The Tomato Page - Solanum

This is the Tomato page, all ideas and methods of tomato development are discussed here.

There is a strong feeling that tomatoes need more than 20 feet separation to ensure accurate pollination. There are also those who feel that because the flight pattern and distrance of a bumble bee is 600 ft, there is no way to ensure purity of 40 tomato varieties on 8 acres. Probably the larger question is why am I trying to maintian 40 Tomato types?

Our ancestors would only work with two or three Tomato types, and this would be enough to satisfy all the canning and eating needs of the farm or village. However, collecting is an obsessive disease that can get out of control if there is no need to control it. 40 Tomatoes types has no purpose, therefore, it is important to pay attention to pollination distrances because this is the guiding principle behind keeping an obsessive collection under control. It may be important to reduce this collection down to only 25 types.

All Tomato varieties listed were selected to be 75 days or less.

Ernesto - This is a huge tomato getting to the size of a softball, however it has a woody core. This is a novelty tomato and has no purpose other than for collectors who want a huge tomato. This could be a tomato I might eliminate from my collection.

Palestinian - A very good canning tomato with large growth producing lots of nice sized fruit. Also, as long as the Isreali regime continues its racist genocide campaign against the Palestinian people, I will continue to sell this tomato.

Forest Fire - This is a very early tomato ripening at 45 days; the first week of June. Each plant is bonzi in size, producing about 6-8 egg sized tomatoes. If you are running a CSA and you choose not to use endless plastic hoop-houses this might be the tomato of choice.

Willamette - Amazing tomato, produces 3 dozen tomatoes on one huge plant. Bought this original plant at a local farmer's market, may be an F1 hybrid needing to be stablized. I used to grow Beefmaster, but it only produced 8 tomatoes in a huge plant, seemed to be a waste of time and space for only 8 tomatoes. Willamette is a far better type.

Glory of Mechelen - Old time variety, plant is large with dozens of mid-sized tomatoes. When canning tomato soup, it can be helpful to include 3 types of tomatoes to enhance flavor. Mechelen is a tomato that helps to enrich a soup. There is a reason this tomato has withstood the centuries and still remains an important tomato to include in any collection.

Genoa Ribbed - Another old time variety with a rich history and useful in tomato soup. Doesn't produce as many tomatoes as Mechelen, needs pruning; this plant gets out of control and huge. A deer ate one of my plants in half, by the end of the summer it was impossible to see where the plant had been halved. Really important to prune and pole this plant.

Brandywine - The name is probably the reason for the proliferation of this plant. Ripens late enough in the summer that by time I am able to get to it I have all my soup canning completed. This tomato is known for having a potato leaf, produces only 8 large tomatoes, but probably has a rich flavor. Further research is needed to see if this tomato has a place in my collection.

Japanese Black - Collected from a community garden. The seed stock may have been poluted, but Beaverton is something of a insect dead zone. Will grow this out and observe, may be worth obtaining pure seed stock from Tomator Growers out of Florida.

Budenovka Red - Very curious tomato, good growth, needs a pole, produces 16 tomatoes. Worth holding onto.

Belorussian Heart - Flimsy thin plant that needs to be espaled along a fence. A welded wire fence would make more sense than in a cage. This is a very thin wispy plant, yet the 6 large tomatoes it pruduces are very nice with good color and shape.

Langvin Paste - This tomato has a pepper-like or sausage shape making it very interesting. Unfortunately it also gets black rot very easily. Have been trying to do selections on this guy for three years, isolating some seeds from some tomatoes that do not get black rot. Near as I have gotten is to concentrate on small versions of this tomato that ripen early. Not worth removing as it is fun to work with.

Principe Borghese - A heritage heirloom variety if ever there was. Used for centuries to produce sun-dried-tomatoes. This tomato pruduces a small cherry sized fruit that is dry and is not suseptable to black rot. Each plant pruduces about 100 little guys that are perfectly blemish free. This means that it is possible to sun-dry them without attracting fruit flies, ensuring a perfectly healthy product each year. This is a very important tomato to include in any collection.