Well, you know how I feel about Beefmaster, my second favorite is Brandy Boy but there's only ONE place you can get seeds from and I'll be danged if I'm willing to pay their typically $8 shipping charge anymore.... I only grow indeterminates so I can't comment about Celebrity but I'll be curious to see the responses about the other indeterminates.

Tom

Tom
Celebrity is supposed to be determinate,but the ones I grew in the spring were over 6 ft with more hanging down and still making blossums in July when I took them out. The ones I have in the ground now (from a different source)look like determinates.

ktmeyer
Probably 6 plants would give you all the tomatoes you can eat. I can eat a lot and I had to find something to do with about 10 lbs two or three times a week off of 12 plants.

john

Would you advise planting just two or three varieties, or a smorgasborg of types?

Well, I have been just planting 3 varieties, but I'm adding a couple of Beefmasters because Tom has got me thinking I might be missing something. If you want to try a heirloom that is VFN, Baker Creek has an improved "Mortgage Lifter". Too late for me, but I have seeds for next spring. There is also an improved "Abe Lincoln". I'll get around to that one soon.

Thanks for the advice. And yes, after Tom's praises of Beefmaster I cant imagine not planting it.

Any experience with better boy or lemon boy?

Big Beef is good too, but just doesn't hold up to diseases or quite have the taste of Beefmaster. My favorite cherry is the large Sweet Chelsea, golf ball sized cherries. For color, we also grow Dr. Carolyn, nice flavor and very hearty.

Hi ktmeyer

At one point or another, I have grown all the varieties above, except Bonnie original.

I always plant a variety of tomatoes, and I like to plant more than I need. Just in case some plant does not do well. Getting too many tomatoes, it is never been a problem for me.

If you grow them by seed, which I think you are late already, you have more choices. If you buy them at the store, I have not seen Brandy Boy for sale anywhere.

In a nursery near by my house, they only plant Better Boys and a paste tomato for display. They do look good, uniform in size and medium red tomatoes.

I have found that some varieties do well sometimes others times not, for whatever the reason is. That is the case with Lemon Boy. Sometimes it did great for me, sometimes it did not. I do like the flavor, when they were good.

And I would think you should grow a cherry for the child in the house and for salads. They are the earliest to produce. In the store you will find Sweet 100, it always did well for me.

Happy tomato season!

Silvia

Better Boy has a really good flavor and it's on most list for tomatoes to grow in FL. Very study plants. They will crack if there is too much rain, like this past Spring.
john

I have had experience with Better Boy and Beefmaster. Last Spring Beefmaster grew well. It was still setting fruit after the heat arrived. It got a fungus at the based of the stem that killed it, but no other disease on the leaves. Better Boy did ok and made some pretty fruit, but stopped setting fruit long before Beefmaster.

Currently I am trying to move some Better Boy plants outside. I have lots of tomato seedlings on my back porch. I have lost 5 plants so far trying to move them outside. I move a Better Boy outside. It rains. The next morning it has disease spots all over it. I trash it and try again, but the same thing happens. I may have to wait until the conditions improve some. I think my tree is infected and spreads it to the tomatoes.

i'll say what i always say about tomatoes... pick hybrids. pick the hybirds that have the most letters (vfnnnnnnnt). pick the hybrids with the most letters that have medium-sized tomatoes. pick hybrids, letters, medium-sized, and earliest varieties you can find.

and, others will disagree... all ripe red tomatoes taste good. there are differences, surely, but a fresh=picked, ripe tomato is a very good thing, regardless of all other factors.

so, why not pick the ones that produce best, most reliably, earliest, and most prolifically?

for me, that's tiffany and cabernet.