William, your tomatoes sound like they're having a bumper year.
My neighbor gave me some tomatoes and i've been eating tomato-mayo sandwiches for breakfast,lunch, and dinner.
I'm looking forward to ceresones update too.
vickie

Now, William follow up with a taste test for me! I have planted about three varieties and as always have a real disease problem. The healthiest plant with the nicest fruit is Better Boy, but I don't think it tastes good at all.........I need a really good main crop variety for next year.

William - Did you start all of those from seed? I don't grow very many tomatoes since my father is a tomato nut and always gives me some of his overflow. I have some unnamed seed grown hamburger sized tomatoes that aren't ripe yet and enough volunteer cherry tomatoes to feed the world. I need to pull some out but I was waiting to see if there's any difference in the taste. They all taste about the same.

Ceresone hasn't posted for a few days. Hope everything is ok.

i started all my tomatoes from seed. even the 200 i lost to the late freeze.

gldno1- you might try cherokee purple, big beef and silvery fir tree for an early. i cut off the bottom branches with a razor blade then mulch the plant. this keeps the soil from splashing up when it rains. also i think it really helps in reducing BER. a lot of the experts use daconil.

william

William,

Thanks for sharing this information. I never liked tomatoes my entire life (it's true - believe it or not) until I kept reading in the tomato forum about favorite tomatoes for flavor so I decided to try the one that kept showing up on everyone's top three and top ten lists: Cherokee Purple. So I planted it and waited until the fruit was vine ripe. Sliced it and tried it and said.... oh! So that's what a tomato is supposed to taste like!

I've tried growing other heirloom varieties since. Cherokee Purple still holds the crown.

It would also be fantastic for you to share this at the Cornell Database so that it is archived for years to come instead of disappearing into cyberspace at the GW forums (which are not archived). And people like me can let people know of that site seven years from now so they can refer to information like yours!

Cornell Vegetable Varieties For Gardeners

Curious which vegetable varieties might grow best in your garden? Cornell researchers are, too. This site compiles information from your fellow gardeners to help you decide what to try. Read more about this Citizen Science program. The information you supply can also influence breeding efforts and seed availability.

View ratings

Search (box at left and on every page) or browse to see detailed descriptions of more than 4,000 vegetable varieties and how other gardeners have rated many of them.

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Share your own opinions. Create a profile and let your fellow gardeners build on your experiences of what worked and what didn't. If you've already created a profile, login before rating.

Thanks for the report William. I have written it down for next year.

thanks violet. i knew of the database by dr carolyn male from another website.

have you tried brandywine sudduth strain, marianna's peace or earls faux? there are a lot of tomatoes out there.

william

Big Beef gets my vote. The plants get 4 to 6 feet tall and the tomato is large and meaty with a good flavor. However, I couldn't find plants this year. A local store told me they don't sell well. The only reason I can think of for that is that not many people have tried them.

a small update:
sungold-a winner
silvery fir tree- another winner
black cherry- too bland
momotaro- too sweet
big beef- ok, too cardboardy
german red strawberry- not
aunt gerties gold- a winner

started my list for next yr and already up to 16 varieties. am sure it will change 100 times.

william- in yellville

You know, it must be the soil--or perhaps our taste buds?I agree with you on most--but my Black Cherry is a real winner. Its in a pot on the deck, and it does have a sweet wine taste--not spoiled, just very fruity.

I'm having problems starting tomatoes from seed. I can get the from the store and they'll pretty much grow fine, but I started 3 different varieties 3 times this spring and they just don't get strong enough to survive the transplant. Any suggestions? I use the little Jiffy cube things...should I use a bigger pot, maybe?

Thanks
Trisha in Wright City

ceresone- i had only 4 months to get my raised beds ready before spring planting and i did a poor soil mix in them. 1/3 humus, 1/3 aged manure and 1/3 topsoil. too much nitrogen in there. yields were off by 40% and i am sure the flavor was affected.

trisha- sounds like you have a light problem to me. tomatoes need a minimum of 8 hrs and 12 is better. i start
mine under 4' fluorescents[sp] with the bulbs almost touching the leaves. works good for me. tomatoes are hardy.

william

trisha, and william, I also have a small fan running over mt tomatoes 24/7 while I'm starting then. I heard it would make them stockier, and works for me.
william, there a good organic fertilizer mixture you can make on soil forum. I'm gathering ingredients to use for spring.

i use a fan also. hooked to the timer for the lights. sometimes i use a heating pad but mostly for peppers. really helped the germination on peppers.

what is the thread on the soil forum?

william

I try to grow new varieties each year, mostly heirlooms. I take note of any tom plants that can handle my biggest problems: foliar diseases, excessive heat, and drought, in that order. After that, I judge based on taste.

For a purple/black winner, I have good luck with Black Krim, and it's the best-tasting, to me.

I'm ever searching for the perfect yello/orange tomato or bi-color. Yellow Giant Belgium is THE BOMB for taste, but a bit disease-prone. I have yet to find anything to beat Hillbilly for an all around bi-color, but I'd like to.

I just started experimenting with green-when-ripe tomatoes this year, and I don't know if I'll ever like those...

For a red cherry, I find Tommy Toes to be the most reliable and productive, even when too dry. As with them all, they vary a little from year to year, I suppose based on the environment. This year they were bigger, but slightly bland compared to what I remember them tasting like in the past. Black Cherry is hands-down the yummiest of the wee ones.

As for pink and red tomatoes, there are so many, but I really haven't found the ones I want to grow forever yet. This year I was quite pleased with the potato-leafed version of Watermelon Beefsteak (pink.)

Concurrent with triple digits temperatures, almost all of them have been idle for a few weeks. I guess the only ones that seem not to mind the heat are Aker's West Virginia and Hillbilly

OK, I GIVE UP. next year i'm going to grow a couple of tomatoes in pots. I've even decided what kind and found out where to get it. The tomato is New Big Dwarf. Its a determinate heirloom.I'm getting the seeds from Victory Seeds
so be prepared for weekly updates as to how many leaves it has and of course blooms and tomatoes.LOL

I even found a dwarf cuke to grow--Spacemaster 80

oakleif- i have seeds of NBD and Spacemaster if you would like some. i maintain over 100 varities of tomatoes. almost all are op's.

we had Spacemaster in pots this yr. they get about 3 ft long. they aren't overly productive but they do pretty good.

howdy seedsonshirt.

william- in yellville

William, you've got mail. Have trouble sometimes receiving and sending mail so LMK.

oaklief- your seeds are waiting on an address.

william

Any other Ozarkers have reports on tomatoes that do well here? I'd love to know!

john- you might consider doing a little grafting. if you google de ruiters they have a pretty good primer. i have been " fixin to" do this for the past 4 yrs and something comes up every time. if you might want to try this let me know for i have seeds of " hires roostock" from chuck wyatts old site. you are welcome to them at anytime.

william- in yellville

I am going to order some tomato seeds even though I usually grow under a dozen plants. You guys are making me crazier. Trying to get a slimmed down list for a small vegetable garden. The Cornell site and your input is making it hard to make a short list.

I always grew Big Boy and Better Boys but tried Parks Beefy Boy and they do good.Even last year with all the rain we had some.I think they taste fine and are VFFW resistant.Some years I start them under the grow light.I need to try the fan.A greenhouse grower told me that too.I always transplant them into plastic drinking cups with holes for drainage into a compost mix and then put them in the cold frame til its warm enough outside.They need a lot of light-like 16 hours under the gro light.Then mine are frequently still leggy.You also need to harden them off carefully before transplanting them outside.Posy Pet

These are what I got free from okiedawn Oklahoma forum and trudi from wintersowing forum: mortgage lifter, black cherry, granny cantrell's german red, giant valentine, cherokee purple, costoluto genovese, black from Tula, matina, sophie's choice, yellow submarine, glacier, black prince, ananas noir. Also during the ice storm I ordered two books: 100 heirloom tomatoes for the American garden by Carolyn Male and Giant Tomatoes by Marvin H. Meisner, M.D. I am having lots of fun looking at my little seed packets and I like the books very much.

Here is a link that might be useful: trudi's deal

helen, that is interesting. I didn't know Trudi had a website. I do remember she is the one who knew all about winter-sowing.

You are going to be digging up some new ground!

We live in Tahlequah, OK. I thought I'd put in a plug for Sioux. It's heat tolerant and a good, productive multipurpose tomato: great for canning and good for fresh eating. The fruit is medium, not large, in size. When I stake Sioux it produces straight through till frost.

George

Thanks, George, that is one I haven't tried....will put it on the list for next year....unless I see the seed somewhere this year. I was just at Hummmert's and picked up a few packs of plum tomatoes for salsa and ketchup. Wish I had known about the Sioux.

Helen, the Carolyn from the book posts often on rare seeds forum too. idigmygarden.com

It has lots of pictures and common sense, not complicated explanations of the various aspects. Mostly it is a description of the 100 heirlooms she picked. She starts lots of seeds in a small pan early. Transplants at true leaves stage and plants them deep. Puts them out two weeks after last average frost date. All very common sense, no special magic formulas. Not excessive fertilizing.