2014 Toughest Tomato Plants

[Dutch]

At the end of the 2014 growing season two tomato cultivars hung tough and made it to the final hard freeze. They were Coyote and an Eva Ball/ Big Beef cross. Pictures below.
Dutch

[jmsieglaff]

Dutch,

Very nice pictures. Those are some pretty looking tomatoes, especially for what was early October I'm guessing.

Is the Big Beef x Eva Purple Ball a stabilized cross from Darrel or an F1? He was discussing that cross in another thread today, mainly addressing the increased production. Amusing it is the same, it clearly has some plant vigor qualities and maybe resistance to foliage issues.

Did you have any early blight or SLS in 2014?

[Dutch]

Thanks Justin, I got my seed from Margie. Check this thread out! http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=30662 Not 100% sable yet. Yes I had disease pressure, I had gray mold and then got hit hard by late blight. Of the four plants that I grew, one went down early, two had better resistance then most my hybrids and the one above in the picture laughed at ever thing that came at it, even two good frosts. You can see the frost damage on the top of the plant.
Dutch

[NewWestGardener]

Thanks for sharing this Dutch. Well I did not have late blight last year, but gray mold eventually killed everything off, except for Matt's Wild Cherry, it kept producing until frost, by far the most resilient.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by NewWestGardener

Thanks for sharing this Dutch. Well I did not have late blight last year, but gray mold eventually killed everything off, except for Matt's Wild Cherry, it kept producing until frost, by far the most resilient.

Yep! Matt's Wild Cherry is very resilient and reminds me of Coyote, and Matt's tastes a lot better to me. Thanks for your input.
Dutch

[jmsieglaff]

Very interesting thread, thanks for sharing. Seems like a tomato worth trying at some point. Dutch, do you know what generation of seed you grew? The Lazy Ox farms doesn't seem to list the variety anymore. Does anyone know of another source?

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

Very interesting thread, thanks for sharing. Seems like a tomato worth trying at some point. Dutch, do you know what generation of seed you grew? The Lazy Ox farms doesn't seem to list the variety anymore. Does anyone know of another source?

Thanks Justin, No I don't know what generation these are at and I don't know of anyone else selling them. Bill (Travis) has a similar cross using the same two parents and I think his may be farther along.
I need to grow my current selection out at least a few more times to see how stable they are. In the fall I will be sending seeds down under (as I currently do) to expedite things. When they are stable and it is time to release them, they will be free to all.
Dutch

[a sunny day]

Hi Dutch, I love how you are growing your tomatoes against the trellis. I've been using 8ft hardwood stakes but some of the tomatoes get damaged from winds and some varieties like Orange Strawberries are really difficult to tie to a single post.

What size mesh have you used and what height? And how far do you space the plants? And if you are growing in rows, how far have you spaced the rows?

It looks like the tomatoes would cope with wind a little better tied to trellis like that, and easier to throw some bird netting over them as well if you ned to, and some curtains for shade also.

[a sunny day]

Oh I forgot to mention, I grew both Red Brandywine and Purple Russian this year and so many times it still jumps in my head that a cross between the two would be really nice, especially if the outcome is something that looks like Purple Russian but with a little more complex flavour and a non wispy plant.

Has anyone tried that cross that you know of? if not, what do you think about it?

[Lindalana]

I had Maya and Sion's Airdrie Classic and Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blues growing and just surviving well into November last year, for zone 5 that was something unusual. I ate my last HJB for Chrismas.
Can't say if it was anecdotal event as it was first time growing them.

[berkeleyluddite]

Black & Brown Boar lasted till December in the SF Bay Area....

[a sunny day]

I think one of my Purple Russians might be my toughest. I started it on the 7th August and planted it out in the garden on the 22 September. That's a pretty normal time here in Australia to get an early start. Well it's still pumping out tomatoes, looking as wilted as ever and has reached 10ft 8 inches. We could get a frost any day now. It was down to 2C yesterday morning, so it really is just about the end of the tomato season.

Orange Strawberry is another tough one, though also my latest one to set fruit, Pink Boar and Absinthe. The two that coped the least well with our hot windy season was Malakhitovaya Shkatulka and Morado. I'll definitely try Malakhitovaya Shkatulka again next year because it was so delicious.

[Dutch]

Thanks for the input, Linda, Berkley, and Sunny Day. It is appreciated.
Dutch

[bower]

Most of my plants didn't get a shot at the 'toughest to the end' title last year, as it was too hot for them to set in July and too late for them to produce more by the time their crop was ripe, so I cut most of them down and kept only a few late ones and the healthiest ones that continued to produce. The really outstanding plant was Oaxacan Jewel PL, again. It had the big fish tub to itself after the companion was cut, and just continued to grow and set and ripen fruit, while the other 'late' ones went down to the grey mold.
At one point grey mold developed on a pruning cut on the main stem of this OJPL plant.. I thought it was finished. But 2 days later that spot had healed over and a few days after that a healthy new leaf sprouted near the scar. I've never seen that before in any plant.

Dutch, I'm really thrilled to help with your grow out of the selection of Margie's EPBXBB. The seedlings have germinated and are just getting their true leaves.

[Dutch]

Thank you, "Bower" and thank you, "A Sunny Day". Your help with grow outs is special. It is people like you that help to make Tomatoville the great place that it is! Their are many others here too, from Mischka and the Mods to the hundreds that take time to constructively contribute to the posts here every day. I am humbled to be part of such a great group of folks. Thanks to one and all!
Dutch