Well I can tell you it does fine in my summer 100+ degree heat and 90+ humidity and is no more susceptible to pest or disease issues then any of my other varieties.

But there are so many variables involved in successfully growing tomatoes and the specific variety isn't one of the main ones. So while we are always tempted to lay the problems off on the variety itself, the real problems are usually other issues.

Keep in mind that many Florida growers grow many of the thousand or so beefsteak varieties quite successfully so the odds are it is the type of growing conditions - planting time, soil, container size if applicable, feeding and watering regimen, etc. - that need to be re-evaluated.

You might want to post on the Florida Gardening forum and ask there which varieties, planting times, etc. folks there find most successful.

Dave

Thank you Dave, but Arizona and Florida are worlds apart in climate. I've found that there are a good many tomatoes that will grow in dryer or cooler climates that don't do well here. I did put a post up on FL gardening. Someone said when I planted it back in the winter that they had not had any luck with it, so maybe it's one of those varieties that just isn't made for FL. Since I'm treating it just like all my others, and they are doing well, I think that may well be the case.

It's entirely possible that it just doesn't do well there, as you say. I chuckled when you said Cherokee Purple is the only beefsteak you have real success with - it's one of the few that just will not do anything for me here. Frustrating.

Not sure what Arizona has to do with what I said. I'm in Arkansas and I don't think AZ ever has 90+ % humidity while it is common for me as I live on the shore of one of the country's biggest lakes.

That said, even in Arizona it is the growing conditions provided rather than the variety that determines success. Just think, if folks in Texas can grow Siberian varieties and folks in Canada can grow South Carolina bred varieties then variety isn't the issue. :-)

Dave

From all the review I have read at different times and places, I think that maybe there is more than just one strain of RC Mortgage Lifter. This can happen to OP varieties in a century. ML was bred in 1930s (?). JMO

Sey

There is a great difference in how varieties perform under different growing conditions. Dave has it all wrong. Dr Randy Gardner, retired NC State, has said that because of soil diseases the southeast cannot grow most heirloom varieties unless grafted onto resistant rootstock. He has also mentioned that some heirloom varieties do have small degrees of resistance to certain diseases. Mortgage Lifter may not be well suited to your area.

In the northeast it grows ok but I am not impressed with the fruits. Taste and fruit appearance are not much different than many hybrid red varieties that it just cannot compete with in production.

I tried both Mortgage Lifter and Park's Whopper.

Both had good taste (far from Brandywine's AWESOME taste, imho.)

Mortgage Lifter was more productive than Park's Whopper.

But the size of Park's Whopper fruits, was way bigger than Mortgage
Lifter.

I might plant them again.