Which tomatos would you plant?

[Valiantone]

This year I was thinking of doing both some determinate and indeterminate tomatos.

The idea was to plant some determinate plants for sauce and juice so the 'maters would all be ready at the same time. And I could process and can all at once.

1st- does that make sense?

2nd- if so, what type of determinate tomatos would be best for sauce and juice?

Thanks,

Chris E.

[turtlehead]

I like Amish Paste for sauce, but they're indeterminate. Also good are Hungarian Italian and Roma, both determinate.

You are correct, determinate usually ripen more "all at once" and indeterminate usually bear over a longer season.

I like the Amish paste because I plant a couple dozen plants and can only handle so many tomatoes at a time so having a longer harvest works out well for me. I mean, my pot sizes and hours in a day are limited. The early ones might go to sauce, then later on I might make ketchup, barbecue sauce, or marinara, then when the peppers start coming in I make salsa.

Others accomplish the same thing by planting half of their plants early and half a month later.

You might also ask your question in the gardening forum.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I prefer the Roma's for my tomatoe sauce and making salsa, and we have a great sorta orange to yellow amish variety that gets half again the size of a beefsteak, they are actually meatier than the Roma and grow very well here in s central Ky, I like those mostly for slicers and summer salads, although they do can well. The ol betterboy is best for tomato juice and canning diced or peeled. Tomatoes of all varieties seem to begin to ripen about the same time here, right after the night time temps hit about 65 degrees, then theres maters till frost. Due to various climates, soils and other factors, you milages may vary.

[zookeeper16]

I personally like Celebrities for determinants. Good for canning whole, quartered or juices.

[mtc]

I like determinate plum tomatos. Around here they get much bigger than the plants are projected to be and the indeterminate just go completely bonkers. Without substantial pruning and staking they'd take over the garden.

[Callieslamb]

I like New York Beauty, Hungarian Ox Heart, Amish paste, Hawaiian pineapple, Kardinal, Big Mama, Sioux - I think they are all indeterminate. If you plant enough plants it doesn't matter what kind you put in. Celebrity is one that comes either det or indet. It is a good all-purpose tomato.

For really good sauce, I like to mix the flavor of the tomatoes rather than using just one kind. Paste tomatoes don't always have the best flavor to me.

[Graystone]

Celebrity & Roma's are what I usually plant.

[alchemist317]

I'm a big fan of the Purple Russian tomato - it's a purple/black tomato that has a wonderfully rich taste when well ripened. For salad use I like the little currant tomatoes - they're a nice tart tomato flavor and just right for a salad with no cutting required. They volunteer like crazy in future years though.

[poppy]

Romas are good and for slicers I've tried several and none beat the Brandywine Pink IMO.

[hotzcatz]

http://translate.google.com/translat...%3Den%26sa%3DG

Clicko n "home" then "Passion Tomato" to get to the translated page with the tomato descriptions in alphabetical order.

That is a link to a French website about tomatoes. It describes more varieties of tomatoes than I ever knew even existed. Sometimes the translation gets a bit weird but it is a useful page, nonetheless.

I'm still doing tomato trials to see which one we like best. The roma is a good choice for our location because it can withstand the fruit flies. I'm not sure if it has the best flavor, though.

The current varieties I'm testing are a micro-tomato which is sweet and tasty but is really tiny and is a pain to harvest in any amount. I've just planted Wanda's Potato Top, Blue Beech, Olive Doree, Des Andes Juan and Paul Robeson. There is a Black Cherry tomato which will also be tested this season. Frequently, our tomatoes get wrecked by fruit flies which ruin the fruit, perhaps you don't have that sort of problem in your area.

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by Valiantone

2nd- if so, what type of determinate tomatos would be best for sauce and juice?

The answer is very simple. Use a sauce type for sauce and a juice type for juice!

Trying to find a good determinate juice type is difficult but they are out there. You're more apt to find them classed as canners. Best one that I grew this past season was Legend. Short plant and lots of juicy fruit slightly on the acidic side. Second best was Yamal, a Russian variety.

There are lots of determinate sauce types but I find the bulk of them to be either lacking in production or taste. My own Paquebot Roma hasn't been beat out for either quality by anything that I've grown in recent years.

Martin

[EDDIE BUCK]

May I add, if the Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus has made it as far north as MD,I would get at least one type resistant to that virus. I had one year with no tomatos, won't take that chance again.That virus will sometimes wipeout the whole tomato crop. Eddie

[Valiantone]

Hey, you all Rock! Looks like I have a lot of good reading to do too!

Also, I had no idea about the Wilt Virus. Thank you Eddie.

Cheers,

CE

[wyld thang]

HI! I have no idea if this is determinate or not, but Saucy (like a Roma) does real well for me, I have a cooler shorted growing conditions. It makes a LOT of tomatoes, they come on all together, and they are pretty reliable even in bad tomato years--at my place that's about half and half. I'm hoping to someday build a greenhouse, I'm collecting old windows. I am in western oregon at 1000'

[turtlehead]

Originally Posted by Paquebot

There are lots of determinate sauce types but I find the bulk of them to be either lacking in production or taste.

Ain't that the truth?

You're going to be stuck with either adding lots of spices and herbs to your tomato sauce dishes or cooking down a "slicing" tomato forever and ever.

I always plant Amish Paste because it's so reliable for me, and then I plant one to three other paste varieties, which vary. I'm in search of the perfect sauce tomato - lots of meat, good production, crack and blight resistant, and great tasting.

[willow_girl]

I second the vote for Celebrity. If I could plant only one tomato, that's the one I'd pick. Reliable, prolific, disease-resistant. San Marzano (a paste tomato) also is very good!

I plant Rutger's. They are quite meaty, nice size and tasty in sauces, salsa's, chilli...etc.