A Heart to Heart

Starlight · February 26, 2017

Besides my orange colored tomatoes, my main focus this year is on heirloom heart and paste tomatoes. I've only ever grown Anna Russian and a Brad's Black Heart. I didn't know about Tomato Tone when I grew them and I only got a couple of tomatoes and at the time didn't have the best looking plants either, but I sure did love the flavor of the few I got.

Last year, thanks to TV folks, I had the best crop of tomatoes I ever had. Mainly grew all cherry types. Now I'm ready to step up a tomato size.

I need some advice about growing hearts and pastes. I'm not sure if they need more ferts, care, or whatever than what the cherries did. Also I'm not sure what size containers to use. My biggest containers are a 3 gallon. 3 gallons I can easily pick up and move if I have to as weather conditions change.

On average too, about how many tomatoes does a heart plant produce? I'm hoping to get more than two or three tomatoes off a plant, but not sure if they produce only a few tomatoes per plant and if I need to sow more seeds and have more plants to get a decent crop.

Do heart plants normally get tall. Do I have to do any prunning?

Also, are their any special diseases or other things I need to keep an eye out for and worry about with the hearts?

I'm excited for this year, but also a bit nervous. Got my wish of some hearts from the MMMM swap and need to grow to pass on too, but just don't know anything about their growth habits and culture. Just know I enjoy eating them.

So, would appreciate you sharing any knowledge you have about your hearts, so I can try and grow some pretty and tasteful hearts this year. I'm all ears and ready to learn and try different methods to hopefully find the perfect method for my conditions down here.

February 26, 2017	#1
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	A Heart to Heart Besides my orange colored tomatoes, my main focus this year is on heirloom heart and paste tomatoes. I've only ever grown Anna Russian and a Brad's Black Heart. I didn't know about Tomato Tone when I grew them and I only got a couple of tomatoes and at the time didn't have the best looking plants either, but I sure did love the flavor of the few I got. Last year, thanks to TV folks, I had the best crop of tomatoes I ever had. Mainly grew all cherry types. Now I'm ready to step up a tomato size. I need some advice about growing hearts and pastes. I'm not sure if they need more ferts, care, or whatever than what the cherries did. Also I'm not sure what size containers to use. My biggest containers are a 3 gallon. 3 gallons I can easily pick up and move if I have to as weather conditions change. On average too, about how many tomatoes does a heart plant produce? I'm hoping to get more than two or three tomatoes off a plant, but not sure if they produce only a few tomatoes per plant and if I need to sow more seeds and have more plants to get a decent crop. Do heart plants normally get tall. Do I have to do any prunning? Also, are their any special diseases or other things I need to keep an eye out for and worry about with the hearts? I'm excited for this year, but also a bit nervous. Got my wish of some hearts from the MMMM swap and need to grow to pass on too, but just don't know anything about their growth habits and culture. Just know I enjoy eating them. So, would appreciate you sharing any knowledge you have about your hearts, so I can try and grow some pretty and tasteful hearts this year. I'm all ears and ready to learn and try different methods to hopefully find the perfect method for my conditions down here.