Plum tomato Speckled Roman is an elongated, deliciously sweet-tasting plum tomato variety that has plenty of flesh. This variety was developed by John Swenson. Plum tomato Speckled Roman is a very stable and successful cross between the Roma tomato and plum tomato Banana Legs. This tomato dates back to 1999. The large, tall plants produce a large quantity of these tomatoes. The elongated tomatoes ripen from light green to orange-red with flaming orange-yellow stripes. The tomatoes contain little juice and lots of delicious-tasting, firm flesh. The tomatoes grow about 10 - 12 cm long and end in a tip. These tomatoes are great to use for making tomato juice, soups, ketchup, dried tomatoes and for freezing. If you freeze them with skin and all, the tomatoes keep their shape better. This variety is mid-early. The delicious flavour of these tomatoes is sweet with a slight acidity and is great for all kinds of uses and recipes.
Use this tomato in salads, sauces, soups, on sandwiches, in ketchup and in all dishes with tomato. This tomato needs plenty of water, light, warmth and support. Tomatoes are high in vitamin C and lycopene. This is best absorbed into the body when tomatoes have been heated. Non-hardy annual. Height: 250 - 350 cm
Indoor sowing: February - April
Germination: 6 - 14 days
Germination temp: 20 - 25 °C
Sowing depth: 2 - 3 mm
Transplanting: when the seedlings are about 20 cm tall
Transplanting in garden: after the last night frosts
Plant spacing: 45 - 50 cm
Planting position: sunny - sheltered (greenhouse)
Days till harvest: 60 - 90
Sow indoors from February on in trays filled with moist pottingsoil. Sow shallow and press the seeds gently in the soil, don't cover them with soil, because tomatoes are light germinators. Put the trays away somewhere warm at 20 - 25 °C and cover them with clingfilm or a lid. Keep the temperature as even as possible and don't let the temperature drop during the night. Keep moist, but not to wet to prevent rotting of the seeds. Remove the clingfilm or lid when the seedlings emerge. Transplant the seedlings to seperate pots approx. 10 days after emerging. Put them away a bit cooler at approx. 18 - 20 °C.
Harden the tomatoes of, from the middle of May, when there's no longer any danger of nightfrosts. Put the pots at a temperature of 15 - 18 °C for a week and reduce the amount of water for this week. Put the plants outdoors after this week on a sunny and sheltered plot with well draining soil or put them in a greenhouse. Make sure that there is no longer any nightfrost.
Tomatoes need some maintenance to ensure a good harvest. Give the plants a sturdy support with some sturdy and large bamboo sticks. Remove all suckers that will form in the axils of your plants. Remove all the leaves below the lowest hanging fruits by the end of July till the beginning of August. Remove all the leaves of all plants together with the tops of all plants from the end of August till the beginning of September to ensure the ripening of most of the green tomatoes. Harvest the tomatoes by cutting them with scissors. Tomatoes can't be kept for a long period. Don't keep your harvested tomatoes in the fridge. So use them a soon as possible after harvesting. Tomatoes used in sauces can be kept frozen to store.
