Last summer, my family's garden produced the best-tasting Big Beef I have ever tried. It did not rain at all in June, so they were dry-farmed.

I had Goliath a few years ago, and didn't care for the flavor, but now in hindsight, I think my soil could have used a lot of improvement, and it might taste better in better soil.

The 3 hybrids that will always have a place in my garden are Momotaro, Odoriko & Sungold. I'll be trying Brandy Boy for the first time this year.

I've grown many over the years and this year I've narrowed it down to 10 Sun Gold (give aways and home use), 50 Cherokee Purple (I know, not Hybrids) and 150 Big Beef.

[QUOTE=Cole_Robbie;621499]Last summer, my family's garden produced the best-tasting Big Beef I have ever tried. It did not rain at all in June, so they were dry-farmed.

I had Goliath a few years ago, and didn't care for the flavor, but now in hindsight, I think my soil could have used a lot of improvement, and it might taste better in better soil.[/QUOTE]

I also tried Goliath 4-5 years ago and thought it was outright bland, it produced a bunch of tomatoes though. Good for practicing a fast ball pitch at best.

[QUOTE=BigVanVader;621262]Well it certainly intensifies flavor, so I guess if the flavor is good to begin with it would usually be "better" but for SDV it was so intense it was almost bitter. I don't like red tomatoes though so there is that.

I want to try dry farming a few grafted Sweet Ozark Orange this year. They have a very good flavor that I feel could possibly be on the "best tomato ever!" level if I can succeed in intensifying them.[/QUOTE]

I have little, as in no experience with orange tomatos. BUt when ready all the descriptions on the Tomato Growers web site, I did realize most orange fleshed tomatos have a sweeter flesh. And then there are those that have a zippier impact on the taste buds.

I tend to be eco minded and view watering as a waste of my time....looking for a happy medium where tomatos have adequate water and good production using a watering system where I don't have to stand holding the hose. lol

When reading out on the WWW, a few numbers popped up regarding production weight using drying growing methods. In general both apples and tomatos have about 30% the production by weight compared to those on watering systems. No mention about flavor, keeping qualities, etc.

I can see the value of reducing the cost of water that is paid for certainly but also realize that when production is weight based, the cost of water is well covered by the huge increase in production, by pound.

For me, watering will not be an investment for the apple trees; they will need to be tough and adaptable. The tomatos though leave me wondering about the enhanced flavor...... or not. Seems side by side variety tests will require several seasons to find what I like.

[QUOTE=BruceinGa;622705]I've grown many over the years and this year I've narrowed it down to 10 Sun Gold (give aways and home use), 50 Cherokee Purple (I know, not Hybrids) and 150 Big Beef.[/QUOTE]


I picked up a recent publication for Tractor Supply Company because the Cherokee Purple feature caught my attention. A long article about the CP and Craig L's role in getting this seed well distributed.

Bet you are among the many fans of the CP.

[QUOTE=AKmark;622723]I also tried Goliath 4-5 years ago and thought it was outright bland, it produced a bunch of tomatoes though. Good for practicing a fast ball pitch at best.[/QUOTE]


A couple season ago I picked twice a week for the Community Garden and noticed that the two handful sized boat shaped red tomatos ( variety unkown) were more likely to be damaged during picking. Not clear why. Is it the deep set of the stem, the strong attachment that seems to need a pruner..... totally put me off this shape tomato, a shape that seems to develop in the very large tomatos......just my noobie observation. BUt it has colored my selection of tomatos for sure.

"picking" large tomatoes of any shape by pulling them off the vines is something I would never do.
Most of the time there are lesser ripe fruits in the cluster to remain and pulling off the ripe one risks ruining the cluster stem. I always use a pointed pruner and cut the stem while simultaneously holding the fruit I am removing. Pulling the stem off the fruit risks tearing the skin and fruit with the stem attached keep much better than ones where the stem has been removed on purpose or by accident. For sale, I think stems attached make them look home grown. Cannot pile or stack tomatoes with stems still on though as hard stems will puncture other fruit
KarenO

[QUOTE=KarenO;622803]"picking" large tomatoes of any shape by pulling them off the vines is something I would never do.
Most of the time there are lesser ripe fruits in the cluster to remain and pulling off the ripe one risks ruining the cluster stem. I always use a pointed pruner and cut the stem while simultaneously holding the fruit I am removing. Pulling the stem off the fruit risks tearing the skin and fruit with the stem attached keep much better than ones where the stem has been removed on purpose or by accident. For sale, I think stems attached make them look home grown. Cannot pile or stack tomatoes with stems still on though as hard stems will puncture other fruit
KarenO[/QUOTE]


Thanks for the details Karen. I'm VERY grateful/ glad to have a tested method of picking.

Sweet Tangerine from Burpee is pretty good. It produces heavily and medium size fruits are flavorful. A mild taste but still good. Mountain Fresh does well every year and is tasty and Defiant is another I like. Defiant seeds are pretty pricy though and supposed to be disease resistant.
Barb

Thanks for the suggestions Barb---the Sweet Tangerine would be worth looking for, even if I had to order from Burpee directly, gulp.

[QUOTE=AKmark;621226]Karen, great question. I do sell plants, and eventually would like the bulk of my plant sales to be my own stuff, and varieties from friends too. I also sell the classic heirlooms and hybrids also. I have Mat-Su, and Ak Sunrise and Sunset F6 F7, and a couple semi stable, and a bunch of crosses, F1 -F3. Sherry has several in the F6- F7 range, and many semi stable too. You will really like the stuff she is doing, all are very early and have good tastes, and they are so different from each other.

Anyway, to answer your question the best I can with limited experience. I cannot quite capture the earliness, and perfect shaped fruit of Brandywine x Bloody Butcher F1, and they are tasty too. The later generations look more like a typical heirloom with a little irregular shapes, are bigger, are also almost a week later to ripen, but they do taste a bit better to me.
On another note, for me the F1 negates BB. Maybe for a super early good tomato, that's as early, has a perfect shape, tastes better, and is bigger than BB, the F1 may be hard to beat. So I think it is up to the grower, you may choose a different one than I would. If we are dealing with good tomatoes, most offspring is pretty good too, in many combinations also.
A couple other semi stable ones are, PL Black Krim x PL Early Girl. The F1 is much earlier than the F4's, but I like the taste of three different versions that have been segregated better than the F1. Since EG is a hybrid, I had a few variations to select from, everything from small red tomatoes to purple beefsteaks, a very fun cross to tinker with. The F1 is more consistent, even though a hybrid was used, but I really like the semi stable ones.

BB X Dester follows the same pattern..

I am not sure if a pattern is clear though, but capturing that exact F1 has been tough for me. Personally I like stabilizing them, and think there are many opportunities in growing out crosses to get something that is good, and different.
Sherry may have an opinion on this, she has a few lines she has stabilized.[/QUOTE]

@Akmark and other experienced seed guys,
Kindly visit this my thread to see if you can be of assistance before I buy beefsteak varieties
[url]http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?p=631363#post631363[/url]

Neighbor has grown and tailgated 300-400 Goliath for yrs. The 10-12oz one that is. He sells big pink and red/yellow too but says the round red sells the best. Just the opposite of what I like which is Red/Yellow #1, Cherokee Purple #2 and big pinks #3 and red tomatoes last.

There are many new hybrids that should be quite good in the taste department. Look more towards what is being offered in Europe, as most often there you will find the new releases.
Try Country Taste F1 (haven't managed to find who bred it) and HTP11 by Hazera. Both are pink. Big Beef is also good, but only with under certain conditions, I found that too often it doesn't reach the potential.

I have one plant of Rebelski F1 in the high tunnel that looks great. I am eagerly waiting to see what the flavor is like.