Best Tomato (s) for North Texas

Hi,

I have never grown tomatoes before, because it is a lot of work and I'm lazy. I've grown figs, persimmons, and watermelons. However, a wild tomato vine has started growing on my front lawn. Now, I'm thinking, if I did nothing for these tasty organic tomatoes, maybe I could plant some tomatoes next year and get a good crop with very little work! The trick is to find the right varieties adapted to North Texas (Dallas). I would like to plant 5 cherry / small fruited tomato plants and 1-2 slicer / standard size tomato plants.

Here are my requirements in order of importance;

1. open-pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds
2. sweet
3. disease resistant / vigorous vines
4. heat resistant (can set fruit even in weather over 90 degrees F)
5. indeterminate / prolific producer
6. early production (78 days or sooner)

What seed varieties would you recommend? What do you think of the following possibilities? Any seed varieties not on this list that you'd recommend?
1. Big Beef (it's a hybrid and I prefer non-hybrids, so if you know anything better, please tell me)
2. Sweet Chelsea (hybrid, argh)
3. Super Marzano (hybrid)
4. Porter (non-hybrid)
5. Sun Gold (hybrid)
6. Lollipop (non-hybrid)
7. Grape (non-hybrid)
8. Wild Tomato (from my front lawn)

The wild tomatoes on my front lawn are kinda flavorless (just a hint of sweetness), but this vine received no fertilizer, no pesticide, no herbicide, and zero care. After I discovered the vine and ate some tomatoes, I just set out a plate of beer to trap the snails. That's the only care I gave it. The fruits are 1 to 2 inches across on this wild red tomato. First red tomato appeared at the beginning of July. Basically, I'm looking for a sweet tomato that is just as well adapted and carefree as this wild one growing on my front lawn.

Thanks in advance, guys,
wildredmater.

P.S. (reply to Tplant) I do not mean that tomatoes can grow to a bumper crop without any care. But, I do want to do as little work as possible. For example, I grow persimmons, figs and watermelons. Once a year, I dump a sack of manure compost I buy at a local nursery on it. My automatic sprinkler system sprinkles it twice a week. I throw a net over the figs to keep out the birds during harvest time. That's all I do. I do no toxic chemical spraying nor any other work, yet I get a bumper crop every year. I have never gardened Tomatoes, but I do have some experience with persimmons, figs, and watermelons. As long as you've chosen a plant adapted to it's environment, there's very little that needs to be done.

These wild tomatoes that sprouted out of the earth spontaneously received no care from me from the time it germinated until the first red fruits on July 4th. I am looking for other tomato plants well-adapted to north Texas that require next to no care. After I noticed the first red tomatoes and tasted the juicy 1-2 inch wide, slightly sweet fruits, I wanted to protect the tomato plants from pests to protect the remainder of my harvest. After I typed the original post this morning, I did a little bit of work on my tomatoes. Today, I have a day off from work, so I threw some cedar mulch on it and pulled out the weeds (the tomatoes were part of a weedpile on my front lawn). I then sprayed some "Garret Juice" (liquid compost) on it and planted a marigold plant (repels nematodes & whiteflies, a Tomato pest), Nasturtium seeds (repels aphids), and chive seeds (repels aphids, apple scabs). Then, I set out a beer snail trap next to it and a bird net held by a stake on top of it. There were a few yellow leaves toward the bottom that had snails underneath and I cut those off. This is all that I'm going to do for the rest of the year... I figure it survived until fruiting in July by itself, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it....

Basically, I am looking for other tomato varieties that are sweet, juicy, and flavorful that are so carefree that I could do one day of work in the spring and just wait for a bumper crop with no work for the rest of the year... just like my wild tomatoes. My bright red colored wild tomatoes are great, however I am looking for something just as hardy / robust / vigorous, but with more juicy, flavorful, sweetness.


This message was edited Jul 12, 2007 11:12 AM

This message was edited Jul 12, 2007 11:26 AM

This message was edited Jul 12, 2007 1:51 PM

This message was edited Jul 12, 2007 2:05 PM

You can't just "plant em and forget em." Care is required. Watering, fertilizing, weeding, staking, spraying. It's all part of the game. Almost like raising a child only the plants don't talk back. Any choice of tomato variety will do well in your area but your requirements are a bit much. If you want to grow successful tomatos you will have to compromise to some extent. If you are not willing to do that --Well????

Here is what they look like green (they're red when ripe):

Plant is about 3 ft high:

Oops, previous pic was of a leaf / branch. Leaves are 3 inches long for the biggest leaves. Fruit are 1-2 inches wide. This is a pic of the plant (3 ft tall):

wildredmater wrote;"I have a day off from work, so I threw some cedar mulch on it and pulled out the weeds (the tomatoes were part of a weedpile on my front lawn). I then sprayed some "Garret Juice" (liquid compost) on it and planted a marigold plant (repels nematodes & whiteflies, a Tomato pest), Nasturtium seeds (repels aphids), and chive seeds (repels aphids, apple scabs). Then, I set out a beer snail trap next to it and a bird net held by a stake on top of it. There were a few yellow leaves toward the bottom that had snails underneath and I cut those off. This is all that I'm going to do for the rest of the year..."

That's way more work than I've done *g*. Mine are in hay bales, and they get watered, and I do patrol them daily to look for bad bugs (and harvest tomatoes/vegetables). I gave them one dose of fertilizer (fish emulsion) last week. OP and "disease resistant" probably don't got together (hybrids are bred for it, as you'll see by the letters after some of their names) but many of the heirlooms I'm growing sure do have "vigorous vines".
You might try posting in the Tomato forum and the Texas Gardening forum for things that will do well for you. I know that there are several Texas Tomatoers around...

Good luck with your wildredmater,

Margo

This message was edited Jul 13, 2007 8:10 AM

O.K.

Here's what I've decided to plant next year;
1. Regina's Yellow (Farmerdill rated this better than Hillbilly)
2. Big Beef (Disease resistant hybrid)
3. Sweet Chelsea (Disease resistant hybrid)
4. Grape
5. Sugar Lump
6. Wild Tomato (sprouted by itself on my front lawn)

What do you think guys/girls? O.K. for north Texas (Dallas) or not?

Thanks,
wildredmater.

I have no idea...but, bump!

The Texas A&M publishes tons of information on vegetables and fruits that can be grown in the Texas soil. One such info is available at this link. Please go to the A&M web site and search for more info

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/easygardening/tomato/tomato.html

I think wildredmater was looking for personal experience with different varieties. The A&M site is a good one, but not really personal :) I know that some of the tomatoes that my local extension service recommends are not the tastiest, tho they do grow well here.