Lianshou supply professional and honest service.
It seems home gardeners want everything out of their home-grown tomato that their typical grocery tomato lacks Ð different colors, funky shapes and amazing taste, basically everything homegrown heirloom tomatoes are known for.
Today's tomato breeders often joke that you can't ship heirloom tomatoes from your backyard to your back door. That's because the unique taste is often genetically associated with poor shelf life. While the taste may be the biggest selling point of heirloom tomatoes, the poor disease resistance and plant durability pose challenges for the average home gardener.
For more than a decade, Monsanto's tomato breeders have worked to bring the home gardener the best of both worlds &#; the taste, shape and color appeal of heirloom tomatoes combined with the disease resistance and plant durability required to make them a success in the garden.
"What a lot of home gardeners don't know is that the funky colors and shapes that heirlooms are known for are actually natural genetic mutations," says Robbie Johnson, Seminis Home Garden business lead. "Some of our newer tomato hybrids with heirloom-like colors are actually derived from heirlooms, bringing in those natural mutations such as a bi-color yellow-orange flesh with a red inside."
'Tye-Dye' is one such tomato hybrid from Seminis Home Garden. The tomato breeder who developed it kept it very true to the heirloom rainbow it was derived from. "In addition to its unique color, it is a mildly sweet, very low acid round tomato," adds Johnson.
Seminis Home Garden is Monsanto's home garden seed brand. With 19 tomato breeders globally, Seminis Home Garden commercial tomato varieties are available around the world for home gardeners. Monsanto tomato breeders also develop new hybrids to specifically meet the needs of home garden market.
But because these new heirloom-like tomatoes aren't actually heirlooms, some home gardeners are quick to turn a blind eye to them without even giving them a chance in their garden. For some, the idea of unchanged seeds that have been passed down from generation to generation is romantic. For others, the nostalgic taste isn't worth the growing challenges.
"We know the top thing home gardeners are looking for are plants that are easy to grow," says Johnson. "But that doesn't mean other important factors such as taste, color and shape have to be compromised." And thanks to a significantly improved breeding toolbox, today's tomato breeders can bring together many of the qualities home gardeners are looking for into the same tomato plant.
Better Breeding = Better Tomatoes
In the past, plant breeders were essentially blind to the inner workings of plants. To understand how desirable traits such as color were passed along from plant to plant, they used two parent plants to create an offspring plant. They then grew the seeds from the fruit of this plant and waited to see the results &#; a very time-consuming process. Today, breeders can now "see" inside the plants they intend to breed.
"Using a technique called marker-assisted breeding, our tomato breeders can examine the DNA of seeds to find the ones that have the desirable characteristics &#; such as disease resistance and color &#; that they are looking for," explains Johnson.
First, genetic markers are identified in plants' DNA that are linked to important traits such as disease resistance, color, yield and taste. The markers are then used like a test to screen all of the parent plants available for breeding and accurately select and breed only the seeds that will produce plants with the desirable traits.
"This helps our plant breeders target several in-demand characteristics all at once, enabling us to bring new, unique tomato seeds to the home garden market faster," explains Johnson. "With these tools, our tomato breeders have the ability to make tomatoes that are both easy-to-grow and great tasting."
Unique-looking, great-tasting tomatoes that are easy to grow are sure to be quickly adopted, right? Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. "There is a lot of confusion over heirlooms, hybrids and even GMOs in the garden," says Johnson. "All the misinformation on the Web can detract home gardeners from being open-minded to new hybrids."
The industry needs to help the average home gardener better understand the benefits of hybrid tomatoes vs. heirlooms as well as correct the misconception that a hybrid is the same as a GMO. "There's been an increase in marketing non-GMO garden plants, which is a big reason why there is so much confusion," says Johnson. "Why not market the benefits of hybrid plants instead?"
A Flavorful Future
Monsanto recently collaborated with the University of Florida to profile the flavor for 150 different heirloom tomatoes and then understand what the genetic sources of those flavors were. "Through our research, we've learned that tomato flavor is a very complex thing. Sugars, acids and over 400 volatiles blend together to form unique tomato flavors," explains Johnson. "Our researchers are using that information to breed what we hope will be tomatoes that are as flavorful as or even more flavorful than the heirlooms profiled."
The Next Better Boy
Nostalgia for tomatoes grows beyond heirlooms. It's no surprise that many home gardeners plant the same classic varieties year after year. "Our top-selling home garden tomato seeds are 'Better Boy', 'Big Beef', 'Celebrity', Burpee's 'Big Boy' and 'Beefmaster'," explains Johnson. "These are all classic choices that have been around for a while."
While these tomato varieties have proven successful in home gardens across the United States, there are new diseases that these varieties aren't protected against. "That's why we are taking a close look at making these classic varieties even easier to grow," says Johnson. "We see grafting as a great option for keeping these classic varieties true to their original form while improving their disease resistance."
Compact Tomatoes: No Garden Required
Container gardening has been on the uptrend over the past five years and continues to grow in popularity, especially in urban areas where green space can be limited. Another focus for Seminis Home Garden is developing and offering compact tomato plants. "Just because they are using a smaller space to grow the plant doesn't mean the fruit has to be small too," explains Johnson. "For example, if container gardeners are looking for a compact plant that produces large and tasty tomatoes, they should try a new hybrid tomato variety called 'Debut'."
Container gardeners don't have to sacrifice flavor for a more conveniently-grown plant either. "'Husky Red' is a medium-sized tomato hybrid that has great flavor. We have also developed a cherry tomato hybrid version called 'Husky Cherry Red' that has the potential to set lots of sweet, flavorful fruit," adds Johnson.
Other compact hybrid tomato varieties include 'Patio', which produces about a 4-ounce tomato and a saladette tomato variety called 'Yaqui' that produces large-sized fruit.
Are you interested in learning more about hybrid saladette tomato seeds? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
Growing with the Flow: A World of New Tomato Options
Based on our trials programs in and , there are some excellent varieties that are easy to find in seed catalogs and garden centers to get you started in producing great flavored tomatoes. This fact sheet coupled with the advice in "Growing Great Container Vegetables #1: General Recommendations", should get you on the path to success.
Unlike more standard garden varieties, you may have to hunt around for a greenhouse that grows these varieties or start the plants yourself. Look for varieties that are labeled "compact" or "for containers". Larger garden varieties, even those considered determinate will simply get too tall for a container and require excessive support. In our trials, we looked for varieties that required little to no trellising. Unfortunately, only a few varieties have required no support.
Use at least a 14" pot, larger is better. We've used up to 20" pots and the plants responded by getting larger and producing more fruit. Larger pots also hold more root mass and water which helps a lot as the days get hot and plants grow large with large water demands.
Use only compact, container varieties. There aren't a lot of them, but more are in the breeding pipeline as the program has many more varieties than were available in . See the variety list at the end for our comments and recommendations.
Use only potting media (soil) that is labeled for larger pots. Our trial mixes contained substantial composted pine bark blended with peat moss and perlite. Other mixes use coir, peanut shells and rice hulls for similar bulking purposes. Mixes that are high in peat moss will compress too much during the growing season thus reducing root mass. Without this mass, the plants will be unable to develop properly and hold enough water to get through the day.
Container tomatoes benefit from upright support. Since container varieties tend to be shorter, conical wire trellis's with 2 rings have been sufficient (these are readily found in garden centers). Be sure to install these in the container shortly after planting or you are likely to damage the plants by installing them once they are really needed. Some of the smaller cherry type tomatoes are so small that no support is required.
Tumbler Tomatoes: excellent saladette with good internal structure
Good tomatoes require a lot of nutrients. Most potting media comes with about a two week fertilizer charge, then the plants need to be fed or growth starts to slow down. Start by applying a timed-release, pelleted, fertilizer following the label directions for rate based on pot size. At about 2 weeks after planting, begin watering weekly with a soluble fertilizer. Until the plants begin flowering, you can use a balanced fertilizer with a 1-1-1 ratio such as 20-20-20. Once flowering, change over to a high potassium fertilizer. Most fertilizers blended for tomatoes fit this description. In our program, we've been using a fertilizer with a 9-15-30 plus micro-nutrients analysis. Organic growers can use a combination of fish emulsion, green sand, kelp meal and bone meal to get similar results. Be sure to increase feeding as the plants grow larger. Apply more timed-release fertilizer after 10-12 weeks. There is good research to support the inclusion of seaweed-based supplements even with a strong conventional fertilizer program.
While insects are seldom a big problem on tomatoes, diseases are common due to our generally humid summers. Septoria leaf spot occurs on all tomatoes and requires attention or it will defoliate the plants just as the fruit is really coming on. This disease is very easy to diagnose, it starts as scattered speckles or lesions on the lowest leaves. Then the speckles become larger and more numerous and spread upward eventually leaving dead leaves behind. Without those leaves, the plant cannot produce sugars and the other compounds that go into creating flavorful fruit. Eventually, Septoria leaf spot will kill the plant outright. From the first flower buds, apply either Chlorthalonil (Daconil and Fungonil in garden centers) or copper solutions weekly. If the weather is dry, you can reduce fungicide applications to every 2 weeks.
Note: we are testing a range of biological fungicides on tomato diseases in and and hope to be able to add biological options for effective disease control based on that research.
Harvest your tomatoes as they ripen completely. This timely harvest allows the plant to move resources to other fruit. Never leave rotten or overripe fruit on the plant as they will degrade other fruit. For the best flavored fruit, leave them on the vine until fully colored. At the first sign of frost, harvest any fruit that looks even somewhat ripe, then toss the plant or cover the plant with row cover during cool periods. The row cover will increase the heat and protect the plants from frost until it gets below 25F.
One truly excellent variety. We had sufficient quantities off of 3 plants to include this one in our tasting program and our panel loved it. It had real tomato taste, good size for slicing and good yields. While relatively compact, the plants really need to be supported as the fruit load gets heavy enough to break branches.
Good flavor in a saladette-sized fruit. Excellent yields for a compact plant and the fruit kept coming over a long period. Even though the fruit are small, this variety benefits from support.
Large quantities of paste-type tomatoes. Although not a lot of flavor, they were judged acceptable and fit a 14" container. These did not require support.
Window Box Roma Fruit
While it took a long time to get any ripe fruit from Bushsteak, the fruit were large and meaty with a fully balanced tomato flavor. The yields were good, but after waiting so long, all the fruit ripened and were gone after 2-3 weeks. This variety may benefit from the use of row covers early in the season to promote faster growth. Must be supported.
Bushsteak tomatoes from a single days harvest in late august
The earliest yielding of the slicing container tomatoes in the trial. We started picking Super Bush right along with Bush Early Girl. Good flavor and good yields in a medium sized slicer. Must be supported.
Very small plants with minimal flavor. You can plant as many as 3 plants in a 14" pot. No support required. We are planning on increasing the potassium to this variety in in an effort to improve the flavor.
Prepared by Steve Bogash, retired extension educator. The evaluation of these vegetables is largely due to the labor of the Penn State Extension, Franklin County Master Gardeners and the staff of the Penn State Southeast Research and Extension Center. Of special note is the work of Hillary Snavely, Summer Horticulture Intern , and Donna Berard, Franklin County Master Gardener.
For more bulk tomato seeds wholesale manufacturerinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.