A Sub for Early Girl

[seedcorn]

'determinate' 'indeterminate'

Has to do with flowering. Determinant blooms all at once, sets one crop and they are done. Indeterminate keep on setting fruit until death. Canning companies like determinant so all ready together.

 

[897tgigvib]

I find that if the weather is nice, the soil fertile, even determinate tomatoes make at least a few more flowers and fruit. Not always, but something like half of them.

I'm a watering kind of gardener though.

awww, got genesis trick of the tail playing on my playlist. Mad Man Moon followed by Ripples. Great tunes! Really great musicians, very crafty with the volumes and play through of the very long phrases. Phil Collins sings the songs telling the story with such properly placed emotions and changing feels!

Opened the window, set the speakers aimed at my garden, going to get to it, NOW!

Oh, some varieties of Beans are determinate. Strangely, my new pole bean, "black powder" produced in a mostly determinate way, mostly all at once in a flush, but then at season's end, had a few more pods for me.

Tendergreen and bush blue lake are typical determinates when grown to seed, but less so when picked often.

I think that how and when things are harvested affects determinate/indeterminate quite a bit. It may not be what is true determinancy or indeterminancy, but sure affects how it is.

True determinate growth ENDS at the growth tip, APICAL MERISTEM TERMINATION. A genetically determined number of leaves or side buds. Indeterminate growth has a genetically non determined number of nodes, leaves, or side buds, and keeps making them until other conditions stop end tip growth, conditions such as diminishing hours of light, cold, frost, or natural plant death due to being a true annual, or the stem being annual.

We have such a special planet! :rainbow-sun

 

[Jared77]

The selections I posted were all from Tomatofest website. The first list was from my wishlist that I have saved on there. The second posting was me bored at work and sat down and scrolled through their website for any that met Steve's requirements.

The "Beliy Naliv" caught my eye for the same reason Steve that's why I wanted to throw that out here.

Cane if you look at http://store.tomatofest.com/Early_Annie_p/tf-0155.htm Early Annie tomato is a classic example of a determinate.

Early Girls are VERY popular here too. Its a known quantity for people and I think that's alot of why they are so popular. They have good germination rates for the nurseries, and its got a pretty good tomato flavor so everybody wins. Especially in places like up here where you have your garden tomatoes, then for most folks if they want a tomato its just a flavorless red slice on a sandwich or in their salad. So you compare EG to whats typically in the store, the Early Girls and to a slightly lesser extent the Better Boys seem like Heaven for many folks.

Think about it, high germination rate, good producers, grow in most areas, can take a bit of abuse/neglect from new growers, not prone to cracks, still have respectable flavor, and look like most folks think a tomato should. Its all wrapped up in that pretty red package with a green bow just waiting to be enjoyed.

Let the nonhybrid quest continue!

 

[Jared77]

The other thing I found very interesting is how many Russian varieties I've been eyeballing. Not just the blacks but many of the soviet block varieties are lining up with what I'm looking for in a tomato. Even crazier? I'm Irish/Scottish!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

same with me eyeballing the Russian types. they seem to do the best for us 'northerners' when it comes to tolerating cold and producing in a short season.

 

[digitS']

Our southern gardeners should chime in. Many of them have seasons when a plant had better produce a tomato quick or it is going to be toast! Then, fall comes and they can grow tomatoes again, briefly. EG fits at both ends of summer!

Determinates -- The earliest tomato I've grown was Gold Nugget cherry.

It is like, "Oh boy! Look at all those ripe tomatoes on that little plant!" Pick 'em all off and the plant begins to look very baaad. There will be a few more cherries coming along. They probably won't be worth harvesting. Pretty quick and you are wondering about the health of the plant's neighbors. Better get it outta there!!

It may have been the Sub Arctics that I used to have that were really the "earliest." They are another determinate and the only thing I could have ripen in my garden when I lived near Lake Pend Oreille. Who knows if they looked baaad after harvest?? I was barely able to get them picked before first frost!

Early Girl showed up on the cover of the Burpee catalog when I lived there but it took me a few years to try it. I was elsewhere by then and remember that Earliana was one of the 1st that I wanted to grow when I moved to a lower elevation. I may not have realized at the time that Earliana was an heirloom.

I grew Large Red Cherry out there by Pend Oreille. My idea for a long time was that cherries were no quicker than larger-fruited tomatoes. Really, it is just that LRC grew such a large (indeterminate) plant that it is rated as a 70-day variety. I thought cherry tomatoes were cherry tomatoes . It may have been the only one sold in the Shumways catalog. Those things came printed on a stone tablets back then.

Steve

 

[digitS']

Well, here is that thread again . . .

I look thru it quickly and seem to have mentioned the Fireworks and ColdSet varieties that I am trying in the garden for the 1st time this year.

They are my 2013 subs for Early Girl .

Steve

 

[Collector]

Sounds like finding my replacement for EGs is gonna be a little more than a walk in the park. Lots of options to choose from, much more than I at first thought. I see I will have my work cut out for me. Great topic!...

 

[digitS']

Flavor, maturity, size, disease-resistance . . .

I am perfectly happy with the Early Girl flavor.

I am really unsure if any comparable variety can match EG's earliness.

I do not see a substitute that is only 2 ounces as comparable to the 5 ounce EG. It may only be polite in a garden setting but I can get a 2 oz fruit in my mouth, all at once! It may take a couple of EG slices to fill a sandwich but that is kind of okay.

I am really convinced that the potato-leaf plants that showed up from an EG seed packet were a EG parent. Their first-in-line problem with foliar diseases the 2 years that I grew them takes seriously away from my interest in having them again in the garden. In every other way the fruit was virtually the same but I can't tolerate a weakness like that :/.

I have begun all these sentences with "I" . . . Of course, choice is a personal thing. There are tomato varieties that I like better than EG - no question about that!

Steve

 

[bj taylor]

i'm hoping to see a southern gardener put some tomato names forward. I would like a tomato I can save the seeds that performs well in the hot south. sweet 100 does that, but I mean slicer. too bad celebrity doesn't fit the bill regarding saving the seeds. it performs so well for me