Grow again list!

[darwinslair]

for the last couple years these are ones I have grown every year, for various reasons:

Joe Lauerer
Terhune
Cherokee Purple
Nyagous
Czech Bush
Rumi Banjan
Siberian
Riesentraube
Christopher Columbus

I have a lot I am experimenting with. Quite a few that I am giving a second or third chance to, and a lot I am trying for the first time. about 250 plants in this year, and 2/3 of the total number are new to me. <grin> I do so love tomatoes.

Tom

[halleone]

"I have a lot I am experimenting with. Quite a few that I am giving a second or third chance to, and a lot I am trying for the first time. about 250 plants in this year, and 2/3 of the total number are new to me. I do so love tomatoes.

Tom"


I guess!! Makes my paltry 12 plants seem downright ridiculous.....

Originally Posted by halleone

"I have a lot I am experimenting with. Quite a few that I am giving a second or third chance to, and a lot I am trying for the first time. about 250 plants in this year, and 2/3 of the total number are new to me. I do so love tomatoes.

Tom"


I guess!! Makes my paltry 12 plants seem downright ridiculous.....

Unlike Darwinslayer, I am only growing 84 plants of 42 varieties and have been overwhelmed trying to keep up with the harvest. The temperature yesterday was 105 and tomatoes are rotting on the vine because I can't work in that kind of heat.

Ted

Originally Posted by halleone

"I have a lot I am experimenting with. Quite a few that I am giving a second or third chance to, and a lot I am trying for the first time. about 250 plants in this year, and 2/3 of the total number are new to me. I do so love tomatoes.

Tom"


I guess!! Makes my paltry 12 plants seem downright ridiculous.....

Not really! I always received as much pleasure from the anticipation of bounty from a few plants as I receive from a lot of plants. The only advantage for me in growing more plants is I get to learn more from a lot of plants than I could learn from a few plants. Darwinslayer learns more than triple what I learn in a season.

I always thought I had a great harvest for the year if I got two Walmart bags full of tomatoes from a few plants.

Ted

[kath]

Originally Posted by tedln

I always received as much pleasure from the anticipation of bounty from a few plants as I receive from a lot of plants. The only advantage for me in growing more plants is I get to learn more from a lot of plants than I could learn from a few plants.
Ted

Well put, Ted.

As far a my permanent grow again list, it's too early in the season for me to tell quite yet, but as some of you know I'm trialing a lot of varieties this year, too, and it's already becoming apparent which plants just seem to love my garden and which ones just don't. Yesterday I began taking out plants that are small and scrawny/producing little or nothing/producing only catfaced and/or BER fruits/seem most disease-prone, etc. before I've even gotten to taste a fruit! Why? Because the regrows of my past favorites are excelling once again in healthy growth, earliness and production and I'd rather open up the area for better airflow, make for easier spraying, and reduce the time needed to care for the tomatoes in general. Also, because in the past I've never found a favorite tasting fruit from a plant that had the unhappy look that some of these have and last, but not least, because it is too much work and I'm tired of it already and it's not even July! So here's to finding a working list of favorites this year and retiring from the madness!

I'll wait until I've tasted fruits from all the varieties that earn a place in taste testing this year before I post a list- hopefully this thread will still be active then and/or I can remember and find it. Maybe it won't be too long, as I picked the first ripe Amazon Chocolate yesterday and the coming heat should finish the first Work Release Paste and Fish Lake Oxheart.
kath

[PA_Julia]

White queen as it's name implies is a white tomato.
It has turned out to be a heavy producer of fruit thus far.
Out of the 3 plants I have I currently have 35 tomatoes in various stages of growth.
Of course the electric toothbrush method has also contributed to this but it is touted as a heavy producer.

If it tastes good to me it will be grown again next year.


Julia

[TerpGal]

My every year favorites are Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, and Black Ethiopian, alhough I only have CP this year due to early crop failure. I try a different paste each year, been trying to decide which I like best. I hae so far tried Big Italian Plum, San Marzano Lungo #2, and Roma. Thinking about trying Amish Paste or Opalka next year. That leaves one or two experimental varities. I have tried and not regrown Amys Sugar Gem, Early Wonder, Mortgage Lifter, Anna Russian, and Great White. This year I have Zapotec, Aunt Rubys German GReen, and German Johnson trialling, we will see if any of those make the cut. Who knows, it has really been a terrible year for me due to CMV.

[dustyrivergarden]

I love the Chocolate cherry, Sun gold. I am growing 59 different variety's and a lot of new one's in that bunch so I am hoping to add some new ones to my list. I am excited about the green zebras and some of the green when ripe tomatoes it should really be fun to test the new ones.

[Tania]

KBX is in my garden every year. It is a very late and low producer here in PNW, but we just love the taste!

[janezee]

Frühe Liebe will definitely be grown again next year, along with Rozovyi Myod and Moravsky Div. They have proven to be the most likely to survive bad weather (cold, rainy, dark) here in the PNW this year. No matter what they taste like this year, I'll be testing them again next year for taste.
They all have stood up against spider mites in cold weather, and grown taller and put out more flowers sooner than 80 other varieties I trialed this spring. They've been really sturdy and vigorous, and all I need to fall in love is true tomato taste.
That's not asking too much, is it?

j

Originally Posted by TerpGal

My every year favorites are Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, and Black Ethiopian, alhough I only have CP this year due to early crop failure. I try a different paste each year, been trying to decide which I like best. I hae so far tried Big Italian Plum, San Marzano Lungo #2, and Roma. Thinking about trying Amish Paste or Opalka next year. That leaves one or two experimental varities. I have tried and not regrown Amys Sugar Gem, Early Wonder, Mortgage Lifter, Anna Russian, and Great White. This year I have Zapotec, Aunt Rubys German GReen, and German Johnson trialling, we will see if any of those make the cut. Who knows, it has really been a terrible year for me due to CMV.

Your reply made my day because it really illustrates the different traits different people look for in tomatoes. I have never had any desire to grow a paste or plum tomato. I'm really glad you and many, many people do enjoy growing them because that keeps this tomato thing we enjoy going.,

Ted

Originally Posted by Tania

KBX is in my garden every year. It is a very late and low producer here in PNW, but we just love the taste!

I've grown KBX for two years and have been debating if I want to grow it again. It is a great variety that is still producing really large tomatoes in our high heat. I really enjoy the taste but I think I should eat it with my eyes closed. For some reason it doesn't seem natural to eat a tomato slice that looks like a golden slice of fruit like a ripe mango, but tastes like a big, red, beefsteak tomato. They produced some of my largest fruits this year in large numbers and they were picture perfect in appearance.

Ted

[Tapout]

So far Early Girl for me has been hardy and a heavy producer as far as taste goes I dont know yet they are still green. Speaking of Green I don't think I will grow green zebra again. These past 3 weeks have been hell on my tomatoes and green zebra did not hold up to the stress.

[halleone]

Originally Posted by tedln

I've grown KBX for two years and have been debating if I want to grow it again. It is a great variety that is still producing really large tomatoes in our high heat. I really enjoy the taste but I think I should eat it with my eyes closed. For some reason it doesn't seem natural to eat a tomato slice that looks like a golden slice of fruit like a ripe mango, but tastes like a big, red, beefsteak tomato. They produced some of my largest fruits this year in large numbers and they were picture perfect in appearance.

Ted

Mmm, you made that sound SO good, I am going to go talk to my two little KBX's and encourage them to grow strong - they are still far smaller than the other varieties, but they are healthy.

We ate our first tomato of the season yesterday - Tommy Toe. It was a bit sweeter than expected, but nonethelss, it was good and it really set the taste buds up for more tomatoes! But we are still several weeks away from that, here in the PNW.

For the person who is growing German Johnson this year, I hope you will like it. I haven't given it a spot for a few years, so I could trial others, but it now has its' permanent spot in my garden, having what I want in a tomato, being great taste, good production, no tendency to disease, and doesn't split.

[darwinslair]

Just as a side note: Siberian has been a part of my garden for years, but the heat stunted them, and now I think has killed them. The ONLY tomato plant to fail in the heat so far. I think the fruits set on them will ripen, and maybe with the cooler weather they will recover, but they do not look good.

Of my experimentations, Punta Banda is really enjoying this weather. Nothing else out-right destroyed by the temps or dry yet.

Tom