Outdoor Classroom Experiment/ How Temperatures Affect Hybrid and Heirloom Tomatoes

Cultivating a variety of plants is a fantastic opportunity to observe science in action! The way heirloom and hybrid tomatoes grow is very different and noticeable when compared side by side. This year, we'll be studying how these varieties grow:

Pineapple heirloom tomato. Isn't the variegated red and yellow fruit gorgeous? The fruit is large and organic in shape, not perfectly round. 

In our region, the temperature rises very quickly. Larger tomatoes are a bit trickier to grow than the cherry and smaller fruits. Even with regular watering, they can split once the temperature rises. Logging the temperatures in a journal will help us estimate:

• At what temperatures the fruit tend to split more easily
• How long the fruit takes to mature at different temperatures
• What the ideal temperatures are for larger tomatoes vs. cherry 

What would the garden be without scientific observation? ;)

Chef Jeff's yellow cherry version is another premium variety we'll be observing. The bright yellow flesh looks so bright and beautiful! Again, our journal will chart temperature -- to see if and how temperature changes affect the yield, quality, and overall fruit size. 

Green Zebra looks to be absolutely breathtaking. Fruit like this is the reason people grow and treasure their heirloom tomatoes! Extraordinary, juicy, large green tomatoes boast impressive yellow variegation. How tart will this green variety be? Only one way to test...

Of course, you always need a control group. Super Sweet 100 is a common red cherry hybrid available at the big box home improvement stores. Any guesses on how it will fruit compared to the yellow specialty variety? Will it continue to fruit well past the larger varieties? 

Growing Dramatically ~ Black Krim and Indigo Sun Tomatoes {Heirloom Grafted}

Goodness gracious, the Black Krim tomatoes grew over an inch in diameter this week! The larger tomatoes measure over 3" in diameter.

Black Krim heirloom hybrid cluster of 3

Newer, bigger Black Krim cluster of 2

The Indigo Sun cherry tomato heirloom hybrid is covered with clusters like this one:

Indigo Sun heirloom heirloom grafted

Some of the clusters are ALMOST ripe. They're not bright yellow yet, still green. I couldn't resist and tried one but it was not sweet. Super juicy though. Can't wait until we taste our first ripe one!

Outdoor Classroom: Tiny Black Krim Tomatoes

Our second heirloom hybrid grafted tomato plant has fruit! Hopefully, the Black Krim tomatoes will grow large and dark purple/black. Supposedly, the hotter it is ~ the darker the fruit. And it gets REALLY HOT in Dallas!

So far, this is what the emerging fruit looks like:

Growing...and about 2 inches in diameter

I'm thinking we'll count how many fruit are on each plant every week. That way, at the end of the season we'll be able to tally how much fruit each plant gave total. Good plan?

Growing Garden Experiment ~ Heirloom vs. Hybrid Tomatoes

Science experiment in the garden! This spring and summer, we've decided to experiment with with hybrid and heirloom grafted tomatoes.

The first group of specimens are hybrid tomatoes sown from seed. The feathery young leaves on the top right are the tomatoes. I honestly don't remember which variety they are.

Tomato hybrid seedlings, about $3 per seed packet at Lowe's

Because the kids and I are impatient gardeners, we also bought two (2) young hybrid plants as our second set of specimens. Their common name is Lemon Boy. The fruit are large and yellow, so I am hoping they will be interesting to grow!

Lemon boy plant from Home Depot, about $4 per plant

The third set of specimens are heirloom grafted tomatoes. We've never grown this type of plant and have never had good results or yield with traditional heirloom tomatoes.

However, these plants graft the top of a heirloom variety plant onto the base and roots of a hybrid plant! Supposedly, this increases the yield by 50%. Plus, you get incredibly unique varieties of tomatoes that just can't be found at big box stores.

These heirloom grafted plants cost about three times (3x) the cost of hybrids from the big box stores, but they were also about three times as big. Very healthy with plenty of flowers too. And I can't wait to see all the interesting tomatoes they produce!

Plant with variety of heirloom tomatoes, cost $12/plant at
Calloway's nursery

Heirloom variety with purple tops and yellow bottoms, cost $12/plant at
Calloway's nursery

This heirloom variety is nearly black in color! Cost $12/plant at
Calloway's nursery.

Since my old tomato cages were broken and old, they were replaced with these fun green ones. No more boring gray! Home Depot also had them in a dark raspberry, orange, and aqua. Fun colors!

If you are having a garden experiment, please share ~ I'd love to hear about it and get more ideas for the garden...