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I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

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Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#81

Post by debacle »

Factorium wrote: post #56

Tomatoes "have no significant nutrient content" according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Nutrition And are 95% water. They just taste great due to the umami flavour. Is there any way to grow nutritious food that isn't just transporting water everywhere? https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrient-ranking-tool/Water/Veg... I guess this is the end result of selecting for 'yield' which is basically just we…

> Is there any way to grow nutritious food that isn't just transporting water everywhere?

Put goats in a field. Meat has 20x-100x the energy density of most veggies.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#82

Post by throwawaylinux »

opinion-is-bad wrote: post #28

Interesting, but not that dissimilar to the United States. I grow a couple thousand acres of tomatoes in California, all of which are for processing into juices and pastes. These tomatoes are all transported in open-topped trailers by semi, and the losses have always bothered me. There is a tight turn just after leaving our property and the pile of tomatoes there grows steadily with the season as they roll off the to…

> We rotate one year tomatoes with one strand of alfalfa, which lasts 3-5 years and regenerates nitrogen into the soil.

So for a given plot you do tomatoes for one year every 4-6 years, do I understand correctly?

Does it matter so much what other crop you plant, in terms of reducing the fungus? Alfalfa is just a good choice for its nitrogen fixing? Could you leave it fallow for example? (just trying to get ideas for my garden)

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#83

Post by opinion-is-bad »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #82
opinion-is-bad wrote: post #28

Interesting, but not that dissimilar to the United States. I grow a couple thousand acres of tomatoes in California, all of which are for processing into juices and pastes. These tomatoes are all transported in open-topped trailers by semi, and the losses have always bothered me. There is a tight turn just after leaving our property and the pile of tomatoes there grows steadily with the season as they roll off the to…

> We rotate one year tomatoes with one strand of alfalfa, which lasts 3-5 years and regenerates nitrogen into the soil. So for a given plot you do tomatoes for one year every 4-6 years, do I understand correctly? Does it matter so much what other crop you plant, in terms of reducing the fungus? Alfalfa is just a good choice for its nitrogen fixing? Could you leave it fallow for example? (just trying to get ideas for…

Alfalfa is especially good for adding nitrogen, but clover can do the same for a home garden.

You are correct on the number of years between plantings, but really only 2-3 years off are needed to clear the fungus. Alfalfa just lasts longer.

As another comment mentions, some other common crops have the same disease risk, so avoid potatoes and eggplants too many consecutive years.

Fallowing it an option, but a little nitrogen for a home garden shouldn’t be too prohibitive. When you have a lot of acres it can be a meaningful cost saving measure but it’s not huge.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#84

Post by opinion-is-bad »

jelliclesfarm wrote: post #48
opinion-is-bad wrote: post #28

Interesting, but not that dissimilar to the United States. I grow a couple thousand acres of tomatoes in California, all of which are for processing into juices and pastes. These tomatoes are all transported in open-topped trailers by semi, and the losses have always bothered me. There is a tight turn just after leaving our property and the pile of tomatoes there grows steadily with the season as they roll off the to…

It’s not that much of a loss for them. If you are growing for someone like morning star, they have tightened the supply chain so well that every step is precisely executed. The reason they are open topped is because they go straight to processing and get washed and graded and processed even before they are weighed. It’s beautiful how the system has been designed. Closing the tops is probably saving less than a few pe…

Chris Rufer may run a tight operation but I have nothing nice to say about him as a person, especially how he communicates with his growers. I’ll leave it at that.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#85

Post by hinkley »

tharkun__ wrote: post #64
fy20 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone who didn't know this: tomato, tomatillo, potato, eggplant, pepper and tobacco are all from the same family Solanaceae aka nightshade. There are many other plants in the same family (they have worldwide distribution), but a lot of them are poisonous. Even more fun: It's possible to graft plants of different species within the family, so you can create a plant that grows both potatoes and tomatoes. https://e…

And in fact potato fruit are poisonous! Just remember that when you grow potatoes and you get those "nice small tomatoes" on the potatoes that do bloom and fruit :) Luckily not many bloom and fruit usually, so most people that just grow a few potatoes for fun don't even get tempted. Then again they don't ripen red anyway, so I guess there's that to "save the curious". EDIT: Anyone else have an unusually many potatoes…

There’s a tomato plant that produces little purple tomatoes that don’t look that different from potato fruits. I knew someone who planted both one year and I still haven’t forgiven them for being so reckless.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#86

Post by hinkley »

kyteland wrote: post #74
yissp wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading that when they were first brought to Europe via the Columbian exchange people were reluctant to eat them fearing they were also poisonous. Now it's hard to imagine, e.g. Italian cuisine without tomatoes.

They feared that because people were being poisoned. Pewter plates were common at the time and the tomatoes acid leached the lead out causing acute lead poisoning!

Even the “sweet” tomatoes have pretty close to the same pH, it’s just the sugars covering the tang, like soda or honey.

As a bitter taster it doesn’t matter how much sugar you put on the tomato it’s still too much. About the only thing IMO that you can put on a tomato to make it acceptable is a bacon cheeseburger.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#87

Post by throwawaylinux »

opinion-is-bad wrote: post #83
throwawaylinux wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We rotate one year tomatoes with one strand of alfalfa, which lasts 3-5 years and regenerates nitrogen into the soil. So for a given plot you do tomatoes for one year every 4-6 years, do I understand correctly? Does it matter so much what other crop you plant, in terms of reducing the fungus? Alfalfa is just a good choice for its nitrogen fixing? Could you leave it fallow for example? (just trying to get ideas for…

Alfalfa is especially good for adding nitrogen, but clover can do the same for a home garden. You are correct on the number of years between plantings, but really only 2-3 years off are needed to clear the fungus. Alfalfa just lasts longer. As another comment mentions, some other common crops have the same disease risk, so avoid potatoes and eggplants too many consecutive years. Fallowing it an option, but a little n…

Thank you very much.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#88

Post by [deleted] »

yissp wrote: post #69
fy20 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone who didn't know this: tomato, tomatillo, potato, eggplant, pepper and tobacco are all from the same family Solanaceae aka nightshade. There are many other plants in the same family (they have worldwide distribution), but a lot of them are poisonous. Even more fun: It's possible to graft plants of different species within the family, so you can create a plant that grows both potatoes and tomatoes. https://e…

I remember reading that when they were first brought to Europe via the Columbian exchange people were reluctant to eat them fearing they were also poisonous. Now it's hard to imagine, e.g. Italian cuisine without tomatoes.

[deleted]

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#89

Post by 6177c40f »

dustintrex wrote: post #79
hardwaregeek wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can find a good Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, they'll give you good tomatoes. Granted you'll also get a bunch of other vegetables but it's good quality and saves you from having to buy groceries from July to November. I've had tomatoes from a CSA that tasted like candy.

McSweeney's has a not-inaccurate take on the joys of CSA membership: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-about-your-csa

Fairly accurate, though I love CSAs (and I suspect this is a loving parody by the author).

What I find especially funny is

> What the hell am I supposed to do with all these turnips?

Do people really not know what to do with turnips? Turnips are amazing- roast them, put them in soups, they're great. Now radishes, on the other hand, those are a mystery to me.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#90

Post by phonypc »

debacle wrote: post #81
Factorium wrote: post #56

Tomatoes "have no significant nutrient content" according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Nutrition And are 95% water. They just taste great due to the umami flavour. Is there any way to grow nutritious food that isn't just transporting water everywhere? https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrient-ranking-tool/Water/Veg... I guess this is the end result of selecting for 'yield' which is basically just we…

> Is there any way to grow nutritious food that isn't just transporting water everywhere? Put goats in a field. Meat has 20x-100x the energy density of most veggies.

Little hyperbolic there. Pure fat is only about 50x as calorie dense as the subject tomatoes. It would take some very fatty meat to get to 20x.
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