2016 Winners and Losers

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Early taste returns lean to the reds. First time on heirlooms and while the sweetness of Elgin Pink and the fruitiness of Sungold taste very good. I like the the slight acidic bite of the reds, Cosmonaut Volkov gets the nod over Moskvich, both are excellent.

I like seeing all those CVs. PRoductive plant indeed, and tasty, will always be present in my garden.

I'll only report my winners. Losers seem to be dependent on end user conditions and seed genetics.

Surprises, based on flavor, productivity and ability to handle disease:

Zarca, very good flavor, tough & resistant, and just like the packet stated, puts out and "obscene" amount. Outstanding for salads

Zamorano, avatar

Faworyt, great pink

Fresa, very good heart.

Everett's Rusty Oxheart. This one just doesn't stop. Very good find.

Chapman, compact, productive, great tasting, it stays.

SOTW, beat out all larger bfstks in productivity

Cowlick's, mmmm mmmm good.

Mikhalych, D Burson, ISPL, permanent spots awarded.

Crnkovic Y, silky smooth, permanent spot.

Both Terhunes (thanks AkMark, ddsack)

[b54red]

My best producers so far this year have been: Limbaugh's Legacy, Marianne"s Peace, Brandywine Cowlick's, Brandywine Sudduth's, German Johnson, Delicious, Dester, Barlow Jap, and Henderson's Winsall. All of my plants are single stem this year in an effort to make it easier to support them with the drop line method. They don't make as many fruits per plant as multiple stem plants but I can plant more plants in the same space so it looks like it will work out about even with last year when most of my plants were two stems.

I have had a few plants under perform but none of the varieties have done terrible overall. I haven't got much to report on most of my black tomatoes because I planted them later and then they got hit by spider mites so they need some time to recover and my last batch of plants was only set out last week for fall production.

Bill

[Ricky Shaw]

The Cosmonaut Volkov is coming back, the Moskvich not. The CV is tastier and more productive on water/ferts. It's high productivity among the heirlooms, and bigger hunger for ferts, has made the plant a very useful marker in the garden.

I'm trying to feed no more than they need. I sometimes compensate for reconstitution of ferts due to evaporation by running off-peak concentrations of 1600-1700 E/C as opposed to normal 1900-2000 EC. The CV's lower leaves are the first to show faint yellow mottling and the need to ramp ferts back up, like clockwork.

[gdaddybill]

Dora (Cherokee Purple x Brandywine), Stump of the World and Supersonic were a surprise this year. Hillbilly tasted great but this is one years' production.

[HappyGardener23]

I cannot comment on taste yet because I'm still waiting for fruit to ripen, but in terms of production and size of fruits (relative to the size that they should be) I'm most impressed with/looking forward to:

GGWT, Nature's Riddle/Zagadka Prirody, Blue Sky, and Shirley S.

of the dwarf plants that I'm growing, Wild Fred has been the most productive, although I have yet to taste a fruit. I've had real trouble with Summertime Gold-big beautiful plant that has been covered in flowers for a month+ but not a single fruit. Have a second SG plant that got off to a much slower start, but it has one tiny tomato starting to grow.

[NarnianGarden]

I am very curious about both Esmeralda Golosina and Lime Green Salad. Both were affected by BER - so I had a chance to have them as 'fried green' -, but I have yet to taste them ripe.
EG has surpassed all other indet varieties in length and productivity: it *does* have a good spot, but still, I am surprised. Already it's longer than me, and that hasn't usually happened with any variety until the end of August..

Lime Green Salad is loaded with green fruits, very nice-looking, and very healthy plant over.all, except some mold disease that seems to be under control now.

If the flavor of these both is as good as their looks, then... they are some of this year's gold medalists!

A shoutout to the kind folks who gave the seeds in last year's MMMM swap: thanks a bunch!

[NarnianGarden]

Originally Posted by HappyGardener23

I've had real trouble with Summertime Gold-big beautiful plant that has been covered in flowers for a month+ but not a single fruit. Have a second SG plant that got off to a much slower start, but it has one tiny tomato starting to grow.

It seems Summertime Gold is a bit of a challenge to grow. I remember two years ago when I had it: it was covered with flowers, but only a few of them set fruit.
Some matured and ripened eventually, and the flavor was well worth the wait! But it was kind of stingy in production.. ( as well as its sister variety, Summer Sunrise) ..

[Ed of Somis]

gardeninglee...sorry I missed your question earlier. No comparison between Big Beef and New big Dwarf. It is apples and oranges. Big Beef is a monster plant that is a tomato machine. New Big Dwarf is a 3-4' dwarf plant that is productive for a dwarf...and tastes really good. It has that heirloom type lobed shape to it.

[Ed of Somis]

Originally Posted by b54red

My best producers so far this year have been: Limbaugh's Legacy, Marianne"s Peace, Brandywine Cowlick's, Brandywine Sudduth's, German Johnson, Delicious, Dester, Barlow Jap, and Henderson's Winsall. All of my plants are single stem this year in an effort to make it easier to support them with the drop line method. They don't make as many fruits per plant as multiple stem plants but I can plant more plants in the same space so it looks like it will work out about even with last year when most of my plants were two stems.

I have had a few plants under perform but none of the varieties have done terrible overall. I haven't got much to report on most of my black tomatoes because I planted them later and then they got hit by spider mites so they need some time to recover and my last batch of plants was only set out last week for fall production.

Bill

Bill, Which of your big tomatoes listed above are your favorites for taste? I have planted a couple of them. Ed

[Cole_Robbie]

If I could go back in time and do 2016 over based upon what I know now, here is how my 900 feet of market garden row would be planted:

Early high tunnel planting:
50 ft Taxi
50 ft Agatha
50 ft Aura

100 ft Maglia Rosa

100 ft Cole, Sol Gold, Anmore Treasures

50 ft Mat-Su Express

50 ft Sladkij Ponchik, 100 Pudov

50 ft “Russian” (surprise variety from a swap, huge red attractive fruit)

100 ft Sky Reacher, Lucinda, Zebra Rita, Black Vernissage

100 ft Purple Bumble Bee, Sunrise BB, Bosque Blue BB, Juan Flamme & De Barao Orange, Chang Li, Ambrosia Red, Yamali Yellow

100 ft Cosmonaut Volkov, Rebel Yell, Bradley

100 ft Tasmanian Chocolate, Sweet Sue, Mano, Jade Beauty, Qiyanai Huang, Peppers: Crunch Sweet Orange, Golden Marconi, Sweet Erbil.


The first 350 feet are all determinates. If I really had my act together, I would rip them all out in July and plant something else.

My biggest failure this year was a lack of preventative spraying, for both bugs and disease. I'm starting to get a good idea of when each bug appears during my summer. Whiteflies come first, then stink bugs, and horn worms bring up the rear.

I also need to have my trellises built before I plant. I never get them done if I don't.

I may move from plastic mulch to wood chips next year, if I can swing it. During extended periods of no rain, even when I run the drip, the soil under the plastic dries out into powder.

[Ricky Shaw]

Me too, I'm already in 2017's grip and on mental autopilot with this garden. I like the sounds of your plans, Cole Robbie.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Ed of Somis

Bill, Which of your big tomatoes listed above are your favorites for taste? I have planted a couple of them. Ed

This year for some reason the Brandywine Cowlicks and German Johnson pl have been the absolute best this year; but it is still early and I haven't given up on one of the black tomatoes topping them.

I was really shocked that the Cowlick's tasted much better than Sudduth's this year. Usually Sudduth's edges out Cowlicks just barely on flavor and size but this year it was only size that Sudduth's won. I planted four of each in various locations and so it must have been the weather this year that favored Cowlick's for some unknown reason. That is why I will never plant mostly one variety ever again because the variables in flavor and production can be so big from year to year. One year Barlow Jap was my best tasting tomato and then for the next four years didn't even make it into the top five; but it has returned this year. I don't believe in all my years of growing tomatoes the same variety has come out on top in flavor two years in a row although there have been a couple of repeats; but most of the ones that have those stellar years are also the ones that get planted each and every year since.

Bill

[Gardeneer]

So far I can make a generalization. DARK/BLACK TOMATOES ARE OUT PERFORMING ALL RED VARIETIES IN MY GARDEN

REDS: Big Beef, Better Boy, Big Boy , Siletz, Legend (few more )
DARKS: Cherokee Purple, Indian Stripe, Black From Tula and an unknown variety.

We had a cool June and Early July. That upset the reds more than darks.
I am sure it would have been different in LA and NC, SC.
Amazingly even Siletz, Legend, Willamette bred by OSU for PNW, have not done as well as the dark ones.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

So far I can make a generalization. DARK/BLACK TOMATOES ARE OUT PERFORMING ALL RED VARIETIES IN MY GARDEN

REDS: Big Beef, Better Boy, Big Boy , Siletz, Legend (few more )
DARKS: Cherokee Purple, Indian Stripe, Black From Tula and an unknown variety.

We had a cool June and Early July. That upset the reds more than darks.
I am sure it would have been different in LA and NC, SC.
Amazingly even Siletz, Legend, Willamette bred by OSU for PNW, have not done as well as the dark ones.

My Indian Stripe PL, Margaret Curtain, Indian Stripe, Spudakee and JD's Special C Tex have all put on a lot of fruit for me this year despite the tremendous heat and they usually do really well in the fall when it cools down. Many of the pinks have barely set any during the last month or so. Arkansas Traveler has done really well in the heat as has Red Barn. My young Pruden's Purple plants have set a lot of fruit but they are still small and I will have to wait and see if most of them stay on the plant to give me ripe fruit. I have about twenty new plants set out in the last month for fall production and am hoping they can avoid the ravages the spider mites dished out to my older plants which still look like very long palm trees.

Bill