Tomato Amana Orange: variety description, photos, reviews, yield

The amazing, bright, fleshy tomato Amana orange (original name - Amana orange), which in 2016 at the tomato festival in America entered the "Top 10" most delicious, beating more than 600 other species, of course conquered Russians too beef tomato lovers. This orange miracle comes from the USA, the name of the man who discovered it for vegetable growers is Gary Haley (Staley). This person, in addition to his main job, is interested in collecting and growing unusual tomatoes. One day he received another batch of seeds, planted them, and when the harvest was ripe, he was delighted with one of the varieties - its fruits were so bright and large. For another 3 seasons, a keen vegetable grower grew this variety to confirm its characteristics. And so, in 1984, the new product was presented by him at the Seed Savers seed exchange. The unusual name of the variety is given in honor of the German colony settlement of Amana, located in Iowa, where Gary worked for some time. The overseas guest was not included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of Russia. Russian tomato growers prefer to grow it in protected soil, where the orange guest feels much more comfortable. Our hero is a varietal crop.

Description of the tomato variety Amana Orange

Amana Orange is a young hybrid variety, the originator of which is the Russian company Partner. The tomato entered the State Register in 2019. Recommended for growing in film greenhouses and in soil throughout the country. In 2016, even before official registration, it won high marks at a festival in the USA and entered the top ten varieties, despite the fact that more than 600 varieties participated in the competition.

Amana Orange is a tall, indeterminate tomato up to 2 m above the ground surface. It has a powerful, durable stem and produces numerous side shoots. The foliage of the bushes is average. The plates are corrugated, dark green with a wavy edge. The first flower cluster appears above the ninth leaf, the subsequent ones go through three internodes, which is quite atypical for tomatoes.

In terms of ripening time, it belongs to the mid-early varieties. Tomatoes reach technical maturity on average 100-110 days after germination.

Attention! The Amana Orange tomato bears fruit best in protected soil conditions. In the open air, yields often drop due to sudden cold snaps.

Description of fruits

Amana Orange tomatoes have a flat-round shape with well-defined ribbing. Their skin is thin and smooth, shiny, but the variety is not prone to cracking. At the beginning of ripening, the tomato is light green, the color is uniform, without a spot at the stalk. As it ripens, it turns yellow and then orange.

The tomato pulp is moderately dense, fleshy and juicy, the same color as the skin. Inside the fruit there are a large number of chambers with a small content of seeds. The taste of tomatoes is sweet, with delicate fruity notes. During ripening, the fruits emit a pleasant aroma.

The average weight of Amana Orange tomatoes is 600 g

It is recommended to grow the Amana Orange variety for private use. The tomato does not tolerate transportation and storage well, it wrinkles and cracks quickly. It is rarely bred for subsequent sale.

How to grow

Orange tomato seeds are prepared in advance for sowing, taking into account the reviews of experienced farmers. It is worth counting 6 or 8 weeks from the time of transplantation and carrying out sowing work.
The grooves for the seeds are made shallow so that it is easy for the plant to hatch. The soil should be well moistened and the soil should be warmed up in advance. You can see the first shoots in a week. If the storage conditions of the container with the sown crop were not ideal, you should wait two weeks until the seedlings appear.
This is followed by the germination process on the windowsill, where the crop will be warm and light enough for normal development. Gardeners can also grow the plant under lamps, which should be left on for 16 hours a day. At this stage, the plant does not need a lot of fertilizer. The first fertilizing is carried out three weeks from the moment of sowing. A water-soluble universal material is used for these purposes.
For better transplantation and reducing the stress factor for the crop, it is necessary to harden the seedlings. Place seedlings outside for several hours a day only in places where there is sun and no drafts.
When planting Orange tomatoes, taking into account recommendations, characteristics and reviews, it is worth adhering to crop rotation so as not to expose the crop to the risk of developing various diseases. Each bush is planted at a distance of 40 cm from the other. It is not worth planting bushes that are bushier, so as not to complicate the care process and not to interfere with the plant’s normal development.
Experienced gardeners prefer to plant seedlings deep so that the root system can grow better and have a better chance of coping with prolonged drought. The replanting process is completed with thorough irrigation, which helps dislodge air pockets from the soil and allows for faster rooting in the new location. In a month, powerful bushes will need a small but reliable support.

Characteristics of tomato Amana Orange

Before planting the Amana Orange variety on a site, it is necessary to study its main characteristics. The advantages of tomato come with some weaknesses.

Amana Orange tomato yield and fruiting

When sown for seedlings in late March, the Amana Orange tomato bears its first ripe fruits in mid-July. The variety's yield is high - approximately 3-4 kg of tomatoes per bush and up to 14-18 kg per 1 m2.

The tomato has good endurance, easily takes root even on poor soil and rarely suffers from diseases. But at the same time, temperature changes negatively affect productivity. In regions with temperate and harsh climates, the variety bears fruit much worse. Cooling during the period of flowering and ovary formation leads to the fact that the tomatoes become smaller, crack at the top and become corky. Harvest volumes decrease due to severe drought or waterlogging, in the absence of pinching.

Area of application of fruits

Amana Orange is considered a salad variety. The sugary, tender fruits are used mainly in the preparation of fresh vegetable snacks. The tomato is suitable for processing and creating juices, pastes and sauces. It is not used in whole-fruit canning due to its large size and tendency to crack.

Attention! Orange tomatoes of the Amana variety contain particularly high levels of the beneficial carotenoid enzyme lycopene.

Resistance to diseases and pests

The tomato variety Amana Orange has good resistance to late blight. The bulk of the fruits ripen before the disease enters the most dangerous phase of development.

The Amana Orange tomato is much more vulnerable to other fungal infections. Bushes may suffer from spotting and blackleg, rot and tobacco mosaic. Symptoms of diseases especially often appear in greenhouses with insufficient ventilation and too high humidity.

Among the pests that pose a danger to tomatoes are aphids and whiteflies, as well as wireworms and mole crickets, which damage the root system. To protect against insects, it is recommended to pay special attention to loosening the soil and removing weeds. With high humidity, slugs often appear on the lower leaves of tomato plants.

Care

First of all, the procedure for watering the bushes is very important. Watering is carried out in the evening or in the morning; for this you should use warm, settled water. The soil under tomatoes must be moist and slightly loose, but most often it is necessary to water at the stage of crop formation. At the same time, you should not moisten the soil too much, otherwise the tomatoes will crack. It is necessary to water the bed two to three times a week, this will moisten the soil to the entire depth of the roots. Upon completion of watering procedures, it is imperative to loosen the soil so that it can properly conduct air to the roots.

Particular attention must be paid to the formation of bushes; the yield will directly depend on this. As a rule, tomatoes are grown with one or two stems; excess shoots are removed, leaving a centimeter stump so that they do not grow again

Advantages and disadvantages

The Amana Orange tomato has many advantages. But you also need to study the disadvantages of the variety.

Amana Orange fruits are not recommended to be stored fresh for more than a couple of days

pros

high taste qualities;
attractive appearance;
good yield;
resistance to late blight;
early maturation;
large-fruited.

Minuses

does not tolerate transportation well;
requires frequent stepsoning;
afraid of temperature changes.

Agricultural technology

It is recommended to grow Amana orange in seedlings. It is better to calculate the planting date yourself to take into account the climatic features of the region. Seedlings that are two months old are suitable for transplanting into the ground. During the growth process, the crop will need support, and it is necessary to tie up not only the stem, but also the fruit clusters, since under the weight of ripening fruits they can break at the point of attachment to the stem. Recommended planting density: 3 - 4 plants per 1 square meter. The variety will show the best results when formed into 1 or 2 stems. Tomatoes need to be planted in the brightest corner of the greenhouse. Growing in protected soil will require compliance with the watering regime. The soil should not be waterlogged. During the process of fruit ripening, the amount of moisture is slightly reduced so that the fruits do not crack and retain their sweet taste. The yield also needs to be supported with fertilizers; you can use mineral or organic fertilizers. Despite the good resistance to disease, do not forget that our hero belongs to varietal plants. Therefore, treatments, at least with biological products, must be carried out.

Amazing Amana orange is very loved by tomato growers all over the world, so the variety is in the collection of most of them. This large-fruited crop with bright, tasty tomatoes will not disappoint even beginners with its yield and will not burden you with the hassle of care. And experienced vegetable growers can practice growing giant specimens, to the envy of their neighbors and to the delight of their households. Apart from the inability to transport crops over long distances, no criticisms were identified. The variety is ideal for growing in private farms. Moreover, the quality of the seed material can be controlled independently by selecting the most beautiful tomatoes.

In the nineties of the last century, several interesting varieties were bred in the experimental beds of the Iowa State Agricultural Biological Laboratory. Among them, orange fruits stood out for their size.

The attractive appearance was accompanied by a pronounced tomato taste. The head of the laboratory, Amana Rubeira, decided to name this tomato variety after herself. Therefore, gardeners know it under the name Amana Orange (orange, red).

Garden-grown salad tomatoes are most often used to make salad. Therefore, such tomatoes are always in demand among the population.

Many summer residents consider them for planting on their own plots. Unpretentious fruits are easy to grow in greenhouses. In the southern regions they can be planted in open ground. It’s worth taking a closer look at this variety.

Features of cultivation

Planting and caring for the Amana Orange tomato are quite standard. First, the variety is sown as seedlings at home, and then transferred to the ground or to a greenhouse.

Planting seedlings

It is recommended to sow Amana Orange for seedlings in early March for subsequent greenhouse cultivation and in the middle of the month if planting in the ground is planned. Choose a container for tomatoes that is wide, up to 10 cm deep, and disinfect it from bacteria with boiling water. The soil is created from turf soil, peat and humus with the addition of sand. The substrate must be shed with a solution of Fitosporin or potassium permanganate.

Planting is carried out according to the following scheme:

Fill the container with prepared soil and moisten it properly with lukewarm water.
The seeds are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Make grooves 1.5 cm deep in the substrate.
Spread the seeds at small intervals and sprinkle with soil.

After this, the soil must be sprayed with a spray bottle. Stretch the film over the container and place the box in a moderately lit place with a temperature of 22-24 °C. After the formation of the first sprouts, the container is opened and transferred to a south or south-east window sill.

Caring for seedlings comes down to regular moistening from a spray bottle or watering can. When a pair of true leaves appear, the tomato should be picked into separate containers.

Attention! Two weeks before transferring into the ground, Amana Orange seedlings begin to harden in the fresh air.

Transplanting into a greenhouse or in the ground

It is recommended to transfer mature seedlings to the ground or to a greenhouse two months after planting - in early or mid-May. The area is first dug up and fertilized, and then holes are prepared at intervals of 40 cm. The depth of the holes should be twice the size of the roots of the seedlings.

The tomato is transferred into the soil along with the previous earthen lump. The procedure is carried out in cloudy weather. There are 3-4 bushes per 1 m2.

The Amana Orange tomato is transplanted only into soil that has warmed up to 10-15 °C.

Aftercare

When growing Amana Orange tomatoes, you need to adhere to standard agricultural practices. Attention is paid to several points:

Watering. The tomato is moistened 2-3 times a week. The intensity of watering depends on the actual condition of the soil; it should not be allowed to dry out or become waterlogged.
Mulching. To ensure that moisture from the soil evaporates more slowly, you need to sprinkle the beds with straw, hay or sawdust.
Feeding. Approximately once every two weeks, the bushes are fertilized with liquid mineral solutions containing potassium and phosphorus. Two months before harvest, fertilizing is stopped.
Stepsonning. The tomato variety is grown in 1-2 stems, removing all side shoots.

During the fruiting period, the clusters of Amana Orange may break under the weight of tomatoes. It is recommended to tie the shoots to supports or trellises in advance.

Seed preparation

Before planting, the planting material is sorted. Select tomato seeds of large size and regular shape.

Before sowing, the selected specimens are wrapped in several layers of gauze and immersed for 20 minutes in a warm manganese solution for disinfection. After time, the seeds, without removing them from the fabric, are thoroughly washed in running water.

You can also use a growth stimulator. To do this, apply the solution, moisten a cloth in it and place tomato seeds on it. The top of the fabric is covered with polyethylene and left in a warm place for a day. Then the seed is placed in the refrigerator for 4 hours to harden and increase immunity. This procedure is carried out 3 times until the sprouts are visible. After this, landing is carried out.

Important! Orange Blue tomato seeds can be checked for suitability before sowing. To do this, they are immersed in water. Any seeds that float to the surface are removed, and those remaining at the bottom are dried and used for planting.

Any seeds that float to the surface are removed, and those remaining at the bottom are dried and used for planting.

Pest and disease control

Amana Orange resists late blight well, but may suffer from other ailments. To prevent fungi, you need to control the degree of soil moisture and ventilate tomatoes daily when grown in a greenhouse. When symptoms of illness appear, the bushes are sprayed with Fitosporin or copper sulfate.

A regular soap solution works well against pests. In difficult cases, insecticides are used - Thunder and similar preparations.

Stop spraying tomatoes with chemicals a month before harvesting the fruits.