Newbie: Heirloom Tomatoes Look Good, Taste Baaad

12 years ago

It's my first garden, and I have a raised bed garden with cherry tomatoes that taste great.

However, the heirlooms are just coming in, but when I picked an heirloom and cut it up, it tastes bad. (I have had farmers market heirlooms a lot, so I'm familiar with how they should taste.) I picked it while it was red but not huge (about the size of a plum.)

The heirloom tasted kind of like it's rotten, but it doesn't look or smell or feel rotten. So far I've only tried one, but more are ripening. Is there something I can do to make sure the others taste better? They do not appear diseased...

It is in a raised bed with compost and soil. I use EB Organics to feed them once a month. As I mentioned, the cherry tomatoes taste great!

Please help. Thank you!!

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Comments (5)

behlgarden
12 years ago
Heirloom is a geenral term, i.e. seeds that you can grow out of your own fruit again and again. there are tonnes of varities of heirloom tomatoes, some are great and some are not so great.

what kind of tomato heirloom did you plant?
mewhee
12 years ago
Hi SpideyKim -

Keep in mind one sample may not be enough to gauge the whole plants taste or lack therof. If you're growing more than one heirloom variety in the same vicinity, see if that has the same lack of quality. If not, more than likely it's that specific plant.

As to whether there's anything more you can do to improve the rest of that specific plant's output, more than likely you're done for this season anyway.

Have a hunch it's probably just one bad apple - scratch that - tomato among many good ones to follow ... ;-)
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Well, judging by his handwriting (Parkinson scrawl) I believe he was up there in age when he sent it to me. Over the years I've come to the conclusion that the one who gives me a tomato, having been the one who maintained it over many years, has the right to name it. So I try not to change the name they give me. I have distributed Baker Family Heirloom via informal seed swaps, and I think in the next couple of years it will start to gain in popularity. Just in the last two of years I've probably sent out 30 or 40 packets. "Heirloom" has certainly become an abused term. I know at least one seed company which calls all open pollinated vegetables "heirlooms." When I first started seed saving in earnest I was drawn to the unusual. Over the years I've recognized that there are some superb tomatoes which are simply... red and round. After ten years of gardening in Oklahoma, I've concluded that I really need "hardy and dependable." Our conditions can be truly awful. Now, back to the original post here, after reading more carefully I am not so sure I'd recommend Baker Family Heirloom for container gardening. The plants are truly huge and have very extensive root systems, which is a big part of why they are so hardy and productive. I suspect this variety might require a REALLY BIG container in order to thrive.
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digdirt2
12 years ago
Sounds to me like you left it on the vine far too long and it was past ripe, something many who are new to growing tomatoes often do. The fruit you buy at the farmers market was picked at what is called color break - shortly after it begins to change to red/pink - and kept to ripen inside.

But as others have said, the term "heirloom" isn't really helpful as it has many different meanings. We need to know the name of the tomato variety.

Dave
monet_g
12 years ago
Was it kind of mealy? When I eat one that is, it tells me it's over ripe. Also, I don't think the first ones coming off the vine are the best.
digdirt2
12 years ago
Hmmm, was hoping for a reply or more info from the original poster.

Dave

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Newbie: Heirloom Tomatoes Look Good, Taste Baaad

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behlgarden

mewhee

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