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Old October 19, 2009   #1
cleo88
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Default Wes and other hearts (please comment, barkeater!)

Hi,
I noticed in the "overrated varieties" thread that barkeater thought that hearts were overrated except for Wes. Barkeater: can you comment more on why Wes was so much better, and what hearts you've tried that were not as good?

Anyone else who wants to chime in about hearts, please do!

I am planning a number of hearts for 2010; the only one I grew this year was Anna Russian and it was quite good.
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Old October 19, 2009   #2
habitat_gardener
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I grew Orange Strawberry last year, which tasted good and was productive in a not-so-good year. I gave a seedling to another community gardener this year and she loves it, too.

This year, Kosovo was good and produced ok, but it stopped producing after a month or two.

I grew Russian 117 last year and this year, both years good but only 1-2 tomatoes per plant. (Last year it was in shade, this year I had a seedling left over and planted it late in a 5-gallon container.)

Last edited by habitat_gardener; October 20, 2009 at 04:54 AM.
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Old October 20, 2009   #3
piegirl
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Hungarian Heart is outstanding, seemed to be disease resistant, huge pink hearts ( around 40 at probably 1 1/2 lb each) on a huge plant. Plant held up well in high heat, humidity. This year I grew Indiana Red, not particularly large plant but large red hearts that were excellent and I will definitely grow again. A note here - Ind red's first 2 fruits were complete total spitters for whatever reason - the rest were outstanding. piegirl
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Old October 20, 2009   #4
tjg911
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i have only grown wes and kosovo, i grew 5 new hearts this year but due to LB i can't say whether they were good or not. i got very few tomatoes, some were good but i have to wait for another year to accurately know.

i will say that wes is tops! without a doubt it is in my top 2 best tasting tomatoes. kosovo is very good too.

tom
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Old October 20, 2009   #5
icelord
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Default Hearts

Hearts are some of my favorites my R117 plants did outstanding this year and really had good flavor, and Habitat, maybe it was just your seed? I will be glad to give you some of mine. And I also grew Kosovo Excellent taste and numbers,cour d bue was pretty good but this year my orange strawberries didn't fare so well? I also grew German Red strawberry they were tasty and very productive. If anyone needs any PM me!!

Dean
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Old October 20, 2009   #6
b54red
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I hate to admit this but I've never grown a heart of any kind even though I've been growing tomatoes for over 30 years. I would love to try them especially after reading about their great taste. It is very hot and humid down here and I have no idea what variety has a chance of success. If any of you with experience growing hearts could recommend some varieties that might do good, I would certainly appreciate the help.
This is the first year that I had real success with several heirlooms and the taste of some of them was amazing. I'll always grow a few hybrids for insurance but the taste of most is disappointing especially after having a vine ripened Paul Robeson or Marianna's Peace. I now want the majority of my maters to be heirlooms and the tastier the better.
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Old October 20, 2009   #7
amideutch
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Hearts I have grown and not a bad one in the bunch. Ami
Indiana Red
Orange Strawberry
Brads Black Heart
Mazarini
Shapka Monomakha
Wolfords Wonder
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Old October 20, 2009   #8
barkeater
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cleo,

Wes was by far the biggest and most productive of the hearts, with 4-5 between 2-3 pounds, when I grew it 3-4 years ago. It also had a little more juice to it, and had good flavor for sandwiches.

All the other hearts I've grown I consider overgrown, pointy plum tomatoes. They are great for sauce, but not much flavor for fresh eating. I don't have my list, but I remember German Red Strawberry, Kosovo, Anna Russian, plus a few others.
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Old October 20, 2009   #9
Wi-sunflower
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I've grown Orange Strawberry for several years and it has been a good producer for me.

I've also grown a few others sporadically in the past. Oregon Star is probably the one I've grown the most but is one of the smallest of the type this year. But it does make a great creamy tomato juice.

This year I had quite a few hearts but due to the slow ripening here I didn't get a chance to taste many of them. We did have some Orange Russian 117s and Vjera's ripe for my Tomato Tasting day and both were favorites of the people. We also had those 2 for sale the next week at a big Labor Day market. After people tasted them they sold very well. Lots of the Vjera's were over 2 lbs each and were more of a "double heart" shape. Very productive too.

Just my experiences this year,
Carol
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Old October 20, 2009   #10
cottonpicker
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I grew Linnie's Oxheart for the very first time this year and it did well for me. Nice big, blemish-free hearts, fairly good production and, best of all, it escaped the Late Blight which took out most of my plants. Unfortunately...I forgot to save seeds!!!!!!
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Old October 20, 2009   #11
chalstonsc
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Has anyone grown Oxheart Red offered by Sandhill?....How was the taste and can you confirm if the plant was smaller than most hearts and about what size it was for you? Thanks
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Old October 23, 2009   #12
PaulF
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I grew Red Oxheart last year(2008) and the seeds came from Sand Hill. It was not Oxheart Red, but I think it is the same one. I am in Minneapolis right now so I can't get acess to my records, but from memory the plant was no smaller than any of the other hearts I grew that year. I love the hearts; I grew around fifteen last year and they were all excellent.
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Old October 23, 2009   #13
chalstonsc
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The Sandhill catalog I have lists it as "Oxheart Red", but I would guess if you got your seeds from Sandhill that they are the same...thanks for answering
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Old October 24, 2009   #14
jwr6404
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I grew Kosovo this year and its in the WIN-WIN class as it was a very heavy producer of very tasty tomato's.
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Old October 24, 2009   #15
carolyn137
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I'm also a great lover of heart varieties. Some may not be as productive as some non-hearts, that's for sure, but I've found the taste of most of the hearts to be outstanding.

Off the top of my head here's some I like and I know I'm going to forget some:

Danko
Anna Maria's Heart ( from the former USSR originally)
Indiana Red
Nicky Crain
Wes
German Red Strawberry
Orange Strawberry ( not in any way related to the above)
Russian #117
Anna Russian
Kosovo
Serdste Buivola/Bawale Cerce; they are the same
Herman's Yellow
Homer's German Oxheart
Brad's Black Heart
Ukrainian Heart
Reif Red Heart
Teton de Venus
Cuor di Bui

....... and sometime in the future there will be a green when ripe heart that Reinhard Kraft in Germany is working on.
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