Tomato Types

 What is Determinate or Indeterminate tomato seeds?

Determinate tomatoes are varieties that grow to a fixed mature size and ripen all their fruit in a short

     (image Ida Gold Cherry)
period, usually about 2 weeks. Once this first flush of fruit has ripened, the plant will begin to diminish in vigor and will set little to no new fruit. 

Indeterminate tomato varieties are vining plants that continue growing in length throughout the growing season, which is why you will sometimes see them referred to as "vining" tomatoes, Indeterminate tomato varieties will also continue to set and ripen fruit throughout the growing season, until the plants are killed off by frost.  

Both determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties have their pluses and minuses. It really depends on what you are going to be using the tomatoes for and also, how long is your growing season. If you want a thick tomato for making sauces, you are better off with a paste tomato and those tend to be determinate.

If you tend to eat your tomatoes fresh and want a season-long supply, go for indeterminate varieties.

An heirloom tomato (also called heritage tomato) is an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) heirloom cultivar

of tomato. Any tomato that is at least fifty years old and is not a hybrid. According to tomato experts, heirloom tomatoes can be classified into four categories: (image Black Brandywine)

• family heirlooms,
• commercial heirlooms,
• mystery heirlooms, and 
• created heirlooms.  

They usually have a shorter shelf life and less disease resistance than hybrids bred to resist against specific diseases. They are grown for a variety of reasons, such as for food, historical interest, access to wider varieties, and by people who wish to save seeds from year to year, as well as for their taste. "Heirloom Tomatoes". Spiritfoods. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2012. 

When the plants of an open-pollinated variety self-pollinate, or pollinated by another representative of the same variety, the resulting seeds will produce plants roughly identical to their parents.

 Hybrid tomato – A tomato bred by crossing varieties. Hybrids offer better disease resistance, higher

yield, and other improved traits.

Early variety – A tomato that matures in 50 to 60 days; these are prized for early harvests and late summer planting for a fall crop. Sometimes we refer to tomatoes that mature in more than 60 days as “early,” but only in comparison to their peers. For example, the earliest beefsteak type is only early compared to other beefsteaks. Beefsteaks are typically longer maturing than other tomato types because they are so big! 

Tomato Disease Resistance Codes 

Tomato names are often followed by capital letters that stand for resistance to certain diseases. This is very important because these diseases can wipe out a tomato crop. 

Is the way you are watering your yard creating mosquito habitat?

It’s going to be warming up and everyone will start watering their lawns with urgency. With the warm weather and water, come those irritating and possibly disease infested mosquitoes.

What do mosquitoes have to do with yards? When you over water your lawn the earth beneath doesn’t dry out and creates a perfect mosquito habitat. There are certain species of mosquito that will lay eggs in the damp mud and the next time your water comes on; the water sits on top of the earth for a period of time that allows the mosquito eggs to hatch. On warm days it doesn’t take very long for a mosquito to go from egg, larvae, pupae to adult. Once the female adult mosquito hatches, it looks for a blood meal. Yep, you and your family!

I would also like to point out that sometimes your sprinklers soak more than your landscape. Sometimes the water fills up buckets, flower pots, wheel barrows or other items left outside. This water then sits, heats up and then becomes stagnant. Female Culex species of mosquito love to lay their eggs in this water. This species can carry West Nile Virus and transmit it to you and your family with one bite. 

You can help keep you and your family safe by making sure you are watering your yard properly and that your sprinklers are only watering the things they should be and that they are not leaving puddles below the heads.

There are many published articles on the web about how to water your type of grass and how much water is enough...and the kind of pests that can flourish in unhealthy turf. A great publication for Idaho residents to refer to for guidance is The Pacific Northwest Handbook . 

The “Rule of thumb” that is widely used is: water as deeply and as infrequently as possible. This stimulates root growth resulting in healthy drought tolerant and pest resistant turf (like mosquitoes)! A healthy root system produces vigorous turf: rooting depth is determined primarily by genetics and soil condition, not irrigation!