Heirlooms NOT to grow!

[veggie babe]

Ted,
I'm fairly new to heirlooms myself but your list looks great to me. You have a lot of the ones that have done the best for me.

happy harvest,

Neva

[333.okh]

No offense to West Virgina, but no more on the Mtn Princess. It just must not be cut out for our weather here.

[carolyn137]

I looked back at the first post in this thread and the question being asked was about OLDER heirlooms, whether OP or hybrid that should not be grown.

And I posted that I interpreted that to mean varieties from the late 1800's up to maybe the early 40's when the first F1 hybrids became available.

Yet most of the posts here are about OP varieties that are much more recent than all those pre-about 1940 varieties, so I've lost track of the focus here.

if the question is heirlooms NOT to grow I can't name even ONE of the over 2000 varieties I've grown to date.

For every variety that some might praise there are those who can't stand it for one reason or another and many of those reasons were detailed in above posts.

And onward we go.

[Tormato]

Carolyn,

Is Noire Charbonneuse an heirlm?

[RJ_Hythloday]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Mr. Stripey. Bleah.

RJ - I grew Old German last year and had terrific results. It was extremely late, but still set fruit and in fact was setting fruit much further into the Texas summer heat than any of the other varieties I grew (admittedly only 6 other varieties). It got me through August when all other plants were done in July. It produced enormous (biggest was almost 2 pounds) bi-color fruit that was almost all meat and hardly any gel. My friends and family all enjoyed the taste, which was admittedly not as good as my favorites, but still very tasty, including some nuances/essences of other fruits and was unlike any tomato I've grown.

In short, if you've only grown it once, maybe give it one more try in a different year and see if it does any better for you.

I'm moving to a shorter season climate like 100 days, I had 240+ days when I grew it last year. It set a couple fruit, the wife picked a larger one that hadn't blushed to give to a neighbor and the few remaining went soft on the vine before they blushed. I might try it if I end up in a long growing season again.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Carolyn,

Is Noire Charbonneuse an heirlm?

I know it's not a legacy variety and I don't know if it's a family heirloom. bit I do know it's OP/

Seeds were received by Bill Minkey from an SSE member in Australia in 1996 and Bill listed it in the YEarbook in 1997.

No other information is known.

So I don't know if it's a family heriloom or a renamed so called black, which isn't that uncommon, or whatever.

Sorry,

[Sunsi]

Originally Posted by icelord

You are right about the location Craig, green grape here was very rich and sweet, Isis candy is always a winner I would have thought the chefs would have loved the stuffers also, but one bite and back to the truck! we also had a very cold summer, perhaps stating if a tomato is sweet or more savory would be a better description, but again something that taste bad there may be a winner in these parts!!

Dean

I want to try Green Grape and Isis Candy next year --the last two years I tried Galina and Dr. Carolyn Pink and wasn't terribly impressed. The only other salad type tomato that I found had a pleasing taste was Purple Haze but would appreciate the other colors, too.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by jhp

Thanks brokenbar. I think I'll have to add Costoluto Genovese to my list this year!

Jen

Me too! Been looking for highly productive sauce tomatoes.

[Direct Sunlight]

Originally Posted by barefootgardener

I agree with Dewayne about Old German..I have been growing it for a number of years now and it is always a fav.of mine..It is a big beautiful meaty bi-color..I think it has superb taste..

That sounds like a good one to try then.

[Tom Atillo]

Not quite sure if this is an heirloom but San Marzano paste tomatoes have been my nemesis!
I was looking for a good sauce/salsa tomato with a low water content and this one seemed to fit the bill. They have underperformed every other tomato in the garden.......I quit! Back to regular old Romas.

[Cole_Robbie]

fwiw, Tom, I had really good luck this year with an heirloom roma called "Pompeii." I still get some blossom end rot, but I will try planting them in more manure next year.

[Tom Atillo]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

fwiw, Tom, I had really good luck this year with an heirloom roma called "Pompeii." I still get some blossom end rot, but I will try planting them in more manure next year.

Hey Cole
Blossom end rot can also be a Calcium/Magnesium deficiency or soil too wet or not watering frequently enough. It has been more of an issue on the larger varieties in my experience.

[Direct Sunlight]

Rutgers tomatoes hated our climate here, not sure why. They died when set out, they died in the summer heat, and the two left couldn't recover by early November to produce any fruit. I associate Roma tomatoes with dropped fruit. The year I tried to grow them we had a ridiculously early frost too. The fruit rotted in the garden. Yuck!

[Tom Atillo]

Thanks for the Pompeii tip cole......I'll check em out.
I was very lazy this year.......and did the tomato sprawl rather than trellis.....way less watering and pretty decent crop but somewhat smaller than usual...
My faves are red Brandywine, Siletz, Roma, and Stupice is one of the best early toms I have ever grown!

[Cole_Robbie]

Someone corrected me in another thread. Pompeii is actually a hybrid. I got fooled by slick marketing.

It is still a great sauce tomato, though. I'm going to grow it next to 'Viva Italia Roma' next year and see which I like best.