My 2018 Tomato Season in Review

[Banadoura]

Hi All,

The 2019 season is about to start here (I sow seeds internally on March 1st) so I'd like to record my 2018 experience before anymore of it gets forgotten.

First and foremost, I would like to thank again those among you that generously shared and contributed seeds of new varieties tested last summer.

The 2018 season was challenging, by April mold had decimated most of my plants and in the heart of the summer, record heat and humidity killed flower clusters on many plants, so production was not as good as 2017.

Seeds planted in 2018 were for the following varieties (2-3 seeds per type):

Whiskey Jack (WJ)
Golden Cherokee (GC)
Silver Fir Tree (SFT)
Tasmanian Chocolate (TC)
Maglia Rosa (MR)
Bulgarian Triumph (BT)
Indian Stripe PL (ISPL)
Daniel Burson (DB)
Margaret Curtain (MR)
Omar's Lebanese Heart (OLH)
Black Krim PL (BKX)
Kumato (bought from nursery)
Lucky Tiger (bought from nursery)
Maglia Rosa (bought from nursery)
Cherokee (bought from nursery)
Yellow Pear (got it via exchange with a friend)

*those in red did not make it to the garden, MG seeds did not germinate and the rest were decimated by disease.

...and so it began, seeds germinated with tons of snow still outside of my window



and for a while I was a happy man



when out of the blue, a mysterious disease started attacking the plants via the leaf drying, it up to the main stem, from the bottom up



Come early May, this is what was left of those March seedlings...a shadow of what they should have been!



My primary suspect appears to be mold that went unnoticed until it was too late

[Banadoura]

At the end of May a rag tag collection of plants went into the ground, I couldn't just throw everything away! Here's a sample of what I planted, look at the state they were in:

Bulgarian Triumph


Tasmanian Chocolate


Golden Cherokee


Fast forward to mid-June and Bulgarian Triump seems to be in a much better shape


Tasmanian Chocolate in mid-June


in Mid July Golden Cherokee was amazingly in this state!


The garden on July 20

[Banadoura]

Maglia Rosa (plant bought from a nursery)

Best all around for production, taste, no cat facing and heat support

First fruit picked on june 23, fruity taste that everyone in the family loved, perfect fruits and kept on pumping fruits during the heat/high humidity in August.

Saved seed and will definitely be returning in 2019



Lucky Tiger (plant bought from a nursery)
Citrus taste, like eating green prunes, very special, early but not as productive as Maglia Rosa.

[Banadoura]

Silver Fir Tree

This variety was not affected by the disease, it was a champ! I planted it in a container, beautiful plant, fruits and leaves.

I know that this one is hated by MANY, in fact I only tasted one and only one fruit. It tasted like Lemon, it's like let's just make lemonade with these fruits!

My wife however thought differently, (fact: she has better taste buds than me ). She loved this variety. It's certainly coming back this year.

[Banadoura]

Bulgarian Triumph was a beautiful variety, the plants survived and thrived. Produced perfectly shaped fruit, sweet and tasty. Second best in production, held well during the heat and exhibited cat facing only at the end of September when temperatures fell.

Definitely a returnee this year!


beautiful

[Banadoura]

TC was a medium producer, the first fruits were large and then got smaller. It was definitely affected by the heat. Cat facing/cracks appeared at the end of September.
Taste however was excellent, exactly what you would expect a "black" to taste like!



Beautiful plant and mahogany red fruits! (notice a flower drying on the bottom)

[bower]

So glad to see some of your plants recovered once they got outdoors. The fruit look beautiful!

Nice pictures!
It must be frustrating to start so well then have the seedlings suffer an attack like that. I hope this year is better for you.
I have a friend who grows Silvery Fir Tree every year because of its dependability. Since we swap tomatoes I depend on him to have that one while I go out there with crazy stuff. It’s a decent tomato.

[Fred Hempel]

Wow. Great summary.

For Maglia Rosa and Lucky Tiger you indicate "store bought". What does that mean. Did you use seed from fruits that you got at the store?

If that is the case, what kind of store is selling Maglia Rosa and Lucky Tiger?

[Banadoura]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

Wow. Great summary.

For Maglia Rosa and Lucky Tiger you indicate "store bought". What does that mean. Did you use seed from fruits that you got at the store?

If that is the case, what kind of store is selling Maglia Rosa and Lucky Tiger?

Store bought as in I bought the plants from a nursery, they had quite a few of your varieties for sale (as plants). I did save seed from the fruits so the 2019 plants will be grown from seed.

Looking forward to growing Madera and Green Bee this year, hope they're as productive!

[taboule]

Marhaba Banadoura,

Good to see your post, very nice pictures and review. Bravo.

I gotta admit, when I saw these pitiful seedlings, I wondered why you were bothering. But what a nice surprise and comeback some of them made. Tomato plants can be so tough, I admire your optimism and persistence. As the French say,"tout est bien qui finit bien."

I've been in similar situations, and believe that in our climate (and you're north of me), one can start new seeds in April and still have time to plant out and get healthy and big plants. I always start very early, because we're eager to shake the winter blues. But then follow up with new batches in April. Later seedlings and plantings always catch up, and sometimes last longer/later in the season. Best of all worlds is to have early batches (to get in the game) and still grow a later batch for backups.

First fruit June 23 is good indeed. I like your raised beds, and the white fence seems to add light and heat.

Happy New Year to you and your family.

Taboule

[Banadoura]

Ya Hala Taboule

I have to admit that I had very low expectations when I transplanted these dying plants. It felt great to see them bounce back.

I, like you, love to start early as it's one way of dealing with the winter blues(I hate winter). First batch starts on March 1st and other waves follow until April 1st.

First fruit on June 23rd is a historical record for me and I think I can reproduce it by starting Maglia Rosa in the first wave. The plant would see two transplants before it goes in the garden, the end result would be well worth the effort if it works.

Happy new year to you and your family too!

Wish you a bountiful 2019

[hl2601]

Thanks for your great pics and informative reviews. Seeing other people's trials and tribulations is always inspiring. Helps me with personal selections too!

[Banadoura]

Originally Posted by hl2601

Thanks for your great pics and informative reviews. Seeing other people's trials and tribulations is always inspiring. Helps me with personal selections too!

My pleasure!