Sammy,

You have a very nice selection of tomatoes. I only have comments on two of them.

Perhaps Orange Oxheart will perform better for you than the Oxheart tpes I've tried. Other than 'Amish Paste", which some folks describe as an oblong oxheart type, I've never been able to get more than 1 or 2 or 3 fruit from any oxheart type I've tried. Apparently, oxhearts tend to be poor producers in hot weather. You results may vary.

Other than that, my only other reservation is about Husky Red Cherry, which is a gorgeous plant--thick, lush, green and very sturdy. It grows great in containers. It produces very heavily. My only 'problem' with it is that the skins are kind of tough, so I go ahead and grow them, but generally use them only for dehydrating.

We can talk about preserving tomatoes all you want later in the season when the harvest is rolling in. You can preserve tomatoes in many ways. I like to can them, freeze them and dehydrate them. You can preserve them by canning or freezing them as whole tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, sauce, catsup, juice, salsa or tomato preserves/jelly. Frozen tomatoes are great for cooking and you can just substitute them in any recipe that calls for canned tomatoes. When the time comes, I even have recipes for tomato cake! (And it tastes good too.)

I hope you have a wonderful tomato year!

Dawn

Nice list.

I tried mr. stripey last year and got about 3 small tomatoes from it, but they did have good flavor. I hope you have better luck.

Sammy,
Great list. You have CP which I really like. I like it better than Indian Stripe. I like both but if you have the real deal it is great. Like Craig says there is at least two out there being sold as CP. I had the imposter the first time and said I would never grow it again. Got seeds from Craig and besides coloration being close as different as day and night when grown side by side. Just had a discussion on a tomato chat forum about how many varieties we may of culled because we didn't have the real thing. Whether the change is due to selection or something else.

Will be interested to hear your impressions of Jet Star. It is one of the hyped hybrids that Dawn and others seem to like that most here don't. Including myself. I start a few as they do average here most years. So you can depend on them for fruits. Again I'm sure it is a combination of climate, soils and taste preferences. I just have a few hybrids I like better that produce better. They don't seem very vigorous or hardy once the dry heat hits. Maybe they don't have the drought resistance of others.

Black Krim I'm growing this year. Because Dawn and others really like it. I always grow Black from Tula. Have been told it is as good or better. The thing here is BFT does well in our dry semi arid conditions. So won't drop it till I see how BK does.

I hope they all do well for you. And you can can a bunch. Jay

Sammy,

I couldn't resist Orange Oxheart either. I am bummed by Dawn's report, but hope my wonderful sandy loam will make a difference.

Also, Black Krim: I tried it last year, but didn't go with it this year because my fruit split so badly on the vine last year. Too much moisture (I have raised beds but it was wet last year) or did I leave it on the vine too long or is that the nature of it?

Thanks, experts..

Marcy