This is my opinion - and my opinion only... :)

I wouldn't say that heirlooms/op's are not productive. I have had some OP's that are VERY productive. You have yellow pear on there - you will have yellow pears coming out your eyeballs.

The difference I've found - again IMHO - the hybrids I've tried have a harder - firmer flesh. May be even tougher skinned. I really haven't explored hybrids that much - I've tried Celebrity, Early Girl, Better Boy, Big Beef, Brandy Boy, the like, etc. My experience is the fruit looks really pretty, but the texture and taste isn't what I like. Then again, I've had some OP's that I thought were lousy too. Again, my experience...

All this being said, I like Sungold - a hybrid - A LOT. It's a great size and has a sweet fruity flavor that rarely makes it into the house (whole family snacks on them coming in and out of the house). It fits us very well.

I LIKE a smooshy, soft, creamy tomato. I don't care if it's cracked, not perfectly round, funky colors, stripes, green shouldered, etc. In fact in some cases it makes it more appealing. ;)

On your list I've tried:

Orange Russian 117 - not very prodcutive, pretty tomato. but not a repeat in my Z5 garden.

Kellogg's Breakfast - trying this AGAIN this year. Never seems to make it (the plant) out of the house or in the garden and gets replaced by another.

Black Prince - a dark round, globe, productive, and good.

Green Grape - not productive in my Z5. Not a repeat.

Yellow Pear - hate to admit I've grown and continue to grow because it's so 'cute'. productive but not all that flavorful.

Hillbilly - not productive, I couldn't tell when it was ripe and it rotted for me. Got may be 3 gigantic tomatoes... but really late... Not good for me.

Good luck, GardenMommy!

I'd pick (or NOT pick)
Orange Strawberry-good flavor and good production
Kellogg's Breakfast-great flavor but low production
Burgandy Traveler-excellent overall
Green Grape-waste of space
Moskvich-excellent
Yellow Pear-another wasted space
Hillbilly-good flavor but minimal production

Dave

I noticed that you are in a zone 9 in CA and sowing seeds now and yes I know that you said a month late. I don't know where you are in CA but all my tomato friends in 8b and 9, including CA, sowed their seeds back in late Dec, early Jan.

And plant sales at many places in CA are ongoing now for those who aren't starting from seed.

Yes, I have comments on some of your varieties but my current concern is related to sowing seeds now in a zone 9 area which IMO aren't going to do very well this summer.

It's really important to get plants out there and have fruit set before thE high heat of the summer shuts down production.

Carolyn

I started my tomato seeds April 1 for planting out May 31 here in Vermont.

If you can find some of these tomatoes at your local garden center, I would definitely go for the Sungold, Black Prince, Kellogg's Breakfast and Aunt Ruby's German Green.

Considering our short season here, I found Kellogg's Breakfast to produce very nicely and it is ever so tasty.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I guess I wasn't clear - I actually started all my seeds a while back & the plants are growing great. Just now that it's getting closer to planting time I'm deciding what actually goes in the ground - my eyes were bigger than my garden! Plus, I wasn't sure what germination rates would be so, now I've got 55 plants & 21 spots - oh what to do! So, I'm deciding what to put in & will give extra plants away to friends/family/neighbors. I figure each plant will get a spot but some I want to plant two of & am deciding which ones get an extra spot - except for Yellow Pear & maybe Hillbilly which aren't getting great reviews and may not get a spot at all!

Thanks for all your suggestions & keep them coming!

One of my biggest questions I didn't ask. In the past I've planted 4-8 tomato plants (Celebrity & Early Girl & Better Boy) and ended up w/ tons of tomatoes. Now I'm looking at planting about 20 plants, 8 hybrids. I'm hoping to get a good amount of tomatoes (to share w/ family & neighbors) but have heard that heirlooms produce a lot less tomatoes than hybrids. How many tomatoes, on average, will heirlooms produce - one per week? Less? I just wonder since most of my tomato space is devoted to heirlooms and don't want to "waste" all this space if I'll get only a couple tomatoes all season. That's why I'm looking for good taste but also good producers. I wish I had the space for 50-100 tomatoes like many of you - I'd have a lot of fun w/ the seed catalog then!

Just now that it's getting closer to planting time I'm deciding what actually goes in the ground -

I think that was Carolyn's point, that you are planting out awfully late. Same thought crossed my mind since now is plant out time for me in my zone. I would have expected your plants to be out in the garden at least a month or 6 weeks ago for best results.

want to plant two

With so many to choose from why not plant one of each. Better yet use some of these to replace a couple of the blah Celebrity or Early Girl or Better Boy are especially notable for quality flavor. Quantity yes, but quality, no. There are better hybrids available.

but have heard that heirlooms produce a lot less tomatoes than hybrids

That isn't quite true. They may have less disease tolerance but heirloom varieties, the correct label is actually "open-pollinated" since many of them are not actual 'heirlooms', are just as capable of producing as are hybrids. It all depends on the growing conditions, care, nutrient levels available, and the weather (and that is where proper planting time plays a big role).

So most any decreased production you may see is more related to the growing conditions rather than the fact that it is an open-pollinated variety. But if you have a good year with them I can almost guarantee you will never grow another store tomato like Celebrity or Early Girl again. :)

Dave

Dave,

It's amazing the thoughts I read about Celebrity! Everthing from the best thing since sliced bread to not even worthy of my compost pile! I'm trying some this year (actually, about 500!) to see how they produce and sell. It was an All-American Selection award winner, so it does have a panel of backers who evaluated it against industry standards.

They must be like Red Zebra, an OP I have raised for several years. One neighbor eats them by the bowlful, and neighbor uses them to throw at cats! Yes, they are very productive. Two and three years ago - last year nothing grew - I was picking 15-18 3-ounce tomatoes per plant twice a week for about three weeks. They have above average number of seeds but the juice is also thicker than normal. Also, a bit on the sweet side. I use them for juice, not whole tomatoes and never as a slicer.

Mike

Yea, I've been confused on when I should plant out. I'm fairly new to gardening - couple little gardens in the past but never starting from seed. My last frost date is mid March but I'm following the advice of some seasoned gardeners here who say not to plant warm weather crops until late April or early May. Also, March was pretty stormy & cold. We just started seeing the sun again last week!

Well, call me a newbie! I hadn't researched anything since last summer so I double checked & I'm zone 8A. Thus, the confusion on planting times. Thanks for the questioning or I wouldn't have checked!

Plant early, plants sit there and are cold but plant too late and you cant get fruit set in time before temps soar! I live in a very hot inland valley. This year, I started planting at my frost date 3/15 and will keep planting until mid April. And praying. LInda

Where I live by the San Francisco Bay area this is the beginning of the perfect time to set plants out. It's definitely not too late. It's a good idea to wait until nighttime low temps are around 50, which it just hit last week where I live. Starting from seed now probably isn't a good idea, but it sounds like you're in good shape with your plants.

For me, Hillbilly was a terrible producer last year. Maybe two or three fruits for the whole season, all my other plants did great. Orange Strawberry gave me tons of fruits even though it was a cool summer last year. Green grape had a decent amount of fruit, but nothing spectacular.

Just my understanding and experience abou ZONE and planting time:Is it late?
The number in ZONE is approximately is the number of months from LFD to FFD. For example, zone 8 means roughly 8 months of growing season. But then not all zone 8s are the same. Here in mid north GA, we have a short spring and a long hot summer, with lots of sun and humidity. I think our LFD is around April 10th. I can direct sow tomato seeds right now and have plenty of harvest by late JUNe, all the way to November. The reason I start some seeds early or buy established plants is that I just cannot wait to have that first bite of fresh tomato.

The wisdom that I've always followed and been guided to is that tomatoes are best planted out when night time temps are consistently above 50 degrees. You can certainly plant earlier, and with success, but plants tend to be a little bit leggier. Tomatoes like warm soil and I've found that they just do better through the season when I've waited those couple of extra weeks. Last summer was so darn chilly and gloomy in southern California that plants did really poorly overall. But IMHO I don't think you are planting late at all. I am going to be putting my plants in the ground sometime in the next couple of weeks and I'm in LA.
Happy planting....Don

In California you would be waiting a long time for night time temperatures to be consistently above 50. Even though its 80 degrees today here in Orange County they are predicting 40 degree lows Thursday and Friday night, April 7 and 8. Even though its rare to get a frost here, we also don't have warm nights, even in the summer. That's why big beefsteak type tomatoes usually rot before they ripen unless you cage them.

I grow both Heirloom and hybrid varieties. My seed was started in late Dec, seedlings were potted up 3rd week of Jan and into the beds (and EB's) the first week in March.

I started hardening them off just as they got their second set of true leaves.

I try to get a jump on the toms and sweet peppers as our spring can be quite hot. Last week it was 94 and we've gotten over 4" of rain in the past 6 days.

Since I grow so many different varieties, I try to make sure I get as much production time as possible out of them.

The only toms that will survive somewhat into our summer are cherries, which I love, but one can only eat so many cherry toms. I can the other ones, lol!

gardenmommy - in CA many find that the Sunset planting zones are much more helpful when it comes to specifics. They have much more detailed zonal info than does the USDA zone guidelines. Check out the link below, click on the zoom in may to locate your specific area and note its zone number. Then they will give you info specific to that zone.

And if you haven't already you might also want to check out the California Gardening forum here at GW.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunset gardening zones

According to UC Master Gardeners and Sunset, you are very likely not late at all at planting tomatoes, depending on where you are in California. Here in Sacramento, I really like a planting-out date of somewhere around April 20. Nights are consistently over 50 after the beginning of May. You can certainly plant earlier, but I don't see the point (you run risks of unhealthy plants struggling with rain, cold nights, pests, etc.) I DO get beefsteaks ripening all the way through the summer, no problems. We certainly run into heat spells where there is blossom-drop, but they are interspersed with cooler periods and cool nights and it all evens out to great tomato production (even with heirlooms... honestly, you couldn't look at my garden in August and pick out which ones were heirlooms by fruit set alone. It just depends.) Just keep the plants healthy, growing, and pumping out new blossoms and plenty will form fruits.

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog (gardening in N. California)

Deannac - Dec - I'm jealous! I'd originally planned on planting in Jan but w/ newborn & 3 yr old needing hip surgery in Feb - life clobbered me. Next year for sure!

Digdirt - Thanks for the Sunset info! I'll be looking at it more specific planting times.

Lunita - Love, love, love your blog! I'm planning on planting the week of the 20th as well - after a trip. After looking at your blog we have several of the same plants started. What's your experience w/ them? (Hillbilly, Black Prince, Red (Orange) Strawberry (?), Sungold & German Green). Have you tried any of the others I have listed at the top? Thanks!

I'm so glad you like the blog. It's fun to write.

Aunt Ruby's is one of my favorites. It's productive and very tasty. Sungold is just awesome. Always. It's a hybrid I'll always keep in my garden. Hillbilly is never particularly productive, but it is pretty and tasty (for bicolors, I prefer Lucky Cross. I was just out of seed and didn't order more). I have grown Black Prince before, but I'm afraid it wasn't memorable one way or the other. Orange strawberry isn't the same as German Red Strawberry, so I can't weigh in on that one. Kellogg's breakfast is tasty and another absolutely gorgeous tomato with average or above average production in a good year. Unfortunately it seemed kind of touchy/hard to grow in years that aren't as good (like it would look sickly when everything else was fine?) It was actually one of the varieties that I tried to start this year that didn't germinate.

Lunita,

Thanks for the update. I'd commented on one of your tomato posts as well - don't have to respond. Forgot to mention I'm in Roseville - fun meeting someone in the area! Keep writing your blog - we're enjoying reading it!