Hi, all! it is so nice to have a Michigan forum. We spend our summers in the Crystal Falls/Iron River area and I want to grow some good-tasting tomatoes this year. As you know we have a lot of daylight in June, but it doesn't really warm up till July. Last year I bought a couple of nice-sized Early Girl plants at a local nursery and I did season extension techniques with arches of PVC pipes covered with plastic, even during the day when the weather didn't rise over 60 and I covered them almost every night. I got my first tomato in late July, we got a bunch in August. Sadly, they all tasted like grocery store tomatoes.
This year I am going to buy the water collars for them in addition to the covers. Has anyone had any success with some of the more flavorful varieties in the UP or northern WI? Thanks!
What are good varieties of tomatoes for the UP?
DH liked Jet Star last year.
heirlooms!!!! cherokee purple is one of the best tasting mators i ever bit into!! ;)
im going to get some started here soon! my are huge and blooming by the time may rolls around!
HEIRLOOMS are the best!
brandywine-yummmmm
i grew over 40 kinds last year and more this yr with peppers to match
cant wait-getting spring fever!
Dori I'll be over this spring I need 2 just 2 tomatoes I hate that that I have to buy 4-6 from the venders around here drives me CRAZY
Gloria ;0)
Thanks grannymarsh and notmartha. I am glad to hear that heirlooms will work. I grew Brandywines in my MD garden last summer, planted and abandoned for the summer and they really put out some good flavored September tomatoes. Last year I learned my lesson and put bird netting all around them because the crows go wild in our absence.
Its so wonderful up north but too bad about the short growing season hey? :(
Probably cherry tomatoes and other early maturing varieties
would work best for you.
Re. heirloom varieties...
there are some smaller, most likely faster growing heirloom
tomatoes but I'm not sure what they are.
We've tried several varieties of heirlooms but like Cherokee Purple
for rich tomato favor and Pineapple for sweetness the best.
Have you seen Cherokee Chocolate in the seed catalogs? It's supposed to be a more stabilized (whatever that means) version with the same flavor associated with Cherokee Purple.
im going to be starting some seeds pretty soon
started the new cherry brandy rudbeckia last night
going to do some other flowers tonight!!
spring fever!
Send pics I I can't start mine yet ;0(
Gloria
Here's tecoma Mayan Gold seeded January 24.
awwww look at the babies How cute !!!
Gloria
ottahand7: My growing area is more temperate than over by the west end. May I suggest that you chat up the MSUE and see what they suggest? Or check at Flinn's in Escanaba.
http://www.msue.msu.edu/portal/default.cfm?pageset_id=27540
This message was edited Feb 3, 2009 11:16 PM
Thanks Grannymarsh for the link. I am going to either hand carry some up from Maryland I have someone in my MG group that grows heirlooms for sale- or order some from White Flower Farm - ouch! - they have a huge variety of 70 day +or - varieties. I think with the water tubes and the covering with plastic on cold days and at night would give us some more wiggle room. Here is what I was able to do with the Early Girls last year, this was mid-August. They ripened well, I had one in July, they just didn't have any taste.
For your short season, I think the early maturing varieties are the best. Bloody butcher is my favorite early variety. Stupice is also excellent. Sophie's choice is a variety recommended by Carolyn who writes in the tomato forum and wrote the book "100 Heirloom tomatoes for the American Garden". I'm trying that this year. Sungold is a cherry variety that people rave about, which also produces early. Another recommendation of an heirloom that would work for you is new big dwarf. Good luck.
Thanks Nancyruhl, I will try to get some of them. They did have Stupice in the WFF site.
I see that bloody butcher and stupice are available at Tomatobobs.com. He has section of early season tomatoes. Another one he has is Gergori's Altai, which I have seed for and am trying. There are several positive reviews on plant files section of this website. Couldn't agree with you more about early girl. Tasteless and disease prone. Can't believe they sell so many of those.
I'm attaching the posts from the tomato forum on early tomatoes. The only one that I've read some negatives on is Omar's Lebanese. I'm trying Cuostralee this year, also. Nancy
A large, good tasting variety with a short maturation time. Last frost here is the first week of June, first frost the first week of Sept
Gregori's Altai comes to mind.
Another one besides Gregori's Altai that comes to mind might be Moskvich (frequently misspelled as Moskovich, and even sometimes Moskvitch).
Dunno if I would consider it "large", but it is an early, good tasting medium sized tomato, usually in the 6-8 oz range for me, and fairly productive.
Monomakh's Hat might be yet another one to consider, perhaps a little harder to find. And, Black Early.
It is close but Cuostralee might work. Its a big tasty tomato and my earliest beefsteak. Last two years I've set out Cuostralee around May 30th and had ripe tomatoes by the second week in August
amideutch
Albersbach
(Germany)
Here's a few that might fit the bill.
Early Rouge (70 days) 6-8oz
Rose de Berne (75 days) 6-12 oz
Precoce Marmande (60 days) 6-8 oz
Omar's Lebanese (80 days, likes cool weather) 1-1.5 lbs
Here's a site that has them;
[HYPERLINK@www.gourmetseed.com]
why dont you start seeds early-i am then you can grow anything!
Even if you start your seeds early, the days to ripe fruit are counted from the transplant date. Ottahand 7 might not get any ripe fruit with a variety that take 80-90 days to mature. Also, many varieties won't set fruit is cooler temperatures. Not everyone gets those Bay City conditions to grow in. Nancy
i have a GH that i keep mine in-they are budded by the time they go in the ground in May :)
Last year some had tomatoes on them before they ever hit the dirt!!
Wish I had one of those babies. I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven. How early do you heat yours?
will most likely start next month i will be moving back in the GH oh i cant wait
Someday.
http://www.dianeseeds.com/tomato-crimson-sprinter.html
Do you think crimson sprinter would do well?
Sounds like it would work based on # of days to maturity. I am not familiar with that variety and no one has commented under plant files. I usually use the advise I find in plant files before choosing my tomato varieties because there is much info from such knowledgable people who have grown large numbers of tomatoes over long periods of time. If you do grow it, please evaluate it in plant files so the rest of the readers will know. Nancy
Based on this thread, I've ordered some Bloody Butcher seeds. I can't wait to try them.
This is my bloody butcher growing on my patio in Florida. It has been growing there since 1/1. No tomatoes, only blooms. I thought that by next week, being 55 days, I would be having tomatoes. Obviously, short day length affects the time till ripe tomatoes. Oh well, my brother takes it over March 1st and will have lots of those gems. You can't see the tumbling tom on the side of the pot, bought down here and already with green tomatoes on when I bought it. It has been producing for us. As you might also see, it isn't even a very pretty day down here, not good for the Daytona 500. Nancy
I have ordered the crimson sprinter and I'll be sure to update the Gardenfiles! I'm actually looking forward to that :D
Julie