What are your Top 5 favourite Dwarf project 2020? - Page 3

coobaby · April 2, 2021

Wow! So many I'm adding to my list for next year, definitely need to try Adelaide Festival. This is my first year trying any of the dwarfs and they are by far what I'm excited for in the garden this year.

I'm happy to see BrandyFred show up a couple times here, as I've got starts of them, as well as a few others.

ScottinAtlanta · July 11, 2021

The disappointment of Tasmanian Chocolate

Folks, I have never read that TC is susceptible to disease, but all of my TC plants (in different containers) went down to a kind of wilt by mid season this year, even while others such as Maralinga continued to do fine. Do others have this experience with TC?

PNW_D · July 11, 2021

hmmm growing Tasmanian Chocolate for first time - so far so good - will keep you posted

Scooty · August 9, 2021

Before 2020, I know I had already tried more than half of the tomatoes from the DTP. This year, it'll be at least 3/4 (probably close to 100 of them, if not slightly over, I haven't bothered counting, though I still keep records) of the way through nearly trying all of them (as of 2021 releases). I try to grow a few of the same every year to anchor myself to reference points.

All of them are different and nuanced each in their own way. However, I will say that once you try most of them, many of them have overlapping or at least nonmemorable tastes. Many exist to fill a particular niche for size, shape, coloration, etc... I remember having this discussion with Craig a while back.

I should preface my reply with the admission that I tend to prefer bold intense sweet tomatoes in purple, pinks and reds or subtly sweet in the yellows, whites. If it's yellow, white, bi-color, I prefer sub-acid than the full tang. Craig too has similar preferences if I recall correctly.

It's hard to pick favorites, but....

For blacks, hands down Wild Fred. Tried purple heart, boronia, bradyfred, tastywine, rosella purple, rosella crimson, tas chocolate, velvet night, B. rumball, Kookaburra Cackle, Kangaroo Brown, etc... etc.. WF still beats them all.
Orange - Blazing Beauty, Orange Cream (Perfect Harmony and the Harmony line is on the tarter side if you enjoy that), Uluru is unique in that is savory not something expected in orange
Yellow - Sweet Sue, (S. Sue is bold strong, Summer Sunrise is more subtle sweet but still intense), Mr. Snow to a lesser extent
Bi-color - Russian Swirl for me, better than 'Wherokowhai
Green - Emerald Giant or maybe Jade Beauty
Red - Sweet Scarlet
Pink - I haven't found one in the DTP releases that amazes or knocks my socks off like some of the others have.

There are a lot of stellar looking bi-colors - confetti, caitydid, firebird, A. Festival, metallica, etc.. These are good tomatoes, but imo, they aren't absolute standouts. Other than appearance, they aren't memorable to me. Are they and other releases good? Yes, but imo they aren't great.

When I say stand out, I mean like the way I can pickout Sungold blindfolded from a batch of 10 yellow/gold cherries. Or the way Atomic Grape tastes unique. Or Aunt Ginny's Purple, etc... etc...

If you ask me about the taste of a random red tomato from the DTP releases, the year I grew it, I'll probably tell ya it tasted good. A year later, it probably wouldn't have made enough of an impression to stick with me. Sweet Scarlet I still remember. And it's two years since I grew that one. It sticks in my mind.

Actually, after trying 100 or so dwarf tomatoes project releases, I have to say that there are more "winners" as far as taste goes in the earlier releases than the latter ones. For whatever reason, the Sneezy and Tipsy lines in particular seems to have the greatest concentration of "winners" if you're judging solely by taste and taste alone.

Of course, there are other considerations like production, earliness, vigor, etc... etc...

eyolf · August 10, 2021

In MN, not much is ripe right now. I'm hoping that the Dwarf Beauty King tastes as good as it looks...but it's a couple of days out yet.

On my deck and also one in the garden grows a "puck"...which may be a grandchild of the original dwarf varieties Livingston discovered.

I am in love with the flavor: tart and fruity, vaguely reminiscent of a wild raspberry or gooseberry. Johnson Cherry exhibits that to slightly lesser degree...and I'm hoping DBK does as well. Also growing this year is Dwarf Arctic Rose (and Dr Yeager's Tiny Tim); this "berry-like quality" is barely perceptible among them.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Scooty · August 10, 2021

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyolf

In MN, not much is ripe right now. I'm hoping that the Dwarf Beauty King tastes as good as it looks...but it's a couple of days out yet.

On my deck and also one in the garden grows a "puck"...which may be a grandchild of the original dwarf varieties Livingston discovered.

I am in love with the flavor: tart and fruity, vaguely reminiscent of a wild raspberry or gooseberry. Johnson Cherry exhibits that to slightly lesser degree...and I'm hoping DBK does as well. Also growing this year is Dwarf Arctic Rose (and Dr Yeager's Tiny Tim); this "berry-like quality" is barely perceptible among them.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

If you like tart and fruity, you'd really like the three in the "Harmony" line - Perfect Harmony, CC McGee, and Pink Livija. It's not pucker sour like the Furry Boar line from Wild Boar Farms, but it's definitely there.

To me at least, Beauty King was decent. It's a nicely balanced tomato. It's not an intensely flavored, which is usually my preference. I wouldn't say any in the "Beauty" line are assertive, with the exception of Sue's Beauty.

eyolf · August 11, 2021

Thanks, Scooty.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

hl2601 · August 15, 2021

Absolute standouts include
Dwarf Sonrojo's Monster
Dwarf Awesome
Dwarf Gloria's Treat
These are sisters.
Prolific, tasty and special.
These are all recent releases BTW

Shrinkrap · June 20, 2024

There's probably a new thread, but I stumbled on this one trying to figure out if I grew Fred's Tie Dye or Dwarf Beauty King this year

MissTee · June 21, 2024

Looking back over the past six or seven years, these are my results from the DTP.

*=have grown more than once/repeat favourites
✔️=will grow again in the future

Adelaide Festival
Arctic Rose
Beauty King
Blazing Beauty
Boronia
Brandy Fred
Emerald Giant
Egypt Yellow
*Franklin County
Kelly Green
*Lemon Ice
*Mary’s Cherry
✔️Pink Passion
*Rosella Purple
*Russian Swirl
*Scarlet Heart
✔️Sleeping Lady
✔️Snakebite
Sweet Scarlet
XTasmanian Chocolate (not true-to-type)
✔️Uluru Ochre
✔️Velvet Night (not true-to-type, maybe Kookaburra Cackle?)
Whereokwhai
XWild Fred (not true-to-type)

Related (project parents)
*New Big Dwarf (late variety though)
Roza Vetrov - new this year.

2024 - New - in progress
Chocolate Heartthrob
Tanunda Red
Wild Fred
Orange Cream
Willa’s Cariboo Rose
Big Green Dwarf
Eagle Smiley Yellow

My Top 5 so far:
1. Scarlet Heart
2. Mary’s Cherry
3. Snakebite
4. Russian Swirl
5. Franklin County
Honourable mention: Lemon Ice

Rankings are based on taste and production and relative earliness since I am in a zone 4-5 garden. Most varieties grown had great taste, but either produced poorly or too late for my garden. So your mileage may vary.

July 11, 2021	#32
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	The disappointment of Tasmanian Chocolate Folks, I have never read that TC is susceptible to disease, but all of my TC plants (in different containers) went down to a kind of wilt by mid season this year, even while others such as Maralinga continued to do fine. Do others have this experience with TC? Last edited by ScottinAtlanta; July 11, 2021 at 07:54 PM.

July 11, 2021	#33
PNW_D Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: West Coast, Canada Posts: 961	hmmm growing Tasmanian Chocolate for first time - so far so good - will keep you posted __________________ D.

August 9, 2021	#34
Scooty Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Chicago-land & SO-cal Posts: 583	Tried a lot..... Before 2020, I know I had already tried more than half of the tomatoes from the DTP. This year, it'll be at least 3/4 (probably close to 100 of them, if not slightly over, I haven't bothered counting, though I still keep records) of the way through nearly trying all of them (as of 2021 releases). I try to grow a few of the same every year to anchor myself to reference points. All of them are different and nuanced each in their own way. However, I will say that once you try most of them, many of them have overlapping or at least nonmemorable tastes. Many exist to fill a particular niche for size, shape, coloration, etc... I remember having this discussion with Craig a while back. I should preface my reply with the admission that I tend to prefer bold intense sweet tomatoes in purple, pinks and reds or subtly sweet in the yellows, whites. If it's yellow, white, bi-color, I prefer sub-acid than the full tang. Craig too has similar preferences if I recall correctly. It's hard to pick favorites, but.... For blacks, hands down Wild Fred. Tried purple heart, boronia, bradyfred, tastywine, rosella purple, rosella crimson, tas chocolate, velvet night, B. rumball, Kookaburra Cackle, Kangaroo Brown, etc... etc.. WF still beats them all. Orange - Blazing Beauty, Orange Cream (Perfect Harmony and the Harmony line is on the tarter side if you enjoy that), Uluru is unique in that is savory not something expected in orange Yellow - Sweet Sue, (S. Sue is bold strong, Summer Sunrise is more subtle sweet but still intense), Mr. Snow to a lesser extent Bi-color - Russian Swirl for me, better than 'Wherokowhai Green - Emerald Giant or maybe Jade Beauty Red - Sweet Scarlet Pink - I haven't found one in the DTP releases that amazes or knocks my socks off like some of the others have. There are a lot of stellar looking bi-colors - confetti, caitydid, firebird, A. Festival, metallica, etc.. These are good tomatoes, but imo, they aren't absolute standouts. Other than appearance, they aren't memorable to me. Are they and other releases good? Yes, but imo they aren't great. When I say stand out, I mean like the way I can pickout Sungold blindfolded from a batch of 10 yellow/gold cherries. Or the way Atomic Grape tastes unique. Or Aunt Ginny's Purple, etc... etc... If you ask me about the taste of a random red tomato from the DTP releases, the year I grew it, I'll probably tell ya it tasted good. A year later, it probably wouldn't have made enough of an impression to stick with me. Sweet Scarlet I still remember. And it's two years since I grew that one. It sticks in my mind. Actually, after trying 100 or so dwarf tomatoes project releases, I have to say that there are more "winners" as far as taste goes in the earlier releases than the latter ones. For whatever reason, the Sneezy and Tipsy lines in particular seems to have the greatest concentration of "winners" if you're judging solely by taste and taste alone. Of course, there are other considerations like production, earliness, vigor, etc... etc... Last edited by Scooty; August 9, 2021 at 07:18 PM.

August 10, 2021	#35
eyolf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central MN, USDA Zone 3 Posts: 302	In MN, not much is ripe right now. I'm hoping that the Dwarf Beauty King tastes as good as it looks...but it's a couple of days out yet. On my deck and also one in the garden grows a "puck"...which may be a grandchild of the original dwarf varieties Livingston discovered. I am in love with the flavor: tart and fruity, vaguely reminiscent of a wild raspberry or gooseberry. Johnson Cherry exhibits that to slightly lesser degree...and I'm hoping DBK does as well. Also growing this year is Dwarf Arctic Rose (and Dr Yeager's Tiny Tim); this "berry-like quality" is barely perceptible among them. Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk __________________ a day without fresh homegrown tomatoes is like... ...sigh

August 11, 2021	#37
eyolf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central MN, USDA Zone 3 Posts: 302	Thanks, Scooty. Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk __________________ a day without fresh homegrown tomatoes is like... ...sigh

April 2, 2021	#31
coobaby Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 3	Wow! So many I'm adding to my list for next year, definitely need to try Adelaide Festival. This is my first year trying any of the dwarfs and they are by far what I'm excited for in the garden this year. I'm happy to see BrandyFred show up a couple times here, as I've got starts of them, as well as a few others.

August 15, 2021	#38
hl2601 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Metro Denver Posts: 767	Absolute standouts include Dwarf Sonrojo's Monster Dwarf Awesome Dwarf Gloria's Treat These are sisters. Prolific, tasty and special. These are all recent releases BTW

June 21, 2024	#40
MissTee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: Zone 4-5, Ontario Posts: 4	Looking back over the past six or seven years, these are my results from the DTP. =have grown more than once/repeat favourites ✔️=will grow again in the future Adelaide Festival Arctic Rose Beauty King Blazing Beauty Boronia Brandy Fred Emerald Giant Egypt Yellow Franklin County Kelly Green Lemon Ice Mary’s Cherry ✔️Pink Passion Rosella Purple Russian Swirl Scarlet Heart ✔️Sleeping Lady ✔️Snakebite Sweet Scarlet XTasmanian Chocolate (not true-to-type) ✔️Uluru Ochre ✔️Velvet Night (not true-to-type, maybe Kookaburra Cackle?) Whereokwhai XWild Fred (not true-to-type) Related (project parents) New Big Dwarf (late variety though) Roza Vetrov - new this year. 2024 - New - in progress Chocolate Heartthrob Tanunda Red Wild Fred Orange Cream Willa’s Cariboo Rose Big Green Dwarf Eagle Smiley Yellow My Top 5 so far: 1. Scarlet Heart 2. Mary’s Cherry 3. Snakebite 4. Russian Swirl 5. Franklin County Honourable mention: Lemon Ice Rankings are based on taste and production and relative earliness since I am in a zone 4-5 garden. Most varieties grown had great taste, but either produced poorly or too late for my garden. So your mileage may vary.