Heatmaster Tomato

[DonDuck]

Originally Posted by slugworth

I buy plants from 7 or 8 different spots and I forgot where I bought the heatmaster last year.
I really should keep a log book.

Heatmaster plants are sometimes hard to find. Bonnie Plants sometimes places a few in the big box stores but they are expensive. I grow mine from seed, but the seed seems a little rare. I buy my seed from Seed N Such and if I remember correctly they charge almost $3.00 for eight or ten seeds. I'm willing to pay more for seed that has proven itself to live through the summer heat and produce very good tomatoes abundantly.

[slugworth]

I just found some saved seeds I started.
Starting this late here it will be a research year as opposed to getting a crop early or at all.

[slugworth]

took 2 weeks to pop
I just put them under the lights

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by gdaddybill

You might also try Sun Leaper and Grand Marshall. They are hot weather tomatoes and so far they are beautiful semi-determinate plants loaded with big tomatoes. None ripe yet so I may withdraw my recommendation later on.


I also have the San Antonio Rodeo tomato for this year--Red Snapper. It's loaded with big tomatoes but none to try yet. These typically are commercial varieties that have done well in the San Antonio area. Usually beautiful and productive but little better than grocery store tomatoes.

I never heard of Sun Leaper but saw when Johnny's was selling Grand Marshall. I think by the time I may have bought it, they weren't selling to home gardeners. Keep us posted on how they do / taste. I did buy Gahalad (another determinate), and planted 2 and one in the hotter part of the garden and it did not handle heat well at all.

----
My heatmaster started really well last year but I also grew Grandeur (another hybrid) that handles heat but is not a heat variety and Grandeur was way more productive and set fruit long after HM. After about the first 25 Heatmaster tomatoes, the rest were really small whereas Grandeur stayed more consistent in size / taste.



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How does growing out the F2s work out? I stopped trying many years ago because of the expense of growing tomatoes in containers.

[DonDuck]

It's interesting how varieties perform great in one garden, but poorly in a garden a few miles away. So many variables exist from garden to garden.

[slugworth]

One year I dug up pepper plants from a cousin's garden that had huge peppers,before frost hit and I overwintered in the house.
The next season I put the exact same plants in my garden and the peppers were puny.
Because of porch lights and street lights,my garden is never 100% in the dark.
Who knows,that may be another factor.

[gdaddybill]

The Grand Marshall and Sun Leaper produced beautiful determinate plants and gorgeous big red tomatoes that aren't worth eating--grainy, flavorless. I hate to even give them away. Dixie Red was a similar disappointment. Red Snapper is a little better-big red tomatoes, a bit firm but with some flavor. Red Snapper made a good tomato for BLTs-I'm thinking firm is good with all that mayo, lettuce, bacon etc. I'll probably eat most of the Red Snappers. Big Beef is kicking backside with lots of delicious, juicy tomatoes. Super Fantastic is producing well too and it has a good rep for flavor-just haven't tried one yet.


Actually pico de gallo is a good salsa to use up some of these flavor challenged tomatoes. Cajun seasoning salt, lime juice, cilantro, onion, garlic and jalapenos makes good cover for lousy tomatoes.

[slugworth]

I had a lot of duds last year.
Tomatoes that were supposed to be early like Oregon spring and sub arctic plenty.
And when they finally got ripe they tasted yucky.
I ripped up the plants to make room for others.
At least at this time I can take advantage of the sunlight without the worry of sun scald
for seeds that just popped.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by gdaddybill

The Grand Marshall and Sun Leaper produced beautiful determinate plants and gorgeous big red tomatoes that aren't worth eating--grainy, flavorless. I hate to even give them away. Dixie Red was a similar disappointment. Red Snapper is a little better-big red tomatoes, a bit firm but with some flavor. Red Snapper made a good tomato for BLTs-I'm thinking firm is good with all that mayo, lettuce, bacon etc. I'll probably eat most of the Red Snappers. Big Beef is kicking backside with lots of delicious, juicy tomatoes. Super Fantastic is producing well too and it has a good rep for flavor-just haven't tried one yet.


Actually pico de gallo is a good salsa to use up some of these flavor challenged tomatoes. Cajun seasoning salt, lime juice, cilantro, onion, garlic and jalapenos makes good cover for lousy tomatoes.

Thanks for the feedback on Grand Marshall and SL. On Johnny's site, it never said how GM tasted.

"New! Sets fruit in heat.

An excellent choice for the South for its heat-setting ability and improved TYLCV resistance. Tall determinate plants produce high yields of large, 10–14 oz., high-quality beefsteaks with a deep oblate shape."

I will pass.

[DonDuck]

92 degrees f. at my house today. Big Beef is slowing down in the heat, but really, really heavy with large green tomatoes. I may pull them in July and replace them with Heatmaster for a fall harvest. My Heatmaster plants are doing great. They are still blooming and setting fruit in the heat. Late July and August have many days over 100 degrees F. and I expect the heatmasters to set fruit in the heat with ripe tomatoes in October. I'm looking forward to my BLT's with both varieties.

I may have been over watering my plants for many years. I've always set my timers through the summer based on the appearance of the beds and containers on the hottest days. My Big Beef plants are in 25 gallon containers. My Heatmasters are in raised beds. I don't usually water much in the spring depending on rain to take care of it. When the regular rains stop and the heat arrives, I set my timers at three minute cycles. The containers only get one cycle per day. The beds get three cycles per day extending each cycle by one minute as needed. In the past, I was ending the season with five and six minute cycles. All my plants this year seem to be performing well with the shorter cycles and I want to continue it through the summer if my plants don't stress out and start dropping blooms. My tomato containers have water spray heads. Smaller pepper containers have either 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon per hour drippers at three minute cycles depending on the container size. The raised beds all are watered with buried soaker hoses.

[Barb_FL]

That's great that your HM are still flowering and producing. Maybe a little too early yet but while your Big Beef plants are still healthy, consider taking cuttings for plants in the fall when the weather cools off.

What are your night time lows in your area now and July/August?

We have been inundated with rain since Memorial Day so daytime temps have been 80-82, My area usually tops out about 90 but I have very warm nights now about 75 and by August 82ish.

I normally start my seeds on Sept 1 for one long season, but since I may be here all summer anyway, am considering starting one of the heat varieties in August.

September here is the 2nd August and it use to be by mid-October, the weather changed and it was much cooler but the last 2 years October was the 3rd August.

Have you ever tried Bella Rosa? Another determinate that gets decent marks for flavor and does well in heat. I do find that young plants handle the heat better than when heat comes at the end of the season.