H vs. H

[cecilsgarden1958]

Are there any heirlooms you have grown that stand up to hybrids like Big Boy, Big Beef, Supersonic, Early Girl for production? Not accounting for your favorite flavor or color etc....just production tomato to tomato!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by cecilsgarden1958

Are there any heirlooms you have grown that stand up to hybrids like Big Boy, Big Beef, Supersonic, Early Girl for production? Not accounting for your favorite flavor or color etc....just production tomato to tomato!

Can they be open pollinated but not heirloom?
Worth

[cecilsgarden1958]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Can they be open pollinated but not heirloom?
Worth

Of course

[Worth1]

Red rocket comes to mind.
My mind slips me right now on a few others.

Worth

[decherdt]

Have a Andrew Rahart's vine with 14 fruits. Probably couldn't ship one as far though.

[carolyn137]

Cecil, you have no idea how happy I am to see your request, b'c in the past all you've done is to complain about how your tomatoes perform so badly.

So here's a few questions for you.

Foliage diseases are most common and with maybe two exceptions which are of use only to large commercial growers, hybrids do not have tolerances, no such thing as resistance, against the common foliage diseases. Prevention with a good antifungal is the way to go for that.

So, What are you looking for in an heirloom or non-heirloom OP as to the following:

PLant habit; indet or det
Early, midseason or late season
Fruit color and shape and size.
Use for the tomatoes you grow as in fresh, canning, sauce, etc

My own first priority has been and always will be Taste, but not everyone tastes the same variety the same b'c of many variables.

Carolyn, who notes that where you are in PA there are no serious problems with soilborne diseases and yes, there are MANY varieties that I would grow in preference to hybrids but there are a few hybrids that have always been faves for me and always will be.

[Blueaussi]

Mule Team, Druzba, Nepal and Tropic have all produced heavily for me. They all out produced Big Beef by a wide margin, and would probably beat Better Boy because they keep producing over such a long period.

[Worth1]

Carolyn I wish my first priority could be taste but it cant.
So I compromise.

Worth

[barefootgardener]

For me in my midwest garden it would be Amish Paste, Costoluto Genevese, Druzba, Sarnowski Polish Plum, Pantano Romanesco.. if pastes count then Lurley's Paste, I know a few others that slip my mind for the moment..

Ginny

[Lee]

In a typical year, I have had Summertime Gold and Carbon produce on par with Big Beef. However, last year I grew two Big Beef plants and both produced >20pounds each... No other tomato in my garden (including Summertime Gold) was >12pounds.

Big Beef is hard to beat...... and it ranks in the top 25% for taste as well!


Lee

[b54red]

Last year Limbaugh's Legacy produced more than any Big Beef plant that I have ever grown. Usually Neves Azorean Red, Indian Stripe both leaf types, Spudakee, Pruden's Purple, Kosovo, Carbon, KBX, Frank's Large Red, Barlow Jap, and German Johnson compare very favorably with Big Beef on production and they all taste much better and I am a Big Beef fan. I always touted Big Beef for an insurance tomato because of its ability to produce when many others failed, its ability to set fruit in the heat, good taste, and its good soil borne disease resistance. I still grow them but not so much since I started grafting and can get even better resistance to soil borne diseases and have the wonderful variety and taste of my favorite heirlooms.

Bill

[cecilsgarden1958]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Cecil, you have no idea how happy I am to see your request, b'c in the past all you've done is to complain about how your tomatoes perform so badly.

So here's a few questions for you.

Foliage diseases are most common and with maybe two exceptions which are of use only to large commercial growers, hybrids do not have tolerances, no such thing as resistance, against the common foliage diseases. Prevention with a good antifungal is the way to go for that.

So, What are you looking for in an heirloom or non-heirloom OP as to the following:

PLant habit; indet or det
Early, midseason or late season
Fruit color and shape and size.
Use for the tomatoes you grow as in fresh, canning, sauce, etc

My own first priority has been and always will be Taste, but not everyone tastes the same variety the same b'c of many variables.

Carolyn, who notes that where you are in PA there are no serious problems with soilborne diseases and yes, there are MANY varieties that I would grow in preference to hybrids but there are a few hybrids that have always been faves for me and always will be.

PLant habit; IND OR A TALL DET
MID SEASON
Fruit color -RED OR YELLOW
ANY SHAPE - 8-16 OZ.
ONLY USE FRESH
LIKE PRETTY MUCH ALL TOMATO FLAVOR TYPES, EVEN GREEN ZEBRA, THOUGH I FIND WHITES WEAY TO BLAND

[pauldavid]

I am kind of new to OP tomatoes, but last year my Arkansas Traveler produced almost as much as the Better Boy. Mortgage Lifter produced like a hybrid, but got smaller during the hottest part of summer and produced all the way to frost with no disease in my garden.

[TexasTim]

I doubt any heirloom could come close to the production rates of a Better Boy.
They have always been four- five times more productive in my gardens.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by cecilsgarden1958

PLant habit; IND OR A TALL DET
MID SEASON
Fruit color -RED OR YELLOW
ANY SHAPE - 8-16 OZ.
ONLY USE FRESH
LIKE PRETTY MUCH ALL TOMATO FLAVOR TYPES, EVEN GREEN ZEBRA, THOUGH I FIND WHITES WEAY TO BLAND

Thanks Cecil for getting back to me on whatyou want, but, you said RED or Yellow fruit color but then said you like almost all tomato flavor types etc. as you posted above.

I was surprised you said YELLOW, for there are very few varieties that stay yellow when ripe, so I'd like to convince you, hopefully, to allow me tp include orange and gold varieties and for sure some PINKS.

Let me know about that.

Carolyn