What I have learned to do on my Cherokee purple is to pick them early, don’t let them fully vine ripen. They are more ripe than they appear. As soon as they blush on the bottom (top will still be quite green) and start to get a bit soft, I pull them and let them finish ripening on the counter. They do really well this way. I only lost one to rot this year and that was because I had not thinned well enough so it went unseen. Never had a black widow in my tomatoes though so now I’m going to be watching closely! But I have grown them for the past 6 years. They make an amazing addition to rich sauce, canned tomato soup, everything. Mmmmm
That's the same suggestion one of our priest at our parish gave me and it works miracle. Picking it early just like Katrinaward1069 above described. From two cherokee purple plants, I got so many cherokee tomatoes. Versus the year before when I also planted two plants, I got only 3 due to rot and stuff. I am such a happy gal this year. I plan to plant more next year.
@justintime6346 I compare our experiences to the making of a sword. Lots of fire, blows from a hammer and time. The only way to make a weapon that can be used for a specific purpose has to be made a certain way. Trials and tests give us our testimony. Without going through those things, we have nothing. Thanks for the reply.
Back in 1993 was my last real garden .. we canned 143 jars of spaghetti sauce and 112 jars of stewed tomatoes and gave away at least 100lbs of tomatoes
I'm in PA as well. Even though I didn't plant much, I had crazy amounts of volunteer plants and they are producing like crazy. I think our warm, early spring helped.
PA here as well, the heat was brutal on my garden and for some reason, the weeds were super powered! I was able to get a good deal on lots of roma tomatoes at the farm market which turned into canned purée. I won’t give up though and will plan better next season.
Down in Tennessee here. This year has been the biggest struggle for us in the garden. We've had some spectacular successes and some really big misses. Too much rain. Not enough rain. Too many insects. Intense heat and humidity. It's always something, but we're also working hard on getting ready for the fall garden now!
Central PA here and the pests have been devastating to our garden, especially Japanese beetles and mosquitoes 😡 our strawberries and melons never took off and our green bean plants and grape vines kept losing their leaves. Blackberries were so bitter and tart they were inedible. Even the zukes, cukes and yellow squash didn't produce. Worst harvest ever. Pulling everything out and hoping for a better fall garden. I can't remember the last time we had clear blue skies with no criss crossing chemtrails 😡 I'm convinced whatever they're spraying is now causing problems with our gardens. Good luck everyone!
Tough year in Connecticut after a wonderful start. Perfect spring then drought conditions followed by heat and too much rain. Only 1 hornworm, but the deer!! They have been relentless!
Every year I'm adding garden space. This is my biggest and best yet. Cucumbers planted in May are still going. I have 7 large watermelons that I hope will ripen good.
My garden took two hits this summer. Derecho in June and the Beryl Hurrican in July. The Derecho storm blew the fruit/vegetables off of the stems and then they started to come back. Then the hurricane blew everything off again. I am in Houston. I planted Peppers late July after the hurricane and now I have tons of peppers on my plants. I DID NOT give up!!!
I am a relatively new vegetable gardener. This year, I'm growing a number of varieties, including Cherokee purple, but not Arkansas Travelers. Deer topped my tomatoes when they were about 3' tall, so it slowed their growth. The CP split and cracked but didn't rot and are delicious. No black widows but army worms and horn worms even though there's a basil pact at the base of every tomato plant. 🤷♀️ I'll give Arkansas travelers a try next year. My favorite so far are Persimmon. They're a beautiful orange, and the flavor is excellent. My largest was almost a pound.
We planted 6 different tomatoes. 4 of the 6 variety had the same issues as your purples. Even some of my sweet peppers have rotted in the vine this yr before they were even ripe. This is the first yr I've had this struggle. I'm sorry you're having issues but I'm glad my family isn't the only one with this trouble. I was driving myself crazy trying to figure it out
I just had a Bloody Mary at The Garage in Bremerton WA that had an 8oz steak, a slider cheeseburger, candied bacon, 3 breaded prawns, 3 cocktail shrimp and all the veggies you would normally have an one. It was a whole meal on top. You had to eat half of it to get to the straw. Such a good Bloody Mary. Lol
This year I planted Roma and beefsteak tomatoes together in a row in a raised bed and the tomatoes are HUGE Roma shaped like they are a mix of the two so I all them beefaroma tomatoes 🍅
I can confirm the tomato horn worms haven't come near my 🍅 plants since I started planting basil and dahlias near my plants this is year 3 for me with zero horn worms.
this year, my oldest daughter and i tag teamed on seed starting for the garden, and she planted several homestead tomato seeds. i turned my nose up at the variety because it looked pretty basic to me. well, i’ve been humbled by impressive the homestead tomato has been! more productive than any other variety, and like your arkansas traveler, pretty much blemish free. they’ve all looked like store bought tomatoes.
It’s Grainger County tomatoes here. Beautiful, tasty tomatoes. Mortgage Lifter and Jersey Devils were new to the garden this year and I was really happy with both. Romas are always in my garden but I think I like the Jersey Devils better. Similar tomatoes but less seeds. I can’t stand Cherokee Purples. The tops are always hard and green while the bottom is past ripe. I have to cut the whole top off and toss it. A total waste.
I’m noticing same situation with my 4 Cherokee tomato plants. I also have a good sized purple Basil some Oregano and Marigold plant right near. Glad a cherry tomato plant happened to just spring up in a nearby bed.
My grandmother always had black widows in her tomatoes. Beautiful tomatoes. Are those our Arkansas Traveler seeds? They look amazing. We have a 10 month old, I'm back at the mill, expanding our seed company, new web design, my wife's midwifery is taking off and we jumped in with both feet starting up a commercial meat sheep business. It is our worst garden ever...Just too much going on. We are focusing on our fall garden and hopefully will have a good harvest with that.
Yup, same experience with Cherokee purple tomatos this year here in SW MO. So many rotten ones and deformation. I have a big bag of Arkansas traveler seed. I'll have to try them next year. We did have hornworms, but not too bad. Picked them off with a black light at night. Fun times. I'll be planting my fall crops this weekend. A little late for some of them, but I hope they'll do ok. All in all, a good season.
I always used to chop and sauté a fennel bulb in addition to my onion for spaghetti sauce. Added great flavor. The caraway seed threw me. 😂. I’m going to be out of town during the expo. Such a bummer. I would love to have you stop by on your way home for a consult.
While at Camp Yeshua, tomato horn worms destroyed 18 tomato plants and a row of tobacco plants. No rain the whole time we were gone so corn and melons did poorly. Canned 18 quarts of green beans. Working in salsa, pasta sauce, and pizza sauce this coming week. Today we are picking and freezing… prep day and Shabbat first ! Have a Blessed Sabbath.
I tried pineapple tomato to go along with standby Cherokee purple and they did great in 8b. I try one new variety a year and most the time they fail but pineapple is a keeper.
I can tell you right now, my mother is right off the boat from Italy and I NEVER heard any Italian put fennel in pizza sauce. The only place we put fennel is in sausage. For what it’s worth.
You need to offer tomato seeds for cash " donation " $. Always looking for seeds. No tomato horn worms. We use rotting potatoes to keep the deer away, always works.
I had the same problem with Cherokee purple tomatoes several years in a row and just stopped growing them for that reason. I have some heirloom tomatoes from a fellow here in east ky that has a very similar flavor profile as Cherokee purple and grow larger and do so much better. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
I’m literally in the process of canning Arkansas Traveler tomatoes when this video notification popped up. This is my first year growing this variety. I’m in the Ozarks also so figured they would be an appropriate choice. I only bought two little plants from a store I typically avoid all together. They grew fantastic but they’re absolutely loaded down with tomatoes. None of them are near the size you showed here though unfortunately. They’re more about the size of romas than a full sized tomato which I found odd. Maybe it’s because I bought them at a big chain store and didn’t grow them from seed I don’t know. I suppose now I have that experience. Next year I’ll grow from seed. Thanks for mentioning the black widow possibility in the Cherokee variety. I’ve never heard of that. The fennel seed is a helpful tip. I’ll try that next year. I don’t have any basil in my garden but I was somewhat surprised that I didn’t see any hornworms yet on my plants either.
I have four very large basil plants in between 5 tomato plants. In the last few days, I've found 4 horn worms and fed them to my chickens. I'm on the lookout for more.
I seen many people posting that they notice that there are less bugs this year. You might think it's a good thing for your garden except the beneficial bugs are gone to. Could this be another way 'they' are destroying the food supply?
I grew Cherokee purples, compost cherry tomatoes (volunteers in the compost pile that I transplanted) and the tiny little Everglades which although the size of a blueberry pack a surprising amount of tomato flavor! I live in zone 9 NE Florida. Never had a black widow, but I do get agriope spiders over my tomatoes.
I put in Spoon tomatoes this year - just one plant as an experiment. They were from a free pack of seeds from Baker Creek. Same as you Everglades variety in terms of a surprising level of flavor - the ripe tomatoes are no larger than a pea. Good in salads though.
My garden this year is probably the best i ever have had since starting to garden. Biggest problem is my health took a hit in July so the preserving has been tough. I can only hope to duplicate my garden success next year!
I’ve had the worst tomato year in a long time here in GA. They all succumbed to viruses really early and I only got a few tomatoes. In past years I would still be picking the indeterminate varieties. I have tried Arkansas Traveler in the past but not in the last few years. I believe I will grow them again next year after hearing your testimonial.
I agree about the rotting on the vine. Malformed. Haven’t seen a SPIDER IN MY TOMATOES !!!! 😮 Other than peppers, my garden here in Texas, is pretty much done. I have shade cloth over my CP hoping to get more into fall as the temps cool. I just ordered the Arkansas Traveler for next year. I’ve turned the chickens in to feast on the bugs. Hopefully if there are spiders they will take care of them. 😳 since I have the shade cloth up, it’s pretty dark in the tomato tunnel. Oh I have tons of basil planted between all my tomatoes. I had hornworms early this year.
I planted Cherokee purple once. With a limited space I can’t be throwing away all the rotten ones. Mine never looked like the one you held up. They were so deformed. I did sauce tomato for my pizza sauce. I did ketchup also. Thanks for sharing
I'm in the process of making spaghetti sauce with Roma, Arkansas travelers, and San manzano. I normally use Cherokee purple and Amish paste. But this year I'm trying out Arkansas travelers. Wow! They are very tasty with a lot of flavor, similar to the Cherokee purple, in my opinion. I still like the Cherokee purple better. What I've noticed this year with a pest, that has been very light. Handful of army worms and stink bugs. I have not used any pesticides, this year. I've been using swamp water and jadam microbial solution on my plants. I have a huge hill of sweet potatoes. About the size of a queen size mattress.
I haven't had much luck with my tomatoes, but winter squash is prolific, especially the plants that grew out of compost I added. 14-15" butternut squash, 10 so far of various sizes. Green beans are just now growing, 3rd planting this summer. Jalapeños are growing. Okra is ok. I surrounded my tomatoes with basil and marigolds. No hornworms, but the heat dried most of the flowers.
This was my first year growing Cherokee purple and I love the flavor. I haven’t had issues with them rotting, but I have noticed a lot of leaf rot. We’ve had a wet year though. I’ve never grown the Arkansas traveler. I’ll have to try that next year! My favorite so far has been the pineapple tomato. Amazing flavor!!!
I grew Cherokee Purple last year. They were delicious, but I had the same experience with the cracking/splitting/rotting with the majority of them. I decided not to grow them again, and after hearing about your experience with the Black Widow spiders, I am especially happy with my decision!
Lots of pain contributing to my wisdom this year! I've learned that high soil pH contributes to scab in potatoes and that the solution is more carbon in the soil to lower the pH. Same is true of those pin worms you get in radishes and garlic. I'm experimenting with ways to combat aphids in my tunnel on my hydroponic lettuce...still haven't gotten that one figured out. Trying an organic spray that is made from rosemary extract.
I had all the same problems last year with the cherokee purple, very disappointing. I didn't even grown them this year. All my other tomatoes did great. Only 1 tomato horn worm and I got it pretty quickly. Praying I don't see any black widows
Here in eastern Colorado we have had a rough year with our garden. The grasshopper population has been extremely high and we have been dry so the only green is our garden. They have completely killed our carrots beets and green beans. They killed most of the peppers and have done a lot of damage to the other plants. We are getting some decent tomatoes and yellow squash. Our lemon boy tomatoes did really well this year.
I was going to suggest a michelada... but turns out they don’t normally have tomato, just chili. But we had some in Jersey made by Guatemalans that had tomato and orange, rather than lime. Wasss sooo good!!😁
My garden hasnt been as good this year but i did have a foot amputation in April so i didnt get out there like i normally would. But it has still been decent. Tomatoes have been great, lettuce was good, cabbage and broccoli did good. Didnt get the germination for carrots and green beans that i hoped for. But overall, not bad considering the circumstances. Getting my prosthetic this friday so next year should be good again. Also the weather here in Western Wa has been weird. Hot in early July after a cold June and spring, then after a week of high temps it has been very mild.
I have never tried the Arkansas traveler but I have planted the Cherokee purple. I love the Cherokee purples flavor. They taste to me how a tomato should taste. I think I will try that Arkansas traveler now...that is a beautiful tomato. I have had a great garden year here in Georgia. I planted a mum in the middle of my squash and cucumbers...it got gigantic. I had no bug pressures. I think it was the mum. They do make pyrethrin from mums.
The heat here was brutal on my garden this year! I did have lots of volunteer tomato plants though. The corn did ok, the potatoes not so much but I did use the few we got. The weeds were insane too.
Here in Michigan we have had rain at times 4 + inches finally got the potatoes out of the ground and curing we did purple ones , kennebecks and russets. I bought seeds.for the Cherokee purple but i think the seeds were miss marked it looks like a stripped greenthing. Romas did well and i also did some sibercia they did real good too. Im on my second planting of green beans . Harvested all the onions and garlic already too. No tomato worms this year .but i have worms on my dill they are a swallowtail so let them eat.😊
My garden has not done well this year due to some heat stress that normally doesn't occur in our zone. Also, I have built some raised beds because of health issues. I wanted to be able to harvest without squatting. My raised beds just aren't seasoned enough to produce high yealds
I tried something new, I started my garden really early being it was so hot so early! The squash bugs took out all but one zucchini plant early on and I've been fighting them since!! Corn did awesome for my tiny plot, I got about 6 months of corn in the freezer already, potatoes were the best I've ever had, I've only had 2 ripe tomatoes all year!! Lots of green ones on the vine ... beans were great, blue berries.... I'd say over all it was a great year, but I won't be enjoying my zucchini bread all winter for breakfast that's for sure. And I have enough pickles for YEARS!!!
My bush beans weren’t so good..some were like Italian beans, flat & they vined! My zucchini is doing well planted late to avoid squash bugs so far none. Eggplant doing really well. Potatoes were a bust, not one! Strawberries were a bust. Peppers slow but ok
Only trimmed bottem vines on determinate tomatoes- happy with that. Had moths that ate some leaves then were gone- no biggie. Lol indeed- caraway is great in coleslaw! No deer or moose in the garden. 🙂 Those Arkansas Travellers were beauty 🤩
I have the same experience with the cherokee purples (not the black widow) - they rot before they're ripe. We're in Missouri. I'll have to try the AR traveler next year. Those look beautiful.
Been growing tomatoes for 15 years now. Only saw a black widow once near a tomato plant but not in a tomato. It was very hot that year. I feel like it’s rare..
Kansas here, I have had difficulties with Cherokee purple, they taste fabulous but are difficult and finicky here. Wisconsin 55 did well last year, even in the heat...
Had the same issues when we did Cherokee Purple (not the spiders though, thank goodness). We have grown tomatoes for years, we do about 100+ plants a year, and our tried and true favs for sauce are - amish paste tomatoes, mortgage lifters, Kellogg's breakfast (orange beefsteak), pink oxheart and yellow brandywine. All are non gmo, heirloom and are very prolific, great germination and super tomatoey tasting.
Japanese beetles on the pole beans, slugs and snails and of course cabbage moths. Deer respect the fence. My onions, celery and garlic are the best I have ever grown. Last year I grew enough tomatoes for 2 years so just grew for fresh eating. Zukes and cukes are good too.
My garden has been more lush than in many years. High rainfall here in Minnesota has helped. Zucchini coming like crazy, onions doing very well, herbs fantastic, tomatoes are slow (typical of everyone this year), carrots have beautiful greens, had the best year for strawberries, and more. My squash garden is going bananas.
My tomatoes plot which is not spaced far enough is 50 plants in a 20x30 is just recently getting blite no real pest pressures plus it's only in sun till about 1ish. Pure horse poop and hay compost, no chemical fertilizer and soaker hose
We are having difficulties with all types of tomatoes here in MN. I am attributing it to two things...lots and lots of rain...cool temps day and night. I am going to side dress them with straw and cover them at night. Hopefully that will bring up the heat as the straw decomposes and the tarp will hold the days heat in. Good tip on theff basil. I intersperse some of my herbs through the garden too as well as nematode marigolds. They help as well. I see every year what I am getting low on and plant many multiples of that produce and the ibe that will get low by spring, I will plant a few of those as well. That way I always keep the same amt of the ones we use most often. I also experiment with 2 to 3 different types of produce seeds and things we have never tried before. If we live them and are worth expending energy on, will grow again. If not, adios...but if is fun to see what you can do and come up with some exciting choices.
Authentic Italian marinara has a very deep bold taste that comes from long slow cooking with bay leaf which is a very different spice than “American” style marinara (used for spaghetti and pizza)
I'll have to try Arkansas Traveler next year. This year my best performers were Abe Lincoln, Big Rainbow and Romas. My German Pinks yielded a decent number of massive tomatoes, but they don't give a lot of them and at this point they look mostly spent. My Brandywines have been a total failure - plenty of lovely vines and they were the tallest in the garden, but not a single tomato - so those will not be repeated next year.
Oupes Solar Generators
oupes.com/?ref=rcp5i1yg&
WE LOVE OUR PATRONS!
www.patreon.com/AnAmericanHomestead
What I have learned to do on my Cherokee purple is to pick them early, don’t let them fully vine ripen. They are more ripe than they appear. As soon as they blush on the bottom (top will still be quite green) and start to get a bit soft, I pull them and let them finish ripening on the counter. They do really well this way. I only lost one to rot this year and that was because I had not thinned well enough so it went unseen. Never had a black widow in my tomatoes though so now I’m going to be watching closely! But I have grown them for the past 6 years. They make an amazing addition to rich sauce, canned tomato soup, everything. Mmmmm
Yep
That's the same suggestion one of our priest at our parish gave me and it works miracle. Picking it early just like Katrinaward1069 above described. From two cherokee purple plants, I got so many cherokee tomatoes. Versus the year before when I also planted two plants, I got only 3 due to rot and stuff. I am such a happy gal this year. I plan to plant more next year.
Scars= wisdom and experience. No scars= opinion. Thanks for the videos.
I as a child of God resemble this remark Scars=wisdom and experience. Grafted blood, sweat & for his Glory. Our God given glory.
@justintime6346 I compare our experiences to the making of a sword. Lots of fire, blows from a hammer and time. The only way to make a weapon that can be used for a specific purpose has to be made a certain way. Trials and tests give us our testimony. Without going through those things, we have nothing. Thanks for the reply.
Back in 1993 was my last real garden .. we canned 143 jars of spaghetti sauce and 112 jars of stewed tomatoes and gave away at least 100lbs of tomatoes
No wonder you quit! Lol
Definitely add fennel seed when you put your pizza together! I always add it later!
this year in Pa has been my worst garden in 40 years, I'm trying for a second season on some of my crops, and praying for better results
I'm in PA as well. Even though I didn't plant much, I had crazy amounts of volunteer plants and they are producing like crazy. I think our warm, early spring helped.
PA here as well, the heat was brutal on my garden and for some reason, the weeds were super powered! I was able to get a good deal on lots of roma tomatoes at the farm market which turned into canned purée. I won’t give up though and will plan better next season.
Down in Tennessee here. This year has been the biggest struggle for us in the garden. We've had some spectacular successes and some really big misses. Too much rain. Not enough rain. Too many insects. Intense heat and humidity. It's always something, but we're also working hard on getting ready for the fall garden now!
Central PA here and the pests have been devastating to our garden, especially Japanese beetles and mosquitoes 😡 our strawberries and melons never took off and our green bean plants and grape vines kept losing their leaves. Blackberries were so bitter and tart they were inedible. Even the zukes, cukes and yellow squash didn't produce. Worst harvest ever. Pulling everything out and hoping for a better fall garden. I can't remember the last time we had clear blue skies with no criss crossing chemtrails 😡 I'm convinced whatever they're spraying is now causing problems with our gardens. Good luck everyone!
South Central Pa.....started off real bad but now booming and just put in fall crop...hoping that will do well.....
Tough year in Connecticut after a wonderful start. Perfect spring then drought conditions followed by heat and too much rain. Only 1 hornworm, but the deer!! They have been relentless!
Every year I'm adding garden space. This is my biggest and best yet. Cucumbers planted in May are still going. I have 7 large watermelons that I hope will ripen good.
I have had the best year in my garden. No complaints here!!!
My garden took two hits this summer.
Derecho in June and the Beryl Hurrican in July.
The Derecho storm blew the fruit/vegetables off of the stems and then they started to come back. Then the hurricane blew everything off again.
I am in Houston.
I planted Peppers late July after the hurricane and now I have tons of peppers on my plants.
I DID NOT give up!!!
I am so impressed with how red those tomatoes are! Incredible!
My peppers and tomatoes are doing gang busters, the strawberries got decapitated by a deer, but it's ok. He went to camp for it.
Hi - I fell in love with a new one this year - Pink Berkley Tie Dye. Amazing! I have Arkansas Travelers too. I agree on the fennel.
I am a relatively new vegetable gardener. This year, I'm growing a number of varieties, including Cherokee purple, but not Arkansas Travelers. Deer topped my tomatoes when they were about 3' tall, so it slowed their growth. The CP split and cracked but didn't rot and are delicious. No black widows but army worms and horn worms even though there's a basil pact at the base of every tomato plant. 🤷♀️ I'll give Arkansas travelers a try next year. My favorite so far are Persimmon. They're a beautiful orange, and the flavor is excellent. My largest was almost a pound.
We planted 6 different tomatoes. 4 of the 6 variety had the same issues as your purples. Even some of my sweet peppers have rotted in the vine this yr before they were even ripe. This is the first yr I've had this struggle. I'm sorry you're having issues but I'm glad my family isn't the only one with this trouble. I was driving myself crazy trying to figure it out
I just had a Bloody Mary at The Garage in Bremerton WA that had an 8oz steak, a slider cheeseburger, candied bacon, 3 breaded prawns, 3 cocktail shrimp and all the veggies you would normally have an one. It was a whole meal on top. You had to eat half of it to get to the straw. Such a good Bloody Mary. Lol
This year I planted Roma and beefsteak tomatoes together in a row in a raised bed and the tomatoes are HUGE Roma shaped like they are a mix of the two so I all them beefaroma tomatoes 🍅
I can confirm the tomato horn worms haven't come near my 🍅 plants since I started planting basil and dahlias near my plants this is year 3 for me with zero horn worms.
Catnip works too. No hornworms what so ever.
The weird donut shape is cat facing. It happens a lot with heirloom tomatoes when two blossoms fuse together and form one tomato
Lucky you! I found 20+ tomato hornworms this year! And I only have 10 tomato plants 😵💫
Never a black widow but every year I find wolf spiders! Hate those things 😵💫
this year, my oldest daughter and i tag teamed on seed starting for the garden, and she planted several homestead tomato seeds. i turned my nose up at the variety because it looked pretty basic to me. well, i’ve been humbled by impressive the homestead tomato has been! more productive than any other variety, and like your arkansas traveler, pretty much blemish free. they’ve all looked like store bought tomatoes.
Next time you raise cherrokee purples when you see the tomato starting to turn pull it off the plant and let it ripen inside the house. Works great.
It’s Grainger County tomatoes here. Beautiful, tasty tomatoes. Mortgage Lifter and Jersey Devils were new to the garden this year and I was really happy with both. Romas are always in my garden but I think I like the Jersey Devils better. Similar tomatoes but less seeds. I can’t stand Cherokee Purples. The tops are always hard and green while the bottom is past ripe. I have to cut the whole top off and toss it. A total waste.
Totally agree planting basil helps protect from hornworms!
Thanks again Zach. Always great info🙏🙏🙏
I'd buy your spicy bloody Mary mix! Wow, those Arkansas Travelers are great looking tomatoes!
I’m noticing same situation with my 4 Cherokee tomato plants. I also have a good sized purple Basil some Oregano and Marigold plant right near. Glad a cherry tomato plant happened to just spring up in a nearby bed.
My grandmother always had black widows in her tomatoes. Beautiful tomatoes. Are those our Arkansas Traveler seeds? They look amazing. We have a 10 month old, I'm back at the mill, expanding our seed company, new web design, my wife's midwifery is taking off and we jumped in with both feet starting up a commercial meat sheep business. It is our worst garden ever...Just too much going on. We are focusing on our fall garden and hopefully will have a good harvest with that.
Yup, same experience with Cherokee purple tomatos this year here in SW MO. So many rotten ones and deformation. I have a big bag of Arkansas traveler seed. I'll have to try them next year. We did have hornworms, but not too bad. Picked them off with a black light at night. Fun times. I'll be planting my fall crops this weekend. A little late for some of them, but I hope they'll do ok. All in all, a good season.
I always used to chop and sauté a fennel bulb in addition to my onion for spaghetti sauce. Added great flavor. The caraway seed threw me. 😂. I’m going to be out of town during the expo. Such a bummer. I would love to have you stop by on your way home for a consult.
Yeah just see the consult page on my website and let me know and we'll work something out.
Thanks for sharing. Late seeing your video
Zack can you show use which hobby lobby windmill you used?
I've had hornworms this year on 2 different tomato plants. Both plants had a marigold and a basil plant at their base. First time that's happened!
Basil absolutely works for hornworms. I grow it inside all year and put pots of it next to my tomato plants.
While at Camp Yeshua, tomato horn worms destroyed 18 tomato plants and a row of tobacco plants. No rain the whole time we were gone so corn and melons did poorly. Canned 18 quarts of green beans. Working in salsa, pasta sauce, and pizza sauce this coming week. Today we are picking and freezing… prep day and Shabbat first ! Have a Blessed Sabbath.
I tried pineapple tomato to go along with standby Cherokee purple and they did great in 8b. I try one new variety a year and most the time they fail but pineapple is a keeper.
I can tell you right now, my mother is right off the boat from Italy and I NEVER heard any Italian put fennel in pizza sauce. The only place we put fennel is in sausage. For what it’s worth.
There’s definitely horn worms 🐛 in NWA 🤬🤭
You need to offer tomato seeds for cash " donation " $. Always looking for seeds. No tomato horn worms. We use rotting potatoes to keep the deer away, always works.
Wow, that’ll keep the neighbors away, too! 🤣
I love Cherokee purple! It's one of our staples here in NC Iowa. Delicious and productive!
Definite YES to homegrown tomato homemade tomato juice Bloody Marys...and Red Beers!! Don't forget the horseradish! 🍅🍻
My Purple's didn't do that great this year but we got plenty of Cherry's and Traveler's, Thanks for sharing brother...Cheers
I had the same problem with Cherokee purple tomatoes several years in a row and just stopped growing them for that reason. I have some heirloom tomatoes from a fellow here in east ky that has a very similar flavor profile as Cherokee purple and grow larger and do so much better. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
I’m literally in the process of canning Arkansas Traveler tomatoes when this video notification popped up. This is my first year growing this variety. I’m in the Ozarks also so figured they would be an appropriate choice. I only bought two little plants from a store I typically avoid all together. They grew fantastic but they’re absolutely loaded down with tomatoes. None of them are near the size you showed here though unfortunately. They’re more about the size of romas than a full sized tomato which I found odd. Maybe it’s because I bought them at a big chain store and didn’t grow them from seed I don’t know. I suppose now I have that experience. Next year I’ll grow from seed. Thanks for mentioning the black widow possibility in the Cherokee variety. I’ve never heard of that. The fennel seed is a helpful tip. I’ll try that next year. I don’t have any basil in my garden but I was somewhat surprised that I didn’t see any hornworms yet on my plants either.
*typos
I have four very large basil plants in between 5 tomato plants. In the last few days, I've found 4 horn worms and fed them to my chickens. I'm on the lookout for more.
I seen many people posting that they notice that there are less bugs this year. You might think it's a good thing for your garden except the beneficial bugs are gone to. Could this be another way 'they' are destroying the food supply?
your not here never seen so many bugs
I grew Cherokee purples, compost cherry tomatoes (volunteers in the compost pile that I transplanted) and the tiny little Everglades which although the size of a blueberry pack a surprising amount of tomato flavor! I live in zone 9 NE Florida. Never had a black widow, but I do get agriope spiders over my tomatoes.
I put in Spoon tomatoes this year - just one plant as an experiment. They were from a free pack of seeds from Baker Creek. Same as you Everglades variety in terms of a surprising level of flavor - the ripe tomatoes are no larger than a pea. Good in salads though.
My garden this year is probably the best i ever have had since starting to garden. Biggest problem is my health took a hit in July so the preserving has been tough. I can only hope to duplicate my garden success next year!
I grew cherrokee tomatoes 2 years and had the same problem It was not too hot to be a problem, as I live in NY.
I’ve had the worst tomato year in a long time here in GA. They all succumbed to viruses really early and I only got a few tomatoes. In past years I would still be picking the indeterminate varieties. I have tried Arkansas Traveler in the past but not in the last few years. I believe I will grow them again next year after hearing your testimonial.
I agree about the rotting on the vine. Malformed. Haven’t seen a SPIDER IN MY TOMATOES !!!! 😮 Other than peppers, my garden here in Texas, is pretty much done. I have shade cloth over my CP hoping to get more into fall as the temps cool. I just ordered the Arkansas Traveler for next year. I’ve turned the chickens in to feast on the bugs. Hopefully if there are spiders they will take care of them. 😳 since I have the shade cloth up, it’s pretty dark in the tomato tunnel. Oh I have tons of basil planted between all my tomatoes. I had hornworms early this year.
I planted Cherokee purple once. With a limited space I can’t be throwing away all the rotten ones. Mine never looked like the one you held up. They were so deformed. I did sauce tomato for my pizza sauce. I did ketchup also. Thanks for sharing
bonnie best does good for us in Michigan, That’s my go to… Romas from the Amish do well also.
I co-plant with basil too and no horn worms either 👏
Grasshoppers are my nemesis though!!
I'm in the process of making spaghetti sauce with Roma, Arkansas travelers, and San manzano. I normally use Cherokee purple and Amish paste. But this year I'm trying out Arkansas travelers. Wow! They are very tasty with a lot of flavor, similar to the Cherokee purple, in my opinion. I still like the Cherokee purple better. What I've noticed this year with a pest, that has been very light. Handful of army worms and stink bugs. I have not used any pesticides, this year. I've been using swamp water and jadam microbial solution on my plants. I have a huge hill of sweet potatoes. About the size of a queen size mattress.
Thank you! Im knee deep in a pumpkin explosion. There will be alot of canned pumpkin 😆🎉 I will try Arkansas Traveler for my winter tomatoes.
We had a hard time with Cherokee Purples in southern Illinois, too. Romas had some issues, but did ok. Everything else did really well.
"They do do well"
I love the Cherokee purple. They seem to do good in northeastern Utah. They do have some odd shapes.
They have been tampered with, stay away from them
I haven't had much luck with my tomatoes, but winter squash is prolific, especially the plants that grew out of compost I added. 14-15" butternut squash, 10 so far of various sizes. Green beans are just now growing, 3rd planting this summer. Jalapeños are growing. Okra is ok. I surrounded my tomatoes with basil and marigolds. No hornworms, but the heat dried most of the flowers.
Veggie garden did and is doing fantastic this year here in MO. My tree saplings and young fruit trees really took a beating from the cicadas though.
This was my first year growing Cherokee purple and I love the flavor. I haven’t had issues with them rotting, but I have noticed a lot of leaf rot. We’ve had a wet year though. I’ve never grown the Arkansas traveler. I’ll have to try that next year! My favorite so far has been the pineapple tomato. Amazing flavor!!!
This is our first year for gardening. It's been a disaster. lol, But we were not prepared. This coming year should be better.
I grew Cherokee Purple last year. They were delicious, but I had the same experience with the cracking/splitting/rotting with the majority of them. I decided not to grow them again, and after hearing about your experience with the Black Widow spiders, I am especially happy with my decision!
Well? Nothing came up in my buckets 12:40
I did, however, replant lettuce and spinach with the hopes of a Fall harvest.
Loveland, Colorado ❤
I’ve had the same luck with Cherokee Purple. Tasty, but low production.
Lots of pain contributing to my wisdom this year! I've learned that high soil pH contributes to scab in potatoes and that the solution is more carbon in the soil to lower the pH. Same is true of those pin worms you get in radishes and garlic.
I'm experimenting with ways to combat aphids in my tunnel on my hydroponic lettuce...still haven't gotten that one figured out. Trying an organic spray that is made from rosemary extract.
I had all the same problems last year with the cherokee purple, very disappointing. I didn't even grown them this year. All my other tomatoes did great. Only 1 tomato horn worm and I got it pretty quickly. Praying I don't see any black widows
Here in eastern Colorado we have had a rough year with our garden. The grasshopper population has been extremely high and we have been dry so the only green is our garden. They have completely killed our carrots beets and green beans. They killed most of the peppers and have done a lot of damage to the other plants. We are getting some decent tomatoes and yellow squash. Our lemon boy tomatoes did really well this year.
Pickled vegetables Make Bloody Mary’s. Asparagus spears, green beans, onions- it’s more of a meal with a splash of pepper vodka 🤑
I was going to suggest a michelada...
but turns out they don’t normally have tomato, just chili. But we had some in Jersey made by Guatemalans that had tomato and orange, rather than lime. Wasss sooo good!!😁
Unfortunately, I too have picked tomatoes with not black but brown widows on them. Not a pleasant experience and it's happened several times!
Cherokee purples make the best tomato pie though I have the same problem with rotting in Indiana
My garden hasnt been as good this year but i did have a foot amputation in April so i didnt get out there like i normally would. But it has still been decent. Tomatoes have been great, lettuce was good, cabbage and broccoli did good. Didnt get the germination for carrots and green beans that i hoped for. But overall, not bad considering the circumstances. Getting my prosthetic this friday so next year should be good again. Also the weather here in Western Wa has been weird. Hot in early July after a cold June and spring, then after a week of high temps it has been very mild.
I have never tried the Arkansas traveler but I have planted the Cherokee purple. I love the Cherokee purples flavor. They taste to me how a tomato should taste. I think I will try that Arkansas traveler now...that is a beautiful tomato. I have had a great garden year here in Georgia. I planted a mum in the middle of my squash and cucumbers...it got gigantic. I had no bug pressures. I think it was the mum. They do make pyrethrin from mums.
The heat here was brutal on my garden this year! I did have lots of volunteer tomato plants though. The corn did ok, the potatoes not so much but I did use the few we got. The weeds were insane too.
We’ve had the best season by far this year!
Here in Michigan we have had rain at times 4 + inches finally got the potatoes out of the ground and curing we did purple ones , kennebecks and russets. I bought seeds.for the Cherokee purple but i think the seeds were miss marked it looks like a stripped greenthing. Romas did well and i also did some sibercia they did real good too. Im on my second planting of green beans . Harvested all the onions and garlic already too. No tomato worms this year .but i have worms on my dill they are a swallowtail so let them eat.😊
My garden has not done well this year due to some heat stress that normally doesn't occur in our zone. Also, I have built some raised beds because of health issues. I wanted to be able to harvest without squatting. My raised beds just aren't seasoned enough to produce high yealds
I tried something new, I started my garden really early being it was so hot so early! The squash bugs took out all but one zucchini plant early on and I've been fighting them since!! Corn did awesome for my tiny plot, I got about 6 months of corn in the freezer already, potatoes were the best I've ever had, I've only had 2 ripe tomatoes all year!! Lots of green ones on the vine ... beans were great, blue berries.... I'd say over all it was a great year, but I won't be enjoying my zucchini bread all winter for breakfast that's for sure. And I have enough pickles for YEARS!!!
My bush beans weren’t so good..some were like Italian beans, flat & they vined! My zucchini is doing well planted late to avoid squash bugs so far none. Eggplant doing really well. Potatoes were a bust, not one! Strawberries were a bust. Peppers slow but ok
Yes would like to see a homegrown Bloody Mary never had one. Sounds kinda good😊
Only trimmed bottem vines on determinate tomatoes- happy with that. Had moths that ate some leaves then were gone- no biggie. Lol indeed- caraway is great in coleslaw!
No deer or moose in the garden. 🙂
Those Arkansas Travellers were beauty 🤩
We tried a new spot to rest the other, no go yet, but i planned for that.😢 working on that soil now.
I have the same experience with the cherokee purples (not the black widow) - they rot before they're ripe. We're in Missouri. I'll have to try the AR traveler next year. Those look beautiful.
Been growing tomatoes for 15 years now. Only saw a black widow once near a tomato plant but not in a tomato. It was very hot that year. I feel like it’s rare..
I love Amish Paste and Brandywine also.
Kansas here, I have had difficulties with Cherokee purple, they taste fabulous but are difficult and finicky here. Wisconsin 55 did well last year, even in the heat...
Had the same issues when we did Cherokee Purple (not the spiders though, thank goodness). We have grown tomatoes for years, we do about 100+ plants a year, and our tried and true favs for sauce are - amish paste tomatoes, mortgage lifters, Kellogg's breakfast (orange beefsteak), pink oxheart and yellow brandywine. All are non gmo, heirloom and are very prolific, great germination and super tomatoey tasting.
Everytime I grow tomatoes, the mealy bugs take over. I. Cannot. Control. Them. Helllp!
Japanese beetles on the pole beans, slugs and snails and of course cabbage moths. Deer respect the fence.
My onions, celery and garlic are the best I have ever grown. Last year I grew enough tomatoes for 2 years so just grew for fresh eating. Zukes and cukes are good too.
My garden has been more lush than in many years. High rainfall here in Minnesota has helped. Zucchini coming like crazy, onions doing very well, herbs fantastic, tomatoes are slow (typical of everyone this year), carrots have beautiful greens, had the best year for strawberries, and more. My squash garden is going bananas.
Okra and tomatoes are gang buster. Good thing i love gumbo
My tomatoes plot which is not spaced far enough is 50 plants in a 20x30 is just recently getting blite no real pest pressures plus it's only in sun till about 1ish. Pure horse poop and hay compost, no chemical fertilizer and soaker hose
Wow I like to think I can grow a great tomato, but wow that Arkansas traveler great looking tomato.
We are having difficulties with all types of tomatoes here in MN. I am attributing it to two things...lots and lots of rain...cool temps day and night. I am going to side dress them with straw and cover them at night. Hopefully that will bring up the heat as the straw decomposes and the tarp will hold the days heat in. Good tip on theff basil. I intersperse some of my herbs through the garden too as well as nematode marigolds. They help as well. I see every year what I am getting low on and plant many multiples of that produce and the ibe that will get low by spring, I will plant a few of those as well. That way I always keep the same amt of the ones we use most often. I also experiment with 2 to 3 different types of produce seeds and things we have never tried before. If we live them and are worth expending energy on, will grow again. If not, adios...but if is fun to see what you can do and come up with some exciting choices.
Authentic Italian marinara has a very deep bold taste that comes from long slow cooking with bay leaf which is a very different spice than “American” style marinara (used for spaghetti and pizza)
I'll have to try Arkansas Traveler next year. This year my best performers were Abe Lincoln, Big Rainbow and Romas. My German Pinks yielded a decent number of massive tomatoes, but they don't give a lot of them and at this point they look mostly spent. My Brandywines have been a total failure - plenty of lovely vines and they were the tallest in the garden, but not a single tomato - so those will not be repeated next year.
I had no tomato horn worm larvae either but i did have cabbage white butterfly 🐛on 1 tomato plant