Yes, produces a large crop until frost. Right now production has slowed a bit due to the very high temps we've been having. I often have to water it twice a day in the TT in this weather. That's the down side of container gardening.

Yes, the heat is taking a toll on our tomatoes and gardens right now!!! A chance of rain is in the forecast here for the weekend.... that would be nice!

Another way to protect a plant or a brranch from cross-polination is to wrap it in Remay or other "row cover" fabric - but you might have to tape or sew it to keep bees out.

I found some 1/8 inch nylon mesh for cheap at a fabirc store.

If you only need to protect the last foot of one branch for a few seeds, there are ogranza bags sized to hold wine bottles.

Someone explained a way to keep many varieties "pure" and yet also taking advatgae of insect pollinators. Simply expose only ONE variety per day to the bees. Cover all the others at night or before dawn. Expose the plants you wnat polinated before dawn, and cover it again at night.

But DON"T use the fabric from Variety A to cover Variety B! It is likely to be loaded with unwanted pollen, and I don't know how long pollen is viable.

Thank you, Rick.

Very good ideas! I hadn't thought about covering the others while exposing the variety you want pollinated. and I think I have some nylon mesh somewhere already.

I swear: in gardening and elsewhere, almost every really good idea I hear makes me slap my forehead and say "why didn't I think of that!?!"

Maybe not much pollen would cling to that mesh, and it could be re-used with a little washing or just a few dry days in the sun.

P.S. That mesh also makes a good seive for big seeds, in an embroidery hoop.

Reporting back on my Heirloom Yellow Pear tomato I posted about earlier ... I grew it this year in a Topsy Turvy planter. In spite of restricted root space, blazing sun and 100º temps, storm winds and occasional lack of water, it did wonderfully well. Here it is now in mid-Sept. I have harvested lots of tomatoes and it is taking off growing and producing even more now that the temp has cooled.

That's a Goliath Hybrid to the right, but it did get broken in a wind storm at one point in time.

Very nice, Tee! thank you for posting an update. Looks like you have a nice amount of fruits to gather there.

Do you like the topsy turvy pot? I've never tried using one.

The TT is okay for some tomatoes, IMHO. It is working quite well for the Heirloom Yellow Pear, as you can see. I think for the cherry and pear tomatoes, it's fine. For the larger tomatoes, when the wind blows hard, it can snap those heavy vine branches right off especially if they have a lot of fruit on them. For me it just seems to work better if those have some support like a tomato cage or a stake or something. Less breakage.

I like several varieties depending on my mood and purpose. I also love Amana Orange and Wapsican peach for just eating out of the garden, Sioux, German Johnson, Muleteam, Ox heart are all great...

I've tried a few of your fav's. This year's crop was great but most of my tomato plants lots their tags so we've just been enjoying "tomatoes"! Lol!

Next year I look forward to trying Kelloggs Breakfast tomato that so many have been raving about. I have to say, I've been enjoying the beefsteak tomatoes this year.

And welcome, Jeff. Hope to see you around the other forums. We have a great forum where we just talk about all edible gardeing, I think it's called Edibles and Preserving. Yes, that's it! Here it is: http://garden.org/forums/view/...

I'm thinking that next year I might use a paper punch to put small holes in my mini-blind slats.

Then tie them with twine to a waist-level branch so I don't have to squat and squint to read the names.

Even using a 0.7" or 0.9" mechanical pencil, the text is faint and hard to read.

Good points Rick! I like the idea of tying the tags on branches so they're higher up! Hubby was just saying he thought it would be a good idea (if you use tomatoe cages) to tag the cage at the top. Another idea.

wildflowers said: Hubby was just saying he thought it would be a good idea (if you use tomatoe cages) to tag the cage at the top. Another idea.

I buy tags with holes in them and tie them to the cages with garden twist tie wire.

I did what Rick suggested this year, it worked great.

Thanks!

I grew dr wyches this year in a five gallon bucket and they did beautifully . also grew tee mo or and they did well . I grow all my tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket . They did very well .

I appreciate that news, Kitty T. I've been thinking of trying big buckets for tomatoes, since I have so few sunny spots.

What did you use for potting mix? I worry about it being well-aerated-enough, and planned to adds lots of bark in sizes up to 1/4".

Also: welcome to ATP! I hope you like it here.

And finally, thanks for introducing me to a new variety:
'Tee Mo Or'

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum 'Tee Mo Or')
(needs photos)

http://tatianastomatobase.com/...

I hadn't heard of Tee Mo Or either. kitty T! Please consider adding photos to the database, Rick posted above!

and

So I recently stumbled upon Ohio Heirloom Seeds and they have veggie seeds but mostly tomato seeds. Only Heirlooms but again mostly not the more common ones we might have heard of or be growing. New and interesting varieties. Yup, I had to order tomato seeds!

http://ohioheirloomseeds.com/

I see lots of good ideas here.

However, for the past few years, I've been doing things a little differently.

I grow several varieties that are my favorite, and I save seeds and replant my heirloom and open-pollinated varieties from my own saved seeds. To make sure I get "pure" seeds, without cross pollination from other varieties in my garden, I do something completely different. Late in the season, I select which plant I want to get seeds from, and I take one or two sucker cuttings and root those in a smaller pot (12" or so usually). I grow a small clone of the plant indoors, in a sunny south facing window. I let that clone plant grow, blossom and fruit, and I gather the seeds from that clone that was grown indoors.

Sometimes I have a couple different varieties growing in different rooms. Other years, I'll do one variety mid summer, and another later on at the end of the season.

I typically gather seeds from only one or two varieties each year, and I have a good seed supply for 2 to 4 years after that.

This year, I'm starting seeds that I gathered in 2015, 2014, 2013, and for one variety, I still have seeds from 2012. I'll definitely be cloning/replenishing my seed stock on that one from 2012 again this year.