High tunnel tomato reviews

[Cole_Robbie]

My first crop of high tunnel tomatoes has started coming in. I wanted to share my experience growing several different varieties. Some of these varieties could be great tomatoes, but just didn't do well for me.

My favorite so far has been Terrenzo, a hybrid cherry from Territorial that is meant for container growing. It beat everything else by almost two weeks, and I really like the flavor. The plants grow in a bush without a main stem, so not only do they not need support, I don't think they would benefit at all from it. It might be smarter to grow them in a low tunnel, though.

BHN 968. This is an old commercial cherry variety that is supposed to be sweet. The plants got too tall for my liking. Terrenzo tastes better and sets fruit beter.

Lemon Drop. This plant flowers profusely and refuses to set a single fruit.

Sibirskiy Skorospelyi - this is an old Soviet commercial variety I got from Heritage. It was recommended by members of this web site. I have to say, it is the winner so far among the slicers. Good production, big fruit, and it has that real tomato flavor. I will definitely grow this one again.

Beaver Lodge. Hybrid from Territorial. Fruit are surprisingly ugly. Flavor is best described as tolerable. It tastes good enough for me to be ok with selling it, but the fruit are so unattractive, I don't know if people would buy them.

Bush Early Girl - better than most of the hybrids I tried. Tolerable flavor.

Taxi - My only yellow tomato in the high tunnel. I just ate my first Taxi today. It is not exceedingly sweet like a yellow Brandywine. Flavor is mild. At first I was off-put by the lack of strong sweetness, but the flavor is nice and mild, and I ended up eating the whole thing. I could eat a plate of them I think. Maybe it's the lack of acidity.

Northern Delight - my only saladette tomato. Great production and excellent flavor. The vines fell over from the weight of the fruit, which have green shoulders. I will definitely grow again.

Orange Blossom - a hybrid orange tomato. I haven't tried one yet. They look as hard as rocks.

I also have polbig, debut, and pilgrim. They are looking to be not that impressive, flavor-wise.

I was trying to get an early determinate tomato variety to grow in the future. I also planted a few smaller plants of Big Beef, Tomande, and Celebrity. They are growing like mad and already have tennis-ball sized tomatoes. I'm not sure how much of an advantage I get by growing compact determinates. It might just be smarter to grow Big Beef in the high tunnel, and build low tunnels for Terrenzo and Northern Delight.