First EM-Champion and Heart Comparisons

[GoDawgs]

This is the first EM-Champion that was picked five days ago and brought inside to ripen. It weighed 10.5 oz, juicy and was consumed with lunch today. To me it has a decent flavor although SOTW and Bella Rosa still reign supreme here. This EM-C is a first for me courtesy of the MMMM. It amazes me that this big thing came off a small dwarf plant with wispy foliage that has never looked very good compared to the other tomato plants.





Last year was the Year Of The Micros" and this was the Year Of The Hearts, as that was one of my two main MMMM category requests (also dwarfs and more micros). So far the four hearts that have ripened and been tasted are Pink Passion, Kosovo and Fish Lake Oxheart and EM-Champion. The fifth, Swoon, is struggling. Of the first four, Fish Lake is in first place, Pink Passion in second, EM-Champion in third and Kosovo is soundly in last place.

Some of the descriptions I read about Kosovo were "prolific, intense flavor; sweet & rich". None of those three attributes apply to my plant and fruit. The tomato was very solid and therefore not juicy at all, which is OK but the taste was bland so I wouldn't consider using it as a paste tomato. There are only two other fruits set on the plant and, like EM-Champion, the plant just doesn't look good. Come to think of it, Fish Lake isn't very pretty either. but setting more than the others. I'm beginning to wonder if the heart plants as a group just don't like the climate conditions here. Another pattern forming is wispy foliaged plants not doing well here so that will be taken into consideration going forward.

One problem that has resolved is that of lack of fruit set. The 100 degree streak finally broke, followed by ten days of mid-upper 80's. Now we're back to upper 90's (100 right now). Regardless, there are a lot more greenies on the plants and I think they were initiated during that break in temps. I hope the new hot temps don't stay around long so more fruit can set!

[Toomanymatoes]

Looks really tasty to me! All my tomatoes are still green and most plants only just started fruiting last week or so.

I am also growing EM champion for the first time and a lot of other hearts. Right now, I have another determinate heart called Velmozha that has some huge tomatoes on it for such a short plant. My Wes oxheart plant is the biggest at over 5', but only just started fruiting.

Really excited to try all my new oxhearts!

[Shule]

I've had trouble with wispy plants, too, but I have a hunch they just like to be fertilized (with the fertilizer applied to the ground, specifically). I'm doing that this year with my one^ wispy plant, and it's looking great (still wispy, though, of course). Lots of flowers and looks strong; it's growing fast. I think it's set fruit, but I feel very optimistic that it'll set a lot more.

^Well, I have another plant that looks semi-wispy, and I'm fertilizing it, too. It's doing well.

[PlainJane]

Have never been able to grow hearts or other wispy gene tomatoes in N. Florida. Bummed as I love the look of them.

[KateL]

My tomatoes are all still green & tiny (although weather forecast is looking up) Thanks to the MMMM, this year, hearts I will hopefully be sampling are Kosovo, Swoon & Vladka. Looking forward to reporting back

[mama_lor]

I noticed that hearts do great as long as you have great conditions. Disease pressure, pest pressure, stress, they don't take it well at all. Might be to their rather generative nature, they produce a lot compared to what would seem. For me EM-C was bland as it gets.

[GoDawgs]

I'm beginning to think that I will give FLO one more go next year up at the house where it will get a little shade and drop the other hearts. Come to think of it, we've about decided to move the garden tomato operation up to the house next year. There's just enough room to add those 15 plants.

[AKgardener]

I was curious about this variety I got free seeds from an order I got the other day is it a dwarf ? Or determinate or indeterminate.. is was givin to me to try and see if it would go well in my area.. thanks a bunch

[rossomendblot]

It's a determinate. I think mine got to somewhere between 2 and 3 foot tall. Very heavy cropper, needs good support.

[AKgardener]

Thank you !!

[Tormahto]

EM Champion is both the best tasting determinate that I've ever grown, and the worst tasting heart (excluding a couple of experimental spitters) that I've grown.

Now as far as the worst tasting, it is still a very good tasting tomato, about a 7.5 on my scale. A 7 is a very good tomato, lacking a bit of something. So, a 7.5 is lacking even a smaller bit of something, usually the strength of flavor, not the flavor itself.

An 8 is an excellent tomato, one that I could eat all day long. Virtually all hearts that I've tried are 8s to 8.5s.

A 9, or higher, is a superb tomato, to me. Basically, these are all pink beefsteaks, being few and far between. No hearts, because the complexity of flavor is not not found in the hearts, that I find in the few superb beefsteaks.

EM Champion usually gets a spot in my garden about every other year. The reasons are because it is a determinate, and can be squeezed into a small space, and I eventually want to get into making crosses with it, in search of a great tasting determinate.

[Labradors]

EM Champion does well for me. I love it because it is early, fits nicely in a cage, and produces a lot of perfect hearts. Taste is great, with a little acidic kick.

In my garden it dies when the weather really heats up, but that is fine because I can remove it and give more space to others in the row. However, it seems strange, because it always has lots of flowers when it croaks.

[bower]

EM Champion was tolerant of coolish conditions in my greenhouse spring (granted that I started late so it wasn't too severe) - one thing I noticed it set lots of early fruit but it didn't grow any of them while in the greenhouse. Not sure the reason for that, but it is a pattern I've observed that some plants won't grow their fruit until night temperatures hit a certain mark, while others can't tolerate the amount of shade inside the greenhouse in this non-sunny climate.
Anyway as soon as I put EMC outdoors it promptly grew up some of those sets and continued to set and grow more - lots more.
So I would definitely rate the plant as tolerant of cooler conditions, and also of being grown in a 5 gallon pot. I expect you would get more large fruit in a bigger container.
The fruit were not prone to blemishes or damages (some types get wind scarred dings and damage easily). They were thin skinned, and the fruit texture I would rate as excellent for fresh eating, taste on the sweet side without being especially nuanced or complex but quite acceptable.
The plant was not more nor less susceptible to disease than others.
Unlike some determinates that pause after setting a main crop, EMC continued to flower and set until stopped by disease/weather. In a repeat grow I would probably plan to top the plant at some point to stop it exhausting itself with more flowers and sets. A very prolific plant with lots of production potential.

[AKgardener]

Thank you everyone for all the info sounds like a winner to me I must try it now !!! Maybe this will finally the one