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| Now that the season is over the hump, maybe we should have a pretty good idea on WHAT TO KEEP and WHAT TO ZAP. My ZAP candidates are : KEEPERS: I am looking forward to add: --- Lemon Boy or Lemony How about your choices ? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by gardengal13 6 (My Page) on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 2:26
| 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. |
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| My zaps: Jaune Flammee - too acidic Keepers: Anna Russian Linda |
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| 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: On my keeper list: |
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| Keepers 1.Biyskaya Roza LATE Smaller, container or cherry 1.Blush |
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- Posted by nwheritagegardener 8a NW WA (My Page) on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 16:12
| 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: KEEPERS: TO TRY NEXT YEAR: |
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| I grew (3) varieties ... Mr. Stripey 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. |
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| 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 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: |
This post was edited by green_go on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 23:04
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| 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: Maybe: |
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| ZAP-Stupice - Good but too small Siletz - No more determinate KEEP-Cherokee Purple NEXT YEAR FIRST TIME-Carmello, Big Beef |
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| 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. 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) Looking To add: -- Some yellow ones: like KBX, Golden Jubilee , Lemony HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ? |
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| 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. |
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| 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 ? |
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| Vinnybob, I love Brandy Boy. Excellent taste and pretty big tomatoes. Suggested reading: * Brandy Boy - awesome variety and |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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- Posted by WashTomatoes 8 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 13:16
| 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. |
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| 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 |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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- Posted by WashTomatoes 8 (My Page) on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 16:41
| 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? |
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