My suggestion is try adding Azomite to your soil mix to give the soil a trace of every kind of mineral. This has brought out the flavor for my tomatoes. I use Azomite in all my potting & soil mixes.
Lou

The Tradition, Lou is right the more amendments we use the better, I have a lot of things to use some are liquids from the hydroponic store and some other are minerals like rock dust, azomite, kelp, greensand,etc. I don't use them all at once. I plant in containers this way I don't have to worry about rotating in my small garden or the nematodes.
I have fun growing a variety of tomatoes, they all have a place in my house. I just made a charred salsa yesterday using the largest and best tomatoes that I had and I made sure I sampled all of them, and they all tasted different, some sweeter, some more acidic, some more meaty, some more juicy, some smoky in flavor, some fruity, most of them were over a pound each, different colors.
In order to advise you the best that I can, I have to know what do you like, do you prefer heirlooms, hybrids, red, colors, etc.?

Here are some pictures for you in the meantime

{{gwi:22348}}

Too many cherry tomatoes? I made a dish in minutes yesterday, really good roasted in the oven for 11 minutes in a 450 oven with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add cooked pasta and herbs of choice.

Silvia

Thanks, Lou. I was planning on getting some of Azomite for my citrus. Your recommendation sealed the deal. I'm going to that nursery in Deland that carries it this weekend. Might also pick up an olive tree while I'm there.

Silvia, I'm open to anything: heirloom, hybrid, determinate, indeterminate, weird colors, whatever. It's taste that primarily matters to me. And productivity... I don't really want to do all that work to only reap a few toms....

Tradition,

I planted Park's Whopper this year and was very pleased with the production and hardiness. The taste was good but not great. They are definitely sandwich size. I planted in the ground last fall with no special preparation and they are still, barely, producing. The other varieties showed bad RKN damage when I pulled them. I'll soon find out if the Whoppers have them. Oh, also the fruit flies showed little to no interest in the Whoppers but were bad on the other varieties.

This post was edited by shuffles on Wed, May 29, 13 at 12:41

The Tradition, since you are not picky but you want production, I would suggest that you start with a beefsteak type, one heirloom and one hybrid and each season you can add two different ones the same way and will soon find out which ones are better in your conditions and your personal taste.
From the hybrids you can try either Big Beef or Beefmaster and from the heirlooms I would pick Neves Azorean Red, you will be the judge. Next fall, we will compare notes...

Silvia

Thanks, Silvia. I've read lots of threads like this at the Tomato forum and after reading horror stories about people only getting a single fruit, I was determined to not have that problem and only try things that have worked well for others in our particular zone.

I also planted Park's Whopper. The bottom fruits were quite large, larger than what they look like in the photo. I was very pleased with production. As for taste, Mahatma's Hat was fantastic. It produced very large pointy fruit that were incredibly meaty. Tom and Silvia recommended this one and I'm glad they did. They were wonderful. I can hardly wait to plant this one again. Silvia, do you think that this one will do well in the fall?

Christine

Christine

I have been growing the heart tomatoes for a long, long time...different varieties. I think that Lou brought the Hat tomatoes to light after trying them from Bamboo, Tom tried them for the first time this season....For me they do well in the spring and in the fall. It is the favorite of my chef's friends for the same reason, so tasty, so big, so meaty, productive and early.

The incredible heart tomatoes that I picked today

Silvia

They are the perfect hamburger sandwich tomato, oft times the slice is bigger than the bun, but oh so delicious.
Unfortunately not a long keeper tomato but great when used right after picking off the vine.

Lou

Burpee "Salad Slicer" cuke, Better Boy toms, SuperSweet 100s, Tropic Beauty peach, Burpee Bi-licious sweet corn.

You are right Lou, they don't last too long. For me they make the best salsa and sauce if I had to eat them quick and in the beginning of the season my friends use them as fried green tomatoes because of the nice shape and size.

The Tradition, that is some nice harvest you got! In my experience I found out that the hybrids taste better when you let them ripen on the vine, of course that is if you don't have squirrels or such. Keep up with the good work, we just have to try different varieties to find out what works and tastes better for us...

Silvia

Do the Mahatma Hat tomatoes go by another name? I did not get any matches looking them up on google (actually just found 'monomakh hat' tomatoes, is this it? [Nevermind, I justJUST found Lou's old post referring to these very types... disregard this question that I could have left out completely if I had so desired]).

Just to repeat what I said on the other post:

Both Martha Stewart Sweeties and Roma VF's from HD have done well for me this spring. Well enough that I will be growing them again in the fall and then again next spring (as long as the seeds stay viable). All I need now is a sandwich tomato to grow with them and I will be set.

Silvia, yes... I have squirrels, but they don't bother my tomatoes for some reason (now, the strawberries and peaches are a different story).

However, today is VERY windy and it looked like we'd get some serious rain, so I pulled the ones that were starting to turn red before anything could happen to them. The greenest one in the picture had already been knocked off the vine by the wind when I went out there.

Last fall, the Better Boys had cracking problems, so I really worry when it rains hard.

The Tradition, I do the same thing before a rain because too much water causes splitting in the tomatoes.

I am sampling tomatoes again, I made this dish with grains like farro and barley and a variety of tomatoes, some roasted some fresh, I like the different textures and flavors.

Silvia

I have to say, the Better Boys seem to have more flavor, now. Perhaps it was just the first toms to ripen that were bland. Just had one that was slightly overripe with a little tuscan seasoning and it was pretty darn good.

IMPE, tomato first fruits are rarely as good as later 1s

long time, no post. glad to see many familiar names in the post. as this is a topic near and dear, my two cents: i plant different varieties every year, though i have a few favorites (tomande, sungold, juliet in constant rotation). i shop for varieties as follows: only hybrids, only tomato varieties with several resistances (VFN at a minimum). only medium-bodied tomatoes, which set better and produce better here in fla. and only mid-season tomatoes, as they split the difference in terms of flavor and maturity date. i also always plant several cherry (small-bodied) tomatoes to extend my season. tomato growers supply is the best source for seeds i've found.

generally, i don't worry too much about fertilizing &c. 10-10-10 and lots of compost. nor do i ever spray anything more than insecticidal soap and some copper. my season here in deland runs from late-april to mid-july, though this year things are really delayed. when the tomatoes get too diseased or buggy, i rip them out and eat eggplants and okra instead...

Here is a link that might be useful: some tomatoes...

Hi Michael!

I am so happy to see you posting, it's been a long time. It is good to know that you are still here and gardening.
I am still experimenting with new and old varieties of veggies in general and I am trying to find a good balance between growing and eating what my little garden produce. Remember the first party in my house? and the trip to Biosphere? sounds like the good old times.:)
I hope to hear more about your gardening experience in the future...

Silvia

Hi Everyone,

I set these tomatoes out September 2012. Had a visit in January of those dreaded white flys with diseases. They just about wiped out my tomatoes. Sprayed with sprays of all types until 4 plants survived. Today I'm getting plenty of tomatoes from last years survivors. Have to pick them before they get fully ripe or the Mocking birds will peck them.

My Tomatoes

Luther

Hi Luther

Those tomatoes look good! Tom also like the Beefmasters and they do the best in his place.

Silvia

Hi All,

Resurrecting a dead thread to see what people's thoughts are nowadays on a reliable producer for the Orlando area(I'm a little SE of it) since I have been having trouble finding consensus. I've tried lots of different types over the last couple years and haven't really found a ton of success with anything. I've had marginal success with cherokee purple, brandywine, better boy, big beef, and 4th of July, but I'd really be happy with anything indeterminate that produces something bigger than a cherry, not too picky on taste.

Thanks much

I love Tomande tomatoes, they are delicious and pretty. Burpee has them:

https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tomatoes/tomato-tomande-hybrid-prod001020.html

My plants get really big and bear for a long time, and they resist/tolerate almost everything.

Awesome, thanks Carol I'll try them out. Do you spray anything? Is this in ground or containers?