growing tomatoes in the desert

Anyone growing tomatoes in the desert? Any varieties that are especially good and successful? Please tell us.

Have you ever heard of Earthboxes ? Because of your unique soil condition and climate this may be an answer to your problem whereas you can grow any species you desire. Take a look at www.earthbox.com Let us know what you think.

For really hot climates trhere are two hybrids recommended - Heatwave and Merced. I grew Merced in southern Califonia west of Palm Springs. For heirlooms there I had good results with Marglobe and Bonny Best. I'm sure there are many others.

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try to find out where to get the Merced, Marglobe and Bonny Best seeds. They sell Heatwave here but I was not all that impressed.

Hi - I'm new here, but your thread caught my eye. I lived in Phoenix for 10 years, and succesfully grew many different types of tomato. After MUCH trial and error I found that they key is really plenty of water and SHADE. I had to water my tomatoes daily, and also rigged up canopies of shade-cloth (bought at Home Depot) over them. I also had best luck with the ones I grew in trenches instead of raised beds or containers. Basically I (well, I had my hubby do the hard labor LOL) dug down 3', then filled it in with 2' of good compost and planted the tomatoes in that. Since they were basically below the normal ground leverl they stayed cooler.
I grew several of the regular hybrids this way (of course had great luck with Heatwave - good production but not great flavor) but also grew Amish Paste, Red Brandywine, and Chiapas (a "wild" tomato - tiny and extremely prolific)

Trenching is a good idea, MiaPia. Not only a bit cooler but maybe a little slower evaporation? Did you find mulching to help? It does keep the soil up to ten degrees cooler.

Oh yes - definitely mulching helped. I mostly used my own compost, but I also put a layer of straw on top (since "cheap" is the key for me, and I got it for free). I can't believe I left mulching out of my above post!

I wonder if I could do the same here in July and August by using a shade cloth over my tomatoes ? We have high humidity ! Temp. always in low 90's or high 80's ? Or would I be making a virus and bug breeding ground because of the humidity ? Anyone had or know someone who tried this method ? What do you think ?

Shade cloth would certainly be worth a try, Tplant. You may not have much sunscald on the fruits because you have plenty of leaf cover, but the foliage could definitely benefit. The "pain point" for tomatoes is 86 degrees, so the longer we can keep them cooler, the better. I don't think you'd need to completely enclose the plants - just dim the overhead heat and light.

Might give it a try with a couple or three this summer.

Thanks for the tips, tomato lovers. I found out a year ago, actually, that planting tomatoes and anything else here in the desert does much better planted inside the trench, contrary to what people say. I came to that conclusion myself. I am going to see if I can afford the shad cloth. Expensive. I got some varieties of tomatoes from the tomato site in las vegas. I forget the name of the site but she recommends kelp as one of the secrets and reflective silver mulch. I got some of her varieties, Hawaiin tropics, stupice, heartland, black cherry , green ice and I found one at walmart named blood butcher which is an heirloom but supposed to be heat resistant. I will e-mail you back later with other ingredients she suggests for the soil. Joanie.

I saw a red mulch cloth for tomatoes offered in the Burpee catalog. I think I'm gonna try planting them near my corn for some shade. I think maybe the trench thing would be ok but I'm not sure how it would affect the corn. I live in what's called the upper desert. Dry, hot, clay soil. But... we have snow a few days in the winter. Craziness. I was looking into companion planting ideas partly for this reason. Quite a few people suggested planting basil close to the toms. I'm gonna try Beefmaster, Romas, Jellybeans, and maybe some "old-timey tasting" ones sent from a friend that I'm not too sure what they are til they get here, but I know I'm in for a treat.
-Juli