the best early heirloom

[yopper]

In your opinion what is the best early heirloom for a short growing season. TIA
YOPPER

[feldon30]

When you say heirloom, are you including any open-pollinated types such as University bred varieties (Arkansas Traveler, Rutgers) and older market varieties with great taste?

And what color and size are you talking about? Cherry? Medium globe shaped? Or large beefsteak?

For what I consider a productive, reasonably early medium to large pink beefsteak, Gregori's Altai is performing incredibly well for me. One that is extra early but whose flavor can be rather one-dimensionally tangy (without that full, sweet tomato flavor) is Silvery Fir Tree. I will still grow it, even though it has these limitations. I simply add a little bit of sugar in the sauce.

In U.P. Michigan, I would be inclined to look at Russian and Eastern European varieties that do well in similar climates. You don't mention if you have access to a greenhouse or can otherwise construct "cold frames" to squeeze out a few more weeks to your season. A cold frame can be as simple as bales of hay with an old window resting on top of it.

And out of 26 plants, 3 of my plants are hybrids, and 2 of those will be coming back, since the flavor and productivity is excellent: Jet Star (a medium round slightly flattened red tomato from the 1940's with a good overall tomato flavor, and I got 25+ off 1 plant), and Sungold (a recently developed goldish-yellow productive VERY fruity flavored cherry, and I got over 500 off 1 plant).

[JerryL]

Feldon’s question not withstanding - about what you call an heirloom, a lot of folks here like Kimberly – about 45 to 50 days for me. But as has been stated many times “Your mileage may vary”.

Since everyone’s taste buds, growing conditions and etc….. are different your best bet is to plant a few varieties and decide for yourself.

[feldon30]

I am probably the odd man out on not liking the flavor of Kimberly, but it has certainly been early and productive for me, with close to 40 fruit on 1 plant. And I consider it a saladette size. You'd need 2-3 of them to make a sandwich. Can't argue with its productivity and success here in Houston, it just doesn't taste like much to me.

[nctomatoman]

Here are a few ideas - for a cherry tomato, Mexico Midget is incredibly prolific, delicious, and always the first fruit to ripen (35-40 days from transplant for me). For a medium sized tomato that doesn't win prizes for flavor, but it is really good in its season, there is Taxi (easy to grow since it is a compact determinate, and gives you all that it has to offer quickly, then gets out of the way of the midseason varieties). Kimberly, as Jerry pointed out, is really good in the small fruit (large cherry?) category. I would also add Azoychka as a really good early with good size and fine flavor.

[korney19]

Kimberly (golf ball size; 38-45 days in 4-gallon containers)
Sophie's Choice (small 18-24" plant, 6-12oz+ fruits, about 55 days)
Mountain Princess (from the Monongahela Forest region of WV, very productive determinate, 6-10oz, 60-65 days)(Randy, help me out on spelling please)

Stupice & Matina are similar in size to Kimberly, 55-58 days, Matina was more productive for me than Stupice.

[Dunkel]

I'm not Randy, but you spelled Monongahela correctly Mark.

[NCTIM]

My vote goes to Azoychka. This is my second year growing it and it's been the first baseball size fruit to ripen both years. I've not grown many of the other early varieties so take my vote for what it's worth. I am growing Gregori's Altia this year but haven't had one to ripen yet.

Tim

[tjg911]

Hi Yopper!
.
I grew Azoychka in 2005 in a 5 gallon container and it produced a ripe tomato in a mere 42 days! I am not fond of yellow tomatoes, but Azoychka was very good tasting and wicked early. I am growing it again this year in the garden to see how it goes in the ground as far as earliness and taste. I expect it to be a bit later (42 days is absurdly early!) and taste to be a bit better.
.
Sun Gold is a hybrid tangerine cherry, very very good tasting (the only cherry I grow now), prolific and pretty darned early at about 58-62 days. To prevent cracking I pick them pale orange and let them ripen in the house to a deep color.
.
Wes is an excellent tasting, heart shaped, red tomato, one of my favorites at about 70 days.
.
Just about all my favorites are 75-85 days to maturity and in the UP I'm not sure how they'd perform so I am stick to just these 3 early tomatoes. While I'm in northwest CT, your climate/zone is a lot different than mine.
.
BTW, I'm growing Candy this year vs Ailsa Craig Exhibition for my sweet onion, hoping to get some 8" monsters like yours (Allium Forum at Garden Web, you emailed me some photos)!
.
Tom

[lumierefrere]

Schelkovsky. Under 50 days incredibly prolific.

[tomatoguy]

Clear Pink Early is a nice determinate that should give you lots of tangy ping pong ball size tomatoes.

Gregory's Altai has medium-large fruit that has a fullbodied taste. It was the taste test winner in my backyard last year.
It does have a tendency to crack under wet conditions.

mater

[gflynn]

It may not be considered an Early variety but Cherokee Purple consistantly comes early in my garden. It seems comperable to my Black Cherry interms of earliness

Greg

[Worth1]

Costoluto Genovese For me, it tatses good set well in the heat and put out a good supply of tomatoes after nothing but cherries set fruit.
Strange I know.
Worth

[timcunningham]

Silvery Fir Tree is also Early (55 DTM) http://tomatoindex.com/Index.cfm?pga...S&tomatoID=384

The taste.. well if you like 'em tart you will LOVE silvery Fir Tree. My wife made a sandwhich with it.. i thought she had added lemon.

[barkeater]

The best so far for me:

Bloody Butcher - Saladette size, very early, tastes excellent.

Moskvich - 6-8 oz, early, great taste.

Also liked Silvery Fir Tree last year grown in a pot. Have 2 in the ground this year. Grew Sophies Choice 3 years and Mountain Princess 2. Both early, but the flavor was only good, and did not grow this year.