My Take on 'Lemon Boy'

13 years ago

Lemon Boy was the first of my tomatoes to ripen on Memorial Day weekend. Those tomatoes were mealy and bland, but ripened soon after 5 inches of rain, so I wasn't surprised and didn't judge the tomato.

These tomatoes in the pic were harvested today. The flesh of these Lemon Boys had no mealiness and the flavor was developed. I would characterize the taste as mildly tart with no sweetness and very little acid, a perfect contrast to the sweetness of say, a Mortgage Lifter. There is really no complexity of flavor, as in the black tomatoes, which give me sweet and tart and earthy all in the same bite.

Lemon Boy, to my way of thinking, is a perfect companion to other tomatoes more complex or sweet in taste, but by itself would lead me to say 'bland' but 'mild and tart' are the first words that present to me.

I believe this particular tomato is the type that should improve on the vine if water is withheld until stress begins to show on the leaves, as seems to be the case with most heirlooms I have grown. Production on this tomato is moderate, not heavy. Plants are very healthy and a heavy leafing plant even though I pinched suckers for the first month they were in the ground.

Do I sound like I just did a wine tasting? This is what I would like for others to tell me about the tomatoes they are growing. And anyone else who has grown Lemon Boy please chime in with your take on this variety. Dawn, I think I remember you mentioning you were growing this tomato this year?

Marcy

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Comments (6)

seedmama
13 years ago
Flavor aside, the photo staging is suberb! Good job!

Seedmama
joellenh
13 years ago
You tomato connoisseurs just make my day. My mouth is watering!
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No, anney, I hadn't seen that but it's not news as I got the same information directly from Vilmorin. I've gotten as many of the OP strains as I can and have tried a couple but they just don't measure up. Going back to the Lemon Boy, I think it certainly could happen there too but no one will tell us until afterwards. My suspicion is that may be what's going on. Burpee sent me seeds that did not germinate - probably too old. Totally Tomatoes has it listed on their site with a nice picture but has a note that it is "unavailable". A few others still have some. This is why I asked my second question in an effort to learn more about de-hybridizing. There is lots of discussion around but I can find little real information unless it is along the lines of saving several generations of seed. In the case of Dona, that hasn't worked. Somewhere I saw something about a method that involved some back-crossing but I can't find it now. I don't expect to recapture all the genetic background but a little effort could yield something acceptable.
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This question is more theoretical than practical, but I'm curious about saving hybrid seeds. I understand that Lemon Boy is a hybrid, and that saving seeds will not produce true Lemon Boys. ****** Bart, just so you know, there are two versions of Lemon Boy in circulation. One is a hybrid and the other is a genetically dehybridized OP. (My question is, if I only grew Lemon Boy and no other tomatoes would the saved seeds be true Lemon Boy? I think the answer is no.) If you grew the OP version and there was no X pollination and no mutations the saved seeds would be true. If you grew the hybrid version you probably would get different plants with fruits similar to but not the same as the F1 hybrid when you planted out the saved F2 seeds. (My second question is how do seed companies get seeds for these hybrid varitites? Where do they come from?!?!) Huge question Bart, but seed production for hybrids involves usually two breeding lines and the last selection in one breeding line is crossed with the last selection in the other breeding line to give the F1 plants and fruits with F1 hybrid seeds. The female recipient blossoms are emasculated to remove the pollen bearing anthers so that no self pollenization can occur. More recently some modern hybrids are made using male sterile female recipients, which negates the need to manually remove the corolla with the pollen bearing anthers. I'd have to look up to see when lemon Boy F1 was released b'c if it was one of the earliest of F1's released there may be only two parents, as is true with Better Boy, Big Boy, Ramapo and many more. Carolyn
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boomer_sooner
13 years ago
I tried my first lemon boy about two weeks ago. I thought the taste was ok, I rated it about a 6 out of 10. I was a little disappointed.

I tried my second lemon boy tonight and was very happy. I rated tonights 8 out of 10.

This is on par for me, it seems when I eat the first tomato that ripens on any particular vine, that it doesn't taste as good as the rest of the tomatoes that I pick off of that same plant.
soonergrandmom
13 years ago
Boomer
Did it great better, or did you lower your standards. LOL We meet that first bite of the year with a lot of anticipation. Ask me how I know. I just bought the bacon tonight and I don't even have one blushing. LOL
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
13 years ago
Lemon Boy was the first yellow tomato I ever grew and now it seems so very long ago. It was sometime in the 1990s. For us, it is highly variable in flavor, with the best flavor during the hottest, driest weather.

During periods of rainy weather, both its flavor and texture suffer horribly.

It probably wouldn't make my list of my top 100 favorite varieties, but I grow it once every few years. I have one in the ground this year. I like to use it in a very colorful fresh salsa made with Lemon Boy and Nebraska Wedding tomatoes, and Purple Jalapenos, or red or green jalapenos, and red onions and green cilantro. With all those colors and flavors, it is superb. One thing it has going for it in our garden is that it is very disease-resistant and is a great producer in July and August when others drop off in production. I don't particularly adore Lemon Boy fresh.

There are several better-tasting yellow tomatoes, among them Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Livingston's Golden Queen, Gold Ball, Azoychya, and Yellow Brandywine (unfortunately a low producer), so I grow Lemon Boy maybe once every 5 years in rotation with those other ones. I probably only keep growing it mostly for sentimental reasons although in a hot, drought year, it has a delightful almost citrusy flavor that is great if you like 'tangy' tomatoes.

This year for yellows I have Texas Star (actually a bicolor), Lemon Boy, and Yellow Brandymaster. In the small tomato category, the yellows I have are Fargo, Golden Sweet Grape, Ildi (always our favorite yellow grape), Yellow Tumbling Tom (surprisingly tasty and very highly productive) and Yellow Jelly Bean.

Carol, Anticipation is half the fun!.

Last night's BLT was made with a delicious Dana's Dusky Rose tomato. Today's will be made from some red hybrid tomato, since I sent the 2 bags of big heirloom toms home with DS two days ago. I should be making salsa with all these toms, but am so bogged down in plums and peaches that I don't think I'll be salsa-ing until next week.
jleroi
13 years ago
We have had 3 Lemon Boys so far this season and all have been very tasty and a good size. I have not been watering my tomatoes much this year and everything seems too have very full flavor. We have also enjoyed the Taxi Yellow but are just starting to see the first fruit blush on the Carolina Gold, so I haven't tasted those yet. That's the extent of our non-reds this year.

My Take on 'Lemon Boy'

Comments (6)

seedmama

joellenh

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