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| I've only grown tomatoes a few times and need help deciding on what varieties to plant next year. Here's the list of seeds I currently have. The ones marked with asterisks are what I plan to grow next year unless I'm talked out of it: Martinos's Roma* The main use for these tomatoes will be for sauce or as ingredients in other cooked recipes. I don't like raw tomatoes (I've tried them many times). Pears, cherries, grapes, and currant types are of no use to me as they are too small to deal with. I plan on growing about 8 plants, 4 reds (2 will be paste) and 4 of other colors (again, 2 will be paste). Any suggestions? Or anything you'd swap out? I can buy one or two more tomato seed varieties, if necessary. I'm looking for prolific, meaty, and good flavored. Preferably determinate although indeterminate is okay. Rodney |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Well you have already eliminated two - Ildi and Chocolate Cherry. I am not familiar with any of those tomatoes, so I would look them up on the tomato base. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Buckeye Yellow
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- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Tue, Nov 19, 13 at 20:03
| Yeah, I know some of these are not exactly widely grown varieties. And I have looked up their descriptions before (on the site you linked, actually) but I was hoping for advice from people who have grown some of them, rather than just relying the descriptions. Most of these seeds I acquired free or in a SASE. I bought the Martino's Roma and Ildi (I planted this once to give the fruit away) a few years ago. I got the Djena Lee's Golden Girl and Red Alert free with seed orders. Mr. Stripey, Chocolate Cherry, and Giant Oxheart are seeds that my aunt bought (she bought the seeds, I started the plants for her, and I kept the leftover seeds). The others I got in a SASE. And you already know the story with the unknown variety. Rodney |
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- Posted by bmoser z6PA (b2m2@moserproduce.com) on Tue, Nov 19, 13 at 21:00
| Banana Legs is one of those varieties that I will just not grow again. Production may seem moderate but fruits are irregular, highly blemished and lacking flavor. It is a novelty variety to try but test the waters with only a limited number of plants. There was a recent thread on Mr. Stripey that you should read since most of the responders gave it an unfavorable rating. Djena Lee's Golden Girl is a good one to try. I've grown it for the past 3 years and this year I was more impressed than the previous two because plants seemed more vigorous and production was at least consistant with other bicolor varieties I've grown. Not sure about Chocolate Cherry but if it is similar to Brown Berry you can't go wrong with that one. Someone might respond on Golden Jubilee. I believe it was a 1943 AAS selection that many heirloom growers don't want to associate with. It isn't a bad producer but the globe shaped orange fruits do look too perfect for it's own good. I was growing Giant Oxhart but gave up on it b/c seeds I purchased were for anything but giant or oxheart shaped fruit. Hope yours do better. |
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- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Tue, Nov 19, 13 at 22:16
| Thanks for the info. Especially about Djena Lee's Golden Girl. I did read that post in which Mr. Stripey was considered overwhelmingly bad. It was getting some horrible reviews. So let me clarify. The only varieties I was thinking about growing from my list were: Martino's Roma Although now I'm wondering about Banana Legs. Is there another yellow paste that is better in fruit quality and flavor? Or perhaps I should just forget about growing pastes. Rodney |
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| Ditto Banana Legs - waste of space. Also agree with skipping the Mr. Stripey - no point to giving it space and work. You appear to have several yellows. By choice? If you like them, fine, then Golden Jubilee is very popular around here. Martino's Rome and Giant Oxheart are both good choices of the ones on the list. Many better ones available than your list. San Marzano is one of our personal favorites but they are BER prone. Dave |
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- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Wed, Nov 20, 13 at 9:20
| The yellows are by choice. Mostly because I like growing things with different colors but also because I think it would be fun to have a yellow tomato sauce. I realize it might not have the same flavor as a red sauce though. I think I've pretty much got the yellows figured out now. I'm not going to plant Banana Legs. Like I said, I can buy one or two new varieties. It's not essential that I stick to what I already have. Rodney |
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| Hi Rodney Most of the names you have listed are not popular. But it does not means anything. Since you are in a cool and short season climate(z5/6), I would look into varieties with shorter DTM. I would eliminate anything over 85 days. Another thing is fruit size: Starting from small cherry to large beefsteak over one pound. I planted TOO MANY cherries last season. So this year I will grow just one yellow and one red cherry type. And couple beefsteaks and few medium fuits varieties with short DTM(50 -65) FUN PART: I see that a lot of people have bad reviews on Mr. Stripy (and Green Zebra elsewhere), But I will grow both of them because we also enjoy by seeing things. I enjoy looking into a basketful of tomatoes with all different colors and shape. It is like a nice flower arrangement to me. You can also slice them together, and get another nice color combination. With a dash salt, pepper, spoonful of vinegar and olive oil, they all will taste great. JMO |
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| Black and Brown Boar is a good small black striped one. |
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- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Wed, Nov 27, 13 at 12:31
| Thanks for the help, everyone. Rodney |
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