2011 grow list!

This is my 2011 grow list with descriptions. I am curious which varieties some folks have grown and choose not to grow again. I am also curious which varieties are considered good to very good and deserve a place in every garden. Any disagreement with the descriptions would also be appreciated. I think of this as my heirloom tomato garden, but I am aware I have a couple of hybrid varieties plus some open pollinated varieties which are not considered "heirloom".

BERKELEY TIE-DYE Mid-late to late, 75-90 days. indet. regular leaf plants. 8-16 oz. Fair to good production. Green fruit with yellow and red stripes.

BERKELEY TIE-DYE PINK Early to mid-early, 65-75 days.Compact indet. regular leaf. 8-12 oz. average.

BIG BEEF F1 Large, avg. 10-12 oz.,70 days indt. mostly blemish-free, globe-shaped red fruit. They have full flavor - among the best - and ripen early for their size.

BLACK & BROWN BOAR 75 days, indet., regular leaf, good yield of brownish green fruit, good flavor”

BLACK CHERRY cherry type tomato, indeterminate, grows and produces all summer with a good black tomato flavor

BLACK KRIM 80 days, indet., regular leaf plant with high yields of large slightly flattened beefsteak, 4" in diameter, black-brown color, outstanding flavor

CELEBRITY 70 days, determinate, All-America Winner. All-purpose variety with superb flavor, disease resistance and heavy yield on determinate plants. Crack-resistant fruits average 7 oz.

CUOSTRALEE 98 days, indet., regular leaf plant with high yield of red beefsteak type fruits, 8-19 oz, excellent flavor

GOLIATH indet, hybrid, 55/68 days, 16 oz, red beefsteak, good production, excellent taste

GIANT BELGIUM HEIRLOOM 88 days. Open pollinated Heirloom. Indeterm. Pink, sweet/ tart, very tasty fruits average 2 lbs, but can get even larger.

INDIAN STRIPE. 80 days, indet., regular leaf, high yield of dusky dark pink/purple fruits, slight green shoulders which are 100% edible, 6-10 oz, irregular fruit shape

JD’S SPECIAL C TEX 80 days, indet., regular leaf, pink black beefsteak fruit, 12-20 oz, outstanding flavor, high yield.

KBX Late maturing, indet., potato leaf, bright orange fruits, medium-large beefsteak type, some ribbing, 8-16 oz, outstanding flavor, medium to high yield

NEVES AZOREAN RED indet, beefsteak, large (over 1 lb), OP, 80 days, red

PINK BOAR Early to mid-season. 70-80 days. indet. regular leaf. 2-4 oz. with good to great production. Aggressive grower.

SPUDAKEE PURPLE. Potato-leafed, indeterminate with fruit that averages 12 ounces. Smooth maroon color. 70 days.

STUMP OF THE WORLD indet., potato leaf, medium to high yield of large pink beefsteaks, 10-20 oz, very good to excellent sweet flavor, small core

WES 80-85 days, indet., regular wispy foliage, red heart,


Thanks


Ted

[RinTinTin]

Looks like a good list to try. Not every region/taste/season will be the same. Big Beef is a proven winner in HOT summers. The tie-dyes do well in perfect climates. It boils down to what grows best (and tastes best to you) in your climate...but what doesn't do (or taste) well well this season may be your favoite the next season. From your selection, it seems that you probably have more than you can plant 'rat now'. Save some seeds (even the ones you didn't like that well, or didn't do that well) to try again next year. It takes more than one season to evaluate the taste/performance/productivity of any variety. (What hardly produced any 'edible' maters this year, may prove to be your favorite the next.)

[Tania]

Ted,

I grew Celebrity and Goliath F1 once and will never again.

I also grew most of the others listed, except Pink Boar and Black & Brown Boar, and loved them.

Tania

Tania,

I am really curious why you won't grow Celebrity and Goliath F1. Until this year, I have always been a hybrid grower. This year I switched and started germinating my own heirloom seed and purchasing a few hybrids. For me, Better Boy has been a reliable, productive, and reasonably good tasting tomato for years. I never was interested in investigating new flavors, colors, sizes. or production. My 2010 heirloom and hybrid tomato garden was a total failure due to early onset of high heat. I am preparing every way possible in 2011 to at least have some tomatoes of some variety. A few of the hybrid varieties claim to offer that possibility. Its kinda one of those "if all else fails" situations.

I also inadvertently last year planted Goliath Bush variety (I didn't realize it was a bush tomato) as a late year plant to see how Goliath would perform as a late season tomato. It was planted in the hottest part of summer and it started blooming immediately. It produced large, well shaped, tasty tomatoes by the basket full until almost Christmas when our first hard frost hit. I have them scheduled for my fall garden next year.

If I have a good year and all of my plants do well, but the hydrids also do well but taste like cardboard; the hybrids will be gone from my next garden.

You and I grow in vastly different climates and I am wondering if that may be the reason you are unhappy with those varieties. I have replanted most of my 2010 spring garden as cuttings from the original plants and they are doing well. Since many of those cuttings are from a few tomatoes on my 2o10 list, I may determine they are not something that excites me and they will be dropped from my 2011 list. I just want to make sure each variety has an opportunity to show its' best proifile to the audience. That would be me.

I also want to thank you for all the work you do collecting, collating, and presenting valuable information on tomatoes.

Ted

[FILMNET]

My Berkerly and Stump are still making beautiful fruit, I picked some 1lb ones yesterday October 1 st.

[Tormato]

Curse-tralee!

I'll fill you in, next week. Or, you can search for the thread about it.

Tormato

[Tania]

Ted,

I grew Celebrity in 2004 or 2003 (I forgot), it was a good summer, but the tomatoes tasted like wet newspaper - as opposed to othe varieties I grew in the same year (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and a few others)

I grew Goliath in 2008, and it was a bad summer - I got fruits that were nothing remarkable taste-wise and too firm for my liking.

I love Better Boy F1 and will grow it again when I have an opportunity (or I will continue growing out F3 seeds one day

My other favorite hybrids are Sunsugar F1 and Sungold F1.

And Lucky Cross X Cherokee Chocolate F1 created by Rob Gee from Ohio in 2008. Absolutely delicious and beautiful.

Tania

[Stepheninky]

When I grew Goliath it was ok, the plant was very healthy bloomed like crazy but just really never produced all that great. The tomatoes it did produce where of good size and ok flavor and it was a good tomato growing year here. IMHO I just think there are better hybrid and heirlooms that are more productive for me that I would rate higher on taste. Stem and leaf wise it was probably one of the healthiest looking plants. Different people are going to have different opinions and experiences which you did ask for. Your experience might be different so I would say go with what works for you.

I am doing that next season with Depp's Pink Firefly which Remy described as not growing that great for her, but I live about 40 miles from where it originates so hoping it will do better in my area. Sometimes you just gotta roll the dice and try it for yourself or stick to what you know works.

[carolyn137]

The only one of Brad Gate's varieties I've grown is Brad's Black Heart and I was very pleased with that one.

I agree with your selections of:

Black Cherry
Black Krim ( although I prefer Noire de Crimmee, a version if it better
Cuostralee, although there are other large reds I like even better
Indian Stripe
JD's, although I haven't had the room to grow it yet
KBX
NAR
Stump of the World
Wes
Spudakee, haven't grown but would consider Cherokee Purple PL as well

Ones I wouldn't grow again:

Celebrity F1
Goliath F1
Big Beef F1, maybe will grow sometime
Giant Belgium, I think there are much much better large pinks

Hybrids I would grow again:

Jet Star F1
Supersonic F1
Moreton Hybrid

......all 3 above some of the earlist hybrids from Harris Seeds and I still think that taste and performance are hard to beat which is one reason they're still being sold today.

Ramapo F1, or the OP version
Better Boy F1
Big Boy F1

..... and the above two each have as one parent the variety Teddy Jones, a large pink heirloom from the midwest.

And of course Sungold F1 b/c none of the OP versions I've grown are that close to the F1 IMO.

Carolyn,

Thank you!

"Black Cherry
Black Krim ( although I prefer Noire de Crimmee, a version if it better
Cuostralee, although there are other large reds I like even better
Indian Stripe
JD's, although I haven't had the room to grow it yet
KBX
NAR
Stump of the World
Wes
Spudakee, haven't grown but would consider Cherokee Purple PL as well"

I always have to consider the growing climate of the good/bad reports for tomatoes. Both you and Tania have growing climates very, very, different than mine. I love upstate New York and have always wished I could have a garden there, but I am in a very, very, hot summer climate in North Texas. Even the night time temps sometimes average over 80 degrees F. I did a lot of research on most of the varieties I chose based on how I think they will perform in my climate. They must set blooms and fruit by the end of May or be a variety which will bloom in warmer weather. In some cases, I had to choose between best tasting which probably won't grow in my climate and moderately good tasting which will grow in my climate. An example would be the Spudakee, which seems to have a little more heat tolerance than the CP. I have CP seed which I plan on trying in the next fall as temps drop rather than climb.

You probably are correct about the Black Krim. I understand it quickly becomes mushy after ripening. I also have Black From Tula seed which I may or may not plant the following year. I have three BFT planted for my fall garden this year. They are planted next to some JD's Special C Tex. The C Tex plants are growing and blooming at double the pace of the the BFT. Fall gardens require fast growing, fast blooming plants. I have the intent of planting some Noire de Crimmee in 2012. I have space to plant three plants of each variety on my list. Since I grow in raised beds and attempt to make growing conditions identical in each bed, it really isn't possible to maintain them identically through a growing season. By planting each of the three plants in a different bed, I should get a fair representation of earliness, plant vigor, bloom setting, resistance to heat, plant height, production, fruit size, disease resistance, and fruit taste.

I was warned this past winter that my plans to grow Prudens Purple and Brandywine Sudduth along with some other hybrids and OP's were probably not a good choice because of my early high heat. The PP's and Brandywines were the only plants that actually produced tomatoes. They accomplished the feat because from the day I planted the seed to germinate, both plants took off like race horses out of the gate. When I moved the seedlings to the garden, they were ready to grow and bloom while all the other varieties were lagging behind. They simply got their work done before the heat arrived and were prepared to sit and let the fruit grow larger and ripen in the higher heat while the laggards just sat and did nothing.

Ted

[cleo88]

re: Pink Berk - it's not very compact, mine was at least 5 feet tall. The color is really strange - maroon/brown with green stripes. I would call the fruit size medium at best. It might be sort of duplicative to grow both Berk and Pink Berk, just a thought.

Big Beef F1 is very satisfying because for a big fruit, it really is remarkably blemish free. Tastes pretty good - my husband's favorite, although I think there are better OP beefsteaks. Probably more disease resistant than many other varieties, so I would definitely give it a vote for your garden.

I'll just put in a plug for my favorite this year - Donskoi. Huge, red, meaty, and it's the best to give to your neighbors because it's so darn impressive looking. You'd have to check to see if it would be good in your climate - did great in New England.

Originally Posted by cleo88

re: Pink Berk - it's not very compact, mine was at least 5 feet tall. The color is really strange - maroon/brown with green stripes. I would call the fruit size medium at best. It might be sort of duplicative to grow both Berk and Pink Berk, just a thought.

Big Beef F1 is very satisfying because for a big fruit, it really is remarkably blemish free. Tastes pretty good - my husband's favorite, although I think there are better OP beefsteaks. Probably more disease resistant than many other varieties, so I would definitely give it a vote for your garden.

I'll just put in a plug for my favorite this year - Donskoi. Huge, red, meaty, and it's the best to give to your neighbors because it's so darn impressive looking. You'd have to check to see if it would be good in your climate - did great in New England.

I'm growing both the BTD and BTDP because with the exception of the striping, they seem to be very different tomatoes in size, production, and taste. I'm not sure if their parentage is very similar, but it may be. I'm trying to get a number of Wild Boar Farms varieties growing and producing. I believe WBF may be in a prime tomato growing area both in soil value and climate. I want to quickly find out if varieties originating in that climate will adapt and produce in my climate. It seems like an easy way to either include or exclude a large number of varieties from my future lists.

I am currently growing Sweet Carneros Pink in my fall garden. It was originally planted as a spring plant but it wasn't given a fair shot because of my hot summer. I have rooted cuttings and they are blooming and setting fruit generously. I have at least six weeks before first frost and possibly as many as ten weeks. WBF claims the Sweet Carneros Pinks "produce all season long". I will almost duplicate their summer climate from right now through mid November. My daylight hours will be slightly shorter, but not a lot.

Ted

[carolyn137]

TEd, the ones I listed in my post above are ones that do well for me, but I did see your N TX location and I still think that many of them will do well for you if you grow two crops a year.

I've been posting online, and especially about tomatoes, since 1989 and so use that kind of feedback when answering a question.

You didn't give your zone information but if you get your long and mid season ones out by____________, since I don't know your zone, they should all have set fruits by the time the hot weather starts.

And for the Fall crop of short and midseason ones get the plants out by early Sept and you should be OK.

There's no way to predict in advance what the weather will be like in any one season, and none of us know what kind of soil you have or how you grow your tomatoes and what amendments you might be using, so I say go for it and see what happens.

Carolyn,

I assume Better Boy and Big Boy F1 rights are owned by the same company. I understand Teddy Boy OP is now totally owned and genetically controlled by a single hybrid producer. If it were possible to grow out Better Boy or Big Boy with the intent of replicating Teddy Boy to a OP variety, would it be a legal variety for breeding purposes since it would probably be impossible to exactly duplicate the Teddy Boy genetics?

I am asking the question because I recently read an article in a Canadian publication telling the story of a Canadian farmer growing normal corn while his neighbor grew genetically engineered corn from Monsanto. Some pollen from the GE corn found it's way into the neighbors corn field. Monsanto confiscated the first farmers corn and charged the first farmer for theft of genetic property. The courts ruled in favor of Monsanto because the first farmer was in possession of genetic material which legally belonged to Monsanto. The lack of intent by the first farmer had no bearing in the ruling. Possession of stolen property was the only question considered.

Seems a little draconian but possible to me, but I'm not a lawyer. I'm just barely a gardener.

Ted

[carolyn137]

Ted, it's Teddy Jones, not Teddy Boy and the seeds are held by Petoseed which is now a part of Seminis Seeds .

And Petoseed develops/ distributes both OP and F1 varieties , not just hybrids. Caspian Pink, OP, was one that they distributed and there are many more, both OP's and F1's.

Teddy Jones was used by Dr.Oved Schifriss when he was at Burpee to breed Big Boy F1. John Peto was also at Burpee and Peto left, went to CA, took seeds of Teddy Jones with him and used them to breed Better Boy F1 a few years later. And he called his new company Petoseed.

Burpee had folks looking for OP heirlooms in the mid-west, found Teddy Jones and paid the family $24 for exclusive rights to it. Back then it allowed them to build a greenhouse, but that $24 is also about what the Dutch paid the Indians for Manhatten. Sigh.

It doesn't even matter if someone had seeds for Teddy Jones in terms of recreating either Big Boy F1 or Better Boy F1 b;c they'd need to know the other parent that was used and then make the correct selection (s).

I know the other parent for Big Boy F1 but Dr, Schifriss asked me to never share that information and I haven't. I don't know the other parent for Better Boy F1.

I started to dehybridize Big Boy F1 to see if I could get out Teddy Jones but Dr. Schifriss told me I could never get more than about 80% of the genes out. I set out 12 F2 plants, 10 gave red fruits and two plants gave pink fruits, Teddy Jones is pink, but Dr. Schifriss said the size of those pink fruits was too small and told me to continue, but I never did.