Mid-season Tomato Report

[kellyst]

This should be a peak season report, but tomatoes are at least 2 or 3 weeks behind where they were last year. This is normally peak season for me for late varieties. This year I haven't even had the opportunity to try many of my late varieties. I'm not including what I haven't been able to try yet. I'm breaking this down by “new” to me varieties and “old” varieties. All “old” varieties are, for the most part, great tomatoes for me in previous seasons. A few are ones with great reputations that I haven't given up on yet. In general, “old” varieties are not as flavorful this year due to the wet season we've had.

Best varieties are in italics.

“Old” varieties

Brandywine – 1 ripe fruit so far. Excellent flavor. Healthy plants. Productivity is average.

Carbon – Very healthy plants. Very productive. Good flavor. Consistently great tomato that will always be in my garden.

Cherokee Purple – A couple ripe fruit. Not productive. Healthy plants. I'm giving up on Cherokee Purple. Great reputation but never productive enough for me.

German Johnson – A couple ripe fruit. Average productivity. High productivity last year. Good flavor.

Isis Candy – None ripe yet. This one won't make the cut next year.

Kentucky Beefsteak – A couple ripe fruit. Bland tasting this year. Great flavor previous years. Always has healthy plants and great production.

Mountain Princess – Great productivity. Plants can be tempermental with some dying.

Prudens Purple – Very good taste. Very good productivity. Always a standout.

Rozovyi Myod (aka Siberian Pink Honey, aka Pink Honey) – Tied for best tomato of the season. Huge tomatoes. First tomato of the year. Produces all season long. Great taste. Great productivity.

“New” varieties

1884 Purple – Very healthy plants and very good productivity. Flavor is pretty bland. Probably won't repeat.

Abraham Lincoln – Plants are tempermental. Very productive. Very bland taste. Won't repeat.

Dester – One ripe fruit. Delicious.

Eva Purple Ball – Very healthy plants. Very productive. Great taste. Definite repeat.

Glacier – Not early at all. Blame the weather? Productive and good taste.

Jaune Flammee - Very healthy plants. Very productive. Great taste. Definite repeat.

KBX – One ripe fruit. Best tasting tomato of the year.

Korol Gigantov – Early beefsteaks. Great taste and productivity. Unique taste. Definite repeat.

Momotaro OP - Very healthy plants. Very productive. Great productivity and taste. Definite repeat.

Steak Sandwich OP – Very healhty plants. Very productive. Very bland. Won't repeat.

Van Wert Ohio – Tied for best tomato of the season. Very healthy plants. Very productive. Great productivity and taste. Definite repeat.

Wisconsin 55 – Good taste. Not very good productivity.

[marc_groleau]

Nice report
Thanks for taking the time.

[salix]

Thank you for posting such a comprehensive report on your tomatoes this season complete with your assessment of them. Your tastes seem to agree with mine.

[kellyst]

I meant to highlight the standouts for this year, but that didn't come out in my "copy and paste." The standouts are Rozovyi Myod, Van Wert Ohio, Momotaro OP, Eva Purple Ball, and Korol Gigantov.

[jasonig]

Great report and very helpful

[newatthiskat]

I am pretty certain I want eva purple ball on my grow list next year. Thanks for confirming!

[rsg2001]

I was late in planting my garden in this year, and so ultra busy - hubby and I bought a home in Ulster County (NY State) that happened to come with raised vegetable beds and lots of composted soil, and so I planted my garden there at the beginning of June instead of in NYC (Queens). We are still in Queens but hopefully will be full time in the new place shortly. So this is a combo mid-season and "here's what I am growing this year" posting. I am excited as yesterday I had the biggest harvest ever for me, picking 10+ pounds of cherry and regular size tomatoes, and there is a ton still out in the garden (although because we only come up on weekends while we are getting the Queens house ready for sale, I am not able to tend to it as much and so do have some disease problems, mainly early blight but some septoria also). I started all of these from seeds except where noted. Haven't tried all of them yet; some are just starting to ripen.

Cherry tomatoes:
Indigo Rose - I bought a couple of seedlings from Four Winds Farm, an organic farm in Ulster County. They are doing well and we have figured out that you can eat them when the bottoms turn orange. These are the blue tomatoes, and they are remarkable looking. As far as taste goes, I would describe as "interesting" with a bit of licorice-like taste, very juice and I will continue to grow them as they are an interesting contrast.
Sungold - My stalwart in cherry tomatoes, doing very well and yielding like crazy and delicious as ever.
Honey Drop Cherry - these are tasting even better grown in this soil, and with the increased sun we get, and are the absolute winner amongst the cherries this year.
Green Zebra Cherry - these have been disappointing, and were much better grown in NYC. Just about very one is very scarred with cracks; we eat the ones that have healed over but not the other ones. They are still tasty, but maybe not suited for the soil?
Black Cherry - also very good and another favorite.
"Vince P1" - these are from saved seed from a past seed offer from Carolyn which look similar to Black Cherry but taste different. These are cracking much more than they did in Queens, although when we have gotten any that are 'eatable' they are pretty good.
Tons of various volunteer red cherry tomatoes - we are swimming in them; must be 10-12 plants scattered all over the raised gardens. I have no idea what they are, but the ones that look more like grape tomatoes are pretty good; the others are bland and I've been putting them into stir fries.

Regular tomatoes:
Eva Purple Ball - much more prolific in the new environment, and tasty as ever. True to form when we came this weekend there were a couple of semi-ripe ones on the ground, and fortunately they were not 'injured.' I love these - very dependable.
Japanese Black Trifele - First time growing them (also from plants from Four Winds Farm) - very good but not as good as CP. I'd say a little disease prone also.
Lemon Boy - doing well - just ate the first one and it was good. They aren't as flavorful as some of the pinks and blacks, but a nice contrast on a salad plate with other varieties and pretty dependable.
Mr. Stripey - plants from Four Winds. Having a good experience with it this time. The other times I've grown it I've had mule plants. The tomatoes are good but you have to be careful not to leave it too long on the plant as they have a short fuse once they start to ripen.
Marizol Purple - not as prolific up here as down in Queens. Yesterday I picked two beautiful large ones but haven't eaten yet.
Cherokee Purple - plant is quite prolific; picked three yesterday at about 10 ounces - they aren't ready yet.
Cherokee Green - several on the plant; not ready yet.
Tye Dye - didn't put these in till the end of June and these are behind - no tomatoes yet.
Terhune - same as above. Planted late. Still waiting for something.

Dwarf Project tomatoes
These have been very prolific - most ever in the 3 years I am participating in the project and I might actually have seeds to send back to the project this year! I am excited about a tomato called Coroong Red F5 - I noticed that one of its parents is Cherokee Purple, and the first tomato I picked looks like a dark orange Cherokee Purple at 14 ounces - and it was very, very tasty tomato. Can't wait for more (there are more on the plant - and it is very odd to see a small plant with very large tomatoes. I(There is another plant that is from the same batch which is giving 2-4 ounce tomatoes. That's the fun of the Dwarf Project.) I am also growing Coroong Pink F4, which is also giving 2-4 ouncers - not ripe yet, and one called Sturt Desert Pea, also should have something to taste this weekend. I had a few called Boronia from saved seed last year an F6 and those are growing tomatoes that like around 6-7 ounces (this is a black tomato).

For the first time I have enough room to grow zucchini - I bought 4 of an heirloom variety called Tanzania which is green with ridged stripes. So far I have harvested two super giant ones (maybe 2-3 pounds each) and one smaller one - all very tasty - and several new ones I saw yesterday that should be big by the next time I am back up at the place.

[JamesL]

Rsg,
Congrats on the impending move! Quite the lifestyle change heading up to Ulster.

[tomatoguy]

Eva Purple Ball is very productive here, too. I grew them for several years, until I discovered Mark Twain.

mater

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by tomatoguy

Eva Purple Ball is very productive here, too. I grew them for several years, until I discovered Mark Twain.

mater

Do tell us more about Mark Twain. I was considering growing Eva PB as she's supposed to be early isn't she?

Linda

[kath]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Do tell us more about Mark Twain. I was considering growing Eva PB as she's supposed to be early isn't she?

Linda

Linda, here's what's on Tania's website- seems it's like Rutgers.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Mark_Twain

[tomatoguy]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Do tell us more about Mark Twain. I was considering growing Eva PB as she's supposed to be early isn't she?

Linda

Tatiana's site has it right. They run medium large, here. Red, intense flavor, very nice texture. Productivity is usually very high, in mid and late season. DTM is about a week later than Eva Purple Ball. The differences are that EPB is a pink, MT is an orange/red, similar in color to Box Car Willie. MT is a slightly larger fruit. Production is similar. EPB is a bit thicker skinned, so no worries about habitual cracking. MT can crack after a heavy rain. I prefer the MT, solely on the basis of the flavor intensity. I'm not sure what caused mine to have faint yellow stripes, this year, but I will start plants from the same seed lot, next year and see what happens.

mater

[Labradors2]

Many thanks for the info on Mark Twain. I think that taste is everything, and MT sounds very interesting!

Linda