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Uzd2bYounger
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:08 pm
- Location: Smithville, TN
Early, mid, late season varieties
Hi everyone. I'm new and moved here from RI. Anyone know which are the best varieties of tomatoes to grow in middle TN? I don't know what my hsband bought last year but we didn't get many. Oh...tomatoes here don['t have the rich flavor of those grown in the NE. Oh well
Hi there, and welcome to the forums!
Can't really tell you specifically what grows better in TN, I'm sure someone will chime in... Though you are not far from Virginia, so can't be all that different.
Mid/Early - Juliette did very well, Black Krim, Stupice, Black Cherry
Mid/late - Black From Tula, Cherokee Purple, De Barao Red, Lemon Boy, Brandywine Sudduth, Bull's Heart.
I have yet to grow any very early or very late varieties, but this year will show...
But when you mentioned the taste qualities, comparing to RI, it is possible that the quality of soil could be a factor.
Regards,
D
Can't really tell you specifically what grows better in TN, I'm sure someone will chime in... Though you are not far from Virginia, so can't be all that different.
Mid/Early - Juliette did very well, Black Krim, Stupice, Black Cherry
Mid/late - Black From Tula, Cherokee Purple, De Barao Red, Lemon Boy, Brandywine Sudduth, Bull's Heart.
I have yet to grow any very early or very late varieties, but this year will show...
But when you mentioned the taste qualities, comparing to RI, it is possible that the quality of soil could be a factor.
Regards,
D
If you're concerned about taste, you shouldn't be. There might be a difference in taste between tomatoes grown in Canada and ones grown in Ecuador, but going from Rhode Island to Tennessee will have no effect. The much more likely explanation, as noted earlier, is soil composition.
There are several ways to improve the flavor of your tomatoes, mainly by adjusting the nutrient content of your soil. There also seems to be a general consensus that more microbes in the soil = sweeter tomatoes. Though there are several ways to do this, one can simply add some sugar to the seed/plant hole or make compost tea (which usually involves molasses).
Additionally, if you water your plants less as the tomatoes are growing/ripening, this encourages the plant to focus its sugars in the tomatoes themselves. I've heard, but cannot confirm, that pruning suckers also helps with taste. If there aren't extraneous new growths, the sugars in the plant will be more concentrated. Kinda like how growing boys need more calcium; if they weren't growing, more calcium would be retained. Plants use the sugar to grow.
All of this is a sidebar, but it's important if you want good tasting tomatoes!
There are several ways to improve the flavor of your tomatoes, mainly by adjusting the nutrient content of your soil. There also seems to be a general consensus that more microbes in the soil = sweeter tomatoes. Though there are several ways to do this, one can simply add some sugar to the seed/plant hole or make compost tea (which usually involves molasses).
Additionally, if you water your plants less as the tomatoes are growing/ripening, this encourages the plant to focus its sugars in the tomatoes themselves. I've heard, but cannot confirm, that pruning suckers also helps with taste. If there aren't extraneous new growths, the sugars in the plant will be more concentrated. Kinda like how growing boys need more calcium; if they weren't growing, more calcium would be retained. Plants use the sugar to grow.
All of this is a sidebar, but it's important if you want good tasting tomatoes!