Storage longkeeper types

[Rena]

I am looking at extending the season. So far I know of Red October, Longkeeper and Giraffe. Does anyone know of any others?-Rena

[Andrey_BY]

Except Giraffe I grow two more Russian yellow long keepers - Khutorskoy Zasolochny and Novogodny (Happy New Year). Both yellow when ripe and can't be riped on the vine. The second one has a little bit large fruits.

[carolyn137]

Several years ago Organic Gardening did a very nice article on Longkeeper types and the ratings really didn't have much good to say about most of them.

But in addition to the ones Andrey has mentioned to you, I seem to remember one called Red October which was highly rated.

So why not Google that one as well as seeing if you can also Google that article.

As for me, I just have never been interested in those types. For me, everything has a season, I want the best from that season, for whatever, and I want my vine grown tomatoes fresh.

[Andrey_BY]

Red October is so-so longkeeper as I can see in the describtion can be stored only about 3-4 weeks longer than normal tomato varieties w/o putting into fridge. Actually every third Russian OP or Hybrid tomato can be kept like this.

http://www.hirts.com/cgi-local/catal...,61,&item=3688

We call a longkeeper tomato only when it is hardy enough to be stored during at least 2 months or better 3 month. You can keep Giraffe up to 5-6 months and Novogodny and Khutorskoy Zasolochny up to 3-4 months.

[Rena]

5-6 months?? Doing the tomato happy dance!!

[Tania]

Rena,
you know what the taste of these tomatoes would be after 4-5 months, don't you?

I grew Giraffe last year, and I agree with Andrey that it does keep for a long time - in fact I still have about a dozen of them. But either because I picked them not so ripe, or for some other reason, they don't taste so good this time of the year. (In fact, I am having hard time to decide whether they are better than a store bought tomato or not :wink:

ANother long keeper is Burpee Longkeeper, which is larger than Giraffe, lasts for as long as Giraffe, and IMO tastes slightly better (but not much better)