If you could only grow hybrids????

[Petronius_II]

The only hybrids I've grown are 1 beefsteak, 1 early, and 1 small-fruited: Beefmaster, Early Girl, and Juliet. So those are the only 3 I could "recommend" from experience.

The only one I've truly enjoyed growing is Beefmaster, which I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned. Ultra-reliable, highly productive, good flavor and texture, often cranks out some really big fruits. I may grow it again one of these years.

Early Girl is appreciated for its reliability, but not for its taste, which is too sweet and not tomato-ey enough for my tastes. Juliet has an odd aftertaste which I don't care for, but is very productive.

[mrdoitall]

These are must grow every year in my garden. Give them a try. I've never had one of theses plants die from disease. Been growing them a long time.

Hybrid Early Goliath
Hybrid Goliath
Hybrid Jelly Bean

Later
Dwight

[afrance30]

Jetsetter and Burgess Early Salad Hybrid.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by rnewste

erly,

As we were hit with Alternaria (along with other fungal problems) this past year, I am shifting my Heirloom-to-Hybrid ratio to about 70/30% for my 2012 Season.

Here are the Hybrids that I will be growing:

Applause Hybrid (VFFA) 66

Better Boy Hybrid (VFNASt) 75

Big Beef Hybrid (VFFNTASt) 73

Champion 2 Hybrid (VFFNTA) 65

Jetsetter Hybrid (VFFNASt) 64

Momotaro Hybrid (VFNSt) 70

Odoriko Hybrid (VFNSt) 75

Parks Whopper Hybrid (VFFNT) 65

Ramapo Hybrid (VFNT) 80

Supersonic Hybrid (VFFN) 79

V - Verticillium Wilt
F - Fusarium Wilt (FF - Races 1 & 2)
N - Nematodes
T - Tobacco Mosaic Virus
A - Alternaria Stem Canker
St - Stemphylium Gray Leaf Spot

Raybo

What's alternaria and how did you know you had it?

[lurley]

cherry- sugary
early -4th of July
main -brandy boy, my dad would go with supersonic

[rnewste]

Tracydr,

It was actually Carolyn who diagnosed it for me:



While most fungal issues attack the foliage and leave the fruit alone, the bad thing about Alternaria is that it ruins the tomatoes too.

Raybo

[dice]

Jetsetter and Early Goliath are good ones (about the same size, so
probably fill the same slot). Jetsetter was a bit earlier and more
productive, Early Goliath a little sweeter flavor.

[barkeater]

I've grown a lot of hybrids over the years, especially when I was farming. The top 5 best tasting hybrids I have grown are:

1. Ramapo (heads and shoulders the best)
2. Supersteak
3. Momotaro/Odoriko
4. Jet Star
5. Big Zac

Glad to hear so many like Jetsetter as I am trying it this year.

I don't know why people recommend Brandy Boy as it neither looks or tastes anything like a Brandywine.

[barryla61]

We love these...

Goliath - good size, meaty, good skin
Super Sonic - meaty, sweeter than parks whopper
Big Beef - Meaty, sweet
Lemon Boy – good yellow tomato
Early Goliath – great early beefsteak

Golden Rave - Small oblong yellow - sweet, good skin, LOVE IT
Tomato Berry – Great small Red tomato, gets sweeter after picked

Razzle Berry – Great mid-size pink tomato

[GIZZARDFARM]

SUNGOLD, BETTERBOY AND CELEBERTY

[travis]

Everybody knows hybrid tomatoes taste better in all caps with whiskey splashed on them

[GIZZARDFARM]

Excuse my transgression, just wrote it BIG so ya'll Texans could read it after all everythings bigger in Texas, except the moonshine stills

[nancyruhl]

Sungold, Brandyboy, and Supersonic. Supersonic is a tasty medium red that is troublefree. Each tomato is beautiful.

[jennifer28]

Many of you probably already know this process, but I didn't and I found it fascinating. This is a link to a really interesting presentation of how hybrid seed is mass produced year after year. I always wondered about it, and now I know!

http://www.avrdc.org/LC/tomato/hybrid/01title.html


In my opinion, the whole process is very involved and the benefit of it is to keep "exclusive" varieties of seed so people have to pay more money. I don't think I care for that whole idea, but this is just my opinion.

-Jennifer

[barkeater]

Nice tutorial, Jennifer. I found most interesting that for seed savers:

1. potato-leaf types of L. esculentum generally have styles that protrude outside their blossom. These lines are more attractive to insects and thus, more likely to be cross-pollinated.
2. do not collect seeds of double fruits since double flowers are more prone to insect pollination.