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hendi_alex
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This Year's Tomato Experiment

Earlier this week I planted seeds of 'Bella Rosa', BHN589, and FX06. These are supposed to be very disease resistant tomatoes which may perform better during the very hot day/warm night period of July and August. We have had a couple periods of unusually warm temperatures and a few of my tomatoes are already showing the signs of disease as the yellowing branches creek up the plants. I'll keep a steady supply of replacements on hand, as the older, more mature plants succumb to disease. I'm not overly optimistic about the July/August period, but hopefully will have a good supply of plants which will give a decent yield in October and November.

It is kind of interesting, that for the past couple of years I've had volunteer tomato plants sprout from my containers which are located in the shade. None of those have ever shown signs of disease. Of course growing in the shade, they never give more than a few tomatoes either. There has to be some remedy to this problem though, which will allow us to harvest tomatoes continuously through the summer. In my early days of garden, growing plants in this same general area, indeterminate plants like 'Big Boy' usually produced from early summer until frost. For the past many years however, very few plants make it through the heat and humidity of July.

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gixxerific
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Good luck Alex, it's not as hot here but close. I we too have a short window than BAM! the furnace is on. Use should utilize shade when ever you can. I have part of my beds that get a little shade those plants usually do better than the all day sun guy's.

I had some dwarfs in pots along the north side of my house last year in my hosta bed that did fairly well. I even had some peppers planted in the bed that did great almost better than my full sun peppers. This area gets sun for a short time in the morning and the evening.

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feldon30
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hendi_alex wrote:Earlier this week I planted seeds of 'Bella Rosa', BHN589, and FX06. These are supposed to be very disease resistant tomatoes which may perform better during the very hot day/warm night period of July and August.

We have had a couple periods of unusually warm temperatures and a few of my tomatoes are already showing the signs of disease as the yellowing branches creek up the plants. I'll keep a steady supply of replacements on hand, as the older, more mature plants succumb to disease.
Have you had a definitive diagnosis of Fusarium? I know it can be a huge problem here, and what you've described sounds a lot like it. This is my first year growing in SC and I'm certainly worried about Fusarium as it tends to build up in the soil and there isn't really any treatment for it except leaving the ground fallow for several years.

Bella Rosa is VFFNT which means Verticillium, Fusarium races 1 and 2, Nematodes, and Tobacco Mosaic Virus.

BHN 589 is VFFN, so again it covers races 1 and 2 (but not 3) of Fusarium. Race 3 is bad news and there are very few tomato varieties that battle it.

I Googled a bit and couldn't find FX06. Where'd you order the seeds from?

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hendi_alex
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This was a sample pack, several years old from Park Seed Co. I misplaced the pack after planting but was confused by the packaging. Seems it said batch FX06. If the pack shows up again I'll take another look.

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hendi_alex
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I may try BHN606. Here is a description: Bred in Florida, where heat and humidity are extreme, BHN 602 tomato compensates for its plain-Jane name with a fruitful summer. Its large, mid-season, globe-shaped red tomatoes are born with disease resistance already built into the plant for optimum performance in the southeastern states. In our Alabama test garden, where the growing season is long and growing conditions are excellent, plants produce 40 to 80 fruits each in a two-month harvest season. BHN 602 is resistant to fusarium wilt races 1, 2, and 3, as well as tomato spotted wilt virus and verticillium wilt, making it possible to grow these delicious slicers in areas where other varieties suffer disease.

One review from Louisiana said that the plants produced until frost. I've heard from other gardeners in LA that the season is basically over by early July.

Excerpt from Bonnie Plants.
Last edited by hendi_alex on Sat May 24, 2014 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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feldon30
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All of the BHN varieties were developed in Florida (first in Naples, then in Immokalee) to battle different diseases. They are not generally known for outstanding flavor, but they are growing in popularity for folks who struggle with persistent soilborne diseases. BHN602 also tolerates TSWV which is a nasty thrip-borne disease which is almost impossible to prevent.

Given the description of decent flavor, I'd certainly give a few plants a try!

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McKinney88
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This past week we had temperatures of about 86 - 90F and my tomato plants look they had a hard time with it. Those temps are unusually warm here too. My black krim started to yellow on the bottom. I may have to look into some of these plants that are bread for heat and humidity in the south east for next year.



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