Good heirloom

[Kongobongo]

Hello.this is our first year growing a couple heirlooms.Brandywine and mortgage lifter.I have to say I'm a little disappointed.both of the heirlooms are growing and setting fruit but all of them are diseased.I'm continually pruning infected parts off.all the hybrids are lush and loaded..no disease.we can big time every fall so like to have high producers.I don't want to give up on heirlooms though.can anyone steer me to some heirlooms that really put out and are good for canning?something I can save seeds from every year that still fills the pantry.thanks.

[Cole_Robbie]

I'm sure you will get a lot of suggestions.

Two of my biggest producers have been George Detsikas Italian Red and Tarasenko-6.

I'm not sure what hybrids you grow, but Big Beef is my favorite, and very popular among people on this site.

[Kongobongo]

We usually grow whatever the nursery has to offer.I want to get away from having to buy my plants.looking for an heirloom that is fairly uniform and easy to peel for canning but has great taste.a yellow or orange variety also would be nice.red and yellow sure looks good together in our canned stewed tomatoes.

[Ed of Somis]

Many folks on this site end up growing their plants from seed. There are many advantages to this...but it is a lot of work (fun for some of us). I am growing a couple of hybrids this year...and generally they often show less disease. Taste can be the trade off. If you spend some time reviewing past posts...you can learn a lot here. Most of these folks are pretty sharp...and have done their homework.

[My Foot Smells]

I didn't know mortgage lifter was an heirloom, but I have never seen a ML plant for sale here - ever. Only know a handful that have grown, mainly for oddity and story reputation. I have personally never eaten one either, but some say the taste is rather bland and plant is not very productive in comparison to others.

What are your thoughts on the lifter tomato? Not one I hear much about anymore, but could just be a local thing.

<edit: I looked up "mortgage lifter" and it IS labeled as an heirloom. Although derived from cross breeding - which sounds kindof confusing>

[Tormato]

I suggest starting another thread, with terms like "heirloom", "paste", "canner", etc...in the title. That way, more people here may view the thread and give recommendations.

[Kongobongo]

None are ripe yet so hard to tell.I grew it from seed that I purchased at a local hardware store.who knows if it's even the real deal.

[PureHarvest]

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

I didn't know mortgage lifter was an heirloom, but I have never seen a ML plant for sale here - ever. Only know a handful that have grown, mainly for oddity and story reputation. I have personally never eaten one either, but some say the taste is rather bland and plant is not very productive in comparison to others.

What are your thoughts on the lifter tomato? Not one I hear much about anymore, but could just be a local thing.

<edit: I looked up "mortgage lifter" and it IS labeled as an heirloom. Although derived from cross breeding - which sounds kindof confusing>

Mortgage lifter is my best tasting tomato so far out of 20 varieties this year.

[My Foot Smells]

Originally Posted by PureHarvest

Mortgage lifter is my best tasting tomato so far out of 20 varieties this year.

Wow! Interesting. Thanks for the votary, as previously stated, don't have much experience with that one and have never ever tasted one.

I guess the next logical question, is this tomato (mor. lift) a two hander? Reputation has grown this one to the size of a pumpkin in myth.

[Kongobongo]

I think next year will try again in pots on the deck where they can be babied a lot more.and leave the garden for the canners.anything we grow on the deck never gets diseased it seems.

[Kongobongo]

Like I say,mediocre.

[Cole_Robbie]

You should look into dwarf varieties, and the dwarf project on this web site. They are great for containers. Many of them are newer varieties, but they are open-pollinated, and just as tasty as the best heirlooms.

[My Foot Smells]

that dirt looks like black gold, maybe it is some of that glacier melt...

great pruning job too, tom's look healthy....

lastly, nice job puncturing a stout pole in the earth for support - looks like you are ready to put up a chain link fence after tomato season. like it a lot, beefy.

[Kongobongo]

Thanks.just using what I have.remnants of an old carport.I've got 30 of them.they work great.plant looks ok but only because I had to prune1/3 of it out.I've got 4 and all have something going on.all the other tom's are fine.there is a creek about 100 yards from the garden so I'm thinking it's probably old river bottom.things grow great.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Kongobongo

Hello.this is our first year growing a couple heirlooms.Brandywine and mortgage lifter.I have to say I'm a little disappointed.both of the heirlooms are growing and setting fruit but all of them are diseased.I'm continually pruning infected parts off.all the hybrids are lush and loaded..no disease.we can big time every fall so like to have high producers.I don't want to give up on heirlooms though.can anyone steer me to some heirlooms that really put out and are good for canning?something I can save seeds from every year that still fills the pantry.thanks.

What is your definition of good? Some people like super sweet. Some people like more meaty than juicy. Some people like a bit sweet and sour. Some like more mellow sweet with lots of tomatoey flavor. Some like the rich taste of a black/purple over a more crisp yellow or orange... etc.. etc..

If you give us more specifics on what you're looking for, I think it would be easier to narrow down what you might like, so we don't end up recommending varieties that you'll dislike (or find lackluster) as much as your existing tomatoes.

I should point out, everyone wants high productivity, but how much of that say would you be willing to give up for stellar knock your socks off tomatoes? Very few heirlooms have the vigor or productivity of a hybrid like Big Beef, Celebrity, etc... but many do taste unbelievable to the degree that most home growers give up hybrids for heirlooms. For example, given the choice between 5 pounds of Big Beef vs 2.5 pounds of Black Krim or Carbon, many if not most people on this site would probably pick one of the latter two. (That's not to say that you can't have a high productivity heirloom, just more of a preparation of expectations)