"Roma Grande" paste tomato
This spring I chose seed unknown to me, Roma Grande paste tomato from Burpee, marketed at Lowes. I chose it for fruit size, up to four ounces.
This Roma Grande is very productive. I found little on the internet about it, but one person had it in a trial of 17 paste tomatoes and it out-bore the others by far--31.1 pounds per plant. I think I am on track for getting 17 pounds per plant, and I've given them no fertilizer, no attention to bugs (which they do have!), too little space and probably a tad less water than they'd prefer. I did not even prepare good planting holes, or apply compost.
I'd like to save seed. Am I wrong to assume this is not a hybrid, as it does not say so on the package? It also makes no claims to disease resistance, unfortunately.
The taste is not my favorite, but for sauces it is suitable enough.
If you've grown Roma Grande or know anything about it, please tell me.
Roma Rio Grande a.k.a. Rio Grande, sounds like what you have and it is an OP seed, so no problem saving. Info says it's from Italy, but no more history.
Here is a link that might be useful: Rio Grande
I think my plants are indeterminate, but I could be wrong. Rio Grande is said to be determinate at Tatiana's site which you have linked. My plants are 7-7.5 feet. I will watch to see if they continue to grow and bloom. They are still blooming now They were 90 days from seed to first fruit. I've been harvesting for 41 days and look to be only at the beginning of the harvest. Many fruit are still forming and there are new flowers, too.
"Colorado Seed Co" says Rio Grande is a popular variety in Europe that is very prolific, and they call it Rio Grande in Europe and Roma Grande here, if that isn't a typo.
A US reviewer, Sarah, on the Franchi seed site calls Rio Grande semi-determinate and someone in another community says it kept yielding cluster after cluster right till frost.
Roma Grande in a Pennsylvania trial last year was the #1 paste tomatoes for production and #5 for flavor. The grower in charge of the trial mentions the package was available as Burpee seeds in Lowes but not in the online catalog. I bet that is the study you reference since the 31.1 pound/plant yield is there, except it was 24 plants, not 17 as you mentioned.
Also, The package of tomatoes was part (1/5 packs of seeds) of the now discontinued Burpee Bamboo salsa kit.
Cook's Garden seeds according to an Uncle Wayne else called Roma Grande an OP indeterminate. I bet if you contacted Franchi, Cook's or Colorado you would get your answers as to your cultivar, and it wouldn't surprise me if someting dumb happened, like Burpee not identifying the paste tomato in its kit with the real name, so it wouldn't be seen as an endorsement as being a favorite LOL Maybe they just buy a little from someone like Franchi and rebrand it under the table, since people in many big marketing departments tend to be more concerned with ... marketing.
Here is a link that might be useful: Roma (Rio) Grande
MANY comments on various gardening forums over the years about Burpee re- naming known varieties.
What good information. Thank you! Yes, that Pennsylvania Vegetable Research Program study was what I had found. Don't know why I was remembering a peculiar number 17.
That is disappointing if Burpee is renaming varieties. It is frustrating enough with nursery grown plants mislabeled or renamed, or of course, not named at all. I had thought that growing from seed, I might have more certainty.
At least the packet told the truth where it said "high yielding."
I think I'll be saving these seeds.