Gary'O Sena

[Pokemato]

I'm sure no one here will judge me for already thinking about what tomato varieties I might grow next year in what should be our first real garden (meaning bigger than a few tomato plants with a smattering of other things). I know it's been asked before, what are your favorite varieties, and if I ask that, everyone will have wildly different answers due to taste differences, different growing requirements, etc. While I am VERY open to any and all suggestions in that regard, I am wondering specifically about thoughts on this variety and experiences with it. For those who have grown it, love it or hate it, productive or dud, tell me all about it.

[FarmerShawn]

I am growing it this year to save seeds for the Carolyn Tribute seed offer. I just saved seeds from one fruit today, and, of course, tasted it after I squeezed the seeds out. Wow! It was absolutely delicious! It was a nice, good sized pink beefsteak. It got bumped off my grow list a few years ago to make room for some newcomers, but I have a feeling it may go back onto my must grow list for next year!

[Cole_Robbie]

I remember researching the name. From what I read, gary'o was a female name in ireland long ago. The name gary in this country as a man's name was basically invented by the actor gary cooper, who chose that as his stage name. He was very popular and people started naming their kids after him.

[MissS]

What??? You are only just now starting to think about what you are growing for next year??? Many of us have that and the next two years after that planned out.
Gary O'Senna is a large purple tomato with PL (potato leaf) foliage. It is a mid-season variety with in my opinion excellent taste. Great out of hand or in a sandwich. This year I am growing all of my favorite tomatoes out side by side. Sadly while I did start some of these seeds the rabbits ate them before they got put into the ground so they will not be making a showing in this years garden.

[Pokemato]

I am growing it this year to save seeds for the Carolyn Tribute seed offer. I just saved seeds from one fruit today, and, of course, tasted it after I squeezed the seeds out. Wow! It was absolutely delicious! It was a nice, good sized pink beefsteak. It got bumped off my grow list a few years ago to make room for some newcomers, but I have a feeling it may go back onto my must grow list for next year!

Thank you so much for the information! Everything I'd read about it had put it on my wish list for next year. Even though I didn't know her personally, like so many on this forum did, from what I've read from her and about her, she was clearly a very special person. Being a relatively new grower, I don't have seeds to share yet, but am excited that people like me can still participate in the Carolyn Tribute offer and if this variety is on that list of offers, I'll definitely request it! I am so happy to find such an awesome, kind, generous group of people!!! Thanks for sharing...info, wisdom, kindness and seeds!

[Pokemato]

What??? You are only just now starting to think about what you are growing for next year??? Many of us have that and the next two years after that planned out.
Gary O'Senna is a large purple tomato with PL (potato leaf) foliage. It is a mid-season variety with in my opinion excellent taste. Great out of hand or in a sandwich. This year I am growing all of my favorite tomatoes out side by side. Sadly while I did start some of these seeds the rabbits ate them before they got put into the ground so they will not be making a showing in this years garden.

LOL! I have found my tribe! I only have a couple of friends that garden and they all thought I was crazy for making a list as long as my arm of 'possible tomatoes to grow' while I was still growing THIS year's garden.

[MissS]

[mention]Pokemato[/mention] I doubt that there is a seed offer or swap that you can't participate in here on the forum due to being a newbie grower. Many of us will sponsor the newbies without seeds for the swaps. All of us here love to help the newbies out and enable a new addiction to tomatoes and seeds. In just this season alone you could potentially have hundreds of varieties of seeds. I myself will have a seed offer of what I have been growing and all that you need will be a TomatoJunction membership and a SASE.

[Pokemato]

@Pokemato I doubt that there is a seed offer or swap that you can't participate in here on the forum due to being a newbie grower. Many of us will sponsor the newbies without seeds for the swaps. All of us here love to help the newbies out and enable a new addiction to tomatoes and seeds. In just this season alone you could potentially have hundreds of varieties of seeds. I myself will have a seed offer of what I have been growing and all that you need will be a TomatoJunction membership and a SASE.

Like I said, I love becoming part of a group of such kind and generous people...who are willing to share info, wisdom, experience, seeds and just the common ground of a love of tomatoes! Happy to be here and be included!

[Fusion_power]

Keith Mueller bred Gary'O Sena and sent me seed about 14 years ago. It is from a cross of Brandywine X Cherokee Purple selected for excellent flavor. The fruit should be dark similar to Cherokee Purple with some catfacing. They are potato leaf. I grew 2 plants this year (out of about 400) just to keep a few available for the table. Ranking them for flavor is tough because there are so many good tomatoes now, however, I put them in the top 20 I have grown and sometimes in the top 10. Brandywine and Crnkovic Yugoslavian are in my opinion just a tad better flavored, but only because my taste buds prefer balanced flavor tomatoes. Gary'O Sena is more robust which means it really shines in a BLT.

[Paulf]

Thanks Darrell for the more correct history and description of Gary'O. My first year growing this variety was in 2009 after reading what Keith had to say about his work stabilizing the cross. Sand Hill Preservation was my initial source for seeds although I suspect Keith sent out seeds for trial earlier than that. My successful tomatoes were more like Cherokee Purple in looks.

Having grown Gary'O Sena four or five times since 2009, I have never had much success. A couple of times there were no tomatoes to harvest, some of the times there were a few tomatoes. What I could get did tasted really good but not so good as the parents. I must be in an area where Gary'O Sena does not do well...or I just didn't do it right.

[FarmerShawn]

Keith Mueller bred Gary'O Sena and sent me seed about 14 years ago. It is from a cross of Brandywine X Cherokee Purple selected for excellent flavor. The fruit should be dark similar to Cherokee Purple with some catfacing. They are potato leaf. I grew 2 plants this year (out of about 400) just to keep a few available for the table. Ranking them for flavor is tough because there are so many good tomatoes now, however, I put them in the top 20 I have grown and sometimes in the top 10. Brandywine and Crnkovic Yugoslavian are in my opinion just a tad better flavored, but only because my taste buds prefer balanced flavor tomatoes. Gary'O Sena is more robust which means it really shines in a BLT.

Thanks for the history of this tomato. I may need to reconsider putting my saved seeds in for the offer, since, because my tomato was definitely pink and not purple, mine may not be true. I'll have to check tomatoes coming on alternative plants.

[JosephineRose]

I have seeds for something labeled "O'Sena Black" from Mariannas (https://www.mariannasheirloomseeds.com/ ... etail.html)

Does anyone know if this is in fact Gary'O Sena, renamed?

[MissS]

[mention]JosephineRose[/mention] I did a search and all I found was a thread that you made last year at TV asking the same question. How about you email Marianna and ask her about it. She should know the history on this one better than anyone else. And if you get a reply, please let us know.

[JosephineRose]

@JosephineRose I did a search and all I found was a thread that you made last year at TV asking the same question. How about you email Marianna and ask her about it. She should know the history on this one better than anyone else. And if you get a reply, please let us know.

Thanks for the suggestion, I did just that. I will let you know what she says.

I asked the question because there seems to be a breadth of knowledge of many varieties here (and there) that I don't necessarily have, and thought perhaps that this was a known variant on the original a la KBX, Spudatula et al.

I attempted O'Sena Black last year but it went in too late due to family emergencies and didn't get ripe before the russet mite got it. I did note it seemed to take well in our climate, was a fast and healthy grower that formed lots of small fruits, but things were neglected by me due to lack of time, and the mite had most everything.

It didn't make the cut this year due to space in my new backyard. I am looking forward to trying it next year in the EB garden at our new shop. If it turns out to be different/a variant of Gary'O Sena, then maybe I will grow them side by side, as I did with BFT and Spudatula this year.

[Gardenboy]

How did your grow out work out with the BFT and the Spudatula plants this year? I always grow BFT but I am also trying Spudatula since BFT is my favorite black tomato variety. Thanks as always for any information.

[Tormato]

Gary no sena u his opinion on this variety.

[JosephineRose]

How did your grow out work out with the BFT and the Spudatula plants this year? I always grow BFT but I am also trying Spudatula since BFT is my favorite black tomato variety. Thanks as always for any information.

Sorry I just saw this.

I found Spudatula to be much more prolific in my garden, but Black From Tula had better flavor and texture IMHO and produced later into the season.

[Fusion_power]

Spudatula aka Black From Tula PL originated in my garden in 2002 when I got seed for Black From Tula from Chuck Wyatt. A few of the seed produced potato leaf plants. I grew them out and eventually sent seed to Bill Malin (Spudleaf) who renamed it Spudatula. It is IMO an improvement over Black From Tula as it is more productive. Increasing production usually comes with a slight reduction in sweetness on a per fruit basis therefore the flavor may not be quite as sweet as Black From Tula. This is a generally true statement as most highly productive tomatoes have similar reduced sweetness.

The original Gary'O Sena tomato plants from seed Keith sent produced a few that made pink fruit. Per Keith, pink is not correct for this variety so I culled them and kept seed from the darker fruited plants.

If you can get hold of Bear Creek, you will find it is also a very good tomato with similar genetic history as Liz Birt and Gary'O Sena.

If you want to see pictures of fruit from the original plants, please look near the bottom of this page on my website. http://www.selectedplants.com/varieties.htm

[Tormato]

Spudatula aka Black From Tula PL originated in my garden in 2002 when I got seed for Black From Tula from Chuck Wyatt. A few of the seed produced potato leaf plants. I grew them out and eventually sent seed to Bill Malin (Spudleaf) who renamed it Spudatula. It is IMO an improvement over Black From Tula as it is more productive. Increasing production usually comes with a slight reduction in sweetness on a per fruit basis therefore the flavor may not be quite as sweet as Black From Tula. This is a generally true statement as most highly productive tomatoes have similar reduced sweetness.

The original Gary'O Sena tomato plants from seed Keith sent produced a few that made pink fruit. Per Keith, pink is not correct for this variety so I culled them and kept seed from the darker fruited plants.

If you can get hold of Bear Creek, you will find it is also a very good tomato with similar genetic history as Liz Birt and Gary'O Sena.

If you want to see pictures of fruit from the original plants, please look near the bottom of this page on my website. http://www.selectedplants.com/varieties.htm

I got a hold of Bear Creek in donations to the MMMM swap. One says it's a beefsteak, another says it's a cherry. I've been holding off in packing any for participants, until I clear this up. It is the only variety, out of thousands, that give conflicting descriptions.

[MissS]

Spudatula aka Black From Tula PL originated in my garden in 2002 when I got seed for Black From Tula from Chuck Wyatt. A few of the seed produced potato leaf plants. I grew them out and eventually sent seed to Bill Malin (Spudleaf) who renamed it Spudatula. It is IMO an improvement over Black From Tula as it is more productive. Increasing production usually comes with a slight reduction in sweetness on a per fruit basis therefore the flavor may not be quite as sweet as Black From Tula. This is a generally true statement as most highly productive tomatoes have similar reduced sweetness.

The original Gary'O Sena tomato plants from seed Keith sent produced a few that made pink fruit. Per Keith, pink is not correct for this variety so I culled them and kept seed from the darker fruited plants.

If you can get hold of Bear Creek, you will find it is also a very good tomato with similar genetic history as Liz Birt and Gary'O Sena.

If you want to see pictures of fruit from the original plants, please look near the bottom of this page on my website. http://www.selectedplants.com/varieties.htm

I got a hold of Bear Creek in donations to the MMMM swap. One says it's a beefsteak, another says it's a cherry. I've been holding off in packing any for participants, until I clear this up. It is the only variety, out of thousands, that give conflicting descriptions.

Bear Creek is supposed to be an oblate purple beefsteak with regular foliage.