What are some good varieties of heirloom tomatoes to begin indoors?

[femmocrat]

The time for ordering seeds is upon us!

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. My own tomato top 10 (more, actally!) list...

Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee Green
Brandywine
Dester
Lillian's Yellow Heirloom
Green Giant
Lucky Cross (and Little Lucky)
Nepal
Stump of the World
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red and Aker's West Virginia
Anna Russian
Yellow Brandywine
and despite being a hybrid - Sungold
also new Dwarf varieties we created - Dwarf Sweet Sue, Rosella Purple, Summertime Green, Dwarf Mr Snow

my favorite sources - Victory, Johnny's, Tomato Growers Supply, Seed Savers Exchange

Yes...it is time to start thinking of starting seeds (I am so far behind!)

[femmocrat]

2. Thank you!

I will have to look some of those up! "Stump of the World" -- what a name! LOL

I have done Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, etc. I guess I'm looking for something new. Thanks for the sources, too.

What is a good blight-resistant variety?

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. which "blight" - there are so many....

a few tomato issues are bacterial (bacterial wilt, which is a bad one) and viral (tomato spotted) - most are fungal (fusarium, verticillium, septoria, alternaria, late blight).

Few if any heirlooms have been truly disease tolerance or resistance tested. It really is trial and error - I've found Red Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Andrew Rahart handle things here in NC pretty well. Best solution - rotation, good potting mix and pre-bleaching (if containers), good spacing between plants, good mulching to delay onset of issues - but insects, what's in the soil, and weather have the greatest impacts.

[femmocrat]

9. I'm pretty sure it is late blight.

The leaves get brown spots, then turn yellow and fall off. Eventually the plant has no leaves, but a few tomatoes manage to hang on. We had a bad infestation here (PA) three or four years ago. It came in on Bonnie plants. Seems like it is here to stay now. Ugh.

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. yes, that is a bad one....rotate, use containers, with fresh potting mix...

try various varieties. tomato disease is so frustrating!

[hlthe2b]

3. What would be good for growing (exclusively) in patio pots?

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. You can try some of our new Dwarfs - Victory has some, Heritage Tomato Seeds has quite a few

as well, and Tania's TOMATObase too. You get the large size, various colors, great flavors of the tall heirlooms, but in a much shorter plant size.

Any tomato can be grown in pots - it becomes about sufficient size, giving them enough water, and providing support (for the tall ones)

[ColumbusLib]

6. In a few weeks I will be starting seeds for:

Great White
Black Icicle (a new one for me this year)
Sweet Million (a cherry, my favorite tomato, can't live without it)
Sweet Aperitif (a new cherry, supposed to be similar to Sweet Million)
Japanese Black Trifele
Paul Robeson
... And maybe Martina's Roma since Jung sent me a free packet. Baker Creek again sent me free Gypsy tomato seeds, but the description does not rave about the taste, so it probably won't make the cut this year. Wish I had more room to grow tomatoes! Rotating their location each year is also a logic problem. ( :

[blue neen]

7. I tried something called a "German Strawberry" tomato last year.

It did very well here in PA. Started it from seed probably around March and transplanted outside in May.

[Botany]

8. some good ones to add to the list

Black Krim
Arkansas traveler
German Queen
Mister Stripy
mortgage lifter
lemon boy
green zebra ..... makes pretty salsa
sun gold cherry tomato A MUST HAVE!

jet star and rutgers are both really good tomatoes too ..... I have seen them listed as
heirloom tomatoes in some cases but I don't think they are

serrano peppers, cilantro, thai basal, better bell green peppers, and onions (they can
be a pain in the ass) can help in making salsa.

Swiss Chard is a good warm weather green too.

http://www.seedsavers.org/Contact/ The place for seeds.

[femmocrat]

11. Arkansas Traveler is a great tomato.

It makes fruit well into the fall, and is just the right size, IMO. That one is definitely on my must-have llst!

[Botany]

12. Jet star and rutgers are both very good tomatoes and VFN too

n/t

[femmocrat]

13. Yes... I just found out that Rutgers is disease-resistant.

That is what I need. I'm getting all excited now! LOL