Tomato varieties you plan to drop for 2013

[ElementalDomain]

My favorite paste tomato is Reimers Lemon Boy - it is almost seedless and it boils down to a heavenly paste.

[barkeater]

Won't be back:

Tasti-Lee - Not tasty or productive. Tomatoes about 6 ounces on small plants without a lot of foliage so also was prone to sublethal sunscald.

Jetsetter - Planted next to Big Beef, both first time plantings and there was no comparison. Jetsetter was no earlier, smaller, and had a lot of sublethal sunscald (puffy with a lot of yellow).

Red Siberian - Had high hopes and planted both last year and this. Although both years in NY it ripened large tomatoes early, in my VT garden this year it was no earlier than the others, and in both locations was very prone to cracking and concentric rings and most were big, lumpy and misshapened to boot. Taste was pretty good but hard to get a nice full slice for a sandwich except from the first set.

Two hybrids I tried for the first time, Biltmore and Big Beef, I'm still not sure about as they both are putting out absolutely beautiful extra-large firm tomatoes inside and out, and are very productive, healthy plants. However they don't seem to have a lot of flavor tasting them by themselves with just some salt. But, if i was going to sell tomatoes these would be at the top of my list since most shoppers eat with their eyes.

[Iochroma]

Originally Posted by habitat_gardener

...

Favorites this year--
...
Croatia Joanna YMCA: the top tomato this year and last. Wonderful flavor. Not hugely productive, but worth waiting for. The best tomato-sandwich tomato ever.
...

Can you say a bit more about this var.?

[stonysoilseeds]

i am dropping alot of varieties this year as i am reducing my amount of tomato plants i am growing by a fraction of what i grewlast year.. last year i had over 480 plants and approximately 60 varieties and i lost every single one to late blight just at thier peak so it was extre,mely devistating to me i still absolutely love groing tomatoes so i think i will stick with 40 plants and ones i will defenitely grow are black krim stupice sungold i need to have a couple brandywinesa few of tatiannas great russian hierlooms and im hoping for a blight free season so i can really expand again for next yearr.....

[b54red]

I culled my seeds this past winter and got rid of nearly 100 varieties. I have narrowed my grow list down so that I am selecting from around 100 varieties that have been somewhat to very successful; but that also have good flavor or super production for sauce.

I may only grow grafted tomatoes this year to see how they do in fighting fusarium which is rampant in my garden and is the main reason so many varieties just don't make it to the fruit stage.

[emcd124]

I'm still a relative newbie (only 2 years tom growing experience), so I'm still feeling out what I like and dont like. Last year I grew Roma, Green Zebra, Yellow Pear, Brandywine, Black from Tula and Stupice. The only of those that I would grow again are Green Zebra and Black from Tula (though this year I'm growing two different greens and purples for comparison).

For me Brandywine is just too much of a weakling diva to be worth it. I need a plant whose natural instinct is to survive and thrive. Ive tried Brandywine once in my Z7 Nashville garden and once in my Z5 garden and it was a flop both seasons. Though in fairness I've never tried the Sudduth's strain, which is supposed to be better.

This year I was going to try six new ones, but at the rate things are going since joining this board, it may be 600!

[gourmetgardener]

I'm dropping Red Grape in favour of Montessino, and Atavico in favour of Pozzano.

[SauserFarmNEIA]

Black Krim (best one I'm discontinuing), San Marzano (wasn't my choice to grow anyway but serious BER sealed the deal. Very impressive, stocky vines though), Hillbilly, Old German, Kellog's Breakfast , Box Car Willie (only other BER from last year and the fruit just aren't big enough for me over two years growing), Black from Tula (too small), Speckled Roman (skin too thick).

Not growing, but will again: Amish Paste, Pink Oxheart, Moonglow

[2nd Foundation]

Black Krim for me as well. I've grown it for a few years. Fruits are always small and sparse, and they crack and rot in the green stage. (Yes, this variety is genetically prone to concentric cracking.)

Berkely Tie Dye - Never produced a ripe fruit. Hardly set any fruits in my hot humid climate. The very few that did set always cracked and rotted.

Bloody Butcher - Tasteless/or off-tasting. Soft/mushy texture. Not worth it when cherries produce earlier for me....and there are many relatively early large-fruited varieties to trial...

~Caroline

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by Iochroma

Can you say a bit more about this var.?

Iochroma:
Croatia Joanna YMCA was available at a local seedling sale -- a fundraiser for the local YMCA -- for a couple years. They decided to discontinue the sale this year.

It is a large pink midseason with great taste.
I sent a couple packs of seed to the recent round robin swap, so maybe this one will become more widely grown.

For background, see the cover story in
http://www.spectrummagazine.net/pdfs...rumArchive.pdf
as well as
www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_17720835
and also google maska pellegrini garden

from the first one:
“When my mom died in 2005,” Picone said, “she had this beautiful garden. She had tomato plants, pepper plants, a giant pumpkin growing, she had basil — you name it, she had it in the garden, the most beautiful garden she’d ever had. And so I was really suffering. I didn’t know what to do. I was in despair about my mom’s death. And I thought, you know what, I’m going to call my cousin, who’s a master gardener. Why don’t we pick all of the seeds out of the tomatoes and save them?”
She explained this to me as she showed me a tented enclosure that held no less than 3,000 tomato plants of all varieties. There were types I’d never even heard of, all in little planter boxes covered on top but open to the weather on the sides.
“My mother had the tomatoes named after a lot of people,” Picone added, showing me a few. Some of the seeds came from Italy. “We planted all the seeds, and then we saved them for the next year...."


If you google
maska pellegrini garden
and you scroll through the text of the book The Earth Knows My Name, on p. 148 it says that Joanna was named after the person who gave Maska the seed.

[Stvrob]

I'm dissapointed to see black cherry in so many's 'not grow again' list. This is my first year growing it and I was kind of excited about it.
Anyone have an opinion about Japanese Trifle? I'm growing it for the first time also.

[Iochroma]

Thanks for that background and charming story, HG

[2nd Foundation]

Stvrob,

I agree about Black Cherry! It's one one of the best tasting cherries out there, in my opinion! Plus the yield is high, and it produces into fall for me. Great that you are trying it!

On the other hand, Japanese Black Trifele is one of the worst tasting tomatoes for me. While extremely productive, the taste is very bland and 'rotten.' And the texture is not good either. Maybe it will be better in your location!

~Caroline

[TightenUp]

Originally Posted by 2nd Foundation

Stvrob,

I agree about Black Cherry! It's one one of the best tasting cherries out there, in my opinion! Plus the yield is high, and it produces into fall for me. Great that you are trying it!

On the other hand, Japanese Black Trifele is one of the worst tasting tomatoes for me. While extremely productive, the taste is very bland and 'rotten.' And the texture is not good either. Maybe it will be better in your location!

~Caroline

yield was insane on my brother-in-laws black cherry plant last year. he loved it. i thought the flavor was just ok though and wouldnt put it in my garden.

i start all his seeds and he requested it again along with sungold F1 as his cherries.

i will be trying a new darkish style cherry called sunchocola.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=25794

[Stvrob]

Thanks Caroline.

I guess its easy to get excited if you read too many catalog descriptions. Just once I'd like to see a catalog description that says " extremely productive, bland and rotten, with terrible texture, makes this variety one of America's favorite selections'