2016 Tomato and Pepper Reviews

[Gardeneer]

I just tasted my first Azoychka of the season.
Very Juicy, w/ balanced acidity and brix. Maybe slightly tangy, the way I like.

[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

[NarnianGarden]

Esmeralda Golosina is my green of this season, and boy, is it delicious..! This very fresh and crunchy texture that is not too dry, but fruity enough to give you a mouthful to chew on. (I like to eat my tomatoes as fruits, which they are..)
Definitely worth the trouble - not too much of trouble to talk about with this plant, it is huge, healthy and so far the tallest of my varieties... (always a guesstimate to choose supporting stakes in the early summer, as one has no way of knowing which plant will suddendly stop growing and which will break all records)
Very impressed, and thankful to the person who sent the seeds to swap. Cheers!

[Cole_Robbie]

It may have been me. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Sadly, Esmerelda didn't do well for me this year. It died of leaf mold, I think. Next year, I will be more proactive about preventative spraying.

[NarnianGarden]

Mine caught some mold and disease, just like almost all of my plants. Still, very much alive, and looking strong enough to survive the next three four weeks to ripen all fruits.

[Ricky Shaw]

I'm done with green when ripe tomatoes, they were mold magnets for this gardener. First year for Malachite Box and Cherokee Green, they will not be invited back.

[Cole_Robbie]

My Malachite Box also died of mold.

Ricky, you might try Dwarf Jade Beauty or Dwarf Beryl Beauty. I really can't tell them apart. Neither got mold. They get rave reviews from friends and family regarding flavor, as well as the customers I give them to, but since they don't blush at all when ripe, they are impossible to sell. Their color when ripe is exactly that of an unripe red tomato. I think that is cool, personally, but I have not been able to convince my customers to agree. Another down side is that they are really hard to pick, since they hardly blush. I end up squeezing them and picking the soft ones, same with choosing one to eat.

[Ricky Shaw]

Thank you for the suggestions Cole Robbie, I might try one of those. What I'd really like is a couple more plants like Crnkovic Yugoslavian, a meaty pink with sweetness offset with an acidic whang. It's been called harmonic in a review at Tatiana's, a very good descriptor.

[Cole_Robbie]

I had a great pink this year, a ruffled tomato called 100 Pudov, which is Russian for 100% or 'sure thing.' I don't like most pinks, but this one had a good acid bite to it. I can send you some seeds.

[AKmark]

It is going to be hard to beat Crnkovic Yugoslavian in the pink category, they are awesome in so many ways.

[Ricky Shaw]

Cole Robbie I will take you up on that, thank you. We'll hook up at season's end, you always have one of the best seed offers, I know I'll want other things too.

Mark it was your past Crnkovic recommendations that put me on it first, then when I saw it in Carolyn's book, I had to grow it. And, since I've copied nearly everything from you, it makes sense to grow plants that respond well to your operation. Thank you.

[Ricky Shaw]

100 Pudov - Does it look like this? These appear to be 2 stems staked with some impressive lower truss sets. Did they set well through the heat?

[sjamesNorway]

According to Tatiana, 100 Pudov is red. They look red in Ricky Shaws photo, too. ???

[Cole_Robbie]

I'm sure that's it. I have the hardest time telling reds from pinks. 100 Pudov ripens to a pink color and stays pink for quite a while before it finally turns red. Most of the fruit I sold were less red than the ones in the pic below. You can see the one closest is a little pinker. When I was picking, everything I picked was pink. The ones below had been left to sit for a while to ripen fully before being processed for seeds.

[Kazedwards]

A few nights ago we tried our first heart. It was Sunset's Red Horizon. At the beginning of the season I almost didn't put this plant out because the foliage was so wispy that I thought it had a disease of some sort and didn't want it to spread. I put it out anyway and learned that it was just the wispiness. I'm normally not a fan of red tomatoes because they tend to be more acidic than I like. Also when my wife cut it we both thought the texture might be bad. We both loved it though. Gave it a 9/10. I will be growing it next year. Only thing I can say is the shoulders were pretty rough and we have only gotten 1 tomato off the plant. There is time for more though. So far it's the favorite of the year.


-Zach