favorite blacks

[efisakov]

Bear Creek
Cherokee Chocolate
Vorlon
Black Cherry
Carbon
Black Master
Blackberry
Margaret Curtain
JD's Special C-Tex
Sara black
Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart
Indian Stripe
Brad’s Black Heart
Gary’O Sena
Amazon chocolate
BKX
and some more

I do note have seeds but recommend
Daniel Burson
Negrillo de Almoguera
Moya
Black Magic

[Longlake]

Big Cheef, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and Black from Tula are my top 3. All of them are productive and the flavor profiles fit my tastes. Good luck in your hunt!

[kath]

DH & I are both fond of blacks and our current favorites are Daniel Burson, Blackberry, Grosse Verte Rose and Negrillo de Almoguera. This season we're also trying Indian Zebra, Not Purple Strawberry and Gigante Kuby. Have tried all on your list except 4- grew JD's for several years for taste but got tired of the malformed fruits.

[AZGardener]

Black Mauri, Black Vernissage, and Black Cherry's are a must!!

[b54red]

I have found that many of the blacks taste much better during the hottest times of summer when many of the pinks do poorly. Since you are way up there in Canada you might want to try blacks that are recommended for your cooler climate. I have found a few of the blacks that do exceptionally well in the cool of fall and taste good too. The best ones for that cooler time of the year for me have been Berkely Tie Die Pink, Carbon, Paul Robeson, and Dana's Dusky Rose. My favorite blacks for the summer are JD's Special C Tex, Spudakee, both Indian Stripe reg and potato leaf.

Bill

[WhippoorwillG]

For flavor, Black Krim for a slicer and Purple BumbleBee for a smaller tomato are my favorites. However, Black Krim has been a very hit and miss (with more misses) for productivity.

Cherokee Purple, Purp BB, and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye have all proven somewhat consistent in my climate and are my all around favorites in the black family.

Carbon, Dana's DR, Arbuznyi, and Black Cherry have had respectable showings but don't necessarily make the MUST GROW list. Black Cherry always did until I grew Purp Bumble Bee.

As for the Vernissage series, they are beasts of plants with high fruit set and blemish free fruit, but don't make the cut with respect to flavor...in my climate and experience anyway.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by WhippoorwillG

For flavor, Black Krim for a slicer and Purple BumbleBee for a smaller tomato are my favorites. However, Black Krim has been a very hit and miss (with more misses) for productivity.

Cherokee Purple, Purp BB, and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye have all proven somewhat consistent in my climate and are my all around favorites in the black family.

Carbon, Dana's DR, Arbuznyi, and Black Cherry have had respectable showings but don't necessarily make the MUST GROW list. Black Cherry always did until I grew Purp Bumble Bee.

As for the Vernissage series, they are beasts of plants with high fruit set and blemish free fruit, but don't make the cut with respect to flavor...in my climate and experience anyway.

I love Black Krim also but the splitting is just ridiculous when it gets rainy. It is absolutely one of the best tasting if you have a fairly dry season without sudden heavy rains.

I have replaced Cherokee Purple with the potato leaf version Spudakee which I have had better luck with. They taste the same but I usually get better production and fruit set with Spudakee.

I don't grow Dana's or Carbon in the summer usually but they are much better in the fall. You might want to try setting a couple out in mid July and see how they do for you in the fall.

Bill

[Gardadore]

I would definitely add Amazon Chocolate to the list. I grow it every year because it is one of the earliest producers and tastes great. When it is finishing up for the season the others are coming in. Other favorites are Brad's Black Heart, Ananas Noir, Carbon and Black Cherry. I will be trying BKX this year as I do like Black Krim but haven't grown it for awhile.

[Salsacharley]

Black Plum is marvelous and cherry size.

[bughunter99]

For flavor+ productivity recommend Carbon, Black Krim, Gary O Sena and Indian Stripe

Blacks I will not grow again here in my wet and windy IL garden:

Japanese Black Trifele--very bad productivity
JD Special C-Tex--diseased bad every year x3
Brads Black Heart-too late, too few tomatoes
Black Cherry-too late for a cherry, seed stock has gotten messed up imo

[WhippoorwillG]

Originally Posted by b54red

I love Black Krim also but the splitting is just ridiculous when it gets rainy. It is absolutely one of the best tasting if you have a fairly dry season without sudden heavy rains.

I have replaced Cherokee Purple with the potato leaf version Spudakee which I have had better luck with. They taste the same but I usually get better production and fruit set with Spudakee.

I don't grow Dana's or Carbon in the summer usually but they are much better in the fall. You might want to try setting a couple out in mid July and see how they do for you in the fall.

Bill

Thanks for the suggestions. I will have to give Spudakee a shot. I will also try DDR and Carbon this fall.

[Bruinwar]

Black Krim has always been my favorite. Yes, I've also had a lot of splitting problems but I don't lose a lot of fruit. Also they get good & ugly so the local thieves (rented garden plot) leave them alone. =)

My first year I had good luck with Black Brandywine but in the past two years they all died early.

This thread is fun, I love all the black maters. Because of the reviews I've read here, I went ahead & ordered four Amazon Chocolate plants from one of my suppliers. Another new one for me is Black Russian. Don't think I saw that on anyone's list. It's a recommendation from a friend.

Regards,
Joe S.

[parah]

Originally Posted by Bruinwar

This thread is fun, I love all the black maters. Because of the reviews I've read here, I went ahead & ordered four Amazon Chocolate plants
Regards,
Joe S.

I hope you let us know how Amazon Chocolate compares to other Blacks in your garden. I wonder if you you will get Potato Leaf or Regular Leaf plants.

[tam91]

Originally Posted by bughunter99

For flavor+ productivity recommend Carbon, Black Krim, Gary O Sena and Indian Stripe

Blacks I will not grow again here in my wet and windy IL garden:

Japanese Black Trifele--very bad productivity
JD Special C-Tex--diseased bad every year x3
Brads Black Heart-too late, too few tomatoes
Black Cherry-too late for a cherry, seed stock has gotten messed up imo

Interesting, I have had a bit of different luck - JDs did ok for me. Brad's Black Heart I love, it was productive enough.

Black Cherry I have always loved - I have had a hard time getting seed that would germinate though. I finally got a batch this year that did (yay). What do you mean you think the seed stock has gotten messed up?

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by bughunter99

For flavor+ productivity recommend Carbon, Black Krim, Gary O Sena and Indian Stripe

Blacks I will not grow again here in my wet and windy IL garden:

Japanese Black Trifele--very bad productivity
JD Special C-Tex--diseased bad every year x3
Brads Black Heart-too late, too few tomatoes
Black Cherry-too late for a cherry, seed stock has gotten messed up imo

I agree with Tracy.

I grew Japanese Black Trifele (Black, Potato leaf, 75) in 2013. It did great for me. Produced plenty of tasty tomatoes. My problem was that My DH liked beef size tomatoes and my son likes cherries. I was given them away. People liked them a lot.

JD Special C-Tex gave me 9.5 pounds of tomatoes in 2014. The biggest 23.4 ounces. It was delicious. Growing it again.

Brads Black Heart in 2014 produced 10 pounds by middle of August, got mites and got cut (it was a jangle, I did not noticed on time). Growing it again.

Black Cherry was delicious. I can not tell you how much it produced... my DH and son were eating it off the vine, I was able to definitely weight only 7.25 pounds.

Love Carbon (survives consistently to the end of the season), plant is bigger than Cherokee Purple but similar. Production for me (little over 6 pounds) is good but not as good as JD Special C-Tex or Sara (8.3 pounds). Grew all in the last 2 years and will this year.

Vorlon and Black Master both like sun. Their sugar level depends on it. Vorlon is dark and early tomato (PL, 70 days). Black Master (purple, 75, RL). Vorlon last year gave me 12 pounds from a single plant and BM about 10. Growing both again.

Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart (black, RL, 80). Beautiful with stripes tomato. Good shelf life. Produced 9 pounds.

Cherokee Chocolate outproduced all, both plants gave lots of tomatoes. Regular plant 12 pounds and vertical grafted one 19 pounds of ripened and 12.5 green picked at the end of the season.