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lionheart_gw

Tomatoes You Would Grow Again

Despite being the Worst Summer Ever for Growing Tomatoes(tm), there were some successes.

This was my first summer for growing "heirlooms", mostly started from seed, but some purchased locally as started plants.

Rain, cool temps, and beginner's ignorance (like not using a fungicide) took a lot of the fruits, but there were still some tasty successes. :-)

Tomatoes I would grow again based on performance AND taste:

Nebraska Wedding. What a yummy and vigorous tomato! Good size, too. Love the color; a bright, attention-getting orange. Wonderful tomato flavor, juicy eating tomato. One of the best performers in terrible circumstances. Also a hit with the neighbors. Still had blight and fungal problems, but not as much as the others. And, to think that NW was planted as an afterthought. I came *this close* to not growing it.

Yellow Brandywine. Ding, ding, ding...we have a winner. Big fruits. Another bright, sunny color with a bright, sunny flavor to match. Juicy, flavorful tomato with the slightest bit of a citrusy zing that livens the flavor as it floats across the palate.

Great for salads and on sandwiches. Lost a lot to weather and ignorance, but the ones that survived were really "wow". Big hit at the office. Another one that had a lot of blight but managed to throw out some clean fruits.

Black from Tula. It really, really hated this summer and did a lot of sulking, but we still got a few fruits. A very unique taste. Also a hit with the office crowd. I wish there were more fruits that survived, but we got just enough to discover its flavor. It will be grown again next year. Even DH, who doesn't like tomatoes much, thought this was delicious.

Black Krim. Ignore the cat facing and you have another tasty tomato. Earthy, slightly salty, and complex -- just like they say. Yeah, we'll get one or two of these plants again.

Green Zebra. I really thought these would be hideous but, when one finally ripened and was tasted, it had a nice zingy tomato flavor. I expected it to have an astringent taste like unripe tomatoes. Not so. A nice surprise!

Unfortunately, other varieties failed to thrive. Red Brandywine, purchased as started plants locally, suffered from various fungus diseases and borers. Fruits were huge and great looking, but there were only a few fruits that were partially edible. The edible pieces were great, but it would have been nice to have at least a few intact fruits. Bummer!

I have a few Anna Russians and Wolford's Wonders that are just starting to turn red, but they also had issues. At least we'll be able to sample them in the next few days.

Marianna's peace just gave up, as did Striped German, and we didn't get any usable fruits. Too bad, I was anxious to try these.

I would try all of these again, as their failure to thrive was more a result of an atypical summer and "user malfunction". But most of them showed promise.

I don't dry tomatoes (although I plan to try it next year) and I don't make sauce, so I tend to prefer the juicy, flavorful, eating tomatoes.

What were your favorites and successes? Enable me for next year! :-)

Comments (49)

  • br33
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    KBX and KB-Healthy-Productive-Long season-Outstanding flavor
    Cherokee purple-chocolate Both same as above----- These were Good enough to grow next year,-Ponderosa-Big zac- Aker`s west va. Aunt Ginnys purple-aunt gertys gold
    Not the best growing conditions could have had something to do with the GROWER? Bill

  • camochef
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Starting with cherry tomato-Sungold
    first slicer to ripen- Large Pink Bulgarian
    best tasting -Cherokee Purple (tasted better than Cherokee Chocolate even if they are supposed to be the same
    Best tasting new variety- Sandul Moldovan & Gigantesque
    Best tasting yellow- Kellogg's Breakfast & Dr Wyche's yellow
    Best producing tasty tomato- "Cowlick's" Brandywine
    Best surprise- Russian Rose
    Best Black- Black Brandywine & Amazon Chocolate
    Best Red- Red Brandywine and Boxcar Willie
    Best paste- Opalka
    others I couldn't do without- Glicks Brandywine; Pink Brandywine-Sudduth's strain; Olena Ukrainian; Tiffen Mennonite; Lancaster County Pink; Caspian Pink; Paul Robeson; Black Star; Marizol Bratka; Lillian's Yellow Heirloom; Royal Hillbilly; Marizol Purple; and Marizol Pink.

  • jel7
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    BRANDYWINE Sudduth

    Was the best of seven varieties and the only one I will repeat.

    John

  • barkeater
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    These are always back and were exceptional again this year:

    Bloody Butcher - only 52 days this year DTM!
    Moskvich - earliest large reds by far and taste great
    Ramapo - always good
    Momotaro - Not a lot of tomatoes, but the best flavor of all so far.
    Black Cherry - Just wish it was earlier.

    My favorites that will be back but had a few issues:

    Brandywine - monsoon rains ruined fruit set, but the 8-9 were huge; 2 were 1 3/4#.

    Black Giant - more catfaces from weather, but still less than others.

    The jury is still out on many of the new ones, but Original Goliath, Sweetie (Pink), and Early Wonder (Pink, may come back again.

  • containerted
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Good year here for Cherokee Purple, Supersteak, Giant Tree, Celebrity, Golden Jubilee, Subarctic Plenty, Siberian, Big Rainbow, Tumbling Tom Red, SS-100, Sungold, Roma VF, and Jelly Bean Red.

    Biggest Pleasant surprise went to Talladega. Great Flavor.

    Not for next year - Sunmaster - a real spitter, Heatwave - may be what Walmart sells, Better Boy - too small, Super Tasty - Mush, and Sun Baby - Sun Gold was better.

  • brokenbar
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I only grow varieties for drying but these have been in my line up for at least 5 years...

    Carol Chyko
    Russo Sicilian Togeta
    Zapotec
    Cuoro De Toro
    Long Tom
    1 X 6
    Amish Paste
    Mexico
    Baylor Paste
    Beach Boy
    Enormous Plum

  • plant-one-on-me
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    New Yorker had a great "tomato" flavor
    Brad's Black Heart, great taste and productivity
    Garten perle, great taste and yield for a cherry

    ??Yellow pear, not sure yet but it did have a great yield and was very reliable, ok flavor but people loved the color in salads

    ??Cherokee purple, I love the flavor but found it split often and it was the only variety with BER, good in spring but did not do well once heat set in

    San Marzano--good yield but no flavor, I am looking for a different paste

    The rest must not be too memorable since I cannot remember their names.

  • llaz
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Neve's Azorean Red
    Paul Robeson
    Rose de Berne
    Woodle Orange
    Green Zebra
    Jaune Flamme
    Dr. Carolyn Pink
    Black Cherry
    Chadwick Cherry
    Earl of Edgecomb

  • lionheart_gw (USDA Zone 5A, Eastern NY)
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, great replies. I'm taking notes. Thank you.

    I've ordered at least one from everyone's list for next year. Your suggestions are very helpful.

    Plant-one-on-me, I'm with you on the yellow pear. I know that some people reported that the fruits were tasty, but I found them bland. It just might be a difference in local growing conditions. It sure is a vigorous plant, though. Actually, it's a bully because it will invade the neighboring plants' space and climb on the other plants. That's how strong it is!

    I forgot to mention that CP hated this year too. BER, cracks, borers.

    In a way, it's good to get hit with almost every tomato problem at once; it makes you smarter next time and things can only improve. :-)

  • jbann23
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Neve's Azorean Red and Black Cherry, both from seed. Flavor and production excellent on both.

  • garyjoe
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Top Gun, Mountain Glory, and BHN 444, these are all great and almost bullet proof. They all thrived here in the middle of TSWV territory and they do not turn to mush in a day or two!

    Garyjoe

  • dancinglemons
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Green Zebra The flavor was fantastic. Very productive. They had severe BER until first week August - unknown reason.
    Dr. Wyche Yellow Big yellow/orange tomato with only moderate amount of seeds and very meaty - sweet flavor
    San Marzano Redorta F1 [from Seeds of Italy] Huge fruit only fair production but almost no seeds. ( I hate tomato seeds) Very, very meaty. I will never grow Roma again. This San Marzano is not the same as the one sold by most US seed purveyors.

    DL

  • tomatogreenthumb
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Early Girl
    Tidwell German
    Omar's Lebanese
    Bull's Heart
    Rostova
    Neves Azorean Red
    Red Mortgage Lifter
    Pineapple
    Ultimate Giant
    Big Beef
    Carbon
    Supersteak
    Early Goliath
    Pink Big Zac
    Amana Orange
    Red Oxheart

  • lemonwater
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Black Cherry
    Cherokee Purple
    Coyote
    Lemon Boy
    Marianna's Peace
    Sun Cherry
    Sun Gold
    Sun Sugar

    In my garden Marianna's Peace was much easier to grow than Cherokee Purple (and every other tomato) and the taste was fantastic! It was also very very productive and vigorous with each plant bearing at least 22 tomatoes at one time. It's too bad it didn't do nearly as well for you because I've already become quite fond of it and it's only my first year growing it! If you come visit I'll give you more than you could possibly eat! :D

    I have tons of Coyote seeds and some Black Cherry too if you're interested in trying these two. Just e-mail me!

  • tomatogreenthumb
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just picked these 3 from same cluster awhile ago. Picked another of same size two days ago that ripened first in the same cluster. This is probably the best vine of tomatoes I have ever grown.......it has produced approx. 20 of this size tomatoes so far. Guess what variety it is.

    The vine is vigorous and disease resistant too! If I could only plant one vine, this is the variety I would plant. It seems to have EVERYTHING going for it! Delicious flavor too.

    Owen

  • jbann23
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm guessing Neve's Azorean Red. That's exactly how mine came out. Close?

  • tomatogreenthumb
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Intimately close. they are NAR's.

  • marykh
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Everything here was late, late, late! The blessing in that is that everything's ripening at once and I have lots for drying and sauce.

    Cherokee Purple: Productive and vigorous - great flavor! A keeper.
    Paul Robeson: I may try this one more year - haven't decided yet. Flavor wasn't anything special - but that may be this year's odd weather.
    Green Zebra: Nope. Love the color, flavor was ok, but bad BER till just recently
    Costoluto Genovese: Yep, yep, yep. Took the heat, produced well and tasted great dried.
    Tigrella: nope. Nice flavor, but sparse production.
    Yellow Pear - I throw it in the worst possible spot where nothing else would grow and it still grows and produces tons. Not the most flavorful, but I find myself picking it first to snack on in the garden - they're best sun-warmed.
    Sungold - my husband would scalp me if this didn't show up each year.
    Mary

  • sprtsguy76
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I tried several different varieties this year, about 25.
    The varieties that knocked my socks off this year are Hungarian Oval, Crinkovic Yugoslavian, Anna Russian, Ukrainian Heart (some problems with BER though), and Aunt Ginny's Purple. All of these varieties will be back next year. Allthough things started slow, it was a great year for tomatoes here, no rain at all and weather stayed ideal just about all season. Looking forward to trying some new hearts next year and a couple others.

  • kckmartin
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It has been a good summer here in Idaho, although everything ripened late and all at once as for marykh from WA.

    Sungold: first to ripen of course, always a standard in our garden
    Black Cherry: extermely prolific, early to ripen
    Cherokee Purple: first beefsteak variety to ripen, favorite tomato but does split
    Aunt Ruby's German Green: loved the flavor but only got a few larger size tomatoes. Succumbed to some disease and the remaining tomatoes were really small.
    Opalka: three plants, favorite paste tomato
    Kellogg's and Dr. Wyche's: love, love, love these.

    And this year's winner for me was: Mortgage Lifter!

    This is a new favorite, great flavor, beautiful fruits (some over 1 lb), resistant to cracking, heavy yields.

  • daylilydude
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have 2 that are going to be mainstays in my garden from now on!

    Summer Cider (thanks spud)
    {{gwi:1384399}}

    and Spears Tennessee Green (thanks jalirancher)
    {{gwi:1390439}}

    {{gwi:1390440}}

  • patgeorge
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When I lived in south of England - Shirley, Sungold, Green Zebra,Yellow Perfection, Auntie Madge's.

    Now I live in central Finland I'm having to experiment. Best for me this year was Subice. Tamina was also good; but a little bland. Potato leaved varieties seem best. I'll give Yellow Perfection a go next year. I mourn for Auntie Madge; but she's just too darned slow.

    I'd like to start a fund to erect a statue of the man who bred Moneymaker. People can come from all over the world to pelt it with balls of wet cottonwool, which his creation so closely resembles!

  • cyumickey
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Next year:

    cherokee purple (will attempt again)
    snow white cherry
    some other sweet cherry
    will attempt white zebra again...

  • plant-one-on-me
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    How could I forget about New Yorker. I will definetly grow this one again next year. It had the classic "tomato" flavor according to my family. Had no disease whatsoever, no splitting, ripens well on the vine and was a prolific producer.

  • jtmacc99
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey lionheart, since I'm somewhere in your general area of the country, I'll throw out a couple for you.

    First, I hope you eventually got a few tomatoes from Anna Russian. I think it's a fantastic tomato, both in terms of taste and production and is one of the very few I grow every year. The plants always look half dead, but they keep cranking out tomatoes somehow.

    Second, I also really like the yellow brandywine, but gave it a rest this year to try Aunt Gertie's Gold. I will probably never grow Brandywine Yellow again. I am that impressed with AGG. Imagine the same large, great-tasting yellow tomato, only lots more of them with far fewer blemishes.

    Third, try Little Lucky next year. It's another one that cranks out tons of absolutely beautiful and delicious tomatoes.

  • douglas14
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    New Yorker, Cambell's 1327, and Heinz 1429 are three determinates that I am well pleased with this year. I plan on growing them all again next year.
    Sioux has very nice flavor and great production of, medium-sized red fruit. I am quite impressed with it. Some later fruits had some minor concentric cracking.
    I tasted a Wisconsin 55 fruit a few days ago....very good!
    Marianna's Peace is still my all around favorite beefsteak.
    I plan on growing all of the above next year(a lot of time to change my mind though LOL)
    Another I may consider is Hartford. This produced large heart or bomb shaped fruit, with a very nice tangy flavor.
    The plants were smallish, and the fruits started setting low on the plant, with good production.

  • sunnyk
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This years favorites across the board with my family were:

    Campari F2 -Golf ball sized perfect red and round.Kids loved them(skin was l tad thick for me) , they are still covered with ripening tomatoes , I cannot believe how prolific they are , I grew one in a 5 gallon pot and it is covered in as many tomatoes as my overwhelming cherry tomatoes are.

    which leads to

    Sun Sugar- Wow...what a huge plant, and how many cherry tomatoes can one family eat?? That one plant is still producing quarts of fruit, and it is sweter than some candy, yum

    But my absolute favorite this season-

    Aunt Ruby's German Green- Most of the fruit of this variety was in the 1 pound and up range, and the flavor was out of this world. This is what I will be fantasizing about in January. Sweet, tangy, juicy, Dense and luscious.They ripen a little slow and late, but so worth it.

  • irish_rose_grower
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What a great thread.

    My 3 faves this year were:

    Sungold (Yummmmmm)(the only tomato I'll eat right off the vine)

    Aunt Gerties gold -- not only delicious - but perfect looking!! No a single blemish on any of fruit. The plant cranked out huge tomatoes for a month.

    Bloody butcher - 1 plant gave me about 50 tomatoes -- not suberb taste, but very good, juicy and early.

    daylilydude - do you know where I can get seeds for summer cider? i've never heard of it but I love the look. Does anyone know where I can get these seeds?

    Dancinglemons - do you know where I can get some of the San Marzaono Redoute F1 seeds that are from Italy. Or does anyone know?

  • daylilydude
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sure irish_rose_grower email me your address and i'll get some Summer Cider seeds in the mail to you.

  • irish_rose_grower
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    daylilydue, I emailed you. Thank you very much for this offer:)

  • rnbwgrl
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Giant Tree Tomato - not the best raw flavor, but it does great for Oven Roasting for all the cooking that I do, and had very high yeilds of very large (2#) fruits, will plant again.

    Brandywine - Red or Pink, wasnt labeled when I got it... moderate producer, but the size and taste of these mean I will absolutely be planting it next year.

    Sweet million - maybe not a million, but very productive and sweet cherrys, they will be coming back next year.

    Now for the losers:
    Sugary - thick skinned, poor production, not coming back next year.

    Juliet - I had great luck with this two years ago, this year they were all mealy and tasteless.

    Sweet baby girl - still on the fence about this one, it was good last year, but just ok this year, the flavor this year was watery as well.

    Pineapple - the taste is fine, but the plant is a thug for such small production numbers. I have had maybe 3 full size toms the rest are all VERY small when they ripen. Will try a different yellow next year.

    Sunmaster - no no no, small plant, small yeild, small flavor

    2 other hybrids so unremarkable that i can't even remember their names, they are out too.

    My list of new ones to try for next year? so far:
    Amana Orange (Iowa!)
    Mortgage Lifter
    Kellog's Breakfast
    Nebraska Wedding
    Bloody Butcher
    Gardener's Delight aka sugar lump
    yellow pear
    Sun gold
    Ultimate opener

  • Iris ( ranegrow ) z7 Maryland
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi everyone , I've been meaning to post to this thread , finally getting a chance to ... this year was my first " real " garden and I enjoyed it thoroughly ... I grew a variety of toms, my favorite being the Cherokee Purple ... we loved the coloring and the taste was so delicious ! Sweet 100 was our favorite cherry, so sweet, going to plant more next year ! One thing I noticed this year , the healthiest and most prolific of my toms was the Better Boy, Big Boy and Beefsteak that I started from seed ... they may be " old standards " but theres a reason why my dad and granddad grew them and now I know why !

  • bonechickchris
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This year, some new ones I grew and would try again....
    Black Zebra (really great looking tomato)

    After growing San Marzanos and being disspointed from year to year, I grew Opalkas and was really happy with the flavor and size, so I will be growing Opalkas again

    Black Cherry grows so prolific for me, and has really become my staple cherry tomato

    I have so many varieties to try this year coming, I can't wait!

    To CYUMICKY I have never seen White Zebra before, can you tell em where I can find some seed?
    Thanks! Christy

  • carolyn137
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    To CYUMICKY I have never seen White Zebra before, can you tell em where I can find some seed?
    Thanks! Christy

    ****

    As I recall seeds are or were available at Tradewinds/

    At another place where I post there was a very long thread about White Zebra this past Spring and I'll summarize.

    The original variety was one of Brad Gate's that he named Blonde Boar. Someone changed the name from Blonde Boar to White Zebra.

    Comments vary widely on Blonde Boar/White Zebra.

    It's been listed in the SSE Yearbook in both 2007 and 2008 and the folks who participated in figuring out all of this, and there was a lot more investigating and phone calling that went on, were Tom Wagner ( breeder of Green Zebra), Brad Gates and Bill Minkey who was the first to list it, naming a man in Lousiana as his source.

    Carolyn

  • nutmeghill
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I will definitely grow the following tomatoes next year:

    SunSugar- the absolute BEST non-cracking cherry tomato I have ever grown!!!!
    Cherokee Purple - great production and great taste
    Cherokee Green - good production and great taste
    Legend- comparing only to early tomatoes, good taste and production

    PJ

  • slo_garden
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This year the winners were:

    Black Brandywine: nice black flavor and very productive.
    Big Rainbow: beautiful bi-color with great flavor. Very late to get going, but is still producing.
    Murray Smith: large red that was a good producer.

    May try again:

    Rose: fabulous flavor but very low production. Seems to be very sensitive to less than perfect weather and drops blossoms.
    Carbon: Good black flavor but had some problems with disease.

  • bonechickchris
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you Carolyn for the info on White Zebra. I have grown all the other Zebras, so would like to try this one too! Christy

  • gponder
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Black Cherry
    Sunsugar
    Mortgage Lifter (Estler)
    Hawaiian Pineapple
    Earl's Faux
    Brandy Boy
    Earl of Edgecomb
    Odoriko
    Momotato
    Chadwick Cherry (Camp Joy)
    Cherokee Green
    Eva Purple Ball
    Brandywine (Landis)
    Nepal
    Druzba
    Tangella
    Juanne Flamme

  • hmacdona1
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A couple not mentioned s far....black plum and yellow perfection. Love them.

  • mendocino
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Because of a thousand lightning-strike fires in June, our tomatoes didn't ripen until mid-August except one: Rouge d'Irak. It wasn't my favorite, but I'd grow it again for that reason alone. Others I could not do without:
    Black Krim
    Kellogg's Breakfast
    Black Cherry
    Tennessee Heirloom
    Omar's Lebanese
    Principe Borghese (perfect drying tomato)
    Roman Candle (though I'd like suggestions for a really terrific paste tomato. Roman Candle is late for us. We can get frost in late May and early September, so it's a fairly short season.
    If I could only grow one tomato, it'd be a toss-up between Black Krim and Kellogg's Breakfast.

  • pitbulllawyer
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    From my "tomato nerd" notes to self on what I will grow again this year:

    Hawaiian Pineapple (big, beautiful, tasty bi-color)
    Paul Robeson (earliest to ripen, great taste)
    Purple Dog Creek (vigorous plant, good taste)
    Amazon Chocolate (good taste, unusual flavor)
    Brown's Yellow Giant (big, school-bus yellow fruit, tasted great)
    Virginia Sweets (big bi-color, worth the 100 day wait)
    Earl's Faux (huge potato-leaf plant, high yield of giant pink fruit)
    White Tomesol (cute little white oblate fruit with good taste)
    Black Bear (tastes like bacon! Will not win any beauty contests, though)
    Oaxacan Jewel

    What failed miserably for me:
    Mr. Brown (pretty to look at, pretty awful taste)
    German Red Strawberry (I have had no success with oxhearts, this was no exception)
    Cherokee Purple (tried for three years, I quit)
    Super Marzano (had terrible BER problems, did not experience this with any others in my garden)

    If anyone has insight on what makes the Cherokee Purple happy, I would love to hear it!

  • trudi_d
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've grown a lot of 'winners' over the years but this morning, the first that comes to mind is Redfield Beauty.

  • atascosa_tx
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One's that I'm growing again..

    * BHN 444, 589, 640 (S.TX Summers are brutal and these never fail me. Always prolific and taste great)
    * Black Krim (Sets fruit even in the heat, awesome flavor)
    * Husky Red Cherry (Wife won't leave this out of the garden..
    makes for a good snack while I'm tending the plants)
    * Rutger (Personal favorite)

    New varieties I'm going to try
    Carbon (replacing the CP that I used to grow)
    Costoluto Genovese
    German Red Strawberry
    Kellogg's Breakfast ( Seems to be well liked among most)
    Neves Azorean Red
    Olena Ukrainian (another well regarded mater)
    Opalka (replacing the Roma that I usually grow)
    Ones I'm not growing again
    Aunt Ruby's German Green (too much effort for only 4 fruits
    Caspian Pink (another low producer, though I did like the
    flavor)
    Whopper (biggest disappointment, golf ball sized fruit, not the 2lb+)
    Cherokee Purple (all 3 plants in 2 different gardens died due to some infection)
    Florida 91 (would have been better off eating the leaves, maybe would have better flavor)
    Box car Willie (small fruit, and flavorless)
    Solar fire (though did produce well in the heat, not enough foliage to protect against sunscald.)

  • tania_in_vancouver
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    SunSugar F1
    Anna Russian
    Cherokee Purple (or Chocolate)
    Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (green-when-ripe)
    Aunt Gertie's Gold
    Yellow Brandywine, Platfoot strain
    Lyana (for an early)
    1884 Purple
    Germaid Red (for some reason this tomato is becoming less popular, but it is absolutely wonderful!)
    Serenity
    Heatherington Pink
    KBX
    Kellogg's Breakfast
    Wes

    ...just to name a few :)

    Tania

  • autumngal
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Favorites:

    Cherokee Purple- in my garden, it's very prolific, even through bad seasons, and I love the flavor.

    Mortgage lifter- it's delicious, large, and prolific, clustering 1 lb. + fruits the way a cherry tomato is clusters.

    Bloody Butcher: Because it's so early, before sungold, and when I am stalking my plants salivating, it tastes fantastic.

    Eva Purple Ball- just an amazing tomato, really beautiful, not super prolific, but does produce a good amount. She's just a pleasure.

    My favorite cherry is sungold. I've been trying for years to grow it out (as I'm sure has everyone else), last year all of my H4's were terrible. Think I'll just accept this as my guilty hybrid pleasure and throw in the towel.

    Other notables:

    Green Zebra: it takes forever to ripen for such a small green fruit, but it's my favorite green.

    Japanese Black Trifele: delicious and very prolific in my garden.

    Black from Tula: can say the same as above for this tomato

    Rose de Byrne: Given the worst growing conditions (late start, by the time put in the season went from perfect for a tomato to not so hot) and still produced decently with pretty good flavor. I'll give it a shot under better conditions

    Kellogg's Breakfast: For me, a late tomato that is huge and delicious. It saves the day for me because just as I am going into mourning for the garden, KB gives me a little sunshine.

    I've found the same things with Yellow Pear- super prolific, (measured a limb that snuck through the garden and was 15' long!) but not great flavor and I found the flesh mushy. Makes good salsa though and okay in salads. Didn't make it in my smaller garden, but now we've moved it might make it.

    I know it's tomato heresy but I don't like Brandywine. It has a nice flavor, but just doesn't produce enough for my tastes. I think you can get better flavor and production from other tomatoes.

    I also won't be growing again: Opalka: fun tomato, but I've never seen such awful blossom end rot, Black Krim: was small and had so much catfacing, you barely got a tomato, Aunt Ruby's German Green: didn't like the flavor

    Ginnie

  • sorellina
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Pastes

    Uncle Charlie's Giant Italian Pear
    Opalka
    Romeo
    Uncle Steve's Italian Plum
    Franchi Pear

    Elongated

    Powers Heirloom
    Old Ivory Egg
    Roughwood Golden Plum
    Orange Banana
    Kalman's Hungarian Pink
    Cypriot
    NZ Pink Pear
    Purple Russian
    Peace Yellow Paste
    Speckled Roman
    Plum Tigris
    Roughwood Golden Tiger
    Polish Pastel
    B2PL2-3-4 F7

    Drying

    Black Plum
    King Humbert
    Borgo Cellano

    Beefsteaks

    Aunt Ruby's German Green
    Sandul Moldovan
    Crnkovic Yugoslavian
    Stump of the World
    Brandywine Sudduth
    Marianna's Peace
    Berkeley Tie Dye
    Black From Tula
    Carbon
    Cherokee Purple
    Large Barred Boar
    White Queen
    Lucky Cross
    Pork Chop
    Beauty King
    Kellogg's Breakfast

    Hearts

    German Red Strawberry
    Kosovo
    Orange Strawberry
    Anna Russian
    Herman's Yellow
    Ernesto
    Yasha Yugoslavian
    Wes

    Saladette/Slicers

    Green Zebra
    Purple Prince
    Little Lucky
    Shah Mikado
    Red Zebra
    Pink Grapefruit
    Pink Boar
    Nyagous
    Manyel
    Tiger Paw

    Cherries

    Haley's Purple Comet
    Aunt Ruby's German Cherry
    Snow White
    Sweet Quartz x Black Cherry F1
    Yellow Submarine
    Sungold F1
    Isis Candy
    Gajo de Melon

    Weird Shapes

    Zapotec Pleated
    Aladdin's Lamp
    Japanese Black Trifele
    Novogogoshary
    Striped Cavern

    Earlies

    Early Annie
    Canadian Dwarf
    Kotlas

  • urbansyl
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Rose

    I have grown these for ~10 years. Excellent flavor, good production of consistently large fruit. Initially sensitive to BER, I have mostly selected that out. As they suffer in the midday heat, mine grow well in partial shade. They get morning and evening sun.

    Moscovich

    Early, very good flavor, cold tolerant, consistent producer of medium size fruit.

    Mortgage Lifter

    Flavor almost as good as Rose, produces earlier and more heavily. My CRW cage buckled under the load last year! Tolerates heat and variable weather.

    Amish Paste

    Heavy producer of flavorful fruit.

    Garden Peach

    Fruits lived up to their description in terms of color, taste and texture, but declined in size as the season progressed. A novelty.

    Stupice

    Adds to the flavor of soups and sauces. Last year they were abnormal monsters with stems like flattened garden hoses, aberrant multiple flowers and many cat-faced fruits. Normally a bit short, these reached the garage roof. Maybe a virus? Friends do not accept them because of their tendency to have small raised freckles on the skin. They do not know what they are missing!

    Black from Tula

    Poor production and intolerant of last years variable weather, but with a fascinating taste worthy of one more try.

    NOT RETURNING:

    New Girl

    Very flavorful for a hybrid. Early and consistent production of small to medium fruit in good years. Last year was not a good one, reminding of the several bad years before. It is not reliable enough to take up garden space when Stupice is earlier, more consistently productive, tastier and Moscovich comes in just about 1 day later.

    Giant Tree


    True, it did provide last yearÂs largest fruit, beating out Mortgage Lifter and PrudenÂs Purple by 1 oz. The flavor was not remarkable, nor was its storied height. By seasonÂs end it just caught up with the aberrant Stupice.

    Pruden's Purple

    Some very impressive early fruit but no staying power.

    Cherokee Purple

    Did not do much last year. My first attempt, probably the weather, but it gave me no reason to try again.

    Giant Belgium

    Very much like Mortgage Lifter, but a little less of everything, taste, size, consistency, yield...Had I not put it up against ML head-to-head, I would probably have grown it again.

  • mtbigfigh
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have grwon most of the above - however there is one tomato that I try to grow every year and kick myself when I don't to try another new to me tomato - it has been around for years
    high yielding old-time tomato. This heirloom produces even more tomatoes than most hybrids, 3", 8-12 oz., red globe Bears constantly all season, extremely heavy production, easy to grow, and is especially disease resistant. Excellent mildly sweet flavor. Plant bears continuously till frost. Excellent taste. and the tomato is


    Mule Team

  • linchat
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Not as sophisticated as others. But "patio" tomatos and "better bush". Easy to maintain and taste good enough. They are not all stars in taste, but practically gauranteed in delivery when planting in pots. Do not have to chase after them much.