Who Grows Tomatoes?

Who all grows their own Tomatoes? What varieties? Heirlooms, or Hybrids? Indeterminate, or Determinate? Do you start your own Seedlings, or buy Plants?

Idaholewis wrote:Who all grows their own Tomatoes? What varieties? Heirlooms, or Hybrids? Indeterminate, or Determinate? Do you start your own Seedlings, or buy Plants?  

Hi Lewis. The soil here in South Central Colorado is really poor, and rain is inadequate. So after quite a few attempts at planting and crops just withered away we just gave up and we use the farmers markets.

However, since Biden is trying to starve everyone with skyrocketing prices, this past winter we decided on a greenhouse. We are going to build beds for the vegetables and haul in some real good soil from the mountain areas close by. Went to Lowes yesterday and checked lumber prices.
Due to "TIME TO GO JOE" and his communists, it's going to cost at least 3 times the normal to build one. Checked out the lumber mills and thought that would be the way to go. Rough cut lumber has always been a lot cheaper. Well now them folks is trying to rape the public even worse than the big box stores. The rough cut was way more than the Big Box Boys.

Solution: A friend about a 30-40 minute drive from here has a nice log milling machine. We can cut trees and he will cut dimensional lumber for us. We'll just cut extra logs to pay him for cutting ours up and buy his fuel.

Now as far as tomatoes: We'll grow the heirlooms most likely and learn the canning process. A pressure cooker is in the works. Many ranches around here and I know some of the owners, so I'm going to talk to them about buy a butcher cow and pasture it on there land until I'm ready for it.

Buy plants unless you know how to properly raise the plants from seeds. Unless you have everything just right, growing from seed will lead to weak plants that stand lest chance of surviving. Not to say you can't do it, just know from experience that the ones I've raised from seeds were never as good as the plants we've bought to plant.

Research what variety grows best in your area. Then make your selection from that. And ,if possible, try more than one variety to see which you like best.

Greenhouses are nice and give the added benefit of being able to grow in colder climates for a longer duration. Definitely worth looking into if you are serious about the investment or have less space to grow in.

knifemaker3 wrote:Buy plants unless you know how to properly raise the plants from seeds.  Unless you have everything just right, growing from seed will lead to weak plants that stand lest chance of surviving. Not to say you can't do it, just know from experience that the ones I've raised from seeds were never as good as the plants we've bought to plant.

Research what variety grows best in your area.  Then make your selection from that.  And ,if possible, try more than one variety to see which you like best.

Greenhouses are nice and give the added benefit of being able to grow in colder climates for a longer duration.  Definitely worth looking into if you are serious about the investment or have less space to grow in.

I have plenty of acreage to grow, the soil just is so poor for growing, even grass has problems growing.
I like to stick to the heirloom as they seem to be a better quality of seed.
The soil from the mountainous areas are dark and rich with nutrients.
We shall see, as we intend to use the skid steer to dig down at least 4' to start the project. This will be a better insulating start for winters here.

Thank you for the info knifemaker3.

mustang, have you thought about using tubs? If you have any farmers in your area that use lick tubs they are usually ready to give them away for free. Few holes in the bottom and fill with your mountain dirt and placed in your green house and you should be golden!

I've raised black seeded simpson lettuce this way under a shade tree in the summer and it works great. Lot's of people around here use lick tubs for tomatoes.

Crap, just seen you said you have acreage. Just bring in the dirt and dump on top or dig down and dump in and you'll be fine I would think. At least you would be here in MO. Your mileage may vary in Colorado?

knifemaker3 wrote:mustang, have you thought about using tubs?  If you have any farmers in your area that use lick tubs they are usually ready to give them away for free.  Few holes in the bottom and fill with your mountain dirt and placed in your green house and you should be golden!  

I've raised black seeded simpson lettuce this way under a shade tree in the summer and it works great.  Lot's of people around here use lick tubs for tomatoes.

Crap, just seen you said you have acreage.  Just bring in the dirt and dump on top or dig down and dump in and you'll be fine I would think.  At least you would be here in MO.  Your mileage may vary in Colorado?

Hell, I never thought about the lick tubs. Thanks man!

My back yard is fenced in with a picket fence so my dogs can run loose in it and along the sunnier parts of the fence I have 30’ x 8’ garden boxes. I plant my tomatoes tight to the fence and use it to tie them up. My wife is Italian, her parents immigrated here and we can tomatoes for sauce and I usually make about 36 pints of salsa. I grow several paste types, usually a big slicing variety for sandwiches and a medium sized tomato to cut up for salads.
Ive got my plants growing inside now, it’ll be mid to late May before they can go out. I’ve started tomatoes, peppers, egg plant, onions, basil and parsley.

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TheMightyQuinn, That is a SWEET Setup What kind of Lights are you running? I have 2 different Agrobrite designer Grow lights that do a great job for me.

What time of year can you safely get your plants outside? I have to wait til the very end of May here, I try and get my Plants started about Mid April, this way they don’t completely outgrow me before i can get them outside

Idaholewis wrote:TheMightyQuinn, That is a SWEET Setup  What kind of Lights are you running? I have 2 different Agrobrite designer Grow lights that do a great job for me.

What time of year can you safely get your plants outside? I have to wait til the very end of May here, I try and get my Plants started about Mid April, this way they don’t completely outgrow me before i can get them outside

Are we sure those are tomatoes

mustang65 wrote:

Idaholewis wrote:TheMightyQuinn, That is a SWEET Setup  What kind of Lights are you running? I have 2 different Agrobrite designer Grow lights that do a great job for me.

What time of year can you safely get your plants outside? I have to wait til the very end of May here, I try and get my Plants started about Mid April, this way they don’t completely outgrow me before i can get them outside

Are we sure those are tomatoes  

I promise they are I can’t handle the wacky tobaccy Believe me i’ve tried it a few times over the years, and failed miserably each time

They’re just inexpensive LED grow lights from eBay, but they work fine.  I add one more light to each shelf after I replant them into 4” pots.  This is my second year with that setup.  We can plant frost sensitive stuff around mid May, maybe a bit earlier if you’re bold.  
The snow is gone and my beds are reasonably dry so I’ll plant lettuce, spinach and peas this week.  Probably carrots and beets in another week or two.
If I wanted to grow weed, I think it’s legal here.

I grow mine from seed. Black krim, Cherokee purple, black brandy wine and others. I like indeterminate. Nothing like home grown. I grow 24 plants and it is plenty. I realized I left off the part. That I only use 24 but I grow over 200. I have friends who are mooches lol.

I grow most of mine from seed. I’m not as fancy as the fella above with the light. I start them in egg cartons that I set in my window seal then transplant when they get about 5 inches tall. I’m also a tight wad so I usually get the heirloom seeds from the dollar tree. It’s amazing what a couple dollars worth of seeds will produce

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Tell me about your grow lights. I use led also but they are not that long. They are maybe 30 inches I get 8 in a pack. They works great. But I would like to get even more.

They’re all 4’ lights because that’s what the shelving unit is. I got some on eBay, some on Amazon and some at Ocean State Job Lots. Mostly Round $25 -30 each. I use a big boot tray under the pots that holds 55, 4” pots, that allows me to water them from the bottom by just dumping a gallon of water in the tray.

I grow maters

Chet, I was hoping you would post here, You grow some SERIOUS Maters Which Heirloom Varieties are your Favorites?

Idaholewis wrote:Chet, I was hoping you would post here, You grow some SERIOUS Maters  Which Heirloom Varieties are your Favorites?

I like black cherry, Arkansas traveler, brandywine, ace 55, yellow pear , black krim and mortgage lifter. Plus i try a couple new varieties each year just for fun. For example brads atomic grape in the basket picture.

This year going with my favorite Giant Belgium, georgia streak, kentucky beefsteak, old german. My wifes fav some early girls and if I can find them dark prince or black krim and super sweet 100 cherry.