What's your favorite Brad Gates tomato?
 

This is my first year growing a few of his tomatoes.

Black and Brown Boar is an amazing producer. I'm very happy with it's production, plus, it's just so pretty.

Brads Black Heart have an fantastic taste, but not a good producer for me.

Pink Berkeley Tie Die is another good one, though both PBTD & BTD has slowed production since this heat.

I want to try more of his next year. Any suggestions?

I've tried Beauty King, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, AAA Sweet Solano, Haley's Purple Comet and Porkchop, but this year's Brad's Black Heart is the only one I'd maybe consider growing again because of its taste. I've only grown 2 plants in one year, but I didn't like it as much as Chocolate Beefsteak, JD's Special C-Tex or Amazon Chocolate PL which I also grew this season.

Brads Black Heart is my new favorite, I have grown BTD, Sweet carneros, Porkchop, and Beauty King, Brads B/B Boar

Brad's Black Heart is tasty. I do like Pink Berkeley Tie Dye also - can't decide between the two. Beauty King - I'm waiting for that to ripen, lost a few to BER. Friends that I gave plants to have been very fond of Beauty King.

So far, I do not care for Berkeley Tie Dye - very very tart. I don't mind some acid, but this one puckers me like biting a lemon. We'll see how some of the later ones are.

Brad Gates is into tomatoes???????
I thought he was just into software.:?
I had no idea.
Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;233290]Brad Gates is into tomatoes???????
I thought he was just into software.:?
I had no idea.
Worth[/QUOTE]

Good ole Brad is breeding tomatoes along with eradicating polio.














Or was that Bill? :twisted:

So how is Brad's Black Heart producing for you? It seems like I've gotten less than half a dozen tomatoes so far.

[QUOTE=Dak;233292]So how is Brad's Black Heart producing for you? It seems like I've gotten less than half a dozen tomatoes so far.[/QUOTE]

We got about 7 fruits off of each of the two plants we grew and they were all in the 14 to 18 oz. range. Each plant was kept to only one vine. I did notice a fair amount of catfacing and splitting with them this year, but that was common with many varieties that I grew this year with the conditions we had.

At this point, I'm still trying to determine which varieties I like for taste- then I'll regrow giving the plants more space and room to flourish so I can compare them for productivity, etc. So even though it might be in the #4 spot now, I'm not ready to put it into the "never again" category yet.:)

I really like Pork Chop.
Remy

Ive heard of the gingerbread operating system but Pork Chop is a new one.
Does it work with the android system?

Wait a minute this isn't the smart phone forum.
I seem to have my posts crossed I bet those folks over there think I have lost my mind.:shock:

Worth

Kath, does Chocolate Beefsteak go by another name? I can't find any reference that has seeds.

Thanks for letting me know about Brads Black Heart, I thought perhaps it was the seed I used.

[QUOTE=Dak;233334]Kath, does Chocolate Beefsteak go by another name? I can't find any reference that has seeds.

Thanks for letting me know about Brads Black Heart, I thought perhaps it was the seed I used.[/QUOTE]

Sorry about the Chocolate Beefsteak- I should have mentioned something about that one because I nearly went crazy looking it up before I heard back from "casino" about this one. He's not sure that it isn't an already named variety, so the answer to the question is, "Yes, it might, but I have no idea what that name would be." I'll look up exactly what he said and get back to you. I'm not sure he gave seeds to anyone else to try this year, but it would be interesting to hear what they thought about it.

It sounds like we had a pretty similar experience this season with Brad's Black Heart, yes. Then again, maybe someone else has seeds from a plant that did much better in the production department?;)

On taste alone, Pink BTD.

For production + taste + dependability - Black and Brown Boar.

Dino Eggs is a nice one too. Not one he's offered on his site yet, but I could be mistaken. Surprisingly tasty for a productive, med-small striped yellow.

Honorable mentions for BTD Heart and Pork Chop.

Remy, could you tell us more about Pork Chop. I have a few seeds and don't know if it is worth growing them out.

Brad's Black Heart was good but only produced four fruits for me, so I won't be growing it again.
Ditto on Haley's Purple Comet. For a saladette (really large cherry) type, it produces near to nothing as I only got about 15-20 fruits from it. But the taste is really good. Too bad for the production part.

Sweet Carneros Pink is one of the mot beautiful tomatoes I've ever seen. Love the pale stripes in all shades of pink. Very productive. But it was so sour, I couldn't eat it. In my notes I renamed it 'Sourling'...

AAA Sweet Solano was a winner for me. Very productive, and extremely tasty.
You can eat it in two stages, when it first turns yellow and looses the green stripes (it tastes like a great mildly sweet lemonade in that stage) ad when it turns almost orange and very soft.
In that stage, there is nothing you can do with it except eat it out of hand. It's too soft for cutting, too sweet for salad and the skin gets quite tough but the taste is divine. I just break the skin and suck out the tomato heaven. Yum!!

My Brads Black Heart has survived for far with some huge fruits on top of a 5ft plant. I got some huge fruits this years from this 1 plant I am saving seeds now for next year. I am sure my disease here is from the terrible rain after July. White fly's were near my potato plants I saw early, they must have spread a disease around my other plants. Tough year so far like Kathy's funny looking plants 1 stem clear to the top with fruits on top and a few leaves on top

Iva, I'm terrible at describing tomato flavor but I think if you love AAA Sweet Solano, you'll also like Porkchop as to me the taste was similar to what you described for the yellow and green stripes stage...it was just too acidic tasting for me. It's a very pretty tomato, too, and it produced well but not as much as Pink Berkeley Tie Dye.

[QUOTE=Dak;233334]Kath, does Chocolate Beefsteak go by another name? I can't find any reference that has seeds.

Checked through my PMs, but realized that Joe (casino) posted a thread in General Discussions called, "need help identifying chocolate beefsteak" that discusses all that's really known about this variety.

[QUOTE=kath;233379][QUOTE=Dak;233334]Kath, does Chocolate Beefsteak go by another name? I can't find any reference that has seeds.

Checked through my PMs, but realized that Joe (casino) posted a thread in General Discussions called, "need help identifying chocolate beefsteak" that discusses all that's really known about this variety.[/QUOTE]

[URL]http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=17012&highlight=chocolate+beefsteak[/URL]

Above is the thread that discusses Chocolate Beefsteak and I still say there's no way to ID it for the reasons given in the thread. So if it's grown with a new name it's just growing something that originally had a name and then renamed.

And as I see it there's enough of that that happens already as some listings in the SSE YEarbook as well as some seeds traded illustrate. And I even list one in the SSE YEarbook and offered seeds for it here in my annual seed offer, I think, it's called Jean's Prize, named b'c it won so many awards at a Church exhibits each year. The family knows it once had a name but no one could remember it so they named it Jean's Prize. Fact is I like it b/c it has a real tomatoey taste, not sweet at all.

Am I getting persnikety in my old age or not when it comes to renaming varieties?:lol:

And 700 seeds in the package from which this one grew and not ONE of them IDed? Sheesh.:roll:

[QUOTE=kath;233377]Iva, I'm terrible at describing tomato flavor but I think if you love AAA Sweet Solano, you'll also like Porkchop as to me the taste was similar to what you described for the yellow and green stripes stage...it was just too acidic tasting for me. It's a very pretty tomato, too, and it produced well but not as much as Pink Berkeley Tie Dye.[/QUOTE]

Kath, thanks for the ifo, you just convinced me not to grow it8-)
I don't like acidic tomatoes, only sweet ones. Solano was like a nice lemonade, it had a nice sweetness to it and the acid tasted very lemony. It wasn't sour in the nasty way...

Thanks again!:D

Pork Chop is not sour. Maybe if it was eaten before totally ripe it could be more acidic tasting. When it is green and yellow striped it is not ripe yet. Here's a pic of how they look then.
[url]http://seedsample.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/porkstillgreen.jpg[/url]

They turn yellow and orange striped when ripe. They taste quite yummy then more like the sweet lemonade flavor you were describing before. Here's a pic of mine when ripe.
[url]http://seedsample.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/porkchop2.jpg[/url]
Remy

Black and Brown Boar is the only one of his varieties I've had much success with. It is an amazing tomato for flavor, beauty, and productivity!

Unfortunately, of those I tried (Brad's Black Heart, BTD, Pink BTD, a few others), they just don't do well in the Raleigh NC area - they become easily/early diseased, and yield is quite low. I've kind of given up on them, to tell the truth.

[QUOTE=Iva;233410]Kath, thanks for the ifo, you just convinced me not to grow it8-)
I don't like acidic tomatoes, only sweet ones. Solano was like a nice lemonade, it had a nice sweetness to it and the acid tasted very lemony. It wasn't sour in the nasty way...

Thanks again!:D[/QUOTE]

Oh, Iva, I don't want to talk anyone out of growing a tomato!:shock:

Looking at Remy's photos has me convinced I didn't wait long enough to try Porkchop- seems I had an unripe one and then just gave the others away!:oops:

Kath

Glad to know my observation is validated. AAA Solano produced 3 fruits before it succumbed to something. None of the 5 others produced well at all either. The PBTD fruit we got was tasty though.

[QUOTE=nctomatoman;233419]Unfortunately, of those I tried (Brad's Black Heart, BTD, Pink BTD, a few others), they just don't do well in the Raleigh NC area - they become easily/early diseased, and yield is quite low. I've kind of given up on them, to tell the truth.[/QUOTE]

Haley's Purple Comet gives me outstanding flavor late in the season, when others start to fade.

I know some of the "ole timers" have seen this photo before, but for the new TV members, I thought you might enjoy a bit of "eye-candy" from the WBF NORCATT 2007 event:

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/Heirloom_Tomatoes.jpg[/IMG]

Raybo;)

I still have that photo when you sent it inside one of your trades with me long ago. Great to see it again here!

Suzie

As far as productivity is concerned, I've heard that the plants next year (from your own saved seeds) should do far better, as they get a bit more adapted t the new growing climate. Some people had great success that way. So if you like the taste of a certain variety, try this!

[QUOTE=kath;233460]Oh, Iva, I don't want to talk anyone out of growing a tomato!:shock:

Looking at Remy's photos has me convinced I didn't wait long enough to try Porkchop- seems I had an unripe one and then just gave the others away!:oops:

Kath[/QUOTE]

Kath, don't worry, you didn't talk me out of growing it, I did that on my own. If it is similar to AAA Solano, I simply don't need to grow it. I like my tomatoes to stay a bit smaller, have too many beefsteaks already.

Thanks for the info Remy...

Which one would be recommended for AZ? We typically have a short spring season followed by brutally hot summers and a nice fall with warm days/ cool nights. A short season variety that tolerates dry weather and cool nights or longer season varieties and/or tomatoes that tolerate heat ( like CP and Arkansas Traveler) are examples of what has done well for me so far. I've not tried any of his varieties so far because our growing conditions are so opposite but I just love the looks of some of those tomatoes. I've been thinking that maybe BPTD or Black and Brown Boar might be a good spring or fall tomato?