Cold Climate Tomatoes: A Second Wave

I grew several Russian heirlooms over the years. Loved the idea of Russian heirlooms. They didn't love the hot Maryland weather. They started out great, when it was cool, but literally burned out come mid July.

I've decided to plant tomatoes differently this year. I am planting in waves. I have the standard May plantings, the first wave. I planted one on April 4th in a hot-house cage, the early wave. I just planted 4 - 8 inch plants last week, the second wave. I am going to start a 3rd wave.

The third wave will be made up of the tomatoes below. I am selecting fast growing cold weather resistant varieties. I will build plastic wrap hot-houses as needed. My goal is to produce tomatoes through October.

Most of the May tomatoes burn out in August. If it's not the heat, it's diseases. If it's not diseases they are just over grown and picked. Why not have a third wave? I'll be growing extras for interested locals. I just ordered the seeds below. I will also take my hot-house cage idea and start it in March, next year, using the same seeds below.


Glacier #4518 (30 seeds) $2.65
While this variety may not be able to withstand a glacier, it does set fruit well even in cold weather. In fact, it becomes loaded early in the season with very flavorful, 2 to 3 oz. red tomatoes. The taste is sweet yet rich, a combination found more commonly in larger and later-maturing tomatoes. Potato-leaved foliage helps support the large harvest of these very tasty tomatoes. Determinate. 58 days.


Oregon Spring V #2712 (30 seeds) $2.65
A cold-tolerant tomato developed by Oregon State University for short season gardeners. Compact plants produce concentrated sets of medium to large fruit that is nearly seedless. Fruit is juicy and tender with full tomato flavor. Determinate. 58 days.
 
Polar Baby #2536 (30 seeds) $2.55
Very small plants bear large harvests of 2-inch red salad tomatoes. These tomatoes are sweet and very well flavored, especially for a variety that produces so early. This is a cold weather tomato that was developed in Alaska. Determinate. 60 days.
 
Siletz #2831 (30 seeds) $2.65
Deep red, full-flavored slicing tomatoes are 10 to 12 ozs. and very nice for an early variety. Developed by Dr. James Baggett of Oregon State University, these plants yield well even in cool weather. Good acid taste and excellent interior fruit quality in an early tomato. Determinate. 52 days.
 
Silvery Fir Tree #2742 (30 seeds) $2.60
This very unusual dwarf plant has delicate, lacy leaves that have a silvery sheen. Not only does this plant add great ornamental interest to your garden, it also bears very flavorful 4 to 6 oz. red tomatoes that mature quite early. Russian heirloom. Determinate. 58 days.
 
Sub Arctic Maxi #2733 (30 seeds) $2.55
One of a series of extra early tomatoes bred for extremely cold climates. Dwarf vines produce concentrated clusters of 2-1/2 oz. fruit with good flavor. Excellent for Northern gardeners or anyone seeking early tomatoes. Determinate. 62 days.

Update on Aspirin Tomato Experiment

Well, the nuts and bolts is, the salicylic acid (SA) in aspirin promotes a defense response in tomatoes. The idea is the aspirin bath protects the plants by setting off an alarm of disease presence. SA is naturally found in tomatoes and increases when disease sets in. We are fooling the tomatoes. I am putting 1 - 81 mg aspirin into a gallon of water. The response of the tomato is to strengthen it's defenses to make the leaves less hospitable to diseases. The disease I am trying to prevent is early blight.

So far, the three experimental tomatoes have been damaged by either or a combination of mosaic virus, insect damage or maybe even nematodes. Therefore, I can't fairly judge the aspirin on those plants. A long shot - the aspirin caused the leaf distortions. I doubt it though.

I will be sprinkling/soaking all my tomato plants with the above aspirin formula today and 1x weekly through July. The aspirin prevention will be done in addition to pruning 18 to 24 inches of leaves off the bottom of the tomatoes,  mulching the tomatoes to prevent splashing, and pruning to maintain air circulation.

Original Blog Entry on Aspirin and Tomatoes

Spray for Diseases Today and Prune for Air Circulation

Well June has been terrible for tomatoes and vegetables. Lots of stories of plants rotting and bugs. This was the hottest June on record.

Today we may have showers but after today we have 5 days, at least, of no rain. The humidity already arrived but July will bring more. It's time to spray another round. I put a round out earlier. I will continue with sulfur spray tonight on all my plants. The test run worked fine. No burned leaves.

If you haven't pruned your tomatoes, time to make sure you remove suckers and lower branches. Air circulation is so important at this time.

Every week or two for July is the goal for managing diseases. That is keep up the sprays, pruning, and removal of damaged goods.

What is Tomato Disease Resistance?

So yeah, my distorted leaves, mosaic virus? I want to believe my distorted tomatoes are from insect damage at the growing tips. Realistically, probably a virus. And the insect damage is how the virus was spread. I will figure it out by years end. I'll be doing a bunch of pictures to help show the issue. The bottom line, I want to get rid of it. One way to battle disease is by growing disease resistant plants. T is for tobacco mosaic virus. Next year, I will be growing varieties that are resistant to T.

Here is a list of what the letters stand for:

Disease resistance in tomatoes indicated by initials include:


V - Verticillium wilt
F - Fusarium wilt (F1, race 1; F2, race 2)
N - nematode
T - tobacco mosaic virus
A - Alternaria alternata (crown wilt disease)
L - Septoria leaf spot
St - Stemphylium or gray leaf spot
TSWV - Tomato spotted wilt virus


Here is a  link to a full table of tomato plant varieties and their disease resistance: http://vegetablemdonline

How to Make a 5 Gallon Self Watering Container: In Pictures

There is never never enough room in a garden. If you are like me, you can't turn a tomato plant down. You can't say no to tucking a plant in the garden. Your wife is threatening you- "if you dig up one more inch of lawn." You know, in your head, how big the plant will get but you still plant it because it is small enough to fit.

Container gardening is a great way to grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and many other plants. The trick is watering them. If they dry out once, the plant is pretty much spent. After many experiments this is what I came up with as a way to grow tomatoes on my deck. Total cost, with plants and soil, is about $20. It's not 100% self watering but it is an extended watering container.

How to Make a 5 Gallon Self Watering Container

Purchase 2 - 5 gallon buckets at Home Depot or Lowes. They are about $5 each. You will need a small bag of pebbles, some moisture control soil and a plant. Drill holes as shown below. I suggest using that pattern. Your tomato plant's roots will grow through them and reach the reservoir.

The bucket with holes in the bottom is to the left. That is where the plant and soil will go. In the 2nd bucket, fill the bottom to about 4 inches with the pebbles. 4 inches is about the gap left when you place one bucket inside another. You want the soil bucket to rest on the pebbles. If you look closely you will see holes just above the pebbles in the 2nd bucket. Those holes are your overflow holes. You don't want the bottom of your soil bucket to be soggy and sit in water. Drill about 4 or 5 holes around the pebble bucket. The holes should be just above the pebble line.

Place the soil into the soil bucket. It is the bucket without pebbles and has the holes in the bottom.

Plant the tomato in the soil. I am filling the pebble bucket with water and Miracle Grow. Fill it to the top of the pebbles, just below the run-off holes.

Drop the soil and plant bucket into the pebble bucket and water it.

On a hot day a single 5 gallon bucket will dry out in a day or a day and half depending on how large the plant has grown or is growing.

Using this method you really can get 3 - 4 days between watering (depends on plant size). Each time you water, soak the bucket. You want to make sure you see water come out of  the run-off holes. The key is to keep the pebble reservoir filled.

This year I have one bucket of this design. In the bucket are 3 yes 3 Florida Basket Tomatoes. They are compact determinate tomatoes. The are producing a ton of fruit. I'll get a picture up next week some time.