Look for the 2022 San Antonio Rodeo Tomato STM2255 on sale next week at Milbergers’s Nursery. The variety selected this year is a determinate plant that produces a generous crop of large, globe-shaped tasty fruit with considerable disease resistance to alternaria, fusarium, verticillium and gray leaf spot.
With all the cold weather we have had since New Year, it may be hard for some gardeners to get excited about tomatoes this early in the growing season. But it is rodeo time and time to announce the Rodeo Tomato for 2022.
Every year, a Rodeo Tomato is determined by a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service team led by horticulturists David Rodriguez and Larry Stein, assisted by the Bexar Master Gardeners and Jerry Parsons. They compare a large number of tomato varieties to see which has the most desirable characteristics in terms of disease resistance, production, and fruit quality when subjected to the San Antonio-area weather and soil conditions.
Among those selected in past years include Tycoon, Ruby Crush, Celebrity, BHN 968, HM 8849, HM 1823, Phoenix, Red Deuce, Red Snapper and Valley Cat. This year’s winner is STM2255.
It is described as a determinate plant, which means it grows quickly to full size and then concentrates on setting fruit. It produces a generous crop of large, globe-shaped tasty fruit with considerable disease resistance to alternaria, fusarium, verticillium and gray leaf spot. Our area’s two short seasons (spring and fall) mean that determinate tomato plants are the best suited for our gardens.
By Dr. Calvin Finch, a retired Texas A&M horticulturist. calvinrfinch@gmail.com
