I never tire of ranking tomatoes

[bully]

did you just hit me in the head with a tomato?

Heavens no!

I was telling the writer of the fictitious tomato blurb to "shut up" and hitting them with a tomato.

Your ideas were excellent!
I should have stated that, my point was that it is not only less work just ranking the tomato on whatever criteria you want but would possibly prove to be lees contentious.

It can be very difficult to get people to agree on things that seem simple such as: correct tomato shape and size and heirloom or not heirloom...even color.

I was trying to say that we could head all that off by just listing the name only and letting people vote on whatever factor they personally felt made for a great tomato.

I'm all about flavor because I grow 75 plants just for eating (some canning and cooking)
A person that loves to can and cook and has limited space will sacrifice some flavor for yield and others have diseases and climate issues for making their decision.

If we had enough voters all that would even itself out and the best tomatoes would rise to the top.

[SelfSufficient1]

I like this post but to me if a tomato tastes great but doesn't produce well it still isn't really worth growing so I would like to know which ones taste good and produce well.
I am not much of a tomato taster. I grew some red currant tomatoes that I really liked-strong tomato flavor. Celebrity and Patio have done the best for me production wise though I really don't know how the taste would rate. As for heirlooms Thai Pink Egg did very well, they were a bit milder but still a nice taste. I grew some yellow ones last year, not sure what variety they were anymore but they had almost NO taste at all and I didn't like them but my boyfriend liked them(I think he would love any tomato though).

[coronabarb]

I do have a couple that I grow even though the production hasn't been all that good. I just have to taste at least a few of Aunt Ginny's Purple and Paul Robeson...pure heaven! I'm still working on Aunt Gertie's Gold.

[TomatoDon]

How do you want to do the rankings bully? Would it be better to rank them in order, or would it be better to list them alphabetically, giving a rank, and a footnote as to growing habits and culture?

Do we need to rank them on taste alone? A dual system where we rank them on taste and growing habits?

What do you have in mind?

Don

[Suze]

I like this post but to me if a tomato tastes great but doesn't produce well it still isn't really worth growing so I would like to know which ones taste good and produce well.

Jaune Flammee, Pale Perfect Purple, and Red Brandywine meet those criteria for me.

[bully]

Keeping them in alphabetical order would make it easier to edit and update rankings....you could find them easier.

Do we need to rank them on taste alone? A dual system where we rank them on taste and growing habits?

In my opinion, I would leave the 'system' up to the voter and spell that out in the disclaimer. the voter could use any criteria they wanted for giving a tomato a given score.

*****Disclaimer ******

The following tomatoes were judged by Tomatoville members. They were ranked on a scale from 1 to 10 based upon the favorability of the voter. How a voter determines which tomatoes are their favorites and what score to give is totally subjective and most certainly varies from voter to voter. Please don't take this to seriously and remember the only way to determine how a tomato will perform for you is to grow it. This survey was tallied for entertainment purposes as well as educational and if used as a guideline is done so at the choice and risk of the reader. This survey in no way constitutes as an endorsement of any given tomato.

Now if we wanted to, we could do another ranking by zones.
Brandywine may average a 9 in zone 5-6 but a 6 in zones 7-10

[TomatoDon]

I agree Bully. And zones do matter to maters. If M will go for it, here's what I wrote about it:

Tomato rankings seem to be one of the most fun topics in forums. When I came here I knew nothing about Heirlooms, or much other than a Better Boy.

To help the newbies like me, I am going to, with your help, start a tomato profile system. If you will send me your opinions and information about a specific variety, I will organize it and post it here. From what I've seen so far, I feel there are about 50 varieites in the top world of tomatoes.

Here's how I'll do it unless bully or someone comes up with a better idea. It will be similiar to the seed catalogs, but more detailed and accurate.

I will keep a list, alphabetized. I did the same when I started the thread of the best tasting larger tomatoes. We had 90 replies, and I think around 1,750 hits on that thing. So, I know there is interest.

Here is the info I want from tomatovillians. NY C, NC C, and Suze, I'm sure, will have a lot of good info.

Variety
A good picture, if possible. Bully did a great job on this in the other thread.
Color
Days to maturity.
Size, in ounces if possible.
Zone preference. Ease of growing, culture particulars, etc.
Rate the taste on a scale of 1-10. Can be in half numbers, such as 8.5.
Background, such as if you know when the variety was developed and introduced, the breeder, geographic origin, etc. Just a fun way to give more info on each variety, and help to educate (I need it above all) on different varieties.
I grow this variety: 1) Every year, it's a must have. 2) Most years, because it's a good one. 3) I want to try it because I've heard good things about it. 4) I've tried it and it didn't work well here in ...(NY, TX, MS, CA, Aus, etc.)

What do you think Bully? And NY C, and NC C, and TX Suze? And AL Fusion? And NC Tomato...and...

Don

[Miss_Mudcat]

Don,

Might I suggest to have some disease information as well. Whenever one of my tomatoes starts having problems, I often wonder does this particular variety have problems with that particular disease. Or, if I know I have fungal problems in my soil, what varieties are more suceptible to it so I can take extra precautions or avoid it altogether.

Lisa

[TomatoDon]

Good idea, MM. We're still getting the plan together. I hope soon we have it ready and can start. I want a taste scale average, and all the pertinent info on each submitted variety. Then dummies like me will know where to start.

In the mean time...how's your shooting range going? I don't know if they still allow that in Wisconsin, so it's good to live in MS or IN if you like to shoot.

And does the CSA in your proflie mean what I think it does?

Don
MS CSA

[Suze]

Here is the info I want from tomatovillians.
Variety
A good picture, if possible. Bully did a great job on this in the other thread.
Color
Days to maturity.
Size, in ounces if possible.
Zone preference. Ease of growing, culture particulars, etc.
Rate the taste on a scale of 1-10. Can be in half numbers, such as 8.5.
Background, such as if you know when the variety was developed and introduced, the breeder, geographic origin, etc. Just a fun way to give more info on each variety, and help to educate (I need it above all) on different varieties.
I grow this variety: 1) Every year, it's a must have. 2) Most years, because it's a good one. 3) I want to try it because I've heard good things about it. 4) I've tried it and it didn't work well here in ...(NY, TX, MS, CA, Aus, etc.)

Here's my take on it, Don -- I really don't think most folks are going to take the time to provide all of the information you requested on any sort of meaningful and useful scale. A large part of it is that the information is already elsewhere (usually in more than one place) and some are going to see it as a duplication of time and effort *raises hand* 8).

There is already a great place you can go for much of that sort of information, though -- PlantFiles.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/finder/ind...&submit=submit

Another thing about lists (and I like to read lists as much as the next person, don't get me wrong), is that they can cause selection bias. In other words, folks will tend to sing the praises of the great ones they've tried from a subset of what others recommended to them once, and those folks came up from their good ones based on what others before them said to try...and so on.

I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesn't keep folks in a rut. There are plently of perfectly fine varieties that rarely make grow lists, so don't be afraid to live a little and occasionally try something 'new'!

[TomatoDon]

Thanks Suze! That may have saved us some time! Great link. Am always learning here.

And my favored Better Boy did make that Top Ten list. The only thing that scared me was, "parts of plants may be poisonous if ingested." No wonder Fusion said to leave it off my 06 grow list.

D

[jwr6404]

Don
"parts of the plants may be poisonous"
I believe Daves Forum provides that warning on all varieties. Tomatoville world has its risks. Planters beware.

[Miss_Mudcat]

Suze,

I'd visited davesgarden.com a few times in the past, but I'd never seen that particular web-page. It's good. I did notice on my previous visits, they didn't have all the varieties that I was searching for. However, someone here (or previously at GW) always had the information for the variety I was looking for. I think Tomatoville would have the best of the best plant profile list on the Net if it comes to fruition.

Lisa

[TomatoDon]

Thank you Lisa. I feel the same.

Don

[Miss_Mudcat]

Don,

I am WAY off topic here, but wanted to answer you back regarding shooting range and CSA. Shooting range is great! Hubby and son are learning to be archers; and Hubby is somewhat of a gun collector too. Sunday afternoons here in our neck of the woods sings with gunfire, and not just from us! In WI, these same folks would likely be arrested!

CSA doesn't stand for Confederate States of America tho' I am into that too. Was that what you were thinking?? It does stand for Community Supported Agriculture.

Now, let me say something ON TOPIC just to be a good Tomatovillian...

I'd like to see this TOMATO PLANT PROFILE come to be so that I can proclaim Tomatoville as the greatest tomato website EVER.

Lisa