Hi Everyone. I'm always trying out new tomato varieties, trying to find the perfect mix for market. I've learned that a tomato that is about 12 oz is about perfect. Too big and people freak out at the price for ONE tomato. But they want a good sized tomato for slicing on sandwiches. Right now my go to's are German Pink, Dester, Striped German and Valencia. The first three are a bit too large, but produce really well where I am, and I just use myself whatever I don't sell. Last year was my first with Valencia, and it was about perfect. It's a nice size, good flavor, beautiful color, and HUGE producer. We had a really extended fall this year, and harvested ripe tomatoes off of the two plants into November, and they would have kept going had we not finally had a frost. My other heirlooms were long finished by then.

What drives me crazy about seed catalogs is they switch back and forth between telling you the weigh of the tomato (8-12 oz) and the size of the tomato (2-3"). Makes it hard to compare. So, long story short, I'm looking for the valencia equivalent in red (not pink - as I have two pinks already). Open pollinated preferred. Not super soft skinned (so it can survive the trip to market), not terribly prone to splitting, indeterminate, good flavor. Any suggestions out there, from all of you seasoned growers?