It may seem odd but when I grew Early Girl I had various larger fruiting varieties ripening sooner. Big Beef and First Prize are both early yielding for their fruit size. I would give either of them a chance.

Yeah, environment seems to affect earliness differently in different varieties.

But a lot of people grow the following for earliness: Stupice, Moravsky Div, Bloody Butcher, Clear Pink Early, Matina.

Many others grow varieties that come in just a little bit later but are just much better in taste so worth the wait. These include Eva Purple Ball, some of the earlier heart varieties, Azoychka, etc.

Many threads on this. Here's what a Google search on gardenweb pulled up for me: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=site%3Agardenweb.com%20early%20tomatoes

Thanks for the info

I grew Early Girl 3 year ago. It was not that early (in my garden ) and it was not very tasty. If you can wait another 10 days I would suggest BIG BEEF.

From Gorbelly's list I have grown Stupice, Matina and Bloody Butcher , I liked BB for earliness and taste but I preferred bigger fruits. Siletz fit the bill.e

Sey

PS: I will try a different strain of Stupice in 2017,

Agree with the others. I never found Early Girl to be early. More like mid-season. There are numerous "early" varieties that truly are early producers. I'm partial to Kimberly, Siletz, and Matina.

Dave

Thanks dave and all for your input

I second 4th of July. It is early and tasted good in my garden.

Sery

And 4th of July will set fruit in any conditions, I have found this time growing it. It is pretty tasty as well.

Here's one

And some more

The plants produce like crazy. I haven't grown too many varieties, but this is a keeper for me.

Seems like this discussion has shifted from OP. Although I agree with reviews and grow many Fourth of July, Matina and Early Treats, these are in a separate very early class of tomatoes. Fruits seldom exceed 2 oz. golfball size. Early Girl at 4-5 oz. is in the slicer category so when looking for a replacement I would at least expect a replacement of similar or larger size. Many cherry/grape varieties are very early too but they too do not fit the category of Early Girl.

Siletz fits the bill, Barrie. It is the only early type that I have grown with 4-6 oz fruits. It is OP ( not hybrid ) so you can save your own seeds. It is an OSU breeds and does well in cool climates.

Sey

I grow Early Girl in pots - may be part of the reason it forms fruit so much earlier than other "earlies".

I use the pots to control water, not earliness. In central Ohio, I am imitating San Francisco's "dry farming of Early Girl", which can produce the greatest tasting tomato in the garden. When it does not get enough water, all the taste of a bigger tomato concentrates in an EG fruit which is only the size of Stupice or Bloody Butcher. The flavor is fabulous.

Bl.Bu. and Stupice appear to be identical to each other in both plant and fruit, except the Bl.Bu.(Burpee Seed) was earlier.

Of 5 Stupices, none was early. Taste was only OK. Never again. May have had a bad strain, but it is not special enough to try again. Threw seeds away.

Bloody Butcher was early, but later than Early Girl. Considered repeating it, but not as good or as early as EG and my other earlies.

4TH of July tastes OK, but is not as early as potted EG here. And not as tasty as when EG is dry farmed. Never again. Gave seeds away.

Early Girl is a TOUGH tomato. That is why it is the only cultivar that they dry-farm. The others could not stand the abuse.

Another thing about EG that some people forget is that its cold-tolerance lets it fruit 2-3 weeks later in the fall than most others. You get fruit 3 weeks earlier than the great beefstakes, and you get at least 2 extra weeks of fruit in the fall: 5+ more weeks of tomato eating.

In my gardens, EG, Jaune Flamme, and both Suns are all earlier than Stupice, Bloody Butcher, and 4th of July. And they taste much better, including dry-farmed EG. (With normal water, EG is not a taste winner.)

Also Jaune Flamme is the only non-cherry yellow tomato that I have ever thought tastes wonderful. Also it is a heavy producer and produces very late, giving me 4.5 months of eating it (z6a).

Don't give up on EG. I found the alternatives to be very inferior.

Tarolli, while your experiences may be different so are your methods. I have trouble believing that you prefer the flavor of EG to the Suns regardless of how you grow. I'd be interested to hear from others who tried other early varieties in the Burpee line like First Lady, First Prize or New Girl. I mentioned before that Big Beef produced before EG for me but so did Parks Whopper, Sweet Seedless and Sweet Cluster.

I wonder since you are pot growing if you are growing Bush Early Girl, a determinate variety unrelated to Early Girl. IMO neither is exceptional but I've heard more favorble comments on BEG than EG over the last 10 years.

You are right about EGs taste when in the ground. There are much better tasting tomatoes, but not early ones. (The Big Beefs that I have tasted are no better tasting than EG.) I read about dry farming, which I cannot do the same way they do it there, but the taste is still so fabulous. I have heard that dry-farmed EG's sell for $10-12/lb at farmers' mkts in San Francisco, and people drive miles to find them. The fruit is actually labeled by the cultivar name because people there are so anxious to buy EG (dry-farmed). The cultivar is so tough and strong that it can handle being mistreated to concentrate the taste so much.

But even in the ground, EGs have such toughness and produce so long in the fall that I have completely given up looking for a different early tomato. (I often pick EG off the vine in mid Dec, with only my unheated greenhouse for protection.)

I used to grow all the early tomatoes in pots so I could give them away when the "good" tomatoes start producing. But EG was too big for a 3 gallon pot, which is the largest amount of potting soil that I give away. The EGs were wilting between waterings. Lo and behold, they started giving very, very small tomatoes with a fabulous taste. I had accidentally discovered an East Coast dry farm technique. If I had not heard about how wonderful EG is with little water, I would have guessed that I had a different cultivar.

I get a lot of BER with the uneven watering, but that is OK because EG is so very productive that there are tons of fruit, and the non-BER part of each damaged fruit is still fabulous. I am testing to measure the different amounts of water that will concentrate the taste of the fruit w/o getting BER, and I am testing different treatments of cal-mag to reduce BER. At 71 years old, I will never get near to doing this right. I hope some of the rest of you want to work on it, too. It is worthwhile.

Because of its earliness, late fall production, toughness, productivity, OK taste for an early, and fabulous taste when dry-farmed, I totally gave up testing any other early tomatoes.

Barrie in central PA: I got my BA at Penn State over 50 years ago. I have noticed from your posts that you are an expert. Are you at the Univ.? In horticulture? Have wondered about this for a while.

Bush EG: I grew a Bush EG to test for taste. Very good. I have seed of it to grow for people who need a small plant. (I grow about 400 seedlings to give away each spring.) But I doubt if any other cultivar could tolerate the stress that EG takes to produce those fabulous tiny nuggets of heaven. I believe that they have tested other cultivars out west. I am just trying to copy their skill in the east. I cannot try any other cultivar at dry-farming. I am too old.

And even if you put EG in the ground w/o withholding water, it is a great tomato. When someone says "just give me only one tomato plant" and they don't want a cherry, they get EG.

It appears that you are convinced that the dry farming method is best and I can't argue that all tomatoes taste better when weather is hot. I cut open a few fruits from time to time with blossom end rot and I can't recommend that anyone should eat any part of those fruits.

I'm not an expert by any means. I got my degrees at PSU and worked there for 35 years, but it's only since I retired 9 years ago that I began to grow hundreds of tomato varieties and really acquire a reputation for selling some great flavored ones. I have a few customers who have resided in San Francisco area and to my surprise they all tell me that California tomatoes are not near as good as Pennsylvania tomatoes. That might explain why some west coast growers are adopting other methods.

Congrats on still growing crops at your age. Keep doing it as long as you can.

Lars, I have Moravsky Div (a version of Stupice, I understand). I have not compared them with Early Girl for taste, but I think they are pretty good, small and tasty, and an OP. Let me know if you would like some.

Linda

Yes I would like some of your seat how can I get your address so I can send a self-addressed envelope I forgot how to go to your profile and see if I can message you help me out thank you

click on my icon and go to "messages". That ought to work!

Linda

Lars, I think you need to go to your profile and click on "edit my settings" "advanced settings" and allow anyone to message you. So that I can reply.

Labradors - I've checked my messages and dond see any thing from you since last February text me 928 243 8362

Lars, check your messages. It "said" it went through..... And another one sent 1/7/17 :)

Linda

Glacier is early and productive, and tasty, to me. I thought the taste was similar to Matina, when I grew them together.

If I were going to try dry farming, I would plant Extreme Dwarf Bush. It takes neglects and abuse like no other.

To message each other you need to follow each other first I believe.

That's not the case for me. People message me whom I don't follow, and I've messaged other people I don't follow.