This is for feedback concerning your 2014 growing season and what you may be considering for 2015.

Please include you "ZAPPED" list below (i.e. tomatoes that you've tried and won't be growing again). Also, feedback on what did do well for you is also appreciated.

This is part III of this ever popular thread.

Part II (and consequently a link to Part I) can be found from the link below.

Now we need to make comment on our current 2014 varieties and which ones will be zapped.For me it will be a while since most of my tomatoes have not ripen yet. We will see.

seysonn

Grew a cherry called Sweet Baby Girl that was incredibly prolific but was blah as far as taste, but it did sweeten up a little in the Fall. Also grew Sun Cherry, the red equivalent of Sun Gold and was not impressed with it, never grew it again.

I'm taking a break from growing Black Cherry and the "zebra" tomatoes...Black Cherry has tough skins and can be mushy, and the zebra tomatoes are a bit too tart for my liking although they look really good.

I will always grow Big Beef, Sun Sugar, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple and Japanese Black Trifele. Isis Candy is a good cherry sized tomato, and I have grown Persimmon and Rutgers with good results.

I've grown one variety or another Brandywine, for 10 years now.
I got a few good ones the first year I ever grew tomatoes, but "nothing to write home about" for the next 9 years.

This year I planted Red Brandywine, and Brandywine OTV.
Neither produced anything, and out of 11 plants, they are the only two that have died.

We have had "almost perfect" weather conditions here in S Calif for tomatoes,
(and my other 9 maters are doing great), ((well except for "too small Black Krims)), but for whatever reason the Brandywines just don't do well in my garden~~~~sooooo I give up!!!

Gary

Same great taste, .... and added vigor ...

Will always grow Cherokee Purple, even though production is small.

I grew 10 Sun Golds this year and will probably increase that to a dozen next year. It's hands down our favorite. The only thing I can't do with it is slice for burgers. Other than that it's a fantastic, flavorful tomato that works in so many different applications. AND at the end of July I'm still harvesting those little gold gems. I've pulled all of my beefsteaks and a few of the Sun Golds, but four of them are still hanging in there. Typically at this time of year I've pulled all the tomato plants.

I don't think I'm going to bother with 4th of July again. Nice little tomato but it's pretty similar to bloody butcher, and bloody butcher just seems to taste better. Both were early, healthy, and productive, so I'm just making a decision on flavor.

Patio Princess... If I can find a better tasting small ornamental tomato that I can mix into the landscaping I may drop them. They're probably going to be in my rotation as I try a few others though. They were pretty plants and produced quite well.

I also need to reconsider my planting of determinate romas, I love the production level but geez is it painful to wait for them to ripen all at once only to have them picked off overnight by coons.

Need to find a good salsa tomato that isn't determinate. And a slicer that I can actually use.

Only grew one of these as a trial. Total fail. Stunted plant, producing nothing.

Sungold consistently outperform any other tomato (disease resistant and prolific) and the taste is wonderful. I also love Eva Purple Ball (which is a dumb name because they are not purple). They are disease resistant, virtually blemish free, grow in clusters so you get a group at a time, are almost perfectly round, and they taste really good.

-Anne

I've read that's a reason it isn't grown for market, but in the 14 years I've been growing them it's never been an issue. I have a feeling it's because I pick them just a little early and allow them to ripen on the countertop.

Interesting. Most comments I've read on sungold say it's one of the ones that needs to ripen completely on the vine or it never develops full flavor. That's one reason I've never had it on my list, since I have to get them early to beat the squirrels and raccoons.

Linda

That's not true! They ripen beautifully, with the same intense flavor, sitting in a bowl on the counter.

We have both squirrels and raccoons, but neither has ever bothered the tomatoes. The squirrels occasionally dig in the garden to unearth their stash of pecans, but that's it. The only creatures who mess with my tomatoes are birds. Fortunately this year they left them untouched. Isn't always the case.

RIPENING:
After a certain stage, most fruit will ripeen without any assistance from the mother plant. Ripening a chemical change that occurs within the fruit. How many times I have bought rock hard pears anlet then sit in the basket and ripen nicely in a few days? Many times green hot peppers (like cayenne, serrano ) get read on the counter.

Back to the topic:

Already on my zap list are:
--ROMA, SAN MARZANO, EARLY GIRL, BRANDYWINE, BLACK KRIM, SUPER 100, so far

Linda

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.

Linda

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Jaune Flammee - too acidic for me.

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

Linda

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

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.

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.)

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.