What tomatoes are worth growing from this list?

[Cole_Robbie]

I like White Cherry. My cousin grew Sakura, and it was pretty good for a hybrid red cherry.

[jtjmartin]

Oh, I can't believe no one has selected Black Krim/Black Cherry. I love dark tomatoes and these were two of the ones that started it all.

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

Oh, I can't believe no one has selected Black Krim/Black Cherry. I love dark tomatoes and these were two of the ones that started it all.

I agree, but both don't produce that many tomatoes here in my gardens in Texas. Both are wonderful tasting though.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

Oh, I can't believe no one has selected Black Krim/Black Cherry. I love dark tomatoes and these were two of the ones that started it all.

Black cherry too prone to disease and black krim is just so so flavor without great production.
That's why I said in central Texas in my garden.

[Cole_Robbie]

The OP is a little confusing. I had to read it a couple times. Black Cherry is on their list of what they have already grown. You have to download the seed catalog to see the other options.

I personally like Purple Bumble Bee better than Black Cherry, but some say the PBB skin is too tough. I had a saladette sized dark called Bola Maciza that was delicious. Dwarf Tasmanian Chocolate is still my favorite dark. It is as tasty as Paul Robeson, which for me made about three fruit per plant.

[ac21686]

Sorry about the confusing OP! I'll try to clean it up. Thank you for your input so far! I've never grown White Cherry and want the cherry tomato baskets to be as colorful as possible. What's the flavor like?

I ran into the skin toughness issue with the other BB, Sunrise, but on the other hand, I don't think it cracked once. It was disappointing flavor-wise and I read some of the advice here about when to pick it depending on what point of the season it was, but I never got the fruitier, sweet flavor I had read about, no matter what stage I picked it at. Maybe next year?

I absolutely love Paul Robeson but don't give it much garden space because of its (for me, anyway) poor production. I take it Dwarf Tasmanian is quite productive?

[Cole_Robbie]

Tasmanian Chocolate is a good producer, I think, especially for a dwarf. White Cherry can crack in wet weather, but I think is quite tasty, reminds me of white grapes.

And it is not on your list but Sun Chocola is a dark cherry worth growing, good flavor and tremendous production. My stink bugs liked it best, unfortunately.

[ac21686]

woops, double post

If I were selling them, if I had to choose from those on the list, with taste in mind, I might choose these varieties, although they're not all personal favorites, and many I haven't tried personally (but I read a lot of tomato reviews and opinions; however, take this list with a grain of salt); I'll put an exclamation mark by each you've already grown:

* Amana Orange (I wouldn't pass this one up)
* Amish Paste (most people love this)
* Aunt Gertie's Gold (many think it's one of the best-tasting; for me, it gets BER easily where I have it planted)
* !Aunt Ruby's German Green (many think this is one of the best-tasting tomatoes)
* !Beefsteak (said to be the same as Crimson Cushion and Red Ponderosa)
* !Better Boy (people generally like this more than other varieties with beef, boy, and such in their names)
* !Black Cherry (very popular flavor)
* !Black Krim (very popular flavor)
* Box Car Willie
* Yellow Brandywine (maybe also one or more other Brandywines)
* Caspian Pink (similar to Brandywine, but often preferred)
* Cherokee Green (people rave about the taste, which most don't think resembles that of Cherokee Purple, but some say it does)
* !Cherokee Purple (probably the most popular tomato online for taste)
* Chocolate Stripes
* Early Girl (some people don't like the flavor, and some people love it; to me, it often tastes different, even throughout the year, not to mention on different years in different soils; sometimes I love it; sometimes it's just decent; sometimes it's super sweet; sometimes it's sour; great production; for me it tends to be early when purchased as a plant; I personally love it)
* Hillbilly (never tried it; late, but a lot of people love it)
* Husky Cherry Red (although I love it for its production and earliness, I'm not impressed terribly by the flavor, but some people love the flavor; great growth habit)
* Husky Red (I like the texture; the flavor isn't knock your socks off good, but it's good for practical kitchen tomato use; those who like Bush Early Girl II might prefer this; my experience is with a regular leaf though semi-dwarf stiff plant, rather than a rugose; so, mine might have been the matriarchal parent of the hybrid; firm, round, decent-sized fruits)
* !Jetstar (one that people who love mild tomatoes seem to enjoy)
* Pruden's Purple (very tasty; easy-to-grow, early and heat-tolerant, but mine wasn't prolific)
* !Sungold (probably the most popular cherry tomato for sweet taste)
* Supersteak
* Maybe Chocolate Sprinkles (haven't seen much data from non-commercial growers, but it sounds like it tastes great from what I have found)

People probably want an early-ish yellow tomato, too. So, although I don't particularly recommend them, you might try Lemon Boy, Yellow Pear, Yellow Plum, or such. I'm curious what Yellow Plum tastes like.

Gold Medal is a bicolor that has people raving about it and people raving against it, too. More people seem to favor it this year than the last few years.

Pineapple has a good following for those who like mild, late tomatoes.

[ac21686]

Thanks so much shule! Incredibly helpful (as is all the other information).

I think I'll grow larger yellows next season. They're eye catching on the table and in the past, far better sellers than purple/dark tomatoes in this area. I grow Brandywine Sudduth's every year and never have issues selling just about all of them.

It's really interesting to see reactions to different tomatoes. Most of our customers are just looking for a field grown red tomato and nothing more. It boggles my mind when people will rave about a tomato like say, Mountain Merit or Mountain Fresh, which taste like well, nothing to me (even though we grow them). They seem to gravitate to the most boring tomatoes we sell! I think sometimes simply the act of slicing up a tomato for a BLT on a hot summer day makes any tomato taste great, I suppose. Similar to peppers, actually - we grow a pretty wide variety of excellent frying/roasting peppers at our nursery for a price considerably lower than the area and 9 times out of 10, they reach for a green bell pepper instead. They often tell me they "don't know what to do" with the different varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc. It's depressing!

[Cole_Robbie]

In just the right dry farming weather, Early Girl can be as good as any red out there. In my climate, perfection is good rain for the first 30 days, and then no rain at all after that. I can taste the flavor become watered down as soon as it rains.

Taxi was a great early yellow market tomato for me. Taste is mild, but not bad. The best late yellow I was into was a Russian variety called Grandma's Kiss. If I don't slaughter the spelling, it was "Babushkin Potseluy."