Posted by oakandsage on July 16, 2014 at 02:38

Even though I planted tomatoes reasonably early and the weather has been quite warm, the tomatoes are just… confused by the weather. I have a few good sized Brandy Boy and Persimmon but they're still green. I had one really early San Marzano back in june, and another is starting to turn red. The San M is in a pot… I'm starting to wish I'd planted it in the ground, because it is growing like crazy.

This year's Producer has been a disappointment. I planted 4th of July (a hybrid) which is supposed to be a good early tomato, and planted it in the Producer Spot with enough trellis to keep it busy all season, but it's bizarrely stunted - about a foot tall and not growing any bigger. It's got a good crop of red tomatoes on it now but they weren't quite ready by the 4th, which was disappointing since Jetsetter was ready in early july and is a much bigger, tastier fruit. And it's supposed to be indeterminate, producing through early fall, but it's acting determinate. Also, the fruit is not of good quality. Its flavor is OK (but only OK), but the skin is incredibly thick (thicker than supermarket tomatoes) and is BITTER. I've had thick skin tomatoes before but none whose skin had strong bitter flavors.

It's possible I got a flawed plant given the weird determinate behavior and tiny size, but I would not grow 4th of July again. I hope San M does well in its pot because otherwise I will have a rather poor tomato harvest this year.