need help shortening grow list

[johno]

Hi all. I need help picking the ten best varieties from this list. If you see one that was really great for you (or the reverse), I'd love your input. Thanks!

Amazon Chocolate
Bear Creek
Betimes MacBeth
Big Ben/ Stump…
Black Brandywine (plum shaped)
Black Giant
Black Tom
Blackballed
Boxcar Willie
Brandy Boy F6
Cherokee Chocolate
Chocolate Cherry
Chocolate Stripes
Dagma’s Perfection
Evan’s Purple Pear
Everlasting
Fantome du Laos
Gold Medal
Honkin’ Big Black Cherry
Hughs
Indian Stripe – Burson strain
Isis Candy
Lemon Giant
Lucky Cross PL
Lucky Leprechaun
Mama Irene’s
Manyel
Milka’s Red Bulgarian
Mrs. Kennedy
Orange Strawberry
Oud Holland
Pink Berkley Tie Die
Polar Beauty
RAF tomato
Red Zebra
Santa Ana
Shadow Boxing
Southern Night
Spear’s Tennessee Green
Striped Roman
Sweet Carneros Pink
Veni Vidi Vici Cherry
Virginia Sweets
Weeping Charlie
White Oxheart
White Queen
Worley Red

[neoguy]

I've only grown a few of those but from my limited experience I can suggest these 2:

Spear’s Tennessee Green (highly recommended)
Virginia Sweets

[BigBrownDogHouse]

Virginia Sweets! Virginia Sweets! Virginia Sweets!

I grew about 75 varieties last year and it was the best tasting in the whole bunch....
Great tomato!

[ginger2778]

Sweet Carneros Pink was EXTREMELY susceptible to Septoria. first one to get sick out of 54 plants.

[Doug9345]

Te first thing I would do is divide them up into size and color. What you grow will strictly depend on what you like. One you get them categorized and figure out what you desire are, then you are half way to deciding which to grow.

If I was picking between Pink Berkley Tie-dyed and Sweet Carnos Pink, I'd grow SCP just because I thought it was a much more unique looking tomato.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by BigBrownDogHouse

Virginia Sweets! Virginia Sweets! Virginia Sweets!

I grew about 75 varieties last year and it was the best tasting in the whole bunch....
Great tomato!

I have heard how good it is and hope that one of my grafts of it works because it is very susceptible to fusarium. I planted half a dozen last year and not a single one even got to the fruit set stage before falling to fusarium. It seems a lot of the ones that are super tasty are also very lacking in resistance to fusarium. I am attempting this year to graft some of the highly recommended varieties that have never been successful for me in the past hoping a more vigorous disease resistant rootstock will help keep them alive a bit longer.

Johno, I would definitely grow the Indian Stripe, Lucky Cross, Amazon Chocolate, and Milka's Red Bulgarian.

Bill

[RobinB]

I loved Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye, it was early and tasty from the first one to the last.
Shadow Boxing is not stable as far as I know. I bought the seed last year from Tom Wagner, and quite a few others did too. There was quite a lot of variability according to the reports here on Tomatoville. You could do a search here if you are considering that one. Personally, I got a great selection which I'm growing out again this Summer.

I think this may be the first list I've read that had no tomatoes I've grown. I did grow Indian Stripe, but not that strain. Out of curiosity, how did you compile your grow list? I'm asking because I usually select my grow list from varieties I've grown with success and comments made by other gardeners.

Ted

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by tedln

I think this may be the first list I've read that had no tomatoes I've grown. I did grow Indian Stripe, but not that strain.

Wouldn't all genuine Indian Stripe (as opposed to apparent unlabeled crosses that aren't true to original type) be "Burson strain" , at least theoretically?

Surely even Indian Stripe PL and Indian Stripe Heart are "Bursons" with the variation indicated by their names?

[habitat_gardener]

Orange Strawberry was one of my top 5 the first year I grew it. It was late for me, though, and when I grew it another year (probably a cooler than usual summer) I didn't get anything.

[johno]

Originally Posted by tedln

I think this may be the first list I've read that had no tomatoes I've grown. I did grow Indian Stripe, but not that strain. Out of curiosity, how did you compile your grow list? I'm asking because I usually select my grow list from varieties I've grown with success and comments made by other gardeners.

Ted

Good question, Ted. What I did first was go through my seeds and pick out any old ones that I haven't tried yet. Then I pick out a bunch of new ones I'd like to try. (I also have a list of others I know and like picked out.) A lot of the new ones came from various small seed companies.

Thanks for all the input. It is very helpful.

[FreyaFL]

Of your list, I have only experience with Striped Roman. Sad looking plant. Wispy leaves. Flops over with very little provocation, didn't grow very big, etc. That said, it produced a decent amount of beautiful striped fruit with a deep, rich, red interior, that has a great taste.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tedln

I think this may be the first list I've read that had no tomatoes I've grown. I did grow Indian Stripe, but not that strain. Out of curiosity, how did you compile your grow list? I'm asking because I usually select my grow list from varieties I've grown with success and comments made by other gardeners.

Ted

I don't know what the Burson strain means either. And since there's been a kind of reinvention of the wheel on the two names that Clyde BursonSr grew and Johno knows that as well since he also posts at idig, as many of us do, myself included, all I can say is that Clyde Burson Sr grew what he called either Indian Stripe OR Indian Zebra, and it was Donna Nelson, who just arrived here at TV who got the seeds from Clyde Sr, she said he used both names, I asked her which one to use, since she sent me the seeds, and i chose Indian Stripe.

And I did that since at the time there were and still are other varieties with the word Zebra as part of the name and I was trying to avoid any confusion. In addition, I first SSE listed it as Indian Stripe and offered it in many seed offers as Indian Stripe.

There are no strains of Indian Stripe, and both Indian Stripe and Indian Zebra are the same variety,

Sorry, but not much, about the above, but this whole situation with naming was fine until about twoweeks ago.

Ah well, it could be worse, I could have no dark chocolate or cashews in the house,

Carolyn

[johno]

Regarding the Indian Stripe naming, I'll just say I'm using the name that was on the package.

Thanks for all the advice.

[johno]

And yes, I check in at IDig a few times per year, though I missed the last few weeks.