I'm still waiting for most of my crop, too, but I can say from the past that I've given up Marman and Stupice. I was going to give up Pineapple, because even though it's beautiful to look at and sets huge fruits, it's flavor has always seemed rather blah to me, but I'm giving it one more chance to prove me wrong.
Brandywine I can't give up because, regardless of its drawbacks, the flavor is superior. Haven't tried Cherokee Purple, though, and after reading this thread, guess I will have to try it and Sungold for the flavor aspects.
Oh, and I'll be giving up Yellow Pear, too, after this year.

It is funny about certain varieties like SunGold and Cherokee Purple...85% of people love these (like me) and some people say they are spitters. I do believe the 15%...but think maybe they grow differently in a different climate, and perhaps have different tastes. I tend to look at the "trend" of people judging a certain variety. That determines what I will grow. My dud was "Red Brandywine" this year. The fruit was not good and the vine was unhealthy. I will move on...

My experience with Sun Gold is that it definitely tastes better when ripened on the vine vs on the counter.

On my never grow again is SS100... although my wife likes it so I will grow it again :-(. Additionally, Early Girl, the taste is good, but about 50-60 % of the fruit had BER.

I'm not crazy about SS100 either! Sweet Million is good though!

Linda

AGG just now went into full more of production... am sure it is great plant for someone with loooong summer but for me have 3 ripe tomatoes and bunch of greens is not earning real estate for next year.

I think that I'm done with the Old German. Beautiful plant and a lot of fruit, but every tomato has a big diseased spot on the bottom. I like the Sun Sugar better than Sun Gold, but hard to find in starts, so I plants both. I'm looking for a medium sized red tomato for sandwiches.

For Central Indiana Climate, fair soil, low-nitrogen fertilizer, extra calcium and magnesium, high natural iron, adequate water support during drought periods, minimum of 2 trials per variety, over 12 years of growing. Huge production and extra-large fruits for 2014 due to perfect weather. Ripening up 3 weeks behind schedule. Got first basket-full today!

Never again:
Yellow Pear: every single tomato cracked on one plant (about 200)
Cherokee Purple: Cat-faced doesn't cover it. Completely irregular.
Italian Tree: Big crop of tasteless light pink tomatoes that nobody wants.
Burp. Seedless: OK inside, if you had a hacksaw for the skin.
Ananas Noire: Good flavor, but fruit so ugly cannot persuade people to try it.
Any "green when ripe" tomato. See Ananas Noire.

I start a few thousand tomato seeds each year, and sell the extras. Will always grow the following to satisfy the stream of regular customers that forms each year: top 10 by order of plant sales popularity, 10 year average:

Sun Sugar
Holy Land (Large irregular red oxheart)
Kellogg's Breakfast
Big Boy
Homer Fikes Yellow Oxheart (Called yellow: all specimens in my garden mature brilliant orange color)
Pineapple, oxheart version (house seeds)
Big Beef
Delicious
Orange Russian 117 (Actually a red/yellow bi-color oxheart)
Japanese Black Trifele

All of the Brandywine colors are also quite popular, but not the original pink one, which produces well here, but cat-faces badly.

All of the Brandywine colors are also quite popular, but not the original pink one, which produces well here, but cat-faces badly.

%%%%%%%%%%%%

The name "Brandy ..." is just like "..Zebra". Too many of them that probablyare not even genetically related. I get a kick of the name "Brandywine OTV". ( OTV = On The Vine). Surprise ! It grows on the vine. Why is there a scarcity of names that they have to use " Brandy _ _ ) ?. What is wrong with BEER or VODKA ? hehe

I can't speak much to this years tomatoes, since I just picked our first ripe ones from several varieties today but haven't tried them yet. However, from my experience last year--we tried growing indigo rose and purple Russian tomatoes and thought the flavor was terrible. The novelty wasn't enough to make me ever grow them again.

We're growing speckled Romans for the second year in the row, and although I love the flavor and color, the low yield might make these a no for next year. My one plant only has 3 tomatoes on it at this point, the others have zero...and then I look over at my san marzano plants and they've got more than I can count.

OK.. So maybe I won't grow Brandywine for the first time next year. It seems to have gotten the most "nay" votes.

We've had a bad year for tomatoes, even so I will be hard pressed to use my limited space on Black Krim again, they often don't set a lot of fruit and I haven't had many that haven't split or started rotting on the vine.

Sadly I replaced most of the Paul Robson's I used to grow with Black Krim this year (if I ever get to eat them they do taste better) The remaining P.R. and the Jaunne Flamme are the only plants giving me any kind of yield.

I will probably stop planting Indigo Rose as well.. they taste OK if you let them truly ripen but this year i realized I really don't have space for a novelty.

From years past I've pretty much stopped growing brandywine. In 3 summers growing them I think I managed to harvest maybe a half dozen, if that. Although, to be fair, at least 2 or 3 more would have been harvested the final year if it hadn't been for the groundhog.

A number of heirlooms did not do well for me. Forget which ones. Hillbilly comes to mind from last season.

This year, mortgage lifter and super sioux were a huge disappointment in both productivity and size, despite being very healthy looking plants when I put them out.

I know the weather hasn't helped, though.

Most all heirlooms. Great flavor but not enough production to justify in my very limited space. Only Druzba produced reasonably well for me years ago but can't find these as starts anymore.

Never planting a German queen again. The plant itself is tall and beautiful but most of the blossoms have fallen off because it can't handle the heat. There is only one tomato on it right now. Maybe there will be a few more before season's end, but I'm not holding out hope.

Two previous posters mentioned they won't plant yellow pears again, but my yellow pear is doing very well. It even handled the heat just fine.

Roma is a no grow for me in the future. I will be looking for a better paste tomato next year. The ones I did get made a pretty good spaghetti sauce, but I lost a third of them to ber.

I grew Druzba last year and wasn't impressed. I think they are too many better varieties out there so it's off my list permanently.

It is interesting. We read some of you are speaking against Cherokee Purple and Sun Gold, in the top 10 favorites. This shows how we can have different preference when it comes to taste.

But on the zap list, there have been quite a consensus to drop:
--- Roma, Brandywine, Yellow pear, Mr. Stripy, San Marzano, . I have grown all of those (growing Mr. Stripy this year). and I have pretty good reason to drop them. YMMV.

I like Mama Leon for a paste tomato. I am not impressed with the Oregon Spring, Pineapple or Red Rose.

I probably should not judge the tomatoes too harshly this summer since they hardly had a chance to survive from all the rain. It even rained today. Can you imagine? The "Dog days of summer" and it is cold and rainey. Even my Rutkers and Marglobe suffered. This is the 2nd summer that I have not had to water tomatoes.

The tomato that I'll never grow again are store bought Brandywine plants. Brandywine (pink) grow very well here in central Va but I've always used my own saved seeds from season to season. This year I decided to cut back on some of the work (like not starting my own transplants) and bought BW plants from the local nursery - Big Mistake! The nursery plants looked healthy and had the correct potato leaf foliage and were labeled as "pink BWs" but that wasn't the case. Oddly these plants produced orange tomatoes that were pretty much similar to a typical hybrid tomato in quality. Going back to my own saved seed next year, the good thing is that I did plant some late saved BW seed for a later crop and they are doing quite well.

I will not plant bush tomatoes anymore. This year, mines (8 varieties) are either to short - I hate leaves touching the soil , even with mulch - or too high - 3-4 ft. needing support. In my understanding a bush tomato is a… BUSH tomato, so no need of support. Mine also produced little and mostly small tomatoes. So, bye bye, bush tomatoes.

Blondkopfchen - blech! Strangely, I had saved it from a batch of tomatoes that tasted wonderful.

Jaune Flammee - too acidic for me.

Lemon Drop - splits when you look at it, even when not ripe.

Linda

Well, I gave Moskvich a try, but it's way too acidic for me. And even though Black Krim is earlier than most, I'm never sure when it's ready because of that green top, and I end up cutting off the top anyway.
I'm still a firm believer in Brandywine - best tasting tomato for me, hands down. And always good size. The Prudens Purples are great tasting, too - equal to Brandywine, but they take FOR-E-V-E-R to ripen.

^Black Krim will always have the green shoulders, even when ripe. Your best bet is to give it a light squeeze to gauge the ripeness.

Pretty much everything that I grew that could be rated has given enough growth and production time to be rated. First off... the ZAPPED list

ZAPPED (never to return):

Cherries:
Matt's Wild Cherry - growth was Jurassic, with great fruit production that was small, relatively sweet and diminutive in size. Unfortunately, the fruit was not easy to pick (thin skin made picking very messy). This was my first dip into the "miniature-sized" cherry tomatoes and I don't think I'll revisit. Just not enough "bang for the buck" for the size of the plant that is created.

Coyote - ditto for everything above... except not as bad to pick (vs. MWC). Very productive and huge in size, just too small to do anything than look at and say "Awww... how cute."

Blush - Very interesting plum-like tomato yellow in color highlighted with pink/red streaks. Moderately productive with a so-so taste. Does not get huge like some other cherries so could see it doing quite well as a container plant. Did not get the ascribed blast of flavors from it but it did not have full sun either.

Green Doctors Frosted - A lot of green tomatoes that when picked were so-so bland in flavor. Was hoping for a more lemony/citrus taste and did not get it.

Early Toms -
Moskovich - had high hopes for this one. Read a lot about it. Moderately productive, NOT EARLY (at least not with me), acidic taste and prone to cat-facing or cracking. Had some BER early in the season, but it went away. I've got others that do better in this category. Interesting streaks of green coming off the shoulders (rather distinguishing).

Mid Season -
Dwarf Kelly Green: my first crack at a dwarf tomato was a total disaster. I got zero tomatoes and a plant that basically looked to be made of some army dark green ruggedized plastic.

Late Season -
Berkeley Tie-Dye: love me some bi-colors, but they're a temperamental lot. This was rather low in production, beautiful looking tomato with a so-so taste (which is anti-bi color as they all tend to explode with fruity flavor). Caught some sort of disease late in the season, so it's off the list.

Mortgage Lifter - something went very wrong with this one. I've read that ML get's the size of giants, but for some reason I got a dwarf version of the tomatoes which looked like the link below. Not sure if I got the wrong tomato seeds or if the seeds were cross pollinated some how, but won't be growing this again.

HOMERUN Varieties:

Cherry:
Mountain Magic - golf ball sized tomatoes which seemed to never rot on the vine, nor to crack or fall off. Decent taste, but great size and production. Very happy with this one and will be keeping it in the rotation

Early -

Rozovyi Myod "Pink Honey" - large 8 - 16oz heart shaped tomatoes which were beautiful to look at, great production and good tasting. One of the first to ripen in my zone. Very impressed.

Midseason -
Frembgens Rheinlands Ruhm - Amazing production of 5 - 8oz globe tomatoes for a heirloom. Nice acidic zing to it to make it a crisp refreshing garden slicer. Little to no cracking. Lasts a good amount of time on the vine and off before rotting. Really happy with this variety.

Celebrity - bunches and bunches of 5 - 10oz hybrid tomatoes. Great looking, no cracking. Tended to be a late midseason tomato in terms of ripening, but it was worth the wait. Still picking these in mid-September.

Rutgers - ditto vs. that of Celebrity. A bit smaller in size vs. Celebrity (so if I had to pick this or Celebrity, I'd go with Celebrity). Did ripen faster than Celebrity though.

Late Season -

Indian Stripe - was THE STAR of the 2014 growing season. Black with green shoulders. IS was my first (that's right first) ripening tomato and for a black tomato, that is saying a lot. Good complex taste and incredibly productive. Hello IS, goodbye CP.

Gold Medal - Huge glorious yellow tomatoes with a slighly green shoulder. Moderately productive. Very meaty. A really nice yellow beefsteak.

My first draft at my growing list for 2014

Cherries - Dr. Carolyn, Mountain Magic,
New: Sunsugar and Gardener's Delight

Early - Pink Honey
New: Beaverlodge 6808

Midseason - Celebrity, Frembgens Rheinlands Ruhm, Hugh's
New: Rose, Cherokee Green, Black and Red Boar

Late - Indian Stripe, Marianna's Peace, Pineapple
New: Opalka, JD's Special C-Tex, Rose

Side note: this was my first year canning tomatoes. I made 7 quarts of salsa which was yummy. I picked 30 toms to make spaghetti sauce and now know why paste type tomatoes are necessary to make ss (other's are basically filled with water and once you boil it down to the right thickness, you're basically left with very little sauce. Here's hoping growing Opalka will remedy this issue).

smithmal

Here is a link that might be useful: Mortgage Lifter Tomato pic

Any Black

No more Berkeley Tie Dye for me. One nice big tomato and dozens of small ones, all with BER. Sad!

Zap Update:

I was very enthusiastic about Mortgage Lifter (RC) this season but it turned out a big disappointment. Fruits are small, awkward shape, the plant is HUGE. Nof said. Sorry Charlie !
Stupice was another disappointment. Not so early, small and inconsistent fruits size. It produced just one flush. Good bye !

Yet another one: Some sort of pineapple. So far two cat faced awkward looking tomatoes.

Last year was a very bad year (wet June, dry and hot July) so I won't judge by that. I tried a lot of the same varieties this year but also some new ones.

Rutgers - 2 years now, not very productive, can't tell from weather (this summer has been cool and wet) so I'll give it another try but might be on the way out.

Rose de Berne - same thing though tomatoes are pretty.

Grandma Mary's paste - can't tell, might try 1 more year, but this year the tomatoes seem to be soft even when not fully ripe. I also don't like the sprawling habit - might do OK in cage, but last year FL weave was useless, tried trellis this year and no better.

Bloody Butcher/Moravsky Div - seem about the same, this is first year for them, I'll try them both again next year and then decide which to keep. BB seems a bit more productive.

Dr. Boe tomatoes - tried Latah, Sandpoint, Kootenai, and Gem State this year. Sandpoint pretty prolific and seems to take a long time to ripen (at first I thought it was an orange tomato!), not a spitter but not impressed. Kootenai is very sturdy plant, OK flavor, but still needs staking/caging. Didn't do well in pots. Gen State was very lanky, not doing well in pots (none of mine are), but 1 in ground has HUGE tomatoes so I'll try that again. I do have some other ones to try next year.

Sophie's Choice - only have 4 in pots, had trouble germinating, plants looked great to begin with, very bushy but not productive for me. I'll try in-ground but I thought the whole point of SC was that it did well in pots (mine are 3 gal).

Galinas (yellow cherry) - very prolific but bland. I don't know that I'll bother starting seed next year.

Dr. Carolyn - finally started producing, blocky shape,flavor didn't do much for me but other people like it so I'll grow it again.

Ester Hess - another yellow, I had trouble with seedlings, 2 plants survived and are producing fairly well but they seem bland to me. I'm not sure I'll try these again.

Golden Queen - I don't know if I mixed something up but I'm getting cherry sized, a little larger than Galinas. I don't think I planted Galinas there by mistake b/c they're RL. But half the size they're supposed to be and kind of bland.

I gave up on Mr. Stripey, Yellow Pear, Tie-Dye, Glacier. I'm not even going to bother with Independence Day (that I' convinced is wrong seed) - I planted 6 seedlings this year DD started for science fair project, threw them in ground June 30 and now they've got LB, I pulled off half the suckers though it's supposed to be determinate, and I'll probably end up pulling all the plants.

Tried new this year and LOVE Sun Gold, Black Cherry, and Green Doctor (though that was a challenge to decide when to pick, and when they were too ripe, and then describe to people at market - I don't want to leave them all to ripen on the vine, but can't mix the unripe ones in with ripe ones b/c people will eat them before they're ready, but then I have to describe/show them an over-ripe one b/c they are awful when they're starting to get orange! I just had someone order 2 lbs worth from me though so it's worth growing them. DD likes them too.)

Fireduck wrote: It is funny about certain varieties like SunGold and Cherokee Purple...85% of people love these (like me) and some people say they are spitters. I do believe the 15%...but think maybe they grow differently in a different climate, and perhaps have different tastes.

I've grown Cherokee Purple now for 6 years. For 5 of those years, it had fantastic flavor. Tangy-sweet-complex, perfect-10 kind of flavor. Then last year, my CP produced mealy, flavorless tomatoes. So 83% of my Cherokee Purples to date were amazing, and 17% produced spitters.

My suggestion to people who try a well-known flavor champion and it turns out to be a dud is to give it another try before dismissing it. Sure, if a tomato is too sweet/meaty/fruity/acidic/whatever for your tastes, then maybe it's not for you. But if a favorite of the masses produces bland tomatoes, then clearly something wasn't right with that plant in that garden in that year.

Never grow again:
Yellow pear - Bland
Pineapple - mild but low yield, cracking & splitting
Most heirlooms - low yield, disease, splitting
All Romas - taste & consistency

WILL grow again:
Sun Sugar
Big Beef
Indigo Blue Beauty
Chocolate cherry

Just before a rain I pick all my tomatoes even at less than half ripe. Leave them sit on paper for couple days. Yummy. Some tomatoes are even best done this way, especially Chocolate Cherry.

Smithmal wrote:

"Mortgage Lifter - something went very wrong with this one. I've read that ML get's the size of giants, but for some reason I got a dwarf version of the tomatoes "
-------

That is exactly the case with my ML. It is one and Bonnies plants that I bought from HD. Beside fluting the fruits are irregular and often cat faced too. So it got into my Zap list.

My never again list is not a very long one. Taste is not the factor for the most part on this list. Production is. The ones I list did not do well in my garden, in the conditions of this area.

1. Home Stead I did not get a single tomato off of the one I planted. It was prone to having entire branches drop off dead in a single day. The plant was 6 feet tall with a single skinny main stem.

2. Fire 100. I got 3 green tomatoes off of it. Plants stayed in a stunted state though summer, when the cooler weather hit 3 tomatoes set.

3. Heat Master It did not handle the heat that well. Not a single tomato off of it in 5 months in ground.

That list is from last year. Note last year was awful for everyone in this region. Late frost, and repeated hail storms left most everyone replanting in early, and mid June. Also first frost was a month earlier last year as well.

This year's list is only two

1 Better Bush It was productive in the early part of the season. Slicer sized fruit average to about the size of a base ball. I planted 2 I think. I puled them in early July. The reason for not planting them is that I found a better plant to replace it with in the limited space I have.

2. Sweet 100 The plant is productive, and gets real big. Fruit does not split that I have noticed. Flavor is good. The skins are too tough for my wife's liking. I agree on the tough skins. There is a replacement for them already in the works.

Will be planting again are: (List is not all of what I grew, or will be planting again. Just putting it out for others to see.)

1. Bush Goliath. I ground planted one of the large basket planters from Bonnie of this one. $15 well spent. Over 150 tomatoes harvested off of this plant that stayed inside a 4 ring store bought cage. The plant looked like it might have some more left in it last month, though I pulled it to make room for some of the ones I made cuttings of.

2. Creole Hybrid. Lots of slicer sized tomatoes. Plant was not real big, and very few had minor cracks that were only cosmetic.

3 Arkansas Traveler production was good. Everyone liked them that tried them. My Step Mother loves them. A cutting has been planted at Dad's house needles to say.

1. Earl of Edgecombe. TONS of fruit that strangely look like supermarket tomatoes with that almost "fake" red color and perfect shape. However, they are so horribly bland, just like supermarket tomatoes (not the vine-ripened ones even!).

2. Dr. Carolyn- pretty ivory colored cherries that are supposed to taste wonderful, but mine had very little flavor.

3. Not sure yet about KBX. It's said to have low to moderate production. My plant has very low production and the fruits haven't ripened yet, so I don't know if the flavor will be worth trying it again.

I planted approximately 3 plants each of 15 varieties. I'm in hot, humid SC--about 20 miles east of Augusta GA-- where we had a hot spring that probably interfered with fruit set, so your mileage may vary.

The biggest disappointments (and ones I won't plant again): Paul Robeson (weak little plants, keeled over quickly); Omar's Lebanese and Neves Azorean red had one puny little fruit out of six plants; Red Penna grew wonderfully, nice robust vines, but with very few fruits.

Rebel Yell, supposed to be a cross between Stump of the World (one of my faves) and Bear Claw, came out puny, not particularly productive, and indifferent in taste. Not replanting it.

KBX did very well for me, although it was the latest to produce; the tomatoes were beautiful, some big enough that one slice was big enough for a sandwich, and the flavor superb. Good yield. Will replant next spring.

Spudatula pretty good, will replant.

Wes was the first full size tomato to ripen in my garden, so-so production but very good flavor.

Super Sioux, supposed to be good in hot weather, was so-so on both production and flavor. Probably won't replant.

San Marzano Redorta: taste great, production lousy. Probably won't replant.

Sungold: didn't do so well, and I found the fruits less than wonderful.

Rose de Berne: okay, but not exceptional.

Surprise winner: Tommy Toe was vigorous, productive, with lots of tasty cherry tomatoes. Will definitely plant a few plants next year.

Chapman was pretty good at production (all season) and pretty good flavor.

Marianna's Peace was a holdover from last year, and I plan to get fresh seeds this winter for more. It and Stump of the World are the best tasting tomatoes in my garden, although this year the Stump didn't do so well on production.

This post was edited by arley on Wed, Sep 17, 14 at 17:07

Never again
Super Sioux-plant was diseased and I didn't care for the taste at all.

Maybe try again
German Lunchbox-They were pretty and productive but lacked flavor. I might give them another chance since flavor can vary from year to year.

This year's favorites
Isis Candy
Brandywine (ordered from Baker creek)-This is the third time I have tried growing Brandywine, but the first year that I have had any luck with them.
Big Rainbow
Lenny and Gracies Ky Heirloom
German Johnson

Varieties that I planted this year that I really liked, not favorites, but still pretty good.
Eva Purple Ball-Productive and beautiful, every fruit was flawless, flavor was pretty good.
Northern Lights
Grandma Viney's Yellow and Pink
Minnie's Pinstripe
Zeke Dishman
Cosmonaut Volkov
Dr. Wyche's Yellow

All time favorites that I didn't plant this year because I wanted to try more varieties
Red Ponderosa, a.k.a. Henderson's Crimson Cushion and Beefsteak
Cherokee Purple
Tommy Toe
Rutgers

I have been planting Sungold and Sunsugar every year for the past few years. Both are wonderful and productive but Sunsugar has a slight edge in taste.

This post was edited by Christacharlene on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 9:17

I agree with what Maj742 wrote: "Never grow again:
Yellow pear - Bland
Pineapple - mild but low yield, cracking & splitting
All Romas - taste & consistency

WILL grow again:
Sun Sugar
Big Beef
Indigo Blue Beauty
Chocolate cherry " Maj742

**** From Strawberryhill: Chocolate cherry is my most productive, way-better tasting than grape-tomato. I'm get fruits from that in late November, zone 5a.

I notice that my front tomato-bed, which I mixed in tons of gypsum to break up my alkaline-clay ... the 12 heirloom tomatoes don't crack & no blossom-end rot either. I don't water them either. The back-yard bed, with 6 tomatoes, which I don't mix in much gypsum ... they crack, despite getting more water.

My feed store sells gypsum cheap $7 for a big bag. Menards also sells gypsum less than $5 for a huge bag. I agree with the previous posters on NEVER-AGAIN tomatoes: Yellow pear (nasty taste), Brandywine (wimpy), Pineapple (big plant, stingy), Mr. Stripey. I don't like grape tomato (tasteless). Purple Prince is mushy and nasty-taste.

My YES list: Black Krim, Purple Cherokee, Sunsugar, Sweet Million. There's one seedless heirloom tomato which I love, but forget the name.

Now that the thread is up, I update:

ZAP:
-1-- Mortgage Lifter (RC) : Total disappointment, small, mostly cat faces fruits ..Not productive either.

--2- Pineapple: Too late, fruitwise similar to ML. Not worth the spot.
-3-- Stupice: Was not early; fruit size small, inconsistent, some smaller than cherry.
-4-- Silvery Fir Tree. Only thing I liked about it was its unusual carrot leaved foliage. Like Stupice very irregular fruit size, started with lots of cat faced. Shut down after one flush.
-5-- Early Treat (Burpee hybrid): Small fruits, not great taste, not as productive. Matina with bigger fruits and prolific kicked ET out.
-6-- Bloody Butcher: Early, good taste but fruits too small, and not as productive.
Now I am looking for couple of replacements. So far Big Beef and Kellogg's Breakfast will be new comers.

I have found that Japanese Black Trifele, a tomato with a Russian heritage, has been pretty much a winner. I like the size, taste and willingness to produce fruit. I live in the Bay Area and this tomato is great for the warm days and cool nights.
I also like Costalutto Genovese--great taste and prolific. Good for paste and eating.

Azoychka turned out to be a big disappointment for me. didn't like it at all, but it could have been the year, who knows? Valencia didn't knock my socks off either, so neither will be back. Although I love Aunt Gertie's Gold, only a few tomatoes and it gets hit with disease early on, so that's gone too.
But on the bright side, so many others to try, including a few hybrids!

Tom,
I am also growing one JBT, I purchase the plant from nursery.
I like the fruit color and consistency. It is a tasty brown tomato (NOT black ! ). However, it produced sparingly. Maybe about a dozen all season. Probably would've produced more had I planted in in ground instead of in the pot. But I did not have the space for it. It has 4 more fruits right now about the full size. I will have to pick and bring those in.
So, anyway, I will grow it again.

Set sonny this is my second year with JBT and it didn't produce well. It did give me a lot the first year. Both times I grew it in a twenty gallon container but different locations. I had some disease issues this year. But it's also not on my list for next year.

Can we get a part 4??? New gardener here, and this has been awesome advice. I grew around ten varieties this year, half make the list

Never will plant Black Prince again. Loved the fruit...hated the fact it was a diseased mess every year by mid-season.

Based on my 2015 experience, I can name a few that I will not grow again:

Druzba, Rio Grande ( 3 tomatoes each), Bear Claw, Big Rainbow, KB (4 tomatoes each), Arbuznyi (not a single tomato) .

My main complaint has been poor productivity. You can blame it on bad year. But in the same beds next to those other varieties did just fine.

Sey

I like this thread . Brings back a lot of memories , a lot of comments shared by good friends. about a lot of varieties.

In 2014, I listed followings as my ZAPs:

--ROMA, SAN MARZANO, EARLY GIRL, BRANDYWINE, BLACK KRIM, SUPER 100, MORTGAGE LIFTER, MR STRIPY, PINEAPPLE.

Then I listed following in my 2015 ZAPs

Druzba, Rio Grande, Bear Claw, Big Rainbow, KB, Arbuznyi. .

But I have to add to the above : Big Beef (OP)., Rutgers , Bush Goliath

I have also temporarily suspended : Cherokee Purple, JBT and Ananas Noire. and instead growing Indian Stripe , Black Seaman and Daniel Burson.

Next season I will have a lot of dark color varieties, including Black From Tula and Brown Heat (repeat).

So this is a 2-season in review. It is interesting to read your own 2014 comments, now that we are approaching 2016 season. Have you changed your mind since then ?

Sey

I'm pretty new to growing. I live in an apartment in Brooklyn, NYC(zone 6b-7a) and container grow on my balcony. I'm actually crazy about Black Krim. It was early, and in a 5 gallon is still popping out tomatoes. I moved it indoors and 8 months later I've harvested at least 30 delicious tomatoes. I'm really partial to the taste, beat the black from tula and cherokee purple I bought at the farmers market. I successfully cloned two from the mother plant and have already harvested tomatoes off of those.

But also wasted time on:

San Marzano: Blossom end rot on almost all. Got about 6 decent tomatoes.

Yellow pear-terrible, just inedible- produced great, worst tasting

Bush Early girl- not worth it. Grocery store quality flavor

Containers choice- weak performer, in a larger container than Black krim. boring

Indigo rose- Such a bummer on this one. Pretty but hard to tell when ripe. Tasted best when any not purple area was peach colored. Red tasted overripe. Took forever to ripen

Any micro mini tomato. All determinite to the point they died with unripe tomatoes on them. Hahms Gelbe was the best, but still not worth it.

So I'd Highly recommend black krim for containers, and the other winners were the mainstay cherries Sunsuger and sungold. Husky Cherry red was alright too.

Still have Black krim, My GFs german johnson and others under a grow light(600 led) .It's crazy how they fight for a single light source, but all are still putting out tomatoes.

Cheers!

Ben

Welcome, Ben. And thanks for the review.

San Marzano is known for BER and probably it would be worse in container growing, as Ca and moisture control is more challenging than in ground growing. I've stopped growing SM and Roma long time ago, because of BER.

Black Krim is one of the top favorites among gardeners. I have grown it before but I like Black From Tula better.

You are right about Indigo Rose. When the bottom turns peach color then it is ripe. It would also feel soft I like it ,not so much for taste but, as an ornamental. I also grew Hahms Gelbe. Again it is a cute micro dwarf that take a little pot and space. Actually it is more suitable for patio/balcony situation, I think.

Sey

I might have to give Black from Tula another shot. The tomatoes I bought were end season and were pretty soft. Definitely not overripe but close. I saved seeds so maybe I'll try.

And Thanks for the advice Sey.

Ben,

Thanks for the review. BTW, there is a part IV of this thread for the 2015 growing season. You can find it here. I really look forward to hearing back about everyone's tomato success (or lack there of) each fall.

Malcolm