Tomato seed recommendation?

Hello,

I’ve grown tomato's for years by saving the seed of my none hybrid variety.

However the results in the past few years have been awful with lots of yellow flesh rather than a medium sized tomato with a decent flavour also ended up with the enormous things from packets of seed bought

I've tried various varieties like moneymaker etc without success, is it something I’m doing wrong or can anyone suggest some varieties to try this year?

Peter

Not good to use saved seed. Most tomatoes are F1 hybrids and are bred to give the features you desire.

A trip to a garden center or even in the supermarket will give you good choices. One I like is, Velvia.

F1 hybrids are usually a good bet. even size, ripening in sequence and good taste.

After years of failed crops outside, last year was the first year I had a greenhouse (6' x 8' I had a bumper crop of saved heritage and Gardeners Delight seeds. All of them had a hard yellow centre that never ripened, sounds like your problem. They were horrible to eat but cooked up OK after freezing.

I read somewhere that it might be due to getting too hot. This year I am thinking of looking for a greenhouse variety, perhaps Alicante.

Any advice would be welcomed, I can't stand the lack of taste in supermarket tomatoes.

Hi Peter,

2nd attempt @ replying - seem to have lost 1st.

Years ago bought sample packet my favourite cherry Tom's from several supermarket s for taste testing. Lidl won, but may now be using another supplier with different seeds.

Cut open a couple and scraped out some seeds, tasted remind of that Tom.

Seeds in their jelly dried on absorbent paper on window sill and stored for following spring.

Success! It worked a treat. "Free"seeds growing only the best variety.

Last year was a disaster, Tom's and runners so this year all new seeds and compost as recommended by the gardening experts.

John

John

Hello AdrianR,

Years ago had a flat in converted house with back garden and what I suspect was an old greenhouse with very heavy Ali frames. Think it helped the sale of the flat for 'top dollar'. Young couple buyers probably financed by a father who took a liking to the greenhouse which was later removed.

To get to the point, I left roof light open before I went to work and closed it when I got home. Also whitewashed interior to reflect some of the heat. Cucumbers liked it!

John

Not worth saving seeds if you can buy them cheaper and get good results in accordance wih your chosentomato name.

Try dtbrownseeds.co.uk for real choice.

I never had a greenhouse so used to grow outside. I grew these and found the sweet taste to my liking.

Tomato Outdoor Girl AGM Seeds | Quality Seeds from Sow Seeds Ltd

Rik

Edited By Rik Shaw on 07/03/2022 14:47:27

Used to grow Gardeners delight,Alicante and Moneymaker but in recent years have had very poor results, a couple of years ago I tried Tumbling Tom, a trailing cherry tomato and was very impressed with them, three plants to a hanging basket and away they go, no side shoots to cut out and loads of small tasty tomatoes, reminds me I must get to garden centre and get this years seeds.

Soil exhaustion? Try fertilizer.

Like Baz I put three Tumbling Tom in a hanging basket as well. Hanging on an east facing wall with a view to the horizon so they get any morning sunshine but don't dry out on really hot sunny summer days, works a treat.

Martin C

I only grow yellow standard size Tom's now - find they're sweeter. Golden something or other..sunrise? 6 plants in the greenhouse is more than enough for us with extras given away to visitors. Protocol is to top dress the border with chicken poo pellets then use tomato fertilizer but every few years I scrape out some old compost and put down new. A packet of Tom seeds usually keeps 3-4 years despite the packet statements. I often find a few self setters pop up from fallen Tom's that I missed and split before the end of year clean out.

Tomatoes seem to be very variable in our climate

The Boss grew them very hit and miss year on year, one year got an amazing monster crop which got turned into a cupboard of chutney.... followed by a disaster crop the following year

All grown in grobags in the same suntrap spot each year

Edited By Ady1 on 07/03/2022 16:43:53

Taste is always a personal thing, but we like Orange Paruche F1 from Fothergill's. Also PGk's Golden 'something' are OK.

We had some self setters appear on the compost heap last year, some of which got potted up for a laugh. The results were two different Cherry type, one fruiting on fans over a foot wide plus a couple that went to Blossom End Rot so I'm pretty certain they were Elsa Craig that were dumped the year before for the same reason.

We hose the greenhouse down with Jeyes to give the Botrytis a hard time, plant in pots and use a £30 thermal window opener to keep the heat down.

Final picking in 2nd week of October last year due to the lateness of the self setters.

PS keeping seed does work on some, but you need to ferment the seed jelly coat off by soaking them in water for 2 or 3 days till the water gets all mouldy and nasty, then dry them for storage.

Edited By Dave Halford on 07/03/2022 16:50:43

One of my favourites has always been Gardeners delight which produces racemes of sweet tomatoes. We bought last years from our local garden centre and they must have been wrongly labelled as they were tasteless.

Varieties like Moneymaker, Ailsa Craig etg are rather tasteless but produce lots of fruit so preferred by commercial growers

I learned at sea from the huge USA tomatoes that there's only so much taste in a tomato, so the smaller ones are the tastiest while the big cricket ball jobs are almost no taste

I have only grown money maker toms with no problem keep them fed and watered always had a good crop

Botyritis also hits mine end of season and usually the reason it all gets ripped out as cooler weather comes in. We managed to keep harvesting through November with the way the seasons seem to be changing.
At the end of season I smoke the greenhouse out by burning sulphur chips.. just make darned sure you take a deep breath before you light it up and leave before another breath is needed.

pgk

I have grown lots of tomatoes and one variety that has been very nice is the Vitoria cherry tomato from sainsburys. It produces lots of nice toms. I normally just buy a box and keep some seed. I also spray the green house with Jeyes fluid using a pump up sprayer, I give it a good soaking and never had any blight or problems.

Tomato yield depends on 'Heat Summation': in order for the fruit to develop and ripen satisfactorily, they need a certain number of hours above a certain temperature (the exact figures depend on the variety). I can't have a greenhouse (shared garden) so my toms (and chillies) are at the mercy of the elements. Last year, after a good start, was terrible in the south east with weeks of cold weather and consequent almost complete failure of the tomato crop, and the ones that did ripen were tasteless. The year before was great, and I was giving the things away.

If you're limited to outdoor growing, I've tried and recommend the first three varieties on this page (unfortunately sold out now):

https://www.realseeds.co.uk/tomatoes_bush.html

Being early, you have a better chance of sufficient heat summation, and they seem pretty blight resistant. They also don't require pinching out or anything elaborate in the way of training.

There's no problem saving seed from these, use the method described by Dave Halford above, and save at least two separate batches, just in case.

Indigo Rose have an interesting smokey flavour until they are too ripe.

San Marzano is a good plum tomato with a a nice flavour for use as a salad tromato as well as a cooker.

Both are non-Ft types. and the seed keeps for a long time if you keep it bone dry after fermentation.

Sweet Million F1 is a good sweet cherry tom, but prone to splitting at the slightest provovation.

Sweet Success F1 is a good Sweet cherry tom with a thicker skin.