Heirlooms NOT to grow!

[simmran1]

Viewaskew,

There has to be a good majority of ‘villains here that agree with the lack of taste aspect in a canner. To me- this is where the NJ ‘maters are grown. And the link below can be good reading for the home canner:

http://njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/whatabouttherutgerstomato.htm[/URL]

So the original Rutgers line is long lost they say in the article, but another info link below on the newest Jersey canning tomato:

http://njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/KC146Tomato.htm

Another idea is to use a solid ‘beefsteak’ and there are too many to list. Hope this info assists in you 2014 quest. -Randy

[viewsaskew]

Thanks. I appreciate the response.

[KsMama11]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that loves Old German, however the plant I bought (only tomato I have bought for years, all the rest I have grown from seed) said "Striped German", is there a difference? That thing grew HUGE and produced like no tomorrow.Sure wish I had saved seeds.

[Doug9345]

Tatiana gives different though similar descriptions.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Striped_German

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Old_German


So no, they aren't the same tomato.

[sdzejachok]

I'm glad I read this. The Rutgers tomato seeds I had from a discount seed packet resulted in a small round red tomato that produced watery sauce. I wondered how this could be the touted Campbell's tomato of old. Evidently that wasn't it. The plants had tremendous yield, however. I suppose I'll have to replace the "Rutgers" on the label with a "?".

[delltraveller]

Originally Posted by sdzejachok

I'm glad I read this. The Rutgers tomato seeds I had from a discount seed packet resulted in a small round red tomato that produced watery sauce. I wondered how this could be the touted Campbell's tomato of old. Evidently that wasn't it. The plants had tremendous yield, however. I suppose I'll have to replace the "Rutgers" on the label with a "?".

The Rutgers I had from a discount seed pack AND one from Burpee's both resulted in that inappropriate small round red yuck-fest of a tomato, too.

Some folks on this forum are spending the time and effort to genetically resurrect or rediscover the original "Rutgers" variety or cultivar. I'm not sure of the correct terminology to describe it. I wish them good luck, but some things when lost are simply lost. I'm not sure how anyone could verify an accurate comparison of a Rutgers grown today to an "original" Rutgers. That is why I usually grow a few old open pollinated varieties in my garden each year and save fresh seed. Hopefully someone in the future will ask if anyone has seed from one of the varieties I've grown.

I grew a Rutgers a few years ago which I had purchased from a nursery. I really wasn't aware of the discussion about new Rutgers versus old Rutgers. When I grew it, I wasn't very happy with it. It was a medium height plant that grew and bloomed well in the spring. I could see a few tomatoes on the plant. One day, I noticed the plant was looking a little sickly. Within three or four days, the plant had died and the leaves had fallen revealing a huge crop of bright red, perfectly formed. tennis ball sized tomatoes. The way the plant had died made me believe it was diseased. After I disposed of the "diseased plant and tomatoes without saving seed or eating one, I discovered the Rutgers variety is supposed to be determinate and I had destroyed the plant and fruit for doing what commercial growers wanted the original Rutgers to do. The plant died according to it's genetic schedule leaving a very good harvest of commercially valuable tomatoes on the dead vines waiting to be harvested and used. I think I may been to stupid to recognize what I had grown, I hope I get another change to accidentally grow an "original" lrutgers If my nursery has Rutgers from the same grower this year, I will try again..I harvested some fresh compost last week from my compost pile. The compost i harvested is about three years old and probably contains seed from the tomatoes I tossed. If I get any volunteers from the compost pile, I will grow them out and see if I can save seed from them if they look like the tomato i grew on my Rutgers vine.
Ted

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by tedln

Some folks on this forum are spending the time and effort to genetically resurrect or rediscover the original "Rutgers" variety or cultivar. I'm not sure of the correct terminology to describe it. . . .

Not sure if you're talking about Redbaron's Rutgers discussions. I've been interested in that because of the connection between Rutgers and Marglobe. My understanding, though, is that he is not seeking 'original' Rutgers -- I think he has that -- but that he is seeking to find any surviving traces of a particular strain that was developed by/for the commercial growers in Indiana, which he remembers as having exceptional vigor and productivity -- and incidents he remembers certainly sound as if it was one tough, hardworking, productive tomato.

As you say, it may well be that it is lost -- but I've been really glad that he is looking, because such a rugged beastie would seem to have a chance to have survived somewhere and with his memories of the Rutgers his father grew he might find and recognize it (or a perhaps-descendant that is a reasonable approximation of it) and it sounds as if it would be a tomato worth growing.

[Balr14]

I can't think of any heirlooms I would avoid, but there are some that have had consistently poor yields for me. These include Old German, Green Zebra and Black Krim. I get pretty good yield from San Marzano, but they don't seem to have much inside them. Purple Cherokee yield is very inconsistent and I can't find any reason why. Yellow Pear seems to have been mentioned quite a lot, but I have had very good luck with it and the family loves them.

[OkieDan]

Some of the posters here told me I have a thrip in my tomato blooms. Maybe this is what has made your production lower. I think some varieties are more affected by it than others. I would never have discovered it if I hadn't been using an electric toothbrush to vibrate the blooms for pollination. Hold something black under the bloom while vibrating it. If 1 or more very small bugs falls out of the bloom, you may have thrips. One guy said it may just be the kind that eats pollen, which would not be a major threat to the plant, but is very bad for bees. Check it out, if you have them spray once and then again in a week. Google thrips for more information. Thrips can also carry disease.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by OkieDan

Some of the posters here told me I have a thrip in my tomato blooms. Maybe this is what has made your production lower. I think some varieties are more affected by it than others. I would never have discovered it if I hadn't been using an electric toothbrush to vibrate the blooms for pollination. Hold something black under the bloom while vibrating it. If 1 or more very small bugs falls out of the bloom, you may have thrips. One guy said it may just be the kind that eats pollen, which would not be a major threat to the plant, but is very bad for bees. Check it out, if you have them spray once and then again in a week. Google thrips for more information. Thrips can also carry disease.

Dan, thrips are not found in all places in the US or elsewhere, here in upstate NY, with over 4,000 varieties grown I've never seen thrips on blossoms, which is true for most of us in the northern states with more temperate weather.

There's a thread like this one every so often, and you are reading one person;s opinions about varieties, and trust me, for almost every variety that someone has said don't grow again, there are others who say they love it.

And soit goes.

Carolyn

[IronPete]

I will never grow any of the 'Sub-Arctic' family again. They are so disease prone that if a child with a runny nose walked by our house they would immediately crumble into dust! Just kidding but they caught every sort of fungus available where I live.

By contrast Black Cherry and Sioux each grow as if on steroids! I love those two. I think the Sioux was a throw in when I bought seeds from Linda at TSG and I am really happy with it.

Thanks, Pete

[Cole_Robbie]

Yeah, Sub-Arctic sucks for me too. I'm done with Glacier as well.

[sdzejachok]

I don't know if the Peace tomato is an heirloom, but the grape shaped fruits were super seedy and sour. I guess the cross section is a peace sign but I didn't cut any.

All of the San Marzanos I have tried have not had much flavor.

[viewsaskew]

As Carolyn has pointed out many times, our tastes differ. Growing conditions may contribute to a tomato doing poorly. As might the source - we might get something in a trade or from another person and it might not be the right tomato! It might be helpful if we offered info about our culture when we say we didn't like something - not a lot, but general temps that season, if it was cold, rainy, hot - that kind of stuff. Not sure if it's OK to name the source other than to say traded for, purchased from noted tomato source, etc.

In the 90's, I grew Stupice and one of the French variety Carmello. I couldn't figure how either had gotten such good press - I didn't find anything redeeming about it at all. I gave them all away. I was growing organic at the time and the other 15 or so varieties I grew did fine. I never knew if it was that I had questionable seed, if these are just flavors/profiles I do not like, or if something about my culture wasn't what they wanted. It's so long ago and I lost all my notes in a house fire, but I've never grown either again. I seem to recall one or both may have been mealy and soft. Maybe I should try them again just to see.