First year for heirloom Tomatoes

[lesa]

I am growing both heirloom (I have the Amish and the yellow pear) and hybrid. The heirlooms look completely different. They are getting big from the bottom up?? The tops are kind of puny, but the bottom leaves look like mature plants- awaiting anxiously, hoping for a banner harvest.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

II was heavily counting on the Amish paste and Hungarian hearts for the canning. If they don't turn out well I don't know what I will do this year, those 2 make up 15 of my 45 plants.

What?...you ONLY have...um...45 plants?!?!?!?
(I'm pushing 80, and though some are small they ALL look pretty good. Better put some next to the fencing by the street!!)

Hey, don't get me started. Last year I had over 70 but it was so wet (Humm, sounds familiar), and I had Septoria leaf spot 2 yrs in a row and blah, blah, blah, and a lot of my tomatoes were romas (none this year) and they were the size of cherries because of the septoria.... I decide to down size and grow a little bigger tomatoes (ie. Amish Paste and Hungarian Hearts) and put more space between my plants to allow for more air and all that. Which is why I am nervous. I don't have volume to fall back on this year.

But they are getting bigger now. They still seem so skinny. I think I am comparing them too much to the Marglobes and super Italians. They look like small bushy trees.

I am going crazy removing bottom leaves to try to avoid any leaf spots this year. I read one article that said to remove all the leaves from the bottom 18 " to avoid fungal problems. I am not going to that extreme (yet). I have notice a few yellow leaves at the bottom of my plants and they are gone. I am not taking any chance.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

This is my second year giving some heirlooms a try-- I've also got Amish Paste and Hungarian Hearts on my "to do" list.

My Amish Paste and Hungarian heart got a lot of wind damage when I brought them all out to plant, and we got a big storm front that came in over a few hours. I got them all back inside but not quickly enough, so some are still recovering.

I've got some very nice looking plants from my Golden Egg tomatoes. I can't wait to see how the tomatoes are from these plants. At this point, any tomatoes I get will be very welcome-- but I can still hope I get some really nice ones

I notice a lot of wind damage this spring also. They must be very sensitive to wind. I pruned the damage leaves off to avoid a avenue for fungus to enter. Is that paranoid or what?

What made you choose the Hungarian hearts and where did you get your seeds?