Good tomato varieties for hot climates?

[Ariel301]

I live in a hot, dry climate. (northwest Arizona desert, zone 8) I love to grow tomatoes, and especially want to grow heirloom ones, but I want to plant varieties that are going to be tolerant of heat and low humidity. I water them daily, but they dry out quick, even with heavy mulching. They need to live through 110+ degree summer temperatures. Anyone know of any that might be a good choice for me?

 

[hoodat]

I live in a hot, dry climate. (northwest Arizona desert, zone 8) I love to grow tomatoes, and especially want to grow heirloom ones, but I want to plant varieties that are going to be tolerant of heat and low humidity. I water them daily, but they dry out quick, even with heavy mulching. They need to live through 110+ degree summer temperatures. Anyone know of any that might be a good choice for me?

My opinion would be to plant determinate varieties as early in the Spring as you can and hurry them along with enough water and fertilizer. This will take care of your years canning needs and will still be producing a few tomatos after the main havest till heat killed. At the same time plant some indeternminate varieties to take care of your table needs. Indeterminate varieties usually take longer from planting to fruit. Arkansas Traveler and Celebrity are two I had good luck with in the hot dry Oklahoma Summers. Don't let them have too much top foliage. The lower you can keep the plant the less the wind and sun will dry it out.
A trick that worked for me in Oklahoma was to make a two by four frame about 3 feet wide and as long as your bed. Nail 1X2s or 1X3s crosswise across the frame about every 6 to 8 inches. Put bricks or concrete blocks under the edges at sufficient intervals to give it good support. Support it well. Your vines will get heavy. Lay the frame FLAT on the supports and put your tomato plants under it at about two foot spacing. You want the frame to be about 18 inches above the ground. The plants will grow up between the crosswise supports and sprawl over the frame horizontally. This lets them shade their own roots and they will be low enough so the hot wind will not get a good bite on them. Keep suckers and leaves under the frame cleared out. This makes it harder for soil borne diseases and crawling insects to get to the tops.
I get a bit long winded at times but I wanted to pass on a trick for beating the heat that worked well for me.

 

[digitS']

Ariel, I think you had better soak the soil deeply. As the surface dries, the plants rely more on the deeper roots for water. Therefore, those roots grow down and the entire root system grows larger.

My grandmother grew a tomato in Las Cruces that she called the "peddler's tomato." I think that this may have just been where she got the tomato seed in the first place.

My dad's youngest brother (now well over 80) grew her tomato in Rio Linda, near Sacramento, for many years. Sometime after I got it, I began wondering if it was a Porter tomato. So, I grew them together in the garden for 2 seasons and still don't know - very similar but seperated by 3 quarters of a century, perhaps.

Anyway, Porter & Sons was an old seed company in eastern Texas. There original Porter tomato may be a good choice for you. It is supposed to be a good choice for hot & dry conditions. Totally Tomatoes (click here) has them.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

Ariel, I think you had better soak the soil deeply. As the surface dries, the plants rely more on the deeper roots for water. Therefore, those roots grow down and the entire root system grows larger.

My grandmother grew a tomato in Las Cruces that she called the "peddler's tomato." I think that this may have just been where she got the tomato seed in the first place.

My dad's youngest brother (now well over 80) grew her tomato in Rio Linda, near Sacramento, for many years. Sometime after I got it, I began wondering if it was a Porter tomato. So, I grew them together in the garden for 2 seasons and still don't know - very similar but seperated by 3 quarters of a century, perhaps.

Anyway, Porter & Sons was an old seed company in eastern Texas. There original Porter tomato may be a good choice for you. It is supposed to be a good choice for hot & dry conditions. Totally Tomatoes (click here) has them.

Steve

Totally Tomatos and the Vermont Bean Seed company are my two favorite seed houses.

 

[Ariel301]

I have a drip watering system buried in my rows that waters deep down to the roots, and mulch over the tops of the soil to keep the water in, but the heat and dryness here are pretty extreme, so it dries out fairly fast anyway. It's not a good climate for gardening. I've also built a shade covering for my tomatoes, so we will see if that helps any. I planted a "Rainbow Heirloom Mix" from Burpee this year and am not pleased with it. I'm going to try some more fertilizer on them, but so far they are not impressive at all, and are wanting so much water that I'm afraid I'm going to spend more on water than the value of the tomatoes I will get. :/

I'll look into those varieties. In Colorado I grew Rutgers, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Black Krim and they all did well, even though they had to be potted and indoors most of the time. The Rutgers and Brandywine have not done well here at all, and I have not tried the others.

 

[chris09]

I live in a hot, dry climate. (northwest Arizona desert, zone 8) I love to grow tomatoes, and especially want to grow heirloom ones, but I want to plant varieties that are going to be tolerant of heat and low humidity. I water them daily, but they dry out quick, even with heavy mulching. They need to live through 110+ degree summer temperatures. Anyone know of any that might be a good choice for me?

When you plant you tomatoes plant them as deep as possible.
Tomatoes will grow roots all along the stem that is underground and that will help the plant take in more water. Most all the tomatoes that I plant in my garden start off around 10 or so inches tall and I will plant up to 8 inches of that tomato in the ground and as the plant grows I will hill the tomato till I have around 12 inches of the plant underground.
I do like the "deep planting" method. We just had a week of temp's in the 90's and I haven't had to water the tomatoes yet..

As for watering Drip Irrigation is the only way to go..

Some of the "Heirloom" type tomatoes that I have grown in the past and thought did quite well are --
Black Prince
Cherokee Purple
Oxheart Red
Brandywine

Chris

 

[Ariel301]

I do the deep planting too. I was taught to always plant at least half the tomato plant under the soil for deeper roots and more stability when the plant gets tall. The drip irrigation does seem to work best here; we tried a sprinkler but 3/4 of the water just evaporated into the air and never touched the ground!

I'm beginning to wonder about building sort of a semi-greenhouse and just growing stuff September-June. It's too hot here!

 

[digitS']

Ariel, I was just looking at Keith Mueller's website on tomatoes. I have one of his heirloom crosses this year.

Keith lists some varieties as good choices for hot climates. He gardens in Kansas City, which is a fairly hot place in the summer. You can look thru his site for his favorites in that location

He doesn't limit himself just to heirlooms or to hybrids. I mean, he even crosses heirlooms, himself. Here is his list, Heat Tolerant Tomato Lines :

Arkansas Traveler
Costuluto Genovese
Hawaiian
Heatwave
Homestead
Homestead 24
Manalucie
Solar Set
Sunbeam
Sun Leaper

Steve :coolsun

 

[obsessed]

How about creole? It is famous down here in Southern Lousisana and if we can grow it well anybody hot should. I will describe it for you it gives big slicer tomatoes of a red red color. Very sweet and slightly acidic. Good for sandwiches/ eating like an apple/salsa....

 

[jamespm_98]

I tried Arkansas Travelers this year and have had good success. We have already had temps close to 100 in SC this year and mine are holding up great. We have had weird weather and have been used to drought the last few years, but this year it has been both wet and dry and the Arkansas Travelers have seem to do well through it all.