For the love of hearts...

[Julianna]

I have always really loved oxheart tomatoes for no real, apparent reason. This year I am going to grow White Oxheart ( has a reputation for doing well in our climate), German Orange Strawberry, Fishlake Oxheart, Sgt Pepper, and Coeur De Boeuf Orange. I have plans to get seeds for a couple others (three from Reinhard Kraft - brown, purple, and green hearts and butterscotch heart), but they will have to wait until next season.

What are your favorites? I really would like to just jump into the lake of temptation at this point and stop dipping my toe in...

[Labradors]

I LOVE Orange Strawberry . I've also grown Anna Russian, Fishlake Oxheart, Sgt Pepper and Grightmire's Pride. They are all fantastic varieties .

Linda

[Gardadore]

I love heart tomatoes too! They are the best ones for sauces! This summer about one quarter of my tomatoes will be hearts. They are Yellow Bull’s Heart I got in Tartarstan, Russia; Corazon de Boi Emilio; Curtis Cheek; Dotson’s Lebanese; Goatbag; Midnight Sun; Taiga; Reinhard Kraft’s Chocolate; Reinhard Kraft’s GWR; True Colors; Tundra.
I have many other seeds but no space this year as most of the above are new. Dotson’s is one of my favorites as well as Reif Red Heart, Joe’s Pink Oxheart, Berkeley Tie Dye Heart, Brad’s Black Heart, Heart of Ashgabat,
Kosovo, and Dawson’s Russian Oxheart (orange). I have more as well but these stand out.

[Julianna]

I LOVE Orange Strawberry . I've also grown Anna Russian, Fishlake Oxheart, Sgt Pepper and Grightmire's Pride. They are all fantastic varieties .

Linda

oh, Grightmire's Pride! I had very old seed for this and it didn't come up. So sad. I was so curious as to how it would be!

[Julianna]

I love heart tomatoes too! They are the best ones for sauces! This summer about one quarter of my tomatoes will be hearts. They are Yellow Bull’s Heart I got in Tartarstan, Russia; Corazon de Boi Emilio; Curtis Cheek; Dotson’s Lebanese; Goatbag; Midnight Sun; Taiga; Reinhard Kraft’s Chocolate; Reinhard Kraft’s GWR; True Colors; Tundra.
I have many other seeds but no space this year as most of the above are new. Dotson’s is one of my favorites as well as Reif Red Heart, Joe’s Pink Oxheart, Berkeley Tie Dye Heart, Brad’s Black Heart, Heart of Ashgabat,
Kosovo, and Dawson’s Russian Oxheart (orange). I have more as well but these stand out.

Heart lovers unite!

I am trying to get those Reinhard Kraft ones too! Just need to reach my intended source. You have some i haven't heard of before. So cool! I have seeds for goatbag, but it didn't come in in time to make the grow list. Since I am stuck with totes, I have a limit. Going to start making a list off the lists I get here!

[Gardadore]

I got my Reinhard Kraft seeds from Renaissancefarms.org.They are new for me. Will report on all the new ones. Highly recommend you try to get Dotson’s Lebanese. I saved seeds last summer so could share if you can’t find them on line.

[Tormahto]

I swoon over hearts, too. (pun intended, for those in the know)

[Julianna]

I got my Reinhard Kraft seeds from Renaissancefarms.org.They are new for me. Will report on all the new ones. Highly recommend you try to get Dotson’s Lebanese. I saved seeds last summer so could share if you can’t find them on line.

I've purchased from there a few times! If I can't get ahold of the person I am trying, I will get the RK stuff from there.

I don't see Dotson's Lebanese beyond some TV threads. I will keep looking. Had to filter out Omar from the search since Omar's Lebanese was showing up all over lol.

[wykvlvr]

I have avoided heart until this year due to the long season most require... however I am trying Yellowishorange Amish Oxheart this year along with Dwarf Pink Passion. Others may end up on my list as I have seeds for them AND I won't start tomatoes until tomorrow at the earliest... I keep trying to cut my list down but sob it keeps getting longer instead...

[Shule]

My favorite stable oxhearts for flavor that I've tried are Golden King of Siberia and Thessie O (in no particular order).

GKoS is heavy on my stomach, though (as in, I feel full fast when eating it), but the taste is great. My neighbor loved that one.

[Paulf]

So far I have not met a heart I didn't like.

[Julianna]

I have avoided heart until this year due to the long season most require... however I am trying Yellowishorange Amish Oxheart this year along with Dwarf Pink Passion. Others may end up on my list as I have seeds for them AND I won't start tomatoes until tomorrow at the earliest... I keep trying to cut my list down but sob it keeps getting longer instead...

Yes! How does that work? You say to yourself, I a only going to plant X number of tomatoes. You feel proud and happy with your decision. Within a few hours to a few weeks, you see one you really have to have. Then you say, it's ok. It is just one more. Repeat cycle without tallying, then 20+ additions later you realize you are so out of control. . lol.

OMG that amish yellowish orange oxheart! That is like a dream! But I don't see any sources. Yet another wishlisted one!

[Julianna]

My favorite stable oxhearts for flavor that I've tried are Golden King of Siberia and Thessie O (in no particular order).

GKoS is heavy on my stomach, though (as in, I feel full fast when eating it), but the taste is great. My neighbor loved that one.

Oh those look fantastic! I found German Pink to be like that with me. Heavy flesh and seemingly a lot of water. I know that feeling!

[Julianna]

So far I have not met a heart I didn't like.

Same!

[Tormahto]

So far I have not met a heart I didn't like.

I'll never introduce you, then, to "Wretched Heart" (a natural cross that showed up in my garden a few years ago).

One bad one, out of about 200 heart varieties trialed, is still good odds.

[Paulf]

So far I have not met a heart I didn't like.

I'll never introduce you, then, to "Wretched Heart" (a natural cross that showed up in my garden a few years ago).

One bad one, out of about 200 heart varieties trialed, is still good odds.

But then, you had to cross a good heart with some unknown bad tomato to get a "wretched" one

[Shule]

My favorite stable oxhearts for flavor that I've tried are Golden King of Siberia and Thessie O (in no particular order).

GKoS is heavy on my stomach, though (as in, I feel full fast when eating it), but the taste is great. My neighbor loved that one.

Oh those look fantastic! I found German Pink to be like that with me. Heavy flesh and seemingly a lot of water. I know that feeling!

Oh! Taiga is another good one for flavor. I thought I was forgetting one.

That's very interesting that German Pink was heavier and watery for you. My German Pink was really light! Very meaty and hardly any juice. It was in clay-ish soil, with extra potassium added (that could understandably change the texture; with some varieties, that seems to make them mealy, but not German Pink in 2015). That was a record-breaking year for heat, which also may have made a difference.

[Julianna]

My favorite stable oxhearts for flavor that I've tried are Golden King of Siberia and Thessie O (in no particular order).

GKoS is heavy on my stomach, though (as in, I feel full fast when eating it), but the taste is great. My neighbor loved that one.

Oh those look fantastic! I found German Pink to be like that with me. Heavy flesh and seemingly a lot of water. I know that feeling!

Oh! Taiga is another good one for flavor. I thought I was forgetting one.

That's very interesting that German Pink was heavier and watery for you. My German Pink was really light! Very meaty and hardly any juice. It was in clay-ish soil, with extra potassium added (that could understandably change the texture; with some varieties, that seems to make them mealy, but not German Pink in 2015). That was a record-breaking year for heat, which also may have made a difference.

We stay super cool all year round. Summers are 3 months of fog and temps in thr mid 60s with lows in the 50s. It could have been the fact we watered (but no rain from April through October or so). Our soil is a sandy loam. Heavy on the sand -- it was the edge of the dunes. Grows great crops if it weren't for the gophers. Things took off like crazy. GP, Cherokee Purple, and most of the tomatoes were mealy or bland until the fall "heatwaves" where we have a few days in the 70s here and there. I think our temps are the primary factor in our flavors here. Because once things warmed up more, thr flavor came on. Some tomatoes did well the whole time though, and that is where the fun in experimentation happens!

[wykvlvr]

OMG that amish yellowish orange oxheart! That is like a dream! But I don't see any sources. Yet another wishlisted one!

It is from the MMMM swap from OhioGardner who said this about it in the spoiler thread.

"AMISH YELLOWISH ORANGE OXHEART (2020) – Indet., RL, early , 10 – 14 oz oxhearts. Sweet. Prolific. High in tetra-cis-lycopene. Imported directly from HFCRT w/ USDA permit."

and boy I really mangled the name in my first post. It is one of the many I am really looking forward to and have on my list of must save seeds from. And my list is more like hmm I want one of that color and that color and those leaves and my dwarf list is really long but I have semi gotten the list for the garden down to more manageable numbers... I should be planting my first batch today well yesterday actually but I keep getting distracted...

[Julianna]

It is from the MMMM swap from OhioGardner who said this about it in the spoiler thread.

"AMISH YELLOWISH ORANGE OXHEART (2020) – Indet., RL, early , 10 – 14 oz oxhearts. Sweet. Prolific. High in tetra-cis-lycopene. Imported directly from HFCRT w/ USDA permit."

and boy I really mangled the name in my first post. It is one of the many I am really looking forward to and have on my list of must save seeds from. And my list is more like hmm I want one of that color and that color and those leaves and my dwarf list is really long but I have semi gotten the list for the garden down to more manageable numbers... I should be planting my first batch today well yesterday actually but I keep getting distracted...

That sounds like my decision process! Lol! Also toss in some specific things here and there. Then i look through all the things I impulse bought and put together a plan.

If I had thought it through last season, I would have saved more seeds from my grow outs. I just saved enough for myself which will not be how I do it this time around since I will save with trading in mind.

That description is heavenly. AYOO is firmly on the want list for me!