Celebrity Plus

[Meadowlark]

A "new" tomato variety that is advertised as better than the original, of course. In this case, the original is one of my favorites and that of others here on the Forum....but for me it is getting late for starting from seed. I may try them for a fall crop.

The sales pitch from Park's seed...

"Description / Celebrity Plus Hybrid Tomato Seeds

Days to Maturity: 80
Semi-Determinate
An improvement on the original Celebrity (an AAS Winner), Celebrity Plus, a hybrid F1 tomato, is grown as a fruit vegetable. The plant sets small "perfect" flowers followed by smooth, red tomatoes. The fruits are larger than the original Celebrity, weighing in at 7 to 8 ounces. They have better uniformity and a higher brix value (5.4), meaning they have the same outstanding flavor as Celebrity, but sweeter."

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

Well that was the one i ordered...

I usually don't start tomatoes till it's warm enough outside (end of April) and the kinds I grow do fine, but I'm sure you know what you're doing

 

[Meadowlark]

... but I'm sure you know what you're doing

@Martin Mikulcik thanks for the consideration that I know what I'm doing. After growing tomatoes in this climate for over 1/2 century, I should know just a little about it.

Here's the timeline I would be looking at if I ordered those seeds tomorrow:

By the time I could get the seeds, it would likely be late Feb. One week to germinate optimistically puts the timeline at first week in March. From germination to fruit set in Celebrity is about 12 weeks give or take. That takes the timeline to about May 10 for starting fruit set again give or take.

But by May 10, my daily high temps are routinely at or above 85 deg F with no end in sight until Oct.

I'm sure you know that Tomatoes typically stop setting fruit when daytime temperatures exceed 85°F (30°C) and nighttime temperatures remain consistently above 70°F (21°C).

My chances of getting any of these tomatoes to mature starting at this point are near zero.... better to wait until fall.

In this area, my hard-earned experience says you better have seeds in starting soil in early Jan. to make a good crop of tomatoes. I have seen absolutely nothing over the recent years that would indicate any delay in routinely reaching 85 deg F in early May. In fact, very much the opposite.

It was close to 80 deg F today here and soon will be above that, but not routinely for a while...I'll be lucky to get a good crop in this year even starting in Jan. the way things have been going.