oh ok sorry to hear

Wertach, there are lots of varieties where I don't like the flavor and the best thing is to move on and chose another variety.

If it's blacks you're looking for there are way over 200 varieties you can chose from but it it's a black determinate, not indeterminate you're looking for, along with Black Sea Man and Southern Nights and Blaufruct, well, those are the only ones I know of that are det.

As I see it, the fun of growing tomatoes for many of us is to grow them, see what we think of them, if they come highly suggested than grow them another year if they don't please the first year, but keep growing new ones every year, b'c the more you grow the better able you are to assess newer varieties.

Carolyn

I just harvested my first few BSM so I hope my experience goes better than yours. Because of animals, I dont let them fully ripen on the vine (pick them at the breaker stage and let them ripen on the counter), so hopefully this will help be determine ripeness before they rot.

I have Cherokee Purple, Indian Stripe and Black Krim and am tickled with all three. They have been early, larger than I expected and tasty. Very productive too.

This thread moved off of the main page so fast I was beginning to think I posted it in a dream! LOL

I picked a few that were beginning to blush, like Cdon suggested, well actually before I found the post, but I will still give Cdon the credit. :)

It's their last chance! We will see if the Sea Man is better that way! If not, I will try something else next year!

The ones that were just beginning to blush are ripe. I still don't like the taste. Several started to ooze from the shoulder cracks before ripening. I'm striking it for next year for sure now.

Wertach - I have the same experience with the black varieties and I think it might be the weather. When I lived in NYC, I grew krims, tulahs, BSMs with no problem; they were delicious and not at all mushy.

I've had the opposite experience here in North Carolina and can't quite find a black tomato (other than the Cherokee Purple) that does as well as others. I'll keep trying though! I have a couple late starts in 25 gallon bags so we'll see if not having to suffer through Carolina summers produces a better black from Tulah...

Wertach...I see you planted "Marion". I bought the seed but never planted it. Can you tell me a ;ittle about it like production, flavor, size, disease resistance? Thanks!

Marion is my grow every year tomato. I know it will produce well if nothing else does! My Dad started growing them when they were released in 1960.

He grew them every year of his life, until he couldn't garden any more. But I still planted and harvested them for him in the last 3 years of his life, he died in August 2010 at 88 years old!

They produce 6 to 8 ounce fruit, not big, so it's a two or three slicer on a sandwich. Kind of acidic, which I like.

They taste great to me fresh, frozen, and canned. They are excellent in homemade veggie soup and sauces.

I have never had many problems with disease, a few cases of BER but not very often, Zero BER this year. I have had BER on everything but Marion some years.

From Bonnie's website:

"Marion tomato was developed in the South and released in 1960 to meet the challenges that heat and humidity that create, plant diseases and cracked fruit."

Here is a link that might be useful: Bonnie