Favorite hybrids among this list?

[zendog]

While I mostly grow heirlooms and other OP tomatoes for myself, I do grow a bunch of seedlings that I donate to the local PTA plant sale and have decided to offer more hybrids this year since so many beginning gardeners benefit from something a little more bullet proof.

I also requested and received a bunch from the MMMM and was wondering what peoples' experiences were with any of these. I offered Big Beef to the sale last year and people really enjoyed it, including the taste, so that is on the list already. Momotaro is also on my list, since I've wanted to try it for a while. Do you see any in the list below that you've had good experience with? Disease resistance and productivity are important, but I definitely want to focus on better-tasting hybrids as a priority.

Goliath F1
Big Boy F1
Better Boy F1
Porterhouse F1
Super Fantastic F1
Steak Sandwich F1
Brandy Boy F1
Whopper F1
Beefmaster F1
Jet Star F1

[habitat-gardener]

I grew Brandy Boy last year. I happened to be in the nursery and these very robust plants were on the shelf in front. And one of them followed me home.
Anyway, it was a monster of a plant that produced quite a few big tomatoes with good flavor. Iirc they were a little earlier than some of my other big tomatoes, because the BB plant started out bigger and had a head start.

[FarmerShawn]

Ive grown Big Boy and Jet Star every year for years. BB for flavor, JS for productivity, though it has fine flavor, too.

[Mark_Thompson]

Love Brandy Boy, one of my favorites

[Shule]

Flavor-wise, I'd probably go in this order:
1. Better Boy F1 (I was really impressed with it's taste, density, and texture)
2. Brandy Boy F1 (good flavor)
3. Whopper F1 (if this is the same as Park's Whopper F1, that is; it has really nice, thin skin and is a joy to eat, although it's mild)
4. Big Boy F1 (for me it had nice big uniform fruits with average, but not bad, flavor; the over all plant and its fruit reminded me of Celebrity F1, with somewhat better taste, somewhat lower production, somewhat later maturity, a longer fruiting season, and maybe somewhat taller fruits.)

Production-wise, this is what did the best for me:
1. Big Boy F1
2. Brandy Boy F1 (this might have done better with an earlier germination, but it sprouted late, with similar production as a late-sprouting Thessaloniki)
3. Everything else I've tried in the list

I pretty much had either stunted plants or no production with these:
* Better Boy F1 (the ones I actually tasted were my neighbor's)
* Beefmaster F1 (low to no production; it may have been because of the soil)

I've started plants for Jet Star F1, and Super Fantastic F1, but I gave them to a friend, who seemed happy with the results when I asked after the season was over.

I haven't grown or tasted the others, but I have grown and tasted Bush Goliath F1; I'd rank its flavor as average; maybe a little more potent than Big Boy F1 was, but not better than it.

[Growing Coastal]

Super Fantastic is a variety we grew in greenhouses as a commercial crop in the '70's so it's been around a long while!
Productive, round, med-large, good balanced flavour.

[pepperhead212]

Big Boy, Better Boy, and several other hybrids not on the list, I used to grow in my early days, before I started growing from seed, but they were nothing like the new ones I started growing from seed, when tasted side by side, so they were dropped from my list. Brandy Boy I tried when it came out, and it had great flavor, and production, but succumbed to a blight, two years in a row. Goliath I tried, but it was disease prone, despite the description, and Jet Star did well, but always had a large white core that I had to cut out - a huge portion of each tomato. I was not impressed with Beefmaster - low production, and nothing special about the taste.

Later, Big Beef became my favorite hybrid, that I still grow to this day; Sunsugar is the cherry hybrid I have grown the most. Many others I have tried, but those are the only hybrids on my "old varieties" list. As all of us do, I keep looking for keepers!

[Nan6b]

I'd also recommend Early Girl F1 for production and good taste.

[Cole_Robbie]

Agreed on early girl. It is a very common variety near me. I am also seeing pink girl for sale at the market.
I grew up eating jet star; they are identical in flavor to big beef in my garden. The plants don't get as big as big beef. Big and better boy I can't tell apart. When the weather is just right, these red hybrids all taste excellent. Flavor is best when it stops raining in the weeks before harvest.

[Hucksmom]

I like Bear Creek.

[Tormahto]

Momotaro is the only one getting a trial spot in my "garden of excellence". For now, SunGold has been my only hybrid repeat.

[karstopography]

Super fantastic has a bigger footprint, spread than most other types I’ve grown as measured from single vine to leaf tip. I estimate about a foot larger diameter than something like Carmello or Pineapple. Production was good, flavor, I don’t recall it being particularly good or especially bad. I probably wouldn’t grow it again just because of the extra space it took up didn’t translate to more production or superior flavor.

[Gardadore]

Planted “Boy” tomatoes too long ago to comment but do remember Momotaro being excellent and Sun Gold a yearly event.

[MissS]

I grew hybrids many years ago but for the life of me I can not remember how they tasted. I do know that one year I grew two heirlooms and they blew all of the hybrids that I had grown away by far. I do grow Sun Gold and Sun Sugar every year though.

I do know that all of the hybrids that you have mentioned do have a very good following with some folks and are quite popular. I wish you luck with them and would love to hear about how they do for you and what you think of them!

[Donnyboy]

I don't grow any tomatoes with Boy or Girl in it's name. I insist on gender neutral tomato plants. It's time for the vast gardening industry to become woke. My current hybrid list includes only Heatmaster, Big Beef; and an experimental with only numbers in it's name. I'm woke.

[JRinPA]

I know you are making an effort but...Beef refers to meat and may offend some. Big also, because it sounds too competitive. Everything should be equal. And Master...I can't believe you would even type that word. To be safe, I think you should restrict yourself further.

I will submit this to be the most bland inoffensive hybrid tomato and therefore should be the favorite: 935569 7327 31

[AlittleSalt]

Sungold - I apologize if any vampires read this.
Big Beef - No it doesn't come from a cow/bull.
Jet Star - I haven't tried it yet. But if you can use it as a stargate as in Stargate SG1, let me know.

[Tormahto]

I don't grow any tomatoes with Boy or Girl in it's name. I insist on gender neutral tomato plants. It's time for the vast gardening industry to become woke. My current hybrid list includes only Heatmaster, Big Beef; and an experimental with only numbers in it's name. I'm woke.

Can you make tomato Pi with the experimental one?

[JRinPA]

From that list I have only grown big boy and better boy. Been a while though, because after I grew big beef the first time I switched over to that. Brandy Boy is the one from that list that I'd still like to try at some point.

[Donnyboy]

From that list I have only grown big boy and better boy. Been a while though, because after I grew big beef the first time I switched over to that. Brandy Boy is the one from that list that I'd still like to try at some point.

Nope, tomato pi only works with numerical, experimental, exponential, sequential; hybrid tomatoes with some gmo in the mix for flavor.