SE Ohio is a great Tom growing location. In fact, Ohio, Pennsy, and NJ are an enviable tomato growing area for many.
Climate is the main reason and many of the Great Heirlooms have come from this region.
Since you are in Ohio and into Heirlooms, you might like to do a “search” on a fellow named Ben Quissenberry(sp)?
He was one of the greatest Tomato seed collectors.
He was a deeply spiritual Ohio man who collected MANY of the best heirloom varieties available today. Without him, many of these great toms would have gone extinct.
At the age of 90, he was still self-handling a garden of about 500 tom plants.
He died at the age of about 96 in the mid 1980s.
Every time I taste a Brandywine Sudduth or Stump Of The World, I think of and thank the man for the flavor he saved for the world.
Interestingly, he did not save seeds by fermenting. He simply smoothed the tomato goop and seeds on to plywood sheets and let the Sun have its way with them for a few days.
JJ61
Thanks for the welcome. Yes our 88 tomato plats are growing like crazy. Small fruits so far but we normally don’t see anything before the end of July through mid August depending on variety.
I just figured out that when I ordered seeds I didn’t realize one of the breeds is a cherry tomato. :( I’m thinking I should still be able to dehydrate them? Peeling will probably be a challenge but hubby says he doesn’t care if there are peels in the cans so I’ll probably just use them like regular tomatoes too. I can’t believe I did this! I have about 40 cherry plants that are doing great. Oh well. :(