Suggestions for Early Maturing Tomato/Pepper Varieties?

[TheSeedObsesser]

Hi everybody! Just doing a little bit of thinking for next year!

Any suggestions for early maturing tomato and/or pepper varieties that can take some summer heat???

 

[Ridgerunner]

What are you looking for in a tomato? I always plant 4th of July, a hybrid I get from Burpee. They are fairly small, red, round tomatoes that have more gel and seeds than flesh, but are a great size and flavor for a snack, something like that. They are not a cherry tomato, quite a bit bigger, but they produce pretty well. They are usually the first tomatoes that ripen and they continue to produce through the summer better than many others I grow.
I don’t have any recommendations for early peppers, but what are you looking for in a pepper? Sweet or hot? How hot? And how will you use them? Do you want something thick-walled, better for stuffing or grilling, or something you’ll use chopped?

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Sorry, should have included a little bit more information than that.

I don't really mind how the peppers or tomatoes or used. I'd prefer that it would be a heirloom, but may consider giving the variety a try if it is at least open pollinated. And like I said before it should be early and should be able to stand our summer heat. A plus would be not having potato-type leaves.

I guess our average summer temp may be in the mid 80's or something like that. But we have some pretty drastic temperature swings every once in a while. We also had three days this summer with a temperature of 104 degrees.

I like cherry tomatoes, they always seem to produce even when all other varieties fail or when all of their leaves are missing from wilt. I have had some problems with crossing cherry type tomatoes, but I guess that it really isn't a bad thing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One sweet pepper that really produced well for me was Golden Treasure. It’s a sweet pepper though it is long and narrow and ripens yellow/orange. It’s kind of thin-walled which I don’t like a lot if you need to peel it, even grilling it first. It was great for chopping and flavoring things. It is open-pollinated. I mainly used it chopped to flavor things and to make a sweet pepper jam.

http://www.totallytomato.com/dp.asp?pID=03155&c=35&p=Golden Treasure Pepper

That 4th of July is a hybrid, not open-pollinated so it would not meet your criteria. Steve is probably our resident expert on early varieties. I’m surprised he hasn’t already chimed in.

 

[digitS']

What!??

I'm still circumnavigating TEG . . . And, it's limits for "alerts." I don't see the full title of a topic!

Oh, I'm not much of an expert. I didn't even understand that I was growing some heirlooms and could grow some more, about 12 or 15 years ago. And, I'm still caught in the cool night problem with growing tomatoes & peppers.

Those "Golden Treasures" sure look nice! 80 day, hmmm? I am all for Italian Sweet Peppers (or, we might call them "sweet banana types"). If you want one that is really productive: Corno Di Torro should fill that bill but I didn't find it to have a very heavy wall. Marconi is my choice for an OP variety and it is listed at 70-72 days.

Early heirloom tomatoes . . . I've gone down to only the Dr. Carolyn for an open-pollinated cherry. I used to grow Large Red Cherry every year but the new hybrids are so much less-seedy and have that knock-your-socks-off sweetness! I like Dr. Carolyn and there are others in this group now. Tatiana's TomatoBase has a Dr. Carolyn Pink! Both are 70 day and that isn't especially early for a cherry but I can get excited about a cherry tomato patch with a Galina Yellow (origin of the "doctors"), Dr. Carolyn Ivory, Green Doctors, and a Dr. Carolyn Pink! Now, there just needs to be a Red Doctor!

Larger-than-cherry is easier for me. There are those with good flavor and small plants (should be earlier in nearly every case) and 2 or 3 ounce fruits. Bloody Butchers and Kimberleys come immediately to mind.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I grew 12 new varieties this year that were early maturing and suited for the north. Unfortunately I didn't pay as much attention to the tomato patch as I had intended to so it wouldn't be fair to say none of them impressed me.

The one I do remember was Alaskan Fancy. It was the first to ripen. It's on the smaller side, but a nice shape and the taste was good. It plugged along all summer giving tomatoes, I froze a lot of them and their shape makes it easy to slip the skin off when you're ready to use them. Was it OP or heirloom....I don't remember, I'd have to look it up.

I'm in the same general area as Steve so have to contend with very cool nights and how that affects fruit set. The days can get hot but that isn't the real issue around here with growing tomatoes.

 

[ninnymary]

Thistle, you gave tomatoes away all summer long? You froze some? I didn't think you could grow that many!

Sorry friend, jus had to say that!

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Thistle, you gave tomatoes away all summer long? You froze some? I didn't think you could grow that many!

Sorry friend, jus had to say that!

Mary

Ha! No, no, no.... the tomato plants plugged along giving tomatoes. But I did get enough to freeze.

 

[ninnymary]

Hmm..I need to slow down on my reading.

Mary

 

[lesa]

I really enjoy growing Marconi Peppers. They are fairly thin walled- but I pop them in the ground and they grow like crazy. They freeze perfectly, make great stuffed peppers- and are not picky about weather. We had so much rain this year, I lost every tomato I planted- but I have pounds of peppers in the freezer. I highly recommend them.