Fruit Color: Red
Harvest Timing: Main Crop / Mid-Season
Sow seeds indoors (do not direct sow into the garden), using sterile seed starting mix, 6 to 8 weeks before your last expected frost date. Plant 1/4" deep, water lightly but keep moist until emergence.
Full light and cooler temps (60° to 70°) will help to prevent the seedlings from becoming too leggy. If plants become rootbound before you can safely set them into the ground, transplant them into larger pots.
Harden off plants before planting outside. Young plants are very susceptible to frost and sunburn damage. Avoid too much nitrogen. Water evenly but not in excess.
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Informational References:
- "Bay State, A Red Forcing Tomato Bred for Resistance to Leaf Mold," E. F. Guba, Research Processor of Botany, Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 393, June, 1942.
- Cladosporium fulvum, abbreviated as Cf-2, is now know as Passalora fulva.
- There was a tomato by the same name, "Bay State," introduced in about 1889 by a Massachusetts nurseryman and horticulturalist named Arthur Bridgman Howard. A. B. Howard & Son marketed this seemingly obscure variety for a number of years but we could not find it in any other seed catalogs, indicating that it did not receive wide distribution nor acceptance, and must have disappeared long before the Massachusetts A. E. S. bred and named 'Bay State'.