Since my veggie garden is a virtual test garden of many, many tomato varieties every year, I always try to report back on their performance a couple of times a growing season. Here's the tomato variety performance report from my spring garden in Love County.
Before I go into the listing of varieties, I just want to say that it has been a challenging year. Three late frosts (two in April, one in May) slowed down everything, and even killed a few tomato plants. Then, for us, the late cold nights were followed by high winds, often gusting into the 40s and 50s, accompanied by temps in the 90s (even close to 100 several days) and nights in the mid to upper 70s. So, the tomatoes have been through the wringer. And, unlike so many of you, we are below-average in rainfall. Despite the awful weather, the tomatoes are doing just fine. Here's what I've seen:
CONTAINER-GROWN TOMATOES:
In containers, on the concrete patio that is adjacent to the garage/barn, we have had great production from the following:
Grape
Husky Red Cherry
Husky Gold Cherry
Husky Red
Better Bush
All of these have been producing for many weeks. The plants were mostly purchased in 6" pots in March and immediately planted in the larger containers. I pulled them inside the building on very cold nights, or wrapped their cages with quilts. They've been producing ripe tomatoes since very late April. The heat is beginning to get to them since they get a lot of sunlight reflected off the walls and the concrete patio, but that's OK. If they go downhill too much, I'll yank them out....they've already done their job, which was to give us early tomatoes.
BLACK-FRUITED TOMATO BED:
Black Cherry: Far and away, the best performing plant in the garden. Both plants are approaching 8' in height, have very healthy, lush foliage, virtually no disease issues and are setting/ripening tons of yummy tomatoes.
True Black Brandywine: Also a great performer in its first year in our garden. Tall and wide plants with huge stalks, pretty much disease free, producing good numbers of 12 to 16 oz. fruit that has good flavor.
Indian Stripe: Tall, not quite as wide aa True Black Brandywine, but very healthy and is setting fruit, although none have ripened yet. Has a VERY similar flavor to Black Krim, but is outperforming BK so far this year.
Black Krim: All four plants are shorter than usual but are flowering and setting fruit, and have some large fruit about to ripen. These all froze completely to the ground during our second late freeze (and they WERE covered up) and were slow to recover. Still one my of faves even if it is struggling a little this year.
RED-FRUITED AND MISC. BED:
Ramapo F-1: Went into the garden VERY late because the seed was late to arrive and slow to sprout and grow, Plants are about 4' tall, very wide, lovely lush foliage and no disease issues. Just now flowering and hopefully will set fruit in this heat.
Supersonic: New this year. Plants are tall, wide, healthy, and have flowers and fruit but none ripe yet. VERY impressive plant so far.
Rosalita: This plant struggled early on because it snapped off at the ground when I planted it, and it WAS a replacement for the one that froze, so I just stuck the broken off part into the ground, watered well, and it rooted and grew. Is about 4' tall, very lush and green flowering and fruiting. Produces pink grape tomatoes that are very tasty.
Polish Dwarf: VERY small plants, under two feet tall, which is normal for them. One very healthy and setting fruit though none ripe yet. Other sickly looking and may not last long.
Husky Red Cherry, Husky Red, Husky Gold Cherry, Husky Gold and Husky Pink: All are about 3' tall, healthy, thick and lush green foliage, flowering and setting fruit.
ORANGE AND YELLOW BED:
Nebraska Wedding: Both froze to ground and were very slow to recover. Now very healthy, about 4' tall, lush foliage, and finally setting fruit. Is DH's favorite tomato.
Orange Santa: Huge, monster plants that are twice the size of last year's waterlogged plants. Very healthy, covered in orange fruit about 50% larger than the fruit on your typical Yellow Pear. Tasty. Heavy bearers.
Sunray: Also froze and were somewhat slow to recover. Still only medium-sized but are flowering and have set fruit. Seems like sort of a slow-poke, but that may be because they froze.
Coyote: Only 3.5' tall, but covered in fruit. Fruit are very tiny currant-sized and pale yellow. VERY yummy.
Hawaiian Pineapple: Froze, slow to recover, not very large yet, just now flowering, mild Early Blight on lowest leaves.
Pineapple: Grew well early on, survived the late freezes, then slowed down in the hot windy period. One is about 4' tall, the other 5.5', finally beginning to set fruit. Minor early blight.
Aunt Gertie's Gold: Some people rave about this tomato, but this is my 3rd year to grow it and probably the last. Has been slow to grow, slow to set fruit, only has a few fruit on it, and has moderate early blight.
SunGold: Huge monster plants as always. Lots of fruit, flowers and sets new fruit continually. Minor early blight.
Snow White: Pretty tall at about 6' and loaded with fruit. Has early blight on lower limbs, which is typical for it, but it always outgrows the EB.
Dr. Carolyn: Tall (one is 6', the other 7'), fairly wide, loaded with tasty ivory to pale yellow cherry-sized fruit.
Wapisipicon Peach: Never grew very well, always looked wispy and sickly. Set 4 or 5 fruit and died before it reached 4 feet in height. Was the first year to try it in this garden. Probably will give it another chanced next year.
Kellogg's Breakfast: This is my third year to grow it and it remains unimpressive here in my garden. Slow starter, slow grower, slow to flower and slow to set fruit. If the fruit this year are not incredibly good, I will drop it from my grow list.
PINK BEDS:
Earl's Faux: Got off to slow start after being freeze-damaged, but has recovered well. All 4 plants are 5' to 6' tall, lush, thick foliage, lots of flowers, some fruit, and very minor early blight on lowest leaves.
Brandyboy: Slower than usual this year but is fall, flowering, setting fruit, very vigorous and heatlthy.
Tennessee Britches: Has grown pretty well but struggling with early blight and hasn't set fruit yet. New in the garden this year.
Brandywine Sudduth: Very healthy but has been slow to flower and slow to set fruit. Did not like the hot windy period at all but seems happier now.
Momotaro: Third time must be the charm. After a couple of unimpressive years, this plant is a huge monster this year and has lots of big green tomatoes. Very healthy.
Caspian Pink: Stayed stunted and small, is flowering and setting fruit but has a little bit of early blight. Not its' best year.
Estler's Mortgage Lifter: Froze and recovered slowly. Looks fine now. Lots of fruit and flowers. One is perfectly fine, the other has a little early blight. Looking forward to comparing the flavor of these to the flavor of Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter.
Valena Pink: Both grew well early on and set several fruit very early, then contracted Early Blight and one has such a severe case that I took out the plant today. It did product two very large fruit...one was 1 lb. 4 oz., and the other was 12 oz. Second plant is fine so far.
Jerry's German Giant: Pretty much the same as Valena Pink--one healthy, one not. Both have set fruit well though.
Stump of the World: Large, healthy, lots of flowers and fruit, mild early blight.
Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter: Tall, healthy, less fruit set than usual so far. Mild early blight.
German Johnson: Not too tall, about 4' or so. Very healthy. Has some fairly large fruit and continues to set more. Mild early blight.
Cherokee Purple: Usually one of my best performers but it lagging behind this year. All are flowering and fruiting. Smallest is 3' tall and tallest is 5.5'. Several people on the tomato forum have also mentioned their CPs are shorter than usual this year. I suspect the weather is the reason.
RED-FRUITED BED (three long rows crammed full of red-fruit tomatoes):
San Marzano Redorta: 4' tall (determinate), loaded with fruit and flowers, healthy
Grandma Mary's Paste: 4' tall (determinate(, loaded with fruit and flowers, healthy
Mortgage Lifter Red: 4' tall, healthy, has been slow to set fruit
Big Beef: Lush, heavy foliage on a tall plant. Loaded with fruit, some of which have already ripened. Continues to flower and set fruit.
Fourth of July: Lush, heavy growth, larger than most years, tons of fruit. Healthy.
Zogola: Very healthy, large plants. Good bloom and fruit set.
Royal Hillbilly: Moderately tall, thick, lush, pretty healthy but with a little early blight on lower leaves. Has some very large almost-ripe tomatoes and continues to flower and set more fruit.
Hillbilly: Slightly shorter than Royal Hillbilly, has been slow to grow, slow to flower and slow to fruit.
Beefsteak: Tall, slow to fruit and flower, a little early blight.
Porterhouse: Doing as well as can be expected after being eaten repeatedly by the deer. Flowering and setting fruit, but only 3' tall due to deer browsing.
Lucky Cross: huge plant, lush, lots of fruit, very mild early blight
Neve's Azorean Red: Healthy. Very large plants, 6' to 7' in height. Has almost-ripe fruit and continues to flower and set fruit.
Granny Cantrell's German Red: fairly large but has lots of foliar problems. Has set fruit, but not a lot.
Little Bandywine: Very healthy, huge plants, lots of flowers and tomatoes.
Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red: About 5', a little early blight. Has already ripened 5 or 6 fruit and continues to flower and set more fruit.
Principe' Borghese: Good fruit set on a medium sized plant.
Burpee's Big Mama: Plants are 6' tall, not real happy (they're in almost completely unimproved soil) but are covered in fruit. A few have had Blossom End Rot, probably because I let them get too dry a couple of times.
Bushsteak: 3.5 tall (determinate). Very lush foliage and tons of fruit.
Bush Big Boy: Slightly taller than Bushsteak but otherwise similar.
Tess' Land Race Currant: A huge, huge monster of a plant. Is over 7' tall, about 5' wide, spreading out in all directions and trying to take over the entire garden. Covered in flowers and tiny, red, currant-sized fruit. Continually blooms and sets more fruit. Fruit are pretty tasty.
Buck's County: Very tall (7'), healthy foliage, lots of flowers and fruit but none ripe yet.
Miscellaneous Bed: This caught all the leftovers that wouldn't fit in anywhere else. Unfortunately, the deer ate and ate and ate these plants which set them back a lot. Now that the new deer fence is up, they are rapidly catching up with the other plants.
Cherokee Green: About 4' tall, very healthy, flowering and fruiting. Lush, healthy foliage.
Aunt Ginny's Purple: About 3' tall after deer ate it don to about 6" tall,. Flowering, fruiting, healthy.
Pruden's Purple: Flowering and fruiting. Fairly healthy, but a little aerly blight.
Marianna's Peace: Recovering from the deer attack. Flowering and setting fruit. Healthy.
Old Virginia: Recovering from the deer attack. Flowering and fruiting.
Overall, it is a pretty good tomato season, even though the cold nights set them back some and then the high winds combined with high heat caused some of them to "stall" for a while. We are getting plenty of ripe fruit and have lots more to come. These tomatoes should have 6 to 8 more weeks of production in them if the weather doesn't get incredibly hot. The "new" tomatoes for fall are mostly diferent varieties from these.
So, that's my massively long report on how the various ones are doing.
Any one else care to report your tomato results so far?
Dawn
oklahomegrownveg
Okiedawn OK Zone 7Original Author
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