The one in front is Reif Red Heart; some had a more pointed tip. It has stink bug spots - all my tomatoes do. I liked Reif Red Heart last year. I haven't grown many hearts. I watered it extra because I thought it was wilted. That is how they look. I had big tomatoes in July here in zone 6.

Sue, what you have now I think is fine, but I'd nix the Yellow Oxheart if it were me, which it isn't. LOL

I looked at the heart varieties that Tania is selling seeds for and might suggest Donskoi,Reif Red Heart and Ukranian Heart from her list. I've grown many of the others, but not so many of the Russian ones she lists.

And just in general I'd add Kosovo, a pink heart which seems to do well for everyone.

From Gleckler's I'd suggest the following and Adam has several wonderful new heart varieties for 2011, and while I haven't grown all of them I know about all of them from comments online.

Ones I've grown I'll star

*Danko
*Indiana Red
Lescana ( I think also at Tania's)
*Wes, a big fave
Zore's Big Red, have read great reviews on this one
*Ludmilla's Pink Heart
Mazarini

And there are so many more I like such as Nicky Crain and Brad's Black Heart and many more, but heck, a gal has to start from somewhere. LOL

You have Tania's link so I'll link to Gleckler's below. it seems as though my cut and paste is stuck on Tania's link so just go to Glecklerseedmen.com or access it from Google

Carolyn, and if you want a wild one consider the Rusty heart one at Glecklers/ ( smile)

I generally dont care for hearts. Most are poor producers here or if they produce well are just so-so in taste.

The only one that does fairly well for me and has decent flavor is Kosovo. It also tends to be fairly early for a large type.

you must try sylvan gaume.
a big huge heart with taste to match. i would put it above anna russian, and german red strawberry in flavor. my seeds came from a swap. marianna is listed as a seed source according to tatiana.
i saved seeds. they were not bagged.
i gotta grow it again.

keith

i am in CT as well, and i have tried Anna Russian which was great. Produced well, and taste was exceptional
Kosovo also produced huge oxhearts and many of them, taste was also good as well.
I also tried Bulls heart, production was somewhat slow, and taste was average.
This year i will grow anna russian and kosovo again, and i am going to try out reif red heart

Sue, me again, tomatoes are easy to grow from seed. If you have grown flowers, you already know how to gradually harden them off. I start mine indoors under cheap fluorescent shop lights. You said you wanted to know about hearts. I don't think they are the most productive but Reif Red Heart did well for because it was in my best garden spot. I ate the others Cherokee Purple, Eva Purple Ball, Juane Flamee etc. and considered the big hearts a treat. I liked the taste. My limited experience with heirlooms is that I tried several kinds all recommended highly by someone. Out of several kinds, a few did very well, some were OK and some were failures for me. It sounds like you grow tomatoes just not from seed so you know what you want. But try a variety of types if you have room.

Many hearts yet to grow for me, but Kosovo is a returner for my garden. Great tomato. Sauce or fresh. Productive. Vigorous.

Hi,

Yes I do so like most of the oxes... Brad's BH, Prue, Wes, etc. Be apprised that many of them have a leaf habit that makes it appear that they are on the verge of capitulation. Do not water them more than any other tom with a different leaf type.

Reggie

Another strong vote for Kosovo. It was the earliest tomato for me last year (62 days!) and also the highest and longest producer. The tomatoes are large, smooth, and solid with a nice, somewhat sweet flavor.

TomNJ

Reggie, don't tell Tom G, the originator of Prue that it's a heart variety or he would be very upset. LOL

It has variable shapes, always has and always will, ranging from longish torpedo shapes, some with nipples, some without, to almost heart shapes, to a more oblate globe shape, but I know he wouldn't call it a heart variety, I wouldn't either. ( smile)

Take a look at Tania's description of it and I think you'll see what I mean. And I could add comments here from folks who list it in the SSE YEarbooks where some do note it's an elongated heart shape, one says oxheart, but the majority comment on variable fruit shapes, as Tom himself does.

Tom's history of it goes back to about 1900 and as long as he's known it it's been the same as regards variable fruit shapes.

Carolyn, who notes that it was here at GW many years ago that Tom offered Prue seeds but he reads/posts elsewhere now. And don't tell him it's a paste variety either. LOL Yes, I know Tom very very well.

I grew Anna Russian last year as my first heart variety. It had great flavor and produced well. I'm going to grow it again this year.

Sue,

I'm in MA. I am a fan of hearts. Huge fan! I love texture and seed/meat ratio.

Russian 117 is probably my favorite heart. Anna Russian is a fairly early heart that tastes wonderful, so another vote for Anna Russian. Reg mentioned Brads Black Heart above - also a fantastic heart - and a beautiful dark color. These three have been in my garden a while and they're all wonderful toms.

I've tried: Anna Maria's Heart, German Red Strawberry, Ukranian Heart, Danko, Wes, Mazarini, Jeff's Mystery Oxheart Pink, Kosovo, Slankards, etc. and was not overly impressed with taste. I could have had an off year when I tried them... but have found Russian 117, Brads Black Heart, and Anna Russian to be excellent regardless.

I'm looking forward to trying a few others this year...

Let me know if you have trouble finding any of these. I may have extra seed.

Of those that you mentioned, I've grown:

Anna Russian: I know that I'm in the minority here, but I wasn't overly impressed. Bland flavor and hardly any fruit.
Russian 117: Huge, meaty, flavorful tomatoes and lots of them! This one was one of the earliest and most productive hearts that I have grown.
Ukrainian Heart: Fabulous flavor and decent production. This one was a favorite among those who "don't like tomatoes."

I also like:

Brad's Black Heart
Donskoi (very juicy for an oxheart, though)
Joe Theniemen's Australian Heart
Kosovo
Orange Russian 117
Rosalie's Early Orange (one of my top five favorites)
Sunset's Red Horizon

Oh my, this is going to be really hard to narrow down. I knew it would be. Now I really want to add Kosavo. I will have to see if Tatiana even carries it, I don't remember seeing it there. Thanks for the other seed source suggestion, Carolyn. I keep going over your book, even though I know if you wrote another one now, the tomatoes in it would probably be about 75% different varieties. I still love it. But there are classics and really good flavored varieties that would still just have to rate a mention, and I have the same thing with my garden. I just can't go all hearts because I fell in love with Kellogs Breakfast, I need at least one cherry for nonstop production and use in salads, maybe two because I love color contrast, and I can't leave out old reliable Cherokee Purple, or a Brandywine, not to mention I want to try a green when ripe like Aunt Ruby's German Green or green grape, and wouldn't it be fun to try Great White? I REALLY REALLY want want enough to can this year, I really missed that last year. But I just can't see that I will have room for a roma I have already ordered seeds for, because it just seems too boring with all the others I need to try. Sighhhhhh. Maybe I will get motivated to enlarge the garden. Even with 7 plants or so and just me I have never had too many tomatoes (except maybe cherries, lol). Would you have a top 2 or 3 you would recommend trying first, Carolyn?

Mulio, am I remembering incorrectly or do you live further South? I ask because I have found a significant difference sometimes in what does well here vs. the higher zones, even zone 7. I get pretty good production from Brandywine, for instance, just not until late in the season, but most in the higher zones do not. I do know though that many people say a lot of hearts don't give them the production they looking for. Another reason to keep it to 1 or 2 or 3 and not put all my eggs in that basket. I get excited to try the new ones, so a good reminder not to go over board until I try a few first.

The input from all of you in CT and MA is so valuable to me, thanks for taking the time! I will add due to your recommendations.

No one asked, but if anyone is curious, unlike many, I really enjoy both really sweet tomatoes and acidic ones, for different uses. But either way, the stronger the flavor the better. I am a fan of watering as little as possible one fruitingh starts.

This fellow has Kosovo. He doesn't send many seeds because his cost is high due to his climate, but you don't want many.

Here is a link that might be useful: Caseys Heirloom Tomatoes

I have not ordered from either place before this year. She has Kosovo listed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Diane's Flower Seeds

Sue,

I tried White Queen this past year - thinking it would be a novelty... OMG it was VERY prolific and absolutely delicious. I have not been a fan of yellow/whites in the past and this one (and another love apple Pork Chop) has converted me. I was very impressed with the flavor and productivity of both.

Consider Cherokee Green - it is an excellent green when ripe.

If you want any of these (and I think I have Kosovo) let me know.

Helen, I know Jeff Casey very well and I don't think his prices have anything more to do with his climate than anyone else and you're the first person who has ever said that he doesn't send many seeds. ( smile) so when I have time I'll have to go back to see how many seeds he sends for the money.

How did we get onto White Queen, which is the best large so called white I know, as well as Cherokee Green, one of the green when ripes that's near the top of my list, of the large ones, when the question was about heart varieties? LOL

I still think that anyone wanting a minimum of 15 seeds for one dollar should go to The Sample Seed Shop where Remy has a fantastic listing of tomato varieties but I didn't count the heart varieties therem, and as for heart varieties I still think the following sources probably have the most hearts and some of the best hearts:

Tania's site
Glecklers
Sandhill
Marianne Jones
Jeff Casey, yes, I'll add Jeff since he has some great hearts that others don't. This past summer I grew Hays'from him since I'm a great lover of varieties from Bulgaria and when I find a Bulgarian Heart, well, that's it. LOL

But like everyone I have my own opinions about seed sources and feedback from same figures in my opinion.

Again, the above mainly for heart varieties, the subject of the thread. otherwise I'd add to that list I just gave.

Carolyn, up late b'c she was up earlier and who never did mention Fish Lake Oxheart, Bobbie and many others she loves b/c the initial question was really slanted towards what Tania lists and what other places might also have some great heart varieties, at which point I added Glecklers. LOL

Carolyn, I was recommending Jeff Casey. If anyone clicks on the link and looks, they will be impressed. I am not saying Jeff Casey doesn't send many seeds - he says it on his front page. He says he is not a reseller of seeds - he grows his own organically and he offers a minimum of 15 seeds per packet. He bags the blooms and ferments the seeds naturally with no harsh chemicals. He doesn't charge handling only postage and envelope. I have been looking for Kosovo and he and Diane had it without the big shipping charge that I ran into other places.

Sorry Carolyn, I didn't mean to slant so heavily towards Tania, it was just one place I had recommended to me as a good source for hearts. I did order other, non heart varieties from the Sample Seed Shop. I really just want the best heart varieties to try and thought I would order several at once if I could and just grow as many as I could fit in and save the rest for next year. But if the 3 tastiest hearts for my area come from 3 different places, so be it. I hope eventually to find 6-12 tomato varieties all of which I love as much as Kellogs Breakfast and Brandywine Suddarth. So I guess I will post a second post with my tentative 2011 list, pending the final decision on heart varieties. But it is looking like I need to find a source and include Kosova in that short list that will make it into my 2011 garden and not wait for 2012 or 2013. But please, don't limit your recommendations to a single source. I am much more excitied about trying the tastiest possible tomatoes than anything else. :) If there is a nice early, productive heart I might be able to fit in one more by eliminating Early Girl, which I usually use as my old reliable that produces early and consistently and pasifies me until all the later heirlooms start producing and fills in the lean during the lean periods. :)

I was responding to Sue's:

'I just can't go all hearts because I fell in love with Kellogs Breakfast, I need at least one cherry for nonstop production and use in salads, maybe two because I love color contrast, and I can't leave out old reliable Cherokee Purple, or a Brandywine, not to mention I want to try a green when ripe like Aunt Ruby's German Green or green grape, and wouldn't it be fun to try Great White? '

You make me sound like a post hijacker.

Sorry I got you off track, tom8olvr, it WAS my fault. I didn't stay on topic. I would love all three! I would be happy to reimburse you any out of pocket costs. Email me privately, please. :) I do appreciate your input and offer. For more about my non heart choices, I list them in the post
"My 2011 grow list...what's your opinion...and your list?" Sorry for one more off topic post, but that should do it. :)

Sue, I think Danko and Anna Russian are two of the earliest hearts I've grown to date so you might consider them.

Now this may not sound nice, but if it were me I'd replace Early Girl with anything I could. LOL Last Spring I was offering seeds for PSR-37, an OP EG that was developed by Tim Peters, formerly of Peters Seed and research, and some folks thought it was better than the F1. And it also turns out that EG was bred in France and has a PL variety in its heritage and that's know b'c of the newer EG Improved, Ha' F1 since folks are getting PL plants with saved F2 seeds and even with some F1 seed as I recall.

Helen, I was referring to this comment that you made:

(This fellow has Kosovo. He doesn't send many seeds because his cost is high due to his climate, but you don't want many.)

Perhaps I misunderstood you b'c I don't know of anyone who sends few seeds b/c of where they grow their tomatoes.

As for Kosovo, I mentioned in my first post here saying that it seemed to do well for almost everyone.

As for shipping costs, Sandhill has some of the lowest around. With over 400 varieties listed if you buy just $10 worth of seeds there is NO shipping cost. But Glenn doesn't list Kosovo although many other sites do as the link below shows.

Tania has not completed up dating sources for 2011 yet but I'm sure that most of the places noted for 2010 would still be listing it for 2011.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Kosovo Seed Sources

Thank you for all your suggestions Carolyn. I am sorry if I sounded disparaging. I know he is a friend because he mentioned you and you mentioned him on another site. That is why I thought he would be reliable. I summed up too briefly my impression of the first page of his catalog where he clearly describes his business. I had been looking everywhere for Kosovo and he has it plus others mentioned above (also Orange Minsk, a beefsteak) so I had him bookmarked.

Here is a link that might be useful: Caseys

Carolyn, never worry about having to sound nice when you respond to one of my posts. I really treasure your unvarnished opinions and your comment about Early Girl made me laugh out loud and left a smile on my face. You can't grow Early Girl and admit it publicly without a thick skin, lol. It is already out of the garden for the first time this year, but may still make it to a container. Its like a bad crutch, but sometimes needs to be weened slowly. :)

Last year was a really bad year for me. I don't know if I got mislabeled plants, was a very bad plant mama or what, but even Cherokee Purple was a bust for me. 80% of my cherries and grapes were cracked, rotting and had knats, CP was puny, toms were the right color but didn't break 2" in diameter and the plant looked stunted. Kellogs Breakfast and Brandywine provided late but yummy tomatoes. Until well into August the only way I had a sliced tomato on a sandwich was because I had planted Early Girl.

(head hanging) A desperate tomato lover is a sad, sad thing, indeed.

The year before with all the rain and the scare with Late Blight, thinking I might not get any at all, I had a late season that turned out to be one of the best ever! Giant plants for my area, and since I was actually late planting, tomato development was so late it started after the rains had finally subsided and taste was REALLY good from late August until October! Probably because the LB scare got me to spray for the first time in years.

Anyway, to make a short story long, that darned hybrid is my pacifier, lol. I am hoping one of the early productive hearts might be able to replace it entirely. I have ordered seeds for Kovovo and Danko, among others, but I might still try Anna Russian, too. Do you have a recommendation for a really early, reliable producer to replace Early Girl?

Sue, I grew Early Girl when I was, OK, I was going to string you along with a faux story, so I'll just say that I grew Early Girl just a couple of times in the late 80's and never wanted to grow it again. LOL

A replacement for EG?

Moravsky Div is very early, see the Sandhill comment about that and it was very early for me as well. Seeds to me from Andrey in Belarus and I've distributed seeds widely. Tania should have the seed sources listed. Call it a largish cherry, red, kinda blocky shaped, but one of the best tastes I've found in an early.

Others you might consider include:

Kimberley, bred in Canada
Bloody Butcher, bred in Holland
Matina, a look alike for Stupice but better tasting IMO
Sophie's Choice, from Edmonton Canada

And both Tania and Jeff Casey have places at their websites where they list some earlies. One at Jeff's site that I haven't grown but looks good to me he calls something like Sion and________, named for his kids. Some background.

Years ago Stanley Zubrinski in Canada sent me several crosses he'd done, crossing Brandywine with Glacier or Stupice and I can't remember the other two now. He was trying to get some taste into an early, b'c most of them don't have it.

he sent me F1 seeds. I saved F2 seeds and distributed them to folks who at that time were subscribers to an international newsletter about heirlooms written and published by Craig LeHoullier, he of Cherokee Purple, and myself.

I also distributed those seeds in several seed offers, initially at GW and then elsewhere. Jeff says he got the seeds from me, I think he worked with the Brandywine X Stupice one and finally got a selection he liked, stabilized it to an OP and listed it.

So it might be worth looking at it as a replacement for EG, although I still think Moravsky Div is the way to go if you can live with about maybe a 2-3 oz fruit, which I can.

Hope that helps.

Carolyn with no TV, some notice about a multi-dish switch being bad and I sure hope it can be fixed in the house and Joe doesn't have to climb up to the field though the deep snow where the dish is, so no music, radio reception is blocked where I am, and of course heading into the second week of the Australian Tennis Open and I'm a tennis nut. So I am not a happy camper tonight. Yes, I was a Girl Scout and camped. LOL

Oh Carolyn, so sorry to hear about your dish. I know you love your tennis and I hope you have good stock of chocolate and books! I had a bad "LNB" but my dish is on the roof and the satellite provider had to replace it. Did you know you can have a TV tuner installed in your computer? You still need the dish though.

Sorry, I find those small, in between sized tomatoes annoying. I want something small enough for a salad like a cherry or large enough to slice for a sandwich. EG isn't large but 4-6 ounces is about as small as I want to try to hold inside a sandwich once its sliced, lol.

Are those crosses you mention the same size as EG? Are they still available? Are they avialable commercially? What would I search for to find a source?

I will look at other early toms to test replacements, but I am not sure I will find one. Which is of coarse, why EG lives on... :)

We have strayed off the hearts, right? I didn't give up on my Celebrity until I found heirlooms that produced tasty tomatoes abundantly and fairly early. A red plastic tomato that won't rot after a worm eats a hole in it is a security blanket that I was not ready to give up immediately. When you find the heirlooms that work for you, you will give up EG. I liked Pale Perfect Purple not early but not late and it was pretty and productive for me here.

Helen, I would really like to find that early, productive heirloom. I will look up PPP. Thanks.

Sue, do you means the four crosses I tried to describe above? Almost all of them had the same size kinda mini-beefs and since I didn't grow out any of the F2 seeds myself, I don't know what folks got other than what Jeff Casey shows.

Pale Perfect Purple isn't an heirloom, it was bred by Tad Smith who crossed Ozark Pink with Purple Price, made some selections and when Tad found one he liked he grew it out to the OP state. Indet, PL , excl yield and with smooth dark pink fruits about 3 inch , but I wouldn't call it an early either. I like it very much and it isn't the only one that Tad bred.

The one that's known best has no commercial source and never will. LOL Tad sent me a three way cross, told me what he was looking for, said I had a 1/64 chance of finding it, I set out only 12 plants and got it. I named it Tad, why not, sent seeds to my friend Craig LeHoullier and it was the accidental cross between Brandywine and Tad that led to Lucky Cross, Little Lucky, both bicolors, and several other varieties now. it's been a rich source of germplasm indeed.

However one porblem. Someone else was helping Craig grow out some F2 and F3 seeds, got an OP he named Liam's Brandywine, Linda at TGS didn't exactly understand what Craig said in an e-mail and put it in the 2011 TGS catalog as a Brandywine, which of course it isn't. She feels badly about it but you can't change words in a catalog.

Carolyn, whose TV man Joe, who is excellent, called before he came, as I'd requested, so I could describe what happened, he came, the signal strength at the dish was fine for both statellites so he didn't have to trudge through 3 ft snow to climb up the hill, so then he was able to reset the multi-dish switch in the receiver and all is well for now. When the weather is better in the Spring I'll get a new receiver, possibly go to HD, but heck, the picture looks fine to me. The receiver was here when I moved in and is close to 15 yo and they can go bad, as I know. So as I sit here taking a break I can hear the TV back here, and now I go to watch more. LOL

Sounds like you need an early season plan. Anna Russian proved to be tasty and quite fast maturing for its size. But what about the super early May picking tomatoes!

Kimberly, Stupice, Uralskiy Ranniy, SAP etc.

Why all heart shapes?

Sue, Let me know if you want some seed for SASE I'd be glad to donate a few to your cause!

r fiore 06 at intergate dot com if your interested.

EG used to be my security blanket because it was reliable in all conditions, early and prolific. But Rostova, AKA Sunset's Red Horizon, has blown it out of the water. This is the best tasting tomato I've grown. A medium to large ox heart, it started producing for me less than six weeks after setting out. I grew three plants in a 25-gallon smart pot and was harvesting an average of 2 or 3 tomatoes per plant per week right through our first frost in late October. Not only was it great tasting right off the vine, it also made the sweetest most complex tomato sauce I've ever produced Got my seeds from Tomato Growers Supply.

Ohio, I hate to say this but what you call Sunset Red Horizon, nee Rostova, is not what it should be. it's not a heart, it's a great tasting large red beefsteak.

I'm not going to go into the backgound infomation here, and both Gary at TF and Linda at TGS know about this. Before Xmas I sent the last of the true Rostova seeds I had to Linda with finger's crossed that they germinate.

For the first 2-3 years that SRH was offered at TF it was as it should be and as it was when Gary got the seeds from the folks at Seedfest. The folks at seedfest also know that it's not a heart and said online that they were going to go back and try to get seeds for it, but for other reasons are now out of business.

Carolyn, who hopes that Linda can get those true Rostova seeds germinated.

Carolyn: I read the long post on Goose Creek tomatoes elsewhere on this forum, including your disagreement with Laurel about them as well as about the "real" Rostova/SRH, and understand that there is some controversy about both varieties, as well as apparently some personal history between you. I don't really care about the correct name for the Rostovas I grew from seed sold as ox hearts by TGS or the Goose Creek tomatoes I grew from plants grown by Laurel that fit her description. I don't plan to sell them or enter them in contests. I only care about taste. And these are two of the best tasting tomato varieties I've grown in more than 25 years as a gardener.

I have to wonder if well-spoken of varieties I've grown that I thought were terrible like Anna Russian, Russian 117, for taste, and German Red Strawberry, for yield- one fruit, did poorly here because of the cold 50*F summer nights in the PNW, or if the supplier of my seeds had a bad strain??? Do tomatoes have markedly different characteristics in different parts of the country?

Anyway, my favorite is not even named, Verna's Orange Oxheart, which has not only almost been my earliest tomato several years but also keeps producing, and has very small seed cavities and luscious fruity flesh. Herman's Yellow is very similar. Others I like are Ukraine Heart, and Sochulak has a variable shape that sometimes is heart-shaped for me, and has been a good yielder.

Oh boy oh boy! I found my pics of Brads Black Heart:

LOVE this tomato!!! So glad that Reg brought it up!

2010 was a good year for them in my garden.

hemnancy, for sure varieties can and do do differently in different parts of the country and the PNW is one of the more challenging areas.

There used to be a PNW thread here which Mary always started each season but she's posting elsewhere now but not that much, just pops in to say Hi.

Carolyn

tom8olvr, that is a goodly-sized berry. NICE.

Have some Choc-Stripes tom seed on order if your want a few. From very intelligent Hillbilly Jere Gettle.

Try some 7-Pot Trinidads for your hot pep friends... blisteringly hot.

Reggie

tom8 you have no stink bugs. Those are flawless.