Tomato Titan: reviews + photos

Many gardeners most of all dream of ultra-early harvests, they try to plant the most ultra-early varieties of vegetables in order to enjoy fresh vitamins as early as possible and brag to their neighbors, or even sell the surplus on the market when the price of vegetables is still high. For others, all this haste is useless, they are firmly convinced that the earliest ones are never the tastiest or the most fruitful, which, of course, has a great deal of truth. And these others are patiently waiting for the maturation of late varieties, which, as a rule, are distinguished by the highest yield, the most intense taste, and the largest size. And sometimes all these characteristics combined.

All of the above applies, of course, to tomatoes. That’s just the cultivation of late-ripening tomato varieties in the open field of the middle lane and more northern regions is fraught with a high probability that the harvest may not be expected at all. That is why, some varieties were specially created mainly for the southern regions of Our Country, where warm autumn allows you to extend the growing season of tomatoes and get large crops of tomatoes in September and even sometimes in October in open ground conditions. Tomato Titan, the characteristics and description of the variety of which are presented in this article, belongs to just such tomatoes.

Variety description

It is a rather old tomato variety, which was obtained back in the early 80s of the last century by scientific breeders of an experimental breeding station in the city of Krymsk, Krasnodar Territory, which is a branch of the North Caucasian Research Institute of Viticulture and Horticulture.

Where is the best place to grow

In 1986, the tomato variety Titan was listed in the State Register of Our Country with recommendations for growing in the open field of the North Caucasus region. Since the variety is designed primarily for outdoor cultivation, it hardly makes sense to recommend growing it in greenhouse conditions in more northern regions. Indeed, in greenhouses, the illumination conditions are always somewhat lower than in the open field, and the feeding area there is less than that required by this variety.

To date, a large number of special varieties have been created for indoor conditions that are able to tolerate some lack of illumination and may well develop and produce good yields in a limited soil volume. While these conditions are completely unacceptable for Titan tomatoes.

tomato bushes

Plants of this variety of tomatoes are really characterized by a small height, about 40-50 cm. Tomato Titan is determinant and even standard. This means that the development of the bush is completed after the formation of a certain number of fruit clusters, and at the top there is always a cluster with fruits, and not a green shoot.

The bushes themselves are strong, with a thick central stem and large green leaves. The number of shoots and leaves formed is average, so the variety does not need pinching, especially when grown in open ground. The first flower brush is formed after 5 or 7 leaves. The following brushes are laid every 2 sheets.

Ripening time and yield

The Titan variety is distinguished by late ripening of fruits – they begin to ripen only 120-135 days after the appearance of full shoots.

For old varieties, the yield of Titan tomato could be called not only good, but even a record. On average, from one bush you can get from 2 to 3 kg of fruits, and with good care, you can get 4 kg of tomatoes.

Even if you look at the number of commercial fruits, it comes out from 5,5 to 8 kg per square meter. Very good performance for a variety bred in the 80s of the last century.

Resistance to diseases

But in terms of resistance to adverse environmental factors, Titan tomatoes are not up to par. They are highly susceptible to late blight and have a tendency to be affected by stolbur. In addition to the almost lignified, fibrous pulp that characterizes fruits affected by a virus called stolbur, the stalk often hardens in tomatoes of this variety. They are moderately resistant to macrosporiosis and septoria.

In addition, Titan tomatoes do not like low temperatures, and are often subject to pest invasions. However, many old varieties of tomatoes sin with all these characteristics, as well as the tendency to crack fruits. It is for these reasons that in recent decades, breeders have done a lot of work to develop improved varieties that will be spared from many of the previous shortcomings.

Brief description of the new variety

With the Titan tomato, they also seriously worked and achieved significant improvements in many characteristics. True, this has already turned out to be a new variety and it was called Pink Titanium.

It was bred all at the same experimental breeding station in the city of Krymsk in the Krasnodar Territory already in 2000, but in this case, the authors of this tomato novelty are well known: Egisheva E.M., Goryainova O.D. and Lukyanenko O.A.

It was registered in the State Register in 2006, and the range of areas recommended for growing this tomato in open ground has expanded due to the inclusion of the Lower Volga region.

The characteristics of the tomato bushes themselves remained similar to the Titan variety – standard, determinant, low. But the waiting time for the harvest has been reduced – Pink titanium can be safely attributed to mid-ripening and even mid-early varieties. It takes about 100-115 days from emergence of seedlings to the first ripe fruits.

Breeders managed to achieve Pink Titanium tomatoes and increased yields compared to the previous variety. On average, from one square meter of plantings, you can collect 8-10, and up to a maximum of 12,5 kg of tomatoes.

And most importantly, it was possible to increase the resistance of tomatoes to adverse conditions and diseases. Tomato Pink Titan is no longer prone to stolbur damage, and resistance to other diseases has increased significantly. Tomatoes of this variety have a high yield of marketable fruits – up to 95%. Tomatoes are not prone to cracking and blossom end rot.

Characteristics of fruits

Since the Pink Titan variety is, to some extent, an improved copy of the Titan tomato, the following are the characteristics of tomatoes of both varieties, summarized for convenience in one table.

It can also be noted that tomatoes of both varieties are characterized by sufficient evenness of fruits, as well as their good preservation, which is convenient for industrial cultivation and canning.

Peculiarities of growing

It is desirable to grow tomatoes of both varieties through seedlings, although Pink Titan, due to its early ripeness, you can try to sow directly into the greenhouse, so that later you can still transplant tomato bushes into permanent beds.

For Titan, it is necessary to take many additional measures to protect it from diseases from the very first days of landing in open ground. The easiest way is to use Fitosporin treatment. This biological agent is absolutely harmless to humans, but it is quite effective against most nightshade diseases.

Since the bushes of both varieties are small in size, they do not require garters or pinching. They are planted on the beds, keeping a density of no more than 4-5 plants per square meter, otherwise the tomatoes may not have enough nutrition and light.

Testimonials from truck drivers

Tomatoes of these varieties are not very popular with gardeners, although Pink Titanium causes some positive reviews.

Conclusion

Perhaps, for the last century, the Titan tomato variety was very attractive, but now, with the abundance of available tomatoes, it makes more sense to grow the Pink Titan variety. It is more stable and even more productive.