Alaska- greenhouse tomatoes 2014

[zero244]

Like many I have yet to pick a red ripe tomato. I am growing a OP variety called Sugar Baby, it is suppose to be a cherry size to golf ball size tomato, starting out orange then turning red. It was advertised to be as sweet as a melon. I have eaten a few of them and they are bland and not sweet at all. So I have found the sellers descriptions should be taken with a grain of salt. People should base their decisions more on what actual growers are saying.

I do have a quick question for you, I am assuming you are saving seeds from your harvest.
Have you had much problem with cross pollination growing the tomatoes in close proximity with each other.
Thanks for the picture update on your plants

[AKmark]

I am not a seed saving expert, but I think the anatomy of the tomato flower ensures it will almost always self pollinate unless bees are involved. I also try and select a tomato for seeds that is buried in the midst of like types just in case.
I have found many crosses from seed I have purchased though, I am thinking growing them outside may have a higher rate of accidental crosses, because of bees.
All of that aside, I enjoy trying crosses, I will post some pics later of one that I think is totally entertaining.
Mark

[AKmark]

I got this handed to me after I gave a garden club a tour and taste of several different tomatoes, nice to hear these things from others. If I listen enough, people will tell me what to grow.

[ChristinaJo]

WHAT!!!!!!

No more pics!!! Hurry, put some more on.....

I went through every page.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by zero244

Like many I have yet to pick a red ripe tomato. I am growing a OP variety called Sugar Baby, it is suppose to be a cherry size to golf ball size tomato, starting out orange then turning red. It was advertised to be as sweet as a melon. I have eaten a few of them and they are bland and not sweet at all. So I have found the sellers descriptions should be taken with a grain of salt. People should base their decisions more on what actual growers are saying.

I do have a quick question for you, I am assuming you are saving seeds from your harvest.
Have you had much problem with cross pollination growing the tomatoes in close proximity with each other.
Thanks for the picture update on your plants

Did you try growing Black Cherry tomato? It has a complex sweet taste. Production wise, I have collected more than 4 pounds from one plant already. Most tomatoes loose their taste due to weather or deceases, this one is not.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by ChristinaJo

WHAT!!!!!!

No more pics!!! Hurry, put some more on.....

I went through every page.

Second that.

[AKmark]

For more than 20 years I have grown this wonderful hybrid, and it still holds its own, even against the heavyweights. She has outlasted many hybrids I have tried, A proven winner year after year.

[zero244]

My neighbor gave me a Early Girl the other day, it was about a 3 oz tomato and the flavor was pretty good. She has been picking them for a few weeks where I have only picked one red tomato this year and that was a slightly under ripe New Big Dwarf.
I was wondering have you ever grown Big Beef, I am considering growing some next year and possibly some Early Girls.

[AKmark]

I grew Big Beef for at least 15 seasons, it was always just tolerable taste wise, but produced well, and the tomatoes were pretty. Last year I tried an OP Big Beef, it was just ok too. IN my area people favor the taste of Early Girl for red hybrids. For red heirlooms, Chapman, NAR, Brandywine OTV, Magnum, and Milka's Red Bulgarian, blow it away it tastewise, Cuoastralee, (RL) brandywine are still better too. Forgot Delicious, much funner to grow, and the taste is great.

[AKmark]

We are picking loads of tomatoes daily now, people really like the odd tomatoes/not perfect red globes, as long as they are good.

Pinks are my favorites and here is what I found; Sudduth's, Fred L., are very consistent for taste, from the very first tomato to now, yield is good, but they never disappoint in taste, never, you can throw Stump in too. Cowlick's and Glick's both taste good and are a little different, Cowlick's is a huge yield-er, but I do think Sudduth's is better for consistent great taste that is mouth watering good, not just good.
Dester has been hit and miss, very good to ok, I will try it again next year. Marianna's Peace has an awesome taste, but the yield is horrible, very ugly tomatoes too, I may use this in a cross, instead of just growing it, if yields cannot be improved next year.
German Johnson got over grown by other plants, so I did not get very many tomatoes, they are darn good to superior. Crnkovic Yugoslavian is excellent, full tomato taste with a sweet wack to it. My mystery Sudduth's RL cross is very good too, kinda taste like FL. Gregori's Altai is a big yield-er, but the taste is slightly inferior to the ones mentioned above, while Brandyboy falls somewhere in between. Momotaro and Eva Purple Ball are both excellent standard size tomatoes, both are great farmers market tomatoes. Pruden's Purple started out ok, but sweetened up and tasted great, however... plants are huge, others are better.
If I think of others worth noting I will mention them. Now I have to eat a bunch of yellow orange tomatoes side by side, oh bummer.

[bower]

Mark, it's so funny you should talk about exactly what's on my mind.... tomatoes that are consistently great tasting vs the ones that vary a lot from fruit to fruit.

I haven't found a pink that works for me yet, with consistent taste and production. Eva Purple Ball is the best pink I've tasted, and every fruit the same, but too late and not enough.
Of the ones you found consistently great, which was the earliest?

BTW I did get some nice fruit from Northern Lights after all. The colour and taste turned out to be identical to Oaxacan Jewel PL, although NLs are a bit more lobed or 'ruffled' looking, I could hardly tell them apart on the plate. NLs may be on average a bit larger but was much later, produced less, and had more disease stress, a bit early blight susceptible. OJPL bore at least 3X or maybe 4X the fruit, starting in cold early and continuing in heat when others had shut down, so it's still in top spot for a bicolour here.

[AKmark]

My Fred Limbaugh was almost 2 weeks earlier than Sudduth's if I remember correctly. I have a couple of slightly different variations between some plants, and have saved seed from both. One seems a little sweeter and a touch pinker maybe, that's all, very close though. I also got seed from another source I am going to try next year too. I grew it last year, same thing, awesome. For a purple brown tomato try Bear Creek, I planted them late and still got loads off of each plant, it blew the other so called blacks away that I grew this year yield-wise, and was tops in taste too.
Mark

[bower]

Thanks, Mark... I haven't tried either of those yet. I put Momotaro on my list too.

In the blacks I've found three consistently great tasting - Indian Stripe (RL not PL) iis my fave, and this year Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and Tsindao are outstanding. What surprised me is that each of them has a very distinct but great flavour, while other blacks tended to be very similar in taste (I do like them all) but more variable in intensity from fruit to fruit. Tsindao is a brown-black which is consistently super sweet. PBTD has a unique sweet but very tangy thing going, but the shortest shelf life of any fruit I've ever grown... you just have to stand over them and gorge when ready.

Still looking for a primo red, too - my Tarasenko 6 this year was not T6, drat... after all the waiting, it produced some roundish bland pale pink thing.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by AKmark

My Fred Limbaugh was almost 2 weeks earlier than Sudduth's if I remember correctly. I have a couple of slightly different variations between some plants, and have saved seed from both. One seems a little sweeter and a touch pinker maybe, that's all, very close though. I also got seed from another source I am going to try next year too. I grew it last year, same thing, awesome. For a purple brown tomato try Bear Creek, I planted them late and still got loads off of each plant, it blew the other so called blacks away that I grew this year yield-wise, and was tops in taste too.
Mark

Mark, what is the source of your Bear Creek and Fred Limbaugh seeds?

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by bower

Mark, it's so funny you should talk about exactly what's on my mind.... tomatoes that are consistently great tasting vs the ones that vary a lot from fruit to fruit.

I haven't found a pink that works for me yet, with consistent taste and production. Eva Purple Ball is the best pink I've tasted, and every fruit the same, but too late and not enough.
Of the ones you found consistently great, which was the earliest?

BTW I did get some nice fruit from Northern Lights after all. The colour and taste turned out to be identical to Oaxacan Jewel PL, although NLs are a bit more lobed or 'ruffled' looking, I could hardly tell them apart on the plate. NLs may be on average a bit larger but was much later, produced less, and had more disease stress, a bit early blight susceptible. OJPL bore at least 3X or maybe 4X the fruit, starting in cold early and continuing in heat when others had shut down, so it's still in top spot for a bicolour here.

Similar in size to Eva Purple Ball is David's Pink. The taste for me is much better though. I planted my DP later this year (for the fall harvest), will be picking soon.