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Growing Tomatoes

What kind of tomato?

6 years ago

Could someone help me ID this black heirloom tomato? I received these in a mixed pack of heirloom tomato seeds. This is the second time growing them and have always had the dark green shoulders on them even when ripe. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

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Kansas Farm Girl - Shell - South of KC

6 years ago

Besides the Paul Robeson you mentioned and the varieties Dave mentioned .... I'll add Margaret Curtain, Spudakee, Carbon and JD's Special C-Tex. All have good taste to us and have produced well here. This year we grew Chyornyi Tarasenko. It might be a little obscure, but it was one of our top producers this year and tastes great.

Shell

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Comments (7)

digdirt2
6 years ago
Unfortunately it is impossible to ID most any variety from just a photo - we get lots of requests to do so. But there are some 50 different varieties of blacks and browns with green shoulders and while the leaf type differs on some varieties, the fruit are almost identical. If the mixed pack listed what varieties were supposed to be included that would be a clue to narrowing it down some.

Dave
Kansas Farm Girl - Shell - South of KC
6 years ago
Nice looking fruits. Typical looking for several black varieties. Characteristic green shoulders. Characteristic concentric cracking. Dark pink interior. Medium size fruits. Anything would be just a guess and most likely misleading. How's the taste? Do you like them?
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Just as with cucumbers (your other posts) and most any other garden vegetable the variety, or even something close to the name of the variety, is impossible even if you hold it in your hand much less try to do it from a photo. Out of some 6000+ tomato varieties there are probably at least 2000 red, round ones and any of those can have deformed, inconsistent locules and irregular ripening as in your photo. Your insistence on trying to ID all these unknown vegetables you are growing from your collection of unknown seeds and from unlabeled sources is a waste of your time. It simply isn't possible to do. Dave
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A lot of the experienced folks on here have explained that it's impossible to determine variety from looking at fruit. I would imagine that goes double for photos that look like they've been Photoshopped. Maybe you could contact Village Farms and ask? If they won't say, there are a bunch that look similar. To me, those look a little like brown berry. No way to tell if they actually are, though. Could be that they're just rebranding or that they are growing their own selection or something? At any rate, I'm betting you'd have to grow in a greenhouse to get tomatoes that look anything close to that. There's a good thread about black/brown cherries on tomatoville that you might find helpful. I love reading on that forum.
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Comments (1)
Sorry but there is no way to know for sure what they are. Could be any one of a large number of brown or black cherry varieties - approx. 20+ different varieties. Or even a hybrid volunteer that reverted in both color and size in which case the number of possibilities goes up dramatically into the hundreds. We get lots of "what is this tomato" pics each year and we have to tell everyone the same thing - impossible to know. Just eat and enjoy and call them "Jeff's Cherry". Dave
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Comments (7)
We have 2 San Marzano plants. One doesn't seem to like it's spot and is stunted, but it's the first to get ripe tomatoes. The other one is huge and knows no bounds and is still forming new tomatoes even in 100 degree heat. The Agapanthas you see is a great for attracting bees and hummingbirds. I always plant flowers for that purpose near my veggies. We water ours by drip once daily for about 15 minutes. They seem to like it. I am a bit of a rebel and I do use aspirin spray every couple weeks. I think it works. Below is the stunted one with the ripe tomato. It is in a cage to prevent critters from attacking it. We live on the edge of the wilderness and there are many critters. I didn't plant tomatoes for their benefit!! The dead plant you see is cilantro with lots of coriander seeds. I'm hoping the aroma of that will defer any critter away from that one ripe tomato. We will pick it tonight.
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JustaGuy17
6 years ago
What company did the mixed packet come from? That might give slightly more insight.
cowabunga1
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for trying to help. The seeds came from a trade with no info except for "Heirloom tomatoes - 64 varieties" on the small ziplock baggie. The taste is mild, slightly acidic, and the texture is kinda mushy/mealy. It's not the greatest flavor to me but the fruits are beautiful. You're right though - not enough info. I may stick with some of my other named varieties that have better taste like Paul Robeson. What are some other black tomatoes that you all recommend for flavor?
digdirt2
6 years ago
Black Krim and Indian Stripe for sure! :-)

Dave
cowabunga1
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks Dave, I'll look into those

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