2016 Tomato and Pepper Reviews

[Kazedwards]

I thought I would start this tread for everyone to post reviews of the tomatoes and peppers that they are growing this year. Good or bad let's hear about it.


-Zach

[Kazedwards]

I am growing 32 varieties of tomatoes, 4 dwarf tomato project plants and 11 peppers. I haven't made up my mind on most of them. A few I have though.
Mamie Brown's Pink is one that has done very well. The plant was very sturdy up until it got overloaded with fruit that taste very good. It is also one of my healthier plants. Only problem has been cracking but that has been an issue with all of my plants.


I also have a plant that was supposed to be Siletz but the fruit do not match. Never the less it has been my most productive to date. It has small round salad type fruits. The taste is not great but bad either. It was nice to have before the others started to kick in. I'm not sure if I will save seeds for myself or not. If anyone wants some PM me and I will save them.


Goose Creek was one of our favorites last year and is again this year. It was one of my first bigger tomatoes to ripen this year. It was also the first tomato that I actually liked. It has great taste in my opinion and a good size. It also produces decent here.

Speckled Roman has been my problem child. It has the most disease out of all my plants. I think it might be blight. It is still chugging along but now it is have problems with BER too. It's a dud this year for me. I will try it again next year maybe.


-Zach

[Yak54]

I've been picking Stump of the World fruit from the 3 plants I have and really enjoy the taste. Also have been picking Dr. Lyle tomatoes the past few days and really think they taste good. I wish Dr. Lyle was more productive though, cause I'm only getting 7 or 8 fruit per plant. I'm about to start eating the 5 or 6 Cowlick's Brandywine fruit I have picked so far from the 3 plants in my garden this year. Also I should be picking 2 or 3 fruits from my Orange Russian 117 plants in the next day or two that look like they are about ripe. I'm exited to try these as I've never grown them before. And I've been eating Momotaro & Odoriko tomatoes for the last week or so. Can't decide which one I like better between these two. And my Riesentraube plant has started putting out ripe fruit in the last few days. I'm trying to determine between the Sun Gold plant & the Riesentraube plant which one I think taste better. The Sun Gold starts producing several weeks earlier than the Riesentraube but seems more prone to disease. So I'm at the early stage of the tomato growing season and should be picking till early October. Today is BLT day with a large Sweet Ozark Orange, and some Dr. Lyle & Stump of the World tomatoes as the main course. This is the time of year that I look forward to .

[seaeagle]

I will attempt to review these tomatoes, i think I have tasted all of them now.First the growing conditions.Cool wet spring, stayed cooler longer than it normally does.Then it it got wicked hot humid and dry and still that way with a couple of days of heavy rains so splitting was a problem.Good weather to see what really stands up to less than ideal conditions.


Whole garden mulched using the no till method and no sprays or pesticides of any kind.All natural amendments.

Jet Star-Whoever bred this one deserves a lot of credit.Just picked a dozen off one plant.No splitting, ripened all the way through.Kept flowering and producing right thru the heat.Nothing short of a hurricane will stop this one.

Eva Purple Ball-One of the best all around tomatoes ever.Great heirloom taste, no splitting, kept producing in the heat. Picked 4 off one plant today.This tomato seems to peak in October when the others are going downhill and ripen from green to blood red or purple? easily.Usually eating EPB in late December, sometimes early Jan.When I give tomatoes away and this includes Cherokee Purple they always say how good that little pink one was.

Cherokee Purple- I think this is the most complex beautiful best tasting tomato tomato ever.Still set a few in the heat but slowed down some.All are smooth here but have some different shapes.Not bad shapes but not all round beefsteaks although most are .

Carbon-Identical to Cherokee Purple in my garden.Different growth habit but basically the same tomato.Larger at first and earlier and more uniform in shape.Will always grow both.

Indian Stripe Potato Leaf- A very good tomato, but lacks the complexity of a Cherokee Purple or Carbon.Odd pointy tomatoes on one plant.May try a different seed source.

Paul Robeson- Doesn't like hot and humid.The taste is good, but not worth the space.

Marianna's Conflict- Huge out of control plant.. With the weather and competing with the worms and bugs it is a challenge to get a good ripe one from this one.The ones I did get were outstanding and still more to come as it set tomatoes well in the heat.Great taste and had a taste that lingered on your taste buds long after you finished it.Huge tomatoes also..

Pruden's Purple-Grows and sets beautiful pink tomatoes.Great for sauces as they don't seem to be all that juicy.Eating them fresh they taste a little sour to me but fine in a salad.

Earl's Faux-Large early set of tomatoes, about 25 I think then completely shut down in the heat and still shut down as far as producing flowers but picked 2 today.The first couple I ate were sweet and sour.Then they started getting better and they are every bit as good as a lot say they are.Sweet with a beautiful bite.Much better than Pruden's Purple IMO

Giallo De Summer-Not worth the space

Bulgarian Red Giant-excellent classic old time tomato taste, these tomatoes get huge too.Really late.

Rutgers- Usually a dependable heavy producer but I think the weather even affected this one this summer.Still some tomatoes but not like the past when sometimes I would wish they would slow down some.May replace these with some Jet Star and Eva's Purple Ball next year.

I think that's all

[Gardeneer]

Interesting. I like threads like this. We can learn and benefit others experience and reviews.

I , myself, am having a delayed season. But I can tell the ones that have been doing better and the ones that have been disappointment:
First the bad news . The following were disappintments:
== NEW BIG DWARF , OLD GERMAN , DANIEL BURSON, RIESENTRAUBE, BOXCAR WILLIE, DWARF PURPLE HEAT.

Good news :
== BLACK FROM TULA, CP, ISRL, INDIGO APPLE, SILVERY FIR TREE, SAKHARNYI ZHELTYI OREGON SPRING , AZOYCHKA , BIG BEEF. In general dark varieties are doing much better than red.

I also have several on the fence : BETTER BOY, BIG BOY, SILETZ , ANANAS NOIRE.

i will come back later and update my review.
Here is my first mini harvest .
aug 12- mini harvest.jpg
Azoychka, Silvery Fir Tree plus some cherries

[Ricky Shaw]

What's Hot: Crnkovic Yugoslavian, a rich and meaty pink with a tinge of sweetness, and Rebel Yell with a nice mingling of sweet and tart. Both are manageable indeterminates in containers with good production and tolerated dry heat well.

What's Not: Paul Robeson most of all on taste, I just don't get the dark's in general and this one less than most. Certainly it's me, my taste buds or growing method, but Paul's not going to be doing an encore.

Of Special Note: Are those Orange Russian #117, they catch everyone's eye who goes into the garden. Comments, comments, comments! They taste great too and will also be coming back.

[Cole_Robbie]

Ricky, you might like Tasmanian Chocolate. I've never had a bad one, whether from a container or the ground.

Also, if you got the Paul Robeson from me, those seeds are not stable, which I didn't know until this year. So maybe you didn't get the real Paul Robeson.

[Gardenboy]

I have plenty of Paul Robeson seeds if you need any. The black varieties do very well in our humid, south FL, weather.

[seaeagle]

Originally Posted by Gardenboy

I have plenty of Paul Robeson seeds if you need any. The black varieties do very well in our humid, south FL, weather.

I may be waiting to long to pick these Paul Robesons.When I think they are ripe they seem to get soft really fast and kinda mushy and watery.They are growing here, everything is but PR seems to be really stingy also.

[seaeagle]

Update on tomatoes

After looking at pictures of Indian Stripe, I'm not sure I had the right one, will try another seed source.

Carbon-after a huge early set of tomatoes this one shut down in the heat and struggling to get going again, although I think it is going to have a good fall harvest.

Cherokee Purple-keeps pumping out tomatoes, the heat doesn't bother CP like it does Carbon.

[seaeagle]

After trying another Giallo De Summer tomato, i thought it was actually pretty good.The last one I had to spit out but enjoyed this one so disregard my review on it earlier, shoulda waited longer I guess.

They say its yellow but it actually has to turn kind of orange to be ripe, last one I ate wasn't ripe

[NarnianGarden]

After a crazy summer, with several cold / hot periods, I am glad to have any ripe tomatoes...

Early in the season, it was Pearly Pink Orange, a very prolific determinate bush. Fresh and nice taste, and with beautiful color There are still ten fruits hanging on a very forlorn tree that looks like it's about to die any day..

Now I have had a few more varieties, namely Dar Zavolzhaya Rozovyi - very good when ripened on the vine.

Kosovo has so far been the best and most delicious: juicy and fruity, absolutely delicious, no need for olive oil or sea salt ...! Just perfection.

Maglia Rosa has been a bit of a letdown - thanks to the rain no doubt. Occasionally I can detect the delicious undertones I have tasted with other Artisan varieties (Blush, Pink Tiger), but a humid summer has taken its toll.
Purple Bumblebee, ah well, I probably ate the first ones underripe, and .. was not too impressed, the thick skin was just a bit unpleasant. Will allow the rest to go dead ripe until biting on them..

Amethyst Cream Cherry was .. different, very tangy.
As for the rest, still waiting..

[Cole_Robbie]

It's remarkable what weather does to flavor.

The Amethyst Cream should be mild and sweet. Maybe it wasn't ripe, either? Or maybe it was just the weather,

[ScottinAtlanta]

" Eva Purple Ball-One of the best all around tomatoes ever.Great heirloom taste, no splitting, kept producing in the heat. Picked 4 off one plant today.This tomato seems to peak in October when the others are going downhill and ripen from green to blood red or purple? easily.Usually eating EPB in late December, sometimes early Jan.When I give tomatoes away and this includes Cherokee Purple they always say how good that little pink one was."

I also had good experience with EPB in a container. But several have complained that the taste of EPB is watery. I did have some that were watery, but could not determine the pattern that led to dilution of otherwise good flavor.

[seaeagle]

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

" Eva Purple Ball-One of the best all around tomatoes ever.Great heirloom taste, no splitting, kept producing in the heat. Picked 4 off one plant today.This tomato seems to peak in October when the others are going downhill and ripen from green to blood red or purple? easily.Usually eating EPB in late December, sometimes early Jan.When I give tomatoes away and this includes Cherokee Purple they always say how good that little pink one was."

I also had good experience with EPB in a container. But several have complained that the taste of EPB is watery. I did have some that were watery, but could not determine the pattern that led to dilution of otherwise good flavor.

I have never thought that EPB was watery at all.So I did an unscientific experiment.I have been eating Cherokee Purple and Earl's Faux tomato sandwiches, so today I had an Eva Purple Ball sandwich.I hold them over a plate when I eat them and that catches the juice.I didn't notice any more juice in the plate when I finished than with the other tomatoes.Maybe more testing is needed