[SIZE=3]we grow and sell various types of blacks at our market here in OK, but of course cherokee purple is the most popular. Also J.D.s' stands up well here. dave [/SIZE]

Black Krim is the most productive of your 4 choices for me here in SW Ohio. I love the taste and it has a nice look to it. JD's is my fav of your 4 choices for taste, but if I had to choose for production, I'd go with the Black Krim. You will get green shoulders with it, but it's not bad for catfacing or cracking for me.

i vote black krim

I like CP and JD's (both very similar IMO) over BK. Have not tried PR. BK had a kind of mealy texture that I didn't like.

Grew Indian Stripe for the first time last year in DFW and it had excellent yeilds of large, pretty toms. My avatar is a sliced I.S. It was so successful that this year it will replace Cherokee Purple as my only black (other than Black Cherry).

JD's I grew last year out performed all other blacks(in taste, texture, production) - mine were largely boatshaped (though some rounder, esp. later in season - as in November LOL), 8 - 12 ounce range, with high meat/seed ratio, seed in locules, flesh juicy but not watery, balanced flavors, beautiful colors, no cracking or splitting (our sandy soil doesn't hold water well), able to hold several days after picking w/o going soft, vigorous plant (!).

Black Krim (great taste but very prone to cracking & went from under ripe to too soft in the blink of an eye for me)
Sara Black (nice shape, not crack prone like others, didn't get too soft as fast but not as great flavor)
BFT (nice taste, crack prone, not as good production & more seedy-gel than JD)
CP (great taste, cracks easily, goes from perfect to soft in under 2 days, good production - on par with JD's, CP was DH FAVORITE tomato of 2009)
Carbon (nice beefsteaks, not prone to crack, flavor not as good IMO as JD's or CP, lower production, better keeper)Those were my experiences in hot, humid but droughty conditions. Hope they help.

In my area, down Tennessee way, have always liked Cherokee the best but had excellent experience with Paul Roberson last year as well....Gizz

What, only 1 black? :shock: I think I've got at least 5! I can't narrow them down to only one! :love:
[I]Dewayne mater: [/I]
[I]my only black (other than Black Cherry).[/I]

Thanks again for all of the posts. It's clear as mud now :D .

I will second the JD vote! I have grown Carbon, black krim, and cherokee purple as well but they cannot compare in yield or flavor to J.D. I am growing Black from Tula right now for the first time and am comparing it to Dana's dusky rose, J.D, and Indian Stripe. Will let you know which is the best in my area.

OK, forget about Flathead Monster as the production isn't there. Spudakee Purple and Black from Tula PL were my top two in production and taste plus showed better disease resistance than there RL brothers. JD's Special C-Tex and Rogers Best Black are one notch down with Roger's Best Black having awesome production. Glecklers has Spudakee and JD's and I can help you with BFT PL and Rogers Best Black. Ami

Thank you ALL for the insight. Appreciate the info Ami. I think I'm going to stick to the four I have and grow them out and see what I get in my dirt as it seems there is so much variance between regions and conditions I just have to find out for myself. I was 'hoping' there was a clear winner but I 'knew' I was going to have to grow them out.

I did grow JD's last year and it was a pretty productive tomato and had great taste. Just had that 'grazing' that goes circular around the shoulders, which it appears that the other black have as well (except maybe Cherokee Purple.?.).

Thanks again for all of the replies.

Always BLACK KRIM, but I'm also doing JDs special C-Tex along with 6 other blacks.

bama
yes I have a lot of blacks but this is first year for JD's C-TEX
Dennis

Out of Huge Black, Spudakee, Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee
Purple, and JD's Special C-Tex last year, Spudakee had the most
production (more tomatoes earlier than JD's, not quite as big).
Huge Black had the best looking tomatoes of those (no cracks,
no catfacing, no zippering, no anything), and excellent flavor.

None of them had disease (unusual summer).

With Chefs, one would think healed over concentric cracking
on top would not be an issue, since they are going to slice
them up anyway. (Huge fissures an inch deep, on the other
hand, might be a sticking point.)

I would give Brad's Black Heart a try, too. It is later than Black
Krim, but it tends to produce perfect tomatoes with no
blemishes of any kind and small numbers of seeds.
I bet Chef's would like them a lot. It is not dry-fleshed like
a paste tomato. I only grew it once during a cold summer,
so I have no good comparison information on production with
those dark beefsteaks mentioned earlier. It tasted a lot like
Black Krim to me.