My 2012 tomato reviews & pics

Cole_Robbie · September 6, 2012

I built a 14x48 poly hoop house over the winter and raised bedding plants to sell at the farmer’s market and to plant in my family’s gardens. We have gardened all my life and my grandparents have been successful market vendors for 35 years. But despite all of that, I never had any idea just how many different varieties of tomatoes exist. I am still a newbie in regard to being a connoisseur of heirlooms like a lot of people on this site.

I’m in Illinois zone 6, and my soil is largely unimproved clay. For container mix, I used two different pro mixes. The first was mostly pine bark fines, and the other was mostly peat. To the pro-mix, I added compost made from shrimp shells. For fertilizer, I used osmocote. I also fertilized when watering with a variety of other ferts, like molasses, bat guano, Alaskan fish, greensand. I still use chemical ferts to water container plants on occasion, but not very often. The in-ground plants got osmocote and greensand in the hole. I tried to fertigate, but had trouble getting the injector to work, so my “fertigation” was dumping buckets by hand. I bought the 'tomato fertilizer pack’ from Morgan County Seeds. It’s two part. One is 4-18-38. The other is Calcium Nitrate. They say to alternate each week, and I had good results with that.

Early Girl - The most popular tomato in my area, and the easiest plant to sell, because everyone knows the name. I know of a neighboring greenhouse owner who only grows this one variety. I was wary of what the taste would be like when grown in containers, so I only grew one big plant in a 5-gallon bucket. They were excellent, and I had bright red, vine-ripened tomatoes by the first week of May. I am going to put as many as I can fit into the greenhouse for next spring. Early Girl will be an 'always have’ in my garden. The one criticism I have is that the tomatoes are small. It seems to go berserk setting new fruit, and there are just too many for them to get big.

Bush Early Girl - I could not tell much of a difference. I had two of these in 2-gallon pots. They set fewer fruit, but the fruit was bigger. I won’t bother with this one again.

Early Doll - It attempts to compete with Early Girl by advertising a lower number of days to maturity. I had all my early plants together, and the Early Girl outperformed them all. Early Doll was a smaller plant and had small egg-shaped fruit. Waste of time.

Early Treat - same as Early Doll. It’s a wanna-be Early Girl that isn’t and another 'never again’ for me.

Goliath - The plant grows like a weed, and people buying plants like the name. I just don’t like the flavor of the tomato, though. I had some splitting, but the lack of flavor alone was enough for me to not want to grow this one again.

Container’s Choice & Patio f1 - I’m going to lump these two together, because the plants looked exactly the same to me. They grow in a squat, compact, thick-stemmed fashion that plant-buyers love. They look very different from other seedlings. I kind of wonder if they got treated with some sort of growth hormone? I sold a ton of these plants, and thankfully I kept one Container’s Choice to grow for myself. It was a picture-perfect plant in a 2-gallon container with a tremendous amount of big and pretty tomatoes. It was too good to be true, though, as the taste of the tomatoes was absolutely disgusting. It was tasteless, mealy mush. Even though they are great sellers, I won’t order these again.

Tumbling Tom & Tumbler - two other varieties that I can’t tell apart. They look beautiful in hanging baskets, simply as flowering plants. They bloom profusely. Unfortunately, I don’t like the tomatoes they produce. They are not nearly as bad as the container’s choice, but the marble-sized fruit is just skin and juice. I could see some people liking the taste, and because they are so well-suited to hanging baskets, I will order these again.

Terrenzo - this is my pick for a container tomato. I had them in hanging baskets, and they are not well-suited to a container that small. Next year, I will put them in at least 2-gallon pots. Terrenzo is the only container tomato I had that I actually liked to eat. I will order these again

Bitonto - this one is my “mini” pick. I could fit two of them in a 6x12 planter and they did not seem to want more space. I did not try the cherry fruit it produces, but friends I gave plants to told me it was agreeable. These were good sellers, and I will order again.

here's a bitonto going into a planter:

Tiny Tim - another micro variety. I had a lot of seedlings, but it was at the very end of my spring season, and they got Early Blight badly enough for me to toss most of them. I liked Bitonto better, anyway.

Pink Brandywine - I ordered all my Brandywine seeds from Morgan County Seeds. Their wholesale source is Seeds by Design. For pink bw, it says “probably from the Ben Quisenberry collection.” Whatever it is, I like it a lot. It’s my favorite tomato, and next year I want to try every other type of pink bw I can get.

Black and Pink BW with a tomatillo:

Yellow Brandywine - Great flavor, somewhat less yield than the pink, but seemed to catch up later. I will definitely try this one again. I might try grafting it next spring. I read Carolyn post on here that “platfoot” yellow bw has less cat-facing. I will try that one, as some of my yellow bw fruit were too irregular to make sandwich slices.

Red Brandywine - I had the potato-leafed one that seeds by design sells. That’s all I know. It was my girlfriend’s favorite, but I think that’s because it was the only red heirloom I had, and she just likes red tomatoes. I will try a different red bw next year; I think I can do better.

Black Brandywine - Yuck! Why does this tomato exist when there is Cherokee Purple? It’s the only bw I don’t like. None of my family did, either. I won’t order again.

Mr Stripey - He is no friend of mine; this was my biggest waste of space. Maybe I don’t like striped tomatoes, but I won’t grow this one again. I got about four tomatoes that I had to share with the deer, who seem to pick out Mr. Stripey and Brandywine before they ate anything else.

Black Cherry - It seems like everybody likes this one except me. Maybe I just don’t like cherry tomatoes. I will still raise them to sell, though. The plants in my mom’s garden are eight foot tall giants. They look like landscaping hedges.

Cherokee Purple - a tough sell to people who are used to red tomatoes. I like it well enough to grow it again. It is a good conversation piece on a table of plants for sale.

Polbig - A decent-tasting tomato and good producer. Mine got bacterial speck, but that was probably my fault for letting the vines lay on the ground.

Sub-Artic Plenty - We had a brutal frost that killed all of our early plants except this one. Everything was covered in thick frost almost all night. I have no idea how this plant lived, but it did live up to it’s name. Otherwise, it is a very ordinary red tomato.

Pompeii Roma - I got the seeds at a Worm’s Way in Nashville, It is a horn-shaped heirloom. Yield was tremendous, as was the flavor of the sauce I made with it. This one is my pick for a sauce tomato, and I plan to order it every year.

Pompeii:

Pompeii's on the grill:

Beaver Lodge - this was my surprise hit. I had most of my yield from this variety. The taste is pretty good. It came out this year that the consistent-color gene modification is what makes modern hybrid tomatoes not be sweet; beaver lodge does not turn color evenly. The top stays a little green. I wonder if that relates to why the taste is good.

My list of new varieties I want to try next year:
Platfoot yellow brandywine
Every pink bw I can find: cowlick’s, otv, glick;s, sudduth’s, pawer’s
Lemon Boy
Big Beef
Estiva
Bella Rose
Brandy Boy
Mule Team
Carbon Copy
Celebrity
Ramapo
Liz Birt
Bear Creek
German Johnson
Purple Dog Creek
Barlow Jap
Giant Belgium

Here are more pics of the tomatoes I took to market:

halleone · September 6, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Black Cherry - It seems like everybody likes this one except me. Maybe I just don’t like cherry tomatoes. I will still raise them to sell, though. The plants in my mom’s garden are eight foot tall giants. They look like landscaping hedges.

Very nice run down and the ones you took to market look really nice.

I am with you on the Black Cherry; after eating them a few times, I went out and cut the plant down!

gixxerific · September 6, 2012

Nice looking tomatoes there. Love the hoop house too.

You have some nice ones for next year. You will love the Cowlicks and Sudduth BW's. German Johnson and Giant belgium are also great. Can't speak for the rest.

Good luck

pugfrog · November 4, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by halleone

Very nice run down and the ones you took to market look really nice.

I am with you on the Black Cherry; after eating them a few times, I went out and cut the plant down!

You are joking?!

?

halleone · November 4, 2012

Nope

.

Texas Blues · September 7, 2012

Wow! Those roma's on the grill look especially fantastic. Next year I'll be growing roma's exclusively. Perhaps I should consider pompeii.

Cole_Robbie · September 7, 2012

Thanks, guys.

My romas always get blossom end rot. The pompeiis got it on the very first tomatoes, but then seemed to grow out of it. For me, it was the only heirloom I had that yielded as much or more than hybrids.

Texas Blues · September 7, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Thanks, guys.

My romas always get blossom end rot. The pompeiis got it on the very first tomatoes, but then seemed to grow out of it. For me, it was the only heirloom I had that yielded as much or more than hybrids.

Heirloom? I thought the pompeii to be a F1 hybrid?

Cole_Robbie · September 7, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Blues

Heirloom? I thought the pompeii to be a F1 hybrid?

Crap, you're right! I just talked to Worm's Way. They buy from Rene's.

The old-time looking package got me:

http://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/pa...to-pompeii.htm

I stopped reading after "imported from Italy" and "traditional." But the next sentence says "endowed with new hybrid vigor." No wonder they yielded like a hybrid - they were one.

Thanks for catching that.

And thanks for the info, riceke.

Texas Blues · September 8, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Crap, you're right! I just talked to Worm's Way. They buy from Rene's.

The old-time looking package got me:

http://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/pa...to-pompeii.htm

I stopped reading after "imported from Italy" and "traditional." But the next sentence says "endowed with new hybrid vigor." No wonder they yielded like a hybrid - they were one.

Thanks for catching that.

And thanks for the info, riceke.

I actually have you to thank. I went and did a little research looking for the pompeii and then came upon a san marzano gigante that really sparked my interest. Both the pompeii and gigante are now on my priority list for next spring and I have you to thank for both!

riceke · September 7, 2012

I grew Big Beef Hyb and Bella Rosa last year. Big big beautiful tomatoes, strong plants altho Big Beef was a larger plant. Flavor was pretty good. They lasted into late summer but the maladies finally got 'em with the exception of one Bella Rosa that struggled to the end. Grew Mule Team this year and was about the same size fruit and plant but was a better tasting tomato. Also Arkansas Traveler this year that is still putting out tomatoes (even though the stink bugs are attacking the fruit) in this hot humid climate. It really didn't stop flowering or producing. I am really impressed with it and will keep it as a mainstay tomato. German Johnson was a huge shrub for me last year that never seemed to be bothered by disease. It stayed green till frost but I only got a few but huge tomatoes of it. Celebrity from past years for me, always reliable, produced average size fruit until late summer and then got smaller. Also Abraham Lincoln isn't a bad variety for weathering the heat. Nice size fruit.

meadowyck · September 9, 2012

Incredible looking tomatoes, and I especially love the grilled tomatoes pic. LOL

casino · November 3, 2012

The farmers market near me sells a boat load of Lemon Boy plants. Its a hot seller (some people think yellow is acid free) It is a vigorous plant and produces a ton of tomatoes starting mid season right up to frost. People like that productivity. The tomatoes are a "perfect" clear yellow with no cracking or blemishes. Lots of gardeners around me grow it but for me I wont touch it. The flavor is very bland and taseless but perfect looking. The plants sell like hot potatoes and the fruit sells at local markets, but its not for me. For a plant to be grown for market its a winner.

Cole_Robbie · November 3, 2012

Thanks. I was guessing that would be the case. I will probably grow Big Beef and Lemon Boy as market tomatoes, then have a separate garden of heirlooms that are the ones I eat for myself.

roper2008 · November 4, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by casino

The farmers market near me sells a boat load of Lemon Boy plants. Its a hot seller (some people think yellow is acid free) It is a vigorous plant and produces a ton of tomatoes starting mid season right up to frost. People like that productivity. The tomatoes are a "perfect" clear yellow with no cracking or blemishes. Lots of gardeners around me grow it but for me I wont touch it. The flavor is very bland and taseless but perfect looking. The plants sell like hot potatoes and the fruit sells at local markets, but its not for me. For a plant to be grown for market its a winner.

I though Lemon Boy was bland too. It was a good producer
with pretty tomatoes..I have a few seeds left that I kept
because I might grow it again in the future.

September 6, 2012	#1
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	My 2012 tomato reviews & pics I built a 14x48 poly hoop house over the winter and raised bedding plants to sell at the farmer’s market and to plant in my family’s gardens. We have gardened all my life and my grandparents have been successful market vendors for 35 years. But despite all of that, I never had any idea just how many different varieties of tomatoes exist. I am still a newbie in regard to being a connoisseur of heirlooms like a lot of people on this site. I’m in Illinois zone 6, and my soil is largely unimproved clay. For container mix, I used two different pro mixes. The first was mostly pine bark fines, and the other was mostly peat. To the pro-mix, I added compost made from shrimp shells. For fertilizer, I used osmocote. I also fertilized when watering with a variety of other ferts, like molasses, bat guano, Alaskan fish, greensand. I still use chemical ferts to water container plants on occasion, but not very often. The in-ground plants got osmocote and greensand in the hole. I tried to fertigate, but had trouble getting the injector to work, so my “fertigation” was dumping buckets by hand. I bought the 'tomato fertilizer pack’ from Morgan County Seeds. It’s two part. One is 4-18-38. The other is Calcium Nitrate. They say to alternate each week, and I had good results with that. Early Girl - The most popular tomato in my area, and the easiest plant to sell, because everyone knows the name. I know of a neighboring greenhouse owner who only grows this one variety. I was wary of what the taste would be like when grown in containers, so I only grew one big plant in a 5-gallon bucket. They were excellent, and I had bright red, vine-ripened tomatoes by the first week of May. I am going to put as many as I can fit into the greenhouse for next spring. Early Girl will be an 'always have’ in my garden. The one criticism I have is that the tomatoes are small. It seems to go berserk setting new fruit, and there are just too many for them to get big. Bush Early Girl - I could not tell much of a difference. I had two of these in 2-gallon pots. They set fewer fruit, but the fruit was bigger. I won’t bother with this one again. Early Doll - It attempts to compete with Early Girl by advertising a lower number of days to maturity. I had all my early plants together, and the Early Girl outperformed them all. Early Doll was a smaller plant and had small egg-shaped fruit. Waste of time. Early Treat - same as Early Doll. It’s a wanna-be Early Girl that isn’t and another 'never again’ for me. Goliath - The plant grows like a weed, and people buying plants like the name. I just don’t like the flavor of the tomato, though. I had some splitting, but the lack of flavor alone was enough for me to not want to grow this one again. Container’s Choice & Patio f1 - I’m going to lump these two together, because the plants looked exactly the same to me. They grow in a squat, compact, thick-stemmed fashion that plant-buyers love. They look very different from other seedlings. I kind of wonder if they got treated with some sort of growth hormone? I sold a ton of these plants, and thankfully I kept one Container’s Choice to grow for myself. It was a picture-perfect plant in a 2-gallon container with a tremendous amount of big and pretty tomatoes. It was too good to be true, though, as the taste of the tomatoes was absolutely disgusting. It was tasteless, mealy mush. Even though they are great sellers, I won’t order these again. Tumbling Tom & Tumbler - two other varieties that I can’t tell apart. They look beautiful in hanging baskets, simply as flowering plants. They bloom profusely. Unfortunately, I don’t like the tomatoes they produce. They are not nearly as bad as the container’s choice, but the marble-sized fruit is just skin and juice. I could see some people liking the taste, and because they are so well-suited to hanging baskets, I will order these again. Terrenzo - this is my pick for a container tomato. I had them in hanging baskets, and they are not well-suited to a container that small. Next year, I will put them in at least 2-gallon pots. Terrenzo is the only container tomato I had that I actually liked to eat. I will order these again Bitonto - this one is my “mini” pick. I could fit two of them in a 6x12 planter and they did not seem to want more space. I did not try the cherry fruit it produces, but friends I gave plants to told me it was agreeable. These were good sellers, and I will order again. here's a bitonto going into a planter: Tiny Tim - another micro variety. I had a lot of seedlings, but it was at the very end of my spring season, and they got Early Blight badly enough for me to toss most of them. I liked Bitonto better, anyway. Pink Brandywine - I ordered all my Brandywine seeds from Morgan County Seeds. Their wholesale source is Seeds by Design. For pink bw, it says “probably from the Ben Quisenberry collection.” Whatever it is, I like it a lot. It’s my favorite tomato, and next year I want to try every other type of pink bw I can get. Black and Pink BW with a tomatillo: Yellow Brandywine - Great flavor, somewhat less yield than the pink, but seemed to catch up later. I will definitely try this one again. I might try grafting it next spring. I read Carolyn post on here that “platfoot” yellow bw has less cat-facing. I will try that one, as some of my yellow bw fruit were too irregular to make sandwich slices. Red Brandywine - I had the potato-leafed one that seeds by design sells. That’s all I know. It was my girlfriend’s favorite, but I think that’s because it was the only red heirloom I had, and she just likes red tomatoes. I will try a different red bw next year; I think I can do better. Black Brandywine - Yuck! Why does this tomato exist when there is Cherokee Purple? It’s the only bw I don’t like. None of my family did, either. I won’t order again. Mr Stripey - He is no friend of mine; this was my biggest waste of space. Maybe I don’t like striped tomatoes, but I won’t grow this one again. I got about four tomatoes that I had to share with the deer, who seem to pick out Mr. Stripey and Brandywine before they ate anything else. Black Cherry - It seems like everybody likes this one except me. Maybe I just don’t like cherry tomatoes. I will still raise them to sell, though. The plants in my mom’s garden are eight foot tall giants. They look like landscaping hedges. Cherokee Purple - a tough sell to people who are used to red tomatoes. I like it well enough to grow it again. It is a good conversation piece on a table of plants for sale. Polbig - A decent-tasting tomato and good producer. Mine got bacterial speck, but that was probably my fault for letting the vines lay on the ground. Sub-Artic Plenty - We had a brutal frost that killed all of our early plants except this one. Everything was covered in thick frost almost all night. I have no idea how this plant lived, but it did live up to it’s name. Otherwise, it is a very ordinary red tomato. Pompeii Roma - I got the seeds at a Worm’s Way in Nashville, It is a horn-shaped heirloom. Yield was tremendous, as was the flavor of the sauce I made with it. This one is my pick for a sauce tomato, and I plan to order it every year. Pompeii: Pompeii's on the grill: Beaver Lodge - this was my surprise hit. I had most of my yield from this variety. The taste is pretty good. It came out this year that the consistent-color gene modification is what makes modern hybrid tomatoes not be sweet; beaver lodge does not turn color evenly. The top stays a little green. I wonder if that relates to why the taste is good. My list of new varieties I want to try next year: Platfoot yellow brandywine Every pink bw I can find: cowlick’s, otv, glick;s, sudduth’s, pawer’s Lemon Boy Big Beef Estiva Bella Rose Brandy Boy Mule Team Carbon Copy Celebrity Ramapo Liz Birt Bear Creek German Johnson Purple Dog Creek Barlow Jap Giant Belgium Here are more pics of the tomatoes I took to market: Last edited by Cole_Robbie; November 4, 2012 at 01:16 AM.

September 7, 2012	#11
riceke Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Snellville, GA Posts: 346	I grew Big Beef Hyb and Bella Rosa last year. Big big beautiful tomatoes, strong plants altho Big Beef was a larger plant. Flavor was pretty good. They lasted into late summer but the maladies finally got 'em with the exception of one Bella Rosa that struggled to the end. Grew Mule Team this year and was about the same size fruit and plant but was a better tasting tomato. Also Arkansas Traveler this year that is still putting out tomatoes (even though the stink bugs are attacking the fruit) in this hot humid climate. It really didn't stop flowering or producing. I am really impressed with it and will keep it as a mainstay tomato. German Johnson was a huge shrub for me last year that never seemed to be bothered by disease. It stayed green till frost but I only got a few but huge tomatoes of it. Celebrity from past years for me, always reliable, produced average size fruit until late summer and then got smaller. Also Abraham Lincoln isn't a bad variety for weathering the heat. Nice size fruit. __________________ *Ken*

September 9, 2012	#12
meadowyck Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooksville, FL Posts: 1,001	Incredible looking tomatoes, and I especially love the grilled tomatoes pic. LOL __________________ Jan “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” -Theodore Roosevelt

September 6, 2012	#3
gixxerific Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: in the gutter, with my mouth Posts: 123	Nice looking tomatoes there. Love the hoop house too. You have some nice ones for next year. You will love the Cowlicks and Sudduth BW's. German Johnson and Giant belgium are also great. Can't speak for the rest. Good luck

November 4, 2012	#5
halleone Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Walla Walla, Washington Posts: 360	Nope .

September 7, 2012	#6
Texas Blues Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Republic of Texas Posts: 35	Wow! Those roma's on the grill look especially fantastic. Next year I'll be growing roma's exclusively. Perhaps I should consider pompeii.

November 3, 2012	#13
casino Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Southfield, Michigan Posts: 318	The farmers market near me sells a boat load of Lemon Boy plants. Its a hot seller (some people think yellow is acid free) It is a vigorous plant and produces a ton of tomatoes starting mid season right up to frost. People like that productivity. The tomatoes are a "perfect" clear yellow with no cracking or blemishes. Lots of gardeners around me grow it but for me I wont touch it. The flavor is very bland and taseless but perfect looking. The plants sell like hot potatoes and the fruit sells at local markets, but its not for me. For a plant to be grown for market its a winner.