Early Impressions

[elkwc36]

I will state my early impressions of the ones I've tasted so far. Still have several yet to yield that first one. I've had a very different and difficult year. It started off with a late cold spell right when they were hardened off and ready to transplant. I left some in 16 oz cups too long. Then around the 10th of June had a hail that set me back as bad any I've ever had. At least 2-3 weeks. Think the wind with it hurt me as bad as the hail. Must of had some spin to it and twisted and split several main stems. Then TSWV took 21 plants. The heat hit around the 1st of July. Just after the plants had recovered and had started flowering. And it stayed till mid August. This slowed up fruiting. I've noticed most fruits grown during that time have been smaller than normal but better flavor than last year. Almost everyone I talk to says the same thing. The early fruits were some bigger and the ones now are starting to show more size. So the sizes I've experienced maybe smaller than normal for a variety.
Santorina- Very productive but not real impressed with taste. Others seem to like them. 5.5
Texas Star- Productive yellow and red-7.5-8.0 Be back next year
Box Car Willie- Just now setting a few. This is second year. Won't be back.
Kellog's Breakfast- Moderate producer of 10-15 oz. fruits- nice flavor 7.5-8.0 Will be back. Plan to compare to KBX
Druzba- Great flavor- 7.5-8.0 Poor producer. Will try again but probably not next year. 6-8 oz
Sioux- 6.5 4-6 oz. Average producer
Adelia- 7.0- 4-6 oz. Good production. Will be back
Juane Flammee'- 7.5 - 1.5-3 oz.- High yield and great flavor. Will be back.
Roughwood Golden Plum- Just picked a few before disease hit it but good flavor and will be back.
Merced- Hybrid- Good flavor - 7.0 Good production
Chapman - 8 plus - 12-16 oz. - My biggest surprise so far. Excellent taste. My first thought was can it get any better than this.
Porter Improved - 6.5 - 3-4 oz.
Wagner - 6.5 - 3-4 oz. - Not sure why this one is so much smaller than normal.
Bonnie Original Hybrid - 6.5 - Great production and a good dependable tomato.
Imur Prior Beta - 4.5 - Not impressed and won't be back
Indian Stripe - 8.0 - Very good flavor and good producer.
Mr. Bruno - 6.5-7.5 - 4-7 oz. Great producer.
Kimberly - 6.0 - Didn't do real well here. Low production. May try again but not next year.
Goliath Hybrid - 7.5 - The workhorse hybid for me. 6-12 oz.
Old Fashioned Goliath Hybrid - 6.5 - 12-16 oz. - Good
producer
Jet Star - 6.5 - 6-8 oz. - Average production - Probably not be back as I have hybrids that are better producers and also have better taste
Brandywine Red ( Landis ) - 7.0 - 6-9 oz. - Average production. Will be back
Firesteel - 6.5 - 6-8 oz. - Average production
Coustralee - 7.0-7.5 - 12-15 oz. Good production. Will be back
Pinapple - 7.5 - 12-14 oz. - Average producer
Vintage Wine Striped - 6.5 - 4-8 oz. - Steady producer with above average yields of striped fruit. Others liked it better than me. May be back because of production.
Neve's Azorean Red - 7.5 - 14 oz. - Average producer
Polish - 7.0 - 6-10 oz. - Below average producer that has struggled with disease but managed to hang in and produce a few. Will give another chance.
Sungold - 7.0 - great producer of cherry tomatoes
Porterhouse Hybrid - 7.0 - 12-16 oz. - Good producer. Will be back
Dagma's Perfection - 7.5 - 12 oz. - Average producer
Millionaire - 7.5 - 12 oz. - Below average producer
Orange 1 - 5.5 - A hardy semi-determinate type. 3-7 oz.- Don't appeal to my taste.
Trophy - 6.5 - 4-6 oz. - average producer
Olomovic - 4.5 - Average producer
Super Sioux - 6.5 - Average producer - 4-7 oz.
Pink Flamingo - 7.5-8.0 - 4-8 oz. - Average producer
Manalucie - 7.5 - 6-8 oz. - Below average producer. Really liked it and will give it another try.
Have several picked waiting to ripen to taste so sure this list will change. Overall been a better year than I thought a month ago. Jay

[spyfferoni]

I'm sorry Polish didn't do very good for you this year. Mine was amazing two years ago, but this year it struggled early on, and took awhile to set fruit. I'll be lucky to get a couple ripe ones. It is funny how tomatoes vary from year to year, even in the same garden. I'll try it again next year, but in a different location to see if it makes any difference. I'll definitely have to try Juane Flamee next year. Chapman sounds interesting too.
My Box Car Willie didn't do well either. It isn't as productive as I had hoped and it splits more than my other reds. Can you tell me more about Adelia?
Is Indian Stripe a strain of Cherokee Purple? How does it compare?
I just noticed also that Kimberly hasn't produced well for you. Kimberly is extremely productive for me, but on the smaller side, so now that I have bigger tomatoes ripening, I find keeping up with my one Kimberly plant a pain!
Texas Star sounds interesting from your list also. Burracker's Favorite is the first bi-color I've grown, and it is really pretty and tastes good too. I've only had two get ripe so far, but there are at least a dozen or more large fruit on the plant. Kellog's Breakfast also did well for me. I'm surprised at how productive is has been for me considering the size of the fruit. I'll plant more than one next year.
Sorry your season wasn't great, but it sounds like things have started to turn around for you. I had a slow start too, but have been loving life the last couple of weeks and hope to see more and more ripen each day. Yesterday and today we've had severe Thunderstorms w/ wind, heavy rain, and hail, so I'll have to see what happens the next few weeks.

Tyffanie---When I see lists like yours and others here on the forum, I don't feel like such a nut with my humble 25 varieties.

[elkwc36]

Maybe Carolyn will chime in here. I got the seeds from her through her offer in the SSE yearbook. She said her and Craig feel it is a strain of Cherokee Purple that developed separately. Mine pretty much are like she described. 6-10 oz. dusty pink with a purple tinge. She mentions green stripes which I haven't noticed yet. She says the fruit is smaller than Cherokee Purple but they are as big as the Cherokee Purple I grew last year. I've since decided that I may not of had the real one and going to try the real one next year.
My year is going good now. Been picking 20-30# almost every night. I've learned after over 40 years of growing tomatoes to never give up. They will surprise you. Jay

[carolyn137]

Maybe Carolyn will chime in here.

*****

I've given the background of Indian Stripe here before, several times, so will try to be brief.

Donna Nelson, a friend of mine from TX, was visiting relatives in Arkansas and saw this growing in the garden of an elderly man there. He's grown it forever as have some others in that area and it was called both Indian Stripe and Indian Zebra.

I sent seeds to Craig to see what he thought and he agreed that it appeared to be a strain of CP.

Fruits are smaller than Cpurple, lighter in color and more to the cluster. Occasionally one will see faint green striping but I also see that with CP. Taste for me and now others is about the same as CP.

The Cherokee had a presence in this area of Arkansas and some still live there.

So it seems that this is a strain of CP that developed separately and in isolation from the CP for which Craig got the seeds from John Green of TN.

And from a genetic standpoint that interests me very much.

Quite a few folks have been very positive about Indian Stripe.

Seeds are available from Sandhill Preservation where it's misspelled as Indian Striped.