TOMATOES

by Glenn Davis, El Dorado County Master Gardener

Tomato, without a doubt the most popular vegetable garden plant; actually the tomato is the fruit of the tomato vine. A member of the nightshade family it was initially shunned in Northern Europe because of its family association, however, it was a favorite of the Mediterranean countries. Most experts think the tomato was discovered in western South America and made its way to Europe by traveling with the Spanish explorers. This would be about the year 1500 or so; by the end of the civil war in the United States it had become a common member of our gardens.

While most gardeners call it a vegetable it is really the fruit of the tomato plant, a vine, much like cucumbers, squash, peas or beans are the fruit of those vines. There are early tomatoes, mid-season tomatoes and late season tomatoes; there are also a group of tomato plants that produce their fruit all at once, determinate, and a group that produces throughout the life of the plant, indeterminate. If you want a harvest all at once then choose a determinate plant and if you want tomatoes throughout the season then choose an indeterminate plant. Most gardeners include both in their gardens and a great many gardeners choose early, mid-season and late varieties.

Now that you know about fruit production, just what do all of those abbreviations mean. An heirloom tomato is one that was developed through open pollination prior to 1940. Cultivars are tomatoes that have been intentionally cross-pollinated to bring out a particular attribute, i.e., taste, size, color, cold-resistance etc.; intentional cross-pollination didn’t really get off the ground until after 1940. Open pollination, natures accidental cross-pollination, has been carried on since plants have been around and early gardeners saved the seeds from their best tomatoes which eventually turned out to be the heirlooms of today. Before you get excited about saving seeds, remember that your tomato seeds may be crossed with who knows what and the seeds you have saved may be nothing like their parents. Experts in open pollination feel it takes about three generations of tomato plants to reach a 70 per cent success rate in hybridizing tomatoes. So if the seed package or seedling has a “C” which means cultivars, you know it is an intentional crossbreeding; an “OP” means open pollinated. Some gardeners consider open pollinated to be stronger since they have developed in a natural environment an as such are acclimated to the growing area around them. Open pollinated tomatoes are also sometimes referred to as a “variety.”

“AAS” means an All American Selection, an award given to some tomatoes as the outstanding introduction in a given year. “F” means the tomato is a hybridized plant and the number following the “F” means the stage of hybridization; a “F1” hybridized tomato is at the first level and has the strongest parental characteristics while an “F3” is at the third level and the original parental attributes will have been weakened somewhat.

Also listed with your small tomato plant may be the letters V, F, N, T and A. “V” means the tomato is resistant to Verticillium wilt, “F” means the plant is resistant to Fusarium wilt, “N” means the plant is resistant to Nematodes, “T” means the plant is resistant to Tobacco mosaic virus and “A” means the plant is resistant to Alternaria. These are the most common tomato disease problems.

If you have started your seed and they are ready to put out, do so gradually; harden them off by giving them a few hours of the outside world at a time, gradually increase their exposure until they are ready to go in the ground. Most successful tomato growers plant their seedlings with only the top three branches exposed above the soil. If you purchase your seedlings at a nursery make sure they are disease and pest free; seedlings that are green and healthy with the width and height about the same seem to do the best.

Don’t put them in the ground until a week or so after the last frost; nothing will start moving until the soil is about 70 degrees. On the other hand don’t let them get too hot or let the ground completely dry out, your fruit will be damaged or non-existent. They prefer a deep damp rich soil and very little fertilizer. Usually an application of 5-10-10 a week or so after transplanting will do; I have, however, seen gardeners who have planted their plants in composted horse manure and envied their harvest that was at least 5 times larger than mine.

Everyone has their favorites, so here are a few I like. Early Girl, seems to be everyones favorite, very early, indeterminate, and great taste. Champion, indeterminate, large deep red fruit, great taste. Celebrity, determinate, great flavor, about 65 days. Principe Borghese, a plum size, determinate, great for dehydrating and making sun-dried tomatoes as well as paste. Pineapple, heirloom bi-color, very large, sweet-fruity flavor, indeterminate, 85 days. Sun Gold, small cherry like, orange-yellow, indeterminate, great sweet taste.

Most determinates grow as bushes near the ground while indeterminates need a trellis or support system. The best, and probably as cheap as any, is to purchase concrete 4 X 4 wire, sometimes called, re-mesh, and bend it in a square or a circle whichever you prefer. To protect the fruit from the hot sun turn the branches back into the plant as they try to go through the trellis; if they fruit on the branch supported by the trellis, the weight can break the branch at the trellis.

In almost any gathering tomato growers share information about their favorites; if you have a favorite let other gardeners know about it.