Sorry to hear your Sungolds had tough skin. That is unusual for them IME. What kind of support did you use on the BK? They don't "climb", have to be tied up if not using cages.

Dave

I'm eating Sungolds right now and they don't have tough skins. In fact, most people complain that they crack easily! I wonder what happened.....

Linda

I share your findings on Bloody Butcher and Mortgage lifter. I grew them last year. Like you said BB fruits were very small, just about a large cherry size. Taste was good.

ML ( a bonnie plant) was a total disappointment. Never got a fruit bigger than 5-6oz.

On the Sungold, I differ. I grew it last year. As others have said actually it has a very thin skin and thats why it cracks so easily and thats why I stopped growing it.

Brandy Boy : I am growing it . Taste is good but mine have not been good producers. Out of 3 plants have picked just 4 so far. But the fruits were close to 14 oz each. But I am debating its return next year.

Sey

Perhaps it was one of the OP selections? I grew an OP sungold selection this year, and the skins are very tough.

When it rained just a little the sun gold split. The reason I quit growing them. Had trouble with Black Krim splitting also.

harryshoe, I just wanted to really thank you for for coming back to share your results (Did you take any pictures you'd be interested in posting?), which is great! As others before me have said something is not right about your Sun Gold review. I would like to ask what gorbelly suggested, in a different way. Where was the source of your Sun Gold seeds and are you sure they are F1 hybrids?

Cheers

PC

Sun Gold was ordered from Burpee. It says " Sun Gold Hybrid" on the packet. Maybe not F1 hybrids. Interestingly, there was no cracking.

I try to knit the vines through a wire fence. Black Krim seems happier to snake across the ground. The fact that they set large fruit early added to the knitting problem. I did tie them up to the fence. Insignificant problems. Black Krim is a super performer here.

I will try to get some pictures, but I have had no luck trying to post pictures since the Houzz takeover.

I don't think my OP sungolds would ever crack (they are Sungold Select II from Baker Creek). The skins are way too tough. I won't be growing those again.

Yuck Gorbelly! Glad you mentioned it because I was all set to grow Sungold Select II and I hate tough skins!

Linda

"Sun Gold was ordered from Burpee. It says " Sun Gold Hybrid" on the
packet. Maybe not F1 hybrids. Interestingly, there was no cracking."

It seems improbable that there would be a mistake like that from Burpee. Don't worry about the "F1" designation, when a larger seed company sells something it marks a hybrid, it better be F1! I hope you give Sun Gold another chance, and maybe consider whether you watered it adequately. If you want something else to replace SG which should have a relatively thin skin also, Sun Sugar hybrid (Sun Sugar F1) is worth a try to see how it does in your garden. The good part is they are bigger than Sun Golds, and for others they don't split open nearly as much. Hopefully that doesn't mean the skin is tougher though under your growing conditions...only one way to find out.

Cheers

PC

Edit, I just noticed, Sun Gold of your 5 varieties was the most vigorous (the only other hybrid was Brandy Boy, and it didn't seem to get a stellar grade though you liked the flavor). Did you water all the tomatoes the same amount? Sun Gold may have required a little more watering, especially with the hot summer, if it didn't get a chance to develop it's trademarked huge root system. That could easily be responsible for the tougher skin and absence of splitting, as mentioned if the plant were under-watered. Under-watering usually isn't the concern, as most active gardeners tend to over water. But it seems to me the most likely explanation. If this is the reason, Sun Sugar would have even a tougher skin, had it been grown in the same conditions.

Labradors, I see harryshoe is also in Eastern PA. It may be something about conditions around here? Although my other cherry tomatoes are fine.

It's weird how that happens. I grew Purple Bumblebee last year and it was as hard as leather. A few other people noted the same thing while others said it was perfectly fine !?!?!?

Linda

Pupilla,

"Did you water all the tomatoes the same amount? Sun Gold may have
required a little more watering, especially with the hot summer, if it
didn't get a chance to develop it's trademarked huge root system. That
could easily be responsible for the tougher skin and absence of
splitting, as mentioned if the plant were under-watered."

It's been pretty wet this year in our part of PA, and the heat was late in coming and hasn't been too extreme.

You might want to try Sun Sugars for next year.

They grew well for me ... and the fruits were delicious ...

Aegis, Your tomatoes look very pretty!

Did you know that you don't need to put them on a sunny windowsill for them to ripen? I keep mine in the basement because hubby complained that they took up too much room on the kitchen counter. They ripen just fine.....

Linda

"It's been pretty wet this year in our part of PA, and the heat was late in coming and hasn't been too extreme."

I am just trying to find the most likely explanation for the tough skins and absence of splitting, since neither is a trait Sun Gold has. Even if it is against our intuition there is an explanation somewhere. You mention it has been rather wet, but Sun Gold has a big appetite for water when it grows into a vigorous plant. The answer could be in Rain + irrigation = Fine for the other varieties, but Sun Gold doing so well that the plant demanded more than the rain and irrigation, although that was fine or even too much for the others. I am growing some plants in open containers (to rain) where I was hand watering. At first I gave all equal shots which averaged 10 quarts per week, skipping on significant rain days and reducing on cloudy, humid days. It became clear that this was not working for some varieties, and this was modified to 10 and 20 quarts per week.

I only say this because you had three symptoms that pointed to this:

Thick skin, no cracking, very sweet: all can occur with insufficient water ... basically you mentioned 3 for 3.

Granted with Sun Gold, very sweet might be what it is normally, but tomatoes get sweeter usually when they receive less water than could be applied healthily. Sun Sugar, which I suggested and was seconded by aegis has a thicker skin, so before I did that, I would try SG again if you liked them except for the skin, but try watering 1.5X the amount of the others assuming the Sun Gold plant gets vigorous.

Just my opinion but I hope that helps. Sun Gold is a special tomato and worth a second try!

Cheers

PC

edit: just noticed it was gorbelly's comment I replied to and not the OP's like I thought. So, we really would need to know how the OP handled the watering, but gorbelly's comment is well taken. There should be an explanation, and I suppose bad seed is not off the table, I just consider bad seed, subjectively, less likely.

"Thick skin, no cracking, very sweet: all can occur with insufficient water ... basically you mentioned 3 for 3."

FWIW, mine were not very sweet. But, as I said, I grew an OP selection from Baker Creek, not a hybrid.

I have a dozen black krim plants and they are very unruly. Even the branches at the top/ends are very thick. I have wire cages, bamboo support through the cages, and bamboo trellis that is screwed to the outside of the raised bed and they still collapsed the support. I try to pick them back up but the tangle of the leaves makes it very very challenging. I have since decided to try to do a horizontal trellis to support the branches once they fall over.

One plant seems to be hosting fruitworms. I have thrown out about two dozens tomatoes from that one. I sliced open most of them and found no internal signs of the worms, but I did find one on a branch. I took out all my anger and disappointment on that one. Anyway, good luck with trying to contain them. I suppose cattle panels or CRW would have more success than what I did.

They are my favorite tomato, hence having so many of them. The amount of fruit each bears is impressive. I usually clip them as they are mostly ripe as to not lose them to birds. I have no issues with them ripening indoors and I put them in my wine cooler, yes really, as the temp 58° seems to keep them good for quite some time.

I grow/plant in small R.Beds. I am using kinda my own rectangular cages ( ~ 3ft x 5ft) from cedar lumber. .They have at least one leg next to each plant , plus few more., all driven into ground So this makes a sturdy structure. I also do some weaving. The height of the cages is about 7ft at the final stage. From there on I just let the plants do their thing. I have found out that one stake per plant won't work , no matter how much you prune.

For longer rows , slanted trellis should be better than vertical, as plants would lean on it and get tangled. So need minimum tying up.

Sey

Finally a picture! Some Black Krim, a Brandy Boy and some Bloody Butcher. These are typical. Some of the BK and BB were 5".