SunBakedParadise
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Location: Southern California

Heirloom Seed Supplier/Suggestions

Anyone have any recommendations for heirloom seeds and their suppliers? In particular I'm looking for some more drought and heat tolerant slicing tomato varieties. Last year was quite brutal 4-6weeks 100+ degree days wiped out all but my Black Cherry, Cuban Yellow Plums, and some Red/Yellow streaked mystery Roma.

Thanks

bnoles
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Location: NW Atlanta, GA -Zone 7-

I have used these folks a couple of times and find them to have excellent product and service.

https://www.seedsavers.org/

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

If you want heat tolerance there are a few varieties both heirlooms and hybrids that fit the bill

Cherry tomatoes are probably the most resilient and productive in any kind of weather

Heat resistant tomatoes
I get most of my tomato seed from tomato growers supply. They have a large selection, but they are not necessarily organic seeds. You should be able to find organic seeds in other catalogs.

Arkansas Traveler
Brandywine OTV
Costoluto Genovese
Eva Purple ball
Thessoloniki

To get the best from your garden with limited water resources, try dry gardening.
https://www.harvesttotable.com/2009/02/dry_gardening/

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grrlgeek
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Location: Southern California Desert

Hi SunBakedParadise,

You didn't mention where your Paradise is located, but you may find some interesting varieties at Native Seeds. They are a non-profit seed conservation group based in Arizona. Their efforts focus on aridland adapted seed. https://nativeseeds.org/

I haven't purchased from then yet, but they have several varieties of corn that I want to try. They have six heirloom tomato varieties in last year's catalog that reported trialed exceedingly well in the harsh conditions of both Tuscon, and Prescott, Arizona.

Hope you find something that interest you, and let us know how it grows when you do! :D

dtizme
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Location: Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada. Zone 5a


Juliuskitty
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This thread recommends seed places that are excellent and they have integrity about the seed they sell.

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 15&t=56174

tomc
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I'm partial to Sand Hill Preservation Center. They do have a web page and one heck of a poultry section besides.

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feldon30
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tomc wrote:I'm partial to Sand Hill Preservation Center. They do have a web page and one heck of a poultry section besides.
And no online ordering system or inventory tracking. It can take 3+ weeks to find out that they are out of a certain variety. They're also very slow to ship. I would use Sand Hill if I needed baby chicks or some of the rarer stuff, but generally I use Seed Savers, Tomato Growers Supply, and a relatively new one I've discovered called High Mowing.

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I am in Phoenix AZ I planted Celebrity this year only because that is the only plants that were for sale. These tomatoes suck, very mild with very little flavor. Lucky I planted Beef Steak from seeds now I have good tomatoes. I pulled all the Celebrity plants up. Beef Steak is doing good here it was 109 degrees today. I have a sun shade black screen tarp over the tomatoes in tent poles and planted a row of corn on the west side for even tomato plant sun shade.

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feldon30
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I had the same results with Celebrity. Barely any better than the grocery store tomatoes.

PaulF
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I would suggest you go to the Juliuskitty response and then to the Juliuskitty portion of that thread. All the good ones are listed there. I also like Sand Hill Preservation. While they are low tech, the website does have an extensive catalog of varieties and do list those varieties out of stock for the year. Glenn Drowns is a small seed saver and variety preserver but when you order you get what you order, the varieties are right and you get plenty of seeds for a low price and no gouging on shipping costs. As Feldon indicated, you best order early. It sometimes takes a week or two to get the shipment since it is a small family operation all done manually. High Mowing had a computer hacking problem a couple of years ago and I had to deal with that. I am sure it has been taken care of, but I am still leary.

Sand Hill, Sampleseeds, Knapps, Tatianna's and TGS are my choices (in no particular order of preference).

GreaseMnky85
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I just ordered all my seeds from www.mypatriotsupply.com

WinglessAngel
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Location: NE Ohio

I buy mostly from Kitazawa and Baker Creek. Kitazawa has fair prices, fast ship and same shipping cost for up to 12 packs of seeds. They have some great bulk prices on some things but they specialize in heirloom and non GMO, same as Baker Creek. Kitazawa's however also specializes in Asian varieties of seed. I try to grow as much Asian produce as I can here in my garden because I can't get the produce locally easily so I try to buy from Kitazawa's first now before going anywhere else. Hope this helps!

https://www.kitazawaseed.com/index.html
https://www.rareseeds.com/store/

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ElizabethB
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Location: Lafayette, LA

I have ordered seeds from Johnny Seeds.

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/v-4-heirloom ... g_ddShopBy

They are located in the north east and I am in the deep south. Like you I have a long growing season and some extreme conditions.

Prior to ordering I called the company and asked for suggestions. I grow indeterminate tomatoes so that added another restriction. The person I spoke to was very patient and helpful.

The seeds were high quality. They all sprouted and the plants produced well.

Regardless of the company you decide to order from I suggest that you call them first. USDA zones are not a true reflection of region suitability. Zone 9 in south Louisiana has very different growing conditions than zone 9 in some parts of Texas, the East Coast or California.

Good luck

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Baker Creek Seeds www. rareseeds.com

Peaceful Valley https://www.groworganic.com/seeds/heirlo ... seeds.html

Victory seeds https://www.victoryseeds.com

The Cook's Garden https://www.cooksgarden.com/heirlooms/

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Greywolf
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Location: Western Tennessee

In a video on YOUTUBE (GrowYourGreens) I saw a recommend for www.chiliplants.com
They have not only an eye popping variety of pepper seeds and live plants, but also several varieties of tomato, and they are where I got the seeds for the Cherokee Purple tomato's (heirloom) that I decided on for this year.

For seeds they have a minimum order of five packets, whether mixed variety or all the same kind but they have a good ordering system that uses PAYPAL and I had no trouble with that at all.

Out of 30 seeds I planted about a week ago, I now have 26 sprouts an inch tall from the tomato seed I got from them, so I would rate the germination success at about a 90% to 95% which is very good. Quite a few of them broke ground after only 48 hours.

I use premium Miracle Grow potting soil in wide flats without divider pockets. I don't like the roots to be crowded together in the pocket forms, and as they grow I move them to plastic cups with drain holes in a tray that holds water.
(Foil baking trays work well and are inexpensive) For single plants you can put a hole in the bottom of a plastic cup, take a second cup the same size and put a layer of gravel in it - then set the first cup inside it. That makes a quick and very excellent sprout cup with a water reservoir that you can see the water level in.

www.parkseed.com also has a lot of good plants but nothing like the variety of chili peppers at the site above, and most of their pepper offerings are hybrids, unlike chiliplants.com



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