Advice wanted: container varieties for hot climate????

[RomanX]

I need y'alls opinion/advice on which RED varieties are the best (taste trumps productivity!) for containers in this hot climate. I have eight slots to fill: I learned (boy, did I learn!) without y'alls advice my first year (2015).

I will have these containers for y'alls suggestions: two Earthboxes and 2 5-gal shop buckets. I learned that determinates about 3-4+ feet tall at maturity, with fruit less than 10-12 ounces, did the best (production-wise) and that when it got over 85, flowers would drop (un-opened) - ie no new tomatoes for a bit over 2 weeks. I didn't see any effect of high humidity, as every flower that opened became a tiny tomato-to-be.

Last year, I started with 10 different varieties but soon had to give away 2 (my least favorites: Abraham Lincoln, lone not-flowering-yet but growing and growing, and Early Girl, difficult to work with as it was a VERY short plant with VERY stiff leaves). I will again grow Fourth of July (produced from late June until mid-October/frost PLUS didn't grow out-of-reach although it's an indeterminate - maybe because it was grown/will grow in my one 18" patio container?) and substitute Mexican Midget, with it's half-inch fruit, instead of/for Baxter's Bush [Early] Cherry, with it's very plentiful one inch fruit.

The eight varieties I intend to replace are:
Rutger's (3-4 tomatoes and NO multiple flushes)
Super Sioux (VERY viny growth with branches going EVERYWHERE!)
Bush Big Boy (1 of 2 in an Earthbox: it ALONE lost almost all of its fruit to BER)
Ace 55 VF (BBB's -^^^- companion: uninspiring)
Big Beef (~5' poor producer: 4 10-12 ounce fruit on the bottom foot of a tall plant)
Red Tumbling Tom (2 plants: the runt died before ripening its 4 tiny tomatoes, the second was ???? - ~5' tall and rather viny, with 10 oz PINK fruit)

[ContainerTed]

The Northern Hemisphere center for the Cross Hemisphere Dwarf Project is in Raleigh. So, I would suggest that any of the dwarfs would do well for you. There are about 5 dozen varieties already released and more to come pretty soon. They are very well suited to grow in any size container.

Here's one of the pink ones - Yukon Quest

[RomanX]

Thanks, Ted. I'm interested in those dwarves and have unsuc cessfully looked for the released ones. Do you know where I could find them (seeds for the releaswed dwarves)?

[Gerardo]

http://www.victoryseeds.com/dwarf-tomato-project.html

http://heritageseedmarket.com/index....warf-tomatoes/

Sort this one by growth habit and you should be able to find the dwarfs with relative ease:
http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/T...Color_and_Type

Remy's Sample Seed Shop also.

http://www.sampleseeds.com

There are others.....

[Aerial]

Roman, check out Cole_Robbie's seed offers in the Seed Exchange. There are many awesome dwarf and determinate varieties that'll fit your need. You can ask for his advice too.

[ContainerTed]

Roman, Gerardo's post says it all.

[zipcode]

Strange. Big Beef was a good producer for me (10lbs in 5 gal container) in a very hot year (for our standards). I really haven't found any dwarfs that I'd call good setters (at least not large fruited ones) compared to Big Beef (which I'd call pretty good but not fantastic).
If pollination is really the culprit, go for medium sized and cherries. My guess is that you need to improve other things as well. Unopened flowers dropping is not related to temperature but to overall plant weakness (lack of this or that).

[ContainerTed]

Zipcode has a good point. But I think that most failures to set fruit can be traced to plant stress from incorrect or inadequate watering, and too much nitrogen in the fertilizers.

[jillian]

I have grown Homestead many years here in containers. Outstanding fruit set.

[Greatgardens]

I'm in 5b, and going to try Manalucie in an EB this summer. Since you are down South, Manalucie might be worth a try there. It's an older OP variety, and I've grown it off-an-on for 30+ years (in dirt). It's indeterminate, but not a real big plant (for me). A 5-gallon bucket, might be "iffy."
-GG

Healani is supposed to be a good variety for 3–5 gallon containers in tropical climates (like Hawaii). Maybe it'll work well in North Carolina. I haven't tried it, and I don't live in the climate.

Rosella Purple is another that should grow well in your climate in a container. It is dwarf determinate, though.

I have no idea how either of these taste.

Glacier should work well, and it's supposed to taste great.

[Gerardo]

I got over a dozen large and great tasting orbs from a lone Dester plant in a 6 gal container. Seemed to be the one that liked the heat waves most. It is a climber.