Green Berkeley Tie Dye

[Sue_CT]

Has anyone grown this? Drove 20 miles to the place I know has the most heirlooms, even though they are expensive. They were out of a couple of favorites, including KB. Looked around and they were also out of several that would be my second choices. I like a variety of colors so I filled in one space with BTD, a couple more with Beefsteak and Big Beef. I might call around tomorrow and see if I can find anyone with some others. But I can’t find anything on here about Green Berkley Tie Dye.

[rxkeith]

i grew it. its a largish beef steak type tomato. not the best for up here. a little bit later
season for me. lots of cat facing, and the blossom end would get black spots on the skin.
green and yellow stripes. i will grow it again when i forget that it did not do well for me, and
the flavor was not fantastic. your mileage may vary. just saying how it did for me.


keith

[Sue_CT]

Ok, thanks. If most people don’t like it or find it has a lots problems I will consider pulling it up if I find something better to replace it with.

[Tormahto]

After a very long Google scroll, through a huge number of seed vendors, I finally found a forum thread about it (from 2018).

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=47251

I've read several, but nowhere near all, of the vendor descriptions, with none that I've seen calling it a sweet tomato. If you only like sweet tomatoes, it doesn't sound like a tomato for you, If you like tangy to tart tomatoes, you might like it.

It's a hard pass for me. I'll basically only trial a tomato that has at least two years of chatter about the variety, with several people liking it. When several people like it, I disregard the haters. I'll make an exception, if in just one year, nearly everyone is saying a certain variety is a must grow. Even then, it almost has to be a pink beefsteak.

[Sue_CT]

Thank you for taking the time to do that! I did the same and came up with the same thing. I don’t know that I have ever grown an “acid” tomato, so no idea if I would like it. I take it most people don’t. If I find something better and need the space I will pull it. Otherwise I will consider it an experiment.

[Sue_CT]

OK, went to another place today that had Kellogg’s Beefsteak. Only I could find was this: https://seedsbydesign.com/products/toma ... ak-organic

Sounds like Kellogg breakfast to me. The people at these nurseries know nothing at all about the plants they sell. Said they never heard of Kellogg’s Breakfast. I took a chance and bought 2. Frustrating trying to find any good heirloom plants. Most just say “Brandywine”, not WHICH of the numerous tomatoes that fall under that name, or just Mortgage Lifter. They all buy their plants that they pick out of a catalog I guess, and have no idea what they really are.

[Tormahto]

Thank you for taking the time to do that! I did the same and came up with the same thing. I don’t know that I have ever grown an “acid” tomato, so no idea if I would like it. I take it most people don’t. If I find something better and need the space I will pull it. Otherwise I will consider it an experiment.

I don't use the term "acid" because most tomatoes have about the same acidity. I perfectly understand that others do use it, because the term is widely used. I prefer to use tart.

You don't know if you've ever grown such a tomato? How about taking a bite out a very under ripe tomato, or a Granny Smith apple, or a grapefruit? While those examples don't taste like a ripe tomato, hopefully you get the idea. If you have plenty of other varieties in the garden, I recommend that you trial GBTD. That way, you'll then know whether you like that type of tomato, or not

From my experience of running the swap, in people telling me what they like and don't like, along with thousands upon thousands of people online talking about tomatoes that they like and don't like, my rough guestimate is that about 40% of people like sweet tomatoes only, about 10% like tart tomatoes only, and the rest like a wide variety of tomatoes, with the majority of those people preferring sweet tomatoes over tart tomatoes, possibly preferring balanced tomatoes over both sweet and tart.

[Sue_CT]

Well I do like tart. Love lemon, tart desserts, I use Granny Smiths for my pies. I can’t recall having a tart tomato. I don’t like super sweet tomatoes for sandwiches and stuff. It’s ok in cherries. I guess I prefer a balanced tomato, but not too sweet. I have I think 14 plants planted now, but 2 are Brandywines, so that means only 3 fruit between them in a really bad year, lol. Some of my favorites are Brandywine Sudduth, Stump of the World, KB, Girl Girl’s Weird thing, ML, Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry… 14 plants for just me should just about do it, even without pulling it.

[Dawn]

Am I the only one here who likes it? I think it tastes fantastic. It's sweet, but tart, like a Cherokee green with added tartness. Maybe like, balanced, but strong? I don't know. I typically don't like the tart tomatoes like green zebra and juane flamme, but BTD is good.

[Tormahto]

Am I the only one here who likes it? I think it tastes fantastic. It's sweet, but tart, like a Cherokee green with added tartness. Maybe like, balanced, but strong? I don't know. I typically don't like the tart tomatoes like green zebra and juane flamme, but BTD is good.

It sounds a bit like Aunt Gertie's Gold, although both likely have very different flavors. AGG has the citrusy thing going on. But, it is very bold and tart, with just enough sweetness in the aftertaste, for me to like it. Extremely late in the season, it is one of the better tasting tomatoes, in my garden, losing some of its assertiveness, while almost everything else has gone towards the bland.

[Sue_CT]

Well we will see. I never pulled it, so as long as I get some fruit from it, I will have a chance to sample it myself.

[Tormahto]

Well we will see. I never pulled it, so as long as I get some fruit from it, I will have a chance to sample it myself.

I'm thinking the key will be the amount of water it gets, which is at times impossible to achieve. Minimum watering sounds like very assertive flavor, balanced toward the tart end of the scale. More watering likely means a less intense flavor.

When dealing with "normal" varieties, less watering usually means good flavor, and much more watering means bland tomatoes of almost no flavor.

[Gardadore]

I like all the Berkeley Tie Dyes. They are all beautiful and tasty for me although I think the Tie Dye Heart is my favorite. You may be surprised by this one so glad you kept it just to try in any case! Hope you like it!