Gary O'Sena was a good flavored but relatively less productive tomato compared to Liz Birt and Dora. The flavor is more on the dense smoky side to me. Fruit shape was a problem with a rather distinctive circular deformation near the blossom end scar. This is the same as Brandywine normally produces but was deeper.
Liz Birt was exceptional all the way around. The flavor is very similar to Cherokee Purple but with significantly increased production. The only flaw with this tomato was that I got a few plants that produced pink fruit. It needs another round or two of stabilization. The pink fruit were very good flavored so I considered saving them as a separate line. I am providing seed of Liz Birt to Sandhill Preservation for sale next year. I have about 50,000 seed saved from 24 plants.
Dora was very productive with liighter colored fruit than the other two. I would rank it as an almost pink like Brandywine. Flavor was outstanding. Production was medium. Dora's fruit form was significantly better than the other two. Gary O'Sena had a significan problem with blossom scar deformation. Dora made solid fruit down to a round or slightly stitched scar.
I will be growing all three varieties next year but will push the Liz Birt because of ease of growing and total production. I picked fruit from Liz Birt plants yesterday. They produced a heavy primary crop and have continued to set a few tomatoes for the last 3 months. Thats a looooong time in this neck of the woods.
I emphasize that all three of these varieties are easily ranked 8 or better for flavor. Production should also be kept in perspective. All of these were good with production comparable to Red Brandywine. Liz Birt stood out because it outproduced most other varieties.
Fusion
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