2017 year in review

[PaulF]

For the umpteenth year, maybe fifteen, this is the year-end wrap-up of the tomato season, this one for 2017. Several categories will be discussed to give an idea of the growing season as compared to past years. Most of this is for my own benefit so this whole thread can be skipped. I still will publish.

Most productive variety by weight:
Marianna’s Peace 51lbs 2 ounces
2. Russian Bogytar 47lbs 12 ounces
3. Kellogg’s Breakfast 43 lbs 13 ounces
4. Big Cheef 43 lbs 10 ounces

Most tomatoes by number:

1. Big Cheef 133
2. Russian Bogytar 128
3. Marianna’s Peace 115

largest average size:

Heatherington Pink, Cowlick’s Brandywine, Kellogg’s Breakfast all about 11 ounces

Yearly production of all varieties: 565 pounds by 26 plants=21.7 lbs per plant. This is about the same as last year and in the top 5 years in the past 15 years.

Now the most important…flavor ratings. This year’s winner as judged by my wife and me is Daniel Burson, scoring 9.5 of 10.

These varieties all were in the 9/10 range, the most considered nines in many years in no particular order:
Rebel Yell, Heatherington Pink, Ernesto, Cowlick’s Brandywine and Ludmilla’s Pink.

To indicate the flavor quality of this year these were considered 8/10:
Big Cheef, Brad’s Black Heart, Orange Russian 117, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Blue Ridge Mountain, Earl’s Faux, Joe’s Portuguese and Wes.

To recap, this was a fun year with no real catastrophes but with a fairly average production year. September production was off the scale high with almost 50% of the ripe fruit happening after September and well into October. All plants were pulled before the first hard freeze (tonight, 10-27 will be 27 degrees) because the plants just wore out.

Next year will be all blacks with a heart or two and a yellow or orange tossed in.

Paul