First, let me apologize for not updating sooner. It's been really busy around here. We finally got our Spring showers and it's been raining a lot here, mixed with a good amount of Sunshine. Both have contributed fantastically to growth as you can see in the pictures below. Unfortunately, one of those storms was strong enough to break one of my prized Rio Grande Roma tomato plants off at the stem. This was heartbreaking. I am trying to save it as I read that much like roses and other plants, you can plant a stem and water it daily and it will (hopefully) re-root. Although the leaves look bad, everything still is green.

Although roma tomato plants are determinate plants, meaning short busy vines, I like to use tomato cages for added support. Unfortunately, I did not have one around the Rio Grande at the time that it broke. My fault. I do now though. On these tomato cages, I cut a section out of the bottom three wire rungs and left the top section on.

Some differences I notice with the Rio Grande roma compared to the more common Roma VF is that the rio leaves are a darker, green, broader and thicker, a little bit like a San Marzano. They are also more resistant to the heat and yellow leafing. All in all, I would say the rio grande roma is a heartier plant than the Roma VF. No problems yet, but I can't say the same for my Roma VF's this year which have blossom rot (on a few of the fruit and probably due to heavier than usual rains) and some yellow leafing.

Will this tomato stem transplant make it?

Against my own doubts, the transplanted tomato stem (see picture top right), did in fact make it and is flourishing. The first week didn't look so good and I was tempted to put it out of it's misery. But twice a day watering (gentle watering), allowed the roots to grow and flourish in the soil.

The Rio Grande is definitely resisting the heat better than the Roma VFs I am growing this year. The leaves and stems look much better. The fruit promise to be large (for a roma), and are forming quite nicely. Growth the last 30 days has been strong and fast as can be seen in the transplanted stem. 30 days ago, it didn't look as if it would survive. Now, it's already produced fruit (down at the bottom). While I do have other tomatoes that are already ripenining, I think this one might be worth the wait.

Above: The transplanted tomato stem (rio grande) did survive and is even producing fruit. Right, nice fruit production on the other Rio Grande plant.

There is not a lot to report on these tomatoes as they seem to be one of the lowest maintenance tomatoes I have in my garden. The Tulsa area has been blasted with a heat index ranging 105 to 110 for nearly the last 4 weeks. It has recently subsisded, thank goodness. So this did cause some yellow leafing and dried branches which you can see in this picture close up. Pruning was necessary and more will probably have to take place.

Still, the Rio Grande stood up to the heat and produced very beautiful looking egg shaped fruit in the 2 to 4 ounce, ery good size for a roma.

The Transplanted Stem (not pictured this update) is also doing well but of course has produced less fruit since it came from a just a stem as compared to a full rooted plant like you see here.

My one minor disappointment about this tomato is that it is maturing later than my other tomatoes, although it did have a little bit of a later start than my San Marzano tomatoes, and we suffered a set back with the transplanted tomato stem.

The fruit inside is very meaty and has a mild, sweet tomato flavor that two of my family members compared in flavor to the San Marzano - which is a complement as the SM has a great reputation among Foodies and Chef's worldwide.

Due to it's beautiful appearance and nice size fruit, heat resistance, disease resistance, (so far), taste for eating whole and meaty quality for sauce, I can understand why this is a popular tomato in Europe and plan to make this a staple in my garden in the years to come.