Every once in awhile, I'll push the envelope and go for a longer season variety. Once in a great while, it pays dividends. Too much of a risk for more than one or two sacrificial plants though. I thought Earl's Faux was pretty darn close to the classic "old fashioned" taste we pursue when I've tried it. I really don't put much hope on big beefsteaks because our seasons are so predictably short -- this one being an odd exception. That's ok, I love experimenting with the diversity that is available in short and mid-season varieties.

My cut off for tomato DTM is around the 75 day mark. I think those are classified as "mid season" and usually they do pretty good. Even better is the 68 day mark, they almost always come through. Flavors of the "mid season" types are definitely better than the "earlys" I have grown, but perhaps not as good as a "late." Course I can't say I have had enough success with late varieties to make a judgment.

I was looking into 'prudens purple' last year, which, depending on who you ask, falls in that 68-75 day range. Might be worth a shot for a good beefsteak.

I grow Vorlon, which is a stabilized cross between Cherokee Purple and Pruden's Purple - that works pretty well here and has a good flavor and color. This year, I only grew Vorlon and Thessaloniki - Vorlon is definitely less tart.

Your number dtm guidelines are the same as mine but I will adventure beyond the pale, now and then. Pruden's Purple is defined worth growing, Zach.

I had it for 3 or 4 years, maybe longer. Finally, I decided that if Pruden's is a 68 day tomato, it must have never been told. I'd always have ripe tomatoes by the last week of the season. Sometimes, a week prior ...

Now, Pruden's Purple is really a pink and I did some reading about Earl's Faux. It's also a pink. I have a little theory about people and heirloom tomatoes. It's that lots of people have never eaten anything except soopermarket red. Trying one of the ever so popular pink heirlooms is like some drug with instant addiction. The euphoria is brought on both by the quality of the heirloom but also because having a pink tomato is a totally new experience. And, here's @jaliranchr saying "pretty darn close to the classic 'old fashioned' taste."

Somewhere else, Earl's Faux is said to have a flavor close to a red ..! Old fashioned suggests a red, to me. I guess I could imagine a pink beefsteak with a red beefsteak taste. It just hasn't been my experience. Too little experience ...

Steve

I'm in awe of what some of the breeders are achieving for mid-season varieties. Shorter season no longer means no flavor. There's some big flavor in some of these new introductions. Heirlooms are great and I make sure I have prairie heirlooms in the patch each year, but some of the new open-pollinated varieties are exceptional. Give these folks some time and I bet we see a doozy in the next few years that meets the 75-80 dtm, big meaty and flavorful beefsteak criteria. Some of the pictures I'm seeing are truly remarkable.

I grew only three varieties this year because I've not had much success with tomatoes in the past. I grew a patio variety (small, compact plant, unknown name), a Garden Peach which was a medium-size yellow tomato, and Big Rainbow. Of the three, the Big Rainbow have a slow maturation (80-102) and not a huge producer, but my gawd the fruit was delicious. Next year, I will probably only grow those. To die for!

Another trick I use, I grow determinate tomatoes. This is good for a couple reasons. First is my space limitations. I can grow 3 determinate ones in the same space as 2 indeterminate ones.

Second of all, say an indeterminate plant gives me a couple tomatoes a week. Starting at the 75 day mark, i might only have a few weeks left of the season so that amounts to only a handful of tomatoes (actual, scientific measurements here) from each plant by the time it's all said and done.

Determinate tomatoes on the other hand can give me a couple tomatoes a day from each plant and by combining different varieties, I can picks lots of tomatoes for several weeks.

I agree that some of these hybrids they are coming up with are a blessing to us short season folks. Like you Jali, I always make room for an interesting heirloom, but I like the reliability of the hybrids.

Too bad that prudens purple is a dud, part of me couldn't believe that 70 days story myself, which is why I didn't end up trying it lol.

Pruden's was a "happy result" but too limited a season for ripe tomatoes for me to make a permanent commitment to it. The dang spell checker came up with "defined" when I thought I was suggesting that it was "definitely" worth trying.

David's Vorlon as a cross between heirlooms is the sort of creation that looks to open a world of opportunities for gardeners. I've already sung praises to similar Gary O Sena on RMG. With so much room in my gardens, I thought I might experiment more. This is how to experience Happy Results! Lacking digital skills for hybridizing myself (insert rolling eyes) - I'm looking forward to happening on varieties and variations.

I've already just happened onto a couple over the years with the little Woodle Witz and the red Kellogg's Breakfast, which May Have stabilized as a red. I had one good season with a dehybridized Lemon Boy that a friend provided but head-to-head this year with the true Lemon Boy hybrid, it was overshadowed. I'm fully prepared to applaud the friend's efforts and will likely run them both together in 2016. Also, the good fellow sent me his cross between Marianna's Peace and Giant Syrian. Whoa! I'm pleased with the Happy Results from the one plant in the garden this year.

Steve

If I had more space, Steve, I would give pruden's a try. I only grow about 2-3 indeterminate plants in a special spot in the backyard. The "main garden" out front just doesn't have the space I need to grow everything I want haha. Last year I grew Arkansas traveler back there. It shouldn't come as a surprise (to me or anyone else) that I got a grand total of 0 (thats ze-ro, with a z) ripe tomatoes off that plant, though, the green ones I picked eventually ripened on the counter. This year I grew better boy. It produced okay, but, like many of my tomatoes this year, most of the flowers simply never set fruit. They all decided to open when it was 95* outside and just burned up. It is nothing short of a miracle that I got as many tomatoes as I did this year.

There is something to be said for "hybrid vigor" here I think. In my mind, it would seem that the gene pool for most heirloom plants is almost completely homozygous. Sure, they produce amazing fruit, but the production simply ain't there. Now, I know I garden as a hobby, but I would still like more than a couple tomatoes for all the work I put into them. Start crossing and hybridizing and we start to see some amazing results.

Your lemon boy experience I think attests to that perfectly. The "dehybridized" version has lost the hybrid vigor of the crossed version and, while it's great for saving seeds, it looses the benefits of having a heterozygous gene pool.

Here's an interesting article on hybrids vs. heirlooms from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/garden/24seeds.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1

I agree with the premise mostly, that a homegrown hybrid can be just as good tasting as a homegrown heirloom, but I do have to say that the orange blossom tomato pales in comparison for flavor that I got from last years Nebraska Wedding (comparing oranges to orange in this case). Too bad NW was a long season variety and extremely prone to BER, that 10 or so tomatoes I got off it were possibly the best tasting tomatoes I've ever had. It could also be all the water we got this year though.

Well, honestly, I can't say I've found a hybrid that gives that rich "old fashioned tomato flavor" either. Yes, they usually produce well, depending upon favorable environmental conditions. It depends on what you are seeking from a tomato, in the end. My pursuit is for flavor. I don't care about size -- if the flavor is there, consistently. If I sold for the market, I would want better production from some plants, or I would find better producers.

Yet, I cannot say, as a rule, that hybrids produce better simply because they are hybrids. It all depends on the variety and the environmental conditions. I have some open-pollinated plants that are pumping out fruit like there is no end in sight (and I still don't see frost in the extended forecast). Particularly, some of the newer introductions by modern breeders are remarkably productive and flavorful.

Recently, an old acquaintance looked at some of my pictures of the plants in my patch loaded with green fruit. She commented about how luscious all those green tomatoes looked for fried green tomatoes. That's not what I grow them for and she stopped making such comments when she saw pictures of the ripened fruit. Again, it all depends on your personal requirements and preferences. If I wanted nothing more than friend green tomatoes, I would plant hybrids for that alone.

One of my plant customers told me in the spring she just couldn't picture eating something other than a red tomato. I sold her traditionally red tomatoes, but took a few GWR and a couple of Indigo Apples fruits to her. She wants those plants next year. Perception also plays a factor for many.