Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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#31 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 3
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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. |
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#32 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 2,593
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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. |
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#33 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: West Coast, Canada
Posts: 961
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hmmm growing Tasmanian Chocolate for first time - so far so good - will keep you posted
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#34 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Chicago-land & SO-cal
Posts: 583
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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. |
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#35 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central MN, USDA Zone 3
Posts: 302
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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
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a day without fresh homegrown tomatoes is like... ...sigh |
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#36 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Chicago-land & SO-cal
Posts: 583
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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. |
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#37 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central MN, USDA Zone 3
Posts: 302
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Thanks, Scooty.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
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a day without fresh homegrown tomatoes is like... ...sigh |
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#38 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Metro Denver
Posts: 767
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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 |
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#39 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2006
Location: N. California
Posts: 701
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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
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#40 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Zone 4-5, Ontario
Posts: 4
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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. |
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