2022 tomato review
 

Every year my threatened review is posted. So here is 2022:
This season had its ups and downs, mostly caused by fluctuating weather conditions. There were a couple of plants purchased from a local nursery that threw averages way off since they were NOT what the labels indicated. NOT Brandywine Red and NOT Cherokee Purple were the two most productive tomatoes in the garden. If they had been as tasty as the varieties indicated this may have been a good year. Too bad they were both less than average for flavor.

The year was actually saved by the yellow/gold/orange/bi-color varieties. More than normal of those colors were planted this year and I can't remember why. Since tomato harvest's first indicator is flavor, these are the varieties judged by those of us who actually ate them...myself and my wife. Best flavor on a five star scale: 5/5s, in no special order, were Amana Pink Heart, Tom's Yellow Wonder, Bull's Heart, Orange Oxheart, Kellogg's Breakfast, Delicious. At 4/5 , Church, Hays, Virginia Sweets, Amish Yellow, Akers West Virginia, Hillbilly.

Out of 27 plants the NOT varieties topped the total number of tomatoes harvested followed by Hays and Bull's Heart and Tom's Yellow Wonder.
The weight of tomatoes harvested from a single plant was headed by the NOT varieties followed by Hays, Tom's Yellow Wonder, Kellogg's Breakfast and Bull's Heart.

The largest average tomato from a single plant was Nelson's Golden Giant averaging 11.7 ounces, Orange Oxheart, 11.6, Virginia Sweets at 11.2 ounces.

Since I like to grow large varieties and I weigh each tomato as it is harvested (still anal after all these years) these were the largest single fruits this year: Tom's Yellow Wonder (20.7 oz.), Nelson's Golden Giant (20.2 oz), Bull's Heart (19.5 oz).

At 209 pounds of tomatoes the 27 plants, including the NOT varieties, the average harvest was 7.7 pounds per plant...way lower than the 20 year average of 16.5 pounds per plant. From the journals kept over the years there is no real trend other than lots of up years and down years. Temperatures, rainfall and other weather related history does not indicate any large changes. Last frost and first frost this yer was right at the dead center average dates for my garden. Rainfall is lower by a bit. Disease and pest problems were at a minimum.

My choice of varieties most likely was what caused the fluctuations in harvest numbers.

I love to read people's year-end reviews; thanks for posting yours. Did you have any guesses about which varieties your two "NOT" varieties actually were?

I've only grown two of the varieties you mentioned. Hillbilly was low production for me, and Kellogg's Breakfast was average production. Seems like in my garden the varieties with very large tomatoes generally don't produce as much total poundage as the 10-12oz varieties, which seems to be the sweet spot.

We had a very good year here. I didn't track production, but I know that my living room floor and cabinets were covered with large catering trays full of tomatoes from late July until three days ago. I tried a lot of new varieties this year and didn't like the flavor of some of them, but I certainly couldn't complain about the quantity. Into the sauce pot they went, and the flavor issues disappeared!

The not CP was around red and medium sized. BW was small round red just bigger than salad sized. No idea what they actually were. So much for trusting someone else to grow the plants.

[QUOTE=PaulF;769313]The not CP was around red and medium sized. BW was small round red just bigger than salad sized. No idea what they actually were. So much for trusting someone else to grow the plants.[/QUOTE]

Always best to do it yourself, when you can.

Always good to hear your year end report Paul !

Dan

[QUOTE=Fred Hempel;769315]Always best to do it yourself, when you can.[/QUOTE]

First time in many years purchased plants were put into the garden. Last minute decision because of a little space became available. Two varieties did not germinate so on a whim when visiting a trusted nursery I saw some nice looking plants of two varieties we love. Gave them a try but got fooled. Thing is, there are seeds in my inventory of these two.