259 The 2023 Tomato Preview Show!

Show Transcript

GB 259 TRANSCRIPT 2023 Tomato Preview Show

Farmer Fred  0:00

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. It's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred.

Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.

Farmer Fred

It must be spring, and time for our annual tomato preview show! Today a couple of tomato heads, nursery owner Don Shor and myself, talk about growing tomatoes including:

• The winning and losing tomato varieties of 2022 (remember, all gardening is local) 1:38

• Which tomato varieties we will be planting in 2023, varieties that are old and new. 9:31

• Advice for the first time tomato grower: Start Small. 20:25

• Thwarting Summer Diseases of tomatoes. 35:41

• Don’t plant your tomatoes too early! Timing your tomato planting. 45:41

It’s all in today’s episode 259, The 2023 Tomato Preview Show. We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. Let’s go!

2023 TOMATO PREVIEW, PART 1

Farmer Fred

I was just reviewing my notes for my 2022 vegetable garden. And on September 30th, I made this note: shortest tomato season ever. Well, all gardening is local. And here in Northern California, we had one heck of a heatwave in late August and early September last year, with record high temperatures. And that's why it became the shortest tomato season ever. So I am extremely optimistic about 2023. I hope Don Shor is as well. He owns Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, California. And Don, how was your 2022 tomato season?

Don Shor  2:17

Well actually, it was very good. But I have to say that the plants took a lot more water than usual. I was deep irrigating those vines, I was giving them 10 to 12 gallons of water a week, generally all at once if I possibly could, because I'm out in an open field. It’s a normal, garden-farm type situation. There are no raised planters, such as what you deal with. And as long as I kept them going and kept the plants vigorous, they did well. But  I have to agree with you that the heatwave did a lot of damage to a lot of varieties. If their fruit was exposed on the morning that I knew was gonna get over 110 degrees, what I would do  is pick it and bring it in, so that I knew that that particular fruit wouldn't get sunscald or sunburn as typically happens when tomato fruit that's close to ripe is hit by 95, 100, 105 degree temperatures. You know you're gonna get some injury on that side of the fruit. 116 degrees, which we recorded two days in a row in the Davis area is an absolute record. Not just for the month, but the all time record, followed by five more days over 105. Yeah, it kind of finished up the crop for a lot of people, especially if their plants were drought stressed.

Farmer Fred  3:21

I did put in an optimistic note after I wrote, “shortest tomato season ever” back on September 30. I pointed out that the Gardeners Delight tomato, the Sweet Million, the Sungold, the Valley Girl, all have flowers. Maybe they will bear fruit. And then I turned the page to October, and on October 25 I wrote, “removed remaining tomato plants. the shortest tomato season ever.” Thanksgiving tomatoes are commonplace here. Christmas tomatoes aren't that unusual.

Don Shor  3:51

But last year a lot of them finished up early, and that heat just finally took its toll. I did have a couple of varieties that really impressed me for their ability to continue later on. Usually there's a half dozen varieties that will keep setting fruit, keep fruiting, all the way through October and into November.  I do want to mention one all time top 10, the Champion tomato, just kept on going. I was still picking those in early November. And I've got to bring this one in: New Girl. the New Girl is giving Early Girl a run for the money because it was continuing to fruit all the way through October.

Farmer Fred  4:18

New Girl was one of my better performers while tomato season existed in 2022. I will be planting New Girl again, as well as its sibling, Valley Girl.

Don Shor  4:29

Yes, these are all competitors to the throne of the one of California's absolute favorite varieties, the Early girl. That has been an all purpose hybrid tomato here since the 1970s. It's very, very popular and for good reason. It sets early. It holds and ripens early, and then  we don't typically get a lot of fruit on it through the hottest part of the summer. You almost always get that late August early September set, however, when we get cooler periods which we do. And they'll ripen here, since we have such a long season, it is usually sunny and warm all the way into the middle part of October. You'll still often be picking Early Girl  as late as well as you know, even as late as Thanksgiving. Because of that, there have always been breeders out there looking to be the next Early Girl. And I think we've got a couple of them that are actually good contenders for that now.

Farmer Fred  5:10

Last year, in 2022, the Seed company “Seeds N Such” - because I must have ordered some seeds from them - they sent me a complimentary package of a hybrid tomato called “Early Doll”.  I saw that sitting there in the box of seeds this winter and I go, “Well, I'll try that this year.” it germinated, as I would expect, even though it allegedly was packaged for the year 2022. However, packaged tomato seeds can last, what, four or five years? So I have high hopes for Early Doll, although I don't see it in their latest catalog. But they do have it online. Maybe that's why it was part of 2022 free seed giveaway. It says online: “it's one of the earliest tomatoes we have ever offered. 55 days from planting to fruiting”.

Don Shor  5:59

Early Doll. Well, yeah, 55 days is great. And we'll certainly see if that one gets into their list. I mean, this company has come up with a couple of really good ones. And you and I both know that the one that they sent out as a freebie three years ago, we all gave him great feedback on that one.  They've now labeled it, “It’z a Keeper”, which is very productive. It set well, it set early, had very firm fruit and I'll mention that one took the heat very well, as well. So  we gotta keep trying these. I have a feeling, I'm not sure why, that there's gonna be more hot spells in our future. It might be advisable for us to make notes, not just about what sets early, and what produces well into the season, but also what takes direct hot sun on the fruit, and also note the vigor of the vine. I mean, this is something that future gardeners may wish to know about our experiences with extreme heat as things change.

Farmer Fred  6:50

So last year, I tried three new tomato varieties. For me, I tried the “It’z a Keeper,” “Big Beef Plus” and “Bodacious”. And I noticed that in my notes throughout the spring and summer, I didn’t mention them anymore. So I'm not so sure that I would plant them again.

Don Shor  7:08

Bodacious has done very well for me three years in a row. And it did very well last year. It's actually one of my top producers of all the new varieties that I've been trying. So I do urge people to try that one, you're only going to be able to get the seed for that I believe from Burpee Seed Company, I think it's theirs. Yes, it's not something you're going to find at most garden centers, I do know a small nursery in Davis that is likely to have it. Not everybody around is going to because the seed is not cheap.

Farmer Fred  7:35

Let me tell you, now that you're taking us on a nice scenic bypass that has me scratching my head. I was at a big box store, at the garden center portion of the big box store. And I was looking at those poor, young sacrificial tomato plants, the ones that are one inch, or two inches tall, that people are buying now even though like I said, we're waiting for our first 80 degree day. Heck, we would settle for a 70 degree day. So I feel sorry for those tomato plants. But, to their credit, the garden center had a good supply of cool season vegetables, which still makes a lot of sense to plant in USDA zone nine, in March and April. Because you're gonna get two more months - unless the heat sets in extra early - of outstanding growth. But the price!  The price, Don, of that four inch tomato plant! It was going for $5.95. And a six pack of cool season vegetables, small babies, little ones? They were $6.98. It's like the price doubled overnight.

Don Shor  8:31

Maybe I better raise my prices. That sounds pretty good. Yes, the prices have definitely gone up. And there's a reason, a couple of reasons, that are fairly obvious for that. One is the cost of heating greenhouses. You don't get tomato seedlings available in March, if you don't have a heated greenhouse. As you know, if you do it at home, you've got to do them indoors, move them out, move them back in, move them back out. They're not doing that in big wholesale yards. They're using propane or natural gas to heat those greenhouses. Plus, greenhouses aren’t very effective when it's cloudy. So we've had a lot of cloudy days, like say 50-70% of our days have been cloudy from January, February, and into March. So the area wholesale greenhouses weren't working real well. Anyway,  the cost of seed is definitely going up. And what you'll find is that there's a lot of growers that just aren't going to take on a brand new, untested, untried variety, no matter how exaggerated or, let's say, retail-oriented the claims in the catalogs are, because of the cost of the seed. I've got one grower that tells me he's not going to grow anything that cost more than a nickel of seed. But some of these are closer to 50 cents or more a seed. I'll try them. You'll try them. I'll see if they do well. Coming back to “Bodacious” that one has been very consistent for me now, including during extreme heat. To me, it's the best alternative to a beef steak that you're going to get here in the Sacramento Valley or regions like the valley where it gets so hot in the summer. It takes the heat much better than a beef steak type and it's a similar slicer you can slice it with it's got a lot of that connective tissue that holds together for a sandwich, it makes great sauces and salsas, things like that. But I do have a rule. I don't recommend a variety until I've grown it for at least two seasons, preferably very different seasons. We just went through a very hot summer. We've had cooler summers, and it is never the same. This variety is consistent with very few exceptions. “Bodacious”. So far , it is a real winner for me. I'm not sure whether yours was just a fluke or something but I do suggest trying it again and then test it for two or three seasons before you rule it out. Big Beef is a good example. First year I grew it , it was great. 30 to 35 fruits, close to a pound a piece, I thought  that we got a winner here. The next year I grew it, it only had 10 fruit. So that does happen. You need to test them for a couple years under a range of conditions.

Farmer Fred  10:41

This may be the reason why, because of fear of the weather - you might say - that I probably am leaning this year to smaller tomatoes that will ripen quicker, so I'm guaranteed some tomatoes, at least. The tomatoes I've chosen - I think the biggest one might be eight ounces - is a “Better Boy” which is about eight ounces.

Don Shor  10:59

There's a whole bunch of red tomatoes that are classic and reliable: Better Boy, Champion, Red Delicious, Whopper. Those are four that I find very similar in how we use them generally, very similar in their performance. The most consistent, year to year, has been Champion, which has an easy to remember name. But all those are good. Better Boy has been very consistent over the years. When you get into the really big ones, you are taking some gambles. It seems to me, from experience, that there's more issues of blossom end rot, for example, when you have a very large tomato. When you get it in early and it gets going and it sets fruit, you get all excited. And then you notice that the bottom is discolored on the fruit. And that it was going to be gushy on the bottom, and no good. That's probably  a temperature and moisture related phenomenon. But it does seem to hit the bigger ones worse or maybe it's just that it's more disappointing when it does, I'm not sure. The key is: diversify your portfolio. Yes, good advice across the board. Get some interesting sauce tomatoes, because in my experience, a lot of those are just very consistent. There’s reliable cherry tomatoes. You can't go wrong with cherry tomatoes. Juliet, that's a sort of an in-between one that's cherry size, but firm, textured, incredibly popular, and could be a little hard to find this year. So look around for it. But try to get a whole bunch of different kinds and a couple of early varieties are very good plan. And make sure you get something interesting out there. So you can test some new varieties. But you're right. I think the big ones you're just you're asking. I don't do nothing but oversized tomatoes. Let's put it that way. I grow the Big Zack hybrid. The one that's grown actually has a championship sized tomato. I've had great years. One year I got 35 fruit , all of them were over a pound. They're all beautiful. One year I got three. And you know, that's a pretty big range. If it was the only one I planted, I would have been a little disappointed.

Farmer Fred  12:45

You bring up a good point too. For one thing, all gardening is local, as we're kind of talking about here. And everybody's results are going to be different. But one thing that you've talked about in the past that makes a heck of a lot of sense is buy local. Buy those tomato seeds that were developed where you live. And we've often used the example of that classic heirloom tomato, Brandywine, which I imagine, does fine in Brandywine, Pennsylvania, but not here in California.

Don Shor  13:11

Pennsylvania, I think, is a fairly mild climate, as far as I can tell, at least compared to what we have here. There's a seed breeder up in Maxwell, California, that's been introducing some phenomenal tomatoes. Maxwell is about as valley as you can get here in the Sacramento Valley. They certainly get as hot as we do, if not hotter up there. Most people go by Maxwell on Highway 5 and don't really notice it. But there's a really good deli there.

Farmer Fred

There is a golf course there, too.

Don Shor

There is the breeder of the tomatoes, the Chef's Choice series. they have all been introduced by a company up in Maxwell, and every one of them, so far, has been a real winner. Particularly I've mentioned it many times on your program, Chef's Choice Orange, one of the first ones they came out with. It is a top performer for me year after year, big fruit, very firm. Now they have a yellow and of course red and pink and striped and purple and I think it was even a white one and then a black one. Several of these have won the All America selection designation which I think you can explain better as to having been tested in a wide range of circumstances.

Farmer Fred  14:11

Exactly. They have test gardens from coast to coast and in many different climates. They have national winners, they have regional winners, as well. And if you go to All-AmericaSelections.org you can find their complete list and be prepared to download a large PDF of all those winners. If you go by that, that's not a bad barometer to use for choosing tomato varieties. How about among your customers? What have they been raving or pooh-poohing about in the last year?

Don Shor  14:43

Juliet continues to be extremely popular. Sungold is the top cherry tomato. There's always new ones coming along to try to challenge Sungold for that position, and there are some really good cherry tomatoes out there. But that one continues to be just one of the favorites. By the way, one of the favorites everywhere. When I posted the question on our Facebook group of nursery professionals what are your top five tomatoes? Sungold was on almost every single list as was Early Girl, those are consistent. Champion continues to be very good. I do have a lot of older customers. I'm not sure why they seem to really like Ace. And these older guys and their Celebrity. I'll tell you, you and I aren't huge fans of Celebrity, but there are some people out there that just clamor for it. So it's a good producer. I've had issues with sunburn on it and other things, but I have to bring it in for those guys. You know how these old gardener guys are? They can be kind of grumpy.  The other thing is a lot of them are still asking about heirloom types. I've gradually gotten to the point where if someone walks up with just heirloom tomatoes to the counter, I say, “I suggest you try a hybrid to just to see how it performs compared to those.” Because you mentioned Brandywine, that's a good example. It’s very popular, but rarely produces more than one or two fruit here. That has been my experience. It doesn't take the heat well. There's other heirlooms out there that are worth trying. Mortgage Lifter does reasonably well, most years for me. Cherokee Purple has done extremely well. For me, it was my top producer in 2021 of all my tomatoes, the largest number of fruit was Cherokee Purple of all things. So it's a good one for the valley and good one for hot climates. But you've got to try different things and be sure to get at least one or two in there that are hybrids and preferably they have that hybrid built-in disease resistance that can be very important in some areas.

Farmer Fred  16:26

The heirloom that has done well for me consistently over the past probably 15 years is “Gardeners Delight.” It's not as small as a cherry tomato, it's more like a plum size or a little bit bigger than a cherry tomato. And it does produce throughout the season. And it's usually my latest performer as well, “Gardeners Delight”. And as far as good cherry tomato that I've always grown, it seems. and I still grow it because it keeps performing is “Sweet Million.”

Don Shor  16:52

Sweet Million, Super Sweet 100. These are all in the same category of just very, very heavy producers. Now most cherry tomatoes don't have hybrid disease resistance built in. Cherry tomatoes in general had not had that. And if you're listening in an area where diseases are prevalent, you might look for the disease resistance listings on the label of some of the newer hybrids because that can be a problem especially in places where people have rainfall during the summer. But I would say that the Sweet 100, Sweet Million crowd, you can't go wrong with them. And in general, cherry tomatoes of course are very, very successful. I do want to mention one there's a local favorite over in the Davis area because we've got an older gentleman who has been advising the Master Gardeners here for years and he's absolutely right about “Fourth of July”. Fourth of July is a consistent performer. You will have fruit by the Fourth of July even if you planted on or about the first of May, as I've done, to test that. It's a very pretty, bright red color. Good flavor. Small, three to four ounce fruit. Very productive, relatively compact plant, it's actually described as being determinant. But my experience is it continues after that first wave of fruit and continues to produce later into the season. It's been a very consistent performer and I find myself recommending it to novice gardeners along with a cherry tomato and a good hybrid and maybe one heirloom that catches their fancy because of the name or something like that. And that's three or four plants. That should give you enough tomatoes for a summer if you're just a first time gardener.

Farmer Fred  18:26

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2023 TOMATO PREVIEW, PART 2

Farmer Fred

Let's get back to our conversation about tomatoes for 2023 with California nursery owner, Don Shor, who reminds us if you're a first time gardener: don't let your eyes get bigger than your tummy.

Farmer Fred

Oh, please, first time gardeners out there, please have a small garden. Only start with a few plants. And like you say, those training wheel tomato plants are an excellent way to begin. A smaller tomato, a cherry tomato, a mid-sized early performer and maybe one that's going to give you something that is a good slicer.

Don Shor  21:03

A bigger fruit and a bigger plant. And the thing is I also deal with a lot of customers where we are who have limited space, you know, a lot smaller backyard. That's where the determinate tomatoes can really be helpful. You know, these are the ones that grow essentially to a certain size they they more or less terminate in a bloom, it's not 100%, but they tend to put on one big crop and then they're pretty much done, on relatively compact plants. Ace is a good example of a determinate tomato. One of the best known ones is Roma, which will produce almost no matter what you do. And a lot of new gardeners may not have enough room to train a 12 foot vine, which is what an indeterminate tomato vine is capable of becoming. They may not have gone out and bought an actual tomato cage that really holds a tomato plant, they probably bought one of those little 32 inch things that hardware stores sell (which are better for pepper plants). And they're gonna have tomatoes running all over the place. So they're probably better off with a more compact variety that produces reliably, kind of all at once. It frees up the space in August or September for the fall crops stuff that you want to start putting in at that point, and gives gardeners enough tomatoes to freeze, to make some sauce, and feel successful. One of the biggest issues with tomatoes, honestly, as you and I both know, is training them and keeping them in their place. Because they can become very large plants and that's great. The bigger it is the more fruit you typically get on a variety. But you’re talking about an 8, 10, or 12 foot vine in some cases.

Farmer Fred  22:23

And just for the sake of clarification, determinate tomato plant tends to produce most of its tomatoes at one time, perfect for canning purposes. And indeterminants are that sprawling vine that will start producing in July and keep producing through November. It may slow down a little bit when it gets too hot. But generally speaking, it's a manageable but consistent supply of tomatoes throughout the year.

Don Shor  22:48

Yeah, my father was a tomato gardener in coastal San Diego and he could plant tomatoes in January and still be harvesting them when he was putting in the new ones next January, because they never froze back. They would continue steadily all through the season down there, also becoming 12 to 15 foot vines. Determinate varieties have some advantages. And for complete novice gardeners, there's even these very dwarf tomatoes that have come on the market. And I went ahead and tried a couple of them. Little Napoli, Little Sicily, names like that. And I don't know what you officially call these. They are definitely determinate because they only grow  to about 18 inches. And they set one big crop of about 10 fruit, about three ounces each. You could fit it in a 10 gallon container with no problem. You could even stick a little Baby Bush Basil plant in there if you wanted to. And it was a fun thing to do. It's obviously not something that a serious gardener is going to do. But for someone who's just getting started with gardening, it actually was a pretty fun way to go. Though you may be limited for space. I have a lot of customers here in a college town who are living in an apartment with a balcony. Maybe there are tomatoes out there that will fit in your situation. Tumbling Tom is another one that you can do as a hanging basket tomato. The key with these, they still have pretty big root systems, so you gotta keep them watered. And during the drought years we've had a lot of problems with people just insufficiently watering their tomato plants, and that really curtails yields, late in the season.

Farmer Fred  24:08

And if you have the “climate change” square on your Farmer Fred Bingo card, you can cover it now. Because determinant tomato plants may be our biggest help for a tomato garden with climate change with these wacky swings of the weather because a determinate tomato is going to give you a nice crop and then probably hunker down for some unusual late summer weather.

Don Shor  24:29

Yeah, people want to know how they can have a vegetable garden and conserve water and honestly most vegetables need on a square foot basis about as much water as your lawn does. Most people don't have a 2000 square foot vegetable garden; but they do have a 2000 square foot lawn. So the first way to conserve water is get rid of the lawn and just convert 10% of it to vegetables. Tomatoes, need a lot of water when the fruit is developing and expanding. And then in the case of a determinate type, you can do just like the farmers over here in Yolo County do when the tomatoes are nearly ripened: basically shut off Is the water at that point. If it's in the ground in a container, that would be a little too extreme, but you can certainly cut back on the watering. As the fruit is ripening, harvest your fruit and you're done. And so your plant has gotten a good amount of water, you've gotten a reasonable crop from it, you clear it all out, it's the end of August, it's time to plant brussels sprouts.

Farmer Fred  25:17

We should point out that Don lives on class one agricultural soil. For those of you that have clay soil, you may want to be a little bit more judicious about your watering of your tomato plants. You don't want the roots sitting in water.

Don Shor  25:30

Correct. And also many people are probably gardening in raised planters such as Farmer Fred. Which is a whole different watering discussion.

Farmer Fred  25:37

It's a lot of water in a small area for short periods of time. It all has to do with water footprints. But that's a whole different episode.

Don Shor  25:49

Well, what you do is, and I hear from this guy, Fred Hoffman, that you go out and you get a soil moisture meter that has a Bluetooth thing that tells your computer when you need to water? Well, you got to just get your computer to figure out how to go out there and turn on the water.

Farmer Fred  26:01

Yeah, it's a combination, moisture meter and soil temperature gauge. And yes, it'll even set off an alarm if it gets too dry.

Don Shor  26:10

So when you're on vacation, it just tells you that someone needs turn on the valve.

Farmer Fred  26:15

Oh, no, you just do it from your smartphone. That's all. You get one of these modern irrigation control systems where your phone can do everything, including close your garage door. But on a different topic, what tomatoes are you starting? And what are you growing that's new this year in the way of tomatoes?

Don Shor  26:34

Well, there's a new variety that I started two years ago on the basis of a customer's recommendation and planted it last year as well. And I can now tout it highly. It's called Rugby. Rugby is a new hybrid, it's got VFF. You want to explain to people what that means?

Farmer Fred  26:50

Verticillium and fusarium strains 1 and 2 resistance, I guess.

Don Shor  26:56

Two of the three strains of fusarium. And Rugby is a very large sauce type tomato. It's like a giant Roma except the plant is in fact indeterminate and  produces  roughly six to eight ounce fruit which is way bigger than a Roma. And they're very meaty, they hold up well in the heat. They continue producing well, all the way through the season unlike a Roma which is a determinate, all at once, kind of tomato. So Rugby is one that we're growing, we were able to bring in the seed. You can still order the seed online, there's a couple American seed companies that carry it even though it was introduced in Bulgaria. And Rugby is a phenomenal producer that has moved up rapidly, the fastest ascent from my “Try This” list to my top 10 tomato list that I've actually ever seen for varieties on my lists, which have been ongoing for 4 decades now. The Rugby is now up there in my top 10 as one that will replace San Marzano in your garden, and replace Roma in your garden as a sauce and salsa tomato.

Farmer Fred  27:58

Rugby V F F hybrid, available now at totallytomato.com, one of my favorite tomato catalogs and also from Edenbrothers.com. And maybe, if you're a real gardener, you probably have a stack of about 25 Garden catalogs that you peruse this time of year, every year. And I've pulled aside a few of those that have tomatoes on the cover because I want to see what these new ones are. And when you read their descriptions, you well, let's just say, that if you're familiar with how they used to describe the Playmate of the month in Playboy, as far as what they like, you know, things like “walks at sunset along the beach”, things like that. A lot of these descriptions of tomatoes in catalogs are very similar in that regard. So for instance, Gurneys catalog features their tomato of the year as the Early Darling hybrid. They say, “this new variety raises the bar on early season tomatoes, Early Darling. Brilliant red, three to four ounce fruits are some of the best tasting, flavorful, extra early tomatoes that we've tried.”  And they're not biased at all.  It goes on to say: “it has high crack resistance, the fruit quality is superb.” What is the downside to “high crack resistance”?

Don Shor  29:18

Tomato cracking can lead to spoilage as the fruit is ripening, and it is characteristic of some heirloom varieties. It's been a huge problem for me with Amish Paste, which for a long time was was one of my favorite sauce tomatoes. And as they're expanding and then beginning to ripen, splits will occur in the skin up near the stem. And if that happens and any moisture is in there at all, it'll start to rot and decay very quickly. So you tend to have to harvest them before they're fully ripe, and it can lead to some spoilage. So crack resistance, which I think is usually related to moisture irregularities. In other words, keeping the soil evenly watered can be a big problem on some varieties and I'm assuming that this is more of a problem in high rainfall places, when the rainfall is erratic. That's my best assumption on that. I didn't know that they could breed or select for that. But I do know some of the old heirloom types that can be a real problem. Some of the Italian heirlooms I mean, I'm a big fan, as you know of “Costaluto Genovese”, the ones that have that fluted, I don't even know how to describe it, but the fascinatingly ribbed pattern, they can split along those ribs and that can become a point of spoilage. So crack resistance could be a very desirable characteristic. Gurney’s wouldn't be my first go-to company for things like this. I’d go to a company like Burpee that has a long history of introducing really good varieties. Nothing against Gurneys, but that's just not ever been their background. So I tend to, like you have, I think there's about 15 or 20 catalogs stacked up on my table right here including companies that are nothing but tomatoes, and companies that have been famous for decades for their tomato varieties.

Farmer Fred  30:50

You mentioned earlier the “Bodacious” tomato from Burpee. Their new one is “Vivacious”.

Don Shor  30:56

Yeah, I've got some of that going. They're not cheap. Notice the seed price.

Farmer Fred  31:00

Oh, 20 seeds for $8.95.

Don Shor  31:03

Yes. So we're gonna have a little premium price on those orange ones. But yes, I do kind of trust their descriptions because they know they have a reputation to uphold. There's also, locally here in the Sacramento Valley, and also in the East Bay, Brad Gates, of Wild Boar Farms. Always has new to me anyway, new ones that I either haven't tried before, or don't recall him having had before. These are not hybrids. These are open pollinated selections that he's stabilized. So they're like heirloom, but they're modern. So they're modern heirlooms, right? There's a definition of an oxymoron. He's got one called Napa Chardonnay, that I think is just fascinating. And I'm going to grow this one. It's a very productive cherry tomato. With pearlescent pale yellow fruit.

Farmer Fred  31:50

Okay, pearlescent.

Don Shor  31:52

Yes, sweet, rich flavor and hangs well. This is a key thing that I noticed that on some varieties. You can harvest whole clusters at once. Anyone who's grown cherry tomatoes knows that could be a big selling point, having to go out there and pick them off individually out of clusters with fruit at various stages of ripening. That's annoying. So this one will hang on there until the whole cluster is ripe. You can pick it like a cluster of grapes and bring it in and I can't wait to see a pearlescent pale yellow cherry tomato.

Farmer Fred

Pearlescent.

Don Shor

Napa Chardonnay.

Farmer Fred  32:23

Napa Chardonnay. All right. I'm still rolling in my head the idea of “high crack resistance”. Does that mean that the skin is really thick?

Don Shor  32:35

I would assume it probably means tougher skin, and that actually has some advantages, as we know. There’s “Champion.” One of the reasons I come back to that, and I also mentioned “Lemon Boy” in this regard, those are two that typically still have good fruit on them in the first or second week of November. Why? Because they're tough skin. You might think tough skin isn't necessarily desirable, especially if you'd like to cook with tomatoes. And some of the sauce type tomatoes will emphasize how they're thin skinned and easy to peel. Well if anything goes wrong, like say, I don't know, perhaps four inches of rain in early October, which happened last year, four inches of rain in late September, which happened two years ago, something like that. Or hail in early fall or just a sudden period of colder weather. Any blemish in the skin of a ripening tomato will become a point of entry for decomposition organisms. In other words, bacteria and stuff that will get in and cause the fruit to just go bad right there on the vine. Tougher skinned ones and Champion and the yellow lemon boy,  are two that I know for a fact just have a tougher skin. They hold up better. And I would think crack resistance may be another way of saying tougher skin but you know, tougher skin is not really good catalog marketing jargon.

Farmer Fred  33:42

Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean by catalog descriptions. Sometimes these descriptions might be couching something else.

Don Shor  33:50

For a slicing tomato, that wouldn't be a big issue when you're cutting into wedges for your salad. Yeah, if you're cooking it into a sauce you're probably gonna have to skim out those  skins but it is really cool to live in a place where you can have tomatoes at Thanksgiving.

DAVE WILSON NURSERY

Farmer Fred  34:04

You have a small yard and you think you don't have the room for fruit trees? Well, maybe you better think again. Because Dave Wilson Nursery wants to show you how to grow great tasting fruits: peaches, apples, pluots, and nut trees. Plus, they have potted fruits, such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries, figs, grapes, hops, kiwifruit, olives and pomegranates. All plants, that you can grow in small areas. You could even grow many of them in containers on patios, as well. It's called backyard orchard culture. And you can get step by step information via their You Tube videos. Where do you find those? Just go to dave wilson dot com, click on the Home Garden tab at the top of the page. Also in that home garden tab, you’ll find a link to their fruit and nut harvest chart, so you can be picking delicious, healthy fruits from your own yard from May to December here in USDA Zone 9.  Also in that home garden tab? You're going to find the closest nursery to you that carries Dave Wilson's quality fruit trees. They are in nurseries from coast to coast. So start the backyard orchard of your dreams at DaveWilson.com.

2023 TOMATO PREVIEW, PART 3

Farmer Fred

You're listening to the 2023 Tomato extravaganza with nursery owner Don Shor. and let's delve into the topic of thwarting Summer diseases of tomatoes.

Farmer Fred  35:39

This description for the Early Darling hybrid tomato that's in the Gurney’s catalog also goes on to say that: “the determinate plant bears very heavy yields before summer diseases set in.”

Don Shor  35:52

Right. So there's a rainfall climate issue. We don't usually get summer diseases here in the Sacramento Valley or anywhere in interior California. Unless they're soil borne diseases such as verticillium, fusarium, or the nematode problem, which is a parasitic organism. They're talking about, probably, late blight, which can be a big problem in places where it rains. We don't have overhead sprinklers on our tomatoes here. And so once we get to May, and the humidity is dropping every day to let's say, the 20s or 30s or lower, pretty much every disease stops. I had a customer come in a couple of years ago that had just moved here from Indiana and he just walked in and said, “Okay, I just planted my 50 tomato plants and they're two feet apart”. Oh, right. That's gonna be a fun jungle by mid summer. And he wants to know what fungicide rotations were recommended here in California to keep those summer diseases at bay. Because back there, they use three. They rotated them, which is very important. If you're listening in Indiana, or Florida or places where it apparently rains in the summer, you want to use differing modes of action. You don't have to worry about that anywhere, I think, west of the Mississippi and south of Oregon. So if you're in a dry climate, where you're irrigating in the summer, and there's no overhead rain, and no sprinklers or nothing like that happening, you might get a little late blight on a tomato plant. And you can typically prune that right out, put it in a bag, dispose of it. And that's the end of it. But if there was a place where you had a rainstorm, and there was a little late blight on a tomato plant, and there have been years when this happens, they'll just move right down the row in his 50 tomato plants that are two feet apart. You have an infection laboratory there, you're asking for trouble when you plant them that close together. You didn't realize how big they get out here. But the good news is, typically summer diseases are not a huge issue for us in the dry climate that we have.

Farmer Fred  37:40

But the problem is, you can create those problems if you have a vegetable garden right next to a lawn and the lawn has sprinklers. If that sprinkler water hits those tomato plants, especially if it's late in the afternoon, you could have those disease issues.

Don Shor  37:57

Right . Or if you don't have full sun or if they're real crowded and or you add all those things up and you do get something like late blight, you might have it spread rapidly the next time the sprinklers come on in our climate. Just allowing them to be a little more open, perhaps pruning it out as soon as you see it, learning to recognize the three different leaf blight diseases that typically happen on tomatoes. And the summer one is the late blight, it can really cause a lot of dieback very rapidly. So once you see that, if you've had it, try to adjust how you're irrigating, try to prune them away from each other a little bit. The only time I'd recommend pruning tomatoes is for disease problems like this. We generally don't have to prune tomatoes at all in our climate. But there are places where I'm told they do this specifically to reduce the density of the interior of the vine to get better airflow through there to keep them from growing all over each other so that if they do happen to get late blight, it tends to at least move more slowly and they can do something about it. There are fungicides labeled for it and the may choose to do some of those. But in general, our best recommendation is to use any change in the environment that you can adapt , in order to reduce the spread of something and of course remove it quickly. If you see leaves getting infected or worse still, a whole branch beginning to die back rapidly.

Farmer Fred  39:07

Space your tomato plants three to four feet apart. Full sun is good. I'm rethinking the whole idea of full sun though, for us. And I'm wondering if late afternoon shade isn't a bad idea with some of the hot summers we have started getting.

Don Shor  39:23

Yeah, this is how my comparison isn't completely fair because I moved my entire vegetable garden because of gophers. A place where there were no gophers and still are no gophers. That happens to get shade from about five o'clock on. Full sun all morning, all afternoon. And then, in the very hottest part of the day, the shadow pattern was going over those plants so that may be why some of my varieties didn't have as bad sunburn. It wouldn't be a bad thing to have a little bit of late afternoon sun on them. Of course we're trying to tell people to plant tomatoes in the shade. That generally is not a good plan, but a little shade from the 116 degree temperatures, that might make a little difference in how much fruit gets to the table.

Farmer Fred  40:00

Well, since you brought it up, mention a few tomato varieties for people who maybe at most only have six hours a day of full sun.

Don Shor  40:08

“Ace” is a good one for that. It's a nice compact grower. “Shady Lady” if you can find it. Shady Lady is another compact grower that people have done very, very well with. It is one of the smaller fruited types. I think any of the girls, really: “New Girl” would be one of those good choices. You did the “Valley Girl” and there's “Dirty Girl” out there for some people who want the open pollinated version of “Early Girl”. I think that “It’z a Keeper” would be great. And I think that almost any one, two, or three ounce fruit type cherry tomatoes or the slightly larger ones are going to be good choices. People who only have one side of the house they can garden on. They will ask, which is better, the east side or the West Side? With that choice I'd go with the East Side. Yes, morning sun is better than reflected afternoon sun, you might not even get fruits that was hit with reflected afternoon sun because of harm to the pollination process from those kinds of temperatures. And they have found that cherry tomatoes grow into these monster vines, but they do produce well in that situation. So looking for smaller fruiting types would almost surely be a better bet than trying to grow a very large fruited tomato, where you only have  four to six hours of sun. It really gets into the definition of what is full sun. Eight hours a day, in my opinion is full sun. Four to six hours is the minimum. Anything less than that it's going to be very challenging to do well with tomatoes. I have tested a couple others. I'll say it slowly. “Principe Borghese”. It is the sun drying tomato, and in a surprising amount of shade, it yielded well. I was very happy with it. So that's one that people might want to grow if they're into Italian cooking and want to sun-dry their own tomatoes, that one did well. It's a small fruit. So again, I think there's smaller fruited ones that yield more quickly, probably better choices in that shade situation.

Farmer Fred  41:45

I am facing a new challenge this year here since the January wind and rainstorm blew down my neighbor's 60 foot cedar tree, which fell in my yard. And he also took out his suffering oak tree that was next to it. So for the first time in six years, I have a full sun backyard, which means this will be a very experimental year for me to see what does well here.

Don Shor  42:09

Yeah, you're gonna have more heat on the plants when they're blooming. And that can be the other effect of heat that we don't talk about as much. Many tomato plants won't pollinate. Tomatoes self pollinate. They don't need bees or anything like that. They're all self pollinating until it gets above about 90 degrees. And some of them, like “Beefsteak”, does not do well here in the valley when we are above 90 degrees. And that is like most of the summer. So when they flower, the flowers just fall off. And you'll probably want to look at some of those reliable ones that are somewhat more heat tolerant with respect to self pollination, not just with respect to how well the fruit can take that kind of heat, but whether they're going to even set fruit for you. I had a customer who planted on the west side, when he had the choice of east or west. He did the west side. He brought me a picture of four tomato vines growing great, not one of them, but four different varieties. Not one of them had any fruit because he had managed to create a spot that was too hot for them to properly self pollinate. It was literally too hot for the flowers to set fruit. So you may want to do a little experimenting and see what can take those kinds of high temperatures better for self pollination. I do keep coming back to “Champion” for that because I directly compared “Champion” and “Better Boy” in that regard and in a very hot summer when they were side by side with comparable conditions. “Champion” did continue to fruit longer during the season. The thing to look at in the cage: are the fruit distributed all the way up the cage, or there are a whole bunch of fruit down in the bottom two to three feet ? And then does it goes up and out of the cage and all the next fruit is on the branches that are cascading to the ground at the end of the season? That's your best indicator as to whether that variety was pollinating okay during higher temperatures. “Early Girl” generally does not. “Better Boy” does okay. “Champion” definitely did better.

BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER

Farmer Fred  44:00

With a name like jumping worm, you would expect this soil creature to be hopping all over the country. And it is. More and more locales are reporting outbreaks of this mulch eating, soil tilth destroying worm. So, there are more new contingents of gardeners with concerns about this not necessarily a good guy.

Debbie Flower and I talked about jumping worms on two previous episodes of the Garden Basics podcast, first in Episode 126 back in August of 2021, and again, with an update, in Episode 217 in August of 2022. I would invite you to go back and listen to those two shows, there will be links in the show notes.

However, we are updating jumping worm information in the latest Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast. If you are searching for more information about the jumping worm, you can get it in the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter, including a side by side comparison of jumping worms and earthworms so you know what you’re looking for. Plus, we mention two new control tactics that are being researched at the University of Wisconsin. And we have some calming advice. We may need to learn to live with this critter, but there are ways to keeping your soil in top shape.

All that is in today’s Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter.

For current newsletter subscribers, look for the issue entitled, “Jumping Worms Update, Again”. If you are already a subscriber, it’s probably in your email, waiting for you now.  Or, you can start a free subscription or read it online, it’s free! Find the link to the newsletter in today’s show notes or sign up at the newsletter link at our homepage, gardenbasics dot net.

2023 TOMATO PREVIEW, PART 4

Farmer Fred  45:45

I would imagine being that it is California that on the first Sunday in February… did we have one sunny weekend in February? I can't remember. But it's usually the first sunny weekend in February, people flocked to the nurseries to get their tomato plants. Did you have that run?

Don Shor  46:01

Oh, yes. Oh yes, we've been talking to people about tomatoes since late January. Mostly they're kind of understanding this year with the pouring rain alternated with freezing weather that it's a little inappropriate. But we all say repeatedly. For best results, we plant tomatoes in April, peppers and eggplants in May.

Farmer Fred

Yes, melons too.

Don Shor

And after we get the 14th person asking when we're going to have them I say all right, next week, I'll bring in our first sacrificial tomatoes. We'll put them out there. And you can watch what happens to tomato seedlings when they're outside on nights that are dropping to the upper 30s and low 40s. It is not frost that we're worried about. The roots gets so cold, they immediately start to show macro and micronutrient deficiencies, they stop growing, they just look basically looks stunted and unhappy. And then when they bring new plants in two weeks later, they're much more robust and they throw out the first ones. So I call them my sacrificial tomatoes. They're out there with a little sign over them right now that says, “it's too early”. And that seems to get the point across. Yeah, we want to buy tomatoes early. I get these old guys that want them early, they're going to transplant them. They want to know why none of us sell six packs of tomatoes anymore. That's a whole other conversation. I say, Well,  if you really want tomatoes in late January, early February, you need to go to a place that has a heated greenhouse. There's a good nursery chain in Sacramento that has heated greenhouses. Go to them because they'll probably, I assume so, be willing to go in the greenhouse and bring you a couple plants to sell them to you right out of the greenhouse. You don't want to put them out in the open with nights getting that cold. It’s not good for the seedlings.

Farmer Fred  47:31

Yeah, you've pointed this out many times as well that you don't want to put tomatoes in the ground to be beset by the ravages of nature until the nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees.

Don Shor  47:46

Yeah, 50 to 55 is ideal. Soil temperature is what really matters. So those of you with raised planters can find with your high tech soil sensors, soil temperatures of 60 degrees is what we look for. For tomatoes to go into the ground is typically  about the third week of April. Some guy has a birthday, I can't remember his name. (Editor’s note: his birthday is April 28th). He has his birthday about the third week of April (APRIL 28th!) and so we all plant on his birthday, daytime highs around 80. Typically that's late April, you don't put your peppers and eggplant in then, though. The tomatoes will recover. They'll just sit there and do nothing if it's too cold, but they'll catch up. A few weeks later you've gained very little if anything. Peppers and eggplants, if you plant them before the soil is about 70 degrees will be stunted. Plant them when the nighttime temps should be around 60 degrees and we've hit 85 during the day at least a couple of times. Your peppers are going to be stunted all season if you plant too soon. I test this every year just for fun, we put a few in early, but more than a month later the ones put in a month later always outperform the first ones that I planted, they're set back by being put in early. Tomatoes aren’t as bad. They'll recover because they're typically rather vigorous plants but there's no advantage to it and sometimes we get late frost, hail, or things like that that come along and do more damage to them. So there's no no real gain from early planning. We don't have to hurry here. We've got a season that goes all through October practically. You're gonna you have a long growing season here and you don't really have any reason to rush out there and get them planted in the first sunny weekend in February.

Farmer Fred  49:10

The beauty of living here where were we do in California you could start tomato seeds in April, plant them in June and have tomatoes by August and have plenty of tomatoes.

Don Shor  49:25

I test this every year by planting some in the first week of July because I always have some leftovers and some plants in the first week of August. And plants put in in the first week of August, I'm running the water a lot and there's peppers and things like that on it. It is not with my regular tomato water line. It gave me great yields in October. Each plant produced more than 20 fruit. So we have a long season here and it's very sunny. We have zero cloud cover and zero rainfall basically between first of May and the end of September typically, so they get everything they need and the soil is still warm. They'll keep going so you can plant in July, it's not really too late. If you plant in early June, sure, you'll get more yield. If you get things in earlier and get them trained up and have more flowers or more fruiting points, that is not too late. It's gonna be a late start for a lot of people this year, the soil is completely saturated here in 2023. With all the rainfall not just happening now, but happening in the next week or two as well, apparently. So there's going to be saturated soil conditions. It is going to be a while before people can get in and prep their beds. Don't worry, you're not too late, we're not going to run out of tomato seedlings. I sometimes hear that concern, there's going to be plenty of seedlings out there, if anything, kind of a glut at first. And you can continue planting all the way through May and into June.

Farmer Fred  50:35

And if things go haywire in May, there will be tomato plants probably in one gallon or two gallon containers. At the nursery.

Don Shor  50:43

We learned this a long time ago. Yeah, we'll take some of the ones that are getting a little taller and stick them in one gallon within two or three weeks, if not faster, they're rooted all the way to the bottom. Personally, I do recommend for those of you old guys out there who buy your plants early because you want to get them and you're afraid we're all gonna run out, keep on moving them up. If they're in a little three inch pot, four inch pot, or worst of all the little six packs, get those into a bigger container to get a bigger root system and a healthier plant. By the time my plants go in the ground, they're very typically 18 to 24 inches tall, sometimes taller, they've been sitting in one gallon containers in a nice sunny location. They've been growing nice and healthy and they go right in the ground, they don't miss a beat. And what I hate to see is people buying four inch pots of tomatoes in March and planting those four-inch, little plants out in early May. They're a little stunted at that point, they got some catching up to do. So invest in a one gallon container and potting soil and move them on up to the next size, keep them moving, so the root systems can develop properly.

Farmer Fred  51:39

If I'm transplanting tomatoes, historically, I do the transplanting during the NCAA basketball playoffs which are going on now. And if they need another transplanting, that would be probably in mid April. And I wait for my birthday (April 28) and transplant them again or into the ground.

Don Shor  51:58

Transplant them again or into the ground if it's appropriate. Yes, right. Everybody needs to have that one place near the front door or outside on the south side, that traps a little heat so that they don't have to worry about them on a cooler than average night. And place them where it's warm during the daytime where the plants can grow nice and healthy, where it's easy to keep them watered, that's really important. By the time mine go in the ground, some of them have been in one gallon pots for 2-3-4 weeks, but they're nice and healthy. That's the key. So if you do grab them early, I know the type. You know, when I see a display of tomatoes, I own a nursery and I walk over to it, look at it, and see what they've got. Here's one I don't have. I'll buy that one. If it's really March. I know I understand this. I then think All right, this one goes into one gallon cans as soon as I get home because I know it's gonna be a few weeks before it gets in the ground, keep them moving, keep them healthy, then you'll get a good start to it very commonly, I used to joke that I'm planting them below the gopher zone because I'll dig a nice deep hole, 18 inches deep, if I have to drop them way down the bottom because they will root out from the stem. So planting your tomatoes deep is actually a very good way to go. And my joke is that gophers are lazy and don't go that deep. So they they've actually gotten past the gopher zone by doing that. It also gives you better results in the long run. A deeper rooted plant gets off to a better start.

Farmer Fred  53:13

BY THE way, we should point out that the tops of the tomato plants are still above ground, correct?

Don Shor  53:19

Yes, yes, indeed. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. Yes.

Farmer Fred  53:22

It's called photosynthesis. It's one of those things. I'm looking forward to this year. For us it’s a very different tomato growing year, but very satisfying. And besides that, we are out of homemade salsa. And I need to make more.

Don Shor  53:39

I think the biggest difference this year will be there's plenty of soil moisture. And we didn't realize last year how big an impact that had. The last two years at such low rainfall 2021, and 2022, that when you went out to plant you were digging down into soil that was dry. And I realized that my whole bed I put on the drip system, I ran it for actually several hours to completely hydrate the whole zone. Needless to say, that won't be necessary here in 2023. The soil, if anything, is, I think the term is, field capacity. It's completely fully saturated and water is running off as I look out the window, though I don't think I'll have any concern with that. But a lot of the impact and a lot of people out there maybe it was their first or second year gardening started in the pandemic and they were had really disappointing results. The soil was very dry. It wasn't your fault. Yes, you weren't watering enough. But if you had no way to know that there was literally no soil moisture down there. This year, we're off to a much better start as far as that goes.

Farmer Fred  54:33

As I always caution, all gardening is local, your results may vary.

Don Shor  54:37

Yes, every year is different. That's the weather you know hot, cool. Lots of rain, drought. Tomato plants need even moisture when they're getting going or else they just don't do well.

Farmer Fred  54:47

What about fertilizer?

Don Shor  54:48

Well, you mentioned that I'm on class one agricultural soil and so if they get anything at all, it's something at the time of planting, either put down in the hole or it's actually typically in the soil.  I moved them into these new potting soils that already have plenty of nutrients, I might give them one feeding with fish emulsion as they're getting going. And that's it. I don't think for most people listening in an area with reasonable true garden soil that is necessary or advisable to give a lot of nitrogen to tomato plants. Let the plant tell you, let the plant be your guide. If it's not growing well it might need some nitrogen and that's pretty much all it's likely to need. I do not recommend high phosphorus fertilizers. Don't add any of those funky soil additives that your friend on Facebook mentioned, they do not need Epsom salts. I saw one recently where a lady was putting a cup of sugar in the hole when she planted tomato plants because they quote made them sweeter. Let's suggest that maybe social media is not your best place to go for advice on how to plant your tomatoes. Don't overfeed them because they'll just grow really rank and won't actually fruit as well. Feed the young plants with a gentle fertilizer or turn something in at the time of planting. That's typically most places people are listening all you would need the exception would be raised planter beds where you may need to add some supplemental nitrogen either by incorporating it at the time of planting or perhaps side dressing a few weeks later.

Farmer Fred  56:07

My cat is very familiar with the sound of me shaking the one gallon fish emulsion bottle and comes running.

Don Shor  56:15

We've adopted it as a way of fertilizing young seedlings in the nursery because we're growing them organically. It's about a two day process of the fumes dissipating. It does have a sort of a nursery-ish smell so we're not going to object. It's a great fertilizer but definitely attracts certain critters.

Farmer Fred  56:34

Well there you go. All right, tomatoes. 2023. Go for it. Start small, have fun, diversify your portfolio. Don Shor. He owns Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, California. He has a website, too. Redwoodbarn.comCheck it out. Don thanks for all the great tomato tips.

Don Shor  56:52

Alright, always great to be here. Let's talk at the end of the season and see how it went.

Farmer Fred  57:00

The Garden Basics With Farmer Fred podcast comes out once a week, on Fridays. Plus the newsletter podcast, that comes with the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter, continues, also released on Fridays. Both are free and are brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. The Garden Basics podcast is available wherever podcasts are handed out, and that includes our home page, Garden Basics dot net. , where you can also sign up for the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast. That’s Garden Basics dot net. or use the links in today’s show notes.  And thank you so much for listening.