Coustralee' & Omar Lebanese?

[My Foot Smells]

Originally Posted by b54red

I have grown both and have a negative rating on them both. Coustralee was so susceptible to fusarium that neither I nor a friend of mine could ever get them large enough to produce fruit without them dying first and so after three years of trying I gave up on it. Maybe I should try it again now that I am grafting all my plants. Omars on the other hand was much better at producing a few fruits and wow were they large. Some years I got tomatoes over 2 lbs off of them and other years just a handful around a pound and a half. Despite the huge beautiful fruits I found the texture rather mealy and the tomato flavor too bland for my taste.

If you are looking for large red tomatoes that will do good in the heat and humidity of the south I think you need to look at a few other varieties that have been far more successful and more importantly much better tasting in my book. Neves Azorean Red is a really large productive red beefsteak that is really good. Red Barn is also a massive tomato that is very productive in even the hottest weather as is Couilles de Taureau. Another large red that is wonderfully tasty is Dester but the vines are very prone to diseases but will still usually give you a good harvest of very juicy tomatoes. I have been experimenting with finding a few good reds for years by trying many different varieties and those are the ones that have proven themselves to me for multiple seasons. I am trying another new one this year that shows promise and that is Rebel Yell but so far I haven't gotten the really large fruits from it that I have gotten from the others.

Bill

thanks bill, strong words.