Homegrown Tomatoes

Posts Tagged ‘Big Rainbow’

Here are some tomato plant updates for the week (as well as tomato seed updates).  Sorry I haven’t been around much this week — I’ve been busy with my tomatoes (not to mention with my other veggies).

Supersweet 100

I mentioned in my first tomato update post that I had three SuperSweet 100 plants, and I was going to run an experiment with them.  One I kept inside in a south-facing window.  Another I took outside to a protected area with strong indirect sunlight (as well as a couple hours of direct sun).  The third I went and planted in its final container outside.  Three weeks later, how did they fare?

It’s been rather cool here lately, so the plant I kept inside in a south-facing window is by far the tallest and has the most leaves.  However, it’s verging on leggy.  I’m keeping it inside for the time being, seeing as the forecast is for temps in the upper 30’s next week — if I sent it outside now, I’m afraid it would have a severe setback.

The one I planted in its final container in the garden is the next most developed; it has medium-sized new growth — not as much as the one I left inside, but it’s stockier — not leggy at all.  It has a nice, dark green color.

The third that I left outside in a protected location is the smallest.  I decided to go ahead and plant it in its final container out in the garden area, so it could get some more growth.  Dark green leaves, though, so that’s good.

Brandywine

All my started to grow quite well by about the 10th, when I potted them up twice since then.   I was thinking I had the red version of Brandywine, but they all ended up potato leaf style, so I either have red Brandywine with potato leaves or pink Brandywine.  Hmmm.  I’ll have to wait and see the color of the fruit.

Pineapple Tomato

These are for the Great Tomato Experiment, and they are doing very nicely.  I transferred them to the next size container, and am keeping them inside for now, given that lower temperatures are forecast during the week.  All my Pineapple seeds germinated nicely, so I have four plants to choose from — the three strongest will take part in the experiment.

White Bush

I originally said that one of my White Bush seedlings had been going for the sky.  Well, it had, then a short while later it looked like it was going to keel over.  So I brought it inside and hoped for the best.  It hasn’t been until the last few days that it’s started looking healthy — now it’s growing fine again.

The Rest of the Tomato Plants

I have Juliet, Tomatoberry, Big Rainbow, Kellogg’s Breakfastall repotted up.  I brought one Kellogg’s Breakfast inside, and everything else I left outside.  Yellow Cherry is also outside, but I’m not sure how it will fare.  I probably should bring it inside.

New Tomato Seeds Germinated

I tried for some of my legacy seeds, and so far, Green Grape and Loxahatchee are the only two up.  I had also planted newer seeds forand Tumbling Tom, and they both came up.  For the legacy seeds, still waiting on Black Krim and .

Loxahatchee is a strain I am developing.  I originally saved the seed from an unknown globe-shaped tomato that tasted wonderful, and hoped that the resulting plant would also have great-tasting tomatoes.  I didn’t know if the tomato was hybrid or open pollinated, so I wasn’t sure what I’d get.  At any rate, I’ve selected plants for three generations whose tomatoes tasted the best.

Whoops!  For some reason I was down to just 6 seeds — not sure where the rest ran off to.  So I carefully planted 3 of the seeds.  Two have germinated so far, and hopefully the third as well.

For these, I want to do two things.  First is still select the largest of the great-tasting red globes — that will be two of the plants.  The third plant I want to use as the female cross with another tomato variety.  Not sure which I want to use for the male parent of the cross.  I’m debating using Pineapple, Kellogg’s Breakfast or maybe Druzba.  I’ll have to see how this generation fares, first.

Yesterday’s Seeds

Finally, I planted two new varieties yesterday — the heirloom tomato and the hybrid Fabulous.  (If you plan on planting seeds and need some guidance, check out the germinating tomato seeds post.)

With Tomatoes and Flowers

Almost forgot, I have tomatoes on Patio, Celebrity and Husky Red (a cherry-type).  I have more blossoms on all these, plus also with Mr. Stripey (Tigerella) and Park’s Whopper.  It’s been a cooler winter than normal, so everything is growing slower than usual; I should have already had at least some almost-ripe tomatoes by now.  I’ve still got a ways to wait, though.

Today was a day for tending to my tomatoes.  Between planting tomato seeds, re-potting seedlings and transfering larger seedlings to the garden, it’s been busy.  But a fun kind of busy, because the weather was gorgeous and it was nice being out in the fresh air and sunshine.

Tomato Varieties – Re-Potted

Supersweet 100 Tomato Seedlings

OK, first was transplanting some small tomato plants up.  These were seeds I planted about 3 weeks ago, and they were growing very strongly.  These were Supersweet 100, a hybrid indeterminate red cherry tomato.  Since I had 3 Supersweet 100 plants, I am running an experiment.  One I planted into its final container outside with the rest of the tomato plants.  Another I planted up to the next container size and left outside in a location with bright indirect light.  The final I planted to the next container size up, and I am keeping it inside, on a south-facing windowsill.

My next plant was a surprise.  Some of my 10-year old seeds for White Bush sprouted and one of the seedlings was going for the sky!  White Bush is, I believe, a determinate with ivory-colored skin and flesh; I didn’t save a whole lot of information on it so I am not sure (oops).  It’s an open-pollinated tomato.  So, I planted the strong one by itself the next container side up, and thinned the remaining to the two strongest and placed then together in the next container size up.

Then there was Yellow Cherry, another of the 10-year-old seeds.  It’s an open-pollinated indeterminate yellow cherry tomato (pretty obvious from the name), but seems like it will be a smaller plant than Supersweet 100.  I thinned the seedlings to the three strongest and planted them up to the next container size.

Planting Tomato Seeds – The Varieties

I also planted more tomato seeds today.  Two were for heirlooms, and one for a hybrid I’ve been wanting to try.

The first heirloom seeds planted were Kellog’s Breakfast, an indeterminate beefsteak tomato with orange skin and flesh.  It’s a late season variety, so I don’t expect to be eating any of these tomatoes until sometime in May or June.  But I sure am looking forward to them!

The next was the heirloom seeds for the tomato variety called Pineapple.  These are the seeds I have planted for The Great Tomato Experiment, so it’s now officially underway!  Pineapple is a personal favorite, with the flesh being sweet and delicious.  Pineapple is a yellow tomato with red stripes on the skin and red marbling of the flesh.

My final tomato variety I planted seeds for today was Tomatoberry.  It’s an indeterminate hybrid tomato whose fruit is roughly the shape and size of a large strawberry.  A mid-season tomato variety, I expect to be nibbling on the first ripe fruits in late April.  Tomatoberry is supposed to be be really sweet and juicy; I guess I will find out in a few months!

Plants I’m Still Waiting On

Brandywine is taking its time at the moment; lots of seeds germinated (to my surprise) from the 10-year-old seeds.  The seedlings are still too tiny to re-pot though.  The same goes for Big Rainbow.  Both will likely be plenty big next week to re-pot to the next size container.

Celebrity Hybrid Tomato Blossom and Tiny Tomato

I had planted some Juliet seeds last week, and when I looked this morning, nary a sprout.  I went about my morning chores, then all my garden work.  When I came back in a few hours later, I was surprised to see 4 seedlings!  Juliet is a grape-shaped cherry tomato, which I do so love to plant, seeing as they are practically foolproof to grow.

Before I leave for the day, here’s a photo of one of my first tomatoes in the garden, on the plant called Celebrity. The tomato is teeny-tiny at the moment, and hopefully it will be joined by others in the very near future.

That’s all for today; see you again tomorrow!