Dawn,
While clocking your 2010 list, I'll give you a report of the seed you sent earlier this year, & how they did here in my Caddo Co garden.
This should in no way affect you either in the good or bad reports, because all you did was be graciously kind in sending me the seeds.
Ramapo, Tropic, Mortgage Lifter VFN, Wisconsin 55 just did not produce for me. ML & W55 had nice vines but just did not produce fruit, while all around I had good success from others.
These are definitely come backs for 2010 here. Primetime, the two reds, Red Defender & Scarlet Red, Jet Star, Better Bush, Moreton was early and steady all season.
FYI I tried the Mtn's varieties this year and can recommend. My test was interuppted by the gopher on that row however. I had Glory, Fresh, Spring. They seem to be prolific.
Following are some of my alltime favorites that I have grown to rely on through the years. CARNIVAL, BIG BEEF, BUSH CELEBRITY, 4TH OF JULY, CAVALIER.
Best to Ya
Bill

Bill,

Thanks for the update. I'm glad that some of the tomatoes I sent you have done well for you. Isn't it fun trying different ones to see which works? It is especially fun when some of them prove themselves worthy to come back next year.

I'm glad to hear the Mountain series tomatoes you grew worked out well for you. For years, I've been "meaning to" get around to trying some of Dr. Gardener's tomatoes, and I finally am going to do it!

I think I have spent too many years experimenting with too many heirlooms and so many of them have not worked out well, or have produced poor yields in our heat. I think I'm over that huge amount of experimentation now and merely going to plant whatever tastes best and gives me the best yields, whether it is a hybrid or an open-pollinated variety. Except, I will keep on trying about 10 new ones a year, but they won't all be heirlooms. Heirloom tomatoes can seduce you with their history and name and color and sometimes even flavor, but few of them produce the large numbers of tomatoes I want per plant.

It sure has been a hard year for tomatoes across Oklahoma. Still, all of us are better off than the folks in the northeastern U.S. who are losing their entire crop to Late Blight.

Sorry to hear about the gophers.

I like Fourth of July because it is very prolific and early. If I am able to plant it in late March, I have ripe tomatoes by Memorial Day. If I were a market gardener and wanted vast quantities of tomatoes to take to market, I'd grow it. One year I had six of the Fourth of July plants, and I couldn't pick them and give them away fast enough....they just kept producing and producing and producing. The people I gave them to sure loved getting them.

I hope your plants are still producing and that you get tomtoes until frost arrives.

Dawn

You know what they say about like minds. I started my list Friday night after thinking about it for a week. I try to start early then shift and adjust for a few reasons. One being that I've learned it is easier for me to remember a variety if I write it down and my impression during the season. Another being that I've decided after the last two years I'm going to plant more than one of most varieties. Last year I said I was cutting back to 65. Not even going there this year. Will try to stay around the 80. That could change a little if I go ahead and construct a high tunnel or a greenhouse. Leaning towards the high tunnel. And instead of planting in the ground growing all i in containers. If I do that may add a few more plants. Right now shooting for 35-40 varieties. This list is temporary and will see some changes as the season progresses and the results come in on some like True Black Brandywine, Casey's Pure Yellow and several others. I will attach what I wrote down for now.
2010 Tomato List

New

1. Atkinson
2. Baker Family Heirloom
3. Black Krim
4. Guernsey Pink Blush
5. Millet's Dakota
6. 2-3 from Michael-UK
7. Royal Hillbilly
8. Sungold (may replace Black Cherry )

Returns
1. Amazon Chocolate
2. Black from Tula
3. Carbon
4. Cheetham's
5. Cherokee Purple RL
6. Chapman
7. Cowlick's Brandywine
8. Ed's Millenimum
9. Indian Stripe
10. JD's Special Pink
11. Juane Flammee'
12, Kellogg's Breakfast
13. Money Maker
14. Black Cherry
15. Spudakee
16. Thessaloniki
17. Vintage Wine Striped
18. Green Giant or Evergreen
19. Kanora
20. Glick's 18 Mennonite
21. Texas Star

Hybrids

1. Brandyboy
2. Goliath
3. Heartland
4. Old Fashioned Goliath
5. Porterhouse
6. Ramapo
7. Red Defender
8. Scarlet Red
9. Security
10. Sungold

Bill,
WI55 has done the same thing here. It has finally set a few. Huge vine that has been loaded with bloom for over 2 months. Still not much fruit. Golden Cherokee and Barlow Jap are the only two I've had in ground for sometime that I haven't seen fruit set on yet. Both nice looking vines. Have yanked some of my most prolific vines due to disease.

Dawn you have grown Black Cherry. What size should it be? This is my first year from two different sources. The first ones haven't changed color yet but are big. Almost gold ball size. More what I would call salad size. Bigger than any true cherries I've raised. The Black Quartz x Black Cherry cross is about the size of Sungold or smaller. I have tasted a few of them and they are very good. I looked at the TGS site and from their pictures they look to be bigger but not as big as what I have. I lost one of the others and another is a lot later so not sure what size the fruit from the other source will be.
Doing a search the other night I ran into a thread you posted in 07 about those that didn't do well for you. I have experienced almost the same results. Maybe it is the area. Some of those can't miss have not cut it here. I will post again as I add and delete varieties. Jay

I haven't thought it all through yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll grow Brandy Boy, Better Boy, Celebrity, and Early Girl as my main crop. I'll likely grow Fantastic, Amelia, and Goliath Hyb also.

I'll probably try a few new small tomatoes but do Juliet and Grapette again. I'm leaning towards also having Sweet Million, and couple of other little ones that I'll steal from Dawn's list.

Other than these, I'll try about another dozen from the local produce place and probably a Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and another couple fun, tasty ones.

I have a feeling this thread will get bumped a lot in the next 6 months.

I have been thinking about it but hav'nt made a list yet. I tried several different ones this year but had poor results. But at the same time i had poor results with my time proven ones also this year.

But i do know i will not be planting any black cherry. I just did not like the flavor or texture.I like my tomatoes more acidy tasting.

But from your luck with the fourth of july i may try some of them as i am a market grower.

As of now i'll probably plant.

better boy,rutgers, sweet million,lemon boy as a start. just have to decide what i'll try again.

I did like the dorthys green but they are sure delicate. dont take much to bruise them.

It was just a terrible year to try different varities and get a good report of how thet faired in this heat and drought conditions.

Jay,

You know what they say: "great minds think alike"! LOL

Your Black Cherries do sound really large. Most of the Black Cherry tomatoes produced on my plants are about 1" across, although some early in the season might get to 1 1/4" across. Or, in comparative terms, they are slightly larger than SunGolds produced at the same time, and about the same size or a tiny bit larger than Sweet 100s or Sweet Millions. I haven't grown Riesentraube in several years, but from what I remember, the Black Cherry is about the same size as Riesentraube Cherry. I'll be growing them side by size next year. Both the SunGold and Black Cherry plants that are on the dry, clay-ey northeastern edge of the garden that hasn't had a lot of soil amendment (need to work on that corner!) produce slightly smaller tomatoes than those two varieties have produced in better soil in a different spot in the garden.

So, if your Black Cherries are almost golfball size, that would put them more in the same size category as Jaune Flammee' or Livingston's Gold Ball as grown in my garden. Although the tomatoes were slightly larger in earlier cooler, wetter weather, my Sophie's Choice and Glacier are now producing tomatoes that are about golf ball-sized too. (They're in 7-gallon containers, so that might be restricting their size a bit.)

Jay, I have been watching JRSlick's high tunnel/hoophouse saga on the Tomato Forum all year long and it seems like they have worked out well for him. Of course, this has me thinking I need a hoophouse or high tunnel too, although not one as large as his.

And, I have to throw in some more good comments about Scarlet Red and Red Defender. They are producing very heavily in pretty adverse conditions. I have one of each in a molasses feed tub, which is probably about 20-gallon size, and one of each in a 5 or 7 gallon pot and all the plants are carrying a heavy, heavy fruit load. In the molasses tubs, each plant has about 15 large fruit still ripening, and I picked 8 to 10 ripe ones off each plant early Monday. Both have blooms and appear likely to set more fruit this week. In the 5-7 gallon containers, I picked 5 or 6 ripe ones off each plant, and each plant still has 8 to 10 more large green ones. They taste pretty good too. These are the heaviest producers of very large tomatoes that I've ever had in containers and I can only imagine what they'd do if planted in the ground, which they will be next year. I'd say they are comparable in production to the Big Boys I grew in 2002. They are comparable in size this year to Burpee's Porterhouse, Supersonic, Moreton and Brandy Boy (although different in shape from BB). I have had comparable production, in terms of number of fruit per plant, on several varieties in the garden but normally the plants in the ground really outproduce the ones in containers. This year, for the varieties I mentioned, the production has been about the same in containers as in the ground.

Also, two I think I failed to mention before were my early tomatoes, Sophie's Choice and Glacier. Both produced early as expected and have decent flavor. Both have continued to produce well considering they are in 5 gallon containers. They are producing better in the extreme heat than I could have hoped.

Scott, I haven't grown Fantastic, but have grown Super Fantastic (which, in my garden, was not super and not fantastic either!). I wonder if Fantastic and Super Fantastic are related, because just from the names, I'd think that Super Fantastic might be an improved form of Fantastic.

Busy1, I hate it that you've had such a rough year. My hardest years here haven't been the drought ones, even though they often cut short the season when I give up trying to keep the plants watered in horrible drought weather. My hardest/worst years have been the rainy and humid ones in which there are constant problems with foliar diseases and cracking/splitting/watered down flavor. I generally don't spray my plants and could have avoided all the trouble I've had with Septoria Leaf Spot if I had sprayed a fungicide from Day One, which I think I'll do next year.

None of the Green-When-Ripe types have been very heavy producers for me, but the ones that have produced the most fruit per plant have been Aunt Ruby's German Green, Cherokee Green and Green Giant.

I love talking about tomatoes and could do it all day long. I suspect we'll keep this thread 'busy' for months to come.

Dawn

Dawn,
Yes the ones on the Black Cherries on the vine now are as big as any Juane Flammee' I've raised. This year the JF's are running later so no comparison but from previous years I will say this are as big or slightly bigger. They are showing signs maybe of turning soon. Picked my first tw Amazon Chocolates last night. So should have a report and seeds saved of them soon. The garden overall looked better with the rain. Gave a few of the strugglers a little tonic last night to see if it would perk them up a little.
Yes know as the my season progresses I'll be adding more. And anxious to read others impressions. Jay

Dawn I took a ruler out and took a rough measurement of the two biggest supposedly Black Cherries. They are at least 1/34" across and I would say one is 1 7/8" and could get to 2 inches if it grows anymore. The plant foliage looks like the other Black Cherries. If the fruit looks right I will save seeds from the bigger ones. They are nice looking tomatoes now. I had to get out in the rain for a while. Did chores and got caught in the feed house in a little shower. Have received 3 tenths since I've been home. Jay

Dawn,
I see why I should proofread my posts. That should be 1 3/4" in the above post.

Jay,

Do you remember the source of your Black Cherry seed? I've grown BC since the first year it was released at TGSC by Vince Sapp and I've never had any fruit get that large.

Of course, the important thing is the flavor and, if they taste good, that just gives you more of that Black Cherry flavor to love!

And the rain just keeps falling.....and I couldn't be happier for you.

Today we had BLTs for lunch and sliced a Momotaro and a Chocolate Stripes. We've had two Chocolate Stripes (abnormlly large ones) before and the flavor was good but not great. The one today was close to great. It was smaller and had stronger flavor....I think the first two CS tomatoes we had eaten before got a lot of rain as they were coloring up and maybe it diluted the flavor. So, this week I am liking CS more than I liked it before. Momotaro, of course, is always very good.

Today was a tomato day at our house. I roasted tomatoes and then boiled them down to create a tomato puree that I put in plastic freezer boxes to freeze and I dehydrated about 300 cherry, grape and currant size tomatoes for winter. The house smelled like tomatoes all day long. For dinner, we made hamburgers topped with cream cheese and roasted jalapenos and also made grilled jalapeno poppers. I think I could eat jalapeno poppers every day of the week....and the burgers were pretty good too.

Tomorrow is black-eyed pea day. I am behind on pea picking and need to catch up....unless it rains. The peas can wait another day if rain chooses to fall. I have to get out early in the morning to beat the heat.....and it is so humid we're expecting fog overnight and early in the morning. Fog in July.....how odd!

Dawn

Dawn, the green type tomatoes did not produce much but nothing else did either. But i was surprized that it actually had a tomato flavor as did the lemon boys.

I remember growing yellow tomatoes before and they had a bland taste. but i did alot of new to me this year and got some new interest at the market. I just wanted to have something different than the same ole red tomato for folks to try.

But it was a bad year and i had very few tomatos. Lots of green unripe ones when the plants died.I never had so many plants die as i did this year. I did'nt pull them up yet , but the leaves just cured up all over and it died a slow death. I suspect it must of had something to do with the wet spring with them sitting in the wet ground for 3 weeks and no sun.

everything i planted this year was just stunted and got about half as tall as it should of. I just dont know if i want to plant the same ones next year and give them another try.But i do know i am going to plant more tomatos. I just have to build some more cages.

I probably went a little overboard with eggplant. I probably planted 40 or so. But the pretty pictures in the catalogs are irresistable.

Busy1,

I suspect it may have been the overly wet soil as well. We had that problem here...12" in one day on, I think, April 30th, and then 6" or 7" spread out during the month of May. It wasn't until sometime in June that I was sure my plants weren't going to die. A few never completely recovered--they didn't die, and they produced a few ripe ones, but not as well as in previous years.

I haven't grown Lemon Boy in several years, but it always had great disease resistance for me. My favorite yellow is Dr. Wyche's Yellow, which is an heirloom originally from the Hugo, OK, area. It also has great disease resistance and produces well here.

I agree the eggplant photos are irresistable. There are so many pretty ones, and I think the plants are pretty too. They are surprisingly drought-tolerant. In one of the years that I stopped watering the garden because of the drought and the sky-high water bills, the eggplant got no irrigation and precious little rainfall from July on but produced until the first frost. I had no idea it could tolerate drought that well.

Dawn

Dawn,
I started seed from two sources. And marked the cups when i potted them up. Then somehow when I put this one in a container and attached the label to the cage I didn't write down the initials of the source when I did. I will also wait to make sure it is a Black Cherry when it ripens. It is possible during the hassle of spring I got something switched. The foliage does look right. Both sources are individuals. Both respected growers and I don't know if either bags seeds. I don't myself. So a cross is possible with the seed or my labeling. I should know soon. Jay

Jay,

No matter how hard I try, I always end up with something mislabeled when all is said and done.

A crossed seed could give you a fabulous 'new' variety. Look at Craig's 'Little Lucky' and 'Lucky Cross', for example. A lot of people like them, and I like their flavor, but Lucky Cross doesn't produce many fruit for me (although I like the few I get from it). Little Lucky produces more fruit, but not lots of fruit like some folks get.

Keep us posted. I think it will be interesting to see if you get ping pong ball sized fruit, or it they continue to enlarge.

Dawn

Next year will be my biggest veg garden in 10 years or so and have been trying to gather as much info here from everyone as possible. The wife has agreed to allow a space set aside about 15'X17', next year to grow vegetables. I've grown them on and off over the years, growing determinates in containers and indeterminates in the ground, but had several large gardens with my dad. This year really has been bizarre. I had three Cherokee Purple plants purchased from the OSU farmer's market, and they were doing fine at first. I got them in right after the heavy spring rains about May 1. Then a certain two-year-old boy decided to pick about a half dozen marble-sized tomatoes right before the big heat wave and throw them in the compost pile.(I'm sure he was was "hepping", as he likes to so sweetly put it.) After that, no fruit set! I know from the restaurant trade that it is a very valuable tomato, and love the flavor. Make a long story short- I got one tomato from three plants.
What I had first diagnosed as stray-cat pee issues I think turned out to be fusarium or verticillium wilt.(There are about NINE stray cats living around the back yard that have adopted my vegetable beds as litter boxes. Anyone in OKC want a free cat? :)
I had been so excited about seeing the tomatoes setting fruit all at once, I pointed them out to my children and told them all about how cool it was to grow tomatoes that the Cherokee Indians grew.(Whatever, Dad!)
So when my two year-old son, cute as could be threw tiny little tomatoes around the yard (I pointed them out and explained how exciting it all was after all....) I only blame myself.
That one tomato I got was fantastic. I gave some to my dad, who proclaimed it was the best-smelling tomato he'd had and of course tasted great, too. My wife loved it also, who's father gardened quite a bit when she was little. She appreciates a good ripe tomato and I use her judgment, my own, and my dad's to select varieties to grow. I also grew Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes as it has always been reliable for me. Have taken cuttings for fall.
Since the thread is 'Tomato Varieties For 2010' I wanted to ask the tomato pros here about fusarium and verticillium resistance for next year. Now, I share a couple of L-shaped flower beds with hostas, marigolds, peoris, thyme, chives, oregano,basil, sage and lantanas. But, for next year as I mentioned I'll have more room. The new garden sire is about 12 feet away from the nearest bed which I suspect housed the wilt problem. What I first thought was stray cat pee problems turned out to be much worse than I thought. On mainly one part of the plant at a time leaves would turn brown and wilt from the out-in. as this happened more and more the fruit set less and less. That ONE good fruit was picked right when it blushed and taken inside because of my paranoia of it being peed on by a cat or picked by a curious son. Add to that this year I've had bad aphids, spider mites, imported cabbage worms, a few hornworms, GRASHOPPERS, whiteflies(spring), and moles. Tons of moles and the stray cats only got two. Left as a present on the back porch. Nice. Powdery Mildew (cukes), heat, and the wilt rounds it off. I also suspect I have root-knot nematodes. So, my main question is this:

I plan to grow roughly 20 "spring"tomatoes and about the same "fall" tomatoes. Maybe more.
1)If I want great flavor, fusarium(?) resistance, and productivity what is suggested?
2)Most varieties listed as VFN in catalogs I've also seen described by folks as not so great tasting. Of course these are usually hybrids. Why do most open-pollinated tomatoes not have great disease resistance?
3) My soil is very sandy. If I were to narrow it down to maybe 2 or 3 paste, 2 or 3 cherry/grape, and a good handful of slicers, what is suggested? My current list, based on experience and suggestions is Sweet 100(wife insists, very reliable), Black Cherry, Green Grape, Druzba, Cherokee Purple and some good disease-resistant hybrids. I'm intrigued with Ramapo and Moreton, would they fit my situation? Dr Wyche's Yellow is also on the list. Lots of recommendations.
I inherited a bad soil situation here at our house. We've lived here since 2005 and this will be my first big garden here.I've started preparing the new garden site by laying cardboard/compost/grass clippings to kill the bermuda. Oh yeah ha ha :( the stray cats love to poop and pee all over it. Should I till this is and plant? My worst gardening experiences in the past come from bad planning, and I'm trying to correct that before it starts. Any suggestions here for 2010?

Never as ahead of the game as I'd like,
Dale

Dale,
I will give my 2 cents about a few things. It is hard for me to choose what to plant for myself in the garden I know let alone for someone else with different soil and climate. I know a cop out. We've discussed on this forum what works one year and does well maybe for ten will totally flop then. If we knew what the weather would be we could all be close to perfect gardeners. I look at gardening like I have learned to do in other endeavors in my life. Find what works consistently and stick with it pretty much. But always be really to try the new and current popular on a small scale to see if it will work in your management style. This year is a prime example. I've grown Goliath Hybrid for at least ten years. The most consistent tomato in my garden year in and year out. This year had two plants at least 30 foot apart one in the ground the other in a container and both died about a week apart of similar looking cause. Still not sure what it was. If this had been my first year growing it I might never grow it again. I'm trying some of the new Harris hybrids this year. Still too early to say much but know Dawn and others have already had some good results. I've found some op's/heirllooms that have good disease resistance and others that don't. Looking at your list you might consider Sungold for a cherry. Not my favorite but does well most of the time and most everyone likes it. It has cracked very easy for me. On ther thread titled Tomato Guru's especially Dawn you can see the favorites several of us listed. This should give you some idea. Also Dawn and others can give you more specifics on what might grow well for you. Without looking can't say what disease resistance the hybrids I grow have. In that other thread think I mentioned Porterhouse, Old Fashioned Goliath, Brandyboy and Heartland among my favorites along with Goliath. Heartland is a det. and good for a container. And if you have somewhere to set them containers is a good option also to grow more plants. Hope this helps some and you have a bountiful harvest next year.

Interesting. We couldn't make a list of our top 10 favorites on another thread. I have had a "loose" idea of what I would plant next year and have bought seed for some and requested some from Jay in addition to the things I already have. Of the ones I had expected to plant, 10 were on Dawn's list, and 9 were on Jay's list. Maybe that is how we pick top ten. LOL

Next year we could do a spread sheet of what everyone plants and see how they compare.

Of course, if Jay really gets a "Black Cherry on steroids" we will have to add another to our wish list. I love the taste of Black Cherry but it didn't produce nearly as well for me as Sungold does. I would classify Sungold as a small cherry and Black Cherry as a large cherry. If Jay has really grown a bigger Black Cherry, then I am interested. We're rootin' fer ya, Jay.

Carol,
It hasn't started turning yet. But beginning to think I must of messed up. I lost a few plants in the containers. And thinking I may of put a cage on that I took off elsewhere. Although I do show a Black Cherry but I didn't number the containers like I should of. The foliage looks like a cherry type. The one possibility is I did plant a cluster type but it should be red. Should know in a 7-10 days I would think. Jay

Jay, I totally understand. I am the one planting dozens of unmarked things this year because my labels washed off. We took out two windows when we had the safe room built this Spring and I made sure to save the mini blinds to use for plant markers next year. I have had pretty good success with that. I have tall flowers planted in front of short flowers so I will be making some real changes in my flower beds. I DID learn a lesson. LOL

In fact, I didn't have a Black Cherry in the Spring stuff because it lost it's marker and I couldn't identify it. I will do better next year, I promise. Only reason I was lucky enough to have my Sungold is that I had them planted in a different cup plus I sowed them later than all of the rest using the wintersowing method (Spring style).

Dale,

One thing to remember about disease resistance/tolerance in tomatoes is that they are only resistance or tolerance and not total immunity. Also, I have found some heirlooms have just as much or more disease resistance/tolerance as some hybrids. The reason you don't see heirlooms labeled for disease resistance is because no specific seed company owns them (they are just out there in the public domain), so no one is willing to pay for the testing to get the seed labeled. It isn't that they don't have some disease resistance and tolerance (after all, there's a reason people saved seeds of that specific variety and passed it down) because many of them do. It's just that the heirlooms haven't been tested and proven to have those tolerances because no one is willing to pay for testing on a variety unless it is their own patented variety.

Here's some hybrids we like for flavor and disease resistance/tolerance/:

Big Boy
Better Boy VFN
Big Beef VFFNTA
Moreton V (avail. via Harris Seeds or Rutgers/NJAES)
Ramapo VF (avail. via Rutgers/NJAES)
Jet Star VF
Primetime VFNTA
Red Defender VFFA-TSWV
Scarlet Red VFFASt
Celebrity VFFNTA (not as flavorful to me as some of the others, but lots of folks like it more than I do)
Supersonic
Beefmaster VFNASt
Brandy Boy (great flavor but some disease issues)
Momotaro (Japanese great flavor; name means 'Tough Boy', great flavor)
Porterhouse (Burpee)

With the Cherokee Purple, I'd grow it side-by-side with Indian Stripe and compare the performance/flavor of the two. As grown in my garden, the flavor of the two is almost identical and Indian Stripe produces earlier, produces more fruit per plant, and has less cracking.

For cherries, I recommend SunGold (or the almost-identical SunSugar which has the same flavor but less cracking), Black Cherry and Sweet Million, which is very similar to Sweet 100 but larger and more productive plants. If you like Druzba, you'd probably also like Eva Purpla Ball or Cuostralee.'

If you have something the size of a shed that you want to hide, plant Tess's Land Race Currant and you'll have a huge plant that produces hundreds (well, more likely, thousands) of tiny, currant-sized tomatoes with big flavor.

Black Krim and True Black Brandywine are similar to one another and somewhat similar to Cherokee Purple and if I had to choose one of those two, I'd choose True Black Brandywine which produces more heavily and has better disease resistance.

Of all the hybrids listed above, Better Boy is probably the heaviest producer in my garden with Big Boy not far behind. However, Scarlet Red and Red Defender (both new to me this year) might surpass them--I just won't rate them higher based on only 1 year's experience with them

Other than those two, Big Beef and Beefmaster have performed well for us for years, and Ramapo has been great in the 2 or 3 years we've grown it. I've been very impressed with Moreton, which is in its first year here.

The Harris hybrids (Jetstar, Supersonic, Primetime) are impressive too and I have grown them for several years now.

As Jay noted above, different tomatoes taste different to different people because our tastebuds vary, so you and your family will have to try them and see which ones have the flavor you prefer. Because flavor is influenced so much by environmental factors, I try to give a variety 2 or 3 years to prove itself 'worthy' before I give up on it.
With sandy soil, especially if it has root knot nematodes, the more organic matter you add, the better. In sandy soil it is almost impossible to add too much organic matter.

Jay mentioned Whopper and Goliath too, and I meant to add that every time I've grown them they have shown moderately good disease resistance and have been heavy producers. Their flavor is fine, but I just happen to like lots of others too so they don't always make it onto my grow list.

I've linked the order page for Ramapo in case you want to try it.

And, I hope Bill, who posts here as Tomatomanbilly, will see your thread and respond. He grows a lot of varieties in Anadarko, and he has tried some of the newer hybrids like Red Defender and Scarlet Red too.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Ramapo and Moreton Ordering Info

I had decided in the last couple of days to try Indian Stripe next year, possibly in place of Cherokee Purple. Today, however, a friend came up to me and told me the Cherokee Purple I gave her last week was the best tomato she had ever tasted. It was one of the last of the season, and though it weighed just over 1 lb, it was ripened without much water. I told her when I gave it to her that it was my best (and last) one of the year from that plant due to how "fragile" their fruits are (ha!) IMO.

So what does this mean? It means I will have to try Indian Stripe along side CP next year. I see now how this tomato-growing addiction gets going. You want to try new stuff, but can't stop the old stuff. It looks like the Brandywine and CP seedlings sold at our local produce places are the gateway drugs for this addiction.

Scott,

I had to laugh at your use of the term 'gateway drugs for this addiction' because it is so true.

When I first started growing Cherokee Purple maybe 10 or 12 years ago, I was stunned at how odd it looked and how good it tasted. I figured I'd grow it forever because nothing could surpass it in flavor. Of course, time went on and Indian Stripe came along and bumped it off the list. Next year I'm going to grow them both side by side and compare them again.

Every time I try to cut my list down, someone offers me seeds....or points me in the direction of a new variety that they know I'll "have to" try....(Jay is that somebody!) so now I've added Pink Brandymaster to my list for next year (just because Jay pointed out it was a new variety in a catalog we both receive every August and I find the name intriguing), and I am sure I'll add some others thanks to Jay's generous offer to share seeds of his many varieties.

I keep trying to refine the list. I'm trying to grow more red hybrids because I want guaranteed (more or less) heavy production of big, red tomatoes with good flavor that I can preserve either by canning or by freezing for cooking in sauces, soups, etc. all winter long. I have to keep growing the heirlooms, too, that dazzle our tastebuds with their superior flavor for fresh eating. And, of course, I have to grow a lot of bite-sized ones for garden snacking, dehydrating and tossing into salads by the handful. So, it seems no matter how hard I try to cut down the list, it never really gets cut that much--although, I do grow a lot less now than I did in 2003-2006 when I had as many as 100 varieties and 400 plants. Actually the deer cut back on my number of varieties because they 'discovered' the garden so I couldn't grow extra plants outside the fenced garden anymore. It's just as well....I think about 100 plants at one time is all I can keep up with, and beyond that I can't keep them watered, weeded, harvested, etc.

If I had perfect soil that did not require heavy amending and I had limitless water and a fenced acre, I'd probably grow more than I could keep up with....but it sure would be fun trying.

Dawn

Dawn,

I would like to not have to order seeds from more than one source in order to keep costs down, but I think I will end up with multiple orders.

I have 9 beds that are 4' by 16'. That was enough to grow about 1000 lbs of tomatoes in 7 beds and more peppers than I can give away in 2 beds, but almost everything I had were high-producing hybrids and below-average taste-wise. Since I have had so little success with much outside of the beds, I had just about decided to do the other 2/3 of the garden in beds also, but we are getting some nice melons for a change, and we did have some good corn a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure what I will do. The beds take a lot of water, but I can control the soil better and the kids can help a lot more. There were a couple of times the kids and I picked peppers right after the rain stopped. The beds are so easy once completed.

Anyway, I think there are 4 or 5 tomato varieties that I would choose not to do next year, but some others of you really have liked a few of those, so I want to give them another try. Plus I now have about 8 more varieties that I want to grow, not to mention a few that I want to grow more plants of and some more that I want to do really early.

We'll see how much of this enthusiasm lasts until next Feb when it is time to start seeds. usually August is my time for losing interest, but this year I am still as excited as ever.

Scott,

Show us your "Grow List" and I bet Jay and I between us will know which commercial source has the greatest number of varieties you're seeking.

I get a lot of my red hybrids from Harris Seeds and they have a great selection.

I think in my garden this year, I had the following that I grew from Harris Seeds: Moreton, Primetime, Supersonic, Jet Star, Scarlet Red, Red Defender, Mountain Glory and Mountain Fresh Plus. Well, one of those came from Stokes Seed because they had it for less than Harris, but I don't remember which one it was. Harris also has some other varieties you'll recognize, including Amelia, Better Boy, Early Girl, Conestoga, SecuriTY and Crista.

Willhite Seed in Texas also has good and reliable home gardener and market grower types and they ship fast and don't charge an outrageous amount for shipping. I like Totally Tomatoes too, and of course, good ol' Tomato Growers Supply.

I try to keep the number of companies I order from to a minimum to avoid paying multiple S&H fees, but I am not always terribly successful with that.

Dawn

Hey you guys,
Go to watersuntogether.com, they are having a sale of flowers and vegetable seed. They are mostly .99 or 1.09 a packet and if you order 10 or more packs (FREE SHIPPING). not a big selection but might be some there you need or want.
Best to ya,
Bill

oh my gosh, you guys....here I am just trying to deal with all I have from this year and you're tempting me with more! Don't worry...I've savored every single morsel of experience I've read here!

My dilemma....I had some Roma's this year that were beautiful that I bought at one of those "under the sun" stands. There aren't enuf seeds that I can save but I so very much want to grow them again! They are/were big and great producers until that yucky disease hit them. From the tag I can't really tell which branch they're from. Any suggesttions from the super sleuths?

I need some that are resistant to fusarium wilt. Even since I moved to the Hampton, Ga, area, and started a raised vegetable garden in 2008, I have had a problem with fusarium wilt. And it is that: the leaves at the bottom turn bright yellow and move up the plant--then the whole plant wilts.

Four out of the five varieties that I have lost to this disease in the last 3 years have been cherry/grape types--the worst was a yellow grape type, whose name I have forgotten. I have tried Bonnie Grape and Cupid, and they have both died. I also have a Sweet 100, which normally grows like a weed, and it may have the disease, too, though I am not sure. A couple bottom leaves have tiny holes in them, from flea beetles, which may have the leaves turn yellow.

Also, most of my other tomatoes have some sort of leaf spot disease--small brown leaves at the edges of the leaves, surrounded by a small yellow area. This happened AFTER I sprayed them with physan 20, when they were all healthy. But then it rained and these odd spots have appeared. I have sprayed more with physan 20, and it rained again, after a few days, so I sprayed with Chlorothalanil (sp?)I don't know if that will help.

I am growing a Jetstar, Celebrity, Better Boy, Goliath Hybrid, Big Beef, Sweet 100, and Bonnie Grape. They are in a raised 12' by 12' garden. I know that I could put down clear plastic over the entire garden and burn out the fungus, but then, I couldn't grow anything for a year. I wish Vapam was still available. Any advice?