Hi Y'all,
Over the years, I have been disappointed by many tomatoes that other people raved about and even by AAS winners that sounded wonderful in the promo material but failed to deliver. So, here's what I am wondering: what tomatoes have you been so disappointed with, as grown in your garden, that you will not grow them again?
To earn the right to stay in my garden, a variety has to have above-average flavor, good productivity, and good disease resistance. Brandywine is an exception. Even though it has low productivity and below-average disease resistance in rainy, humid years, I still grow it every other year or so.
Here's some of the ones from my list of "Least Favorites":
Oregon Spring: poor flavor, low productivity
Kimberly: poor productivity
BHN 444: poor disease resistance
Glory: poor productivity and poor disease resistance
Marglobe: poor productivity
Sioux/Super Sioux: poor productivity, poor flavor
Super Boy: Produced DOZENS and DOZENS of fruit per plant in spite of lots of foliar disease. Unfortunately they had little flavor.
Fourth of July: This might not belong on the least favorite list as I grow it some years as a 'giveaway'. This plant produces tons of tomatoes and it produces them early and all season long. It has good to great disease resistance. Unfortunately, the flavor is average to below-average. Some years, though, I grow them as an easy 'giveaway'......people who have NOT become spoiled by ther GREAT flavor of heirloom tomatoes find the flavor of these perfectly acceptable. I don't eat them myself though.
Zapotec Pleated: Poor flavor, poor productivity
Burpee's Supersteak: poor flavor
Burpee's Big Girl: poor flavor, not as early here as it is advertised to be
Delicious: supposed to grow large, tasty fruit. It doesn't.
German Head: poor productivity
German Johnson: poor productivity, poor disease resistance
German Pink: poor productivity, poor disease resistance
Goliath: flavor only average but productivity and disease resistance were good
Mexico: poor productivity, poor flavor
Omar's Lebanese: flavor only so-so, only average productivity
Purple Brandywine: poor everything
Ceylon: tastes good, but low productivity
Jolly: so-so taste
Jelly Bean: produces lots of fruit with average flavor
Juliet: produces well but flavor is only so-so
Patio: poor flavor
Red Pear: nothing special, plenty of better-tasting red cherry types
Yellow Pear: I grew this for at least 15 years because DH's boss loves them. I finally quit growing them, though, because there are several yellow cherries with superior flavor and less disease problems. They also crack and split a lot.
Sugary: only so-so flavor and disease resistance
Sweet Baby Girl: only average flavor. There's lots of red cherries that taste better.
Sweet Chelsea: lots of disease problems and average flavor
Georgia Streak: poor productivity
Isis Candy: poor disease resistance
Mr. Stripey: flavor only average
Black: taste is not as good as Black Krim
Blue Fruit: less productive/less tasty than Black Krim
Nyagous: less productive/more disease than Black Krim
Purple Calabash: poor productivity, poor flavor
Purple Russian: I like this one but its' productivity is low.
Southern Night: The fruit taste good, but horrible disease resistance. This is the only tomato plant I have ever lost to southern blight.
Green Grape: so-so flavor
Lime Green Salad: OK, but not as good as Aunt Ruby's Green
Green Zebra: so-so flavor
Jubilee: heavy producer, good flavor, but very poor disease resistance
Orange Banana: only moderately productive
Galina's Cherry: poor disease resistance. I grow Dr. Carolyn instead.
Lemon Boy: heavy producer, so-so disease resistance, only average flavor
Yellow Brandywine: Low productivity. I do think that Yellow Brandywine-Platfoot Strain is better than plain old Yellow Brandywine, but neither is really worth the space they occupy.
Christmas Grapes: plenty of better red grapes out there
Red Star: low productivity, ho-hum flavor
Red Lightning: poor flavor
Big Zac: A huge disappointment. Poor disease resistance and poor flavor.
Red Zebra: nothing special
Ultimate Opener: Supposed to be an Early Girl type but it is considerably later than Early Girl for me and has inferior flavor.
Tangerine: not nearly as good as Nebraska Wedding or Jaune Flamme'
Plum Dandy: nothing special
Japanese Black Trifele: low productivity although it had good flavor
Paul Robeson: This is one of those tomatoes that I keep wanting to grow, even though its' performance is disappointing. It has great flavor some years, but not others. It also struggles with our heat and has lots of foliar diseases.
Mirabelle: This is the first small yellowish-white tomato I ever grew and it has good to great flavor but low productivity. Coyote is a better performer and has replaced it in my garden.
Moskovich: Slow to produce and only average flavor.
sheri_nwok
Macmex
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