Okay, I know you have all been through this before. But scanning the archives, I could not really get a grasp on a few things.
1. SSE web site lists less than 100 tomato varieties. I plan on growing quite a few unique varieties this spring. Does the web site contain ones they have grown themselves and the yearbook is grown and traded by members?

Far less than 100 varieties in the Public catalog, I think nearer to 40. The heading for tomatoes in the public catalog tells you how many varieties are in the yearbook for any given year. That info is in the heading for everything listed in the public catalog.

Yes. most of the varieties in the public catalog are grown by SSE and in the past they've also subcontracted out some seed production. I don't know if they're still doing it. But the varieties in the public catalog have been quite good as to seed purity. No place selling OP seed is perfect but some are better than others.

2. Does the yearbook contain a lot more unique varieties to choose from (that's really what I'm looking for)

If you look at that tomato heading in the public catalog you'll see the exact number, or close to it but there's close to about 4000 tomato varieties in the Yearbook. And one gains access to the Yearbook by becoming an SSE member.

3. Is there a criteria that has to be met to insure quality of the people trading in the yearbook?

No, there is not. Being an SSE member by itself does not ensure that a person has done anything special to ensure seed purity or even knows how to ensure no cross pollination. Most of the time tomato blossoms self pollenize but not all of the time.

Dave, I'm a long time Life member of SSE and support their mission, but I do think that a person should not use the Yearbook varieties unless and until they 've had considerable experience and know when to rogue out not true to variety plants. I also think that the prices for seeds in the Yearbook are rather high, it's one price if you list varieties and a higher price if you're a non-listed memeber, so in my opinion there are several good seed sources to start out with as an OP tomato grower and then when you've grown a few hundred varieties, maybe, then delve into the more rare ones,

Just my own opinion after being an SSE member for close to 20 years.

Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn.
I understand your logic, but there's a few things I was considering. The web site doesn't even come close to explaining the variety. It mostly is a brief description. Mostly it's color (which I can get from the picture) how it tastes (which is only opinion) and if it's determinate, indeterminate. Other qualities are missing. Like it's resistance to disease, is it heat or cold tolerant, etc. Those are the things that help novices along. Almost ALL of the web sites don't explain this important information. I was assuming the yearbook was a little more descriptive.
If the web sites are more for novices, then why leave out this very important info?
Dave

Like it's resistance to disease, is it heat or cold tolerant, etc. Those are the things that help novices along. Almost ALL of the web sites don't explain this important information.

Don't mean to speak for Carolyn but in all honesty that sort of info is so speculative and so regional (esp. disease tolerance) that it would be difficult to include in a general description with any accuracy. ;)

Honestly, what most growers are interested in IS color, taste, and whether or not it is an indeterminate variety. All the rest will vary from garden to garden and local weather micro-climates. So local gardeners in your neighborhood or regional gardening forums are the best source of that type of info.

That said, I think you will find both Tomato Growers Supply and Totally Tomatoes catalogs far more informative (not to mention filled with unusual varieties) than SSE. No criticism of SSE intended but their focus is not the average tomato grower nor the novice grower. Novice tomato gardeners will always have the best luck sticking with the tried and true standard varieties. Then with a few years of experience with their own garden and its strengths and weaknesses they can move on to the more unique varieties. ;)

Hope this is of help.

Dave

I was assuming the yearbook was a little more descriptive.
If the web sites are more for novices, then why leave out this very important info?

*******

The descriptions of the varieties in the YEarbook are written by the SSE members who list them and even for the same variety vary quite a bit on the info given. Most have nothing to say about disease tolerances b'c that alone means nothing unless specific diseases are mentioned.

If by website blurbs you mean the SSE Public catalog, those blurbs are written by SSE itself. For many years I proofed them.

Dave, varieties that are deemed heat tolerant are indeed very rare as is tolerance to all kinds of diseases, so it doesn't surprise me one bit that such comments don't appear either in the SSE member listings in the YEarbook or for the most part in the Public SSE online catalog.

What's heat tolerant in one set of conditions may not be in another set of conditions, b'c other factors are involved such as high humidity and fogs and rains, which can cause pollen clumping, and disease tolerance is the same way as in here nothing and over there minimal tolerance.

The most common tomato diseases are the foliage diseases and no variety OP or hybrid has significant tolerance of use to the home gardener, and the systemic diseases are in general geographically regionalized.

Carolyn

PushinDirt,

I think basically the reason you see specific disease resistance information in most commercial catalogs is because the breeders have maintained the breeding lines and made the crosses to perpetuate and build up specific disease resistances, particularly in the more modern hybrids. Yes, the breeders also are interested in producing cultivars that meet other industry standards for color, size, shape, plant habit, shipping qualities, etc. But, additionally, someone has paid a laboratory to verify the disease resistances in the varieties you see listed with the specific resistances ... so, if paid for, why not use the information as a part of the marketing?

None of that is the case with the majority of open pollinated tomato varieties listed in the SSE Yearbook and likewise with many of the varieties offered for sale in the SSE public catalog. Yes, a few of the tomato varieties in the public catalog, and many of the ones listed in the Yearbook, are older open pollinated, standard cultivars once popular in the commercial fields and originally having proven resistances. But in the Yearbook, the emphasis seems to be on offering information more related to origin, seed sources, and a brief description of attributes more along the lines of taste, growing habit, size and shape.

Bill

Get some Cherokee Purple seeds and grow them out the first year. Almost everyone raves about CP and you have an excellent opportunity to grow a real winner your first year with CP. CP is also available from many standard seed companies because of its great performance all around the country.

CP is my favorite great tomato. All my friends beg me for CP during the harvest season.

PushinDirt, what I think your looking for is at the link below.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/finder/cultivars.php?sname=Tomatoes&choice=A
It doesn't have all the varieties but quite a few and the info you are looking for. If you find a variety you like and need info just make a post and I'm sure fellow growers will respond or point you in the right direction.
The following seed vendors have quite a few varieties that are listed in the SSE Yearbook.
Sand Hill Preservation Center
Tomato Growers Supply
Mariseeds (I believe she has about 300 listed in the SSE)
Victory Seeds

As far as diseases are concerned in Open pollinated or Heirlooms its more disease prevention because they have little disease resistance unlike their hybrid counterparts that are bred for disease resistance. Hopes this helps.

As far as diseases are concerned in Open pollinated or Heirlooms its more disease prevention because they have little disease resistance unlike their hybrid counterparts that are bred for disease resistance. Hopes this helps

****

I hope you'll accept a different view on this above comment.

There is no such thing as disease resistance which implies total resistance. The tomato industry changed that word to tolerance many years ago after several large commercial farmers sued b'c their plants did come down with the diseases they carried resistance/tolerant genes for that had been bred in.

The most common diseases of tomatoes are the foliage diseases and no variety, hybrid or OP has any significant tolerance to those type of infections, with just a couple of exceptions that are not of use to the home gardener.

And speaking of the tolerances to systemic diseases bred in to so many hybrid varieties, it just means that the plants might last a couple of weeks more before succumbing to systemic diseases, but that's of great use to the the large commercial farmer who does Brix readings to determine when to harvest.

Hope that gives a different point of view and helps someone somewhere.

Carolyn