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vipvenom

So many tomato varieties how to know which to choose?!?

vipvenom
16 years ago

I just got into gardening again and there are so many different varieties of tomatoes out there. How do I know which ones to choose for next season?

So far this year I have been impressed with my cherry tomatoes. I will continue to grow sungold and jellybean which had some great flavor. I also grew sugar adn supersweet 100 and they were good but didn't seem to live up to their names consistantly (although I will probably still grow them since they had such high yields).

Next I think I am going to try black cherry.

I wasn't very impressed with my larger tomatoes. I had big beefsteak hybrid, roma, jubilee (yellow), and maybe another I am forgetting.

I plan on trying the heirloom pineapple tomato. Other than that I am out of ideas. Is there a website that has a tomato taste test? Which type of tomato is a 'must have' IYO?

TIA,

Chris

PS where can I get the seeds of the plants you are listing :)

Comments (7)

  • adk13
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    hi
    Well if you want to do sauces I understand the opalka is a great choice. I am growing it for the first time this year, so can't tell you my own opinion just yet, but I haven't heard one bad thing about it.

    There are lots of seed websites. I like victory seeds & rareseeds.com is good although they don't have a huge list of tomatoes. I like reimer seeds but most people hate them. I think I am one of the few who has had excellent results with them. Rachels seeds has a huge variety but I've never ordered from them. Tomatofest.com has a huge choice too! Good luck!

  • jimm_sc
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It is hard to recommend a tomato that will appeal to someone else's taste. Where are you located? On of the best ways to find varieties you might like is to attend a tomato festival. Taste lots of tomatoe and take notes. I often find that the latest "Have to grow" isn't significantly different from something I'm already growing. The important thing is what tastes good to you. Even then, A tomato grown in your garden one year may taste different from one grown in mine a different year.
    Jim

  • barrie2m_(6a, central PA)
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We all get hungup on this dilema sooner or later and it bothers some of us more than others. I'm limiting myself to 100 varieties of tomatoes this year, 80 of which are heirloom varieties. I try to help people like yourself by offering both plants and fruits at farmers' markets in our area. If you can only grow a few then attend a few local farmers' markets in your area and look for vendors that offer heirloom tomatoes. Also read posts on this site.

    Be advised that you may not be happy with your choices. But don't get upset. Much of the fun is in trying different varieties. I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with limit of the varieties I choose to grow.

  • tom8olvr
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    There are a multitude of varieties out there, VIPVenom.

    If I were going to try 'heirlooms' I would start at tomato grower's supply... they have a large variety of toms - colors, tastes, etc. I'll attache the link.

    Recommend: Dr. Carolyn for a cherry (but I haven't had sungold or black cherry - yet). For a large tom I'd shoot for Russian 117 (very late, depending on where you are) or Omar's Lebanese. Opalka is an excellent paste tomato. I am not a fan of bland tomatoes - and I found pineapple kinda bland... people rave about Aunt Gerty's Gold - it is a large yellow/gold tom (I'm trying it this year for the 1st time). Cherokee Purple is a beautiful, yummy, tom - a real must try... This will give you a start, anyway.

    Luck to you.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Growers

  • booberry85
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You can browse through the site given below. It certainly doesn't tell you about every tomato but it's a place to start. It gives you various people's opinions about a great number of tomatoes.

    You can also try looking here:

    http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/finder/index.php?sname=Tomatoes

    Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Tomato Varieties

  • vipvenom
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the replies. There are just so many that look so darn good. I was adding some to my shopping cart and before I new it I had like $60 in seeds lol. Thats why I want to narrow it down :)

  • ardent_learner
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Boy, do I know where you're coming from! I'm looking to branch out on all of my veggies but the tomatoes have been hard for me to narrow down as they all sound so darned good. :) This is what I plan to plant this year (by the way I purchase these at parkseed.com and victoryseeds.com). Also, I'm copying and pasting from my Word spreadsheet, so it contains info from the sites, which may or may not be beneficial to you:

    Park's Season Starter Hybrid~ 60 days from setting out transplants. F1VT. Determinate. Always grow the first tomato on the block with this super-fast determinate variety! It sets huge yields of juicy-sweet 6-ounce fruits -- and they taste as good as they look! Set plants 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart. Pkt is 30 seeds.

    Tomato Sugary~ The Sweetest Cherry Yet!
    So bountiful that you may have to prune the plant back in mid-season! 60 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. Many Cherry Tomatoes look great but taste like nothing, while others are flavorful but don't have the big, steady yields we all love. Well, award-winning Sugary has it all -- super-sweet flavor, a fun new shape, and huge, huge yields on plants that just keep growing up and up all season! Scoring a full 9.5 on the Brix scale of sugar content, these delicious little 1/2-ounce dark pink fruits are packed with sweetness. This plant is absolutely unstoppable. It sets huge clusters of fruit all season long, and grows so vigorously that you may have to cut it back in midseason just to keep it within bounds! Never fear -- it will keep bearing like crazy!

    Park's Whopper~ 70 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. Set plants 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart.

    Sweet Baby Girl~ 65 days to maturity from setting out transplants. ISI (intermediate short-internode). Our search for the Best Cherry Tomato in the World has come to an end. Sweet Baby Girl Hybrid is hands-down the finest for all kinds of good reasons: 1. It rarely cracks. 2. It grows on space-saving, manageable plants. 3. It yields HUGE numbers of fruit over a long season. 4. It has a great after-picking shelf life. 5. It is the sweetest, best-tasting Cherry Tomato ever! The fruit is small -- about to 1 ounce -- and arises in big clusters on intermediate short internode vines. Now, what this means is that the vines keep producing all season, but the space between each cluster of fruit is much less than on traditional vines. In other words, you don't waste garden space, water, and food supporting a massive vine with widely-spaced clusters of fruit! Sweet Baby Girl's vines just reach about 3 to 5 feet high and 2 feet wide, yet yield like nobody's business. Just how much fruit can you expect from each plant? Well, in our gardens they each offered up TWO POUNDS OR MORE PER WEEK at the height of the season. That's a lot of ½-ounce fruits! Resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus races 0, 1, and 2, Sweet Baby Girl sets fruit in giant clusters, but I recommend picking them individually rather than as a bunch. You'll get each at the height of ripeness that way, and maximize your harvest.

    Tomato Marcellino Hybrid~ 73 days to maturity from setting out transplants. Determinate; upright habit. Marcellino has incredible holding power, keeping fruit fresh up to a MONTH after ripening! It's determinate, so it sets its enormous harvest all at once -- dozens upon dozens of clusters of fruit, each with 20 to 25 little tomatoes dangling alluringly! There has simply never been a Tomato of any size and shape with this kind of holding ability. This plant is upright rather than vining, reaching about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

    Tomato Better Bush Improved~ 68 days from setting out transplants. ISI (indeterminate short-internodes). If you're looking for an old-fashioned-flavored tomato with the juiciness and distinctive "tang" you remember from vine-fresh tomatoes of the past, Better Bush Improved Hybrid is the best choice. These big, luscious, 4-inch fruits grow very densely on indeterminate 4-foot plants, thanks to shorter internodes. The central stem rarely needs staking (except during those "bumper crop" times!), and this plant begins early in the season and just keeps going! Resistant to Verticillium Wilt and Fusarium Wilt Race 1.

    Brandywine (Sudduth Strain)
    80 days, indeterminate  Potato-leaf plants produce large (fourteen to thirty six ounce fruits) that are oblate in shape and pink in color. Excellent flavor. David Pendergrass sent us the seed. This variety originally is from the Ben Quisenberry collection who reportedly obtained the seed from a Mrs. Doris Sudduth Hill who said that it had been in her family since about 1900.

    Black Cherry
    65 days, indeterminate  This is a new variety that is very productive with cherry shaped fruits that have the dark, purplish coloring of 'Cherokee Purple'. Flavor is wonderful, very rich and sweet.

    Red Grape
    60 days, semi-determinate  This variety is modern and currently very popular in the fresh produce market. The fruits are bright red, weigh about an ounce, and are smaller than most cherry tomatoes (½ by ¾ inches). Since they are mouth-sized they are perfect for salads and garnish plates. Twelve to sixteen fruits per cluster.

    Marianna's Peace
    85 days, indeterminate  Reportedly a family heirloom from Czechoslovakia dating back to the early 1900s. Potato leaf foliage. Fruit are deep reddish pink, good size weighing around a pound, good sweet / acid balance flavor, very meaty and a shy seeded variety like Brandywine. This variety has been rare, highly sought after since its introduction in about 2001. It is becoming widely available and finally affordable.

    LivingstonÂs Favorite - (90 days) Indeterminate, 6 to 10 ounce smooth fruit with exceptional flavor and color. Introduced by Livingston in 1883. Originally developed for canners, they withstood shipping over long distances and had desirable market qualities.

    LivingstonÂs Magnus - Indeterminate, potato leaf with six to eight ounce oblate, pink fruit, excellent taste. Introduced by the Livingston Seed Company in 1900.
    "Livingston's Magnus is unsurpassed in quality and in the production of fine, large fruits. While well adapted to main-crop planting, it also takes first rank for early market purposes. The form is perfect, uniform, large and attractive; quite deep through from stem to blossom end. The flesh is very firm. A robust grower, with short joints, setting its clusters closer together than most varieties, and is a very heavy cropper. It has broad foliage which prevents sunburn in hot sections. Ripens evenly, does not crack about the stem. For staking up in the open field, as well as for forcing in greenhouses, is fully equal to any for such purposes."

    Giant Oxheart
    85 days, indeterminate  The 1933 catalog description of this 1926 Livingston introduction follows: "Oxheart is truly the giant of all tomatoes. Its attractive shape, large size and excellent table qualities has quickly brought it into deserved popularity among backyard gardeners. Market-growers are finding it in great demand. There is now great rivalry in gardening neighborhoods to see who can grow the finest Oxheart in shape and size. Three pound specimens are quite common. One customer sent us a five pound specimen.
    The Oxheart is smooth, thick, tender and almost seedless; frequently showing two inches thick without a seed cavity. The color is pink and it has that delicious mild flavor that every lover of this fruit likes so well. Rich soil adds greatly to its productiveness. Late variety."

    So, did I help or hurt? :)

    Stacie

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