I really dig your list and can say thumbs up on the Brandywine, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Chereokee Purple, Stupice and Red Currants!

I've grown everything on your list except Goose Creek, which I refuse to grow--the story doesn't fit, and an originator of an open pollinated variety who tries to patent it as well as any other varieties from/that may have gotten crossed by it gets a big 2 thumbs down from me, as well as anyone who sells it and promotes it.

The list is very good, if it were me I'd replace Caspian Pink, Delicious, Traveler, Goose Creek, Tommy Toe and Black Plum with similar varieties in their classes that are much better.

Caspian Pink always rotted on the vine for me at the top, though your location you might not experience the cracking if you don't get much rainfall.

Delicious there are many large reds much better--Neves Azorean Red, Wes, Cuostralee, etc.

Traveler wasn't as big as I thought it would be, most were less than 3".

There are many very good red cherries.

Black Plum is much smaller than you may think. It's not quite a paste tomato in my eyes but more of a long cherry class, maybe 2-2.5" by about 1" or so. It's even smaller than Roma. If you want something that tastes similar to Black Plum, but bigger and on a smaller plant, try Korney's Cross, it should be stable & available by the end of the year.

For other great paste/sauce types, try Joe's Plum, Bisignano #2, Wagner's Italian (which is pink, not that common for a paste type), Ernie's Plump, etc. For salsa, canning, etc, try Rio Grande, a very productive tall red globe on an aggressive Determinate plant.

Sara Black may be a renamed variety by Joe Bratka. I hate renamed varieties.

White/ivory/yellow cherries, try Dr. Carolyn's [Yellow] (pale yellow), or Galina's.

For a dark yellow/gold beefsteak, try Aunt Gertie's Gold.

While Stupice is a very good early tomato, Kimberly is about 2 weeks earlier.

You DID ask for opinions right? I'm just giving my honest opinions! In the end, it is YOUR list and YOUR decision, and the only way you will know what tastes great to you is if you try it. Pics available for most...

Hope this helps.

Mark

P.S. You'll have hundreds of F3 Sungolds to grow out, will you have room for anything else? lol

Sac, good choices on the Purple Cherokee and the Marianna's Peace. I gave the Marianna's Peace a thumbs down a couple of months ago when I wasn't getting any fruit, but it finally started producing and it produced some very, very good tomatoes. I would grow it again if I didn't have so many others to try.

Purple Cherokee is probably the most tomato-ey tomato I have ever tasted. Mine were very strong, sweet, sort of like tomato paste. It would not be my favorite tomato, because I have a certain taste I prefer, but it was a real eye-opener. One downer though: I had trouble getting anybody else to eat it because it looked so strange. (They're starting to get over that, so I might give it another try...)

I haven't grown Arkansas Traveler -- might do that next year -- but I did grow its cousin Burgundy Traveler this year, and it was FANTASTIC. Burgundy Traveler is a darker version of Arkansas Traveler (as best I can determine from the conflicting pedigree information in post on the forum). It is a dark purple-cherokee-ish color which I described as Firebrick. So you might want to consider BT as a possible alternative, that's up to you.

Ones I have tried before here in Sac and cut from my list:

Delicious (It's not. At all!)
Cherokee Purple (Never did well and didn't like the flavor, tried 3 times)
Opalka (None of the pastes do well with my nematodes)
Black Plum (Blech!)

Ones I am currently growing, most have permanent status on my tomato list:

Aunt Ruby's German Green (Always spicy and yummy, some nematode difficulties)
Kellog's Breakfast (delicious)
Caspian Pink (delicious)
Yellow Brandywine (delicious, yields either great or very small)
Marianna's Peace (fabulous performer and taste)
Black Krim (Small yield but very nice)
Stupice (Always fabulous, loves the heat)
Arkansas Traveler (Huge crop, but Burgundy Traveler is even better)
Azoychka (Flavor just OK, but nice color and crop)
Green Grape (One of the best cherries)
Snow White (A nice cherry, good color)
Amish Paste (Nice meaty fruit, some nematode problems)

I would add to your list a nice bicolor like Marvel Stripe, and Boondocks, Stump of the World, Jetsetter, Manalucie and my personal favorite, Moskvich.

Carla in Sac

I'd agree with the recommendation to cut the Delicious from the list. It's a big disappointment for me.

Arkansas Traveler is a regular for me (state loyalty ;) but I'd agree that there are better pinks available especially after my first exposure to Giant Belgium this year (pics posted in another thread here).

And Amish Paste has also been a regular for me each year but the San Marzano paste is out-producing it 3 or 4 to 1 this year and sure seems to make great sauce so I think I switch to it next.

Good luck and enjoy those tomatoes! ;)

Dave

Pink Brandywine
Aunt Ruby's German Green much better green choices 'Green Giant' or 'Cherokee Green' or 'Grub's Mystery Green'
Kellog's Breakfast
Caspian Pink
Yellow Brandywine - dont expect much production but one of the better yellows
Delicious unless you are trying to break a record
Marianna's Peace

Cherokee Purple
Black Krim
Stupice there are much better tasting earlies
Arkansas Traveler
Sara Black
Goose Creek
Azoychka

Green Grape unless you can find an indeterminate one. there are much better ones in the making.
Sungold of course
Black Cherry of course
Tommy Toe
Snow White
Red Currants

Amish Paste
Opalka
Black Plum - excellent for drying, not so great for fresh

Pink Brandywine - Not much production here. 1-3 fruits per plant
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Kellog's Breakfast-A good one
Caspian Pink- Another good one
Yellow Brandywine- Looks to be a meager producer here.
Delicious- Better ones here anyway
Marianna's Peace - Never tried

Cherokee Purple-Wasn't impressive here but found out I probably didn't have the real one. Going to try it.
Black Krim - Never grown
Stupice- There is several I like better
Arkansas Traveler- Wasn't impressed in my garden.
Sara Black - Never grown it yet
Goose Creek - Was impressed with them till the TSWV got them. Got several more also so will be planting again.
Azoychka - Never grown

Green Grape
Sungold of course
Black Cherry of course
Tommy Toe
Snow White
Red Currants

Amish Paste
Opalka
Black Plum
I have over 50 varieties out so can add more comments later as the season progresses. Have some early ones that are very impressive but will wait till I taste most of them to say much. Godlove, Adelia, Wagner, Mr Bruno, Kimberly, Sioux are just a few that do well here.I will come back then and add any new favorites. Jay

Ok - I will play!

I would cut the following:

Caspian Pink - I've found it very disease prone. Try Stump of the World for a great tasting productive large pink.
Delicious - Aker's West Virginia or Zogola much better flavored in the large red category.
Marianna's Peace - some like this one a lot - I've found it pretty ordinary each time I've grown it.
Stupice - Kimberly much better flavored in the same size, color and season
Arkansas Traveler - Eva Purple Ball has much better flavor in a similarly reliable medium round pink.
Sara Black - Black from Tula or Cherokee Purple are THE purples of choice for me. This one has iffy history, in my view.
Goose Creek - much ado about very little from what I've read
Green Grape - just doesn't do well for me, plus I don't like the cruncy, firm, bland flavor/texture
Tommy Toe - OK if you want a red cherry, so many to choose from, but if you have Sungold and Black Cherry, that may be plenty
Snow White - ditto
Red Currants - Mexico Midget is my choice for a tiny red
Amish Paste - nice tomato if you can harvest a fruit - one of the first to go down from disease for me.
Black Plum - interesting shape, but flavor is not a winner for me. Try Japanese Trifele Black for a larger pear shape, better flavor, same brownish color.

just my two cents!
Craig

Your list looks great! Most I've my favorites are included, however I would recomend a few changes, such as adding garden peach. They're a very flavorful miniture tom, and they're doing great where I live(by great I mean better than most of my other plants that are suffering from uneven watering. Just rained again :-(. ) Also, red and yellow pears are my favorite cherry toms, very tasty and great producers. I would take arkansas traveler and stupice off of the list though, they have produced little to no fruit for me.

Sudduth Brandywine
Black Krim
German Red
Levino
Cleota Pink
Royal Hillbilly
Kellogg's Breakfast
Woodle Orange
Cherokee Green.

Jackman

I'll comment on some, but not all varieties.

Pink Brandywine - Excellent.
Caspian Pink - I want to grow this one again because I like it. Its just that there are so many really good pink beefsteaks that I haven't gotten back to it.
Yellow Brandywine - I want to try this one.
Delicious - Too bland for my taste. This is one I would skip.
Marianna's Peace - Good, but not up to the reviews of some so I want to try it again.

Cherokee Purple - Excellent. But, I see that people in your area don't seem to be having good success with it. From reading this forum it seems that some varieties do not perform well or taste good in some areas.
Black Krim - Probably my second favorite black.
Stupice - Early, but has an after taste that I don't particularly care for.

As you see you will get various likes and dislikes depending on taste and growing region. The bottom line is you have to try them for yourself.

Good luck.

Randy

Cherokee Purple: The best on your list especially if you get a good seed or plant. I've had various results in four years of growing them, but they all tasted wonderful regardless of yield, shape or size. The best ever has been this year growing the potato leaf variant from Spudleaf Willie via TomTrees. Fantastic.

Goose Creek: I agree with the others, but not for the reasons given thus far. Last year it was the most beautiful tomato I'd ever grown, but just "good" in the taste category. But this year, seed from last year's tomato produces smaller fruit, same color, good taste, but inadequate production on both plants. Go with a better yielding better tasting tomato with less hype.

Yellow Brandywine: Not worth the space. Low yields aren't compensated by the slightly superior taste. There's other good tasting tomatoes that'll give you way more fruit.

Marianna's Peace: Never grown it but Marianna's Conflict is one of the three best tomatoes in my 2007 garden.

Opalka: Absolutely!

Amish Paste: Grow one more Opalka instead.

Brandywine: Hey, the one I grew last year was a great producer of good tomatoes.

Caspian Pink: Was disappointed in tardiness and low production, but the flavor was good. Not happy in the heat.

Black Krim: Heard it was smoky, but mine was hard to keep lit. Concentric cracking was distracting. Hard white core ... what a bore.

Oh ... it's a long way until next year. I'll bet your list will change from month to month. Stay flexible.

Mark,
I am just curious about Goose Creek. You said the story doestn't add up.... Please fill me in as I was one of the people that bought into it and grew it this year. I have only eaten 1 so far. I thought it was extremely sweet. Pretty small size wise. I too can't stand made-up stories about mators. I think the histories should be as pure as possible.

Thank you to everyone that provided input! The list has already been revised...and expanded. There are over 30 varieties now, which will obviously have to be honed down.

Mark, anytime you want to help out with the Sungold F3's, let me know - I can overnight seed to ya. lol :)

Mark, anytime you want to help out with the Sungold F3's, let me know - I can overnight seed to ya. lol :)

Hahaha! Maybe you'd like to grow out a dozen of my Cherokee Bi-Color F3?

Also, I have a little experience with Sungolds beyond F1... one is an F2 x Juliet F2 cross.

Tomatoaddict, I PM'd you from the other place.

I want to follow up with a comment about Stupice. There are many posts here to the effect that "There are much better earlies", and I want to point out that I do NOT grow it because it is supposedly "early", which it really isn't in my garden here in Sacramento. I grow it because it LOVES the heat, pumps out the tomatoes up until November and develops wonderful flavor in my climate, which is the same as the original poster. I do grow Kimberly too, which is also yummy, but although Kimberly's asset is that it IS early, it doesn't like the heat and production is limited. So I want to stick up for Stupice, and recommend it highly for those in the California heat, not as a replacement for an "early" but on its own merits.
Carla in Sac

The Onslow County Master Gardeners grew and sold varieties that are resistant (not immune) to Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus, the scourge of the southeast. The varieties were: Amelia, BHN 640 and Christa. These are all determinant plants with the tomatoes ranging from 10-12oz and many over 1#. Other than cherry or grape type tomatoes which have some resistance to TSWV , TSWV resistant large eating tomatoes are the only ones I will plant in the future.
recyle_man
Onslow County and surrounding Camp Lejuene area.

Thanks Carla! Stupice is now back on my list - love the input.

Mark, I would be interested in growing out SOME of the Cherokee F3's if you're serious. I have lots of learnin' to do, obviously. Luckily the guy that owns the farm where I board my horse finds it amusing that this 'citygirl' wants to be a farmer & is letting me plant my next year's garden there on a spot about 150' x 100...a tad bigger than my little backyard garden. He's even offered to let me use his tiller as the little Mantis I have would take forever there. It should be pretty amusing to say the least! :D

Wow! Can I have some??? Does he have neighbors??? I've got seeds for corn, and peppers, and squash, and melons, and beets, and carrots, and LOTSA tomatoes, and, and! I'm sooo jealous!
Carla in Sac

Carla,

Not sure if you would be jealous if you saw it! The area he's letting me use is mainly hard worthless dirt with rocks that is currently covered with star thistle with no means of irrigation. It's gonna need a LOT of work before planting next year. Luckily I have access to a big manure pile, a big tiller and the farm well. BUT getting that area ready to plant will take a while. Nothing good comes for free.

I can't wait to start on the next year's garden!!!

Here are some that I have years of experience with. All tomatoes listed below that I started from seed were Martha Stewart brand seeds (from KMart, actually Burpee seeds).

Pink Brandywine -- From seed; fairly prolific, good flavor, large fruits. My wife expects me to grow this and Brandywine every year.

Aunt Ruby's German Green -- From 5" container-grown plant; quality-not-quantity producing plant, good flavor, large sized fruits.

Delicious -- From seed; reliable, very prolific, unremarkable yet good flavor, large-to-very large fruits.

Cherokee Purple -- From seed; prolific, excellent flavor, prone to skin problems (especially longitudinal cracking) caused by uneven watering, fairly large fruits. This is another tomato that my wife asks me to grow when I am starting seedlings in spring.

Black Krim -- From seed; quality-not-quantity producing plant, prone to catfacing and green shoulders, outstanding flavor, medium-to-large fruits. Every year, many different friends that I have given Black Krims to in years past ask me if I'm growing them again. They are that good.

I've grown only a few of these, all from seedlings (since the selection is great around here)

Aunt Ruby's German Green -- wonderful flavor, they get huge, the squirrels don't bother them, and it's fun to watch the expression on someone else's face when they bite into a green tomato!

Caspian Pink -- the squirrels got most of the tomatoes the year I grew it, but I loved the ones I got to taste

Cherokee Purple -- squirrels got most of these, too; but it didn't produce many and the taste was not outstanding enough to try again

Stupice -- grew it one year, wasn't impressed by the flavor; tomatoes were only a little bigger than Tommy Toe and produced a lot, but still half or a third as much as TT

Black Krim -- first year; I planted it in mid-Feb. and I've been picking some every day, probably 6-7 big ones and 18-20 smaller ones per week; incredibly rich and luscious when cooked; a little too much on the acid side uncooked (but then I've been eating too many tomatoes for the past month and a half)

Green Grape -- first year, planted them late; have only had 3 so far, but they're sweet-spicy and I'll grow them again

Sungold of course -- me too; for a change, grew Sun Sugar and Galinas last year, both of which were sweet and tasted very similar to me, but didn't have the fruitiness of a bright-orange Sungold, and didn't produce as much as Sungold

Black Cherry of course -- me too

Tommy Toe -- my favorite red cherry (and it looks like I'm the only person who thinks so) and one of my top-5 favorite tomatoes, great flavor at every stage of ripeness, keeps well, produces huge numbers of large cherries; haven't found any other red cherries that come close in flavor (have tried Riesentraube [so-so], Chadwick Cherry [good, but not as good as TT, and low-medium production], Sweet Chelsea [bland])

Opalka -- a couple years ago the plant was sparse and production not great, but the tomatoes were creamy and rich; this year the plant is much denser and I'm looking forward to them

Black Plum -- I liked the flavor better last year, but it was a consistent producer and the flavor improved later in the season, so I'm hoping it will get better; hadn't planned to grow it again -- the label said Black Cherry, alas

Other tomatoes I've especially liked:
Aunt Ginny's Purple -- rich flavor, big tomatoes, but production was low
Momotaro -- if you like sweet tomatoes; but production seems medium to low; still, I'm growing 2 plants this year
Early Girl -- nice tart-sweet flavor, and a reliable producer; last year it was not early but was a good producer late in the season; was worth growing once but, with so many varieties to choose from, I'm not sure I'd grow it again.