I'm growing an Opalka. It's just now developing tiny oblong tomatoes.

Opalka is a wonderful tomato.

Redorta had a huge yield the first time I grew it,

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that stake is 9' tall (the on in the middle).

Well over 100 nice sized paste maters.

At one point I counted over 150 on the plant at a single time, unfortunately many were lost to cold weather.

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I grew them the first time last year and they produced well, with a good fresh taste for a 'paste tomato'.

THey can look pretty sad at times, the leaves and plant have a 'weeping' form, and they're the first ones tolook stressed when the tomato patch needs water, but it doesn't seem to hurt them.

Second year growing Opalka for me. First time, plant looked very stressed, lots of BER, and disease. Don't think I got one usable fruit that year.

This year, quite the opposite, the plant looks very healthy, Not the wimpy, sensitive plant I saw two years ago. With several clusters of tomatoes, this planted is producing beyond my wildest imagination and looking very happy. Can't comment on taste ....yet. ;)

ssj4,
You said: "At one point I counted over 150 on the plant at a single time, unfortunately many were lost to cold weather.

When did you plant them out? Did they freeze? I would have thought you'd have lost all of them instead of just some.
Interesting!

Thanks,
Terry Light
Oak Hill, Virginia

lightt,

In total, I probably picked 100 tomatoes off of that plant (either first blush or ripened indoors) (it was planted Mothers day in '06 I believe).
I probably lost 50 or more due to cold weather in October.

This plant was a workhorse.

hope that helps.

I"m growing them for the first time this year. I've noticed the wilting...i've got some babies.

I've grown both. The San Marzano Redorta produced very well, but I've standardized on Opalka for at least 4 years now. Excellent yields, minimal if any cracking, almost non-existent BER, they last long on the vine and before processing, and the plants are strong and healthy.

Some of the Opalka's grow huge. I'm talking close to the size of a beer can. Most aren't that big, but they average much larger than a Roma-type, so there's fewer to process when canning. Very few seeds and very meaty, so they're great for sauce, but also good on a salad or sandwich, which can be contrary to many paste-type tomatoes.

I'd say either way you can't go wrong, but I've just stuck with Opalka.

Planted Opalka for several years, wonderful flavors. The plant will look like its on its last leg...don't worry it will still produce and live.

Docux,

I planted Opalka for the first time this year. Was not impressed. A wimpy looking plant with very low production...6 to 8 fruits that were small. Maybe it doesn't like my weather. Don't know but don't think I'll plant it again.

cheers

Bing

I am growing a San Marzano plant ( as well as 3 beefsteaks). The beefsteaks are growing great but half the San Marzano plant turned yellow and limp as soon as the tomatoes appeared and are now shriveled up brown. What should I do to save the plant? We water it every day for 1/2 hour. As I said the 3 others right next to it are fine. Help.

I grew these in Knoxville tn....outperformed all of my other heirloom varieties. I had giant SMR sized ones...about 6 inches and really thick around. The problems I had were inedible green shoulders and late blight.

Late Blight, P.infestans,is not the fault of the variety, rather, the spores that are spread by wind and rain in any given season,

I'm the person who was the first to get seeds for Opalka and it's become widespread and liked by many,

For the history, et al,, I'll link toTania'sT-base page for Opalka below.

If you click on seed availability at the top of that page you'll see the many seed sites that sell it as does Tania herselfwho sells seeds for about 600 varieties and at a good price as well.

When on theOpalka page go to the upper left and clic k on MAIN which takes you back to the Home page and you can then see, by clicking on special links the many ways that you can search for varieties,pictures,traits for that variety and where you can buyseeds,if available.

When I know the name of a variety I use the alphabetical method of finding the variety

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Opalka

Thanks Carolyn. I've grown Opalkas for at least 5 years and they are the only plum tomato I grow now. I have no experience with Redortas, but they sure look different than the regular San Marzanos.
John A

For tomato sauce tomatoes here in Central PA I grew Opalka and Viva several years ago and selected Viva as better although I can't remember the reason. They both did better than what I considered the standards: San Marzano and Roma. Then I found Burpees Big Mama paste tomato and really liked it better, because of the great yields and larger tomatoes. Side by side it put Viva and Roma to shame. This year I am testing Amish Paste since it appears to produce large plums, but my main crop is still Big Mama for sauce tomatoes.

Frank

Frank, I have never considered Amish Paset to be a true paste used for sauces, etc. The reason being that's it far too juicy. Nothing wrong with the taste, so it just means that you have to cook it down more.

Back when, some folks named varieties just based on the shapes of the fruit. I think that's how Amish Paste was perhaps named. Another one is Lillian's Red Kansas Paste, which in no way is a paste variety.

The issue with paste varieties is that they should have dense fleash and few seeds, but so many of the paste varieties that folks cling to like the romas and costolutos, etc., are far more susceptible to BER as well as Early Bight.

Which is why many folks don't bother to even grow paste ones, they use the best tasting ones from the garden that have dense flesh and few seeds, usually the heart vareiies, which have some of the best tastes, as well as some of the large red and pink beefsteak ones that have dense flesh and few seeds.

Carolyn, but there are some paste varieteis that I do think work out well.

I am trying Opalka for the first time this yr. I also plan on trying to prune them to a single stem. anyone doen this? How was productivity?
Tammy

Tammy, personally I will never prune opalka to a single stem. It will seriously hamper the production. Generally for paste tomatoes I will just use a big cage (24 inch diameter) and let them grow without much intervention. I trim off diseased leaves but that is about it.

Opalk has a decent productivity for me. San Marzano Redorta is almost twice as productive in my zone 7 garden and it is in general a much more robust plant imho. Taste wise they are both pretty good but San Marzano Redorta can be eaten right out of hand and that tells you how good the taste is.

I grew an Opalka last year and got ok results. The taste is great, but it was not as productive as I would have liked. I grew 30 varieties last year and Opalka was lower on the list in terms of productivity for me. My Speckled Roman also did not do so great last year and that was it for paste varieties for me last season.