Beautiful, uniform, blemish free tomatoes

b54red · July 19, 2020

Don those don't look like the Arkansas Travelers I have grown for years. Mine are more beefsteak looking and they generally start out fairly large near a pound and as the season goes on they will get smaller but not tiny. The fruits are fairly smooth and good looking and tend to stay that way through inclement weather. They are not too bad to split and hold well on the shelf. They usually produce well right through the heat of mid summer.

Neves Azorean Red is a bigger and more perfect looking tomato but is probably too large for what you are looking for but it is usually very dependable and the taste is excellent.

Since you like Big Beef and Goliath you might be interested in Bella Rosa. It is a big quick producer of fairly tasty perfect looking tomatoes on a determinate plant so it is easy to care for. When I grew them I did have to stake and tie them some because they became so loaded down with a lot of large fruit at the same time. If I remember correctly then it has the same disease package as Big Beef and Goliath but may have some resistance to TSWV but I'm not sure.

I never had much luck with Eva Purple Ball although it is a beautiful tomato and does not split easily. Most years production was low and late and the flavor was a bit bland for me. I felt the same about Druzba but it did produce larger fruit but it was also a fairly late producer and sporadic from year to year.

If you want a tomato similar to Cherokee Purple then you might want to try Spudakee since it is the PL version and has been far more productive for me than CP, so much so that I dropped CP for Spudakee years ago. I can't say enough good about Indian Stripe but it is more susceptible to radial splitting and gray mold.

Bill

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July 19, 2020	#24
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Don those don't look like the Arkansas Travelers I have grown for years. Mine are more beefsteak looking and they generally start out fairly large near a pound and as the season goes on they will get smaller but not tiny. The fruits are fairly smooth and good looking and tend to stay that way through inclement weather. They are not too bad to split and hold well on the shelf. They usually produce well right through the heat of mid summer. Neves Azorean Red is a bigger and more perfect looking tomato but is probably too large for what you are looking for but it is usually very dependable and the taste is excellent. Since you like Big Beef and Goliath you might be interested in Bella Rosa. It is a big quick producer of fairly tasty perfect looking tomatoes on a determinate plant so it is easy to care for. When I grew them I did have to stake and tie them some because they became so loaded down with a lot of large fruit at the same time. If I remember correctly then it has the same disease package as Big Beef and Goliath but may have some resistance to TSWV but I'm not sure. I never had much luck with Eva Purple Ball although it is a beautiful tomato and does not split easily. Most years production was low and late and the flavor was a bit bland for me. I felt the same about Druzba but it did produce larger fruit but it was also a fairly late producer and sporadic from year to year. If you want a tomato similar to Cherokee Purple then you might want to try Spudakee since it is the PL version and has been far more productive for me than CP, so much so that I dropped CP for Spudakee years ago. I can't say enough good about Indian Stripe but it is more susceptible to radial splitting and gray mold. Bill