Black Krim vs Indian Stripe?

[AlittleSalt]

I have grown Black Krim. It was a very wet year, but BK produced a few tomatoes anyway. 3 plants produced 5 tomatoes total. Being that it rained almost every day probably had something to do with that. We enjoyed the taste.

I grew Indian Stripe the same year, but it drowned. So I have no idea how they taste.

I have seeds for Black Krim and Indian Stripe RL and PL. Links for both :
BK http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Black_Krim
IS http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Indian_Stripe

I'm curious which one would grow and produce better in my Texas garden, and does one taste better than the other? I could grow all 3, but would still like your opinions.

[salix]

Robert, for me it would be Indian Stripe PL, but my climate is very different from yours.

[sjamesNorway]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I have grown Black Krim. It was a very wet year, but BK produced a few tomatoes anyway. 3 plants produced 5 tomatoes total. Being that it rained almost every day probably had something to do with that. We enjoyed the taste.

I grew Indian Stripe the same year, but it drowned. So I have no idea how they taste.

I have seeds for Black Krim and Indian Stripe RL and PL. Links for both :
BK http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Black_Krim
IS http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Indian_Stripe

I'm curious which one would grow and produce better in my Texas garden, and does one taste better than the other? I could grow all 3, but would still like your opinions.

B54red lists Indian Stripe PL as one of his top heat tolerant varieties. I've read that Black Krim doesn't tolerate heat well.

Steve

[Gardeneer]

I am also going to grow then as "Versus" this year. I grew IS RL last year It was pretty good in production and taste. But II will try IS PL , per Bill's review, now that I am in the south.
I have grown BK couple of times , with mix results. It did better in GA than WA. How it will do in NC ? We shall see.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

I am also going to grow then as "Versus" this year. I grew IS RL last year It was pretty good in production and taste. But II will try IS PL , per Bill's review, now that I am in the south.
I have grown BK couple of times , with mix results. It did better in GA than WA. How it will do in NC ? We shall see.

I would think it would do better in NC but who knows.
I life practically in a forest.
The trees have taken over my one sunny spot I had and I cant cut them down as they are on other property.
That lady count care less about a garden.
The other sunny place is farther in the back and no way can I afford to fence it off to protect it.
Plus I would have to terrace and haul in soil.

With all that babble out of the way IS is nothing to write home about with me.
I would consider Cherokee Purple over it big time.

With that said I wouldn't waste my time with IS or BK where I live in this one spot.

Worth

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I would think it would do better in NC but who knows.
I life practically in a forest.
The trees have taken over my one sunny spot I had and I cant cut them down as they are on other property.
That lady count care less about a garden.
The other sunny place is farther in the back and no way can I afford to fence it off to protect it.
Plus I would have to terrace and haul in soil.

With all that babble out of the way IS is nothing to write home about with me.
I would consider Cherokee Purple over it big time.

With that said I wouldn't waste my time with IS or BK where I live in this one spot.

Worth

Worth, I hear you .
Talking about shade, I know how it is. My garden in WA got just 4 to 5 hours of direct sun. Add to that the cool weather. I was challenged and did ok but I could do better with like 7 hours of sun.
Now that I am in NC, I keep worrying about TOO MUCH sun. Part of my garden will get sun almost ALL DAY. but the one end (south ) should be shaded in AM hours by the pine trees. .
Having sad all that, I think shade is not that bad especially down south with scorching heat. I used to do pretty good with 6-7 hours of sun back in GA.

On Robert''s question of BK vs. IS , I will give each just one spot ( one plant each). That should cost me just about 10 sq-ft of garden space. I have 600 sq-ft so far. I have a good memory of growing BK in GA. They were big tomatoes and some culprits ( rats or squirrels ) loved them a lot.

[cjp1953]

I grow Black Krim every year.One of my favorites,but my garden gets sunlight all day long.I also grow Cherokee Purple.Both do well and we can get days in the mid 90's in late summer.I have never grown Indian Stripe so I can't comment there.Try and compare.

[Worth1]

The forest with rotting leaves and mold will do most blacks in big time here.
So you have a choice pick out one that can survive or do without.
Taste comes in second over that any day.
And besides to not sound like a jerk but most home grown tomatoes are by far better than the worthless rocks in the store.
So I am not that picky on flavor anyway just happy to have a tomato.
I'll leave the good stuff to you guys and you can send me your culls.

Worth

[cjp1953]

I agree Worth,even with the stink bug problem and the tart flavor I had with some last year they were better than any bought from a supermarket

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Worth1

The forest with rotting leaves and mold will do most blacks in big time here.
So you have a choice pick out one that can survive or do without.
Taste comes in second over that any day.
And besides to not sound like a jerk but most home grown tomatoes are by far better than the worthless rocks in the store.
So I am not that picky on flavor anyway just happy to have a tomato.
I'll leave the good stuff to you guys and you can send me your culls.

Worth

yeah . I always in my evaluation consider 'productivity' first then taste. With so many varieties in my garden I can find enough good tasting ones for slicing/salads and eating fresh or on the sandwich. I personally use more tomatoes as 'cooked' like sauce, soup , ... canned than fresh. In those cases there are many ways to improve on taste by herbs and spices. I can make a good tasting tomato sauce with just about any tomato.
BTW, dark tomato es do not make nice looking sauce. But I like yellow, orange either straight or mixed w/red. It is just a visual thing with me. I love salads made w/ different colors of tomatoes, a little bit of cukes and just a little lettuce. And yeah, some bell/chili peppers. So there black tomatoes come handy.

[b54red]

Probably the best tasting tomato I ever ate was from a Black Krim plant years ago but I don't grow it anymore. It is just too susceptible to a bit of rain. They will split if you spit on the ground under them. They are poor keepers and will turn mushy and mealy faster than any other variety I have ever grown. I love the taste of Black Krim when everything is perfect but down here we rarely get those conditions.

If I could only have one variety to have in my garden after mid July it would have to be an Indian Stripe either rl or pl. Too much rain will ruin most black tomatoes either from too much foliage disease particularly gray mold or what few tomatoes that do make aren't fit to eat due to splitting and mushiness. Generally IS is a stalwart in the hot summer months when most other varieties just give up. The flavor is almost always excellent and they keep well compared to most black tomato varieties. In that vein if you do wait a day too long to pick them they are usually still great but a Black Krim left on the plant a bit too long is usually a spitter to me. Production wise Black Krim is not usually even in the same league as IS and especially not ISPL.

Bill

[Worth1]

One black tomato that did really well for me in the shady area was Purple Calabash and to me it wasn't that bad.
I know Carolyn doesn't care for it but even she says not to take her word for anything and to try stuff.
Last year was death to blacks due to the rain I had it is a wonder I didn't have a Ebola outbreak here.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

My wife and I were talking about Black Krim and how good it tasted. I reminded her it was the one that we got 5 tomatoes from 3 plants. Then she reminded me that 4 of them sat on the counter and went bad. They got big soft spots on the side they were sitting on - I finally remembered and she is right. I had also forgotten about the foliar disease problems with black tomatoes.

Okay, BK just got scratched from the list. Couilles De Taureau takes its place.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

yeah . I always in my evaluation consider 'productivity' first then taste. With so many varieties in my garden I can find enough good tasting ones for slicing/salads and eating fresh or on the sandwich. I personally use more tomatoes as 'cooked' like sauce, soup , ... canned than fresh. In those cases there are many ways to improve on taste by herbs and spices. I can make a good tasting tomato sauce with just about any tomato.
BTW, dark tomato es do not make nice looking sauce. But I like yellow, orange either straight or mixed w/red. It is just a visual thing with me. I love salads made w/ different colors of tomatoes, a little bit of cukes and just a little lettuce. And yeah, some bell/chili peppers. So there black tomatoes come handy.

If you want to make tomato sauce with the bulk of your tomatoes then you really should be looking at some of the hearts. I don't grow them very often because I find the flavor just too bland with most of them; but they will fill a sauce pot up so much faster and with a lot less water to cook out. The best tasting to me was Donskoi but the most productive ones for me were Wes, Kosovo, Fish Lake Oxheart, Gildo Pietroboni, Hungarian Heart, Linnie's Oxheart, Anna Russian, and Oleyar's German.

Bill

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by b54red

If you want to make tomato sauce with the bulk of your tomatoes then you really should be looking at some of the hearts. I don't grow them very often because I find the flavor just too bland with most of them; but they will fill a sauce pot up so much faster and with a lot less water to cook out. The best tasting to me was Donskoi but the most productive ones for me were Wes, Kosovo, Fish Lake Oxheart, Gildo Pietroboni, Hungarian Heart, Linnie's Oxheart, Anna Russian, and Oleyar's German.

Bill

Hi Bill, thanks for the advice.
I am not a big time canner, At the peak of harvest I use whatever I have extra. Smash them a bit and get some juice out for soup and some Bloody Mary. . It is refreshing at the heat of summer.
Then the process goes on. I mostly can spaghetti style/consistency sauce ( just plain). I add spices/herbs when I open the jar for use.
This year I will have just one variety of heart : COEUR DE BOEUF. Will it work ?
Black tomatoes are meaty too. I will grow IS PL, per your review.
I love tomatoes on the grill too.
Back to the topic .
I am not yet decided on the BK.... cracking, getting mushy .. !!! Yeah, I can sauce them, right ?