Tony's Italian - any fans out there?

[hmacdona]

Hi Carolyn,

I don't normally give up on a variety just based on it developing BER. I don't usually have a problem with BER and if I've had tomatoes develop it, it's normally only been a few on the plant and usually the first ones developed. This variety was particularly troublesome for me. Every tomato on the plant developed BER and in a big way It didn't matter whether the tomatoes developed earlier in the season or late, every single tomato was affected, which is unusual for me if BER does develop (perhaps not unusual for others). I just have such limited growing space, that I think I'll move on to growing some of the other varieties that I have and haven't had a chance to grow out yet.

I'm sure you're right though. Another year, they may do just fine. It just seems that our weather hasn't been great the last few years here and likely to see many more summers with less than optimal growing conditions.

I was really looking forward to this one though...as I have heard so many good things about it's taste.

[tjg911]

i grew tony's italian this year to see how it compared to prue because i was intrigued by carolyn's description of it relative to prue.

without a doubt if i did not know which plant was prue and which was tony's italian there is no way i could have told from looking at the plant or looking at the fruits. my tony's italian produced about 2/3 as many tomatoes as either of my 2 prue plants produced. prue has more variability in the size and shapes of the fruits whereas tony's italian produced tomatoes that were pretty much all the same size and all were the same shape.

ber is not usually a problem for me and tony's italian did not have any ber. by mid august tony's italian had less foliage than prue because prue filled out more and as of today prue grew just a little taller.

now as for taste i was not impressed with tony's italian initially but over the past 3 weeks it has gotten much better. to me tony's italian does not taste like prue as carolyn told me, prue is sweeter. i do think that tony's italian is a very good tomato but i prefer the sweet taste of prue.

i always put 2 prue plants into a crw cage that's 24" in diameter and while i put 1 tony's italian into a crw cage knowing how sparse the plant is i would have put 2 tony's italian into that 1 crw cage and it would have done fine doubling the yield for the same space used.

would i grow tony's italian again based upon this? yes i would but fwiw i also tried sarnowski's polish plum this year and the yield was impressive and the taste was as good as tony's italian. now based upon that, i'd favor sarnowski's polish plum but it suffered from rot at the stem end especially in the past month so i'd chose either and have no qualms about good taste.

tom

[carolyn137]

Tom, I don't remember ever telling you that Tony's Italian tasted like Prue. What I have said is that there are two varieties that I can ID just by tasting them and Prue and Brandywine are those two b'c they each have such a distinctive taste for me.

Does having a unique taste mean it's the best variety for either one? Nope, not to me it doesn't. I have liked Prue and Brandywine equally but have become bored with all the hoo hah about Brandywines of late but I still love Prue.

Which does not taste like Tony's Italian to me although I love the taste of Tony's as well.

[Bama mater]

Not trying to hi jack this thread but I have noticed that BER is more common on some of the long skinny, pepper shape varietys. This year I grew Casadys Folly and the majority of fruit had BER.

I recieved Tonys Italian seeds from Suze last year and may give them a go next season.

[oc tony]

I had lots of fruit with sun scald so I don't grow Tony's Italian anymore

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Tom, I don't remember ever telling you that Tony's Italian tasted like Prue. What I have said is that there are two varieties that I can ID just by tasting them and Prue and Brandywine are those two b'c they each have such a distinctive taste for me.

Does having a unique taste mean it's the best variety for either one? Nope, not to me it doesn't. I have liked Prue and Brandywine equally but have become bored with all the hoo hah about Brandywines of late but I still love Prue.

Which does not taste like Tony's Italian to me although I love the taste of Tony's as well.

that's because you did not say that.

i said "to me tony's italian does not taste like prue as carolyn told me". that means you told me ti does not taste like prue. you were quite emphatic that ti is not prue based upon taste. i agree ti does not taste like prue, i did not expect it to based upon your comments last summer. i grew ti to see what it did taste like and how it compared in physical appearance to prue.

tom

[feldon30]

Sorry to hear folks having less than stellar success with Tony's Italian.

Maybe it's a regional thing because it tasted amazing when I grew it in Houston. I like Prue but find it a bit one-dimensional. Smooth, sweet, velvety, but not sharp/acidic. I feel the same way about Brandywine. It's a fantastic tomato, but Earl's Faux adds a bite to that wonderful Brandywine smooth/sweet/velvety/meaty flavor profile.

Tony's Italian hits all the bases for me flavor-wise.