Which Tomato Variety to choose

[GardenerKsa]

Good day every one,

Am planning to make my own garden at my own backyard, the problem is am in Saudi Arabia.
Everyone knows how harsh the condition of weather in Saudi Arabia.

So Am planning to make my own greenhouse, but I want to start from tomatoes first, I have question which tomato variety to choose (Indeterminate varieties) , I have no idea whats best to grow.

I want my tomato to grow all year round and high yielding fruit, that could even produce during cold season since its in a greenhouse, also I want them in steel tube (see attach file), and put it upside down (see attach file as well), can it carry the weight of the tomato fruit?.

Is Better Boy Tomato variety will be ok or not? am not sure about its yielding capacity or it will produce more if cared well and will it also produce fruit during cold in Saudi Arabia within the greenhouse.

Any help or suggestion will be appreciated.
Thank you very much in Advance

Gardener from K.S.A

[rainbowgardener]

So I tried to look up a little about climate in Saudi Arabia, but of course I don't know what part of the country you are in. What I found is that desert summers are brutal with highs between 45 - as much as 54 deg C (113 -129 deg F). Winters are cool, but not really cold with minimums usually 10 deg C (50 deg F). You can let us know if that is a good description of your conditions.

If what I said about winter is accurate, tomatoes should not have trouble dealing with that, probably even without a greenhouse, certainly with.

Your issue will be with summer. You will certainly need to look for heat resistant tomato varieties, but even so I don't think they will survive that. I don't think you are looking at being able to grow tomatoes year around. People in hot climates here (that still aren't as hot as yours) grow tomatoes in spring and fall, but not in summer.

[applestar]

A good point about the heat -- I was wondering if you might need a shade house more than a green house... Unless you are planning a climate controlled (air conditioned or maybe swamp-cooler cooled green house).

Your attached pictures... Did you say you want to grow in tubes AND upside down? because those tubes are hydroponic or aquaponic systems with water flowing through them, so of course they can't be turned upside down. Also, upside down tomatoes turned out to be a fad and most tomato varieties are not suited to growing this way (I'm trying a few "hanging basket" type varieties this year that I think actually could grow upside down as well -- these are determinate varieties with sprawling vines terminated by the fruit trusses weighing them down and they don't have as strong tendency to try grow upwards and end up breaking when the fruit trusses get heavy)

In the greenhouse, there are set of issues unique to the growing conditions, and there are many varieties that are specifically developed for commercial green house growing. I know Johnny's Selected Seeds, and I think Thomson and Morgan both indicate those -- usually hybrids -- that are suitable for greenhouse growing.

I have heard that some growers are developing grafted tomato combinations (root stock and grafted varieties) that are intended for better greenhouse performance as well.

So... Tell us more about what you are thinking of doing and how elaborate you can make your plans. If it gets too cold in the winter, you could even make this a combination framed (no film) and shade clothed - AND - glass or film covered in winter house. It could be cooled in the summer and heated in the winter. If you plant o go with hydroponics, the water can be heated or cooled as well, and if you decide to venture into aquaponics, you could also raise fish for eating or for viewing.

[digitS']

In arid climates, greenhouses work fairly well as swamp coolers ... I don't know about 50°C, tho'!

Yes, the entire greenhouse is something of a swamp cooler with the evaporation pads and water at one end and exhaust fans at the other. Year around growing is certainly possible and there are shade clothes that can be pulled up in the interior; whitewashing the exterior of the glass used to be common.

I don't keep my little greenhouse in production through the summer, except there may be some basil plants in there. I once had several tomato plants but it was a very casual experiment.

There are specific varieties for greenhouse production. I notice them more & more in the seed catalogs, like in Johnny's (link). I'm just guessing but for the kind of growing you are thinking of, K.S.A., a cherry might be best.

Steve
And, there's AppleStar's comment while I'm typing .

[imafan26]

If you want to grow tomatoes hydroponically, a dutch bucket system would be better.

Tomatoes require a lot of root space so an 60 to 75 liter container would be best (16-20 gallons in case my math was wrong)

You would run the pvc tubes with small holes drilled in the tubing over a row of buckets filled with cinder or hydroton.
The buckets would sit in a long tray that is slightly tilted toward a drain hole. The drain returns to the reservoir.

This system can be run hydroponically or you can use aquaculture with tilapia or catfish to provide some of the nutrients. Fish cannot supply all nutrients so you would still need to supplement with approved organic fertilizer and you may need to add calcium and iron for some crops. You will need to source out what is acceptable where you are for aquaponic culture.
In an aquaponic system you will be limited to what you can do for pest control so sanitation will be important.

In hydroponic culture you have a little more leeway, but with many plants in a closed environment, pests will also be a problem since there won't be many predators either, so sanitation would still be important.

Heat resistant tomatoes will be necessary in summer even with a climate controlled green house.
Cherry tomatoes will be more resistant than larger tomatoes.
Sungold, sun cherry, and Matt's wild cherry are very good.

Larger tomatoes with good heat resistance Arkansas Traveler, Big Beef, and Heatwave II are the only ones I have tried.

In a greenhouse with tomatoes closely spaced they will need to be trained on a string trellis and pruned.

It is a big investment so I would start small especially if you don't have a lot of experience or space.

This is an instructible for a simple dutch bucket system. But a five gallon bucket will only support a small determinate tomato. You would need a larger bucket for a big tomato. We use 65 liter grower pots they do not have a cover but they do have a tray that drains to a reservoir and pvc tubing to deliver water in cycles.
https://www.volusia.org/core/fileparse.p ... Bucket.pdf

[GardenerKsa]

Hi everyone,


Thank you all for the quick reply, yes I am planing to have a controlled greenhouse, about the steel tube, yes it is used for hydroponics which supposed to be my first plan, instead I substitute the water with soil, you think can it hold the tomato itself when it bare fruit? and put plastic tube in it to it, to pump water inside the tube to maintain the moist in the soil, as well as oxygen pumping in from time to time, I would like to put it upside down so I could save more space and easy to pick the tomato as well from sand , you think its possible to grow all year round? and what variety is suited for this kind of greenhouse? or climate.

I like cherry tomato, but I want a bigger kind of tomato to grow not that very big like beef steak tomato, just like better boy.

This is last years weather the month of June.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/sa/buraid ... =6/01/2014

am located in Buraydah Qassim , Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia

am very much open to more suggestion guys, thank you thank you now you opened up my imagination more.

Thank you all again.

[rainbowgardener]

I don't have anything to add now, but I looked at the weather records you linked to. WOW. From mid-April to mid-Oct it doesn't get below 100 deg F (38 deg C), some of those months staying above 110 F (43 deg C) for the high for weeks.

Since I used to live in an arid climate (in the past), I know that dry heat is much easier to tolerate, but 110 is hot no matter what!

When there is no humidity, the nights cool off much easier, so at least you do have relatively cooler nights down to around 80F (26 C). That must be a big relief.

[imafan26]

I think the tube system you envision will not be large enough to accommodate the large tomato root systems. Usually in hydroponic setups you use net pots not soil. Even with just the nutrient solution in the tube, the roots can become quite extensive and clog the system making it overflow.

Hanging tomatoes upside side down will make them grow funny they will turn up toward the light and still try to grow up.

[imafan26]

Early Girl is not listed as heat tolerant and it did stop producing in the 90's but started producing again when the temperatures came down again

Big Beef usually tastes a little better than Better Boy and and at least for me, it was a shorter plant.

Jetsetter sets medium to large fruit and has good flavor as well as some disease resistance.

[GardenerKsa]

Thank you all again,

For now I think I should re-plan my old plan I have a bigger idea now, I'll keep you updated every now and then.
thanks again guys its much appreciated.

[GardenerKsa]

hi guys,
does anyone know what medium they are using here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnRso9M4vRw
do you think this is good for tomato?

Thanks all in advance