I too had no luck with Green Zebra. Maybe it is a PNW thing? The weather where I am at was really terrible this year so I am not sure I can give fair reviews. I also was plagued with bugs. Hoping next year is better. Found out I like Black Cherry though.

My zaps:

Jaune Flammee - too acidic
Blondekopfchen - nasty
Brandywine Cherry - prolific, beautiful, not enough taste
Purple Bumblebee - crunchy
Lemon Drop - split too easily
Bloody Butcher - not early for me
Green Zebra Cherry - not tasty
Tommy Toe - ordinary
Sweet Linda - ordinary
Momotaro - good, but so is Eva PB
Zachary - not good

Keepers:

Anna Russian
Eva Purple Ball
Purdens Purple
Indian Stripe
Black Early
Little Lucky
Early Annie
Russian Cherry
Pipo
Jagodka

Linda

My Zaps are:
Bear Creek - we like CP better for flavor and overall production
Green Zebra - very much too tart for our liking, although it did make pretty good salsa and certainly is very prolific!
Lucky Cross - I still much prefer the flavor of Big Rainbow

On my try-again list:
San Marzano
My "foundling"
Orange Oxheart

On my keeper list:
Big Rainbow (we skipped it this year, won't make that mistake again!)
Big Zebra - again, we didn't get to grow any this year, but it was because even though this was what I ordered, what I got was GREEN Zebra. Phooey!
Mortgage Lifter Estlers
KBX
Cherokee Purple
SunSugar
German Red Strawberry

Keepers

1.Biyskaya Roza
2.Galinaôs Red
3.Raspberry Giant
4.Monomach hat
5.1884 Purple
6.Kosovo
7.Tsarsky Lubimets
8.Black Yum Yum
9.Saharnyi pudovichok
10.Koroleva
11.Malakhitovaya shkatulka
12.Mayo delight
13.Lavender lake
14.Earl Faux
15.Indian Stripe
16.Sereginy
17.Mikado Rozovyi
18.Grighmire Pride
19.Vova Putin
20.Chrnkovic Yugoslavian
21.Gary Oôsena
22.Alice
23.Budenovka pink
24.Bychye Serdtse Rozovoye
25.Orange Strawberry
26.Kermit
27.Fresa
28.Noire De Crimee
29.Carbon
30.Tsar Kolokol
31.Malinovoye Chudo
32.Lithuanian
33.Petrovich
34.Milka Red Bulgarian
35.Mikhalych
36.Amazon chocolate PL
37.Amazon chocolate RL

LATE
38.Estlerôs Morgage Lifter
39.Sekai Ichi
40.Olena Ukrainian
42.Syzranka
43.Brandywine Cowlicks
44.Yuvel
45.Stump of the world

Smaller, container or cherry

1.Blush
2.Maglia Rosa
3.Rosella Purple
4. Rose De Berne
5.Helsing Junction Blues
6.Medovaya Kaplya
7.Haleyôs Purple Comet
8.Altajiskiy urozajnij
9.Lagidnyi

10. Honey
    11.Moravsky Div

ZAPPED:
Silvery Fir Tree- pretty plant, not terribly prolific, didn't like the taste
Glacier- bit of a diva in my garden
Stupice- pleased with the plants, but fruits were very small
Mystery tomatoes- early but small

ON THE FENCE:
Cherokee Purple- for next year anyway, mine weren't very prolific in the large containers I grew them in, but my neighbors' in ground one (from my start) did great
Siberia- not at all early, but very prolific
Black Krim- similar performance to Cherokee Purple, a bit more prolific, so may grow them again

KEEPERS:
Japanese Trifele Black- most beautiful tomatoes I grew this year!
San Marzano- super vigorous plants with fairly good yield
Italian Roma- extremely prolific
Martino's Roma- also extremely prolific

TO TRY NEXT YEAR:
Wentzell
Black Cherry
Sweetie (my daughter wants to grow this one)
Gardener's Sweetheart
Russian Big Roma
Italian Heirloom
Heidi
Amish Paste
Costoluto Genovese
Neves Azorean Red
Indian Stripe
Cole
Black Prince
and ?

I grew (3) varieties ...

Mr. Stripey
Bush Goliath
Brandy Boy

Of the (3), Mr. Stripey has been fairly prolific ... I started getting ripe fruit in early August ... with around 8-10 so far, and another 20 or so on the (2) vines yet to ripen. The fruits are my largest, with the first three weighing 12, 14, and 16 ounces respectively. I like the taste of Mr. Stripey more than either of the other (2) varieties.

Brandy Boy did fairly well with approx. (20) fruit on (2) vines. Size has been more mid-range, ... maybe 8 ounces at the largest. I liked the first few Brandy Boys I sampled, ... then found the taste too strong in subsequent samplings. I have another half dozen or so to harvest.

Bush Goliath was the earliest to produce ripe fruit in mid-July. I've pulled about a dozen and the (2) vines are still producing. Unfortunately, I didn't take to this tomato's taste, although my tomato loving friends liked it.

All that said, I'll likely grow a Mr. Stripey next year, along with Celebrity, Yellow Brandywine, and Sun Gold.

Keepers:
1. Latah - super-early and super-productive
2. Rebel Yell - the best pink beefsteak I ever grown in terms of taste and production
3. Fish Lake Oxheart (pink) - productive, tasty and just beautiful
4. Orange Strawberry - huge orange hearts, starts producing late though
5. KBX - just love it
6. Mountain Magic F1 - just perfect for canning whole and also super-productive
7. Sweet baby girl - super-productive red cherry, huge plant
8. Carol Chyko's Big Paste - big, square red fruit, lots of them
9. Azoychka - incredible amount of yellow fruit, very juicy

Zapped:
1. KelloggâÂÂs breakfast - KBX is more productive
2. Amazon Chocolate - not very productive
3. Zapotec - not very productive, not very impressed with taste
4. Coyote - takes too much space and produces too tiny fruit

This post was edited by green_go on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 23:04

Picks:
Chocolate Stripes! Great in pots, amazing taste, consistent producers every year.
Ildi yellow cherries. Really sweet, really prolific, grow great every year.
Bushmaster
Big Beef Hybrid

Pans:
Thai Pink Egg. Early and prolific in pots, but no flavor at all.
Fourth of July. No earlier than anything else. Little production and small fruit.
Mortgage Lifter. I've tried 3 years in a row in pots, never produced much.

Maybe:
Costoluto Genovese. Early in the year, the didn't have much meat, but they have been better in August. Good sweet flavor.

ZAP-Stupice - Good but too small
Siletz - No more determinate

KEEP-Cherokee Purple

NEXT YEAR FIRST TIME-Carmello, Big Beef

Time to Re Evaluate

As the season goes on we might change our opinion and revise.

I am one of those who flip flop often.
You cannot really make a good judgement until toward the end of season. In my case I almost gave up on Pineapple, Green Zebra and Siberian, b/c they were so late. But now they are amongst the best producers in my garden.

On the other end, Stupice, Bloody Butcher, Early Treat, Silvery Fir Tree retired too early. And their fruits were not that good either.

Radiator Charlie's ML had been a disappointment all along.

So here are my latest ZAP'em list:

-- ML (RC), Stupice, Bloody butcher, Early Treat , Silvery Fir Tree

Surprises :

-- Siletz, Bush Steak, Husky Red, Black Pineapple, Legend, Matina, Red Cherry( No name. Got it from heirloom store fruits). What I like about Siletz, Husky Red, Legend, Bush Steak, Siberian, is the they are compact determinants but they keep on keeping on. For the same reason I did not like Early Treat, Stupice and Bloody Butcher. They just keep growing out of bound. I got tired of staking and tying them.

Average Production ( will keep)
-- CP, JBT, Green Zebra(for color), Sun Gold (meh !. cracks easily. Otherwise tasty)

Looking To add:

-- Some yellow ones: like KBX, Golden Jubilee , Lemony

HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ?

seysonn, Have you tried Brandyboy? I bought some grow lights and plan on starting the seeds in in early Feb. and thinking about Brandyboy. Thank you.

Vinnybob,

Actually I have been thinking about growing Brandy Boy. I have read some good reviews about it.

Last year I started most of my tomato seeds at the end of Feb. It was a good timing. By around April 10 I started hardening them off. So I will do the same next year. I thing 6 to 8 weeks before plant out date is good.

How your plants are doing so far ?

Vinnybob, I love Brandy Boy. Excellent taste and pretty big tomatoes.

Suggested reading:

* Brandy Boy - awesome variety and
* Better Boy vs Brandy Boy.

seysonn, I know you grew Siletz this year as did I. Out of the two I grew one had a total of 5 or 6 and the other one went crazy and got around 50 or 60. The two were grown side by side. Next year I plan on Carmello and probably Brandyboy. I guess to make an opinion on a certain plant one needs to grow at least 2 or 3 to make an honest opinion on production. BTW Daniel I read those Brandyboy threads and asked seysonn because he kind of lives in my area, Thanks anyway. Plans for next year in my head.

Vinnibob,
That is true. You have to grow more than one plant and probably more than one season to make a better evaluation. Mine are going great. The first ripe tomato was around july 10th and the are going strong, like Energizer Bonny :-) Most early varieties (stupice, Bloody Butcher ) have very small inconsistent fruits, but Siletz averages 5+ oz. I will grow it again. And Brandy Boy will be on my list too.

Here is SW Washington state, I grew 3 varieties, all from seed and I am happy with the lot:

Stupice - 1st to produce, pretty productive, nice flavor, kinda small at 1st but they are getting bigger and tastier as the season winds down.

Early Girl - not so early, pretty pinkish-red color, average producer and good flavor.

Prudens Purple - Late producer, not terribly prolific but they are huge and weighty with fruit ranging between just under 1 pound to 2 pounds each. Never grew a tomato so big with such good flavor.

We have had an unseasonably warm and dry summer which may explain the prolific nature of the stupice and the better flavor than others are reporting.

Next year I will probably do the same 3 as I have plenty of seeds left plus add a cherry tomato plant of some type.

I'm still making some decisions and need to evaluate where I'm going to rotate the toms so I can figure how much space I'll have before I can figure how many plants I'll have next year.

Growing next year for sure

Bloody Butcher - Early, tasty little tomatoes. Was very prolific in the beginning of the season and is a bit slower now at the end.

Cherokee purple- Not very prolific, but one of the best tasting tomatoes.

Brandywine - like CP, it wasn't very prolific but right now still holds the title of my favorite tom taste wise. Unless I find a comparable tasting tomato, this one stays (and I'm planning on trying brandy boy next year to compare).

Big Beef - BB is an ever dependable producer of tasty beefsteaks. It's also one of the healthiest and more vigorous plants I've grown.

Black Cherry - I'm a convert. These are amazingly delicious.

Tumbling Tom- Three tumbling tom plants in two different hanging baskets (one basket had one plant, the other had two) had me drowning in cherry toms most of the season. They're not as sweet as I like my cherries to be, but they taste good enough and produce well enough in a small space that I'm sure I'll grow again.

On my will regrow if I have room list

Bushsteak - My bushsteak met an early demise when the bucket I was growing it upside down in broke and smashed it to the ground. Before that it gave me a decent amount of pretty good sized toms. Flavor is decent, texture was a bit crunchier than Big Beef and there was more seeds. If I have room, I'll grow it again.

Red Robin - Cute little mounding plants with really tasty fruit. I'm trying to figure out how to work more of them into my landsacping next year.

Orange Roma- Produces typical roma plum shape toms on indeterminate plants. Fruit ripens to a deep yellow-orange. You know, I really wasn't expecting that I'd like OR. I'm not big into paste tomatoes and I had written off regular romas in the past. The only reason why I grew it was that I was sent the seeds free from Tomatofest. It took a long time to put it's first flower clusters out. Was the biggest and most lanky plant I had. Had some blossom end rot issues here and there... but in the end, it's still been extremely prolific and has some nice tasting fruit. It's sweet with a tart finish. If I have space I'll grow it again.

Zaps
4th of July - Too similar to bloody butcher. Fruit tends to be a tad smaller overall and flavor isn't quite as good IMHO.

I just decided.. I'm going to grow around 10 or 12 plants all of them Big Beef, Brandyboy and Carmello. All of them are supposedly the most productive of all Beefsteaks.

I am growing Bush Steak and am happy with it. I have one plant in container and one in ground they both are producing.

I read a lot of good reviews on Big Beef. I am tempted to grow it next season along wit Brandy Boy for the first time.

I have already published my other favorite as well as my ZAP list.
I wish you all happy ending for 2014 season.
I have had a great season. Can't complain.

Vinnybob - seeing as you are in OR and I am in southern WA I believe tomatoes that grew well for you would for myself. Did you grow from seed and if so, where did you buy them?