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 ga