I am growing them and same thing. Lots of green big tomatoes and the plant is huge. nothing remotely ripe yet. I can't wait to try them!

I am growing it for the first time. One seedling had potato leaves and the other had the regular ones. I gave the seedling with potato leaves to my neighbor and later I regretted it. The plant set very good big fruits, which began to ripen very early.
The plant with the regular leaves is growing in my garden. The shape of the fruits is different, more oblate and ruffled, and they are not ripe yet.
This is what I like about it. It seems to be quite resistant to septoria and bacterial spec, at least I think that is what I have. It managed to save more leaves and did not defoliate as some of the other varieties. It grew about 5 feet tall and then it is getting bushier, but not taller. It set a lot of tomatoes of medium size, I wish that all my tomatoes have the same load.

I grew one last year, and if I could have found one this year I would have planted one (or maybe even 2). It was by far my favorite of my tomatoes last year. I was quite disappointed when I didn't find one.

I found the flavor very rich and texture was amazingly velvety- almost creamy. They never lasted long. It wasn't a huge producer, but it did make fairly large tomatoes.

On the down side: they split very easily (I had little to no issue on any other plant) and would mold very quickly, so they needed to be watched and watered carefully as they approach ripeness.

keep us posted on the outcome of your's sey. I thought about planting one....but ran out of room.

ilodato(6b), antmary, rhyuu, fireduck, thank you for posting.

fireduck, I will keep you posted.
Mine has about a dozen fruits , maybe more and has more flowers. I tried to take pictures w/ my phone camera but did not come out right. I will try again

Sey

Yes I grow them once, they're supposed to be the bigger version of Black Krim, but less productive. It's a sturdy plant, but the fruits need support since they get over 1lb. They taste good, though Cherokee Purple is still better to me, but they look nicer.

Thanks, Max.
Mine seems to be a decent producer , so far.
About the fruit size, I take your words for it. The fruits on mine are folded, that often leaves room to grow bigger. I will try to support them. They are already hanging low. One of the reason I stpped growing BK was that it produced mostly smaller fruits.
Tomorrow I will take picture of my BFT plant.

Sey

Photo Update:

More hiding

Another

Ive grown BFT for about 6 years now. I love the smoky, rich, slightly salty taste. They were always one of my first tomatoes to ripen, except for this year... they are just now ready for some reason. Mine usually produce heavily in the beginning and then taper off towards the end of the season.

My BFT fruits look very different from yours, Sey. With my luck they may be another cross, or just different variety altogether. I'll make picture when I come home.

ncr, antmary, ...thanks for coming by.

This is my first year growing BFT. I got the seeds in trade I forgot the name).
So, anyway, to me it is new and make no difference, as long as it is tasty .
Yeah , the fruits on mine are ruffled while still green. Some of that should go away as they grow bigger but won't get smooth like BK i have seen.
Also, so far, by comparison to other varieties in my garden, BFT seems to be a good producer. I think out of 24 or so new varieties I have found a good keeper

Sey

Sey your BFT looks the same as in Tatiana's database. Mine looks similar to the picture you found in internet. They are medium size and mostly round, very few are oblate. They started to blush. I bought my seeds from Sand hill preservation center.

They are really prolific and resistant to diseases.

Sey,

I don't think yours are BFT. Mine have never looked like that and have always looked like what AntMary posted. keep us posted.

I have to agree. The Black From Tulas I've grown look like those in AntMary's pics. Mine were also from Sand Hill.

I've grown Black From Tula off and on for the last 14 seasons. They should be round shouldered, not fluted. There is also a potato leaf version that showed up in my garden in 2002. You can find it listed as Spudatula at some websites though I still have it as Black From Tula PL.

Thank you ncr, AntMary, Nitsua & Fusion.

So seems like I have a different BFT. Since it is not ripe yet, who knows It might be something else !! (unlikely). So we will wait for the fruits get ripe.

Sey

Oh, and I thought I'll post here pictures of the potato leaf BFT, which is growing in my neighbor's yard. She said she loves it. It looks different from Spudatula version, because it has bigger than average fruits and the shape is from heart to oblate. I am going to plant it next year. I hope it'll keeps BFT resistance to septoria .

BUMP

Lets keep this thread on top.

AntMary, those looks very nice. I would like to see the final ripe color and shape.

My BFT fruits are growing real fast. I estimate some to be about 8 oz, maybe bigger. 5 of them in one truss getting very heavy. I had to support them. The second truss has even more but they are still the size of large cherry.

As far as the final shape/size/color , I don't know what to expect. Have no choice but wait.

Sey

I was thinking next year I would try either BFT or Black Krim. It seems like the majority may prefer BFT. Is that fair to say?

Sey, your fruits are indeed Black from Tula. I find it easier to identify tomatoes from the inside texture than from the outside appearance. The texture will look similar to black krim.

Thanks for reassurance, Max

In a week or two we will find out . They are loosing their green color. The next stage should be blushing. I have grown BK few times. They were mostly smooth and round. I have come to my personal conclusion that there are several strains of most heirloom/OP varieties, eg CP, BK, BFT.

Sey

Sey, I would appreciate hearing your comparison of BFT and CP as far as taste and production when you get some ripe. I love CP and it is outrageously productive in my garden, but I lose half the tomato when it is ripe as the green shoulders never ripen properly. Would love to find that taste and productivity without the green shoulders.

Thanks,

Jennie

I also grew Black Krim. It was prolific and the fruits were quite big. But I lost many of them due to the severe cracking, they just rotted before I could eat them. In our weather cracking is a big problem. The periods of dry and hot weather are followed by the periods of rain.

Jennie, I will do a BFT and CP comparison.

AntMary, now that you mention, I remember a lot of BK rotting on the vine. So now I have learned that you can pick them early, after color break and have them sit on the kitchen counter.. After color break ( fruit is fully mature) ripening is an internal process. Plant does not pump different things to fruits at different stage. So where does the sugar, acid (ripeness)...come from ? They are manufactured inside the fruits by aging bio-chem process, eventually ending with fermentation to preserve the seeds. That is the ultimate mission of the plant,

Sey

Yes, I learned it too after a while. It's just the color of BK so unusual, that it looks unripe for a long time. I have the same problem with Black From Tula. When I come home, I'll post some interesting pictures of my BFT fruits.

So here are the pictures of my BFT. I looked in the internet and the pictures of BFT fruits are so different. Some are round, the other are slightly ruffled and the others a very strongly ruffled. Mine are very nice round shape. They are medium size fruits, although in description they are supposed to be big beefsteaks. The color is very strange too. It is dusky brown and green with just a hint of pink. Did your BFT looked the same? Honestly, I started to doubt that I have the real one. On the front are the ripest fruits and less ripe are on the back.

When cut they are purple. Here is another tomato which I cut yesterday. It was slightly less ripe.

But the taste was good, smooth and mellow. And they are very productive and do not crack, so l like them.

And here are the pictures of potato leaf BFT. As you can see on the date the fruit ripened early. The colors on the fruit were brighter, both green and purple.

Thanks AntMary

Yeah, they are all different. Some of them in your first post above, look like they were sliced unripe. Not very attractive. But the last one looks real nice. The color and texture reminds me of Japanese Black Treifell . That is another black tomato that I like and I am growing one.

This is from last year.

Fireduck, to me nothing compares to the taste of Black Krim. They will crack, but I'm picking early and ripening inside this year. And I wouldn't call them small, but they're not beefsteak either. One of my ripe ones on the counter now is 11.9 oz. while another is 9.8 oz. They are quite prolific for me, too. When I grew CP it seemed like I'd get a cluster of five tomatoes at the same time then have to wait for another cluster to develop. The BK are pretty steady. I get one or two blushing just about every day now.

UPDATE:

I have been harvesting some for a while now. This is the one I picked few days ago an let it ripen inside.

It has been the biggest one so far , 9.1 oz.

And the I cut it to show the interior texture and color. Lots of meat and juicy.

It looks and tastes more like Cherokee Purple than most black tomatoes. That is what some of you have also commented before (based on green fruits).

I got the seeds in trade last winter. But whatever it is, I like it . It is medium in production, fairly early AND the taste rivals cp, to me.

Sey

Sey...I appreciate your continuous updates on this one...as promised. I am certainly intrigued by BFT...and I think I should get a few seeds for next year. I try to limit the number of plants I grow, but it is SOOOO hard. haha.

Hi there, fireduck

I like my BFT ( as is ) for more than one reason

(1) It is early than CP and AN.. ( by about 30 days)

(2) It is more productive than both of those two

(3) It is equally tasty, to me

Sey

PS: I have not saved seeds yet. I had a hard time with germinating those that I got in trade. Only one out of 3 germinated.

Sey, I just looked at your pictures of BFT. It does not look black at all. Or is it the camera trick? Your young fruits were very ruffled, did they became more smooth when they grew larger?

Antmary,

The color seen in my picture looks pretty accurate on my monitor.

Yeah, the stem side is still ruffled but nut as much as when they were green .

Here is a picture of one ripening on the counter, showing the stem end. BTW, all that green should disappear once fully ripe.

As you can see some of the ruffle is still there. . But as they grow bigger the ruffle diminishes in depth.

You are rite mine are not as black but more purple like CP. I am also growing CP but they have different shape and have been very late compared to BFT.

Sey

Mine BFT also were more purple than black with green shoulders, although at pictures they look more black than in real life. I did like this tomato a lot. Right now it is growing its third wave of tomatoes. I pruned it hard so the rest of tomatoes could ripen until the end of September.

I tried to upload a photo and it did not work for unknown reason. Well, later then...

still going in the cool weather.

Sey

You need KlinoGrow special foliar fertilizer ! It is reason for more problems.

I see this thread that I started in 2015 is up. Now I make an update for 2016.

I grew 4 dark tomatoes :

CP,

IS RL

BFT

and an Unknown variety. I got the seeds from store bough heirloom. Here is a picture.

I rate them in the following order:

1)BFT >>> hands down.

2)Unknowm

3)IS RL

4)CP

Next season I will only grow (1) and (2). They all (four of them ) had good taste but BFT and UNKNOWN were super productive AND early.

sey