largest earliest best-tasting

[dice]

You might try Magyar Piros Boker for an early greenhouse
determinate in containers. Flavor is mildly sweet, similar to
Early Rouge for me. More flavor than Clear Pink Early. First
fruit came in about 5 days after Siletz and Fireworks II this
year, growing in the same bed.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...ar_Piros_Boker
http://www.glecklerseedmen.com/Magya...87_527219.aspx

Tania says "mid-season", Gleckler says "early", I would say
"early mid-season" and more toward early than mid-season
(classic "65-day" tomato).

(Later to ripen, but worth a trial, too, for anyone growing
for market:
http://www.glecklerseedmen.com/Early...87_495436.aspx
)

[eatmoreyeah]

For me-

It has to be Paul Robeson and Prudens Purple.

This Spring Paul Robeson produced it's first ripe fruit 7 days after Stupice (53 days). They were in the range of 5-18 oz fruit, with the majority in the 8-10 ounce range. For me they produced very uniform fruit and were never mealy or mushy like so many purple/black fruit I've tried in the past. It's also got to be one of the better producers for me of the purple/black tomatoes. They did even better this fall and seemed to like the cooler weather.

Prudens Purple is another old time favorite for me. For such a decent size mater it always is one of the first to ripen (65-70 days). Vigorous plants that don't slow down when a lot of the others start to peeter out. Very good yield of 12-16 ounce fruit with good flavor and texture. It always has a spot in my patch.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by dice

You might try Magyar Piros Boker for an early greenhouse
determinate in containers.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by eatmoreyeah

For me-

It has to be Paul Robeson and Prudens Purple.

This Spring Paul Robeson produced it's first ripe fruit 7 days after Stupice (53 days). They were in the range of 5-18 oz fruit, with the majority in the 8-10 ounce range. For me they produced very uniform fruit and were never mealy or mushy like so many purple/black fruit I've tried in the past. It's also got to be one of the better producers for me of the purple/black tomatoes. They did even better this fall and seemed to like the cooler weather.

Prudens Purple is another old time favorite for me. For such a decent size mater it always is one of the first to ripen (65-70 days). Vigorous plants that don't slow down when a lot of the others start to peeter out. Very good yield of 12-16 ounce fruit with good flavor and texture. It always has a spot in my patch.

For me, Prudens Purple falls into that category of "excellent tomatos that most people have forgotten about". It's similar too Mortgage Lifter which is also a great tomato, but many people seem to say " I grew that once and it was good". There are a lot of tomatoes that once had their moment in the spotlight, but have fallen into the background.

I grow it most years, and as you said; it is pretty early for me as well. It also produced well and tasted great. It was also the last large tomato I picked this fall before the first frost.

I think it belongs in the category of "dependable" for those gardeners who simply want some tomatoes which are large, attractive, plentiful, and tasty.

Ted

[feraltomatoes]

Early Girl is early, super productive and very tasty in Northern California but if you water a lot forget about the taste.
Cherokee Purple and Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye have been my first large ripe tomatoes many years in a row. They ripen about the same time, within a week of Early Girl for me.

[Solanum315]

When you say sammich size do you mean beefsteak? This is more medium sized than beefsteak and while I am a little sheepish about shilling for a variety on my site, I would recommend this:
http://worldtomatoes.blogspot.com/20...head-pink.html

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Solanum315

When you say sammich size do you mean beefsteak? This is more medium sized than beefsteak and while I am a little sheepish about shilling for a variety on my site, I would recommend this:
http://worldtomatoes.blogspot.com/20...head-pink.html

That may be a great tomato, it may be early and it may taste good, but the tomato in the pic is not a beefsteak.

Looks identical to my "Fourth Of July" variety which is also very early with a very good taste. It doesn't taste as good as some of my mid season varieties, but what the heck; you can't get everything in an early season tomato.

Ted

[b54red]

I have a lot of experience with growing black tomatoes and have found through trial and error that a couple do seem to grow and taste better than the others in cooler conditions. Carbon, BTDP, and Big Cheef would be the blacks to probably give you the best taste in your climate with Carbon being the earliest. I love Indian Stripe, Black Krim and Cherokee Purple but they taste much better when ripened in hot conditions.

Some others that I have found ripen and taste good in cool weather are Red Siberian, Rose, Dr. Wyches Yellow and Eva Purple Ball. Fish Lake Oxheart is the earliest full sized OP tomato that I have ever grown and it is one of the best tasting hearts with full rich tomato flavor instead of that mild taste that many hearts are known for.

[sdzejachok]

My favorite early tomato is Patio. They are golf ball size on a small plant but very tasty.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by JLJ_

So am I . . . sort of.

Early Girl is certainly not a California-only tomato. I've had good results with it in the Wyoming Big Horn foothills (about 5400 ft). It's among those that get at least a few planted every year -- and most years it does at least OK, though I don't find it exceptionally early here -- Marglobe sometimes beats it, and Marglobe is never an early producer here.

What keeps Early Girl on the "every year" list, though, is years like 2012. While most tomatoes that made it to the garden did OK or better, Early Girl and Black Prince were by far the earliest producers, tasty, and produced well until they froze (not just until frost). Early Girl's fruit were pretty good size, too, until the end of the season, when they were more like golf ball size.

Couple of caveats -- by "tasty" I don't mean as good as the longer season tomatoes, but *much* better than grocery store tomatoes. Also, I don't grow the "bush" Early Girl's -- have tried them alongside the regular EGs and, for me, the bush plants were markedly less vigorous, more disease prone, and much poorer producers.

I find Marglobe is well worth growing as an early, high producing, not too bad tasting tomato. It's quite good in homemade salsa as its a bit acidic with a good, old fashioned flavor. I did have one plant give me at least 50 lbs!
It doesn't have enough sweetness or complexity to be a favorite tomato for me but it sure can fill the salsa jars any time. It's a determinate so great for canning, although too juicy for canning Italian paste type sauces.
Last time I grew it, I air layered a plant and got a second batch, just as big as my first!
I'm trying Marglobe's little sister Bonnie best his year. Hoping for similar results.

[ddsack]

Spudakee, Fish Lake Oxheart, Moskvich, Black from Tula, Dora and of course Azoychka for an assertive non-sweet yellow, have been among the midseason earlier ones for me. I only grew Dora for the first time last year, so it might have been a fluke, as it's quite a large tomato.

And to point out that different people have different results - Sophie's Choice was not an early for me, it held onto it's green tomatoes for a long time, and then ripened them almost all at once, well after many others had started bearing. Mine were in the ground, maybe they would ripen faster in pots, which they are well suited for. My seeds were from Victory.

[Barbee]

How about Stump of the World?

[Sun City Linda]

Stump is one of many folks including me favorite tomatoes. Not sure I would call it early.

[Barbee]

Originally Posted by Sun City Linda

Stump is one of many folks including me favorite tomatoes. Not sure I would call it early.

Well.. I guess early depends on what you plant LoL For me early is earlier than the others in my garden