Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

KimChick wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:03 pm

I'm not sure which varieties DH planted this year, but he has been out there at night, with a black light, finding a lot of tomato hornworms. He found some on the potatoes, too.
We preserve both diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Oh wow...i guess i have been lucky..haven't seen a tomato hornworm since i was a kid...(fingers crossed)

TomK wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:13 pm

KimChick wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:03 pm

I'm not sure which varieties DH planted this year, but he has been out there at night, with a black light, finding a lot of tomato hornworms. He found some on the potatoes, too.
We preserve both diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Oh wow...i guess i have been lucky..haven't seen a tomato hornworm since i was a kid...(fingers crossed)

Aside from empty stems where there used to be leaves on the plant, there are tell-tale signs on the dirt around the plant that indicate a large caterpillar has been eating there.

But they are such beautiful moths!

Finally actually tried the Celebrity tomato, after it sat on the window sit for 2 days it was time to try or hand over to the chickens.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the taste, but way too sloppy for any kind of sandwich.

Oh dear, now I have 12 Baker's tabs open to read tomato reviews. There were 13 tabs, one for Brandywine, but too many people gave that one 5 stars and I closed it in disgust LOL. I guess if you LIKE the hothouse tomatoes at the grocery store, Brandywine might seem like a gem, but either way, I'm going to read the reviews with a big grain of salt.
@Ontario Chick , you make me wonder if Celebrity might be less sloppy if you hadn't left it on a hot windowsill for so long :D. I wonder what they are like just slightly under ripe.

To me they still had that watery taste.

We lost a great resource of tomatoes this past year when Vicki’s Veggies closed. They had something like 100+ varieties of tomatoes which they sold in the spring, grew and then had a tasting festival in the fall. I had gotten and tried quite a few some I liked and others not so much but have lost most of the seeds through our moves. I did get a chance to get some seeds last year from the garden I was working at as she had gotten an interesting selection. One of my favs was Indigo Rose a dark red/black large cherry, Rosalita a pink/green large cherry and Polish Luigiano a nice large pasta type.

I love cherry tomatoes and my favourite was sweet million which I haven’t seen in years but seems to have been replaced by sweet 100. I got the Sun Gold this year and it’s excellent for sweetness and flavour. I never could understand the hype over brandywine, I grew some many years ago and it wasn’t as flavourful as I expected and because of its lobed shape it cracked and rotted easily.

Just in case you aren't all confused, here is another great all things tomato site. Lots of varieties, trouble shooting conditions and growing tips.

https://www.tomatofest.com/Heirloom_Tom ... ds_s/1.htm

windwalkingwolf wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:26 pm

@Ontario Chick , you make me wonder if Celebrity might be less sloppy if you hadn't left it on a hot windowsill for so long :D. I wonder what they are like just slightly under ripe.

Possibly, but there was a large proportion of seed and juice to the "meaty" bits.
The taste and juiciness has got to be affected by the soil ( same as in wine and watering, not only the variety.
The fact we water with well water must be some kind of hell on the garden as the water comes out pretty much ice cold.
I couldn't really compare to store tomatoes, as I don't buy them in wintertime.

did the brandywine thing a couple years ago. they tasted like grocery store tomatoes! lol..so watery. i have sweet millions...love them but they arent a cherry size anymore more like a small field now....but love the flavor.
btk sprayed a few days ago because the hornworms ate half a plant in less than a day!! but it seems to have worked amazing....