Susan, Baker Family Heirloom has nothing to do with Baker Creek. It is a tomato that George (macmex) grows and got his original seed back in the 1980's, I think, from a man who said it had been grown in his 'Baker' family for generations. I think it is red and indeterminate, but the year I grew it, my tomatoes weren't marked so I was never sure if it was the one I thought it was. I am growing it this year also.

Susan,

I found a little bit of info George (macmex) had written about the tomato:

I received the seed for Baker Family Heirloom from L.D. Baker of Tinley Park, IL, sometime like in 1996 (I'd have to look it up). He told me that it was their family heirloom, and, if I recall correctly, he called it Baker Family Heirloom. I wrote back, requesting more info. But he never responded. I grew it in Hidlago, Mexico. But tomatoes did terribly for us there. I only harvested one fruit. Then, in 2002 I grew it in NJ and ... BOOM! It performed fabulously! We've grown it almost every year since, and it has become our mainstay.

George may jump in the give us more info. I'm growing it this year too. I got the plant from Dawn at the Spring Fling. Thanks again, Dawn and if you received the seeds from George, then thanks to him too.

Since so many of us are growing many of the same varieties, it will be interesting to see how they do in the different conditions.

Lynn

I got some seeds from George this year. Here is what he posted in another thread about BFH.
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Baker's Family Heirloom: medium red tomato, received from L.D. Baker of Tinley Park, Illinois in 1995, when we still lived in Mexico. I had contact with Mr. Baker through the National Gardening Association magazine. Apparently this tomato had been in Mr. Baker's family for quite some time. I attempted to grow it in Mexico in the high desert where we were living at that time. It flopped. However I did harvest one tomato and saved seed. In 2003 I tried growing the it in New Jersey. It did beautifully! It is a heavy producer of delicious tomatoes similar to Rutgers VF in appearance and flavor. I cannot distinguish between the two without cutting them open. Baker Family Heirloom has more locules than Rutgers. It also has very indeterminate growing habits. The plants are notable in the garden for their robust, bushy growth. They get pretty tall too. I have grown this in tall cages with little pruning.

I wrote Mr. Baker for more information on this variety but never heard back from him. Baker's Family Heirloom has been a favorite of ours since 2003. Very dependable and productive! In 2003 this variety produced its first ripe fruit at 89 days from transplanting, which was 145 days from seed. In 2004 it produced its first ripe fruit 97 days from transplanting (121 from seed).1 In 2006 I got first fruit at 135 days from seed, but the plants were stunted from growing in inferior seed starter mix. I believe they would have produced earlier if I had grown them in something better. I didnt record the day I set them out.

In 2006, in Tahlequah, OK, this variety did the best of the varieties I planted: Mr. BrownÂs, Prudence Purple, Polish Pastel, Sunray VF, and Juliet (one plant). But get this! Baker Family Heirloom was more vigorous and productive than Juliet! All my plants, except Polish Pastel were hit with blight and have lost much of their bottom leaves. BFH and Juliet are among the worst hit. Sunray lost no leaves to blight. It lost all of them to blister beetles.

In four years of growing this variety IÂve come to conclude that while it is quite vigorous and fairly resistant to disease, it for some reason is more susceptible to damping off, when very small, than most varieties. Care must therefore be taken to avoid fusarium when planting seeds and working with tiny transplants.

SSE member Brian Hussey, in Maine, reported in the 2006 Yearbook: "80 days, this is an excellent main crop tomato, high production on strong indet. plants, fruit is large and has great flavor."
SSE 2006 description:
Indet. Heavy producer of delicious fruit, similar to Rutgers in appearance and flavor. Very dependable and productive, a main crop variety. One of my best performers during the hot dry summer of 2006. In four years of growing this variety IÂve come to conclude that while it is quite vigorous and fairly resistant to disease, it for some reason is more susceptible to damping off, when very small, than most varieties. Care must therefore be taken to avoid fusarium when planting seeds and working with tiny transplants.

Wow! Thanks for all of the wonderful information. It explains a lot to me, since I had also started my seed in inferior mix and while the seed did germinate, it sat there and sat there and sat there forever. No damping off, but just absolutely no growth at all. I finally, a couple of weeks ago, repotted the very tiny seedling - only had first set of "true" leaves. But when I did, it took off and started growing. I may not get tomatos this year, but I am going to go ahead and work with this plant and see how it does. If it holds true to the above, if I get one tomato at the 120 day mark, that will be enough for a taste and some seed. That would be around the end of September.

Your info is much appreciated, and no wonder I couldn't find anything on the Internet.

Susan

Days to Maturity is such a subjective thing, affected by so many factors, that I don't usually pay too much attention to it. But here's some data I saved. In 2006 this tomato produced first ripe fruit in 135 days (don't panic) from seed. This figure is greatly affected by how long it took to put the transplants out, as they normally don't mature very well until they are in the ground. In 2007 I had first ripe fruit in 95 days, from transplant.

I've day dreamed about sending a sample of this seed to Baker Creek Heirlooms.... They now offer Stewart's Zeebest Okra, which I sent them.

Sorry I overlooked this thread until today~

George

George, thank you so much for adding to the information about Baker's Family Heirloom. Carol shared her seed with me, and I am so glad she did. I feel quite honored to be growing it, and I am glad I persisted in nurturing this plant. It is still very small, in a small pot, but quickly outgrowing it. I intend to put it in a much larger pot sometime next week, and hope it will continue growing for me. If it is similar to Rutgers VF, that's great, cuz I love Rutgers fruit. I was able at least to get it past the "damping off" stage. But, it was a fighter to say the least. It sat in that original seed starting mix for I don't know how long, doing nothing but simply maintaining the status quo. It could have died off, dried up, damped off, or whatever, but didn't. And, I admit I probably gave it a few opportunities to do so. I have to give this "little engine that could" an "E" for effort and do whatever I can to help it grow into a nice, mature plant.

I love the history of this tomato and will try to do it justice.

Susan

It takes a long time. I gave up on mine last year because it sat in half shade. Now, I realize I was impatient. I will try it again this year.

I marked this one in my catalog as rare so I'll remember to save seed. Last year it was a monster plant. I didn't know the DTM.