What are the best tomatoes for my area?

January 13, 2019 7:43 PM

So this is kinda a weird question for January, but as my crazy weird sun gold cherry tomato plant is finally dying in the January wet and cold- I’m thinking about making sure I get my plants in at the right time this year (all my plants were put in late last year because of surgeries) SO! If I wanted 2-4 tomato plants this year, what are the best varieties for the Excelsior district of San Francisco?

First of all, I’m not even remotely sure what zone I am, southern SF? Not too coastal but in the Alemany fog belt? Anyways god only knows what this summer will be like, but assuming best and usual conditions, what are the best tomato varieties for my area? I would like a cherry type (I’m leaning towards another sun gold) and a paste type- but is there a good funny heirloom beefsteak that does well? A grape type? Another type I’m not thinking of?
Also- if this is THE type I MUST have, and it’s only available by seed- when do I start it in my greenhouse (and how?) I’m looking for something productive and not too fussy- I’m willing to be diligent with my neem oil spray for the inevitable aphids, but if it’s the kind that will just be overrun without heavy pesticides I’d rather not. All of my tomatoes will be grown in large deep pots as well, and I know some varieties thrive in containers, and some don’t.

Also- i’d like your advice if you’re a tomato grower regardless of location, if you have a favorite you grow from seed every year, tell me, maybe I can make it work!

Thanks in advance!

posted by Homo neanderthalensis to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

If you have a local garden place, ask! Ours is great and they basically only sell ones that work here.
posted by k8t at 7:49 PM on January 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: SO just to head this off- I absolutely have a good local garden center, but they gave me some iffy advice on my peppers this year and I had such bad luck with those peppers that while I *WILL* be asking them, I would rather hear from other people too- especially if you've gardened in the Bay Area or someplace with a similar climate vis-a-vie tomatoes.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 7:55 PM on January 13, 2019

Best answer: Hi- Excelsior-adjacent gardener here. I don’t know which gardening store gave you bad advice (I don’t love Flowercraft but the Sloat folks are great) and I also don’t grow tomatoes usually but cherry tomatoes did well for me. Pam Peirce (“Golden Gate Gardening”) suggests Early Girl and Stupice for standard sized. Roma, Viva Italia, and Ropreco for paste.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 8:17 PM on January 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You might try asking the UC Master Gardener Program of San Mateo and San Francisco Counties.

IANACalGardener, but my go-tos are Romas, San Marzanos, and Jersey Devils for paste-types. They've done fine from seed, though in the ground rather than in pots.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:19 PM on January 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: My local folks are Sloat, and it wasn't so much on their end as on their suppliers- two of the peppers they gave me in pots were mislabeled, so the advice, and peppers were bad. I love them otherwise, just why I'm crowd-sourcing in addition.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:31 PM on January 13, 2019

Honestly, Lowe’s usually has varieties that work well locally.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 8:34 PM on January 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Sooooo ... 'Sungold' really is your best bet. I have sometimes grown 'Sweet 100' or 'Supersweet 100', which are red tomatoes of a similar size, but 'Sungold' really is my fave. I'm down on the mid-Peninsula (San Mateo), and have had success in the past with 'San Marzano' paste tomatoes and 'Brandywine' for slicers, but only in the ground. And you have way less sun than me, so I think those tiny cherries are really the varieties for you. ('Sungold' is a very lovely tomato, and perfectly fulfills my tomato needs, which are to frequently pick fewer than 10 at at time to dress pizza slices or add to my lunch salad.) 'Early Girl' and 'Fourth of July' have regular-size, but smallish, red fruit and they both are likely to perform well for you (you seem like a good gardener!), but in pots I just don't get the volume I'd like from non-cherry tomatoes.

For what it's worth, I'm from Texas, and where it's hot, and we grew peppers a lot as a kid, and peppers just do not like the weather so close to the ocean around here. (The East Bay and the South Bay proper are a different story.) AN EXCEPTION! Have you tried 'Rocoto' peppers? They're from higher elevations in Bolivia and Peru and are perennials and don't mind the cooler weather. The Salvadoran families around here grow them in kitchen gardens, and I've seen starts around at Golden Nursery and some other places in the area. So keep an eye out for that one.

If you have dreams of canning tomato sauce or whatever, I mean, I like to do that too, but I'm way less good at tomato growing than actual farmers, so I buy flats of paste tomatoes from Happy Boy or Andy at Mariquita Farm. When I grew 'San Marzano', they had a lot of blossom-end rot, and, again, I was not in the fog, just in some morning Bay cloudiness.

Wait, I have one more piece of advice for you, which is that you shouldn't put tomatoes into the ground outdoors before AT LEAST April 1, and personally, I think May 1 most years. They just don't like the cold weather and the soil is too chilly and they languish a lot.
posted by purpleclover at 8:40 PM on January 13, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Ohio here. My partner is a grower for a local greenhouse. We try a lot of tomato varities! A few years back, he brought me a bunch of Patio hybrid tomato plants. These are bred for container growing. They are stocky, sturdy plants, with tennis ball sized tomatoes. The flavor was great too. (They're never going to beat an heirloom for taste, but I liked them, and ate them fresh as well as canning them.) They were as attractive as a tomato can be, which was nice, since I had these in a prime visual location! Lol! You should be able to find these at Lowe's or Home Depot. Or seeds are readily obtainable. Good luck!
posted by LaBellaStella at 3:52 AM on January 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: PNW here, the advice to get in touch with your local County Extension office Master Gardeners is a good one. Here they volunteer hours at local farmer's markets - so you should be able to find out if your folks do the same. They will have the best site-specific advice.
Tomatoes in general though - are tropical, so they like a TON of heat. We've had excellent success with Mortgage Lifter (an heirloom variety) grown in a high-tunnel (like a greenhouse, but with no ends). The advantage of heirloom varieties is that you can save seed, and never buy seed (for that variety) again. Tomato seeds are actually hard to kill, so saving them is easy.
posted by dbmcd at 7:48 AM on January 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

I have a friend who runs a greenhouse that supplies restaurants and this is exactly the kind of question she would love answering for six or so hours. Next time you're out eating and have a tasty salad ask who supplies their produce and then call them.
posted by East14thTaco at 9:25 AM on January 14, 2019 [2 favorites]