I'm growing it for the first time this year. I have read those who really like it and those who don't. So as with many will try it and see how it does in my garden. JD

Carbon rated #2 in a tomato tasting contest in LA.

I plan to give it a try next year.

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00125.asp

John

When you have all those black tomatoes in a list of 10
there is something to be suspicious about. And seeing
Green Zebra and Goliath in there too makes the cheese more
binding. I happen to like Green Zebra but Goliath is as bland
as can be. In short, I would not trust this list. I'm
growing Carbon this year.

Wanted to compare black tomatoes and grew Carbon, Nyagous & Noire de Crimee and Black Cherry last summer.

Carbon is the one sliced in front:
{{gwi:1338191}}

Carbon is larger than Nyagous but Nyagous puts out more poundage in total. For me, Carbon is somewhat like Brandywine. Nice big fruit but not a lot of it. Nygaous is prolific and the most uniform, blemish free tomato of the 30 cultivars I've tried. It was the best producing of all the blacks I grew last summer. Nyagous:
{{gwi:1338192}}

Now to taste. We had one of the best summers for tomatoes in a long time last year. But, for some reason, all the blacks were the least popular of 30 cultivars I grew. No one could tell the difference between any of them and they all were bland. The problem wasn't color; gave them to foodies who are after taste and they didn't come back for more. Ended up using them for sauce (which was very, very good). I'm convinced this had to be specific to me. Something in the soil, something in the weather (which was excellent) didn't click. I believe the many people who say blacks are very tasty.

I've just discovered Nyagous this year. I must say it knocked me off my feet as the best tasting tomato I've ever put my teeth into. None of my other heirlooms are this rich in taste. I have carbon too. It's good too but not up there w nyagous IMO. They are not big producers in quantity for me, but big beautiful tasty fruit.

Right now my Carbons have 2-3x as many fruits as the other large fruited varieties (25 varieties). They are the same height as the rest of the tall varieties, and with heavier foliage. I have not tasted them yet, but after spending alot of time on these forums, it is rare to see anyone put Carbon low on their list tastewise in comparison to other blacks. That being said, everyones conditions are different.

That's intersting farkee. I've seen the opposite results
with Anna Russian. With little rainfall, AR is wonderfully
rich flavored. Give it too much water and it's a sack of
seeds....

Great to hear Carbon maintains its rich flavor even with
excessive rain fall.

Carbon can't beat a really good Cherokee Purple tastewise, but
I have noticed that Carbon is a much more consistent
producer in terms of fruit size, shape, and flavor.

Lee

I'm growing Carbon for the first time this year. I just tasted my first few and they were quite good! Also my Carbon plant was able to tough it out through some less than ideal weather and still produce, unlike some of the other varieties. I will be inviting Carbon back next year.

Lee, hard to imagine that a tomato could stand up to alot of rain so that may have been just a freaky occurence. It doesn't make alot of sense though--they were all grown at the Rutgers research farm--so all got equally rained on. Varieties that I KNEW were great tasted bland.

Carbon produced pretty well for me last year, but flavour did not live up to other black tomatoes. Cherokee purple was much better, black krim is always a favourite, black from tula mostly rotted on the vine but the one or two that I got tasted better than the carbon, and paul robeson once again tasted weird to me but was better than carbon.

I love Carbon. I grow it every year. It performs well for me in cold rainy summers or hot dry summers. Of course I think it tastes very good too.
Remy

I ended up growing a single Carbon plant this summer, in some of the most weird growing weather I have ever experienced. After a very slow start, the vine is finally very healthy looking and has a few still not ripe tomatoes on it. Looks like I will get to harvest a few after all.....so far so good. Am looking forward with much anticipation.

I raised Cherokee Purple a couple different years awhile back and found it to be delicious, but a low producer the years I raised it. So hoping to get a better yield with Carbon. In retrospect, I wish I had planted a Cherokee for direct comparison this year.

David posted some beautiful pictures of some Carbon tomatoes. They look exactly like what I wanted to grow in 2007 when I bought some seeds from a very reputable tomato growers supply house.

Unfortunately, I only planted a couple of seeds and the one that came up had extremely long, thin cotyledons and an erect, potato leaf growing stem. I went ahead and grew it out and got a nice, medium size, pink, thin skinned, soft fleshed, sweet tomato.

Oh well. I think I still have the original pack. Maybe there's some seed in there that's really Carbon.

Bill

Carbon carbon carbon, it just became one of my favorites. Only one plant survived the elements (and us) and it started vining like crazy. I made it a nice tepee/cage with pecan branches. Weathered well a bad stink bug attack, and has been producing so many tomatoes! I love it that they do not come in all at once. So far, the largest fruit has been 1 lb 3 oz. I took some pictures, have temporary technology problems right now, so will post later, but wow. It is amazing in salads, raw salsas, great cooked sauces, and i just made a pizza where I layered thin slices of it among other garden ingredients. I still have enough to try it in gazpacho and i will. And, there are more ripening on the vine. I did not weight the total (no time) but that is a lot of dishes from one tomato vine. We did a taste comparison with black Krim (that we are also growing this year and we love) and I found Carbon to be even better flavored, and very 'black' in taste. I am saving lots of seed and will grow it again.

i have been growing carbon maters many years i always get a good crop size range 12 oz to 1 1/2 lbs i grow them in 30 gallon cont. with potting soil. compost. rotted barn manure. and 2 gallon bagged sand. mix enough eq. parts in a big wheel borrow to fill cont. set plant deep 2gal water every other day feed with tomato food from grunneys coment.can"t be no better mater.

I am growing a carbon for the first time and the blooms are dying and tomatoes are not setting on. Tons of blooms and 4 tomatoes. What am I doing wrong?

Beverly, It has nothing to do with Carbon itself. The blooms are not being pollinated for one reason or another. If the temps are too high especially at night, tomato blossoms especially beefsteak ones can have trouble. If the air is really still in the morning it can hinder pollination. Going around and shaking the plants a bit helps. I know some plants if stressed too much will not make fruit and that may be true for tomatoes too. So there is a variety of reasons for poor fruit set.

What is the history of carbon tomato ?

Carbon is one of my favorite tomatoes for taste. Extremely sweet; somewhat tart. It tastes the same dehydrated, too. I grew two plants, each from a difference source, one year; they both had the same results.

It's my favorite black tomato for taste; Black Cherry and Paul Robeson come in next as dark tomato favorites, for taste, too (but they didn't taste like Carbon). It's not smoky like Paul Robeson is; it's more like candy (closer to the taste of Sugar Lump).

@Rdb Tuinieren

Carbon was first listed in the 1998 Seed Savers Exchange yearbook, by George Weiss of North Babylon, New York (who didn't mention a source). See http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Carbon