Time to round up the new Rodeo Tomato
Have you seen the 2024 Rodeo Tomato at your favorite nursery yet? Probably not; there have been some complications and changes.
The Rodeo Tomato has been awarded that determination through a competitive growing and productivity process, as usual, by Texas A&M horticulturists Larry Stein and David Rodriguez, and their team of master gardeners, but other things have changed.
There is new management at the cooperating wholesale nursery, and they are making some adjustments. The Bexar County Master Gardeners that usually work at the rodeo and sell Rodeo Tomatoes are taking a break this year.
What did not change is the presentation of the Rodeo Tomato Potting Up programs. On Feb. 17, a full audience of gardeners attended the program at the Dreamhill Estates Education Resource Center near the Medical Center, and today, a similar class is being conducted at Milberger’s Nursery from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
The concept of potting up allows gardeners in short season tomato growing areas like San Antonio to take advantage of a few more weeks of growing season. Most years, it will be too cold to successfully plant the new Rodeo Tomato in the garden until at least March 15. What we do is plant the transplants in No. 1 or larger containers now so they can continue their growth as the air temperature and soil temperature increase.
If you planted one of the small but growing transplants into the garden soil now, it would not die but it would stop growing. The growth stoppage is a problem because tomatoes not only stop growing in a cold environment, they do not perform well in a hot environment.
If we want to take advantage of the good tomato weather from March 15 to June 30 in San Antonio, we need the tomatoes to be fast producers and performing at full speed (growth rate) during that period.
The Rodeo Tomato in 2024 is the Rambler Hybrid. The brightcolored fruit is large (8-12 ounces each), and production is high. Like most Rodeo Tomatoes, the Rambler is a determinate variety, which means it grows quickly to fruit production size and begins to concentrate on producing fruit quickly.
In addition to the Rambler, other Rodeo Tomatoes on the market include Red Snapper, Tycoon, BHN 968, Ruby Crush, Thunderbird, Amelia, Valley Cat, HM8849 Phoenix and Red Deuce.
When you pot-up your tomato, fertilize it well. You can follow up with a soluble fertilizer such as Miracle-gro every time you water, and you can use Osmocote. I have had a good response with Osmocote, especially when it is placed in the potting soil early.
Another important thing to remember when potting up tomatoes is to place the containers in full sun out of the wind. When temperatures are forecast to fall below 40 degrees, move the plants temporarily into a warm location, such as the house.
Butterfly, milkweed classes
The potting classes are over for the spring after today, but there are still two butterfly and milkweed classes.
The class at 9:30 a.m. March 3 at the Dreamhill Estate Education Resource Center still has a few seats available. Call 210-3824455 to reserve one.
The Comal County Master Gardener Program at 9:15 a.m. April 6 at 325 Resource Drive in New Braunfels also has seats available. The program is free; show up to attend.
Attendees who are willing to report germination and growth data can call 830-620-3440 to attend the class and receive two stratified milkweed seeded containers. The reported data will help area gardeners provide egg-laying sites for monarch butterflies.