Looking for a large paste tomato - Page 6

Father'sDaughter · December 2, 2015

The overall winner in terms of pounds per plant this year was Santa Maria. I think Nudi Family Heirloom came in a close second.

Venetian Marketplace produced some monsters early on, but they took forever to ripen. Will give it a second chance next year.

Costoluto Genovese had a bad year for the first time since I started growing it. Two plants got taken down almost overnight by some sort of foliage issue while plant number three piled on a ton of tomatoes and held on until the bitter end.

Federle was also very, very late, so it may be scratched.

Antique Roman did well enough to come back as did Buddy Runyon. Both plants stayed healthy right through to the end of the season.

Hog heart was also way too late, so it's off the list.

I'm questioning whether I had correct seeds for Chico Grande, Super Italian Paste and Shedra Sliva Tarasenka. None of them matched any of the on-line description and I got a lot of very small and seedy tomatoes from them.

George D's Italian Red was not in an optimal location, struggled all season, and only produced one tomato which was nothing impressive. Not ready to scratch it off the list yet.

Casino did not get a spot when all was said and done, but it's definitely getting one next year.

The one that surprised me the most was a heart in the multi purpose category -- Russian 117. While juicer than I prefer for a paste, it checked the boxes for size, production, taste and disease resistance. I've decided I can deal with a little extra juice (I let it settle out of the purée before cooking and canning) and will give this one at least two spots next year.

drew51 · December 2, 2015

Now that you mention hearts. I grew German Red Strawberry which is a heart, and yes, a little more juicer, but few seeds and dense flesh. A very nice tomato that you could use as a slicer too. It was very pretty too. beautiful looking tomato. Certainly a keeper.
Next year I have a bunch of non gardening projects I need to get done so I'm only growing a few plants next year, and no pastes. I will be skipping sauce making.
Speaking of sauce, this year was the best sauce I ever made, so the tomatoes I mentioned made a wonderful sauce. The problem for me in making sauce is that it is very time consuming, and Huntz and Italian tomato sauce like San Marzano is fairly cheap and also make a great sauce. I like my own sauce better, but a decent sauce can be made from canned products. Also the price is fairly cheap, so making sauce is a lot of work for little benefit. I grow stone fruit too, and there the fruit I get is extremely better than anything you can buy. It's in a league by itself. it is difficult to grow stone fruit, but man the fruit is unreal! That was my big surprise this year, how excellent my stone fruit harvest was.

barefootgardener · December 2, 2015

Lurley's Paste was extremely productive for me and gave me loads of tomatoes by midseason. I had over 50 nice sized tomatoes on one plant alone, but, I had to pick them when they just started to blush because I had a problem with birds pecking at them. I am glad I picked them then because we had a lot of rain later on in the season, and, a few that were left on the vines started to get blossom end rot. LP made a wonderful thick sauce when cooked down just a bit. I will grow it again for 2016.

Greenbush Italian: This was my first year growing it and it was fantastic! The heart shaped fruit had various sizes from large to medium, tasty, and were on the meaty side. Pretty good production..The plants/vines remained healthy throughout the summer and fall. I only had a few seeds and ended up with a couple plants to try. I saved seeds and it will be coming back for 2016.

I purchased seeds for Amish Paste (Not a real paste, but makes a great sauce tomato) from SSE. I had 10 plants, but they struggled after getting hit with a bit of frost early in the season. The plants started to take off again later in the season, but I only ended up getting a few fruit to mature and they were only average in size. I will try again, but will have to find another source of the original large blocky shape of this wonderful tomato. Still on the search for the original seeds..

Ginny

goodwin · December 2, 2015

The biggest one I've grown is Giant Italian Paste. They were all 8-12 oz and the tall plants set quite a few. Auria and Sabelka are very productive as well. I think they are all available from Tatiana's. Her database is also a good place to find information on a lot of paste tomatoes.
Lee

Jwb4707 · January 10, 2016

Hey All, I had good luck with the Romeos, (which were huge) and olpakas, although I was fighting off some sort of disease all season. The jersey devils were beautiful tomatoes, but they diseased out very quickly. I'm not sure which I'll try this upcoming season, but I may work a hybrid paste into the fold, just for comparison.

Jwb4707 · January 11, 2016

I'll probably try a heart variety for comparison this season, Kosovo looks interesting. Although I'm starting to lean towards mid size, more productive types.

December 2, 2015	#77
drew51 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Sterling Heights, MI Zone 6a/5b Posts: 1,302	Now that you mention hearts. I grew German Red Strawberry which is a heart, and yes, a little more juicer, but few seeds and dense flesh. A very nice tomato that you could use as a slicer too. It was very pretty too. beautiful looking tomato. Certainly a keeper. Next year I have a bunch of non gardening projects I need to get done so I'm only growing a few plants next year, and no pastes. I will be skipping sauce making. Speaking of sauce, this year was the best sauce I ever made, so the tomatoes I mentioned made a wonderful sauce. The problem for me in making sauce is that it is very time consuming, and Huntz and Italian tomato sauce like San Marzano is fairly cheap and also make a great sauce. I like my own sauce better, but a decent sauce can be made from canned products. Also the price is fairly cheap, so making sauce is a lot of work for little benefit. I grow stone fruit too, and there the fruit I get is extremely better than anything you can buy. It's in a league by itself. it is difficult to grow stone fruit, but man the fruit is unreal! That was my big surprise this year, how excellent my stone fruit harvest was. Last edited by drew51; December 2, 2015 at 10:14 AM. Reason: I can't spell!

December 2, 2015	#76
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,919	The overall winner in terms of pounds per plant this year was Santa Maria. I think Nudi Family Heirloom came in a close second. Venetian Marketplace produced some monsters early on, but they took forever to ripen. Will give it a second chance next year. Costoluto Genovese had a bad year for the first time since I started growing it. Two plants got taken down almost overnight by some sort of foliage issue while plant number three piled on a ton of tomatoes and held on until the bitter end. Federle was also very, very late, so it may be scratched. Antique Roman did well enough to come back as did Buddy Runyon. Both plants stayed healthy right through to the end of the season. Hog heart was also way too late, so it's off the list. I'm questioning whether I had correct seeds for Chico Grande, Super Italian Paste and Shedra Sliva Tarasenka. None of them matched any of the on-line description and I got a lot of very small and seedy tomatoes from them. George D's Italian Red was not in an optimal location, struggled all season, and only produced one tomato which was nothing impressive. Not ready to scratch it off the list yet. Casino did not get a spot when all was said and done, but it's definitely getting one next year. The one that surprised me the most was a heart in the multi purpose category -- Russian 117. While juicer than I prefer for a paste, it checked the boxes for size, production, taste and disease resistance. I've decided I can deal with a little extra juice (I let it settle out of the purée before cooking and canning) and will give this one at least two spots next year.

December 2, 2015	#78
barefootgardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Michigan Zone 4b Posts: 1,291	Lurley's Paste was extremely productive for me and gave me loads of tomatoes by midseason. I had over 50 nice sized tomatoes on one plant alone, but, I had to pick them when they just started to blush because I had a problem with birds pecking at them. I am glad I picked them then because we had a lot of rain later on in the season, and, a few that were left on the vines started to get blossom end rot. LP made a wonderful thick sauce when cooked down just a bit. I will grow it again for 2016. Greenbush Italian: This was my first year growing it and it was fantastic! The heart shaped fruit had various sizes from large to medium, tasty, and were on the meaty side. Pretty good production..The plants/vines remained healthy throughout the summer and fall. I only had a few seeds and ended up with a couple plants to try. I saved seeds and it will be coming back for 2016. I purchased seeds for Amish Paste (Not a real paste, but makes a great sauce tomato) from SSE. I had 10 plants, but they struggled after getting hit with a bit of frost early in the season. The plants started to take off again later in the season, but I only ended up getting a few fruit to mature and they were only average in size. I will try again, but will have to find another source of the original large blocky shape of this wonderful tomato. Still on the search for the original seeds.. Ginny

December 2, 2015	#79
goodwin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Espanola, New Mexico Posts: 608	The biggest one I've grown is Giant Italian Paste. They were all 8-12 oz and the tall plants set quite a few. Auria and Sabelka are very productive as well. I think they are all available from Tatiana's. Her database is also a good place to find information on a lot of paste tomatoes. Lee

January 10, 2016	#80
Jwb4707 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Western MA Posts: 78	Hey All, I had good luck with the Romeos, (which were huge) and olpakas, although I was fighting off some sort of disease all season. The jersey devils were beautiful tomatoes, but they diseased out very quickly. I'm not sure which I'll try this upcoming season, but I may work a hybrid paste into the fold, just for comparison.

January 11, 2016	#81
Jwb4707 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Western MA Posts: 78	I'll probably try a heart variety for comparison this season, Kosovo looks interesting. Although I'm starting to lean towards mid size, more productive types.