Prolific tomtaoes with an open habit and good hang-time

[Shule]

What are your favorite prolific tomatoes with an open habit, good hang-time and a good shelf-life?

I'm including some definitions for the uninitiated (most of you probably already know what I mean):

Hang-time: How long the fruits stay good on the plant after ripening.
Shelf-life: How long the fruits stay good off the plant (ideally after ripening).
Open habit: The fruits are easy to see and find without having to move leaves around much, if at all (even if the plant is left to sprawl without a cage). Some varieties like this may be prone to sunscald (but I'm not looking for varieties prone to sunscald)! The opposite of this is sometimes called good leaf cover. If it's easy to harvest, that might be good enough, even if it doesn't have a fully open habit.
Prolific: This means the plant produces a lot of fruit. Synonymous with productive. I suppose people tend to measure this by fruit weight and/or by the number of fruits compared to other stuff they've grown.

Well, that's how I understand those terms, anyhow.

Shelf-life aside, I think my Galapagos Island tomato (probably the same as Early Galapagos, but I'm not sure) fits that criteria (no sunscald that I've noticed, either, but it is a cherry). I'm not sure of a tomato that exactly fits all of that criteria.

The variety called Stick could potentially meet all this criteria (but I had it in seemingly poor soil when I grew it; so, it wasn't extremely prolific; I could tell it had potential, though).

[Nan6b]

Well, there are the Spanish "hanging"/Pendjar/colgar types. This year's two varieties I grew were Colgar 100 and Ramallet Santa Maria.Both were determinate, about 4 oz average, and I got around 47 tomatoes from each. You are supposed to keep them on the vine for 2 weeks after they are ripe, if you want to eat them right away. The plants were very determinate. All fruit was put out at once, and the plants then died. I just cut the vines and took them inside. The tomatoes ranged from green to red, with most at least somewhat pink. I hung them in the basement. They ripened slowly. I tasted them, didn't care for the taste, and tossed them out. But I still have a couple sitting on the kitchen table from the harvest (which was in Sept.) Of course, you will have some that don't ripen right, get mold, go bad, etc. If you want seeds, let me know.
Nan

[PlainJane]

For me, it was Green Bee. I had some on the counter for 3 weeks as I was coordinating ripening for a tomato tasting, and they were indistinguishable from some just picked.
Taste is very unique, and very addictive. I’m putting in multiple plants this upcoming season.

[MsCowpea]

Do you only want heirlooms or is hybrid OK? Juliet may work but It is not a favorite of tomato aficionados. I like it a lot. Excellent dried as well. The skins are, shall we say, firm and thick, so it lasts a long time. Very productive and robust plant. I don’t know about sprawling it though-I don’t have good results with that method.

Read what Johnnys says, seems to hit all your bases.

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/ ... d-707.html

[Shule]

Hybrid suggestions are great (especially if I can find them locally), but those that are true-to-type are preferred. (Mostly because I'm not buying seeds as much as I used to, lately.)

[Dawn]

I thought about juliet too, but a lot of people don't like it. I think it's nice enough tomato for fresh eating, but it's great for cooking. I'm growing a few this year for sauce. It's also indestructible and doesn't get blossom end rot.

I see them at Walmart with the bonnie plants, so they're pretty easy to get.

I found Blush to be just as productive. It has a better fresh eating flavor, but not quite as long of a shelf life, but not bad.

Candy Sweet Icicle I remember could hang on the vine forever. It was a nice tomato, too. Sweeter than the other 2. I grew a lot of the small elongated tomatoes that year, so I don't remember the shelf life.

Green Bee (a hybrid) has it all. It was so productive that I got sick of it. The flavor is different, not really "tomatoey", very fruity. You could forget about some starting to ripen on the vine and come back a couple weeks later and they'd still be fine. They don't soften, but will get an amber blush when ripe.

[Shule]

[mention]MsCowpea[/mention] [mention]Dawn[/mention]
I haven't grown Juliet F1, yet, but someone gave me some fruits, which I liked quite a bit. I saved F2 seeds to grow next year. I'm curious what kind of variation I'll get. That's great to know about it being good for sauce.

[Dawn]

I grew some F2s a couple years ago. I grew 4 or 6?, lol, I don't know, plants. All had the same growth habit, but different shaped tomatoes. A couple had tomatoes like regular Juliet, one had skinny pointy tomatoes, one had bumpy tomatoes. They were all roughly the size of juliet, and had a very similar flavor. I didn't save seeds and continue the project, I don't know why, maybe I will this year, now that I have more space. They were more prone to blossom end rot than the F1. One of the plants grew up a pear tree, that was interesting, got pretty far up.

[Shule]

[mention]Dawn[/mention] Were the Juliet F2s as prolific as the F1? Awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[Greatgardens]

If I could only grow one tomato to fit all my needs, it would likely be Juliet F1. Sliced lengthwise, they are good for drying, also. And they rarely crack or split. The one down-side for me is that it has been a huge plant -- really big! But pruning can cure most of that. BTW, Johnny's description of Juliet agrees closely with my results. It is interesting to see how many sellers describe it as a "1-inch" cherry tomato, and some even with descriptions like "remarkable sweetness" or "super sweet" (they are sweeter than a regular tomato, but not "super sweet" to my taste buds).

But a question -- who originally developed Juliet F1?
Edit: By researching "Santa," I think that Juliet was developed/released by the Known-You Seed Co. Ltd. in Taiwan.

[Dawn]

@Dawn Were the Juliet F2s as prolific as the F1? Awesome. Thanks for sharing!

I think they would have been, but they were grown very differently. The F2 were planted very close and left to sprawl, whereas the F1 was given space and caged (and completely took over).

[Tormato]

For an open habit you need to grow Sally Field, good hang-time...Michael Jordan.

[Shule]

[mention]Tormato[/mention] I'm not familiar with Sally Field, but I get the Michael Jordon. Is Sally Field a person, a tomato, or both?

[Tormato]

She's a "Flying Nun".

[Nan6b]

Just the name, Shule; a field is very Open. And Sally Field is/was an actress.

[bjbebs]

Can't think of any slicing size tomatoes that meet the criteria. Green Bee and Madera from Artisian Seeds hold on the vine and the counter for a long time. Green Bee will crack on the vine but will not spoil. It heals over very quickly and can be left on without any loss of taste. Don't think I've seen this in a tomato before. Both are prolific but fruit can be found easily. Candy Sweet Icicle is productive and holds well. I grew it next to Maglia Rosa last year. They were nearly identical in shape and color. CS Icicle is sweeter and firmer. Both have a nippled blossom end. Can't remember which one has a bit of yellow on the nipple. CS Icicle is op, the others are F1.

[Tormato]

I, too, can't think of anything that meets all three needs. The most open habit I've seen is in a nonstable "Medusa" line that I'm in an on-again off-again work-in-progress. Perhaps some of the Ramallet varieties have potential?

[Shule]

[mention]Tormato[/mention]
Tomato ristras are pretty awesome.

[Ginger2778]

She's a "Flying Nun".

Get it? Nun - habit?

[Nico]

Well, there are the Spanish "hanging"/Pendjar/colgar types. This year's two varieties I grew were Colgar 100 and Ramallet Santa Maria.Both were determinate, about 4 oz average, and I got around 47 tomatoes from each. You are supposed to keep them on the vine for 2 weeks after they are ripe, if you want to eat them right away. The plants were very determinate. All fruit was put out at once, and the plants then died. I just cut the vines and took them inside. The tomatoes ranged from green to red, with most at least somewhat pink. I hung them in the basement. They ripened slowly. I tasted them, didn't care for the taste, and tossed them out. But I still have a couple sitting on the kitchen table from the harvest (which was in Sept.) Of course, you will have some that don't ripen right, get mold, go bad, etc. If you want seeds, let me know.
Nan

Hi Nan, I have been growing hanging tomatoes for several years, the Santa Maria variety has been grown for a few years and I have been hanging 100 for 3 consecutive years, they are not determined plants, they are undetermined and 100 is very productive in addition to multiflora, this behavior is rare, For me the secret is to take them when they are not yet fully mature and hang them in a place where they do not give them the sun and give them the air, it is also important to water them with very little water, half of water from a normal tomato. It seems an ideal place, this year I will start f2 of a crossing that I made of my favorites, ibiza blanca and hang 100, I hope to get what I am looking for.
regards