Yes I think Fusion gave you some really great varieties, I have grown all of them except Box Car Willie and they seem to get a lot of high marks from everyone.
I must say I was shocked to see the vote of confidence for Burpee. It seems to be common knowledge in all the forums I visit that they rename stuff all the time, radically over hype their products, are overpriced and generally loved by few. It appears they still have some (at least one) happy customer =)

Burpee does not repackage its old seeds ... they throw them away or donate them. I wish I could say that for everyone LOL. I consistently get great germination rates from their seeds and they have a really nice selection of popular hybrids and don't put things on backorder and then don't send you old seeds anyway (Un huh ... this has happened more than once from others).

It also is a surprisingly small company struggling to make it like others and has never stopped putting out a wonderful catalog that has brought delight to generations of home gardeners since it was founded in the 1800s.

I always put a little business Burpee's way and I get a kick out of their descriptions. I personally don't think the company will last much longer but I really don't want to see it go. It reminds me of now defunct, The American Seed Company seeds I sold from door to door as a kid answering an ad in a comic book and is one of the reasons I got into home gardening.

The one time I contacted Burpee I ended up talking with George Ball, Jr., who is a humble and obsessed with tomatoes as much as anyone, and has a charming way, unlike other companies' unpredictable attitudes I shall not name ... it is their holiday season and ramping up time for sprig planting and I want to give them the same benefit of the doubt. I don't know of many companies that would support the American values as much as they did when donating seeds to jump start Iraqi farming and help the former Soviet Union, Caribbean and some African nations in outright donations.

Burpee - seeds for those in need

PC

This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 3:22

Burpee seed tends to be about twice the price I would pay for similar seed elsewhere. Also, they lean very heavily toward hybrids because they can't make money with open pollinated varieties.

On the positive side, they have an excellent selection and the seed is always top quality. I grow Bonanza broccoli because it is the only really good producing spring broccoli in my climate. Last year I grew Tye-Dye tomato because it is a source of a disease tolerance gene that I badly wanted. I also enjoy Breeders Choice corn though I don't grow it as often now as I used to. The only reason I don't grow more of their varieties is because I am mostly focused on open pollinated vegetables so I can save seed.

All things considered, I don't think anyone should be shocked over a vote for Burpee seed.

The only reason I order from Burpee is to purchase Brandy Boy and Fourth of July tomato seed. If they go out of business, perhaps someone else will save those lines, kind of like Hostess Twinkies hahahah!

Me, I like to support smaller seed vendors such as Tatiana Tomatobase, J&L gardens, Heritage seeds to name a few with my orders as I want them to be for me next year and I get quality of seeds I want.
Seeds from Italy has been my go to for the lettuce, peppers, herbs etc as they have lots and I mean lots of seeds in the packet and germination is excellent.
I like Fusion list of varieties, cept Big Beef grown all of them and liked them all.

Cherokee Purple is extremely popular, here in Oklahoma, though, with our extreme summer heat, it is quite shy on actual production. Its popularity derives from its flavor.

Now, I have had the privilege of gardening in Winona Lake, IN for about four years, back in the 80s. From my recollection of the weather there, I suspect it would grow very well for you.

For cooking, slicing and juicing you might consider something like Rutgers or Marglobe. I grow Baker Family Heirloom, which is much like Rutgers, only a beefsteak inside the fruit and the plants grow MUCH larger.

George
Tahlequah, OK

For anyone who thinks Burpee is more expensive, if you just want a few packs and to get a jump on your season, ordering until today 12/30/14 they've got a promo code NYFS15 for free shipping on their website and no minuimum order is listed. It might be a good opportunity to pick up Jersey Boy, Steakhouse, Brandy Boy etc.

With hybrids you get what you pay for from them IMO. They are very labor intensive to produce and it is an apples to oranges comparison with open pollinated ones. That doesn't mean the forum isn't crawling with passionate and opinionated growers (and breeders!) that could probably get a tomato to grow in the back seat of their car or out of a crack in concrete and produce a bushel of tomatoes. Or better yet live in California where the sky is always blue, even more than Alabama ;-)

If you get free shipping and just grow a few you can come out ahead. Not everyone needs great germination or worries about yield per plant and resistances as much as I do, but it's because I have rather limited area (overloaded with 20 plants in my 16 plant capacity space).

Getting reliably 20 pounds of harvest from some vigorous, disease resistant plants with reasonable taste is a priority to mix in to balance with my heirloom craziness.

PC

P....thanks for the heads up. I took advantage and ordered BrandyBoy, Big Beef, and the "Jersey" variety. These should go nicely with my heirlooms.

fireduck, Good luck with them and the free shipping really makes getting them more fun.

I really hope you post and tell us your experience with Jersey Boy especially being so mild in 10a.

I will use my hybrid seed for 4-5 years, Porterhouse this time around, I just split them with myself over a few years and the cost is a buck or two a variety, and usually there are more seeds than 5 years of seed for me in the package ... to find someone and else give them hybrids 2X1 to get my hands on 3 measly other good hybrid variety which takes care of a year for me LOL.

Now that I participated in the swap, and will have new OP seeds coming out of my ears this is going to be interesting.

20+ pounds of yummy production on those plants is worth it because some extras can always buy off curious neighbors that appreciate a bright, blemish free freshly picked nice sandwich sized pounder tomatoes so the HOA won't ruin the party LOL.

Happy Gardening!
PC

I have read lots of good reviews on Brandy Boy ( a burpee hybrid). And I will grow one or two BB in 2015. I might wait for the big box racks or nurseries selling plants.

Other than that I have already seeds for everything else that I need to grow:

BROWN==
Ananas Noire, Chrokee purple, Black from tula, Japanese Trifle, Brown cherry (5)

YEL/ORANGE
===: Kelloggs Breakfast, Azoychka, Golden Cherry, Hahms Gelbe Topftomate (4)

OTHER:
Silets, Legend, Allegheyni Sunset, Abruznyi, Druzba, Willamette, Renaldo, Rio Grande, Rosella Crimson, Polish Dwarf ( 10).

I will plant 5 of the above in containers and the rest in raised beds. Out of those 20 or so, ., 6 of them will be repeats. That mean that I have found a few winners in my garden.

Seysonn

P and S, I will keep you guys posted on my results...keeping in mind I am a relative newbie. This year I am branching out to include 18' of raised bed planting. I got pretty dialed-in the last 2 years with my containers. I will plant mostly op's...but I do not get whacked out with planting a few hybrids either. I am especially anxious to harvest for the first time: Brandy Boy, Brandywine Cowlick's, Box Car Willie, and Black Cherry (compliments of Ginny). Isn't this fun???

Reading your selection makes me hungry Seysonn ;-) I wasn't sure if I could make room for Rio Grande, but if you are I'd like to compare, since there are claims it produces every bit as well as a hybrid and is very popular outside the US.

fireduck, on hybrids, I forced a brief season for fall here here, and used Better Boy (2) as my yardstick tomato, Early Girl (2) as my early hybrid and Super Sweet 100 (2) as my cherry out of 20 plants. Both Better Boys are giving me 50% to 100% more production than both Cherokee Purple plants (which really produce well and I love most, but am waiting for a sweet bicolor OP to mature before pulling the plug). I am not shy to say that I find the BB flavor yummy after having the first one (a big juicy 14.25 ouncer, nearly 4" diameter) last night, and that in poor cool/low light my selections of OPs don't taste nearly as good as in Spring, yet BB's flavor held its own. It takes a lot of mistreatment and part of it is that the OPs in this weather can develop corky cores, where BB was uniformly and perfectly soft and matured:

{{gwi:2132390}}

PC

Maybe I will have to sprout some of my Better Boy seeds? Never have grown it but I do tend to like reds. Also been meaning to grow Rio Grande every year for the past three years.

I am not a canner but I do make some spaghetti sauce for my pasta dishes. I picked Rio Grande to grill/kabob, in place of Roma. Summer is grilling time and I love some meaty tomatoes and peppers grilled alongside barbeque, chicken, burger whatever.

I am switching more and more to Determinants and dwarfs b/c of space limitation and ease of management. I am getting to dislike huge indets , 7ft tall with tons of foliage.

Seysonn

I've grown Rio Grande for about three years now. It handles our Oklahoma heat pretty well. The fruit are quite solid and hold well. I don't consider it for slicing or fresh eating. But when I tasted it, I did conclude that it has much more flavor than a Roma. Plants are pretty determinate. Yet they produce for a longer time than, say, Roma.

George

OK! Good to know about the heat resistance too. Guess I'll go start a few =)

I want to try some new tomato varieties this year. After researching quite a bit I have come up with Mule team, Marion, Arkansas Traveler, Druzba, Genuwine, Eva Purple ball and Zogola. Growing these in Memphis HOT weather with all the usual diseases around. Am I wasting my time on any of these?

Athey, how hot is Memphis Summers? It is considered mid south.. I have gardened in Atlanta GA, much further south, with no major problems.

So generally speaking you can grow just about any variety down there. With disease, you should have a good prevention program. I do it twice a month.

From your list I am going to grow Druzba. I have heard a lot about Arkansas Traveler and Eva Purple Bal. But I have never heard about the rest of them...
They also have about a dozen tomatoes that is said to do well down south. Google into that. I think Jet Star and Big Boy are two of them.

Good luck and have confidence.

Seysonn

I think Mule team is a winner for zone 7, very reliable I heard. I've grown it too but I think it does better in warmer areas. I enjoyed it.

I say you add an early ripening tomato into the mix like a Manitoba or Siberian! That way you can snack on those until the rest of your bumper crop comes in :-) . I would also recommend an heirloom yellow taxi which has a nice sweet flavor and is fun to grow up here......

95 degrees often. Has anyone had good experiences with Super fantastic VF, Tropic or Moneymaker in this hot weather? I am growing several other hybrids for early, etc.

Have to say that Big Beef is the only hybrid tomato I plant. For a hybrid, its good. I used to plant Celebrity as a back up to my heirlooms, but I switched to Big Beef about 7 years ago.

And for a great heirloom with better than usual vigor and taste, try Cherokee Purple. I like it better than Brandywine.

I will try all of my newbie list, I think. I have grown Cherokee Purple and Brandywine many years, Brandywine a consistent loser. Mediocre production of CP still worth the taste. Any other good tasting hot weather indeterminate suggestions will be appreciatred, thanks

Some great comments and reading am glad I posted, I can always count on Garden Web for some great advice from avid members. Thank You!! Cherokee Purple and Brandy Boy seems to be popular with most-so definitely keeping those on my list. Interesting side bar going with Burpee seeds..have already requested the catalogs that others recommended, but still planning to order from Burpee's even though it has been thinned down some to the previous comments on varieties. Also want to add my tomatoes last year 2014 got boosts from other great advice by reading other posts, by adding Epsom salts, bone meal, and sugar when planting seedlings. Also tried different approaches to natural fertilizing and spraying blooms with water and Epsom salts. Had pretty good yields last year!

This post was edited by hoosier318 on Mon, Jan 19, 15 at 8:59

Steak Sandwich tomato is an extremely delicious tomato esp. on hamburgers and sandwiches. Though the yield is not as good as others and it tends to look imperfect, it makes up for it by taste and great flavor. It's probably the best tasting tomato for sandwiches, IMHO.

Steakhouse didn't do well for me last year. I was excited about trying a burpee hybrid after having mixed luck with heirlooms over the years. It got some sort of disease, I didn't really care what it was because I did get a few ripe tomatoes on there and they didn't taste that great, so I just pulled the two plants I had and forgot about them.

I've grown many of the Burpee "Girls" and "Boys" over the years and I've never been thrilled with them either. The production overall has been okay, but the flavor is never that good. DIseases, BER, and other issues too. Many heirlooms I've tried haven't always been that great in production but the flavors are always better and I've had better disease resistance on many heirlooms than I have on many of the Burpee hybrids.

I do have some hybrids that I love though. Not to knock hybrids!

That's all I can review for you. Hope this helps!

Brandy Boy is in the new seed display at my local big box store. You may want to look for it there.

There you go. I hope my area BBS will stock them too.

Burpees mail order is $5.95, as mentioned in other threads. I wonder what the price is on the racks.

The Brandy Boy seed was $2.49 in the store display. They also had 4th of July.

$2.49 for a pack of seeds, now that makes sense.
My BBS have not yet set up their racks. I will be on the look out.

Seysonn

All the heirlooms seem great. But one without Cherokee Purple will be lacking...

I planted Country Taste several years ago (my seed came from Totally Tomatoes). It was a really pretty uniform tomato for me. Taste was okay, nothing special though.

Brandy Boy Update:

I went To Lowes today. Burpee has already packed the racks. And I found what I was looking for :

== Brandy Boy @ $2.45 a pack. I grabbed one.

They also had a lot of other popular hybrid varieties. The price ranged from $1.58 to $2.49. This is 60% discounted on their web order price.

They describe Brandy Boy:

>> A Brangywine hybrid , potato leaf type plants, produce 14 -16 oz fruits .. Indeterminant. All right. I was determined to grow BrBy. But I did not want to pay $5.95 for a pack of seeds( even w/ free shipping). Patience is a virtue.
Now my grow list is complete. But have to wait another month to get it started.

Seysonn

I've never had good luck from rack seed packs. I think they are treated unkindly. Temperature fluctuations mostly, heat, cold, heat, cold, etc.

OK, so let's say I decided to forgo Brandywine for the poor production and early death and even the Cherokee Purple (and I REALLY like the Cherokee Purple flavor) . And wanted heirlooms at least a good red/pink, 2 good purples, and a good yellow, and the best hybrid as a backup and had room for 10 plants in Maryland USA zone 7B. And cost (ordering and shipping) was not a "major" concern...

Which would they be?

Just wanted to Thank everyone again on the posts/threads as I have Tomato Growers catalog in hand and waiting on more. Still deciphering all the advice, as I have read the threads multiple times. I know for sure several varieties that will be ordered and will let you know what I decide on others. Also during the growing season I will plan to take pictures and give you updates. So far I have Cherokee Purple as a definite because of all positive posts on flavor-some are saying the yields may not be up to par, but the flavor on the ones you do get are worth sacrificing the yields. Brandywine has some mixed reviews, but another definite. For yellow's Kellogg's Breakfast seems to be a hands down as well as Sun Gold (which I have grown before and the taste and the yields were off the charts) so the Sun Gold is based on past performance. Still I don't see any suggestions for a pink on the threads-any ideas there? Also fusion-power mentioned Big Beef so will try that one and on my own I think I am going to add Orange Wellington and Porterhouse from Burpee's out of curiosity-want to see about the size on Porterhouse as they claim 2-4 pound tomatoes-and liked the description "Orange Wellington" will see if it adds up to the recommendation you gave me on "Kellogg's Breakfast". Once the order is in will let you know when I get them in hand and what my final order was. In addition during the growing season will be sure to update on yields, taste, and get some pictures posted. Thanks again for some exceptional advice and great fun on reading the threads.....I simply can't wait!!

If any of you live in New England (I'm in connecticut), try Burpee racks in Ocean State Job Lot stores. They consistently sell for 40-50% off the price on the package, and these are the smaller packs that sell for $2.49 already! They don't have the variety you will find in the catalog, but their biggest sellers are there, including organic lines.

Yardenman, my recommendation for purple/black would be black from Tula, and Indian stripe. Both produced well and Black from Tula was mid season. Red/pink possibly Red Penna and I'm still playing around with that one. KBX would be in there, again my all time favorite in the yellow/orange/gold category is Aunt Gerties Gold but it just doesn't produce and highly susceptible to disease and it's late so that's out for me. Bloody butcher is red, small tomatoes but early and prolific. Haven't found a hybrid I like yet. I'm trying a bunch of new ones again both OP and hybrids. However, SunSugar will always be in my garden and SunGold.

yardenman, for purple/black tomatoes, Indian Stripe and Spudakee were both quite similar in flavor to Cherokee Purple and were both vastly more productive than Cherokee Purple for us this year. As regards Brandywine, I'd suggest you try Cowlick's Brandywine, much the same flavor but much more productive.

I grew Orange Wellington last year. I pleasantly surprised by the production. Fruit was meaty and juicy. Uniformly shaped. The flavor was a little sweeter than I prefer as I tend to like a stronger muskier tomato flavor. Plants were a little more susceptible to blight compared to some of the other hybrid varieties I grew. Also, chucked a few fruit due to BER. Kellogg's Breakfast was not worth the effort the year I grew it. Between the two I would definitely go with Orange Wellington. Its a decent variety but not my style and I will not bother growing it this year.

Very NIce.

I feel very good about this, that I am growing some of the top 10 favorites:

Ananas Noire
Black from Tula
Brandy Boy
Cherokee Purple
Kelloggs Breakfast
Rutgers
Druzba
Japanes Black Trifele
................
Plus 15 more not so favorite varieties, out of which 5 are dwarves, 5 DETs.

Seysonn

Compare Price per package to Total Seeds per package.

Some of the cheap seed packages don't have as many seeds in the packages as some of the expensive packages.

At Walmart, a 70MG package of Ferry-Morse Jet Star Hybrid Tomato seeds, I bought was $1.28.

After I was home, I counted 31 seeds inside. This package was a savings compared to my Tomato Growers seed catalog's price of $3.45 for 30 seeds.

That was the only package of tomato seeds I bought but there were other brands with different amounts and prices available.

In the future I will be counting seeds and comparing the number of seeds to the total MG and G's listed on store seed packages.

Just my two cents..... Lola8325

That sounds like a good deal.

As a backyard gardener we don't need that many seeds anyway.

I bout most of mine from Sample Seeds Shop @ $1.50 per pack.

Seyson

Yes, Sample Seeds is a good site with 15 seeds per package for $1.50.

Another good site is Heirloom Seeds with 20 seeds per package for $1.50.

Many but not all Heirloom Seed packages are $1.50.

Backyard gardeners can cut prices in half by exchanging seeds with other gardening friends who order different varieties.

Lola

UPDATE: Again thanks everyone for all the great advice as this has turned into a really nice thread, and I had started the original post. Have all the tomatoes starting in trays and starting to germinate, and the winning varieties taken from the advice given here are:

Brandywine Pink

Kelogg's Breakfast

Box Car Willie

Brandywine

Red Rose

Giant Belgium

Porterhouse Hybrid

Cherokee Purple

Orange Wellington

and for cherry tomatoes:

Black Cherry

Sun Gold

As I said before once they are in the garden and producing, I will add some more updates along with pictures during the season! Thanks again everyone and as you can see I took advice from the forum and used some of your suggestions thanks to fusion_power , PupillaCharites(FL 9a), fireduck(10a), seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1), foose4string(z7 MD), seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1), and everyone else!! Now I can't wait till the plants are actually in the garden and starting to grow. Last year I put some epsom salts, bone meal, and some sugar in each hole with the plant, then sprayed blooms with some booster and got some amazing results. I will still buy a couple plants from the local nursery Whiteman's just a stone's throw from my house-probably like Rutger's and Early Girl. Still a little chilly here in N. Indiana (overnight in the 20's) so will have to be patient. Usually have the garden in by mid-May.

H...I think you caught the disease....hehe

Yeah for sure fireduckI have it bad, today I was at Lowe's and found some Brandy Boy seed came home and started a few of them-as I saw them mentioned in this thread and was looking for them. I am going to have tomatoes coming out of my ears, but plan to give a few plants to my gardening friends at work. Too I can live on tomatoes during the summer months. Among my favorite things to eat and something that are actually good for us too!!

Hoosier, ..
Get in the Brandy Boy contest thread and announce it.
Wow, we are getting real good participants. It is gonna be a great season.

Seysonn

Getting really excited as I am working on tilling the garden-planting time is getting close here in Indiana. Will be sure and try to post some pictures when the tomatoes get on the vine. Thanks again everyone for all your help!! Going to find the Brandy Boy thread hopefully I can still get on board.

hi H...My garden has been planted for 6 weeks now. By far the most aggressive, healthiest, and most fruit is my Big Beef. I think my Brandy Boy is a little ahead of the other 12 varieties. I see that your weather has really warmed up! goodluck.