Hillbilly

[mensplace]

Last week, after the seemingly endless work of using cable ties to attach the rapidly growing central leaders and side shoots, I picked roughly two bushels of fruit of every color, size, and shape. The standout thus far was one Hillbilly that was about six inches wide, uniform in shape, no deformities, and a dazzling array of external colors. Last night I cut it evenly across the center and commented to the wife that it was easy to see why such fruits are referred to as beefsteak types. The one I cut was almost solid pulp, fortunately no central core like I have found in many of the larger types. There was a touch of acidity, but mostly the sweetness of the pulp. Almost all of the very few seeds were in tiny little pockets around the far sides of the perimeter. The fruit was gorgeous and the flesh mostly yellow throughout, not a brilliant yellow, but more an orange tinged yellow with a few specks of redness. As part of our nightly tasting, I sat there and ate the whole thing. Flavorwise, it was the sweetness that was the primary component, but of a tad more acid than most yellows, but also less sweetness than some other varieties. The solid pulp did not fall apart when cut and seeded like others. It would probably add meat to a sauce quite well. Otherwise, for OUR taste, it was far too bland and lacking in our personal preferences in terms of more juice, seed locules, acidity and flavor depth and intensity. Despite the wife's urgings NOT to save the seed, I did put some aside knowing that for many this would be more to their liking.
One thing for sure, the myth of heirlooms not doing well in the extreme heat and humidity of the deep south has been totally BUSTED. I have yet to water...on purpose, while both the heat and humidity have been in the mid nineties and rain of late restricted to occasional, brief, afternoon showers. Maybe its my closer spacing and a canopy of 12 foot high, large sunflowers with the lower leaves removed providing some shade, but thus far all of the plants are thriving and loaded with fruits.

[Love my garden]

Extreme heat and Humidity my Heirlooms are amazing! We have been without water for 9 days....my Tomatoes are beautiful! I'm not in the deep south but in the mid-south NC.....we have been in the 95+ for more than a week now.....I have an Italian tomato Goldman's Italian American, 1st year, and a handfull of Russian Types, 1st year also.....as well, my good old fashioned German Johnson's. Reisentraube Cherry, they are amazing! Green Zebra's Black Krim, Money Maker, Oh, a volunteer, not sure what it is yet....that mater in 7ft and still growing! Lotsa fruit! Dunno what it is, other's are complaining about their tomatoes this year. Most grow only "red types" I am one in a few that grow heirlooms in this area.....oh, and I share with a 4yr old little gal that lives next door....she loves her all different colored tomatoes.....she has a small garden that she cares for....Miss Dinah (me) bought her a little wheel barrow and mini shovel and rake and hoe....Haley steals my heart, when it comes to gardening! She takes me by the hand daily, to show me the progress of her little garden....gotta take a pic and post it here.....

[Love my garden]

Originally Posted by mensplace

Last week, after the seemingly endless work of using cable ties to attach the rapidly growing central leaders and side shoots, I picked roughly two bushels of fruit of every color, size, and shape. The standout thus far was one Hillbilly that was about six inches wide, uniform in shape, no deformities, and a dazzling array of external colors. Last night I cut it evenly across the center and commented to the wife that it was easy to see why such fruits are referred to as beefsteak types. The one I cut was almost solid pulp, fortunately no central core like I have found in many of the larger types. There was a touch of acidity, but mostly the sweetness of the pulp. Almost all of the very few seeds were in tiny little pockets around the far sides of the perimeter. The fruit was gorgeous and the flesh mostly yellow throughout, not a brilliant yellow, but more an orange tinged yellow with a few specks of redness. As part of our nightly tasting, I sat there and ate the whole thing. Flavorwise, it was the sweetness that was the primary component, but of a tad more acid than most yellows, but also less sweetness than some other varieties. The solid pulp did not fall apart when cut and seeded like others. It would probably add meat to a sauce quite well. Otherwise, for OUR taste, it was far too bland and lacking in our personal preferences in terms of more juice, seed locules, acidity and flavor depth and intensity. Despite the wife's urgings NOT to save the seed, I did put some aside knowing that for many this would be more to their liking.
One thing for sure, the myth of heirlooms not doing well in the extreme heat and humidity of the deep south has been totally BUSTED. I have yet to water...on purpose, while both the heat and humidity have been in the mid nineties and rain of late restricted to occasional, brief, afternoon showers. Maybe its my closer spacing and a canopy of 12 foot high, large sunflowers with the lower leaves removed providing some shade, but thus far all of the plants are thriving and loaded with fruits.

I love yellow/orange tomatoes....I don't know the variety you are speaking of, but I sure would love some seeds.....maybe a trade....I have lots!

[carolyn137]

Dinah, Hillbilly is a red/gold variety from West Virginia/Ohio River Valley area and has been around and available a long time. But it's perfectly understandable that you haven't heard of it b'c even in the SSE YEarbook there have to be over 150 such named varieties and most are pretty much the same. And think of all the unnamed ones.

My brother now lives in NC above Ashville and his neighbor, down the road a piece, offered him seeds for his bicolor and my brother told me about it and I politely turned down his offer for a couple of reasons. So many in the SE have been growing the same one with no name for decades. The bicolors originated in Germany or near by and were brought to the US when families immigrated here. In general the unnamed ones in the SE are often referred to just as candystripe and there is one named Candystripe as well.

Mensplace, where you live is where the bicolors thrive, so it makes sense to me that your Hillbilly is doing well. But you brought up one point that I agree with and that's that your Hillbilly was bland, to you.

I can't tell you how many bicolors I've grown and when they're good, they're very very good and when they're bad, yes, they can be mealy and bland and not worth the growing.

I find that I can grow variety X in one year and the same variety the next year and performance can be very different. In other words I find that they can be finicky and very much influenced by weather.

Another problem that I've had with many of them is extreme splitting at the stem end that then gets superinfected with just normal fungi and bacteria in the air. They also are soft fleshed so don't last very long.

That being said, here's a few that have performed well for me, as grown in my zone 5 area and in good years can be sweet and fruity:

Virginia Sweets
Big Rainbow
Lucky Cross
Little Lucky
Regina's Yellow
Marizol Gold

....to name a few, and one that colors up with the exterior red/pink bush right to the stem end which is not common, is Mary Robinson's German Bicolor.

[b54red]

You might want to try Neves Azorean Red, Gary O' Sena, Berkley Tie Dye Pink, JD's Special C Tex, Kosovo, Donskoi and Indian Stripe if you want a fuller tomato flavor. They have all done well for me despite the fusarium and TSWV that are pretty bad in my area. The NAR makes a particularly large red tomato with great balance of flavors and is very juicy while at the same time being very meaty. The heirlooms mentioned above are still setting fruit even with the high temps the last month. If you want to grow a few hybrids with good taste then I would recommend Big Beef and Jetsetter. Both are very productive, disease tolerant, nematode tolerant and yet still tasty with a nice bite to them.

[Love my garden]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Dinah, Hillbilly is a red/gold variety from West Virginia/Ohio River Valley area and has been around and available a long time. But it's perfectly understandable that you haven't heard of it b'c even in the SSE YEarbook there have to be over 150 such named varieties and most are pretty much the same. And think of all the unnamed ones.

My brother now lives in NC above Ashville and his neighbor, down the road a piece, offered him seeds for his bicolor and my brother told me about it and I politely turned down his offer for a couple of reasons. So many in the SE have been growing the same one with no name for decades. The bicolors originated in Germany or near by and were brought to the US when families immigrated here. In general the unnamed ones in the SE are often referred to just as candystripe and there is one named Candystripe as well.

Mensplace, where you live is where the bicolors thrive, so it makes sense to me that your Hillbilly is doing well. But you brought up one point that I agree with and that's that your Hillbilly was bland, to you.

I can't tell you how many bicolors I've grown and when they're good, they're very very good and when they're bad, yes, they can be mealy and bland and not worth the growing.

I find that I can grow variety X in one year and the same variety the next year and performance can be very different. In other words I find that they can be finicky and very much influenced by weather.

Another problem that I've had with many of them is extreme splitting at the stem end that then gets superinfected with just normal fungi and bacteria in the air. They also are soft fleshed so don't last very long.

That being said, here's a few that have performed well for me, as grown in my zone 5 area and in good years can be sweet and fruity:

Virginia Sweets
Big Rainbow
Lucky Cross
Little Lucky
Regina's Yellow
Marizol Gold

....to name a few, and one that colors up with the exterior red/pink bush right to the stem end which is not common, is Mary Robinson's German Bicolor.

The only one that I grow on that list Carolyn is the Big Rainbow.....I love those.....gonna look into seed sources for the others....I make homemade tomato/spaghetti sauce with the yellow and orange tomatoes....yellow orange tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, lemon basil.....incredible! I've seen alot of great feedback on the Marizol Gold....Thanks Carolyn! Dinah

[Love my garden]

Originally Posted by Love my garden

The only one that I grow on that list Carolyn is the Big Rainbow.....I love those.....gonna look into seed sources for the others....I make homemade tomato/spaghetti sauce with the yellow and orange tomatoes....yellow orange tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, lemon basil.....incredible! I've seen alot of great feedback on the Marizol Gold....Thanks Carolyn! Dinah

Oh, Carolyn, I also am a jam maker, with the orange minsk this year i am creating a marmalade jam, Orange Minsk, Peach, orange with fresh ginger....I use local honey for sweetener.....when it's ready I will im u, will send you a jar.....

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Love my garden

Oh, Carolyn, I also am a jam maker, with the orange minsk this year i am creating a marmalade jam, Orange Minsk, Peach, orange with fresh ginger....I use local honey for sweetener.....when it's ready I will im u, will send you a jar.....

I could handle that and look forward to it Dinah; thanks for the offer.

[ubergoober]

I have one Hillbilly in this year. I decided to try it based totally on the looks of it sliced alone. lol I know not such a thoughtful decision but at the time when I was picking seeds, I was so overwhelmed so I just went with what looked fun. lol

Berkely Pink Tie Dye is on my list for next year as well as Black & Brown Boar if I can managed to get my hands on some seed.

[Impatient]

Last year Hillbilly was one of my favorite tomatoes. I loved the taste. Growing it again, this year but I am far off from getting to eat one yet. Can't wait!

[mensplace]

I have already learned a lot from this year's experiment that will play a major role in my far more limited planting next year. Anything that is mealy and bland is out, as is anything that is almost all pulp with very few or extremely small seed/juice locules. Having a huge tomato, no matter how beautiful or colorful, is not at all to my liking if the intensity of flavor and acidity is lacking. Tomatoes with a large, hard core will not make my cut, nor will those that are so covered with cracks that much goes to waste..the ants love those with cracks. Thick, heavy skins are also eliminated. Those that are so irregular in shape with grossly disorted lobes too. Even sweetness as the one saving grace is not enough. Fortunately, there are still many from which to choose. I'm beginning to find that a reasonably sized, mostly round perimeter, good producer, flavor of balanced acidity, sweetness, and intensity, high disease resistance is best and leads to far less waste. This GREATLY reduces the number of varieties that I will grow next year, but at least I will better know what to grow per my own tastes. I wonder if my preferences are so different in that I DO want so much more than just sweetness and far more enjoy tomatoes that are at least an even balance of flesh and seed locules. Maybe its just a lifetime of being used to a certain type, but biting into a tomato that is all fleshy pulp carries a HIGH yuck factor...especially on a sandwich.

[carolyn137]

This GREATLY reduces the number of varieties that I will grow next year, but at least I will better know what to grow per my own tastes. I wonder if my preferences are so different in that I DO want so much more than just sweetness and far more enjoy tomatoes that are at least an even balance of flesh and seed locules. Maybe its just a lifetime of being used to a certain type, but biting into a tomato that is all fleshy pulp carries a HIGH yuck factor...especially on a sandwich.

****

Your tastes are your tastes and what you and most others are doing is planting new varieties each year to see how they appeal to you. And it's only by growing more and more varieties that you have an increasing number of experiences to draw from in terms of deciding what you like and assessing the new varieties you grow.

If someone says THIS is the best tasting tomato for me and has grown just a few varieties that assessment doesn't have the same strength IMO as someone who has grown many more varieties.

Each year I compare the new ones I've grown to many I've grown in the past in order to see where they land on my tomato variety preferences.

Taste is so personal and subjective and growing conditions and weather are so different for many of us that the only way anyone can know what pleases them most is to grow the varieties.

Some always have hard central cores, some in one year and not another, but some love the taste of some of those hard core varieties, so grow them. Why not?

For me growing tomatoes is one big experiement and over the years I develop a stable of favorites and I always say I'm going to grow just those but then I grow new ones that displace some in the stable.

Or is it permissible to have a stable of faves that numbers in the hudreds?

[mensplace]

Exactly why this year I ended up with somewhere over 120 varieties. I had initially started out to grow very few varieties, but, with so many recommendations, ended up with far more. However, after doing so I was able to see that beyond minor differences as in shades of color, etc., the far more important criterion was that of selecting those that do well here, produce uniform fruit, and address my flavor criterion. That done, especially with limited space, I will feel far more comfortable in selecting ten or so for next year.