Help in Tropical Places

[Jim Hill]

Hello, I'm new to Tomatoville (our keyboards don't have accent keys as standards so sorry about the "mispronouncement" of the title name). I live in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea where we are exploring the concept of commercial production of tomatoes linked to small scale production. The idea of small scale production is to assist local farmers achieve tomato production of financially rewardable levels.

Our climate is of the extremely humid tropical type with daily temperatures reaching 38 C on a regular basis. Night time temperatures seldom fall below 22 C and humidities are usually in the region of 60 - 90%.

Bug and disease levels are extremely challenging as are the challenges of us finding the most suitable variety to consistently give us economic returns and the ability to prove to sceptical local farmers that tomatoes can provide a worthwhile living.

We are currently utilising South African bred varieties with a degree of success whilst we trial other varieties from the Philippines that may be more suited to our climatic conditions. Any suggestions for suitable varieties to try here in West Africa will be most welcome.

[Doug9345]

I can't answer you questions about high temperature high humidity tomato growing, but welcome.
I assume your reference to accent marks has to do with the apparent one on the I. It's not an accent mark as far as I know, just a stylized font.

[goodwin]

Your climate is the opposite of mine, (which is a high desert) but there are people here who are successful in similar conditions. Welcome to the forums. I am certain you will find a wealth of information and help as I have.

[kurt]

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/ Try these guys.I am having good results with N65/N63,Konos,Healani.I am in extreme S Florida.Heat,bugs,humidity.The disease resistants look promising.Good Luck and welcome to the site.Prices are decent.

[Keger]

Originally Posted by Jim Hill

Hello, I'm new to Tomatoville (our keyboards don't have accent keys as standards so sorry about the "mispronouncement" of the title name). I live in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea where we are exploring the concept of commercial production of tomatoes linked to small scale production. The idea of small scale production is to assist local farmers achieve tomato production of financially rewardable levels.

Our climate is of the extremely humid tropical type with daily temperatures reaching 38 C on a regular basis. Night time temperatures seldom fall below 22 C and humidities are usually in the region of 60 - 90%.

Bug and disease levels are extremely challenging as are the challenges of us finding the most suitable variety to consistently give us economic returns and the ability to prove to sceptical local farmers that tomatoes can provide a worthwhile living.

We are currently utilising South African bred varieties with a degree of success whilst we trial other varieties from the Philippines that may be more suited to our climatic conditions. Any suggestions for suitable varieties to try here in West Africa will be most welcome.

Try Kewalo from Hawaii

[Cole_Robbie]

I happened to see this variety in a catalog. It sounds good for you.

http://www.paramountseeds.com/seed-v...ly-tomato.aspx
Beefsteak tomato Beverly has an average fruit size 160 grams (5.7oz)
Beverley is very well suited and widely used in the tropics with good heat tolerance. Large fruit with long shelf life
Resistances TSWV/ToMV, Ff:1-5/Fol:0,1/For/Sbl/Va/Mi
Used in the US as well as Jamaica, Trinidad and around the Caribbean basin and into Latin America

[Jim Hill]

Thanks for all the welcoming posts, much appreciated, as is the advice that you are all offering.

Jim

[rockhound]

Welcome Jim Hill. Hope you can find some suitable varieties.

[peppero]

welcome jim and i hope you are successful in your endeavor. please share your successes with us and the varieties you used. jon

[kilroyscarnival]

Welcome, Jim!

Being rather unused to Celsius temperatures, I had to do a comparison and convert to Fahrenheit, and mm to inches, just to get a sense of how similar you are to my climate in Orlando, Florida.

If I did this right, I uploaded a simple Excel table as an image.

We have cooler winters and bigger gaps between low and high, generally, while you get more rain at your peak summer months.

But the temperature differences aren't so great. The other differences might be elevation (we are about the same), soil quality, and different insects and other pests.

There are a great many tomato growers from Florida here, as well as warm Mediterranean locations. I'm sure many people can give you good information. I'm a real beginning gardener, but I'm finding a lot of information from the University of Florida:
http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/...es/tomato.html

Best wishes,

Ann