Carbon

[Volvo]

Hokeydokes , who's grown this variety and how does its taste tickle the pallette??..
Hoping to plant some seed of this variety out and before i do i wouldnt mind some feedback..
Cheers

[b54red]

I am also trying it for the first time this year. If it is close to being as tasty as Paul Robeson I'll be more than happy.
I planted 3 PR plants last year and one did good and made some big and extremely tasty toms for me while the other two did poorly; but it was enough to get me hooked on black tomatoes. I have already planted the seed of 4 new blacks and will plant more later. I want to find out which ones do best in our hot and humid conditions.

[Suze]

It's a good one, worth growing. Several similarities to Cherokee Purple in both fruit size and taste and plant size, but definitely not CP. Fruit can get a little darker than CP, but it does have a clear epidermis (there seems to be some occasional confusion about this.)

[dave]

Is carbon prone to cracking

[Wi-sunflower]

I grew about a dozen Carbon plants last year from seeds received in a trade.

It was slow to ripen in our cool summer and never colored up well at all. It was a puky yellow/brown. The worst of all my "blacks". But I know that was because it was so cool. There was a fair amount of size and shape varietion too. None of them got really large.

I did save seeds tho so hopefully I will have better weather this year so I can see what they SHOULD look like.

Carol

[gardenfrog]

My experience was that it was nearly perfectly round, uniformly dark brown and excellent flavor. I had little cracking.

[mjc]

I'll be trying it this year too...cracking doesn't bother me too, much as it will most likely end up in the sauce pot. Flavor/cooking ability are supposed to be pretty good...

[stormymater]

Ours were dense, meaty, about the same size as Cherokee Purple but more oblate (? stretched oval instead of round) & no cracking - either linear or circumferential (sandy soil doesn't hold water well here hence a bunch of the cracks in many types). They tasted good - hint of terroir but not musty, almost as good as CP or JDs (my favorites) - every bit as good as Black Krim or BFT. Didn't produce as many as CP or JDs but will be invited back to the garden.
Beautiful tomato - very dark here (also hot as can be) - production slowed in the heat of the summer than picked back up around Labor Day.

[dipchip2000]

I grew only two of them last year and both grew plants over 8ft tall. They grew out of my insufficient cages and produced well. Very dense folliage and a good amount of fruit. Most fruit was about baseball size and did have some radial cracking which I believe was caused by more than average rainfall and cooler than normal temps when just getting to ripening stage. Still excellent flavor and to me tasted better than CP or Brandywine in last years trial. Will definitely be growing again this year with CRW cages and hopefully better weather. This is my favorite black so far but will also be growing PR,BFT,JDSCT,CC,GOS, and the smaller BC.
dipchip

[PaulF]

I grew Carbon four years ago and had only Cherokee Purple as a comparison. That year I swore Carbon was the best tomato I'd ever tasted. I grew it the next year and again CP was the comparison. That year both were equal in my estimation.

Two years ago I grew fifteen "blacks" to get a better idea. Carbon was at the top of the list along with CP and Brad's Black Heart. Carbon in the three years I have grown it averaged about 12 ounces, the largest at 22 ounces. Very good flavor, a little less sweet than CP, very juicy, deep red with dark brown shoulders. The plants were quite large and healthy. Carbon has become a favorite and I will grow it again this year. I do not remember any cracking problems.

[remy]

I love Carbon. It should be a smooth shaped beefsteak. It is is not prone to cracking(of course tons of rain right before harvest will make most anything crack.) Remy

[Volvo]

Replies greatly appreciated and certainly am looking fiorward to growing this variety..

[KLorentz]

I am too. This will be the first year I will be growing any of the blacks. I have heard plenty of good things about Carbon so I hope it will do well here.


Kevin

[mtbigfish]

I have grown Carbon for quite a few years and it is one of my mainstays for a black - along with Black Krim - this year I am trying some new ones from Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms
Dennis

[Earl]

You will not be disappointed with Carbon. It’s one of the top black types I’ve grown. Almost the perfect plant health wise and fruit taste is superb; and the fruit are picture perfect.