Keep, old faithful:

Better Boy F1

So productive in the SE and tastes so delicious with mayo. My standard tomato. With all the cute names floating around some people forget old tasty hybrids that are basic and flavorful when you need to take a break from it all and treat yourself to a reliable red tomato flavor

Cheers

PC

It's still pretty early to tell with a lot of my tomatoes but..

Snow White cherry tomato is for sure a keep- the flavor is wonderful, and there are tons of fruits on the plant that are doing great. So far this is the only cherry out of a few years growing that has come up to snuff as a keeper.

Still awaiting taste tests, but if they taste good, Tomesol and Jack White are going to be keepers too. Heavy loads of fruit on very strong plants.

Great White, Snow Queen, and White Beauty the jury is still out on- plants look good, lots of fruit, but we shall see what's up when the taste tests against the other whites happen... hopefully soon.

Patio is a seed saver, but personally a zap. I know a lot of people love the smaller plants, but the tomatoes were pretty boring compared to a lot of others.

Tumbling Tom Yellow is still on the fence- taste is pretty good, but the output is so-so.. might be because of a lot of missing watering days while I was out of town.

Totem is a seed saver, but awaiting taste tests. The plants are perfect compact, but awaiting to see if the flavor is up to snuff for my family or not.

Copper River, Beaver Lodge Slicer, and Dwarf Wild Fred are awaiting taste.. I used the very first of them in cooking because I needed tomatoes RIGHT NOW, lol. Tasted great in cooking though. The Beaver Lodge for sure is at least a seed saver- great growing habit, goodly amount of fruits, and the earliest ripening in the garden.

Jade Beauty and Summertime Green are zaps- unless a miracle happens and they turn out to be spectacularly tasty. Plants started out weak, fruit set is low. Yellow in, Red out is a zap- the plant is lovely, great growing habit- but the fruit set is way way below standard. I mean, dang, if I'm going to blow a whole large plant space, there better be more setting going on.. still giving it a chance though, it could be a later setting tomato, and have more than just ornamental qualities.

Silvery Fir Tree.. sigh, that one is for sure a victim to not enough watering in the container- and critters. Some of my other container tomatoes have done pretty well, but I'm bummed that with this one, what fruits I got so far have been promptly torn off and eaten up by critters. I guess that means they taste good.. but still, I'm thinking of moving the whole pot to an isolation area just so I can at least find out more. It's a super lovely plant, ornamental to the max. If only I could get at least one stupid tomato to taste for myself, lol.

Thanks, PC

I have read a lot of good reviews on Better Boy and definitely yours confirms.

I will grow Better Boy next season.. Better Boy is sounds as good as Big Beef. So both of will be in my "must Grow" list

Sey

Haven't been able to check out this board much in recent weeks, but I just got back to this thread and I love it! Nice to hear everyone's tales of success/heartbreak in the tomato patch. I've got some good crib notes on what to hunt for this winter.

In June I posted some praise for Mortgage Lifter... well its next-door neighbor STRIPED GERMAN has also breached the 7-foot mark, beautiful and bushy with only a tiny bit of trimming needed. And for such little effort, I get repaid with beautiful softball-sized tomatoes. They taste rich and sweet, with a little bit of berry kinda tang too. All the cherry tomatoes gather around 'cos they all wanna be like him.... definitely a KEEP!

ZAP update:

Some say that you should give them more than one season, like in baseball, 3 strikes and out. Hehe. I don't have time and garden space to treat tomatoes like baseball players. ONE STRIKE and it is out.

I experimented with about 20 new varieties just to fine a handful that will do fine in my garden. So I have expected all along that there will be lots of ZAPs and I was right.

Now that we are in the peak of season I can tell the goats from the sheep.

Here are the Zaps:

== BLACK CHERRY: So far no ripe one plus it has not even set enough fruits.

== DRUZBA: it has been the worse and miserable one. Has just 3 green maters.

== KB (RL) I wasted space and planted two. Only one of them has 3 fruits the size of ping pong ball and it is growing like a weed:

== RIO GRANDE: How wishful I was hoping to put them on the grill. So far maybe 4 tomatoes on it . Zap it, man.

== BEAR CLAW: started setting too late and too few.

== BIG RAINBOW: same as BC. Plus a huge plant choking the other plants in the same bed.

== BUSH GOLIATH: I bought the seedling. So far just 2 tomatoes. That is it, man.

== PURPLE HEART ( dwarf): has 3 or 4 tomatoes where as PINK PASSION next to is is fully loaded and already have picked 2 ripes. .

== ARBUZNYI: I'll give'em few more weeks.

== RUTGERS: I've got this indeterminant strain that is growing like crazy , with few late fruits . Heck, I could grow something more compact in its place

== BIG BEEF (OP): I have already pulled and composted that one. (what a relief!!)

I have couple more that I will report later.

Sey

I was ready to ascribe to the "one strike and you're out" philosophy too, Sey, but the Excitable Italian Uncle just sent me a few photos of his gargantuan Paul Robesons, about to be sliced up for cold crisp BLT's on country white. Forget my other posts! I told the E.I.U. to save me some of those dang seeds; in all likelihood PR will be back on my grow tray next March.... twas just too delicious!

mister-caledon, I bet your Exiting Italian Uncle knows about tomatoes. I trust Italians' taste . Italians cook more different foods with pomodoro than any other nationality/ethnicity I know of. An I think Souther Italy/sicily has the best climate for growing tomatoes. Ciao !

Sey

Cherokee Purple & Black Krim: Tasty
AND productive. Would definitely grow again. BK had lots more seeds, CP
more odd-shaped fruit. Had a preference for CP flavor for fresh eating.

Big Rainbow, Mortgage Lifter, Kellogg's Breakfast: Very tasty, not
especially productive - but started late. Should try earlier for better
productivity.

Pineapple, Gold Nugget, Jaune Flamme: productive but meh about flavor/texture. JF had thick skins.

Mountain Princess, Momotaro: Plants manageable, productive and tasty
enough. MP more productive, Momo tastier although mild - subtle flavor,
gorgeous color, and throws different fruit shapes.

Sungold, Sun Cherry, Sunsweet: all delicious and sweet. Particularly
loved Sun Cherry for a red cherry! Has a bit more tomato flavor than
SunGold. I definitely recommend you try Sun Cherry if you like Sun Gold.
It seems hard to find though!

Sweet Baby Girl: all sweet, no tomato flavor, definitely inferior to Sun Cherry.

Stupice: not early, but planted late. Productive with classic tomato
flavor. I should try one earlier again, early in the season these would
be nice because they are barely bigger than a cherry. Coming in with
beefsteaks, they weren't my favorite.

I have one ABSOLUTE ZAPPER! ---
Boxcar Willie
Fruit production is decent, size is very good, but they fail on flavor. Just not worth the effort of having to strap up an 8ft vine for tomatoes that taste BLAH. You want ordinary? Here it is.
ABSOLUTE KEEPERS
Black Krim
Cherokee Purple
Niagara Grape

Black Krim is a perennial for me. We just love the taste. I will grow Brandy Boy again because the taste is good, the plant is prolific and the fruit are big so it's good for slicing or making sauce. Super Sauce is a keep for me (third year's the charm on this one for me).

Cuostralee probably won't be back. Lots of fruit, but lots more disease than any other plant in the garden.Costoluto Genovese will not be back, small fruit and just OK on taste. If they were a little bigger they'd make a pretty sliced tomato for a platter. Also not back, sophie's choice. Jury is still out on 1884.

So, keeps so far--

Cherokee Purple

Big Rainbow

Big Beef F1

Black Cherry

Morgage Lifter - Actually had one do pretty poorly and one do great. Will give it another go next year and assume the bad one just was an outlier.

Sungold -- why have I never grown these wonderful gems of sweetness before?

Terenzo - Red basket tomato

maskotka - Red basket tomato

For sure zaps-blondkopfchen- I had one that produced badly and one that produced extremely well. But in the end I just really didn't care for the taste.

On the fence-

Amish Paste. Good producer and okay for a paste tomato, but I think I may go back to Orange Roma for paste tomatoes.

Tumbling Tom Red and Yellow

Second chancers (had such a bad start with the herbicide exposure, I'm going to give them another shot next year)

Brandy Boy - they are starting to produce now and tomatoes are good flavor. I think if they had a better shot they'd have produced heavier and earlier.

Silvery Fir Tree

New Big Dwarf

All of mine are conditional keeps since it's been an off-year with below average results. But here are my true keeps:

- Brandy Boy, a productive large pink, very good flavor and low seed count. I gave away starts to nearly a dozen people and their feedback has been all positive. It responded well to fungicide sprays and lost very few branches.

- Ashleigh, a large red beefsteak, productive, low seed count, strong & hearty red tomato flavor. These plants also responded well to fungicide sprays and lost very few branches. I researched this one and noticed that it is one of Dr Carolyn's favorites ... i now know why.

- Mystery Pink and Red hearts. earlier mid-season, low seed count, productive. The Pinks are semi-sweet but still balanced, the reds are balanced tasting with a tad more zing. I got these from an old gent who also shared 40 years of pretty complex grow notes for them.

Steve

Keep your reviews of ZAPS n KEEPS reports coming. This can help the rest of us.

We all want to get a big Bang for the BUCK. Otherwise, IMPO, most tomatoes can be used, raw, cooked or canned.

My criteria to decide zaps/keeps are SPACE, PRODUCTION and ERALINESS. I can always improve the taste w/ salt, pepper, vinegar , Olive oil .(sugar ? if you like them sweet).. Of course, I rather grow naturally tasty ones too.

Sey

I've been biased toward heirlooms and OP tomatoes, I grabbed a Juliet from the nursery in early March ( was marked as an heirloom). Now I'm hooked on this one and keep raving about it to all my gardening friends. It is a small plum with pretty good, not great, flavor but what a producer and without the leaf problems my heirlooms always get. I must have picked HUNDREDS of tomato from this very large plant and there are still more to pick. This one is permanently on my grow list. Just wish I could save seeds cause I love to do that but oh well....

Brandywine Purple just made my keeps list. Cut the first one tonight. Slightly darker but similar to Brandywine pink in flavor

ZAPS: Green Giant. It is HUGE! It grew over the tomato plant next to it, totally engulfing it and then over the fence into the neighbors yard. It is a delicious geen when ripe, but it needs more space than I can handle. At least a twenty foot vine. I don't have room for this. Plus it got some disease that looks like gray mold that creeped up the plant slowly. KEEPS: Summertime Green, not very productive this year, but taste and production in prior years was good. Going to try next year with better growing conditions to see if it does better. I need a good Green that is manageable.

KEEPS: My stray seed received in a packet of Lillians Yellow Heirloom. It is probably an early such as Kimberley or Matina. Or a thousand other potato leaf salad size. It produces nice saldette size tomatoes, a-little larger than cherries, that are delightful in taste. Not a comparison to heavy hitters like CP and BW, but so early and the least diseased at this late date. And so productive. A real keeper to haVE a homegrown taste in June and all through August.

Jennie, I have a similar mystery.. The fruits are just as you have described but the plant has RL. Fruits weigh about 16 grams or slightly bigger than 1/2 oz. It has been my earliest after Hahms Gelbe . I have another smaller pink cherry and golden cherry that seeds came from store bought heirlooms. Those plus my mini Roma, complete my small size tomatoes to KEEP. My Black cherry is a toss up right now.

Sey

A Picture Speaketh ...

Here is one of my sure KEEPs:

WILLAMETTE: seeing is believing

Sey

Sey. You got to plant at least one Carmello, read the reviews. I read about cool varieties and these popped up. Like Big Beef they are very productive but a bit smaller than Big Beef, but they taste even better. They are more orange in color. You said you couldn't believe you never tried Big Beef before this season. I bet you say the same about these. Off the 2 Big Beef and 1 Carmello combined I must have picked around 300 tomatoes with plenty more on the way.

Vince, I will probably grow Carmella next year.

Talking about ZAP , yesterday I yanked one of my 2 KB, with ZERO fruit on it Now I feel a lot better. hehe

I am looking for another good tasting and productive yellow/gold slicer. Any recommendations ? I might go back to my Pineapple. The reason I stopped growing it was because it was not as productive.

Here it is a picture from last year

It shined in the middle.

Sey

My keeps:

Cuostralee every one of them was a perfect sized & shaped fruit with great taste. It produced just under what the Neves Azorian Red did.

Neves Azorian Red, pretty much the same as Cuostralee , alto a few of the maters from it were not as perfectly shaped as the Cuostralees, but they all tasted great and it's hard to beat the colour and taste of a very ripe red tomato.

Kelloggs Breakfast, the tomatoes on it were not as large sized as last year, most were slightly larger than ping pong balls, whereas last year I had some really big ones. It's a keeper thou as just about anybody we have given one to, really loves them.

Cherokee purple, again like the KB's most of the CP's were small, but none the less, delicious and a beautiful tomato both sliced and unsliced.

So these are my four keepers, perhaps had I fertilized more, I might have had more "Big ones" from the above four, but we still picked several hundred from these four, and we're still picking. We are also on water restriction, (can only water on Monday and Fridays), so that may have affected size too.

ZAPS:

Giant Belgium, it threw a few good maters early then came up with some kind of disease, which spread to some of my other maters, It has probably done in the CP, and the disease started spreading to the other maters, but I've been spraying both Neem and copper spray, the copper seems to be doing a better job, so I'm hoping to have a harvest at least until Autumn or even early Winter, Time will tell.

Brandyboy, it produced only 3 tomatoes, albeit nice large sized ones, but I did not find the flavor, juiciness, or the consistency inside nearly equal to the quality of the NAR's or Cuostralees, and I've had to remove a lot of leaves from the plant that were diseased, the leaves actually turn black, different from the problem with the Giant Belgium, which at first would get spots on the leaves, then the leaves would turn yellow and die.

Hillbilly. I think I was sold a Royal Hillbilly rather than a "real hillbilly". Last year the Hillbilly had very large yellow-red fruit on it, and they looked and tasted great. This year most have only been ping pong ball sized, (Like the Royal Hillbilly's description. Production was good, but I like my maters LARGE!

Black Krim

Again I had problems growing a Black Krim, the plant never grew and I had to remove it. BK has always been one of my fav tomatoes, but for the last 3 years in a row, I've had problems, couple that with the fact that wife "Strongly dislikes" the BK, but loves the CP, so CP will be replacing it next year.

I sure hate to give up on the Giant Belgium, and the BK< but when I look at the history I've had over the ten years or so I've grown tomatoes, BK and Giant Belgium have only done well once, in that ten year time, so I guess it's time to "Move on", and I anxiously await "The Keepers" in this thread, as the "Winners", will be added to my garden, next year.

OOOOps, CRS kicked in, I forgot about my Annas Noire. It is definitely a keeper. It has really been a "Mater Machine". It has produced more tomatoes than any of my other varieties. It had many large perfectly shaped tomatoes that are both beautiful inside and out, and they were juicy and tasted great too.

The other one I should have mentioned was the Omar's Lebanese. It produced a lot of large nicely shaped red tomatoes that tasted great, and also were juicy. Unfortunately it was right next to the Giant Belgium that became disease ridden and that curtailed its production. The good news is that it does have new healthy growth on it, so it will probably survive and go back into production, whereas I fear that my Cherokee purple may not be so lucky, but I'm spraying and hoping. So most likely, the Omars Lebanese will be back, next year.

Gary

I am new to this thread but loved reading all the tomato reviews, some I have already tried but I made a list of the favorites I need to try for next year. Thanks, much of my work has been done by all of you. So many varieties out there it is nice to have it whittled down a bit.

Chef's Choice is on my keep list this year it is a neon orange with exceptional flavor. My husband does not like orange tomatoes as a rule but he snaps everyone of these up as they ripen. On my ZAP list is San Marzano--- no flavor, as well as Money Maker--disease prone and not very good flavor.

What is the best paste tomato? I have ZAPPED every one I ever grew, I am still looking for the ultimate one.

Welcome, ubro,

Sure we can benefit from others experience. However, climates also make a difference. Like KB did not do well here for me but it might be productive in someplace else.

On paste tomatoes, I don't grow anything for that purpose but the name OPALKA pops up very often. Also some plum and heart shaped varieties make good sauce.Their distinctive characteristic is less juice and more solids.

But on the other hand, some gardeners would just make sauce from ant good tasting tomato. That way you probably get a better tasting sauce. JMO

Sey

Ubro, i agree with Seyson on all points he outlined. A tomato's flavor and texture can vary year to year, but san marzano & roma's are only good for the old fashioned italian style (low flavor) plum tomato sauce. Many folks in north america are not used to these low flavored sauces so they seek out other tomatoes for processing. To simplify processing there are certain features to look for = low seed count, less juice and more solids (as Seyson mentioned). Certain other plum tomatoes, Pink and Red hearts, and certain beefsteaks like Ashleigh fit the bill, and many here combine tomato types for a richer flavor. I see that you are in zone 2a, so you may want to seek out some earlier/mid season types, some have even been bred for slightly cooler weather.

A great place to research and buy some of the rarer stuff is at Tatiana's Tomato Base (no affiliation)

Steve

Personally, I like Seysons idea for tomato sauce, especially the marinara, the ants she mentioned, "should" add some much needed protein to the sauce, ya thinks?

Gary

I just finished a delicious Brandywine, but I think its going on the "zap" list. I'm only going to get perhaps three tomatoes from my one Brandywine plant. I don't have unlimited space for growing tomatoes so I need to focus more on productive varieties. I've had two or three years where Brandywine did well and was acceptably productive, but more often than not, it disappoints.

Disclaimer: I did save seeds from today's Brandywine, so who knows.

I grow entirely in containers (mostly Earthboxes and 5-gallon buckets) and am stunned at how well some of the tomatoes are doing this season. I guess we've just had picture-perfect weather.

I'm with Sey as far as wanting plants that produce. Some of my "Zaps" or "Possibles" might be good tomatoes overall, but production has been unfavorable.

Keeps:

1. Stump of the World - By far the best tomato I've ever had the pleasure of growing and eating. Enormous, nearly flawless tomatoes (largest was 24oz - only 1 of the 13 fruits I've harvested so far was under one pound). Plant continues to grow vigorously with at least 5 additional one-pound tomatoes on the vines and a dozen or more smaller ones. Zero disease. I am beyond impressed.

2. Cosmonaut Volkov - Large, very meaty beefsteak with excellent flavor. Healthy, prolific plant. I've had several one-pounders and all of the tomatoes harvested so far have exceeded 10oz.

3. Costoluto Genovese - Not particularly large, but gorgeous and very productive. Fresh taste it just okay, but the sauce is excellent.

4. Big Beef - Very consistently large slicers (averaging 10oz) with little cracking. Plants are loaded with tomatoes, as others have noted. Extremely productive for such a large tomato.

5. Rosso Sicilian - See notes on Costoluto. A bit later, as I've only harvested a handful, but the plant is covered.

6. Sweet Million - Fantastic cherry tomato for snacking while working in the garden. I've harvested nearly 500 from two plants and will probably double that over the next two weeks. Very sweet with a hint of acid. Delicious.

7. Violaceum Krypni-Rozo - Huge, highly irregular tomatoes with excellent, meaty texture and flavor. Not a good slicer because of its propensity for catfacing, but great cut into chunks. Fruits averaging 12-13oz. Moderately productive given the size of the fruit,

Zaps:

1. Baxter's Early Bush - Nice, compact determinate cherry with blah flavor. I'm freezing them to add to sauce later.

2. La Roma III - Produced about a dozen fruit before dying. This is a hybrid that is supposed to be resistant, but it barely made it into July.

3. Ten Fingers of Naples - The plant was robust and lush immediately before turning and dying over the course of 3 days. Very few tomatoes for a 4' tall plant - it is supposedly a prolific producer. Not for me.

4. Paisano - See notes on La Roma III. Almost exactly the same issue.

5. Sioux - Nicely sized medium tomato with okay flavor. Nothing really bad to say about it, I just won't grow it again. Boring.

6. Beaverlodge - Not as productive as I expected and the fruits become too soft for my taste before they're fully ripe. Flavor is good enough and I will freeze for sauce later.

Possibles (might grow again after a few seasons):

1. Cherokee Purple - These tomatoes are terrific, but they don't produce well for me. I might get 5 from the entire season.

2. Paul Robeson - Relatively productive, but generally too juicy and not *quite* sweet enough for my tastes. Beautiful color and nice medium size.

3. Marianna's Peace - I really had high expectations for this tomato after so much reading online, but I've come away this season disappointed. Very low production and the flavor is okay - hasn't blown me away. I will probably try it again in a few years.

4. Neves Azorean Red - Very poor production, but delicious and large tomatoes averaging around 10oz. Plant is healthy and vigorous, but I prefer something more productive.

5. Polish Linguisa - Productive enough, but the plant seems susceptible to disease and these are the only tomatoes I have had with BER all season.

6. Speckled Roman - Extremely anemic looking plant all season long with thin and droopy stalks and leaves, though it has grown to be 5' tall and produced a handful of very large striped tomatoes. Strangely enough, it's still trying to produce and has zero disease.

7. New Big Dwarf - I pulled this a month ago because it wasn't producing anything. Might try again in a few years because the plant is a very appealing size when fully grown (around 2').

Keeps Black Magic and Muddy Mamba- Heritage seed and MM from Tania, Lucky Cross children? Yum to both of them- early and productive. Muddy Mamba taste reminds me Malachite schkatulka.

Regarding paste tomatoes, the best I ever grew was Orange Roma. Surprisingly good taste for a paste, a touch sweet.

I tried Amish paste this year and am not overly impressed.

Still unable to contact person who gave me those " Yellow clusters" seeds in Ukraine as there is war in the area so no clue if there is original name. Red one is Gloria- original seed from Tania, Great production of lovely heart to round midseason on early side reds.

Beautiful, meaty tomatoes, lindalana! Could you send me a few seeds?

My total zaps:

Krasnodar titans. This one had bad reputation for the taste. But I liked the taste of the only tomato that I had. It had thick walls, the texture of the of the store bought Roma tomato, but it also had nice balanced acidic taste. The plant grew very wild, but the yield is very low and the size is small, about the size of an egg.

Bulgarian triumph. The production was OK. The taste was bland and the color was lighter red. Not very impressive.

Maria tomato from Sandhill preservation center. It would be nice determinate tomato, but it is highly susceptible to septoria and black spot.

Antmary, will be happy to share seeds. Am planning to share some best varieties from this year with MMM annual participants too.

I gave a market grower friend seeds of Titan Red which is different from Krasnodar Titans, he loved those and plans to use them as mainstream for early reds in his next year growth. I have never grown Krasnodar Titans but have seeds... hmm, probably not going to grow now

ZAPS final tally.

The season is almost over and the jury has spoken in my garden.

Here are the Zaps:

== BLACK CHERRY: Very late plus it has not even set enough fruits.

== DRUZBA: it has been the worse and miserable one. Had just 3 maters.

== KB (RL) I wasted space and planted two. Only one of them has 4 fruits . s

== RIO GRANDE: How wishful I was hoping to put them on the grill. So far maybe 4 tomatoes on it . Zap it, man.

== BEAR CLAW: started setting too late and too few.

== BIG RAINBOW: same as BC. Plus a huge plant choking the other plants in the same bed.

== BUSH GOLIATH: I bought the seedling. So far just 2 ripe tomatoes. since then has set 2 more. That is it, man.

== PURPLE HEART ( dwarf): has 3 or 4 tomatoes where as PINK PASSION next to is is fully loaded.. .

== ARBUZNYI: Not worth the real estate.

== RUTGERS: I've got this indeterminant strain that is growing
like crazy , with few late fruits . Heck, I could grow something more
compact in its place

== BIG BEEF (OP): I have already pulled and composted that one. (what a relief!!)-

== FOURTH OF JULY : It was not early, then for a short time did ok and then vanished..

=== JBT : It was very very late and not as productive either. I rather grow more BLACK FROM TULA..

=== BRANDY BOY (F1):: Out of 3 plants I got as much as one plant.

=== GOLD CHERRY: poor production and taste not very good.

Wow ! 15 ZAPS.

I will review and update my KEEPS in another post soon. Stay tuned.

Sey

Sey, I think that with the 50 tomatoes in a very tight spacing, with only about 6 h of direct sun and with overall cool weather conditions, many of your tomatoes just could not reveal their true potential. However those that you did find good are probably the real heroes.

I only planted four varieties this year but three were new to me. I always grow out at least one Maskotka back from my city apartment days. This year was the last single seed I have left and it was outstanding as usual. To those who grew Tumbling Toms, I highly suggest this one because (1) it's bigger, (2) prettier and finally, TT can't hold a candle to Maskotka in its best year. I tried both the yellow and red versions before but because I had Maskotka growing, they were duds for me and nobody wanted to eat them. Got a total of 117 tomatoes off the Maskotka this year....and it was jam packed to the bottom with roots in a 5 gallon. I think I could have gotten more but given how often it needed water, I was tired of it, since the big guys were coming in.

Dave suggested Black Krim and Cherokee Purple in another thread (thank you!) when I asked what to plant. I planted the seeds on June 1st, so I got a really, really late start. Despite that, I can honestly says that if these guys had more months to grow, I'd not have the room for much else in my yard. Holy COWS....both topping off at 7.5 feet tall as of last week--technically 8 feet if I straightened up the top stems that were pointing sideways.

Both plants looked near IDENTICAL in form with humongous stems reaching far out--straight into each other like they were embracing LOL. I didn't prune the suckers so they went wild. Taste-wise, I didn't think I'd have a preference, but I do; I prefer the CPs--they had a slightly more earthy and complex taste to them than the BK. Overall, the fruit were larger on the BK than the CP, and without a doubt, the BK was earlier--but by the end, the CP had at least 10x the fruit the BK did. The BK didn't split quite as much as some had reported (about 3-4 showed evidence of having split at some point), but many, many of them were catfaced--like too many at different stages for me to just think "cold weather." Besides, other than one week where it was a tad cooler, it's been ridiculously hot and humid this summer.

The end came sooner than expected, though--through no fault of the tomatoes but I had just inadequately planned in terms of spacing and cages, so the BK took its own cage down 3 weeks ago (which I rigged and fixed--but not very well, I should add) but then CP took its cage down beyond fixing....like the entire plant was near growing diagonally. By this point, I have no interest in attempting to find a fix on that for an hour, so after watching it for a week, I pulled both plants yesterday. I felt literal PAIN as I snipped off perfectly healthy stems loaded with fruit....less when I took off the stems with so many flowers. I was out there groaning as I snipped away and then finally pulled up the plants. PAINFUL. But I will say this: it sure looks cleaner in my yard without the enormous plants covering the white fences!!!

I would be happy to plant both again another year...with better planning. :)

The one zap I had was the Zapotec Pleated tomato. I've never seen any plant grow that big that fast. Within a month of transplanting, it had reached the top of my fence. I have also never seen any plant that big be so completely unable to grow a fruit. I understood the first couple rounds of blossom drop due to the hellish temperatures we had; but the next few flushes were inexcusable. NOT A SINGLE FRUIT. Technically, given the size, it didn't have even 1/4 of the flowers that the CPs did, and I, for obvious reasons, am not zapping it for taste, since I never tasted a single one. But just the sheer size of this plant would prevent me from planting it again. It's one thing when people are raving about it like the BK, but not worthwhile when lots of people don't seem to even like the taste fresh and prefer it for canning (which I don't do).

For next year, I went ahead and bought Mortgage Lifter (another one recommended on my thread), Black Cherry, Black from Tula and something called Dr. Wyches--just because I wanted to try a yellow variety. I also hope to get some Sungold seeds, just to see, since every one of you guys seems to love it so much. I believe this was the one I planted at another house---so prolific and sweet--but that was 8-9 years ago and now I have no clue what it was. I am not entirely certain if I will replant BK next year or maybe the year after (the two I had in pots grew about 15 fruits each, though in its defense I did prune like nobody's business due to what Dave ID'd as grey mold), but I will find one spot for one Cherokee Purple. I *think* I will also prune the suckers on it next year to keep the size manageable. I think I'll skip a patio size for the upcoming year...there is a limit on how many tomatoes one can eat!

Sey, that's a lot of zaps. It appears the common theme to your season is low productivity on many varieties. Could there be other factors such as the season's growing conditions or something else that would explain the low productivity problems? I know that from my experience, some varieties would do exceptionally well in one year and then do very little the following year. I can't really explain why, however.

Perhaps some deserve a second chance. But then, maybe this year was their second chance.

@antmary, probably you are right. I picked the real winners in my garden.

@Nitsua , ... yeah, lots of ZAPS almost 50%. But I have got plenty (about 12) to KEEP, plus I will add 2 to 3 new ones and will be planting more of the winners.

Right, my number one criterion has been "Productivity" to justify the real estate. I can live with average taste, as I use tomatoes mostly cooked/ in cooking and I can enhance the taste.

Here is what some of my winners produce late in the season.

I had a good season in the sun.

Sey

Grace, I have not grown one but Zapotec listed as prolific tomato. What you describing is somehow soil around that tomato ended up being too high in nitrogen which changed plant habit- sometimes you just get that- maybe some water movement underground, run off etc

I'm thinking that maybe that Zapotec plant was a "mule". I've heard that it happens sometimes. You get a massive plant with no fruit. What a bummer!!!!!

Linda

First, a caveat: This season was really a difficult one weather-wise. Cool and wet right up through mid-June, then hitting 100F by early July. Every plant across the board was dropping blossoms in July, though the non-cherry types were noticeably harder hit. Also had a lot more BER on the big tomatoes than I've ever had, probably because I couldn't keep enough water in the soil during the worst of the heat. So not a great season for comparing cultivars.

That said...

Red Siberian is a ZAP for good. This was the third year in a row for it and it has never been anything other than puny, weak, and barely producing, let alone as an early. Maybe there's a sweet spot climate-wise for it, but it isn't here.

From the Tomato Cherry Rainbow Blend seed pack by Botanical Interests: Super Snow White is a grow again. This is the second year of growing, and either as container or in-ground, this one grows huge, produces quickly and heavily a lot of sweet cherry-sized fruit, and stayed healthy way longer than any other cherry. Brown Cherry has large fruit for a cherry, with decent production if not as early as a smaller cherry. But the taste is worth the wait. Green Grape was a bit of an uncertainty early on - as seedlings the plants always looked like they were drooping and nearly wilting. Even after plantout the plant tended to droop. But it produced amazing green/yellow fruit that is sweet and acidy and looks good in a salad. Worked better as a container than in-ground; the fruit seemed to sit for weeks until it started turning from green to yellow-green, but once it started it was consistent harvesting. Sweetie Red I will not grow again as it wasn't all that early and the fruit was so small that it almost wasn't worth picking. Bicolor Cherry literally just sat there for two months, didn't even flower until I was picking the first Black Krims, and it was August before I could harvest any of the few fruit it produced. Flavor was bland, and there was a lot of scarring on the skins. ZAP.

Black Krim & Cherokee Purple: The BK plants flowered and produced earlier, but had a short flush and then nothing for two months. The CP plant took forever to flower, but produced larger fruit for a much longer time. I'll probably only grow CP next year as the plant got very large and needed more room than I planned for.

Principe Borghese was a first-time grow for me. I will grow it again because it was one of the best producers this year. Worked best in a container, but make sure you have a good support system for it because this one was definitely not determinate like some companies advertise. A good producer of clusters of ping-pong ball size fruit that have that traditional tomato flavor, texture suitable for either fresh use or sauce or drying. This was another plant that has very thin, droopy foliage and makes you want to water it more than you should. Later than a cherry, but earlier than the bigger toms. Be careful handling the seedlings as the plants are more prone to breaking and splitting than other cultivars.

Costoluto di Parma: This was another first for me. Very pretty pleated fruit, was actually the first container plant to set fruit, but the in-ground plants did better at producing . The seedlings had really large leaves and grew prodigiously faster than any other variety, but the plants were the worst in terms of blossom drop, though they are still producing this late in the season. Production only average, but I'll give it another shot next year because the taste is really good for fresh slicing and with a more normal season I can see getting more fruit.

So there you have more of a review than a list.

aniajs, Costoluto di Parma is definitely on my "must try" list. I don't have space for it next year, but perhaps the year after. Good to hear that it did kind of OK for you despite the challenging conditions this year. How would you classify the taste/texture?

Linda, I always thought high N would yield all leaves with no flowers? The plant didn't have an issue flowering, and while I think it was late in doing so, in hindsight it was probably because it was enormous so quickly and didn't produce a flower until it was already 6 feet tall. Then, it had tons of flowers...but all would go unpollinated, about half would have yellow stems, and the other half would just dry up. I think I pulled it in late August after no less than 80-100 flowers failing.

Additionally, the CP AND BK were in the same bed, just to the right of it. Terrible spacing on my part LOL, with a mere 2 feet or so between plants. But they had no such issues. Starting from the first flower, both had may~~~be 3-5 failed ones.

i suppose it's possible for one area to have high N but it doesn't seem likely, does it? I have no clue...never grew it before and at this rate, I never will. If you want to try it, you are welcome to the seeds! I bought it last fall, so they're all still good...as in viable. If you ask me, not so good as in production LOL.

Gorbelly - the taste I would describe as well-balanced in an old-timey tomato way - not too sweet or too acid. The kind of tomato that makes a good messy BLT :) I made a couple batches of sauce from them, and it really sweetened up and rounded out when I cooked it down for an hour or so. Texture wise, the ones I left to fully ripen on the vine were a bit mealy. The ones I picked just after color change and let fully ripen on the counter inside were very juicy and tender. Skin tended to be on the thinner side. Sorry I can't be more specific, I haven't been growing long enough to have a lot to compare to. This area is rough on larger tomatoes so I'm just happy to have had so much success with the ones I did.

Thanks for your report! I know that tomatoes can perform very differently for different people, but it's nice to know that what I've heard in terms of flavor and texture, i.e., unlike a lot of the other Italian costolutos, the Parma is intended for fresh eating, seems to be correct. There's so little information about this particular variety right now.

We all judge how a variety does in our climate/garden. That is all matters to me. When I have , say, 3 variety in the same bed and one fails me miserably and the other two become star performers I know then what to ZAP and what to KEEP.

I am not very happy with CP either , instead I have an unknown heart and Black From Tula that keep pumping and taste wise they are as good as CP maybe better. . That is why I grew almost 30 varieties just to pick the winners.

Sey

PS: Today I picked a basketfull from one Willamette and one Siletz. They are KEEPS.

mmm, if you only grew one plant at one time- I would not be so fast zapping it, specially if there are plenty of other people state that it was great producer/etc for them. Better yet, I will share my seedlings with friends and relatives and ask them how did it grow for them before I make my conclusions. Also I would plant at least 2 tomato plants in different parts of my garden. OTOH there are so many varieties out there specially if you growing from seed that sky is the limit. I have found very few tomatoes I am saying "never again", many more that just do not fit into whatever requirements I have for my keeps .

Lindalan, you are probably right. BUT I do not have the luxury to plant more ...

Yeah, a variety might do fine in another location under different growing conditions that is of no interest tome when it does poorly in my garden.

Like I said I had DRUZBA, RIO GRANDE, SILETZ and WILLAMETTE in the same bed. DRUZBA, and RIO GRANDE failed miserably but SILETZ and WILLAMETTE excelled. Even being determinant they still have fruits ripening.

I found half a dozen or so winners this year:

== AZOYCHKA, WILLAMETTE, BLACK FROM TULA, BIG BEEF (OP), ROSELLA , INDIGO ROSE, MINI ROMA(GRAPE), HAHMS GELBE TOPFTOMATE

I have also half a dozen repeats :

== SILETZ , LEGEND, LARGE RED CHERRY, PURPLE HEART, CP, ANANAS NOIR..

I will add couple of new ones : probably Better Boy and Carmello

That should be enough for 2016.

Sey

Here is the report from my Seattle garden. It was a good year for tomatoes here.

Brandywine - did well. Good flavor and good production (for a Brandywine). I will plant again, I'm just going to give it a break for 2016 to make room for some new varieties.

Cherokee Purple. - First year growing this, and now I see why it is so popular. They were the first plants with buds, the first non-cherries with flowers and the first non-cherries to ripen. Despite what the seed packet said ("stingy with fruit"), they were really good producers too. Delicious! Have definitely earned a space next year.

Chocolate Cherry - An impulse purchase at the seed rack, I really wanted Black Cherry, but they didn't have any. This one was a little disappointing. Not bad, just ok, kind of bland. Vine sprawls all over the place. Fruit is good size for a cherry, but not enough of it for the real estate the plant takes. I'll admit this was one of the last plants in not in a great location - not enough sun. I'll give this a second chance some time, but not next year.

Cosmonaut Volkov - These did really well in spite of some adverse conditions. 1 was crowded out by a CP that insisted on growing sideways , 1 got its top snapped off by ??? and the third was an "extra" that got put in too small a pot, rather than going in the compost. Despite this they gave a good crop of medium size tomatoes. The first fruit was a little disappointing, almost sour, but they greatly improved and are now a favorite. Will be back next year.

Costoluto Genovese - Received these seeds late, but the seedlings soon caught up with the others. Beautiful plant, beautiful fruit, although they were smaller than I was expecting. The plant just laughed at the heat on days when all the other varieties were drooping. Fruit takes a *very* long time to ripen. Not one we like for fresh eating, but has amazing rich flavor when cooked. Will grow again on space available basis.

Kelloggs Breakfast - Another seed rack impulse purchase, and one I'm happy about. Large plants, but production is worth the space. Usually I like a little more tangy flavor, but the richness of this made up for tang. Will be back next year.

Striped German - Large fruit, ok production, the last of all varieties to ripen. DH likes them, I thought they were good, but not great. Not sure about next year. I think I'd like to try Old German instead.

Sungold F1 - We do like these, but with so many varieties to try, it may get a rest next year. I moved it from its "regular" spot this year and production wasn't all that good. I think maybe it got too hot.

Sweet Million F1 - Been a staple in the garden for years, so yes it will be back. As with Sungold, I moved location this year and production not so good. It goes back to its regular spot next year.