Black Tomato Ranking Question

[jmsieglaff]

So I've grown Black Krim for a number of year because I love the tomato and it performs well for me, but next year (yes 2015 since 2014 plans are done and seeds are already sown) I'm thinking of doing a side-by-side with Black Krim and one or two other black tomatoes.

For those of you that have grown the following how would you rank them in terms of 1) production 2) DTM 3) plant vigor/foliage disease resistance and 4) Would you put the flavor of any of these as noticeably not as good as the others?

Black Krim
Cherokee Purple
Black from Tula
Nyagous
Indian Stripe

[kath]

For me, Indian Stripe, Cherokee Purple and Black Krim were more productive and earlier than the others. I favored IS and Black from Tula of the ones on your list for taste but had trouble getting good fruits on the latter a couple years in a row (tendency toward puffiness) so I haven't regrown it since. Nyagous had a flavor that I didn't care for at all, so I only grew it one year quite a few years ago. I tend to prefer the sweeter fruits and found that Black from Tula and JD's Special C-Tex fit the bill. Amazon Chocolate is the earliest black tomato I've tried- have a bunch of new ones on this year's list.

The only way you'll know what works best for you is to try them all- preferably all at once.

kath

[b54red]

My number one black tomato is Indian Stripe because it is usually number one in production and is right there at the top for flavor. I noticed you didn't have Carbon or Big Cheef on your list. In your cooler climate they might be good because for me they are two of the best of the blacks when the weather is cooler or damper than normal. Black from Tula has not been very productive and if it doesn't perform better this year it will drop off my list of blacks to plant. Cherokee Purple is a great tomato but inconsistent in production whereas its potato leaf twin Spudakee is just as good and is a much more reliable producer for me.

Bill

[venturabananas]

I agree that the only way you can figure out how they'll do for you is grow them side by side. Even then, as Bill points out, in some years or in some places in your garden one variety will be better than in other years or places. (Or whether you grow them in containers or in ground.) But feedback from experienced folks like Bill and Kath is very helpful for those of us with much less tomato-growing experience, like me!

I've only grown two of those varieties, Black Krim and Cherokee Purple. I think they both need more heat than I usually get in my cool coastal climate. I wouldn't grow Cherokee Purple again because it was just average in flavor (though had good production), whereas Black Krim has ranged from average to excellent flavor (with average production). Your results will probably vary!

[jmsieglaff]

Thanks for the feedback thus far! I certainly know the production and flavor of Black Krim varies from year to year--the flavor is usually quite good and production at least decent. I certainly will be doing them in the same year for the reasons mentioned.

Given my limited space, getting as much feedback as possible on some varieties I'm interested in will certainly help.

I'll have to look into Carbon and Big Cheef....I haven't read much about those. Typically in the summer we have 80s during the day and 60s at night. But you never know when you'll have a hot year like 2012 or a cool year like 2009.

[salix]

What Bill said - you really should try Carbon, wonderful flavour, reasonably productive, and does well for me way up here.

[bower]

I love black tomatoes... Carbon and Big Cheef are duly added to the list of must try.

So far, Indian Stripe is the winner for me here, for production and taste, also with great fruit quality - few or no splits, beautiful fruit, and quite good disease resistance into late fall. I haven't grown CP or BK because my friends here grow them and I wanted to explore new ones. Vorlon was also great tasting but it was a scanty producer for me and cranky about cold and mold (heaven forbid!). Some friends grew a few side by side with their CP and they seemed to produce about the same as CP in that greenhouse. Black Cherry is great, and produced well in my greenhouse in the worst and best of years.

There are a couple of earlier blacks which I like as well, which set well in cool weather and came in about 2 weeks earlier than IS or Vorlon. Black Early is very early, had more splits than IS so not quite as pretty, and very good but not outstanding taste, not as sweet/tangy as IS, disease resistance pretty good in a good year. Chernomor is also early, sets really heavily and grows fruit quickly even in cool weather, not a sweet or tangy fruit but there is a rich complex flavour enhanced by salt, susceptible to grey mold on the foliage though in damp weather.

This year I'm growing: Indian Stripe PL, Amazon Chocolate PL, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Tsindao, Chernomor, and my BeISt F1 cross of Black Early and Indian Stripe. My cherry black this year is Purple Bumble Bee.

I wish I had a whole greenhouse just for blacks... but would I still love them as much, if I had no room for contrast?

[Fusion_power]

Bear Creek, J.D.'s Special C-Tex, and Black From Tula

Cherokee Purple and Indian Stripe go in a different category for me.

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

Bear Creek, J.D.'s Special C-Tex, and Black From Tula

Cherokee Purple and Indian Stripe go in a different category for me.

Different category is . . . ?

[RobinB]

Last year I was blown away by Margaret Curtain and it was quite productive. I also love Tasmanian Chocolate and Rosella Purple from the Dwarf Tomato Project, as well as Japanese Black Trifele and Paul Robeson. All of these have great taste and good productivity.

[Redbaron]

Cherokee Purple, Shadow boxing, and Snickers.

[Longlake]

Love the blacks! Black Krim is very good, but Black from Tula, Vorlon, and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye are earlier, less disease prone, and more productive in my zone 3 garden. And they taste great. Big Cheef is another winner here, but I've struggled to get Indian Stripe to produce anything...Not sure why, as everyone else sings it's praise. Carbon was ok, but later, and it didn't wow me. Same with JD's Spec C. Interesting to read everyone's input!

[FILMNET]

Paul Roseburn, Brads Black Heart, Carbon, Black Trim and Tula. My wie and me love the blacks. Anyone tried Sun Sugar cherries? Bonnie has this and Sun Gold, I got both plant from Lowe's

[kath]

Originally Posted by FILMNET

Anyone tried Sun Sugar cherries? Bonnie has this and Sun Gold, I got both plant from Lowe's

I grew them side-by-side one year and much prefer Sungold. Sun Sugar doesn't have the zip that Sungold does- just sweetness. I thought the skins of Sun Sugar were thicker and it split just as much for me as Sungold did.

kath

[crmauch]

Originally Posted by kath

I grew them side-by-side one year and much prefer Sungold. Sun Sugar doesn't have the zip that Sungold does- just sweetness. I thought the skins of Sun Sugar were thicker and it split just as much for me as Sungold did.

Interesting as Sun Sugar (when I saw plants on sale) was being sold as 'split resistant'.