I'll put a plug in for Romeo as well. Big, fat, meaty and, more importantly, dry.

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions, a lot to think about. Quick question, will starting the seedlings earlier, affect the longer maturity rates?

[QUOTE=Jwb4707;446942]Wow, thanks for all the suggestions, a lot to think about. Quick question, will starting the seedlings earlier, affect the longer maturity rates?[/QUOTE]

Yes it will but be reminded if you start too early you will have some huge plants to deal with before you can plant them out.

Not a bad thing but you have to be realistic and know what you can deal with.

What it will do is allow you more time with a bigger plant before your killing frost.

Worth

Awesome, ty

A couple more to add to your list, Ernesto and Rinaldo.

I'm particularly interested in romeo, Jersey devil, and cows tit seeds, if anyone knows reputable dealers.

[QUOTE=Jwb4707;447047]I'm particularly interested in romeo, Jersey devil, and cows tit seeds, if anyone knows reputable dealers.[/QUOTE]


PM me your address and I can send you Romeo and Jersey Devil.

I love Opalka and also Striped Roman for production, size and flavor.

[QUOTE=Jwb4707;446800]Hey All, I'm in pre planning mode for this year's garden, and can use some advice. I have a few raised beds, so my space is limited. Every year I grow some slicers, cherries, and paste varieties. I'll be honest, I've grown allot of hybrids over the years, mostly out of ignorance, but I've come to like the idea of harvesting my own seeds, so I'd like to go op, as much as I can. I'm looking for a large paste variety, indeterminate, with a mid season maturity. They are going directly into canning, so productivity is more of a priority. Thanks in advance[/QUOTE]
San Marzano is the gold standard paste tomato in my opinion, and plants are extremely prolific. They aren't an early-mid tomato tho.

Personally, I would not recommend Opalka. It doesn't like a lot of heat and humidity, and the heirloom is prone to blossom end rot. I have grafted and grown it in the ground. In the ground, fusarium wilt eats it up, and grafting gets the plant to thrive, but most fruit I picked last season was poor quality from blossom end rot.

I have also heard good things about Jersey Devil.

We used only Shannon's for a batch of sauce this year and it came out wonderful!!
Not BIG, some over 12 oz but most were in the 8 oz range.

Greg

[QUOTE=Patchofdirt;448419]Personally, I would not recommend Opalka. It doesn't like a lot of heat and humidity, and the heirloom is prone to blossom end rot. I have grafted and grown it in the ground. In the ground, fusarium wilt eats it up, and grafting gets the plant to thrive, but most fruit I picked last season was poor quality from blossom end rot.[/QUOTE]


Anyone else run into the same problems? I was planning on planting a few opalkas.

[QUOTE=Jwb4707;448566]Anyone else run into the same problems? I was planning on planting a few opalkas.[/QUOTE]

In my garden Opalka is a bit prone to blossom end rot, but I would rather take whatever steps I can to minimize that than give up the variety, it is that good. That said, I have not found a sure cure for the BER on Opalka yet. Growing them in the hoop house helps by providing better water control, but if the temps are right to favor rapid vegetative growth, the fruit suffers, it seems. Though I must say, at least half the time BER strikes on opalka, because the fruit are long, I can still count on getting about half of a good tomato; I just cut the rotten part off the bottom end, and use the good part. I could't sell them, but my sauce pot doesn't mind a bit.
Shawn

I've had a year or two where BER appeared in just about all my paste tomatoes for a short period of time during the growing season, but I'm guessing it was caused primarily by a watering issue because almost all got past it and produced good crops -- Opalka included. The one variety that never seems to shake it in my garden is anything in the San Marzano family.