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Recommend some large red tomatoes

SocalTomatoes
11 years ago

This is my 5th year growing tomatoes, and I just realized I've only really grown one red (bloody butcher). All of the rest have been pinks (which seem to be the most popular), yellow, green, or "black/purple." What are some great red tomatoes to try? So far I'm thinking rutgers and b.wine OTV. Thanks

Comments (14)

  • dickiefickle
    11 years ago

    Wisconsin 55 ,New Yorker,Matina, here try this link ,they're plenty more

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tats toms

  • donna_in_sask
    11 years ago

    I grow Big Beef. I also have heirloom varieties of every colour, but I know BB will give me lots of tomatoes and they taste good too!

  • jtmacc99
    11 years ago

    OTV is a nice tomato and would be on my list with a bunch of other ones like Zogola, Sainte Lucie and some heart shaped varieties like Reif Red Heart.

    But standing out above them would be Chapman and Russian #117.

    Chapman is great producer, and the tomatoes are just beautiful and blemish free. It's like growing a hybrid variety that was bred for it's looks, but then ending up with a unbelievably tasty tomato as well.

    Russian #117 is just such a great tomato. They are big, dense, and flavorful. I like them because they are perfect slicing tomatoes that also work tremendously well as a cooking tomato.

  • digdirt2
    11 years ago

    Of the literally thousands of red tomato varieties you'll get hundreds of recommendations. Check out the many 'favorite' or 'best' discussions here that the search will pull up for you to see what I mean.

    Personally - Rutgers, NAR (Neves Azorean Red), Champion, Momotaro, Red Rose, Margo, any of the BHN, Sioux and Super Sioux, Jet Star, Mortgage Lifter, Ball's Beefsteak, Abe Lincoln, Box Car Willie, Supersonic, etc. just to name a few of my favorites off the top of my head.

    Dave

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    You specifically said large red ones and Rutgers isn't a large fruited variety although it is consistent from year to year.

    So here's some suggestions, some of which have been mentioned above.

    Large RED beefsteak shaped OP varieties.

    Neves Azorean Red
    Red Penna
    Chapman
    OTV Brandywine
    Cuostralee
    Druzba
    Red Brandywine ( get the correct one, some faux ones exist
    Ludmilla's Red Plum ( not a paste)
    Box Car Willie ( or Mule Team)
    Prue
    Aker's West Virginia
    Church
    ..... to name a few and not in any specific order but I could do that, a bit, if you want me to.

    Large Red Hearts ( which I think have some of the best tastes of all varieties)

    Linnie's Oxheart
    Indiana Red
    Reif Red Heart
    Russian # 117
    German Red Strawberry

    ......again, to name just a very few

    Red F1 Hybrids ( and I prefer some of the earliest ones bred for several reasons)

    Jet Star
    Supersonic
    Ramapo

    If you want to know about them, except for the hybrids, it might help to go to Tania's data base to check them out. On the main page scroll down to the alphbetical method to search since you already know the variety names

    Hope that helps and I didn't want to make the lists too long b'c it can get confusing and I didn't want to add lots of newer ones where it might be hard to find seeds. Tania lists seed sources for I think all of the above, also sells seeds herself, and for almost all of the 3000 varieties she has data for there are pictures as well as histories.

    Carolyn

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tania's Tomato Base

  • coconut_head
    11 years ago

    Italian Heirloom is outstanding also.

    CH

  • bigpinks
    11 years ago

    I had good luck this yr with Chapman and Hybrid Goliath. There are several tomatoes named for the latter but most are round less than a pound. The one I had was a beefsteak, oblate and quite large.

  • SocalTomatoes
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks, lots of helpful information given. I'm going to go ahead and try a few of the recommendations on this thread, particularly "Neves Azorean Red," which I keep seeing mentioned around the internet.
    I hunted down and tried the real red brandywine this year, but the seedlings all died, will try again next year.

  • llaz
    11 years ago

    The largest red tomato that I grow is Rebecca Sebastian's Bull Bag from Maria Stenger at Blue Ribbon Tomatoes. They are typically over two pounds each with very few seeds and a rich, almost creamy tomato flavor. They are very productive for me here in Massachusetts.

  • jtmacc99
    11 years ago

    Red Brandywine is a nice tomato (I'm growing it this year), but it's always been a medium sized tomato for me. Same for Druzba, which given a choice between the two, I will always plant Red Brandywine. I also like Box Car Willie. That has always been a healthy plant for me with nice tomatoes. Cuostralee is a big tomato, but I tend to ignore it now because the irregular shapes make it harder to prepare them for cooking or canning once I'm picking 20 extra pounds of them off the vines in late August.

    I'm sticking with my Chapman recommendation.

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    JT, the ones I suggested were for fresh eating. No doubt I'd list others for cooking for sauce and for canning. But there are many many threads here that discuss those kinds of varieties, so I won't repeat what alread has been posted.

    At least we both agree in Chapman, an oldie but goodie as is Red Penna. And I'm really strong on Neves Azorean Red as well, and not just b'c I was the one who introduced it and started a thread here at GW to name it so that folks might better undertand what goes into naming a variety that came to them initially unnamed. NAR seems to do well for almost all who grow it and the taste is great as well.

    I think the different sizes that you mentioned for some of them as being not large as grown by you is fine since growing conditions in any particular season can vary widely.

    Carolyn

  • SocalTomatoes
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'm going to go with Chapman now as well, also ordered some of the others mentioned. I should have specified medium to large instead of just large; I'm just trying to avoid smaller tomatoes, as thats mostly what I ended up with this past year. Looking forward to planting soon!

  • thegreatcob
    11 years ago

    humunga cowbunga from down under

  • tdscpa
    11 years ago

    A few of my favorite reds I have not noticed mentioned above are: Burgundy Traveler, Mule Team, and Thessaloniki.

    All have been among the most productive, best tasting red tomatoes for me lately here in the heat capital of the USA.

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