Looking for Best Flavored Hybrids

[Black Krim]

Originally Posted by AKmark

I also tried Goliath 4-5 years ago and thought it was outright bland, it produced a bunch of tomatoes though. Good for practicing a fast ball pitch at best.

A couple season ago I picked twice a week for the Community Garden and noticed that the two handful sized boat shaped red tomatos ( variety unkown) were more likely to be damaged during picking. Not clear why. Is it the deep set of the stem, the strong attachment that seems to need a pruner..... totally put me off this shape tomato, a shape that seems to develop in the very large tomatos......just my noobie observation. BUt it has colored my selection of tomatos for sure.

[KarenO]

"picking" large tomatoes of any shape by pulling them off the vines is something I would never do.
Most of the time there are lesser ripe fruits in the cluster to remain and pulling off the ripe one risks ruining the cluster stem. I always use a pointed pruner and cut the stem while simultaneously holding the fruit I am removing. Pulling the stem off the fruit risks tearing the skin and fruit with the stem attached keep much better than ones where the stem has been removed on purpose or by accident. For sale, I think stems attached make them look home grown. Cannot pile or stack tomatoes with stems still on though as hard stems will puncture other fruit
KarenO

[Black Krim]

Originally Posted by KarenO

"picking" large tomatoes of any shape by pulling them off the vines is something I would never do.
Most of the time there are lesser ripe fruits in the cluster to remain and pulling off the ripe one risks ruining the cluster stem. I always use a pointed pruner and cut the stem while simultaneously holding the fruit I am removing. Pulling the stem off the fruit risks tearing the skin and fruit with the stem attached keep much better than ones where the stem has been removed on purpose or by accident. For sale, I think stems attached make them look home grown. Cannot pile or stack tomatoes with stems still on though as hard stems will puncture other fruit
KarenO

Thanks for the details Karen. I'm VERY grateful/ glad to have a tested method of picking.

[barbamWY]

Sweet Tangerine from Burpee is pretty good. It produces heavily and medium size fruits are flavorful. A mild taste but still good. Mountain Fresh does well every year and is tasty and Defiant is another I like. Defiant seeds are pretty pricy though and supposed to be disease resistant.
Barb

[Black Krim]

Thanks for the suggestions Barb---the Sweet Tangerine would be worth looking for, even if I had to order from Burpee directly, gulp.

[zipcode]

There are many new hybrids that should be quite good in the taste department. Look more towards what is being offered in Europe, as most often there you will find the new releases.
Try Country Taste F1 (haven't managed to find who bred it) and HTP11 by Hazera. Both are pink. Big Beef is also good, but only with under certain conditions, I found that too often it doesn't reach the potential.

[Cole_Robbie]

I have one plant of Rebelski F1 in the high tunnel that looks great. I am eagerly waiting to see what the flavor is like.

[bigpinks]

Neighbor mentioned above suckers to two stems tied snug to rebar he got free. I would est that he harvests 9-12 fruit per plant. His garden is very very picturesque. I wonder how ten people would rate the taste of the Goliath vs Big Beef? Doubt all ten could even tell the diff if grown in same soil by same method.

[zipcode]

Probably a lot more than 9-12. More like 30-40.
I never grew Goliath, but by opinions around the forum, it sounds like most people would be able to tell the difference.
Of course, there's always the question why grow something better to sell when 80% of customers don't care about the difference or can't even see it. Usually to have a better profit per amount of work. So you sell less, more expensive for those few customers that care, so you can do it by yourself, with the family, no need for employees etc. Or just to be able to enter the market as a new seller.

[bigpinks]

Nope. Not suckered or suckered to four or five stems maybe. But I have first hand knowledge of his plants. Suckered to two stems the plants get about 5ft tall and produce three or four clusters of mostly 3 tomatoes the size of baseballs or softballs.

[BigVanVader]

I have a couple of Chefs choice hybrids this year. Hee em for my neighbor but she convinced me to grow a couple. Hope they don't suck.

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

I have a couple of Chefs choice hybrids this year. Hee em for my neighbor but she convinced me to grow a couple. Hope they don't suck.

Are those Orange color? Heard they're really good.

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by Jimbotomateo

Are those Orange color? Heard they're really good.

I should have specified these are the pink. I think they have an orange as well though.

[PureHarvest]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

I have a couple of Chefs choice hybrids this year. Hee em for my neighbor but she convinced me to grow a couple. Hope they don't suck.

BigV, I am trialling the Chef's Choice Geen this year along with Cherokee Green.

[decherdt]

We just grew seven compact determinate Defiant PhR as our commercial hybrid "insurance" tomatoes, thinking that at least they would resist the EB. Have picked 55 surpisingly tasty 3 oz pretty red tomatoes so far. A bit small for my liking, looking for 6-8 oz insurance. Trialing Merced OP next season.