Red snapper and Roadster grew great in 7A. I bought seeds from yall last year and extra seeds again in September Great germination rate from Lazy Dog Farm seeds! 👊🏼💯
Excellent informative video Travis. Really appreciate you, Sir! Gonna try five 5 gallon containers to grow tomatoes here. Also, five 5 gallon containers of cucumbers this year in South Florida, Jensen Beach FL zone 10b. Haven't even ordered seeds yet. I might be kind of late. Thanks. Chuck.
I have found there are a lot more determinate varieties that can take the GA summer heat, than indeterminate. Succession planting with shade cloth covering the plants helps (in addition to heat tolerant varieties of determinate 'maters). Heat still affects 2nd planting, but you can often make it work. Bella Rosa, Red Snapper, Florida 91 are some I grow every year (Zone 8a McDonough, GA with 8b about 500' down the street, not sure why we are 8a, but we are). Starting my first round of plants from seed on Monday. Oh, and we have to have at least one Sun Gold or Sun Sugar plant - if you know, you know!
I'm in Florida, zone 9b, and I only grow indeterminate tomatoes. None of them die on me during the summer. One heirloom variety, Thessaloniki, even keeps flowering and fruiting while it's in the upper 90s (°F). As for handling three and a half seasons of growth, I custom built a hurricane-proof tomato trellis system that accommodates it just fine. One of my personal varieties reached approximately 10 feet last year. Another note about the Thessaloniki: it held on even after the first frost. It didn't finally die until the record snowstorm when it reached 22°F. I picked the last two fruits from it on January 17, 2025.
The biggest problem for me is when to plant. Here in zone 10b, Southwest Florida, if you don’t plant in the winter you won’t get many tomatoes. It’s too hot to grow them in the spring and summer. But right now I have about twenty tomatoes plants that are fully loaded and ripening up! I only planted paste tomatoes and two cherries. I have one tomato that is every bit as big as a beefsteak! I’m floored over it! I did have to dig them all up twice last year and replant them after the two hurricanes left us but it was certainly worth the effort. Most of mine are indeterminate. I start them in August and plant them out at the end of September.
I`m trying Mexico Midget Tomatoes and other tiny varieties in Louisiana this year because my cherry tomatoes (Ground Cherries too) kept producing in the July/August/September heat. Has anyone else tried them? I`ve seen comments about their great flavor. I watered my big tomatoes and kept them alive and they made another crop in November/December and some green ones I brought inside were still ripening in mid January. I let them sprawl in the fall on the ground to make them easy to protect when we get frosts to get a late harvest.
Has anyone in the Deep South tried the Heatmaster? My micro-dwarf tomatoes are determinate but what they do is bloom heavily, produce about 30 tomatoes, rest a bit, and after about 15 days they do it again. I take cuttings from them to make new plants and also have very old plants I bring inside in winter. Tomato cuttings grow and bloom fast. If only a couple of your tomatoes grow well use the suckers to make a whole patch. If they`re in a pot and it`s too hot outside to set fruit bring it in under lights in the cool air conditioning and help it set fruit then put it back outside to ripen them.
After testing last summer, my 2025 tomatoes are started indoors now. I have Red Snapper, Hossinator, and Roadster, and the first crop is already 2" tall.
Planting zone says nothing about summer temperatures. It's about minimum winter temperatures, and the two aren't necessarily correlated. Someone in zone 8 in the Pacific Northwest would find the comments about heat here fairly unrelatable. Temperatures here in Northwest Arkansas are pretty comparable to what you have, at least at the peak of summer (much colder in winter). I don't have the same experience you're having, and suspect other factors are at play than just the heat. That said, while I do grow some every year tomatoes aren't really a big focus in my garden.
I like that you’re not afraid to call nonsense-nonsense!
My fav garden teacher and the competition is tough.
I live in Moultrie and started my seeds last week. All the ones I bought from y’all germinated
I agree moving from northern Indiana to southern Mississippi and gardening in both states determinates do well for me
Glad I bought some Roadster seeds. First year for those. Still love the Turkey creek. ❤😊
I planted your Red Snapper and BHN 871 last year with success. Getting those again and also trying your Cherokee Carbon.
Red snapper and Roadster grew great in 7A. I bought seeds from yall last year and extra seeds again in September Great germination rate from Lazy Dog Farm seeds! 👊🏼💯
Excellent informative video Travis. Really appreciate you, Sir! Gonna try five 5 gallon containers to grow tomatoes here. Also, five 5 gallon containers of cucumbers this year in South Florida, Jensen Beach FL zone 10b. Haven't even ordered seeds yet. I might be kind of late.
Thanks.
Chuck.
Love those Turkey creek tomatoes
I have found there are a lot more determinate varieties that can take the GA summer heat, than indeterminate. Succession planting with shade cloth covering the plants helps (in addition to heat tolerant varieties of determinate 'maters). Heat still affects 2nd planting, but you can often make it work. Bella Rosa, Red Snapper, Florida 91 are some I grow every year (Zone 8a McDonough, GA with 8b about 500' down the street, not sure why we are 8a, but we are). Starting my first round of plants from seed on Monday. Oh, and we have to have at least one Sun Gold or Sun Sugar plant - if you know, you know!
Thank you for sharing this greatness🎉🎉🎉🎉
I'm in Florida, zone 9b, and I only grow indeterminate tomatoes. None of them die on me during the summer. One heirloom variety, Thessaloniki, even keeps flowering and fruiting while it's in the upper 90s (°F).
As for handling three and a half seasons of growth, I custom built a hurricane-proof tomato trellis system that accommodates it just fine. One of my personal varieties reached approximately 10 feet last year.
Another note about the Thessaloniki: it held on even after the first frost. It didn't finally die until the record snowstorm when it reached 22°F. I picked the last two fruits from it on January 17, 2025.
Take a look at some of the open pollinated/heirloom varieties that were bred for hot and humid climates years ago like Marglobe, Bradley and Atkinson.
The biggest problem for me is when to plant. Here in zone 10b, Southwest Florida, if you don’t plant in the winter you won’t get many tomatoes. It’s too hot to grow them in the spring and summer. But right now I have about twenty tomatoes plants that are fully loaded and ripening up! I only planted paste tomatoes and two cherries. I have one tomato that is every bit as big as a beefsteak! I’m floored over it! I did have to dig them all up twice last year and replant them after the two hurricanes left us but it was certainly worth the effort. Most of mine are indeterminate. I start them in August and plant them out at the end of September.
I`m trying Mexico Midget Tomatoes and other tiny varieties in Louisiana this year because my cherry tomatoes (Ground Cherries too) kept producing in the July/August/September heat. Has anyone else tried them? I`ve seen comments about their great flavor. I watered my big tomatoes and kept them alive and they made another crop in November/December and some green ones I brought inside were still ripening in mid January. I let them sprawl in the fall on the ground to make them easy to protect when we get frosts to get a late harvest.
Shouldn’t that be Mexican little people Tomatoes?
Ever grow campari tomatoes? Its the one that did the best last year. But im in mid Atlantic sand
Has anyone in the Deep South tried the Heatmaster? My micro-dwarf tomatoes are determinate but what they do is bloom heavily, produce about 30 tomatoes, rest a bit, and after about 15 days they do it again. I take cuttings from them to make new plants and also have very old plants I bring inside in winter. Tomato cuttings grow and bloom fast. If only a couple of your tomatoes grow well use the suckers to make a whole patch. If they`re in a pot and it`s too hot outside to set fruit bring it in under lights in the cool air conditioning and help it set fruit then put it back outside to ripen them.
After testing last summer, my 2025 tomatoes are started indoors now.
I have Red Snapper, Hossinator, and Roadster, and the first crop is already 2" tall.
If you are in the south those three varieties are hard to beat. The only other I would add is Florida 91.
Hope you get better soon. Rest up this weekend.
Planting zone says nothing about summer temperatures. It's about minimum winter temperatures, and the two aren't necessarily correlated. Someone in zone 8 in the Pacific Northwest would find the comments about heat here fairly unrelatable.
Temperatures here in Northwest Arkansas are pretty comparable to what you have, at least at the peak of summer (much colder in winter). I don't have the same experience you're having, and suspect other factors are at play than just the heat. That said, while I do grow some every year tomatoes aren't really a big focus in my garden.
Totally Tomatoes has Roadster according to their web site.
You did talk about this a little bit. Could you go into further detail? It's about electroculture. Do I waste my money investing in it?