F,FF,FFF,N Varieties ???

AlittleSalt · May 28, 2017

On a different thread I learned about my tomato plants having Fusarium or FF or FFF and I already knew they have RKN, so I'm looking at the Seeds N Such website for varieties of tomatoes that are both F and N.

Yes Carolyn, Seeds N Such did a good job to get me to look at their site by not putting tomato seeds in their Fall catalog that's sitting beside me.

I would like to ask; Have any of you grown any of these varieties and what did you think about them? Here is a link to the site https://www.seedsnsuch.com/product-c...eeds/tomatoes/ with pictures and info. There are ones on the list that I already had interest in growing: Big Beef, Celebrity, Chocolate Sprinkles, Lemon Boy, Momotaro, Park's whopper, and Sweat Chelsea. I copied and pasted all the varieties, so hopefully they are spelled right and are the right font size.

Amelia VR Hybrid VFFFNTSt Packet (10 Seeds) 75 days Determinate
Beefmaster Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate
Better Boy Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 75 days Indeterminate
Better Bush Hybrid VFN Packet (30 Seeds) 74 days Determinate
Big Beef Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate
Burpee’s Supersteak Hybrid VFN Packet (15 to 20 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate
Burpee’s Super Beefsteak VFN Packet (30 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate
Bush Early Girl Hybrid VFFNT Packet (15 to 20 Seeds) 53 days Determinate
Celebrity Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 70 days Semi-Determinate
Champion II Hybrid VFFNTA Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 62 days Indeterminate
Chef’s Choice Pink Hybrid VFNTA Packet (30 seeds) 78 days Indeterminate
Chocolate Sprinkles Hybrid FNT Packet (8 to 10 seeds) 60 days Indeterminate
Country Taste Hybrid VFNT Packet (12 to 15 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate
Dixie Red VFFFNAStTswv Hybrid Packet (10 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
Goliath Bush Hybrid VFN Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 68 days Determinate
Goliath Early Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 53 days Indeterminate
Goliath Italian Hybrid VFFNTA Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 75 days Indeterminate
Goliath Original Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
Goliath Sunny Hybrid VFN Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
La Roma III Hybrid VFFNA Packet (15 to 20 Seeds) 76 days Determinate
Lemon Boy Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 72 days Indeterminate
Miracle Sweet Hybrid VFNTASt Packet (10 Seeds) 67 days Indeterminate
Momotaro or Tough Boy Hybrid VFFNT Packet (8 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate
Mountain Fresh Plus Hybrid VFFNSt Packet (15 to 20 seeds) 79 days Determinate
Mountain Merit Hybrid VFFFNTswvEbLb Packet (10 seeds) 75 days Determinate
Park’s Whopper CR Improved Hybrid VFFNT Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 65 days Indeterminate
Saucey Cluster Hybrid VFNT Packet (10 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate
Skyway VFFFNTswvTylc Hybrid Packet (5 seeds) 78 days Determinate
Super Fantastic Hybrid VFN Packet (20 Seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
Sweet Chelsea Hybrid VFFNT Packet (15 to 20 Seeds) 64 days Indeterminate
Valley Cat Hybrid VFFNSt Packet (15 to 20 seeds) 75 days Determinate
Yaqui Hybrid VFFNA Packet (10 Seeds) 75 days Determinate

ContainerTed · May 28, 2017

Big Beef is okay. Decent taste and good size to make sandwiches. Same for Celebrity. Big Boy and Better Boy are okay but Better Boy is smaller fruit. The tomato in my avatar is a Supersteak. Lemon Boy is very "citrusy", but works good in salsas. Lemon Boy is pretty, mostly blemish free and good size. Early Girl and some of the others are just too small to mess with these days.

Most hybrids are what I call "commercial". They are acceptable because we control the ripening. My primeary problem with them is that if you buy a plant, you might get spec or spot or F1, F2, F3, and who knows what else.

Just remember that all of them are food for the Hornworms. You can do everything possible to prevent the diseases, but the critters must be killed one way or another.

Worth1 · May 28, 2017

Salt Lemon boy was a real work horse for me here in the hot Southwest.
The way I look at it, it is better to have one home grown tomato in the salsa than two from the store.
Anything and I mean anything beats that stuff.

Right now all of my experiments with the tubs is for folks like you with soil problems.
Plus they are almost work free.
No way can I afford the earth boxes and no way can I stay home and water containers with drain holes all day.
So far I have not had any problems with water.

Worth

AlittleSalt · May 28, 2017

I have whittled the list down to 20 varieties:

Beefmaster Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate
Better Boy Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 75 days Indeterminate
Big Beef Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate
Burpee’s Supersteak Hybrid VFN Packet (15 to 20 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate
Burpee’s Super Beefsteak VFN Packet (30 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate
Celebrity Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 70 days Semi-Determinate
Champion II Hybrid VFFNTA Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 62 days Indeterminate
Chef’s Choice Pink Hybrid VFNTA Packet (30 seeds) 78 days Indeterminate
Chocolate Sprinkles Hybrid FNT Packet (8 to 10 seeds) 60 days Indeterminate
Dixie Red VFFFNAStTswv Hybrid Packet (10 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
Goliath Early Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 53 days Indeterminate
Goliath Italian Hybrid VFFNTA Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 75 days Indeterminate
Goliath Original Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
Goliath Sunny Hybrid VFN Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
Lemon Boy Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 72 days Indeterminate
Miracle Sweet Hybrid VFNTASt Packet (10 Seeds) 67 days Indeterminate
Momotaro or Tough Boy Hybrid VFFNT Packet (8 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate
Park’s Whopper CR Improved Hybrid VFFNT Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 65 days Indeterminate
Super Fantastic Hybrid VFN Packet (20 Seeds) 70 days Indeterminate
Sweet Chelsea Hybrid VFFNT Packet (15 to 20 Seeds) 64 days Indeterminate

I like growing Indeterminate varieties. Of course, I'll change my mind many times, but that's part of the fun of it.

zeroma · May 29, 2017

Bumping this up so I can read later...interesting

z

b54red · May 29, 2017

I haven't grown all those varieties but I have grown most of them and found Big Beef to be the most reliable if you don't have that third race of fusarium. It was my insurance tomato for many years. All of the FFF hybrids I tried tasted just like supermarket tomatoes in other words they had almost no taste and they tended to be for the most part quite firm.

Bill

AlittleSalt · May 29, 2017

Bill, that's what I was a little worried about. The FFFs having no taste. The firmness part isn't a problem because my wife likes rock hard tomatoes.

friedgreen51 · May 29, 2017

Robert,
I grow a few Park's Whopper Improved, and Original Goliath every year. They perform well in the Southeast, and I think they taste decent. Both are in the 10-12 ounce range. Not as good as an OP but they are dependable. When everything else has succumbed to disease these 2 varieties are still going.

AlittleSalt · May 29, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by friedgreen51

Robert,
I grow a few Park's Whopper Improved, and Original Goliath every year. They perform well in the Southeast, and I think they taste decent. Both are in the 10-12 ounce range. Not as good as an OP but they are dependable. When everything else has succumbed to disease these 2 varieties are still going.

In this part of Texas, our June through mid July is a lot like growing in the southeast with high humidity and hot temperatures. The Park's Whopper is one I've heard about for years and have wanted to grow. I am also leaning towards the Original Goliath over the other 3 Goliaths. I haven't grown many hybrids, but I will next year. Thank you.

AlittleSalt · May 30, 2017

There is another thought about growing some F.FF.FFF,N tomatoes in our gardens. That thought ties in to a lot of other thoughts and facts. In our main garden, I grow in rows of plants planted 3' apart. The rows are 5' apart. That sounds far enough apart, but I keep seeing crosses the next year. A cross is a hybrid, and those crosses taste really good. Most of the time - they taste better than the original OPs.

My thought is, "Why not plant some F,FF,FFF,N varieties to cross with some of the best producing OP and hybrid variety tomatoes that have proven to grow and produce well in this garden?"

May 28, 2017	#1
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	F,FF,FFF,N Varieties ??? On a different thread I learned about my tomato plants having Fusarium or FF or FFF and I already knew they have RKN, so I'm looking at the Seeds N Such website for varieties of tomatoes that are both F and N. Yes Carolyn, Seeds N Such did a good job to get me to look at their site by not putting tomato seeds in their Fall catalog that's sitting beside me. I would like to ask; Have any of you grown any of these varieties and what did you think about them? Here is a link to the site https://www.seedsnsuch.com/product-c...eeds/tomatoes/ with pictures and info. There are ones on the list that I already had interest in growing: Big Beef, Celebrity, Chocolate Sprinkles, Lemon Boy, Momotaro, Park's whopper, and Sweat Chelsea. I copied and pasted all the varieties, so hopefully they are spelled right and are the right font size. Amelia VR Hybrid VFFFNTSt Packet (10 Seeds) 75 days Determinate Beefmaster Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate Better Boy Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 75 days Indeterminate Better Bush Hybrid VFN Packet (30 Seeds) 74 days Determinate Big Beef Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate Burpee’s Supersteak Hybrid VFN Packet (15 to 20 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate Burpee’s Super Beefsteak VFN Packet (30 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate Bush Early Girl Hybrid VFFNT Packet (15 to 20 Seeds) 53 days Determinate Celebrity Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 70 days Semi-Determinate Champion II Hybrid VFFNTA Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 62 days Indeterminate Chef’s Choice Pink Hybrid VFNTA Packet (30 seeds) 78 days Indeterminate Chocolate Sprinkles Hybrid FNT Packet (8 to 10 seeds) 60 days Indeterminate Country Taste Hybrid VFNT Packet (12 to 15 seeds) 80 days Indeterminate Dixie Red VFFFNAStTswv Hybrid Packet (10 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate Goliath Bush Hybrid VFN Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 68 days Determinate Goliath Early Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 53 days Indeterminate Goliath Italian Hybrid VFFNTA Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 75 days Indeterminate Goliath Original Hybrid VFFNTASt Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate Goliath Sunny Hybrid VFN Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 70 days Indeterminate La Roma III Hybrid VFFNA Packet (15 to 20 Seeds) 76 days Determinate Lemon Boy Hybrid VFNASt Packet (25 to 30 Seeds) 72 days Indeterminate Miracle Sweet Hybrid VFNTASt Packet (10 Seeds) 67 days Indeterminate Momotaro or Tough Boy Hybrid VFFNT Packet (8 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate Mountain Fresh Plus Hybrid VFFNSt Packet (15 to 20 seeds) 79 days Determinate Mountain Merit Hybrid VFFFNTswvEbLb Packet (10 seeds) 75 days Determinate Park’s Whopper CR Improved Hybrid VFFNT Packet (25 to 30 seeds) 65 days Indeterminate Saucey Cluster Hybrid VFNT Packet (10 seeds) 73 days Indeterminate Skyway VFFFNTswvTylc Hybrid Packet (5 seeds) 78 days Determinate Super Fantastic Hybrid VFN Packet (20 Seeds) 70 days Indeterminate Sweet Chelsea Hybrid VFFNT Packet (15 to 20 Seeds) 64 days Indeterminate Valley Cat Hybrid VFFNSt Packet (15 to 20 seeds) 75 days Determinate Yaqui Hybrid VFFNA Packet (10 Seeds) 75 days Determinate Last edited by AlittleSalt; May 28, 2017 at 04:42 PM. Reason: Added Info

May 28, 2017	#2
ContainerTed Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: 6a - NE Tennessee Posts: 4,538	Big Beef is okay. Decent taste and good size to make sandwiches. Same for Celebrity. Big Boy and Better Boy are okay but Better Boy is smaller fruit. The tomato in my avatar is a Supersteak. Lemon Boy is very "citrusy", but works good in salsas. Lemon Boy is pretty, mostly blemish free and good size. Early Girl and some of the others are just too small to mess with these days. Most hybrids are what I call "commercial". They are acceptable because we control the ripening. My primeary problem with them is that if you buy a plant, you might get spec or spot or F1, F2, F3, and who knows what else. Just remember that all of them are food for the Hornworms. You can do everything possible to prevent the diseases, but the critters must be killed one way or another. __________________ Ted ________________________ Owner & Sole Operator Of The Muddy Bucket Farm and Tomato Ranch

May 29, 2017	#8
friedgreen51 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: North Carolina Posts: 159	F, FF, FFF, N Robert, I grow a few Park's Whopper Improved, and Original Goliath every year. They perform well in the Southeast, and I think they taste decent. Both are in the 10-12 ounce range. Not as good as an OP but they are dependable. When everything else has succumbed to disease these 2 varieties are still going.

May 28, 2017	#3
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Salt Lemon boy was a real work horse for me here in the hot Southwest. The way I look at it, it is better to have one home grown tomato in the salsa than two from the store. Anything and I mean anything beats that stuff. Right now all of my experiments with the tubs is for folks like you with soil problems. Plus they are almost work free. No way can I afford the earth boxes and no way can I stay home and water containers with drain holes all day. So far I have not had any problems with water. Worth

May 29, 2017	#5
zeroma Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 637	Bumping this up so I can read later...interesting z

May 29, 2017	#6
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I haven't grown all those varieties but I have grown most of them and found Big Beef to be the most reliable if you don't have that third race of fusarium. It was my insurance tomato for many years. All of the FFF hybrids I tried tasted just like supermarket tomatoes in other words they had almost no taste and they tended to be for the most part quite firm. Bill

May 30, 2017	#10
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	There is another thought about growing some F.FF.FFF,N tomatoes in our gardens. That thought ties in to a lot of other thoughts and facts. In our main garden, I grow in rows of plants planted 3' apart. The rows are 5' apart. That sounds far enough apart, but I keep seeing crosses the next year. A cross is a hybrid, and those crosses taste really good. Most of the time - they taste better than the original OPs. My thought is, "Why not plant some F,FF,FFF,N varieties to cross with some of the best producing OP and hybrid variety tomatoes that have proven to grow and produce well in this garden?"