The early tomato thread

[Tracydr]

Anybody tried purple plum? I found it very early but the splitting and black mold were big issues. If it splits in AZ I can only imagine what it would do in wetter climates.

[gtnate]

I grew Sophie's Choice and Stupice in containers in my driveway when I lived in Seattle. They were both excellent early producers for me. The Stupice was significantly earlier, by about a month, than Sophie's Choice. However, the Sophie's Choice produced bigger, meatier tomatoes. The Stupice is a particularly prolific producer.

I'm attaching a pic that shows my Sophie's Choice, left, and Oroma, right. I really liked the Oroma as well for a fairly early determinate sauce tomato.

[Eirik]

Just as I started hoping for better weather so i could harden my little seedlings outside, it started snowing hard again. April is the worst tomato month of the year here, you get all worked up because of the weather

Thats some good lookin tomatoplants gtnate!

[Claudia]

Need to watch this thread!

[johnwin]

I didn't see any mention of Ditmarsher. This is an extra early "large" cherry (1 - 1 1/4" dia.)for me which ripened over a week ago.
To be honest, it was started in the local College heated greenhouse on Mar. 10 and placed on the south-facing back deck early May (Zone 6b) in a 10" pot. It is organically fed, which IMO accounts for the larger than normal fruit size. Total: 70 days from seed.
My other earlies ready this weekend: ABC Potato Leaf, Fruhe Liebe and Tumbling Tom Yellow.
Today I will be saving seed!!

[MrBig46]

Total 70 days from seed ????
Vladimír

[dice]

Although it is still a green golf ball, it looks like Vzryv will have the
first fruit ripe enough to eat this year.

[Eirik]

Wow, now thats what i call early! Most plants here are flowering, but it will be awhile before i can await any fruit.

[RobinB]

Iditarod Red was extremely early for me this year. Planted in a pot on April 14, ripe fruit on May 31st... that's 47 days! Utyonok was three days earlier, but not as tasty.

[Redbaron]

Robin,
As you probably already know, all my tomatoes are at least 30 days late due to the weather this spring, then most had severe hail damages setting them back even more, and don't forget the over 1 month standing water floods.

So "early" here isn't exactly "early" this year. However, there is one variety that is by far and away the most early with good production AND heat tolerant and still setting fruit like crazy in spite of the super hot high 90's and low 100's ...... A rare combination. The Miracle BPF. I started with ~80 varieties this year. Most were new to me. I did that to try and find the ideal tomato for our less than ideal growing conditions. Without a doubt, the best early tomato by far has been The Miracle BPF so far.

My first year growing it. It is a smaller plant than the books say. Bushier. About the same height as my dwarfs. BUT They are absolutely loaded with fruit and still blooming and setting fruit too! If the fruit ends up as tasty with "old fashioned flavor" as Tatiana describes, then it just may become my favorite early tomato, at least here in the SW where it goes from frost to heat so fast tomatoes have issues. I can't express enough how impressed I am with The Miracle BPF so far. I can't even imagine what they would have done if we had more than a week of good growing conditions!

Another one doing exceptionally well is Snickers I got from Marina from Russia. If it has quality taste, it most certainly will be my paste tomato of choice. Sungold F1 the best cherry so far, but there are a few other cherries with promise. We will see. Best early determinate yellow so far is native sun.

I am still waiting to see what large tomato will show itself superior and of course the taste tests will be a major factor.....I can't wait.

I just thought you should know Robin, because you are also in an area where it goes from real cold to real hot too fast for most tomatoes.

[RobinB]

Scott,
I've given up using the word "normal." It's just too frustrating. Days to maturity really aren't very helpful this year for sure... too many strange things. For me, extreme heat (20° above normal), severe thunderstorms, flooding. Sounds like you've had it worse though.

I've been especially impressed this year with Pervaya Lyubov, Jaune Flamme, Malachite Box, Purple Russian, Japanese Black Trifele, and for two years now, Plucky (yellow cherries) from the Dwarf Tomato Project. All are loading up with fruit, and none of these were bothered by the extreme heat that we had last week. They just kept chugging along. Only Plucky is giving me ripe fruit so far, but Jaune Flamme is beginning to color up. Anything that gives me fruit in early July is considered an "early" for me!

I always try a few late varieties, just because. I've been surprised with Fish Lake Oxheart and Ananas Noir because both started to fruit early on. It'll be a little while for each of these, but I know I'll get to taste them. I've still got several (Woodle Orange, Zeke Dishman, Belmonte, and Margaret Curtain) that don't have any fruit at all and are close to 6' tall! Those won't be invited back, probably.

[bower]

I'm pretty happy to see anything ripe in July as well!
Days from germination to blush, so far:

Kimberley 101
Beaverlodge Plum 110
Al Kuffa 121
Stupice 121, which is about the same DTM as last year
Siberian Pink 125
Those are the early red/pink tomatoes that ripened so far.

More exciting stuff:
Pervaya Lyubov 122 ... blushed 2 days ago and nearly ripe!
Black Early 123.. blushed yesterday!
Zolotoe Serdtse 127.. two days ago, two big fruits getting orange.
Nice fruit set coming on all of these, but especially Zolotoe Serdtse, set and grew large fruit like crazy even in the cold.
I'm pretty stoked at the idea of slicers that are about as early as Stupice, and all three colours... taste fest this weekend!

[Father'sDaughter]

Mine were all planted out on Mother's Day weekend. Last weekend I harvested three Kimberley's and one Yaponsky Karlik (less than 60 days!), and within the next few days I should have at least one more of each.

I also had early fruit set set on Indiana Red, Italian Heirloom, Liz Birt, Casino Chips, Costoluto Genovese and Russo Sicilian Togeta, but so far none are showing any sign of blushing. Hopefully soon!

[Father'sDaughter]

(Deleted duplicate post)

[bower]

My tomatoes were started in early march indoors under lights, and transplanted to the greenhouse (unheated) mid-April. That's a month earlier than the usual transplant date for greenhouse tomatoes at farms in this area. It was cold, no doubt about it. Many of the plants set and grew just one tomato early on, like it was their last chance to seed themselves. There was a gap of at least a week between the first two Kimberley and others coming on, same for Beaverlodge Plum and I expect to see the same with others. The Kimberley crop is really coming in now at the same time as Stupice, although it was pretty amazing to have even a lone ripe fruit of any kind in the middle of June!
I picked my first slicers today, yep they're still pretty firm and I'll let them ripen a bit before we taste em...