Heirlooms NOT to grow!

I can;t think of a variety I don't like. With growing space for about thirty varieties each year, I always rotate the least desirable out of my garden after a couple of years.

Black Krim was rotated out after two years because of it's tendency to become mealy and mushy on the day after it ripens. It tasted very good, it was pretty early, it was very productive.

Pineapple and most multicolor varieties have been rotated out because of their tendency to liquefy when they ripen. They taste good. They have good production of large tomatoes.

I grew Jaune Flamme for three years, but couldn't figure out why most people like it. It never had a good taste for me. Production was very good.

Porters Improved was a very good tomato. It was very productive. Unfortunately, it tasted like most of the larger tomatoes in my garden. I can't see growing small tomatoes which taste like the larger varieties. If it had been an early variety like Moravski Div or Fourth Of July, it would have probably retained a place in my garden.

I think this is my last year growing Kosovo. It is growing beside Wes. Wes has probably twenty large, heart shaped tomatoes on the vines. Kosovo only has two, large, heart shaped tomatoes. Both have tasted good in the past, but I believe Wes tasted slightly better. In appearance and size they are almost identical.

Ted

[charley]

when i was a kid my grand pa would buy vegetable and fruit from one place and take it somewhere else and sell them for a profit.he pulled up one day and my dad told me to try one of the tomatoes and i told him no i dont like tomatoes but he insisted that i would like it.so i tryed it and it was the sweetest tomatoe i ever ate and i knew then why they say a tomatoe is a fruit.and i asked what kind it was and they told me it was arkansas traverlers.so i tryed to grow them a few year ago but to my dismay they were watery and mealy.then i remembered that my grand pa said the man that sold the tomatoes to him told him its more about how you grow them than what you grow.he said all he did was add a abundant amount of cow manure and the only water they got was when it rained.so i tryed that concept to my garden and gave each plant a 5 gallon bucket of compost and the only water they got was rain and if they wilted i gave them a small drink just to bring them back and to my suprise the flavor dramatically increased.kinda like when you make tomatoe paste take out all that water and wow.sorry for the long poast and spelling

[charley]

in conclusion i never did get my travlers to tast as good as the old mans but it did change my opinion about the tomatoe from a spiter to a good tomtoe and that could be a veritable in the wide range of opinions about certian varieties

[charley]

ok ive drank to much coffie this morning and just rambling on.but somthing else ive noticed is ive been looking at alot of russian varietys and they have alot of heart tomatoes and not all but alot of hearts have wispy leaves maybe to let more light in to help heat up the soil.whereas that might not be a good thing in texas.hearts and paste tomatoes for some reason do not do good in my soil

[Worth1]

Charley the wispy leaves do make a difference here.
I tried New Yorker ((Wispy leaves)) one year and it of all the plants had nothing but ruined sunburned tomatoes on it.
Now where was this tomato placed you might ask.
On the very southern facing row of plants facing the sun (poor thing).
I have now learned that here in this blazing inferno wispy foliage needs to be protected by other more hardy plants.
Plant them behind these other plants for a little more shade and they do just fine.
Worth

[Redbaron]

You are right Charley. Makes a huge difference.

[joseph]

For me, I don't really have any way of determining if a variety is an heirloom. I'm a bit anal, so to me the definition of heirloom requires that it's been grown since before I was born... I'm certainly not going to spend the time to do the research. But, among varieties that have come to me labeled "heirloom" I have never yet found one that grew well for me. So my basic strategy is to avoid growing anything that claims to be heirloom.

I attribute the lack of success to two things:

• The varieties were developed in far away places with different climates, soils, and bugs, and by farmers with different habits than I have. So they are not localized to my growing conditions.
• Inbreeding depression. 60 years worth of inbreeding isn't good for any variety.

I am certain that the primary scientific literature supports my stance that inbreeding depression is a significant problem with tomatoes. There are lots of Internet rumors that inbreeding depression doesn't affect tomatoes, but those are not primary sources. The people that actually test for inbreeding depression find a lot of it in heirloom tomatoes. This is further confirmed in my mind by the stunning success of hybrid tomatoes: They are exhibiting hybrid vigor.

[Blueaussi]

There seems to be an assumption that self-fertile tomatoes will automatically doom a plant to inbreeding depression. However, selecting the most robust plants to save seed from can also help purge the unhealthy or less desirous traits from a variety.

[charley]

too funny worth.they need a like button

[snugglekitten]

I think the Russians in general are made for immediate consumption and not made to be gassed and stored, so when I eat Russian varieties I eat them right off the vine, and they are almost always worth it.

[Alpinejs]

Yrs. ago, it was advised to always give a tomato a 2nd chance. Well, I grew pineapple and
black pear twice. Never got a single mater off pineapple and the black pear sucked. In both
cases, the raves from Tomatovillians made me give the a THIRD TRY;

We got tons of delicious pineapple tomatoes and this past summer, out of about 140 varieties in my Canada garden, black pear was the hands down winner for both production and for flavor.

Alll that said, I have given up on Silvery Fir Tree and Garden Peach.

[Cole_Robbie]

Violet Jasper is pretty awful. It's a never-again for me.

[Stvrob]

Japanese Black Trifle

[snugglekitten]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

Japanese Black Trifle

Ouch. The truth does hurt.

thats all I gots to say.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by snugglekitten

Ouch. The truth does hurt.

thats all I gots to say.

It did well for me.