HELP: Any MUST GROW tomatoes suggestions

[Tormahto]

Tormato, the waters are stirring. Beware. I think that there is another shark lurking here...

Brody -

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

(Even the Symphony of the Seas may be too small.)

Quint -
"This shark, swallow you whole."

[OhioGardener]

Blue Ridge Mountain - If you like pink Brandywine, you'll like this one. For me, the plant and fruit size/shape was very similar, but I thought the yield and flavor were better. It also seemed to be slightly more juicy which I think contributes to the flavor.

Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg - It was a medium-sized orange with good flavor and good blemish-free market qualities for me this year. It also remained healthy and produced until frost in spite of neighboring plants struggling in late summer. It's also one of the few varieties actually tested and confirmed to be very high in the more bio-available tetra-cis-lycopene, so it's a heart-healthy tomato.

After that, I say pick a few of your most obscure varieties that you can't find listed anywhere and plan to save and offer seeds as part of a conservation effort. I've been doing this each year and, while some may have been so-so, it's how I ended up identifying the above two stars. I was also impressed this year by the flavor of an obscure P129129 cherry that only goes by that number - it was sweeter and with a more complex flavor profile than a few named varieties that I specifically bought for that purpose!

Debbie

[Nan6b]

Karen- I wholeheartedly agree with growing something obscure and getting the seeds out there for others. There is usually a massive seed swap at the end of the year (Tormato usually organizes it). Send in packets of your new ones and he distributes them to others in the swap. A quick, easy way to get new-to-us varieties out there. Or use it in your own trades.

[Shule]

[mention]OhioGardener[/mention]
How big are the fruits on P129129? What color?

[TheDante]

Heya Debbie and Nan,

that is also a very good suggestion, I will work on that criteria too thank you for your input.

[OhioGardener]

@OhioGardener
How big are the fruits on P129129? What color?

PI129129 is an ordinary red cherry with fruits about 1" in diameter, a few being slightly larger. It's not nearly as productive as some of the "improved" cherries, but at least in the container conditions that I grew it in, it did produce a good amount and the flavor was intense, complex, and very sweet. I did a little research on the variety and found that it appeared in the 1942 USDA plant inventory described as "From the market at Panama, Panama, May 10, 1938."

[MsCowpea]

Karen, wow, 2000 varieties. That certainly puts you into an ‘elite’ category. I think as far as how many seeds to sow since you want to try as many as possible maybe do just 2 plants of each variety that you have room for. Or even one if you really just want to try as many varieties as possible but with one you risk that it may flop and you don’t have a backup.
So for 2 plants maybe sow 4 seeds. The thing is I find they all seem to sprout and then you have a lot of extra plants. You have to GIVE THEM AWAY or you risk big time overcrowding.

How many tomatoes, total, do you want to grow next season?

(Paul Robeson, Carbon)

[TheDante]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..... Elaine... think ´elite´ is certainly not what I would consider myself to be in... more likely a complete nutjob! The poor hubby will vouch for it, but he is so used to it and would find it so odd otherwise

We both are most uncomfortable being in a posh crowd or anything that sniffs like foofoo!

Aaaaaand I know of someone who has over 4,000 varieties! He is my yoda master! In no time, I think his disciple might catch up soon too at the rate she is going.

Anyways, I digress as you usual ... I have written down my list and I think it will constantly be added with more varieties.. tbh, I am not exactly sure yet how many I can cope with. My yoda master grows 250 plants, so perhaps that might be a kinda benchmark at least. I think I can squeeze about 60 tom plants in the polytunnel and the rest will be outdoors. I think I will be looking at a total of about 300 plants, depending on how much space I can find outdoors on the vegetables beds and containers.

Likely a few varieties I will grow 2 of each (polytunnel and outdoors), and some ´obscure´ ones and also be able to cover as many different varieties possible too. It is gonna be soooooooooooooooo interesting!

Moreover, I will also be giving away at least 50 Sungold F1s as per normal. It is gonna be a massive undertaking next year for sure. And I always have a handful of peeps too that comes to me for my tom plants. I just need to hold myself back with how many seeds I sow. Can never forget my over 500 plants in my 1st year! The hubby always says, your seeds ALWAYS germinates!

Carbon and Paul Robeson is in my grow list too

[Nan6b]

Karen, you're going to love the MMMM seed swap that (hopefully) comes at the end of next year. Be prepared to save seeds from at least some of your different varieties, if possible. Blossom bagging is best if you can do it.

But the gist of the swap is everyone sends in multiple packets of seeds for each variety of tomato, they all go to one person (tormato) and he redistributes & sends you a mailer that looks like an overstuffed ravioli and ruins your plans for next year's garden!

[TheDante]

thanks Nan for the laughs! You are definitely a bad influence too

I am armed with Organza bags to bag and protect some tom blooms, no worries there. Done my research these months. Gonna be a lot of shaking and jiggling tom plants too

I will send some seeds to Tormato when the time comes hopefully without any problems from you know who. Fingers and eyes crossed!

[Ginger2778]

thanks Nan for the laughs! You are definitely a bad influence too

I am armed with Organza bags to bag and protect some tom blooms, no worries there. Done my research these months. Gonna be a lot of shaking and jiggling tom plants too

I will send some seeds to Tormato when the time comes hopefully without any problems from you know who. Fingers and eyes crossed!

Yoh know who isn't an issue here,.☺

[Tormahto]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..... Elaine... think ´elite´ is certainly not what I would consider myself to be in... more likely a complete nutjob! The poor hubby will vouch for it, but he is so used to it and would find it so odd otherwise

We both are most uncomfortable being in a posh crowd or anything that sniffs like foofoo!

Aaaaaand I know of someone who has over 4,000 varieties! He is my yoda master! In no time, I think his disciple might catch up soon too at the rate she is going.

Anyways, I digress as you usual ... I have written down my list and I think it will constantly be added with more varieties.. tbh, I am not exactly sure yet how many I can cope with. My yoda master grows 250 plants, so perhaps that might be a kinda benchmark at least. I think I can squeeze about 60 tom plants in the polytunnel and the rest will be outdoors. I think I will be looking at a total of about 300 plants, depending on how much space I can find outdoors on the vegetables beds and containers.

Likely a few varieties I will grow 2 of each (polytunnel and outdoors), and some ´obscure´ ones and also be able to cover as many different varieties possible too. It is gonna be soooooooooooooooo interesting!

Moreover, I will also be giving away at least 50 Sungold F1s as per normal. It is gonna be a massive undertaking next year for sure. And I always have a handful of peeps too that comes to me for my tom plants. I just need to hold myself back with how many seeds I sow. Can never forget my over 500 plants in my 1st year! The hubby always says, your seeds ALWAYS germinates!

Carbon and Paul Robeson is in my grow list too

Would a compromise be to call you an elite nutjob? I've been called worse.

300 tomatoes, finally we have a figure.
It's time to find out who does all of the transplanting, and the plant support structure. And, you may want to do an estimate of the time involved for each task, times 300. You are soooooo lucky you are not planning for 291 tomatoes, as the math would take longer.

[MsCowpea]

“ elite nutjob” Much better

I am no good at math but if you still strive to obtain the 4000 varieties (platinum elite nut job) you and your husband
have got to live to be 100 years old , give or take a few years. Good incentive for healthy living.

[TheDante]

Would a compromise be to call you an elite nutjob? I've been called worse.

300 tomatoes, finally we have a figure.
It's time to find out who does all of the transplanting, and the plant support structure. And, you may want to do an estimate of the time involved for each task, times 300. You are soooooo lucky you are not planning for 291 tomatoes, as the math would take longer.

Pray do tell!

hmmmmmmm..... let´s see

sowing - me
pricking out - me
repotting - me
transplanting into final spot - me
planting supports/trellis - me
pruning - me
harvesting - me
seed saving - me
eating - mostly him and for him!

mowing the entire obstacle course - poor him
all other else - me

Gawd no… math is not really involved where the ´work´ is concerned. The pressure comes from my ´big boss´ up in the sky - The Moon! Coz I practice planting by the moon (Maria Thun), I am under constant pressure to get stuff done depending on if the plant is for it´s fruit, leaf, root or flower!

The hubby ´hates´ my boss! And to make matters worse, majority of the garden falls under the ´fruit´ category.

[TheDante]

“ elite nutjob” Much better

I am no good at math but if you still strive to obtain the 4000 varieties (platinum elite nut job) you and your husband
have got to live to be 100 years old , give or take a few years. Good incentive for healthy living.

Platinum elite nut job! nooooooooooooooooo... honestly, I don´t really aim to obtain any specific number of varieties, TASTE is the most important factor. Moreover, I am inclined towards medium to large sized tomatoes. Cherry toms can be a real pain to harvest , the worst kinds are the currant varieties.

I would like to think that we both are living a rather healthy lifestyle no tobacco, no drugs, no alcohol, no medication, no dairy products, no eggs, mostly plant-based diet with the odd craving for ´meat/seafood´ once in a while and then regret after - the last time we both suffered any colds …never that we know of

Now… the big question is will we live to be 100 years old - so long as not ill-ridden! Or else just kill me/us. It has gotten me curious now (another new poll in the making! ), the age group of the members here. Unsure if it is a touchy subject hmmmmmmm…

Did my math in my head - if I do achieve to acquire 4,000 varieties, I think I should be safe to be able to trial them all - shy of dropping dead unexpectedly plus I think we both suffer from ´Peter Pan syndrome´ especially me!

[Tormahto]

Would a compromise be to call you an elite nutjob? I've been called worse.

300 tomatoes, finally we have a figure.
It's time to find out who does all of the transplanting, and the plant support structure. And, you may want to do an estimate of the time involved for each task, times 300. You are soooooo lucky you are not planning for 291 tomatoes, as the math would take longer.

Pray do tell!

hmmmmmmm..... let´s see

sowing - me
pricking out - me
repotting - me
transplanting into final spot - me
planting supports/trelling - me
pruning - me
harvesting - me
seed saving - me
eating - mostly him and for him!

mowing the entire obstacle course - poor him
all other else - me

Gawd no… math is not really involved where the ´work´ is concerned. The pressure comes from my ´big boss´ up in the sky - The Moon! Coz I practice planting by the moon (Maria Thun), I am under constant pressure to get stuff done depending on if the plant is for it´s fruit, leaf, root or flower!

The hubby ´hates´ my boss! And to make matters worse, majority of the garden falls under the ´fruit´ category.

If the boss is OK with it, planting by the moon may mean the day before, the day of, and the day after a phase. I usually limit myself to planting about 100 in a day. I could do more, but that's when fatigue and the "dreaded drops" may begin.

[Tormahto]

And, thinking it over some more, my recommendation for one single MUST GROW variety is Stump Of The World.

It's now the tomato that I judge all other "fresh for eating" varieties by (with the exception of cherries, being a whole different taste experience).

[MissS]

Stump of the World and Barlow Jap run neck and neck.
Then there are some others that I really enjoy.
Rebel Yell
Cherokee Purple
Paul Robeson
Daniel Burson
Dester
Carbon
Purple Dog Creek
Black Krim
Dana's Dusky Rose
Winsall
Rose
Terhune
Aunt Ginny's Purple
Limmony
Orange Russian 117
Owens Purple
and a few others. These are all favorites of mine and one year I will be growing them all out together to see how they compare (that year). You see tomato flavor varies from season to season. One may be wonderful one year and not so much the next. Your temperature, soil, moisture, nutrients and all kinds of things will determine the taste of your tomatoes. That is why it is so very important to know your growing conditions before we can answer your questions. Some tomatoes flourish in the heat, others like it more moderate. Then there is the issue that all of us have different taste buds. Not everyone enjoys the same flavors.
Have fun choosing your own favorite tomato. Only you can do it. It took years and years for me to come up with this list and yours will be different than mine.
The ocean is vast. Enjoy the fishing...

[Tormahto]

Fishing? Black Krim? Carbon?

Brody:

"Slow ahead". I can go slow ahead. Come on down here and chum some of this...

[TheDante]

@MissS (Patti) and Tormato

(8 laughs - 8 is an auspicious number fyi )

Thank you both for cheering me up! Needed that badly… will reply more tomorrow.

Beddy time... nachti to you both and fellow junctioners out there where ever you are - keep safe!