Your Hardiest Varieties?
 

I think I found two this summer to add to my nearly "bullet-proof" varieties. Stellar and Mat-Su Express. Those get added to Burpee's Orange Wellington. Have you found any that seem to do really well, preferably year-after-year? I grow in EarthBoxes, mainly, so soil-borne diseases are not really an issue. I'm thinking primarily foliage disease tolerance.
-Larry

Petit moineau
 

The hardiest tomato variety I've tried may be "Petit moineau". It is an heirloom from Québec province, producing early, very small and very flavorful cherry tomatoes in abundance on (probably) semi-determinate plants. It is usually the first and the last plant from which I harvest tomatoes and has sometimes survived light frosts when nearby tomatoes died.

I did not grow it this summer because fruits are very small, but I wish I had grown one plant to eat tomatoes when I walk in the garden.

David

I used to grow matt's wild cherry,the plants would be alive til frost killed them,
but the tomatoes are the size of m&m's and difficult to pick.

Juliet F1 has been bulletproof in my garden for years now, and it's my wife's favorite to can whole.

Post Office Spoonful produces first, last, and in quantity, even with foliage diseases. Rampant growth outstrips the diseases. The fruits are 2/3" in diameter, and quite tasty.

I have to cast another vote for Juliet. She's always the last to go.

[QUOTE=FarmerShawn;745938]Juliet F1 has been bulletproof in my garden for years now, and it's my wife's favorite to can whole.[/QUOTE]

I have not grown Juliet F1 for a couple of years but agreed , it is a very good late producer. Interesting that you note your wife cans them - I was always impressed with how easily the skins come off.

I thought Juliet was a determinate type.
I was going to buy plants but that is what the label said.

For a small tomato, the largest and healthiest plant in my garden this year and still going strong in mid September on Vancouver Island is Fred Hempel’s Green Bee.
For a large size tomato, My own Polaris is the most productive and healthy in my garden. Still producing
KarenO

Every year the hardiest tomatoes are usually different from the year before. Conditions make a lot of difference between varieties and of course most seasons are very different in rainfall, disease pressure, insect pressure, temperatures, wind, and humidity levels. I don't grow any cherries anymore or any really small varieties since even with large varieties I get plenty of small ones from them near the end of the plants life.

Out of twenty plants set out at the end of March I still have a few still producing nice sized fruit on really long old vines. The ones that are producing the most and biggest fruits are Arkansas Traveler, Red Barn, German Johnson PL, Giant Belgium and Kentucky Wonder RL. I'm sure next year some of these will not be on the list and others will.

Bill

In my garden, Marglobe is pretty much bullet-proof.

So surprised to hear Juliet mentioned. I grew it back in the day, and it was foolproof but how does it taste?

Thick skin or thin?

Sweet?

----

Well, many of my favorites, I haven't grown that much, yet, but I can vouch for the following, for consistent year-after-year hardiness:

* Galapagos Island (the very early, yellow, marble-sized version that I have, which I got from wintersown.org in the fall of 2014)
* [URL="https://www.dianeseeds.com/tomato-orange-cherry.html"]Sweet Orange Cherry[/URL] (the place I got it just calls it Orange Cherry)
* Early Girl F1

It should be noted that Early Girl F1 changes a lot. The one they sell nowadays isn't the one they sold a little while ago, methinks, and it's changed in the past at least two or three times. Whatever the case, it's always worked out well, when purchased as a plant (it came from the nursury with a mild disease, this year, but it still has produced well anyway). I haven't given growing it from seed a good enough trial, yet, but I do have a seed-grown plant (which had a very late start).

Matt's Wild Cherry was probably about as big as four M&Ms for me, unless you mean the peanut ones. ;)

I've only grown it and Coyote this year, but they seem quite hardy.

[QUOTE=shule1;746096]Matt's Wild Cherry was probably about as big as four M&Ms for me, unless you mean the peanut ones. ;)

I've only grown it and Coyote this year, but they seem quite hardy.[/QUOTE]

I hear that, the things can survive a blast furnace and keep producing.:lol:

definitely have volunteers ever year after that if you grow them.
you can never get them all picked.
I used to just pick them by the branch.
M&M peanut size.

[QUOTE=slugworth;746072]I thought Juliet was a determinate type.
I was going to buy plants but that is what the label said.[/QUOTE]

Definitely indeterminate, and a 1999 AAS winner:

[url]https://all-americaselections.org/product/tomato-juliet/[/url]

[QUOTE=Barb_FL;746087]So surprised to hear Juliet mentioned. I grew it back in the day, and it was foolproof but how does it taste?

Thick skin or thin?

Sweet?
/QUOTE]

Taste (for me) is ok, it is not really a sweet tomato here.

Skin is thick, but what I noted to Farmer Shawn is that it comes off so easily when blanched.

Sweet? Jolly & Sugary from the same breeder (Known-You Seed) are both sweeter. They also do Golden Gem which is quite sweet.

It is hard to beat Arkansas Traveler for dependability. Will set fruit in any kind of weather

sin sugar
 

Sun sugar last till a hard freeze year after year and it tastes sooo good.

Jon

Galina is always my first ripe and the last plant standing. Last year I pulled it right before Thanksgiving - only because I wanted to put the garden to bed for the year. It was still blooming.

It seems to change every year but this time it has been Kentucky Beefsteak, Lemon Boy & Barnes Mountain Pink.

[QUOTE=seasyde;746211]Galina is always my first ripe and the last plant standing. Last year I pulled it right before Thanksgiving - only because I wanted to put the garden to bed for the year. It was still blooming.[/QUOTE]


+1

If Juliet is Determinate why do I always have 8 to 12 foot vines.

MikeInCypress

I have high bug and disease pressure in my suburban Tulsa backyard garden. Most of my plants are gone by mid-July. I've grown Karen's KARMA Pink for 2 years now, and it's been the last plant standing for both of those years.

Lee

[QUOTE=wxcrawler;746459]I have high bug and disease pressure in my suburban Tulsa backyard garden. Most of my plants are gone by mid-July. I've grown Karen's KARMA Pink for 2 years now, and it's been the last plant standing for both of those years.

Lee[/QUOTE]

That’s Awesome Lee!
KarenO

This is the first year I am growing varieties from KarenO as well, and they are very vigorous, and more disease resistant than plants near them. Some of the nearby plants include commercial hybrids.

Here is a pic of a basket of Stellar. One picking off one plant. About 20 tomatoes in the picking. They taste good, but not as juicy as many heirlooms. 4-8 ounces, each nearly perfect shape and virtually no cracking. Dense flesh and very little core. I think if I could only grow one tomato, this would be the one. Long shelf life on and off the plant.

GreatGardens, how long of a production season do the Stellars have? And would you describe them as mild, medium, or strong-flavored?

Larry - They are beautiful. Did you harvest any others previously from that same plant? I counted 24 in the basket.

That's quite an endorsement if you could grow just one plant. What score (1-10) would you give it for taste?