First Tomato of 2024

Meadowlark

Meadowlark

Well-known member
Location
Near the Big Thicket National Preserve Texas
Hardiness zone
9a
I don't normally celebrate a ripe tomato, but this one is special. It has survived 55 plus inches of rain, extreme high winds, and scorching sunshine.

Tomatoes are tough plants, in spite of having a reputation among some as high maintenance. The soil is the key to tomato growing success...tomatoes in superior nutrient rich soil thrive without problems or pests here until the heat goes above 100 deg. F. The soil is "No N P K required" amended with Epsom salts.

The tomato shown is a "Whopper" variety with several producing plants just behind including Cherokee purple, Super Sweet 100s, Bella Rosa, Tycoon, and Romas.


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Excellent Mr Lark :cool:

Ours are only just flowering, been cold since I put them out, only just warmed up a little bit.
 
I am so jealous... my tomatoes are doing the worst ever since I started gardening and I don"t know why. Same type of soil, sun, water...IDK . I am finally starting to get some but your pics are breaking my heart :sick:
 
It's still going slowly here, even in the polytunnel. It warms up during the day but night temperatures have been very low so the plants have only got away in the past couple of weeks.

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I've had some success with cuttings though..

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Dirtmechanic said:
I am still "green" with envy over all these crops coming in! I have beefsteaks and celebrity and roma and san marzano this year.
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There's a lot around here that you wouldn't be envious of that's for sure. Our onion crop seems to have bolted, and I was hoping for a bumper crop this year to string up on the back porch ☹️ and the last lot of beans were ALL eaten by slugs and snails 😣 so we have grown a few more - fingers crossed! My carrots have not even germinated, and neither have the parsnips 😩 ..... so I tend to go to my flower beds and they make me feel much better 😌🎋🌷🌷🌹🥀🪻🪷🌺🌸🌼🌻🌲🌳
 
Some trivia...

Celebrity is sometimes considered a semi-determinate tomato plant, because it grows to a certain height (3 to 4 feet) but continues to produce fruit all season...Empire tastes and looks a lot like Celebrity, but it has a larger plant and is considered determinate...Better Boy tomatoes are indeterminate and according to many growers far better tasting than celebrity http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=33496
 
YumYum said:
I think Celebrity, Empire, and Better Boys taste about the same.
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They are good with a little sulphur. Epsom salts and all that. Once I abandoned a tomato planting and left them all season, then tasted as they came and they were really bland, same tomatoes. It was the year I got contaminated compost and went to grow bags for the replanting.
 
Celebrities grow higher than 3 or 4 feet tall. I've never had any variety of tomato grow that short. Empires are not determinate. Semi-determinate maybe but I'd say Empire grows a bit bigger than Celebrity but Better Boys do grow bigger than both those varieties.
 
YumYum said:
... Empires are not determinate. Semi-determinate maybe
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Every single source for seeds for Empire I found says DETERMINATE ...as well as AI

Empire VFFNT tastes and looks a lot like Celebrity, but it has a larger plant that provides excellent cover for fruit. A great farmers market tomato. Determinate. Tomato Growers

Empire VFFNAst (72 days) – ...Plants are determinate. Russel Feed and Supply

Excellent choice for home gardens, market growers, and open field production. Determinate. Reimer seeds

Growing Habit: Determinate Daves garden

Empire Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): Determinate growth habit. AI Bing
 
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