" wide.  

I've picked a few other tomatoes from the plant, but this is the largest so far.  Several more to go, and the plant is still flowering.

The variety is "Super Bush" from Renee's Garden.  Plant is currently at 103 days.

[scarfguy]

In our quest for a good slicer, has anybody tried a BUSH CHAMPION II HYBRID ?

I terminated my little yellow "baby toes" tomato.  It grew well and had a nice yield but the tomatoes were a bit too small to be considered a slicer.

In it's place, I started a bounty of BUSH CHAMPION II HYBRID:

From trueleafmarket.com:

===

62-65 Days to maturity (from transplant). Solanum lycopersicum. Champion II Hybrid Tomato Seeds. Non-GMO, warm season annual, F1 hybrid, indeterminate, slicing tomato. Suitable for growing in garden plots, raised beds, and greenhouses. Resistant to Alternaria Stem Canker, Fusarium Wilt 1, Fusarium Wilt 2, Gray Leaf Spot, Root Knot Nematode, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus, and Verticillium Wilt. This variety produces an early season tomato fruit that weighs approximately 10 oz. Champion II tomato seeds were bred for high yields, disease resistance, and producing red, juicy tomatoes for sandwiches. Fruiting will continue throughout the frost-free season, as the Champion II tomato variety has an indeterminate growth habit.

===

As usual, half the listings say it's determinate and the others say it's indeterminate. Most agree the plant only grows to 24-30 inches.

[lynnee]

Haven't tried it, but it sounds like a good choice, given the height!

[scarfguy]

TODAY the homeslice tomato is ready for harvest!

I think this is a good slicer tomato. It's firm with a good tomato taste although a tad acidic as are all red varieties (that's why I like yellow tomatoes better).  It will hold it's shape well when sliced and hold up well on a hot burger.   The first pair that I harvested are about 2.5 ounces. The size is quite variable and you can see there are some tomatoes that will top out over 5-6 ounces.

It's really prolific!  There are 2 plants in the bounty and I stopped counting at 50 tomatoes!

[pfunnyjoy]

Great looking tomatoes!

[lynnee]

I'll have to try the Homeslice, scarfguy! Those are impressive plants, the kind that will supply enough tomatoes so you won't need to buy retail tomatoes.

I just ordered seeds from Seeds 'n Such.

[scarfguy]

Jan 21, 2024 10:33:17 GMT -5 lynnee said:

I'll have to try the Homeslice, scarfguy ! Those are impressive plants, the kind that will supply enough tomatoes so you won't need to buy retail tomatoes.

Yea, it's more than I can eat.  This is the problem with determinate tomatoes, ya get them all at once.

What I've been doing with my last few tomato plants was to vacuum seal them whole and then freeze them.

I would do this a few at a time as they ripened.  When I had a bunch, I've been thawing them and making pasta sauce.

This works well especially with plants that aren't very productive (like your dwarf awesome).  You end up in the freezer a nice collection of varied tomatoes that make a tasty sauce that you can't duplicate again cause you would never have the same combination of tomatoes.

[lynnee]

Nice idea, scarfguy! Just what I need--another recipe that can't be duplicated.

[lynnee]

scarfguy, have you posted about the nutrient and supplement schedule that produced all those gorgeous Homeslice tomatoes?

[scarfguy]

Jan 21, 2024 23:00:54 GMT -5 lynnee said:

scarfguy , have you posted about the nutrient and supplement schedule that produced all those gorgeous Homeslice tomatoes?

I quit using the AG nutes about 2 months ago. Since then, I've been using up a variety of nutes that I had on hand.  I think the homeslice got a lot of Fox Farm Grow Big (6-4-4).  I also use a lot of the IONIC Grow and IONIC Bloom.  I've had good luck with those on my melons.

The last two weeks, I'm trying a new multipart formula.  Check out nutriling.com (it seems to be geared towards that crop we are not allowed to talk about here) So far it's working well. Their schedule has 7 parts! but I'm using only 6 (cause the last one is designed to boost nectar to attract bees. I don't need no bees trying to get in the window).  Although it takes a bit longer, the schedule doesn't change throughout the grow cycle. One formula for the grow period and one formula for the bloom period. (unlike the very confusing schedule of the General Hydroponic nutes.)

Cal-Mag 5 ml and Kool Bloom 5 ml as needed (about once a week I think)

===

As for schedule, I've been letting the plants tell me when they are hungry!

I bought 4 of these great little continuous monitors recently:

www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3B6BS2V

They have proven invaluable. The probe is long enough to reach a couple of AGs without moving the meter. I can quickly check the EC and the pH.

Right now, I have 14 active AGs and each of them is getting their own schedule!  I check them all every morning and each of them get food if they need it and a pH adjustment.   I feed them when the EC drops to about 1.2 and I add nutes until the EC is about 2.0.  Most of them are needing food about twice a week.

R&R is twice a month or a little less.

By monitoring EC and pH daily and sometimes multiple times a day as I walk past, I have learned a lot about the health of my plants!   I wish they were able to tell me if they need more nitrogen or potassium though.

[lynnee]

Thanks, scarfguy! I think that I should be monitoring the EC on tomatoes, as a minimum. I quit doing that because I had no idea what the EC should be. I'll start by adding nutes at the 1.2 mark.

[scarfguy]

Jan 22, 2024 10:53:50 GMT -5 lynnee said:

Thanks, scarfguy ! I think that I should be monitoring the EC on tomatoes, as a minimum. I quit doing that because I had no idea what the EC should be. I'll start by adding nutes at the 1.2 mark.

There are a ton of websites with EC and pH tables for various plants.

This is one of the best one I've found.  Contains a good explanation of EC and pH in hydroponics and

why you should be cognizant about it:

www.her86m2.com/green-living/best-ph-and-ec-values-for-your-hydroponic-nutrient-solution

Be sure to watch her video in the middle of the page. It's beautifully done! and her Pak Choi is wonderful!

[scarfguy]

Final comments on the Homeslice tomato.

SO... I've been harvesting tomatoes from this plant for the last two weeks. I've taken about 30 tomatoes and it is still ripening another 20 or so.  I've eaten some, I've given some away, and I've frozen some for future sauce. 

The plant has about had it.  It has spent all of its energy ripening the fruit. The leaves are looking terrible. I'm not going to try and get a second harvest from this determinate.  The time spent will not be worth the reward.  Time to move on and plant something else. (there is a Bush Champion II hybrid seedling growing strong in another AG).

The final evaluation is that the tomatoes aren't real big, maybe 3-4 oz.  Just big enough to qualify as a slicer I think.  The plant is certainly prolific and will provide you with a lot of tomatoes.  I found them to be a bit too acidic for my taste but I'm not a big tomato fan.  I've always gravitated to mild yellow varieties. They don't have an abundance of meaty flesh. A bit more seeds and "seed gelatin" than I would like.

Final analysis:  Really good but not great!

[lynnee]

My Homeslice seeds have arrived. I'm going to start one along with a Vivacious.