I never heard of these tomato varieties, but I will put Maglia Rosa on my list for next year.
But this week I cut down all of my large tomato plants and planted a few more new varieties. If some of them don’t regenerate, I will remove them. This is my second crop and hopefully they will produce something in the fall.
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This year Stump of the World has been the winner, it is cranking out lots of huge super tasty fruits. I managed to get two plants grafted and they are going like gangbusters. The Cherokee Purple and Brandywine are putting out hardly anything in comparison.
I am having too many cracking issues with Sun Gold, not sure I am going to grow it again.
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I’ve been able to really reduce the cracking on Sun Gold and some of the other cherries by mulching with 3-4 inches of wood chips to keep the moisture more uniform. Of course a sudden deluge with ripe fruit still gets some cracking.
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Most years, I’m doing good to even have my tomato plants in the ground by July 4th, but this year I actually was picking ripe tomatoes before July 1!
Big Beef is the winner, early on. Great production, great flavor, no cracking.
German Queen - planted on recommendation of someone here as a ‘fried green tomato’ variety… maybe that’s where it’ll shine - haven’t tried it as FGT yet, but as a ripe tomato… it ain’t much punkin. Way too soft, cracks badly, I’m not impressed with the flavor.
Better Boy… big issues with splitting - and we have had precious little rain (and garden is so far away, the only thing I’ve watered is sweet potato slips, at planting)
Garden Gem (I’ve been growing it for about 5 years now) is really pumping out the fruits.
There’s at least one each ‘Garden Treasure’ and ‘W hybrid’ from the UofFL program out there somewhere, but I forgot where they are.
‘White Tomesil’ (or something similar), which came as a free seed packet from Baker Creek last year, is just beginning to ripen those pale yellow fruits. Decent flavor, but the color is still offputting,
‘BC Hybrid’(UofFL) and ‘Sweet 100’ cherry types are pumping 'em out. RC is fairly big for a cherry, and has good flavor.
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We have slowly migrated away from growing lots of big beefy tomatoes… to eating more small (cherry/grape size) mostly in salads… low carb high fat salads which might include 3 or 4 cherry tomatoes.
Yes… I have grown sweet corn and big beefy tomatoes since the 80’s… but grew no sweet corn this year, and only 3 big beef tomatoes… diet changes… will eventually change what you grow.
I have a bunch of big beef (canned) and not used yet (from last years crop)…
I did not grow any sweet corn this year, and doubt I will grow any big beefy tomatoes next year.
I have tried a cherry tomato that has been impressive this year, on growth, production and taste.
It is rather common, but has been very good for us.
Super Sweet 100.
I planted one other Red Grape tomato, and it is not bad, a super producer for sure… but flavor wise is just not quite there with the Super Sweet 100.
Next year I may try a combo of super sweet 100 and Sun Gold.
Now that I am thinking about tomatoes… I have had NO carbs all day… going to pop a few super sweet 100’s now.
TNHunter
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This was my first year trying tomatoes in the greenhouse, on @cdamarjian’s suggestion, and even those are behind a normal year’s first ripening date, but this Pink Boar plant is more than twice the size of the ones outside, closing in on the 8.5 ft rafters of the greenhouse:
The outside Pink Boars are a bit smaller, but not too far behind since I did start them in the greenhouse, too:
One of the plants that I thought was a Pink Boar instead appears to be a cherry tomato volunteer that found its way into my homemade potting mix and lucked out by sprouting in a tomato tray:
I’m not sad about that, though, because this year all the outdoor volunteers came up way too late, and are hardly more than little sprigs.
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black Cherokee didn’t make it- got knocked out by squirrel acrobats.
yellow pear is the only one I’ve had ripen yet but everyone is setting green fruit. the San marzano I keep seed saving and replanting are chugging along- I’m on year 3 of trying to replant only the most productive and drought proof of that. (I like to can spaghetti sauce for winter)
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Great job pruning to central leader!. Those axial shoots seem to pop up overnight, right?
I’m nuts about tomatoes. I start them Jan 1st indoors under lights and move to ghouse March 1st. This year I used spot grow lights in ghouse in March and April so that the plants didn’t get too leggy … we weren’t getting any sun here in the PNW. By June 7th I got my first Big Dena…about a week later than last year.
I prune to central leader till about 4’ then I let branch out because I don’t have enough gh height. It’s a jungle in there now!
Would like to hear your taste eval for Pink Boar.
Big Dena is the best tasting tomato I’ve grown. Just the right sweet/tart balance.
There’s quite a bit of fusarium wilt but the tomatoes are still producing.
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Sometimes seems like you can almost watch them expanding before your eyes!
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Nanelle, those plants look beautiful and healthy. Mine are about the same size, perhaps a tad smaller. None fully ripened yet. Werokowai started changing color but we had to leave for a trip, so they’ll have to wait.
Here’s my Atlas slicer (not a dwarf) - first time growing it. The taste was a little blah but I think I also picked it a little under-ripe.
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My Cuore di Bue are about one third the size of those in the outdoor markets. I am finding that a lot of the tomatoes in France are grown in greenhouses. We have a local outdoor market on Wednesdays, I will go and check out the tomatoes tomorrow.
My tomatoes have not liked pots, watering and heat. I really thought the combo was excellent. I have been feeding them regularly as well. The tomatoes are wonderfully sweet but the skins are like camel hide. Hard to cut with a porcelain knife!
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Thanks!. That’s part of a string of lights I use in March/April and October/November…due to low light levels here in Pacific Northwest.
@mrsg47 Are these the tomatoes you are talking about? I got them in a trade with the @thepodpiper a few years ago in a packet and they were labeled as “Coeur de Boeuf”, but I expect your name may be more accurate. I enjoyed them and have grown them each year since. Nice and meaty, so great for cooking and they have a really nice full tomato flavor. A bit like the oxhearts I grow as well. It is interesting that my neighbor grows an Italian heirloom that is basically the exact same tomato, so I wonder if several countries have their own version.
It looks like I’ll get my first ripe one within the week.
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No, that is French tomato. Mine is Italian and it is heart shaped. Very large and excellent for sauce. They slice well and hold their shape
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I grew Coeur du Bue before, I don’t recall the taste.
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Its very meaty, but very tasty. This year was disappointing.
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This year I planted Amish paste, I want to make some sauce, but so far I have not a single fruit. Not sure why. It’s been cooling here, not super hot either.
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Most of our 38 plants are loaded with green maters. We did pick a couple of lightly blushed fruit that weren’t quite ripe. They were okay, but needed more time. We got about 3in of rain over the wewkend, so I hope we don’t get a bunch of split fruit.
Some of my plants are over 6ft tall (planted first week of June), and looking really good. I’ve got ten of them in 5ft cages, but the rest are staked to 4ft tobacco sticks.
Anyway some are getting too tall and are flopping over. Since all the plants have multiple heads, I was thinking of topping some of them. Would that encourage the plant to send out more branches and fruit below the pruning point?
I tried Super Sioux last year. I was obsessed with trying to find the variety that tolerant heat. Anyway, it didn’t really stand out for me. The flavor was Ok but I was not blown away. Hopefully, it tastes better for you. 