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Post by paulf on Nov 1, 2016 16:04:37 GMT -5
It was a beautiful November 1 afternoon. There were only a few tomatoes left on the vines so this day was chosen to pull out all the remaining plants, do the math and write a year end report. This is the eleventh year since retiring to Nebraska from Iowa where the numbers would have been different for sure. But you get what you get and don’t throw a fit (Thanks to granddaughters Emma and Willow)
Out of thirty-five plants grown, only 30 are included in the report. There were three cherry varieties and even I do not weigh and measure those. There were two salad sized and the same was true there. There were two dwarf varieties from the dwarf project that were included but one dwarf variety only produced salad sized fruit…it was an F-1 so maybe next year or so .
Thirty plants produced just over 636 pounds of tomatoes; 21 pounds per plant average. The ten year average here in Nebraska is 431 pounds for 30 plants + or - a couple. The high production years were 2016, 200 and 2008 and the low were 2007, 2014 and 2010.
Top producers: Kolb at 341/2 pounds, Helen’s German at 33lbs and Reif Red Heart at 33lbs
Largest single tomato: Orange Russian #117 at 29 oz., Kellogg’s Breakfast at 26 oz., Giant Oxheart, Helen’s German and Provenzano each 24 oz.
largest average size fruit variety: Helen’s German-16oz., Provenzano-14 oz., Dixie Golden Giant-13.4 oz
Top varieties for flavor (which for us is the most important part of growing tomatoes) Remember, this is our personal taste from our neck of the woods.
scale of 10; 9/10 varieties: Mortgage Lifter (which of the many ML strains, I do not know), Willow’s Bulgarian ( from a SSE variety called No-Name Bulgarian, renamed for our use only), Kolb and Joe’s Pink Oxheart.
8/10: no special order: Emmy T-115 (dwarf project), Italian Sweet, Virginia Sweets, Amana Pink, Reif Red Heart, Giant Oxheart, Hungarian Heart, Dixie Golden Giant.
You may notice I like sweet large tomatoes and the list is heart heavy. Never met a heart I didn’t like. Sorry for the length…I only get this long once a year.
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Post by september on Nov 2, 2016 10:31:06 GMT -5
Great information! Not too long at all! Sounds like you had a great year.
I've never grown any of your top producers, I'll have to look into seeds. Have not had luck with Mortgage Lifter, can't remember my seed source.
You are much more diligent than I in keeping track of production weights! I do have a notebook for that, but after about the first three fruits from a plant, my good intentions start stumbling.
After chasing after other colors, I find myself being drawn back to growing big red (and 'pink') tomatoes. There is nothing like a fat juicy red slice of tomato on a sandwich. I'll always grow a few blacks and oranges or bicolors, but no more than one yellow or green per season.
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Post by coppice on Nov 7, 2016 3:30:09 GMT -5
I only grew two kinds of tomato this year. TN Britches, which produced some fruit (I are most), and Esthers cherry which produced about a bushel of tomato that went into seed production, We ate the rest two or more additional pecks.
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