Roma VF vs Roma

[Shule]

We've grown Roma multiple times in the past (although it's been a while). This year, I decided to grow Roma VF. A local friend of mine sang the praises of Roma VF's flavor (soon after he did the same for Black Krim), a number of years ago. He made it sound really good. Regular Roma has a pretty standard tomato flavor, in my experience; so, I was intrigued.

Anyway, I was excited to harvest the first ripe one, today, but I discovered that it had BER when I went to pick it. Sigh. However, BER tomatoes tend to have enhanced flavor, in my experience. So, I figured it would probably taste like a particularly good/concentrated one. I ate half of it, and gave the other half to another taster. It certainly tasted a lot different than regular Roma. It had a lot more kinds of flavor, and a different over-all flavor. It was really good. The other taster's conclusion was that she would need to eat a lot more of them to decide.

I'm curious what other people who have grown them both (or at least Roma VF) think.

I'm not ready to evaluate its production, yet. I'm hoping it produces all season, ending with a massive harvest, like regular Roma does. I hope the BER doesn't last long.

[JRinPA]

what does the vf stand for?

[Amateurinawe]

@JRinPA verticilium and fusarium wilt resistance

[Shule]

@JRinPA
As Amateurinawe pointed out, in other words, that means it's supposed to be resistant to Verticillium wilt (probably the two most well-known species of it) and at least one kind of Fusarium wilt.

We ate some more of these, a while ago. The new ones were really hard/chewy, actually! They reminded me of dried fruit and/or like fresh firm sour plums, but they weren't dried. They were considerably more sour and than the first one, too, and tasted totally different (I think that's the weather, because a lot of the tomatoes tasted similar, sans the texture, around that time). The other taster thought it was just the skins that were tough, but I disagreed (the walls were tough, too, IMO).

I think what they need is magnesium.

I can vouch for the Verticillium resistance already. Roma VF isn't totally immune, but they've definitely got some resistance; enough to impress me.

[JRinPA]

So the taste is about the same as regular Roma, then?

[Shule]

@JRinPA
Oh no. It's totally different.

The acidic-tasting Roma VF fruits were much more acidic in flavor, and much firmer than regular Roma. The softer Roma VF fruit had a similar texture, but a totally different flavor than regular Roma. They do look the same, however. I think regular Roma is juicier.

[Shule]

I've actually been looking for super firm tomatoes, since I read that they're supposed to be high in pectin.

[Shule]

So, I tried some Roma VF tomatoes that had been ripening for a super long time. Guess what? They're still firm, even though they're very ripe! However, the extra ripening makes them extra red, which is nice. I plan to grow more of these next year.

[Shule]

Okay, now that our first frost is approaching (it's supposed to be 32° F. on Sunday), I've assessed our Roma VF plants more thoroughly, and harvested a lot of tomatoes from them. They're very prolific at the end of the season, like I was hoping—just like regular Roma. So, I'm very pleased. I plan to grow several. They do indeed resist the Verticillium; the stems aren't wilting like they are on many other plants. A lot of the other plants waited until about now to do it, though. Roma VF did have some foliar symptoms, but it wasn't too bad, especially considering the disease pressure.

So, next year, I plan to give them some magnesium. We'll see how they taste then.

It should be noted that I'm comparing seed-grown Roma VF plants with store-bought regular Roma plants, but the Roma VF definitely compares (even without considering that). On average, I think regular Roma has more taste, though (or it did when we grew it last).