Re: Cool-season tomato plants?

**R* M* M* <r*@comcast.net>**

Mary Fran, these are good suggestions. My experience is the  
relatively new varieties bred at Oregon State University excel during  
cool springs and lagging summers. In particular Oregon Spring and  
Legend which has late blight resistance produce our earliest full  
size slicers. The early fruits are parthenocarpic, so temperatures  
are less important. In mid September we have seeded fruits and  
sometimes there is a tense period when we wonder if we are going to  
get any seed off the crop. Any way, these are two good varieties  
which somewhat paradoxically are also good in hot areas where  
tomatoes don't easily fertilize over 90 degrees. Once again the  
parthenocarpy kicks in.

Since we are talking tomatoes, I urge you all to become acquainted  
with Amy Goldman's new book, The Heirloom Tomato from Garden to  
Table. She's researched her topic and brings forth much information  
that I  found new.

Rose Marie Nichols McGee
www.nicholsgardennursery.com
On Aug 7, 2008, at 11:49 AM, yarrow@sfo.com wrote:

> At 5:46 PM +0000 8/7/08, MARY FRAN MCQUADE wrote:
>> In a recent posting on tomato tastings, you mentioned you went to  
>> one at a
>> nursery that featured cool-season tomato plants.
>>
>> Can you tell me some of the ones they were showing? Our north- 
>> shore Lake
>> Ontario climate here in Toronto...
>
> Mary Fran,
> Look for tomatoes with a low "days to maturity" number. The lowest
> I've seen is 45 to 55 (not the best tasting, though), but anything up
> to 65 or 70 should work. Or look for heirlooms from Siberia.
>
> When I plant in early spring, I use walls-o-water until nighttime
> temperatures are above 50 degrees F. They've worked better than
> bubble wrap in previous years, but this year I kept moving them
> around and lost my earliest plants.
>
> The cool-season varieties are in the third article below, or just go
> to www.gotonursery.com
> Steve Goto says a humic acid product (John and Bob's Soil Optimizer)
> is the key to tomatoes that can survive low temperatures. I bought
> some last year to try it, but then I injured my hand and couldn't
> play in the garden for a month last year, so now I'm going to try it
> this year.
>
> Here are some articles. I can send you the text if the links no  
> longer work.
>
> http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/17/ 
> HOG25OLAGO1.DTL&hw=Tomatoes+March+17&sn=001&sc=1000
>
> http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm- 
> tomatoes26jul26,1,2388408,full.story
>
> http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20070217/ai_n18625068
>
>
> Tanya Kucak
>
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