Recommend me your go to jack of all trades tomato...

[isuhunter]

Looking for a tomato that will serve us well in homemade fresh salsa and also in canning salsa or juice. I'm thinking about renting a small city plot and planting another 10 tomatoes just for canning purposes.

What do you guys suggest? I haven't had good luck with San Marzano or Amish Paste.

Here is my grow list so far for this year

Big Beef
Brandy Boy
Rutgers
Cherokee Purple
Purple Russian
Wes
Pink Oxheart
Sungold
Isis Candy
Black Cherry

[FarmerShawn]

Costoluto Genovese is the first to mind, followed by Juliet. Or Opalka.

[PlainJane]

Eva Purple Ball.
High production, good flavor, fairly disease resistant even in N. Florida.

[brownrexx]

I grow Big Beef every year because it is a sure performer and I always get enough production to make my pasta sauce that I freeze. It is a hybrid and has a lot of disease resistance. I grow the heirlooms for fresh eating and I do mix some of them into my pasta sauce for their flavor but sometimes the heirlooms do not produce as big of a harvest so Big Beef is no go-to tomato for guaranteed production.

[habitat-gardener]

Rose de Berne is my "energizer bunny" variety. In a couple different climates/gardens it has been the most consistent producer. Not the best flavor, but good, and really reliable.

[isuhunter]

I grow Big Beef every year because it is a sure performer and I always get enough production to make my pasta sauce that I freeze. It is a hybrid and has a lot of disease resistance. I grow the heirlooms for fresh eating and I do mix some of them into my pasta sauce for their flavor but sometimes the heirlooms do not produce as big of a harvest so Big Beef is no go-to tomato for guaranteed production.

I used it after extensive recommendations on t-ville & gardenweb but last year was was greatly disappointed.

[brownrexx]

I grow Big Beef every year because it is a sure performer and I always get enough production to make my pasta sauce that I freeze. It is a hybrid and has a lot of disease resistance. I grow the heirlooms for fresh eating and I do mix some of them into my pasta sauce for their flavor but sometimes the heirlooms do not produce as big of a harvest so Big Beef is no go-to tomato for guaranteed production.

I used it after extensive recommendations on t-ville & gardenweb but last year was was greatly disappointed.

What disappointed you, the taste or the production? I have been pleased with both.

[isuhunter]

I grow Big Beef every year because it is a sure performer and I always get enough production to make my pasta sauce that I freeze. It is a hybrid and has a lot of disease resistance. I grow the heirlooms for fresh eating and I do mix some of them into my pasta sauce for their flavor but sometimes the heirlooms do not produce as big of a harvest so Big Beef is no go-to tomato for guaranteed production.

I used it after extensive recommendations on t-ville & gardenweb but last year was was greatly disappointed.

What disappointed you, the taste or the production? I have been pleased with both.

Production wasn't what it had been and the taste was very mild. We probably had a bad year with wet spring (late planting), dry summer, and wet harvest.

[brownrexx]

Weather can make a huge taste difference in many fruits and vegetables. One year we had a very wet period before the strawberry harvest at a local farm and the berries had almost no taste at all when they were usually incredibly sweet. I have heard the same thing about melons so maybe tomatoes get less tasty with excess water at harvest time too.

[bower]

Yeah the flavor washout is a common complaint from too much rain or too much watering of tomatoes. It would be hard to recommend a tomato that is at its best in all conditions.
Moravsky Div for example, is a 'go to' here that is guaranteed to produce a bundle even if we swing to the colder end of normal.
That 'Purple Russian' on your list - if it is aka Ukraine Purple - produced heaps of fruit for us, but flavor was mild - at least, that season..
I had a CG type fruit from a pack of Anna Russian seeds one year, and it was really productive. I never did figure out if it was a cross or a stray seed - I saved a bunch of seeds from it but never had space to grow them out.

[Nan6b]

Big Beef is a good one; reliable production and taste (also very pretty tomatoes); it's my mother's go-to for sauce & everything else. My own go-to for a reliable, good-tasting, large, productive tom (used in sauce & everything else) is Dotson's Lebanese Heart, which probably has a lot of the same characteristics as Omar's Lebanese.

[isuhunter]

Appreciate all the input!!

I want to try a few of these. Now to source some seed.

[Clkeiper]

Bigbeef has been my go to for years. that said last year was a terrible production year for it. we had a cold wet Spring. they produced next to nothing for me for the first time ever.

[EdieJ]

For your area, German Red Strawberry should do well. It doesn't like southern heat but when we lived in Ohio we got a nice amount of huge meaty fruits. Broke my heart to find it doesn't do so good down here.

[Shule]

Early Girl F1 is pretty hard to beat for an all-purpose tomato. It produces quite well, and the taste is versatile. It's my favorite burrito tomato. The flavor is good in pasta sauce. Great in salads. I generally prefer the flavor of Mountain Princess (although EG produces more, especially at the end of the season, and is somewhat firmer). Store-bought EG plants have produced a lot better than the seed-grown one did for me (but it got a late start).

Just plain Roma is actually a great all-purpose tomato that shouldn't give any unpleasant surprises (if you avoid BER).

You might try Marion. I liked it a lot last year. It's supposed to have similarities with Rutgers, which I see you're growing (although Marion is indeterminate). I only ever knowingly ate it fresh, but it was excellent. It produced quite well and was surprisingly early, too.

Sausage is a good producer, as is Napoli. Not sure if the flavor profile is what you want, but possibly.

Thessaloniki is a good one with flavor and production. Brandy Boy F1 seems decent.

I haven't tried the following (yet), but I'd recommend reading up on them:
* Marzano Fire (sounds perfect to me)
* Trucker's Favorite
* Better Boy F1 (tasted, but haven't grown, yet; reviews compare very well against similar hybrids)
* Pantano Romanesco

[isuhunter]

Bigbeef has been my go to for years. that said last year was a terrible production year for it. we had a cold wet Spring. they produced next to nothing for me for the first time ever.

Exactly what we had in Iowa

[AZGardener]

I picked up a Big Beef plant at the local garden center today. I've not grown it before
but after reading the recommendations I want to give it a try here in the hot desert.

As for varieties that have done pretty well in the heat here are Juliet F1, Sungold F1,
Japanese Black Trifele, Turkish Ayla, and Cream Sausage.
I've about given up on Cherokee Purple. It doesn't seem to like my climate
or I haven't figured out what will make it happy.

[Cole_Robbie]

Big Beef is my favorite hybrid. If you want a bushier plant that is easier to trellis, Jet Star tastes just as good. I thought of Eva Purple Ball first when I read the thread title. AKMark on the other forum breeds great stuff. I like his Mat Su Express. I found a perfect companion to mat su to be Mr Bruno. It is an old Italian variety. The juice level is much lower than mat su, making it easier to use in some dishes.

[goodloe]

For me, Big Beef is hard to beat for production and disease resistance. The all around best tomato I've ever grown.

[AZGardener]

Sorry everyone for the duplicate post. I tried to delete it but it's a no-go. Maybe a mod can remove post #17.
[mention]Cole_Robbie[/mention] I tried Jet Star a few years back (before I was growing from seed) and once
the hot *105 plus degrees* days arrived it didn't make it. I've heard good things about it from people in other
climates tho'.
[mention]goodloe[/mention] Thanks for the input, I'll let everyone know how it grows for me.