Black Cherry?

If you live in NC, you definitely must try Cherokee Purple (or Indian Stripe, which is a more productive strain of CP). It does well there. Brandywine should do well there too. (It's rather late for me here in the north). A friend there recommends Beefmaster, and says that Sungold F1 always does well.

Methinks that it's too late for seeds, so you're probably stuck with what is available as plants. Hoping you have some decent nurseries there!

its not too late for seeds in NC....i just started some cherokees, brandywines, sungolds, and black cherries from seed here in VA. still got 6 months of growing season.

Sungold is a wonderful cherry tomato. It's the favorite of many. However, it is a hybrid.

There may be more than 1 Brandywine. The Brandywine pink...Suddeth strain is good....Seeds and Such.

I tried starting seeds and failed lol so I checked out the farmers market and we've got a really great selection so I should be able to get most popular heirlooms. I know they have Cherokee purple and Brandywine but I don't think they're any particular strain of Brandywine.

What about black krim? I saw lots of

Oh and I'm definitely not opposed to hybrids I just want to try out some heirlooms.

I like the sungold so I'm going to look into them!

Any ideas for early producing plant's? Opinions on ace 55?

I plant only heirlooms, mostly beefsteaks. I've found that my first tomato to produce fruit is the Mortgage Lifter. The one with best aroma, best tasting and most productive is Dester. I also grow Brandywine which has a much different taste than most tomatoes, which I love. But as already stated they do seem to produce a smaller crop than others.

I'm growing 11 different tomatoes this year, all from seed I saved from last years crop. In addition to 9 different beefsteaks I'm growing Kellogg's Breakfast a large productive yellow tomato, and yellow pear.

Last year I experimented with setting out tomato seedlings a month late, for me that's mid June. As I was hoping they didn't start producing till Sept 1. They produced the huge burst of large tomatoes that I've come to expect when the plant first starts producing. Surprisingly the blight which I've been fighting was also delayed a month. However I don't have the high heat and humidity that you may have.

If you want great tasting tomatoes don't over water, not every day.

I grow cherokee purple every year. Lovely flavor, but go mushy quickly after you pick! I stopped growing sungolds when I retired, cause I just had too many, and not enough people to give them away to! Never had any luck with brandywines.

I can only have 3 in my much smaller garden these days, so I'm pretty picky.

Nancyjane, you might like to look into Maglia Rosa. It's an early, compact plant that produces yummy 2" pink and green, bullet-shaped tomatoes. They are available from Artisan Seeds (the breeder), as well as some other seed companies.

My friends in NC also grew them last year. It was an incredibly wet year and other varieties didn't make it, but M.R. did :).

I like Black Krim. They've always been good producers for me with very large fruit and the taste is fantastic. They are not always the prettiest looking though. I also grow Black Cherry.

My favorite for flavor is Mortgage Lifter, my husband's is Great White. The white seedlings are more fragile, "pickier" about water than Mortgage Lifter is, but it's well worth the careful tending. After they are big enough to plant outside, they seem to "toughen up". This year I've started as seedlings:

12 Mortgage Lifter

12 Great White

6 Pineapple

6 Big Rainbow

6 Golden Jubilee (my daughter's favorite and makes neon orange soup, LOL)

3 Pruden's Purple (new for me)

3 Moonglow (new for me)

3 Djeena (new for me)

3 SunSugar (I usually grow Sungold, but was told the SunSugar doesn't crack as easily, but it's new for me)

3 Giraffe (supposedly will keep 5 months, we'll see, it's also new for me)

3 Tasmanian Chocolate (new for me)

3 Hillbilly (also new to me)

24 Rutgers (my standard canning tomato)

Yes, I plant old favorites, but I really like trying new types. Last year I grew Black Krim and they were the first to ripen, but I only got 3 or 4 tomatoes from each plant.

Annie

My Pink Brandywine generally produces a lot of tomatoes! they just don't often have enough time to ripen before they freeze. :o)

Annie, good luck with your new ones and let me know how the SunSugar is! I've heard the claim about it cracking less, but also heard it wasn't as sweet as Sungold.

Amy, if you're just looking for an heirloom that's different, how about Green Zebra? It's a smaller plant and I really like the look and taste.

Pink BW and CP have been my favs for several years now but I'm adding Cherokee Carbon, it did quite well last year so I saved the seed from it too. Not a cherry tomato fan but Sungold is the best choice.

Black cherry is a good choice for a cherry tomato. I also like Riesentraub - almost large fruit taste in a cherry tomato. Cherokee purple is great - another black tomato to consider is Carbon. It tends to be a bit larger and not so prone to splitting. I like the Sudduth strain the best of the Brandywines. Pruden's Purple is very tasty, but not very productive and an extremely late season producer. I'm also fond of a big pink beefsteak called Mexico. It's also hard to beat Eva Purple Ball. I grew it again last year after a several year hiatus and can't remember why I ever stopped growing it. It's not a big dramatic beefsteak, but it's still incredibly tasty and productive.