Grow List - please share your experience :)

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JenniferBella
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Grow List - please share your experience :)

#1

Post: # 42050Unread post JenniferBella
Sat Feb 27, 2021 9:59 pm

Hello fellow tomato lovers,

I need assistance in narrowing my grow list. Please let me know what you loved or hated from the following. There is no room for 100 different kinds of tomatoes - possibly 50 - though I can stretch it by planting at families :) Thank you for your time and for sharing your experience.

TOMATO GROW LIST.docx
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Nan6b
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#2

Post: # 42068Unread post Nan6b
Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:38 am

Berkeley Tie-Dye Green was awesome, gorgeous, tasty, and did well under horrible abuse (We discovered we had planted it in 6" of clay, with a huge slab of rock underneath). I loved this tomato. Very strong good tasty flavor, spicy like the greens are.

Dark Galaxy was also gorgeous and tasty, balanced flavor with sweetness. I will be growing this one again because it is irresistible in taste and eye appeal.

Both of the above were true works of art to look at.

Isis Candy was a disappointment. Sweet but with nothing interesting or complex about the flavor. And it split split split. By the end of the summer, I had to ignore the big clusters of completely split tomatoes. It was prolific, though.

Berkeley Tie-Dye Pink went down to disease very quickly. People say it's great but I just didn't find any taste.

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wildcat62
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#3

Post: # 42070Unread post wildcat62
Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:50 am

The only types on your list that I've grown are Pruden's Purple & Pink Berkley Tye-Dye. Of those 2 the PP was definitely our favorite although we liked both. The PBTD was an early producer the last time we grew it back in 2017 and is a beautiful tomato. The PP are big beautiful, pink flavor bombs that we have grown several years.

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wykvlvr
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#4

Post: # 42079Unread post wykvlvr
Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:58 am

Blush didn't like my place. It was wispy, limited production. I honestly don't think I got more then 1 or 2 totally ripe tomatoes from it. Not impressed by it here but I know many others love it. My big surprised and winners last year were Large Barred Boar and Tigerella. I got ripe two handed tomatoes from the LBB before our early snow. DH and my friend loved them, I felt they were bland... Tigerella was tangy, productive and hardy. I loved them, DH and freind were tart eww...
Wyoming
Zone 5
Elevation : 6,063 ft
Climate : semi-arid
Avg annual rainfall = 16 inches

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Sue_CT
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#5

Post: # 42081Unread post Sue_CT
Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:02 pm

Do you mind my asking where you got those tomatoes on your list? Are you experienced in growing tomatoes? It is pretty unusual to see such a large list of tomatoes, most of which I have never heard of much less grown. Maybe they are ones you or friends/family have grown before and liked? But if you are not experienced in growing tomatoes and compiled the list based on catalog pictures and descriptions you could have a very adventerous season but you could also be disappointed. My suggestion would be to search here for favorite heirloom tomatoes and favorite Hybrid tomatoes and include at least a handlful from both.
The only ones I have heard of are Berkley Tie Die, Carbon, Isis Candy, Pruden's Purple, Rosella Purple Dwarf, Tasmanian Chocolate Dwarf. I grew Rosella, and if you need to grow in pots it is as good as any, but I don't need to grow in pots so I really don't need to grow dwarfs. I would grow it again if I was looking for a potted tomato. I think the best of the rest is Pruden's Purple. I think you will like that. But it looks like you prefer hybrid tomatoes and I mostly grow heirlooms, so I can't help much with those. Even amongst the hybrids I don't see many that I recognise as coming from favorites recommended here.

Here is one thread you could try and focus on varieties that keep coming up as recommended by several different people and people growing in similar zones to you. If your list contains mostly varieties people have not grown and aren't familiar with, you just won't get a lot of responses.
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=187&hilit=favorite ... s&start=20

I know my own plan in the past has been to start with the most highly recommended by the most people and then each year regrow the ones I loved add a few new ones to try. Then I am always sure to have some I loved and some interesting new ones, but not a bunch of tomatoes with no real winners. It also lets me compare the new ones in real time to the ones I know I really like. If they are grown in the same garden in the same weather conditions I can more easily weed out which ones are more disease prone, don't taste as good or don't produce well compared to others. It is for people like you and questions like this that I wish Carolyn was still with us. In her heyday, she would have gone over this list and put her experience growing thousands of varieties to use. I never understood how she could remember what they all tasted like, lol. Since I only have room for about 15 plants, even after 20 years of growing tomatoes, I can't hold a candle to her, lol.

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Dawn
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#6

Post: # 42083Unread post Dawn
Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:47 pm

Berkeley Tie Dye Green is awesome, one of my favorites.

Blush is extremely productive for me. It tastes pretty good, but mild, fruity. Not my favorite, but I grow it when I grow Juliet, because they look good together in a market basket, they're the same size and shape, but Juliet is red. Juliet has a reputation for being incredibly productive, and it is. I find blush to be right up there, it's crazy productive for me.

Green tiger wasn't too productive for me, but extremely sweet.

Dragon's eye was a nice smaller tomato, good flavor.
Dawn
Zone 6b/7a
Central Washington State (it's a desert here)

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Cole_Robbie
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#7

Post: # 42084Unread post Cole_Robbie
Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:12 pm

Isis was a splitter for me, too.

Nice list! You know, you could make one heck of a seed offering on here next year by saving seed from the varieties on your list...just a thought.

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Sue_CT
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#8

Post: # 42085Unread post Sue_CT
Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:18 pm

What is the objective here? Is it purely production or production and appearance? It seems that is basically what is being focused on. Is the OP growing for market? That is an entirely different evaluation of which varieties to grow than for taste and home use. If it is growing for market, I withdraw my comments, lol, they are not applicable to market growing at all and would explain why I have never heard of most of them.

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Greenvillian
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#9

Post: # 42089Unread post Greenvillian
Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:57 pm

Pruden's Purple is great.
Polaris is fantastic.
I didn't like blush because the skins are so thick, but that helps in keeping it from splitting so...
Best wishes on your growing season.

Gardadore
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#10

Post: # 42092Unread post Gardadore
Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:37 pm

Should we assume that these are all new varieties for you? It would also help to know where you live. What kinds of tomatoes do you usually prefer? Like other posters above there are many varieties here I have never heard of so I can recommend only a few.

Gardadore
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#11

Post: # 42094Unread post Gardadore
Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:50 pm

I love all Berkeley Tie Dye varieties so would keep one of the two. I prefer the Heart which is not on your list. Blush is on my list every year. I find it productive and sweet, perfect for oven drying. Grew Everett's Rusty Heart once. It was very pretty and tasty. Isis was a disappointment. Didn't taste as sweet as it should and split. Won't grow again. Midnight Sun was delicious last summer but not prolific for me. Will be trying again this year. Grew Monkley Ass once. Great fun! Very large and great for sauce. Taiga, Karma Apricot, Taiga and Polaris were new last summer and did not do well. But since they are supposed to be so excellent I am giving them another chance. I have grown Rosella Purple Dwarf twice. Found it to be prolific and tasty. Grew Tasmanian Purple Dwarf once. Not that prolific but deserves a second chance.
I have grown Carbon before with success. Will be growing it again this summer. Maglia Rosa is similar in shape to Blush and another one I have used to oven dry. Prefer Blush.Haven't grown Pruden's Purple for a while but highly recommend. Harvard Square and Falen's First Snow are on my list for first time growing this summer.
Keep us posted on what you select and how they do! Good luck!

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root_grow
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#12

Post: # 42096Unread post root_grow
Sun Feb 28, 2021 3:09 pm

I think if I were trying to narrow down from this list, I would start by deciding how many indeterminates and how many dwarfs I wanted. Then I'd go through and star 20-ish that I just really want to grow for whatever reason or whim ;) Then, personally, I'd probably set a limit on the anthos only because I see a lot of them on the list and in my garden they tend to ripen later than other tomatoes. Every year I try to imagine rough proportions of what color and size assortment I want first and then choose from my wish list to sort of fit that.

I have tried many varieties that are frequently recommended, and not very many of them have become my favorites or my SO's favorites, and we have pretty different preferences. So I say grow whatever calls out to you! I think this looks like a really fun list regardless of your objectives. With enough variety, you're bound to find some gems, a few duds and a lot of fun even if they don't all become favorites. :)

That said...
Kookaburra Cackle was one of my favorites last year. They were early and intensely flavored, and just the right size for a snack.
Fruit Punch was delicious and prolific, but the last of the cherries to start ripening. It kept its flavor better as cool weather returned though.
Alice's Dream was super amazingly productive and especially beautiful even unripe. I wasn't a huge fan of the flavor though. Not bad, not bland or overly anything, totally fine as sauce, but definitely not one I reached for fresh.
Maglia Rosa tends to be highly recommended, but mine were mild and sweet, totally fine, just nothing notable to my tastebuds.
Oaxacan Jewel is really beautiful. It produced really well even in my cold climate, in a shady spot, and was deliciously fruity sweet, I am growing more of them this year.
Pink Berkley Tie Dye is one of my (many) favorites for how early and delicious it is. The only thing I don't like about them is how quickly they spoil after ripening.
Blush is delicious and prolific for me, and so very pretty, but it's an awkward size/shape that I find I don't really know what to do with them. Lucky Tiger was less productive, the only one with splitting problems last year and it was really difficult to know when they were ripe, they looked like your picture for Green Tiger.
Wagner Blue Green has a really unique savory flavor I haven't come across in other tomatoes, I really enjoyed them. Really productive, too.

I think I read somewhere that Siniy and Blue Fruit are the same, but maybe not? And Summer of Love is an updated Green Berkley Tie Dye, so maybe no need to grow both?

I'd love to know what you end up deciding on and how you like them!

JenniferBella
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#13

Post: # 42098Unread post JenniferBella
Sun Feb 28, 2021 3:28 pm

Nan6b wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:38 am Berkeley Tie-Dye Green was awesome, gorgeous, tasty, and did well under horrible abuse (We discovered we had planted it in 6" of clay, with a huge slab of rock underneath). I loved this tomato. Very strong good tasty flavor, spicy like the greens are.

Dark Galaxy was also gorgeous and tasty, balanced flavor with sweetness. I will be growing this one again because it is irresistible in taste and eye appeal.

Both of the above were true works of art to look at.

Isis Candy was a disappointment. Sweet but with nothing interesting or complex about the flavor. And it split split split. By the end of the summer, I had to ignore the big clusters of completely split tomatoes. It was prolific, though.

Berkeley Tie-Dye Pink went down to disease very quickly. People say it's great but I just didn't find any taste.
Hi Nan6b, Thank you for sharing what you liked and what was a disappointment. I will star your two favourites. :) Jennifer

JenniferBella
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#14

Post: # 42099Unread post JenniferBella
Sun Feb 28, 2021 3:30 pm

wildcat62 wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:50 am The only types on your list that I've grown are Pruden's Purple & Pink Berkley Tye-Dye. Of those 2 the PP was definitely our favorite although we liked both. The PBTD was an early producer the last time we grew it back in 2017 and is a beautiful tomato. The PP are big beautiful, pink flavor bombs that we have grown several years.
Hi WildCat62,

Pruden's Purple seems to have the most positive reviews everywhere, with Pink Berkley being a toss-up but it really is so pretty! I want taste and beauty. How lucky to have this problem.

Thanks for helping out!

Jennifer

JenniferBella
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#15

Post: # 42100Unread post JenniferBella
Sun Feb 28, 2021 3:35 pm

wykvlvr wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:58 am Blush didn't like my place. It was wispy, limited production. I honestly don't think I got more then 1 or 2 totally ripe tomatoes from it. Not impressed by it here but I know many others love it. My big surprised and winners last year were Large Barred Boar and Tigerella. I got ripe two handed tomatoes from the LBB before our early snow. DH and my friend loved them, I felt they were bland... Tigerella was tangy, productive and hardy. I loved them, DH and freind were tart eww...
Dear Wykvlvr,

I have had bad luck with wispy plants as I learned with Brad's Atomic Grape last year. The dilemma is how gorgeous those little jewels look. I have Large Barred Boar but not Tigerella (I don't think - so many trades since last summer) so starring that variety. I have never had to hold a tomato in two hands - how fun!

Thank you for sharing your experience and your dear husband and friends - it really is subjective, isn't it? Then throw in different growing conditions and even with the same tomato, they may taste totally different.

All the Best,
Jennifer

patihum
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#16

Post: # 42102Unread post patihum
Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:21 pm

Fruit Punch - very productive and great flavor. On my grow every year list.
Kozula 130/Pearls of Wisdom - good flavor but split badly all season.
Lovely Lush - very good flavor, meaty but has a tendency to crack.
Rebel Starfighter Prime - Wow! Beautiful, great flavor and good production. Should be a heart not a beefsteak.
Vorlon - really nice mater with good flavor and production. Growing again this season.

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Toomanymatoes
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#17

Post: # 42103Unread post Toomanymatoes
Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:37 pm

I think a lot of those tomatoes are recent crosses. So, you may still get variation.

Of all those listed, I have only grown Costoluto Fiorentino and Dark Galaxy. Those were both grown in 20 gallon containers.

Costoluto F was very productive and is probably best for sauce. Taste is pretty good and tastes like a sauce tomato to me. I lost 50% of the tomatoes to BER (it was affected far more than any of my other plants). I have a strong preference for oxheart tomatoes because they are great for fresh eating and good for sauce. So, I would probably choose an oxheart over growing this one again.

Dark Galaxy was also very prolific, looked attractive and actually tasted pretty good fresh (I am always skeptical about varieties bred for looks). The tomatoes are on the smaller side, around 1/4lb or so.

Of those you listed, I will be growing Boronia, JD's Special C-Tex, Rosella Purple, Tasmanian Chocolate and Wherokowhai this season. I am trying about 12 dwarf varieties. I have seeds for a bunch of others listed, but they will have to wait for another season.

As someone mentioned, I believe many of those listed are dwarf varieties. So, I would first decide how many dwarf varieties you want to grow. Then decide how many cherry, paste or slicers you want for the non-dwarf varieties.

JenniferBella
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#18

Post: # 42104Unread post JenniferBella
Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:39 pm

Sue_CT wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:02 pm Do you mind my asking where you got those tomatoes on your list? Are you experienced in growing tomatoes? It is pretty unusual to see such a large list of tomatoes, most of which I have never heard of much less grown. Maybe they are ones you or friends/family have grown before and liked? But if you are not experienced in growing tomatoes and compiled the list based on catalog pictures and descriptions you could have a very adventerous season but you could also be disappointed. My suggestion would be to search here for favorite heirloom tomatoes and favorite Hybrid tomatoes and include at least a handlful from both.
The only ones I have heard of are Berkley Tie Die, Carbon, Isis Candy, Pruden's Purple, Rosella Purple Dwarf, Tasmanian Chocolate Dwarf. I grew Rosella, and if you need to grow in pots it is as good as any, but I don't need to grow in pots so I really don't need to grow dwarfs. I would grow it again if I was looking for a potted tomato. I think the best of the rest is Pruden's Purple. I think you will like that. But it looks like you prefer hybrid tomatoes and I mostly grow heirlooms, so I can't help much with those. Even amongst the hybrids I don't see many that I recognise as coming from favorites recommended here.

Here is one thread you could try and focus on varieties that keep coming up as recommended by several different people and people growing in similar zones to you. If your list contains mostly varieties people have not grown and aren't familiar with, you just won't get a lot of responses.
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=187&hilit=favorite ... s&start=20

I know my own plan in the past has been to start with the most highly recommended by the most people and then each year regrow the ones I loved add a few new ones to try. Then I am always sure to have some I loved and some interesting new ones, but not a bunch of tomatoes with no real winners. It also lets me compare the new ones in real-time to the ones I know I really like. If they are grown in the same garden in the same weather conditions I can more easily weed out which ones are more disease prone, don't taste as good or don't produce well compared to others. It is for people like you and questions like this that I wish Carolyn was still with us. In her heyday, she would have gone over this list and put her experience growing thousands of varieties to use. I never understood how she could remember what they all tasted like, lol. Since I only have room for about 15 plants, even after 20 years of growing tomatoes, I can't hold a candle to her, lol.
Hi Sue_CT,

I have always sought out gorgeous and unique tomatoes but in the last year, I have met a lot of tomato enthusiasts and made trades & purchases with people and companies from all over the world. COVID19 and work is very stressful so this avid collecting was fun and time away from it all. I am willing to try different ones knowing they may be a disappointment in the end, but the fun for me is in the trying. Unfortunately, with over 500 varieties, even narrowing it down to these is not narrowing it down enough. Hence, loving that all of you have taken time from your days to tell me your favourites and spitters. Thank you so much! An ideal life for me would be spending time with my family and tending to a huge garden (if we had more land and lived somewhere warm). I feel like that describes many people at Tomato Junction. I am going to follow your link and write down your favourites and keep reading. 20 years of growing tomatoes is nothing to put down - we have only done it about 4 years here on our own, though as an Italian family, we would grow them every summer. My interest was in eating more than anything else when younger though lol
Amazing that Carolyn had that memory without writing things down - I guess if it is something you are passionate about, it sticks to you.

Wishing you a beautiful garden,
Jennifer

JenniferBella
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#19

Post: # 42107Unread post JenniferBella
Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:49 pm

Dawn wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:47 pm Berkeley Tie Dye Green is awesome, one of my favorites.

Blush is extremely productive for me. It tastes pretty good, but mild, fruity. Not my favorite, but I grow it when I grow Juliet, because they look good together in a market basket, they're the same size and shape, but Juliet is red. Juliet has a reputation for being incredibly productive, and it is. I find blush to be right up there, it's crazy productive for me.

Green tiger wasn't too productive for me, but extremely sweet.

Dragon's eye was a nice smaller tomato, good flavor.
Hi Dawn,
I have heard others share their love of Juliet too. It is already added to the try list. I want ten sweet varieties so Green Tiger/Ripper is a good choice then. Dragon's Eye was based on looks :)
Thanks for sharing,
Jen

JenniferBella
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Re: Grow List - please share your experience :)

#20

Post: # 42108Unread post JenniferBella
Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:54 pm

Cole_Robbie wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:12 pm Isis was a splitter for me, too.

Nice list! You know, you could make one heck of a seed offering on here next year by saving seed from the varieties on your list...just a thought.

Hi Cole_Robbie,
I thought you said spitter at first :). I will be joining a few grow outs on Facebook so will be sharing seeds for sure and then I saw something here that I missed out on. I am also happy to trade or fairy seeds if on someone's wishlist. Just putting one together with Black Beauty and Dancing with Smurfs.
Wishing you an abundant garden,
Jennifer

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