Need help with picking out heat tolerant seeds for zone 8a/b

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Landstander Gainesville, FL(Zone 8a) Nov 23, 2010

I would like to have more productive tomato and cucumber plants, but I have a knack for veggies who like a lower temperature. My veggies were less productive than I would like, but were healthy "large bushes". Does anyone know a few cultvars that do well in hotter climates? I want to save money so I would be buying the seeds not the plants, so if you know the varieties do you know if there are any "reputable" seed companies where I can find them. Thanks all.

Tim

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kittriana Magnolia, TX(Zone 9a) Nov 23, 2010

sounds like your nitrogen may be a little heavy-tends to form more bush than fruit-try heirloom seed companies, Seeds of Change to name one, and check your ph

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Landstander Gainesville, FL(Zone 8a) Nov 24, 2010

I thought that is what it was at first also, so I did my best to watch the nitrogen closely being careful to provide fertilizer that had more phosphorus than nitrogen(Flower Tone). I also tried different mixtures of soil which were all checked for PH levels and by doing soil test(neighbor is a chemist). I did this just to see which would grow the tomatoes better. I also gave some tomato seedlings away to friends and nieghbors. The problem was that my tomatos produced very little fruit. The flowers would form but would drop by the end of a hot day. I also made sure that the plants had a bit of calcium, but the soil test showed most of the pots to be good for optimal growth of the plants. All the plants seemed to follow the same pattern. Grow large, put on lots of flowers, drop the flowers, and grow "larger". I figured I would go the heirloom route and bought a bunch from seed savers exchange(beefsteak, cherry and plum varieties), but I wanted to know if there are some sure fire growers in our temperature. I think I might just start the plants much earlier to just in case. Thanks for your reply kittriana

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Nov 24, 2010

Here's some info on flower drop in tomatoes--as it goes through discussing the various things that can cause that, it also mentions some varieties that are more tolerant of heat or humidity (either of which could be your problem) http://gardening.about.com/od/problemspest1/a/BlossomDrop.htm

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Landstander Gainesville, FL(Zone 8a) Nov 24, 2010

Thank you very much Ecrane3. I am going to look for some of those varieties now.

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