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Re: Tomato Question

At 02:42 PM 1/31/97 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi Folks!
>I haven't written to the list in a while, it's been way too cold in Iowa to
>think about gardening!
>However, it's getting close to time to start thinking about a seed order
>and I hope You can help me with a question.
>Last season ALL of our tomatoes were rather ill and yields very poor and
>not very tasty at all.
>The spring was very cold, late in coming and rainy.
>The summer hot and dry.
>All of our plants (10 varieties and several locations) were stunted and the
>new leaves were wrapped up and hard (like little "fists")
>Could this be a disease or just the terrible weather?
>The only variety that did fairly well was "Sweeet 100"
>I'm wondering if a particular variety would be better or just to plant an
>assortment and hope the year is better.
>We also added a lot of peat and topsoil to our VERY clay soil, the PH
>tested almost neutral.
>We use all raised beds.
>Tomatoes have always been a very good crop for us and this is puzzling!
>Any Ideas?????
>
>
>Thanks
>Don and Barb Sanderson


Greetings,

Odd you would mention the sweet 100s.  Last year I was living in Durango,
Colorado which is an area of very adobelike soil with a high acidity.  The
year before none of my tomatoes produced much and most froze before we could
get any. Thus we tried the sweet 100s.  They seem ideal for the type of
climate you described and thrive well in those conditions.  Two other
varieties also did well:  the Beefmasters and the Early Girls.  Have you
tried those?  I'm inclined to think that the weather may have ruined your
tomatoes, unless that is how your weather usually is.  Or perhaps you grew
the tomatoes next to something that flavored them?  I learned the hard way
to keep my herbs totally away from the tomatoes, especially the garlic.
Tomatoes for some reason seem to soak up the flavoring of other plants
around them.

We've got a few clear days coming here in which I can stake out the beds and
begin laying them but it will be months before I even think of putting
plants out.  I figure I should start the seeds in late March; that's the
best chance they'll have for early start.  ARGH, when you live in a trailer
it's almost impossible to keep the temperatures even.

Francine Rice
Highland Rose Ranch
Montrose,Colorado
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