Tomatoes That Grow Well Here

[loong]

Hi all,

I usually consider September to be the start of the growing season as i will start off seedlings so that they are ready to plant out when the rainy season starts to ease off. Well last year was basically a washout as I couldn't work my sodden plot as the heavy rains kept going so late.

We got heavy rains a few times at the end of January and that beat down a lot of my plants.

At the moment I just have 2 Black Russian tomato plants that are producing very well, the fruits don't look exactly perfect, but they taste great. Even my missus enjoys munching on these large tomatoes and she usually only l;ikes the small ones in Som Tum!

These have no overhead shade netting and for some reason have not suffered from mealybug attack that has made life difficult for my other tomato plants. They,ve even coped well with the leaf miner that moved in on the other plants about 6 weeks ago. They also seem unfazed from the extreme heat of the last week. I don't usually expect to be getting decent tomatoes at this time of year.

I've never really tried to save seeds from tomatoes before, but I will be fermenting and saving the seeds from the best fruits from these plants. I will be hoping for a better growing season this year.

So, has anyone else had success with any other varieties? I think that Soidog does well with his toms, so look forward to an update from him about how well things have gone for him lately.

[soidog2]

Black Russians did well for me too, very tasty.

This year I planted Cherry Tomatoes because they are plentiful and not bothered by the heat.

A couple of years ago I went to India & found a very good hybrid.

Plants not too tall, a lot of fruit, sweet and easy to grow.

Later on; from dropped fruit, seedlings started coming up almost as good as the parents.Unusual for hybrids.

I am now growing this open pollinated variety.

For exotics, I only have "big boy tomato" , just flowering now.

http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tomatoes/beefsteak/tomato-burpee-s-big-boy-hybrid-prod000976.html

regards

[loong]

Hi Soidog.

Certainly, the cherry tomatoes do grow well. I prefer the sungold vairiety, but unfortunately none came up this year. Think that the seeds got a bit damp.

This year I have allowed the self seeded toms grow wherever they happen to be and they are mostly cherry types. They seem to like growing in amongst the bunching onions and I have noted that these plants also seemed to avoid the mealy bug infestation, but still suffered from the leaf miner.

I am back to the Uk for a visit next month so will pick up a few packets of seeds while I am there.

Do you do anything to protect your tom plants during the rainy season?

Please keep us posted about your "Big boys"

It will be interesting to know as we have now entered the worst time of year for growing toms. If they are only just flowering now, it will be a real challenge for them to actually set fruit.

[soidog2]

I gave up babying the tomatoes, it takes too much time; I only protect them from bugs.

My quest now is to find one tasty tomato that will do well on it's own.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Scoop1]

Hi , guys, why not think about a hydroponic tomatoe in a 15 ltr bucket with 2-3mtr pvc pipe for the steak, then you can pick it up and move it when required, cooco peat is dirt cheap in thailand , when i get to thailand in the next few months , i will be setting a small farm doing hydroponic , hard to get vegetables, if all goes to plan, fingers crossed, and will bring with me the type of tomatoe i grow here in Aus, i grew a tomatoe this summer and got over 20kg/plant with the simple bucket system i used.

Thanks

Scoop1

[loong]

Hi , guys, why not think about a hydroponic tomatoe in a 15 ltr bucket with 2-3mtr pvc pipe for the steak, then you can pick it up and move it when required, cooco peat is dirt cheap in thailand , when i get to thailand in the next few months , i will be setting a small farm doing hydroponic , hard to get vegetables, if all goes to plan, fingers crossed, and will bring with me the type of tomatoe i grow here in Aus, i grew a tomatoe this summer and got over 20kg/plant with the simple bucket system i used.

Thanks

Scoop1

Hello Scoop,

I have no idea what you mean by "with 2-3mtr pvc pipe for the steak" but then I have no experience of hydroponics.

Also " cooco peat", do you mean the fibre that surrounds the coconut? Is that used for filtration or something?

The main difficulty with growing toms here is the climate, too hot or too wet with a relatively small ideal growing period in the cool season. Pests and fungus also come into the equation. I would guess that with Hydroponics, fungals are likely to be less of a problem.

Is your hydroponics in a bucket organic? If so, maybe an interesting read, why not start a new thread with more details?

[Scoop1]

Hi Loong, what i mean by the stake is i use a 2/3mtr 25mm pvc pipe to support the plant, i put it inside the bucket and dirill holes top and bottom of the bucket at the same width as the pipe and then i use plastic cable ties to hold it in place, also when it rains you can just pick it up and move it where ever you desire. Yes thats what coco peat is , but you must use the peat that has been washed out properly because it contains a lot of salt, there is proper coco peat in Thailand for hydroponic use. No it is not organic as such, it does not grow in the soil, i make my own nutrients and then dilute them in water and feed it to the plant, and if the nutrient is balanced you really cant hurt it, very simple, and versatile, and you can get it away from the rain and the heat if you desire

Cheers

Scoop

[mo99]

Tomatillos grow well for me, not much luck with tomatoes yet. I got a couple fruits from a Marglobe Supreme tomato plant, the rest died last season.... trying more heat/humid hardy varieties now, probably will keep them in pots to prevent wet-feet.

[stevehaigh]

solar fire, you can buy the seeds on ebay from merl's garden center, will ship here

[khunkeith]

Black Russians did well for me too, very tasty.

This year I planted Cherry Tomatoes because they are plentiful and not bothered by the heat.

A couple of years ago I went to India & found a very good hybrid.

Plants not too tall, a lot of fruit, sweet and easy to grow.

Later on; from dropped fruit, seedlings started coming up almost as good as the parents.Unusual for hybrids.

I am now growing this open pollinated variety.

For exotics, I only have "big boy tomato" , just flowering now.

http://www.burpee.co...prod000976.html

regards

I have been growing big boys and beefsteak tomatoes for the last 2 years. here is a photo taken last year.

I have made a lot of mistakes and learning a lot from reading on line and trial and error.

Right now, I have about a dozen plants that have been bearing fruit since about Feb 1. all green but, ranging in size from marble sized to pool ball sized.

[khunkeith]

Last year, I had ripe frout weighing it from 1/2 to 1 kilo.

But, I do have a high amount of crop failure about 3-4 weeks after transplanting to the earth. I lose about 50%. so, this year, I am trying something new. I planted the first seeds in late November in pots and transplanted them around the end of December. mid January, I started additional seeds and will transplant them in 2-3 weeks to the earth whereever I have a plant die (from whatever reason).

This season, many of the plants started to flower when they were only about 12-18" high. I pinched them off and also keep the suckers pinched off as well. Now I have plants varying in size from 18" high to about 4' high. Some of the smaller ones, I am letting flower for pollination purposes.

I wll post more photos when the tomatoes begin to ripen.

Cheers

[soidog2]

Here for your approval, are some "Arkansas Marvel" heirloom tomatoes that did rather well in daily 100 F weather.

Ripened today.

[soidog2]

Continued!

[Morakot]

Good thread! I am looking for a type suitable for tropical climate and growing in containers.

Has anyone got any experience with the Atkinson tomato (Auburn University, 1966)?

[rice555]

Hello All, I haven't tried them, but they sound like they should.

I've grown Homestead 24's and happy with the results.

The Atkinson is compaired to the 24's in this pdf.

rice555 hope the link works

http://aurora.auburn.edu/repo/bitstream/handle/123456789/1243/0364LEAF.pdf

[soidog2]

End of the season for my heirlooms.

It was an unusually good one because of the dry weather we are having.

[jphantom]

Is this link still active?

I'm a newbie on this..... Looking for ideas to grow tomatoes in Chiang Mai......

thanks

[BSJ]

Black Russians did well for me too, very tasty.

This year I planted Cherry Tomatoes because they are plentiful and not bothered by the heat.

A couple of years ago I went to India & found a very good hybrid.

Plants not too tall, a lot of fruit, sweet and easy to grow.

Later on; from dropped fruit, seedlings started coming up almost as good as the parents.Unusual for hybrids.

I am now growing this open pollinated variety.

For exotics, I only have "big boy tomato" , just flowering now.

http://www.burpee.co...prod000976.html

regards

I have been growing big boys and beefsteak tomatoes for the last 2 years. here is a photo taken last year.

I have made a lot of mistakes and learning a lot from reading on line and trial and error.

Right now, I have about a dozen plants that have been bearing fruit since about Feb 1. all green but, ranging in size from marble sized to pool ball sized.

Hi Keith, I just showed your pix to the missus and she wants to know what area your in to grow tom plants like that?

We just moved into our house near Pattaya and I am eager to get my plants on the go.

[RedQualia]

Poking around and found this thread. Thought I'd mention that my order of the "tropical hot/humid tomato seed collection" arrived yesterday:

http://www.tomatofest.com/tomato-seeds-tropical-hot-humid-collection.html

They threw in a couple of additional varieties based on my order comment -- "Florida Pink" amd "Tropic." Other varieties in the package include Arkansas Marvel, Homestead 24, Atkinson, Chocolate Stripes, Mortgage Lifter/Radiator Charlie's, Beam's Yellow Pear, Hawaiian Currant, and Anahu.

We started some seeds today (Aug 14)... Four seeds from each package -- 40 (potential) plants total. Started about half those in worm cast, and the other half in soil from the garden shop that was microwaved to kill anything in it, and then mixed with worm cast. Waiting to see how many of which will germinate. No idea, of course, but the seeds for the yellow heirlooms I brought a few years ago have never produced much of anything.

Anyway, the collection of seeds isn't exactly cheap, but nor do I think it cost prohibitive. Took 2-3 weeks to arrive by mail. No customs duties imposed.

So there ya go...

[kjun12]

Red, that place is really expensive.

[khunkeith]

Black Russians did well for me too, very tasty.

This year I planted Cherry Tomatoes because they are plentiful and not bothered by the heat.

A couple of years ago I went to India & found a very good hybrid.

Plants not too tall, a lot of fruit, sweet and easy to grow.

Later on; from dropped fruit, seedlings started coming up almost as good as the parents.Unusual for hybrids.

I am now growing this open pollinated variety.

For exotics, I only have "big boy tomato" , just flowering now.

http://www.burpee.co...prod000976.html

regards

I have been growing big boys and beefsteak tomatoes for the last 2 years. here is a photo taken last year.

I have made a lot of mistakes and learning a lot from reading on line and trial and error.

Right now, I have about a dozen plants that have been bearing fruit since about Feb 1. all green but, ranging in size from marble sized to pool ball sized.

Hi Keith, I just showed your pix to the missus and she wants to know what area your in to grow tom plants like that?

We just moved into our house near Pattaya and I am eager to get my plants on the go.

here are photos taken today 11/29/2013 We live in Phetchabun Province. I started with 27 seedlings transplanted to the ground and have 17 that are now flowering and producing fruit. It's been a lot of trial and error though. The fruit has only been developing for a couple weeks now but have 100+ ranging from marble sized to the biggest on that is baseball sized and still have a dozen or so flowers on each plant.

[Morakot]

Poking around and found this thread. Thought I'd mention that my order of the "tropical hot/humid tomato seed collection" arrived yesterday:

http://www.tomatofest.com/tomato-seeds-tropical-hot-humid-collection.html

They threw in a couple of additional varieties based on my order comment -- "Florida Pink" amd "Tropic." Other varieties in the package include Arkansas Marvel, Homestead 24, Atkinson, Chocolate Stripes, Mortgage Lifter/Radiator Charlie's, Beam's Yellow Pear, Hawaiian Currant, and Anahu.

We started some seeds today (Aug 14)... Four seeds from each package -- 40 (potential) plants total. Started about half those in worm cast, and the other half in soil from the garden shop that was microwaved to kill anything in it, and then mixed with worm cast. Waiting to see how many of which will germinate. No idea, of course, but the seeds for the yellow heirlooms I brought a few years ago have never produced much of anything.

Anyway, the collection of seeds isn't exactly cheap, but nor do I think it cost prohibitive. Took 2-3 weeks to arrive by mail. No customs duties imposed.

So there ya go...

May I ask, how you got on with this? What about the Atkinson? Any success in growth and taste?

[khunkeith]

photo today 12/16/13

my first tomato is about ripe. I put a Singha can in the photo to give it persective.

[loong]

I only have the small egg-shaped Thai toms fruiting at the moment. Problem is that they are mostly refusing to ripen, loads of fruit, but they are nearly all white. I had 6 of them that had more than a tinge of colour in a couple of cheese sandwiches today and they were delicious. Much more tasty that any toms of this sort that I have bought in the shops.

It may be because of the high daytime temperatures, but if anyone has any suggestions to push the ripening process along, I would be grateful.

[khunkeith]

I only have the small egg-shaped Thai toms fruiting at the moment. Problem is that they are mostly refusing to ripen, loads of fruit, but they are nearly all white. I had 6 of them that had more than a tinge of colour in a couple of cheese sandwiches today and they were delicious. Much more tasty that any toms of this sort that I have bought in the shops.

It may be because of the high daytime temperatures, but if anyone has any suggestions to push the ripening process along, I would be grateful.

When my plants are developed, I change to a fertilizer that is higher in phosphates that nitrogen. seems to work for me.

[loong]

I only have the small egg-shaped Thai toms fruiting at the moment. Problem is that they are mostly refusing to ripen, loads of fruit, but they are nearly all white. I had 6 of them that had more than a tinge of colour in a couple of cheese sandwiches today and they were delicious. Much more tasty that any toms of this sort that I have bought in the shops.

It may be because of the high daytime temperatures, but if anyone has any suggestions to push the ripening process along, I would be grateful.

When my plants are developed, I change to a fertilizer that is higher in phosphates that nitrogen. seems to work for me.

Can you recommend an easily available fertiliser that gives an immediate phosphate boost please?

[soidog2]

Some of this year's crop

[khunkeith]

Some of this year's crop

[khunkeith]

Some of this year's crop

when did you start your seeds? your tomatoes look great. I have only been able to pick a dozen fo far this season, 1 or 2 a day for the last week. the rest are still green. I started my seeds in mid august but, the seeding tray was overturned accidently and I had to restart my seeds again the first few days in September and transplanted them to the ground in mid October. I also wonder if the temperatures in the 50's at night, the last week or so, has effected the ripening.

[soidog2]

Planted in trays late Aug. or early Sept; not really sure now.

Put them in the ground around Oct 1st.

Swimming in fruit now.

Best regards.