5/7/2020. Front yard tomatoes! From Left, Early Girl, Lemon Boy, and Sweet 100. Tomatoes do very well in the desert climate. I have no doubt that I can harvest some tomatoes this year. However, my challenge is "Can I get a good yield?" Last year, I was pruning all the "suckers" and ended up only getting a few tomatoes that were not even that big. I want big, juicy tomatoes! Couple of problems that I need to worry about are heat, and tomato worms! I have planted tomatoes in 3 different locations. My greenhouse, which has a clear poly roof and shade structure inside it, a second location that provides a little bit of shade, and a third location that has no shade what so ever. We'll see what happens!

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5/13/2020. These tomatoes are doing really really well! I had to upgrade the stakes to more durable ones! It's getting heavier. This year, I am not going to prune it so much and see how much I can harvest. I will only going to remove the bottom 1 foot of leaves. That's it!

5/20/2020. This is my "Early Girl" tomato. looking good! When I brought these plants out from the greenhouse, it was small. Now these tomatoes outside are bigger than ones in the greenhouse. I have a desert willow tree in the middle of this lot, which provides afternoon shades for these tomato plants. But still so hot! My mentor told me that she doesn't prune it so much, so I am following her method. I think by leaving the tomato plants bushy like this gives some shades to fruits and protecting them from heat... It's still too early to say. It is going to be 100F soon, so we'll find out the truth!

5/27/2020. And the heat goes on, still growing strong on and on... These are my tomatoes next to the Sunflower field. The picture on the left is "Early Girl" and the right is "Roma" tomatoes. I have the exact same strains in the greenhouse and comparing their growth. Right now, outsiders are winning! I am worried about the heat, and too much sun in the summer. They tend to stunt when outdoor temp reaches above 95F. Some of my tomato plants are heat resistant. Yesterday, it was 103F here in Pahrump. I am interested to see how these strains do this summer. I saw a tiny Tomato Hornworm yesterday on my mint. I have to watch very carefully. I will talk about this Tomato Hornworms issue in the "Trouble Makers" Section.

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6/3/2020. I feel like not pruning so much is the way to go! At least in the desert. I remember last year, I was pruning hard, and didn't get a great yield. Yes, I am growing different strains, and I picked mostly heat resistant strains this year instead of rare kinds... But I can clearly see that they are doing way better, and I already had my first harvest a couple of days ago.

6/10/2020. One thing for sure, this year, tomatoes are going nuts! Huge yields already. 3 things that I am constantly watching: pests, water intake, and brace them where they need help. I prune them when suckers became a huge stem but no fruits on it, and negatively affecting the plants. I cut them off to take off the strain from the weight. Also my battle against birds are started. How I am fighting? harvest fruits before they attack! I am picking them when it started to ripen,

6/17/2020. I am intentionally letting them go buck wild! Results?? Way better as I expected. I already cropped as many as last years! This is just the beginning of the season. I have tried many different strains, but here is my favorite that does very well in this climate, and soil condition. Lemon Boy, and Early Girl.

6/24/2020. It's a constant battle between me vs birds right now! I want my tomatoes to ripe on the plants, but birds get them first! So far, I already got a gallon size bag full of tomatoes in the freezer! I pick them and leave it on my kitchen counter, then my family eats them like a snack! The healthy way to eat! What I have noticed is Lemon Boy is sure enough tasty, but I feel little the acid is a little stronger than the red tomatoes. These cherry tomatoes are "Indeterminate" and I, too don't know what to do with them!

7/1/2020. I am so sick of tomato cage! who figured out that tomato cage will support the tomato plants? So my awesome husband got me a 42 in. x 7 ft. Rebar Sheet Mesh Flush Cut from Home Depot. I turned that into Tomato Tunnel! Upgrade is real! Now I can see all of the fruits faster than birds!! (maybe...) I also gave them a good trim, so they are not suffering from the weight of the fruits. Looks good, right? I lost a lot of fruits in the process of doing this, I wish I have done this when they were still small. Learned something new! I will start early next year!! 

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Different Strains, Different Results

Based on my science experiment, here is my opinion of which strains works very well and which didn't work quite well in this climate and condition. 

7/8/2020. This is my 3rd yar of experimenting this strain called "Solar Fire" I have read that anytime you see "Solar" or "Fire" something like that usually means the strains tolerate heat very well, so I have been trying, but fail every year! I have a couple of this strain in different locations, but none of them are producing.
So, my conclusion for this strain: No Go for me next year!

7/8/2020. This strain is called " Super Fantastic" I wanted to know what so super fantastic about this thing, so I planted it. Seems like this one takes little longer to set fruits. While "Early girl" is producing a lot, this one is just started to show descent size fruits. I will keep checking to see how it goes. It's looking healthy, and no issues right now. 

7/8/2020. This strain is called " Yellow Pear" I have a really good feeling about this one. It just started to ripen up, and I tasted it, it was absolutely delicious, sweet, juicy little yellow tomato. Seems like this is a heavy producer! I will definitely try this next year. I am saving the seeds!

7/8/2020. This one is called "Hamson DX 52-12". Strange name, right? So I gave a shot. This one was introduced little later in the field, so I am still monitoring it. No fruit yet!

7/8/2020. This is "Hawaiian" I was hoping this is gonna be my next favorite one. But... NO! They may do well in Hawaii, but not in Pahrump!!

7/8/2020. "Roma Tomato" This one must be a good one! Constant battle with birds! I trimmed them about a week ago, so it does not look so bushy, but it was everywhere! Started to produce a lot more. I will try again next year!

7/8/2020. My Top 3 Tomatoes are "Sweet 100", "Lemon Boy", and " Early Girl" I have tried all kinds of rare seeds, heirloom tomatoes last year, but they all struggled to thrive in the heat. Those three tomatoes plus Roma tomatoes, and Yellow Pear tomatoes are doing great! I have a couple of late bloom ones out there, but I would like to stop right here and write down the summary of what I have experienced in the past 3 years.
 
1. Which strains is the best? - My top 5 Tomatoes are Sweet 100, Yellow Pear, Lemon Boy, Early Girl, and Roma. 

2. Growing method - Definitely outdoor like this.
- I have tried Hydroponic tomatoes last year. Started off really good, but by the time outdoor temp sets upper 90s, they will start to die. I did DWC ( Deep Water Culture) I have noticed that the water was boiling the roots! So, unless you do it indoor controlled climate, don't do it here outdoor!
- What about shaded area? Didn't go very well. The plants were not struggling, but not fruiting much and stems were really thin. They need sun! A lot of it!  
- Greenhouse? So I thought to grow some in the greenhouse and give them somewhat shaded, hopefully little cooler than outdoor... I think this is the worst! It's struggling, thin, very little fruits, and they are very small... I will keep it in there to see how long will this plants going to survive, but I am not counting on it. 

3. Pruning, removing suckers? - My mentor who lives in the same climate told me not to prune them unless the plants are suffering. Last year, I pruned my tomato plants like a textbook. I hardly ever got anything out of it. Between the sun and hornworm eating my plants, I was getting hit left and right. So, this year, I took her advice and just let the nature do their thang! It worked! I did some pruning when the stems were breaking up due to overload, but that was it! No pruning. At least not around here! We have enough trouble to deal with! Cutting branches and thin them out is the last thing we need to do! I was taking advice from Youtube Star somewhere in the country where everything grows like crazy. But here is not that. It's desert out here. Every fruit counts! I am glad I took my mentor's advice this year! Great harvest!!

That's all I got for tomatoes! Good Luck everyone!