Ramapo F1 tough to beat....

[Tomatovator]

This is the second year I've grown this variety and it is the best hybrid I've ever had. Short stalky plants and so far the first 5 picked have been about 14 oz. The flavor is not sweet and very tomato-eee. All of my other plants are at about 7 feet tall now but the Ramapos are at about 4 feet. If you don't want to grow real tall plants but want one that puts on a lot of decent sized tasty tomatoes give this one a try. It is listed as semi-determinate.

[barkeater]

You are preaching to the choir here! ;-) It is a very, very bushy semi-determinate though. I cage mine as wide as possible otherwise it is hard to find the tomatoes in all those leaves.

[Tomatovator]

What it lacks in height it makes up for with girth. Sort of like me.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by barkeater

You are preaching to the choir here! ;-) It is a very, very bushy semi-determinate though. I cage mine as wide as possible otherwise it is hard to find the tomatoes in all those leaves.

True enough about preaching to the choir, but there are some other F1 hybrids that were released at about the same time, meaning early, as in the 60's and I think they're right up there with Ramapo F1:

Jet Star F1
Supersonic F1
Moreton Hybrid

...... all bred by Harris seeds and I really like the lines they used for those.

And Bark can tell you that when we all thought that Ramapo F1 was being pulled from production, which it was until Rutgers stepped in and revived both it and Moreton Hybrid, I went ahead and made some selections from some Rampo F1 plants and got it out to the F3 where it was pretty darn stable and if I say so, quite close to the F1 and I think Bark will agree b'c he's one of the first who got those OP seeds from me.

[Tomatovator]

I don't know why but 2 years in a row I had no luck with Jet Star or Supersonic. They were both very prone to leaf disorders and went down early before I got any tomatoes. Probably just the luck of the draw but I gave up on them.

[b54red]

I grew both Ramapo and Moreton this year. The Ramapo definitely is bushy but it has not been very productive but the tomato is so good I will be planting it again next year. Moreton was much more productive but I did not like it as much and it made a lot of really small fruits after the first few larger ones.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Tomatovator

I don't know why but 2 years in a row I had no luck with Jet Star or Supersonic. They were both very prone to leaf disorders and went down early before I got any tomatoes. Probably just the luck of the draw but I gave up on them.

NOne of the ones we're talking about have any significant tolerance to any foliage infections and that includes Ramapo F1 and the other hybrids Ilisted above and actually I can think of only a few hybrids that have some low level tolerance to Early Blight bred in, which would only be of significance, probably, to large scale commercial farmers who wouldn't have to spray as often. But as always, fingers crossed on finding some higher level EB and Septoria tolerances.

I'd have to check but I think one , maybe two, of those new NCSU varieties that I offered here in an offer in the Spring do have some EB tolerance. If any of you want to check you can go to the first post for that offer in the Wanted subforum of the Seed Exchange and check it out; it's in one of the links there.

My brother in NC is growing Ramapo F1 and Moreton Hybrid this year and is finding Moreton is doing much better in terms of growth and fruit production. So good that he just e-mailed me and asked if he could save seeds from the fruits on one plant that he finds to be extra special.

Sheesh, my brother ought to know that sure, he can save seeds, but, but, how do I break it to him gently. Well, why not save those seeds if he wants to. He's 3 years younger than I am and maybe he can ge a selection that would work for him although it might take a few years. When Moreton Hybrid went out of production Iknow some folks were thinking of trying to get an OP version but I can't remember anyone really trying to do that.

I sent pretty much the last of my Indian Stripe seeds from 2003 to him and he did get germination and now I'm asking him if he will pretty please save seeds from some of those fruits for me. We'll see how that goes.

[MarlynnMarcks]

I am eating my first Ramapo and they are wonderful. Despite the continuous torrential rains, they are flourished. They are medium globes with little cracking, juicy and old fashioned tomato taste I remember from the 50s. I got old seed from a T''viille member and all seeds germinated and produced healthy plants. I don't know if they were hybrid or F1 but they were great. I'm saving seed in hopes that they will come true.

[MarlynnMarcks]

I'm eating my Ramapo here in not so sunny Florida and they are absolutely great! Medium round red juicy tomatoes!

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Tomatovator

This is the second year I've grown this variety and it is the best hybrid I've ever had. Short stalky plants and so far the first 5 picked have been about 14 oz. The flavor is not sweet and very tomato-eee. All of my other plants are at about 7 feet tall now but the Ramapos are at about 4 feet. If you don't want to grow real tall plants but want one that puts on a lot of decent sized tasty tomatoes give this one a try. It is listed as semi-determinate.

the Ramapos are at about 4 feet. If you don't want to grow real tall plants but want one that puts on a lot of decent sized tasty tomatoes

I like that. I am into growing detrminants and compact indets.
So Ramapos is in my must grow list for 2017.

Gardeneer