I'm sowing seeds today for a plant out date of April 8. I usually mostly grow varieties that I have trialed over the years, and then I always do a trail of a certain theme... last year I trialed a bunch of Bi- Colors and the year before that a bunch of OxHearts. This year I am trialing about 6 varieties of "sausage shaped paste tomatoes"... Polish Linguisa, Roman Candle, Cream Sausage, Purple Ukranian, Orange Bannana and Purple Ukranian. I will grow about 75 plants, all pruned to three stems and wrapped up jute to eight feet.

Polish Linguisa

Purple Ukraninan

Cream Sausage

Orange Bannana

Purple Ukranian

Roman Candle

Lime Green Salad... (Thanks Tony)(My only container plant)

Green Giant

Cuostralee

Persimmon

Sun Sugar

Sweet 100s

Pruden's Purple

Black From Tula

Black Krim

Momotaro

Orange Jazz

Rutgers

Indian Stripe

Orange Russian 117

Orange Strawberry

Oaxacan Jewel

Georgia Streak

Gold Medal

Kellogs Breakfast

Texas Star

Lucky Cross

Green Zebra

BFBS (A purple-black beefsteak that my buddy discovered in his garden about 10 years ago)

Where is this thread living at? It does not come up in the Growing Tomatoes Forum...

Vegetable gardening forum

Oh, shucks... I limit myself to only one tomato forum. I also belong to a real estate forum and a Remote Control Airplane Forum. I can not add another... I promised myself. See you guys over in the Growing Tomatoes Forum!

If it makes you feel any better, I actually posted it in both Growing tomatoes and Vegetable Gardening. I don't know why it's no longer in Growing Tomatoes!

Edit: Actually, wait, it is in both again.

beesneeds, I got seeds for Wild Fred from Barb's 2017 free seed offer on TV. I was thinking about trying it in 2019, but I think you've convinced me to try it sooner! :) I didn't know it was descended from Carbon. It must be pretty tasty. I haven't tried Carbon, but I have tried Ron's Carbon Copy, which is awesome.

Here's my tentative growlist (if they all fit in the garden):

(I'm just planning to grow one plant of each unless otherwise noted. * means I've grown it before and am planning to grow it from saved seeds.)
• Alpha Pink
• Alpine
• American Original Red Beefsteak F1
• Brandy Boy (john11840 of Gardenweb's version)
• Brandyboy OP (from Tormato of TV)
• Burpee Gloriana
• Burpee Sunnybrook Earliana
• Bush Champion II F1
• Bush Early Girl II F1
• Champion II F1
• Coldset
• Cole
• Costa Rica
• Cougar Red
• E.H. House
• Earliana
• Early Pick F1
• Early Rouge
• Fahrenheit Blues
• Frosty F. House
• *Galapagos Island (Solanum cheesmaniae; grow in the ground with 2017’s seeds)
• *George Detsikas Italian Red
• Green Tiger (a favorite of a friend who tried it)
• Grub’s Mystery Green
• Gurney Girl’s Best F1
• Heatwave II F1
• Huevos De Toro
• *Husky Cherry Red OP (micro; round; multiple plants)
• *Husky Cherry Red OP (round; maybe two plants)
• Italian Giant Beefsteak
• Jet Star F1
• Jetsetter F1
• Large Barred Boar
• *Manitoba
• *Marmande
• *McGee
• Millet’s Dakota
• *Mountain Princess (multiple plants)
• *New Yorker V
• Nodak Early
• *North Dakota Earliana
• Orange Minsk
• Peron
• *Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
• Pioneer-2
• Poca Roja (Big Sungold Select, red; a favorite of a friend who tried it)
• Polbig F1
• Polish Linguisa
• *Sasha’s Altai (hopefully multiple plants)
• Sausage
• Sheyenne
• Stick (multiple plants)
• *Sub Arctic Plenty (multiple plants)
• Super Fantastic VFN F1
• Super Marmande
• *Sweet Orange Cherry
• *Tatura (multiple plants)
• Ultimate Opener F1
• Ultra Sweet F1
• Urban Beefsteak
• Watermelon Beefsteak

I also want to try a few indoors, too (like Red Robin and Tiny Tim), and I plan to start some other varieties to give to other people.

I'll probably also grow some additional varieties in a shaded area outside, but I'm not sure.

MMMM making me hungry! I am growing black cherry, supersweet 100, brandywine

For some reason, the new posts here do not cause the thread to come up to the top in the Growing Tomatoes Forum.

Yeah, I don't know what the deal is there. I hope they fix that soon.

I only grow six plants a year.

2 Brandywine

2 super-sweet 100 Cherry

2 Big Mama hybrid

@ Shule. Glad to know my review of Fred might have bumped it up on your grow list.

And upon review of my growing list... I struck off all three cherries in the snack tub, and growing the peach in that one instead. That gives me three in the short 6-pack, two tall cages, and the snack tomato.

Of course I'm still a good couple weeks out from actually planting seed.. and you know how lists can change :)

Wow, some awesome varieties folks are growing this season!

I hope to grow between 45 and 50 plants (not including micros which can be densely planted in containers) this season and my list so far includes the following. Asterisks indicate new varieties and I will only be growing one plant of each unless otherwise noted. I've left a brief note next to repeats explaining why I'm growing again. As always, the list is subject to change.. :)

- 1884 (1-2 plants) - Very large pink beefsteaks with meaty flesh and little juice. Very few if any blemishes. Extraordinary productivity given average fruit size.

- Amana Orange *

- Amos Coli *

- Aunt Ruby's German Green *

- Aussie - Beautiful fluted, flattened beefsteaks that are dark pink to brilliant red. Absolutely delicious. One issue I had was that many fruit had large cores, so not always the best for perfect slices.

- Barnes Mountain *

- Big Beef (1-2 plants) - Produces consistently large crops. Not my favorite tomato for fresh eating, but is reliably productive and great for processing.

- Big Zac *

- Black Beauty *

- Bonny Best *

- Bush Early Girl (4 plants) - Perfect size for medium-sized containers. Produces loads of 5oz fruit that are great for sandwiches and salads. Has been a reliable producer for me since 2015.

- Celebrity (2 plants) *

- Cream Sausage (2 plants) - Awesome little yellow/cream colored tomatoes that have a mildly sweet flavor and makes a beautiful and interesting sauce.

- Dad's Sunset *

- Dester *

- Dr. Wyche's Yellow - So far my favorite yellow/orange variety. Incredible sweet flavor. Consistently produces large fruits and plenty of them.

- Dutka's Pink *

- Earl's Faux *

- Early Girl VFF - One of your standard medium slicers, perfect for sandwiches and gifting to hungry coworkers.

- Giant Belgium *

- Golden Girl *

- Grandpa's White Wax *

- Green Moldovan - Very sweet, very juicy, very productive. Not a good keeper - should be eaten quickly after harvest. Makes a VERY interesting and delicious sauce.

- Hahms Gelbe (micro) (6-10 plants) - My go-to micro tomato that I often grow indoors under grow lights. Very sweet little orange cherry tomatoes on 8-10" plants.

- Harless Creek *

- Hillbilly *

- Kosovo *

- Krasnodar Titans (2-4 plants) - Amazing shelf life - often stays firm and fresh for a week or longer. Very meaty with almost no juice, few seeds. A great variety for pico or salads.

- Manyel *

- Martha Washington *

- Mohamed (micro) (6-10 plants) *

- Mr. Underwood's Germant Giant *

- Nicholajevna Pink *

- Orange Banana *

- Palestinian *

- Pamyati Korneeva *

- Paragon (1-2 plants) - Similar to Early Girl. Gorgeous, perfect red 5-6oz tomatoes with few if any blemishes. A good sandwich tomato.

- Rowdy Red *

- Stump of the World (2 plants) - My favorite pink beefsteak of all time (plus it's kind of a great name). Produces large crops of medium-large meaty tomatoes. A must grow.

- Tiny Tim (micro) (6-10 plants) *

- Tuxhorn's Red and Yellow *

- White Tomesol *

- Yaqui (4 plants) - Similar to Krasnodar as far as long keeping. These are large and meaty Roma-style tomatoes that are very thick-skinned and perfect for applications where you want less juicy tomatoes. It is the only variety in my garden the past two years that got BER which is why I am planning to grow 4.

Wow! Lots of great tomatoes listed here. Some I had forgotten about a some I've never heard of before. I'm still narrowing down the list but here's what has made the cut some far. The * are varieties I've never grown.

Abe Lincoln*

African Brown*

Amish Orange*

Amish Paste*

Barry's Crazy Cherry*

Beauty King *

Pink Berkley Tie Dye

Black Dragon*

Black Krim

Black Master*

Bumble Bee Blend Cherry*

Cherokee Chocolate*

Dutchman*

Fred's Tie Dye*

German Johnson*

Goliath*

Guker's Special*

Limmony

Matt's Wild Cherry

Orange Russian 117*

Purple Dog Creek*

Red Pear (large Italian not the little cherry)*

Scipio Ibrido F1* (Yeah, I'm mostly into growing heirlooms. Last year I had a terrible time with BER with my heirlooms paste tomatoes. Hoping to avoid that problem with this one.)

I need to get this list down to 14 tomatoes.

booberry85, How large is your Red Pear, and where did you get it? We had a Red Pear and Yellow Pear that I liked a lot more than the mild, sweet, cherry-sized Yellow Pear I've tried more recently (which seems to be the standard one). They were maybe two or three times as big, with more prominent necks (which necks ripened more slowly on our Yellow Pear). The Yellow Pear had an astringent flavor (not a mild one, and not mealy); the foliage had a very strong smell, similar to the fruit taste. Our Red Pear had a strong tomatoey taste (in fact, a little too strong for my tastes at the time for fresh eating). They were both extremely prolific, and early enough.

Nice lists, everyone! :)

I removed Pioneer-2 from this year's list (it's on next year's, now) and replaced it with Garden Leader Monster. If anyone thinks this is a mistake, feel free to let me know! :) I want to grow whichever one will produce the most pounds of fruit throughout the entire season (the frost usually ends in May; the frost usually begins in early October)—unless it tastes underwhelming and the other one tastes totally awesome.

If I were to buy more tomatoes, I'd want to add Atlas F1, Cosmic Eclipse, and Green Vernissage to my growlist. I think I'll restrain myself. :)

If I had more space, I'd want to add Coyote, Ambrosia red, Lime Green Salad, Oroma, and many others.

Shute, I got the Red Pear seeds from Seeds from Italy: http://www.growitalian.com/products/Tomato2C-Red-Pear.html  This is actually a beefsteak tomato.

@shule They are off and Running. Thanks!

Oh, wow. That's exciting! Thanks for showing pictures! :) I didn't know you were starting them already. They're looking great.

(Just in case hairymooseknuckles' picture disappears some day, the plants in it are Thessaloniki Ox Heart, AKA Thessie O.)

Thanks You! My last expected frost date is about a month away.

I do not have a good spot for starting seeds this year, so I'll be buying plants from a local nursery. I'll probably stick mostly with Cherokee Purple and a couple of cherry varieties. I may put in a few determinant plants so that I'll have a good crop for canning all at once, but I'm still on the fence about that.

I've primarily switched over to hybrids after so much trouble with wilt. Only growing 2 heirlooms:

Garden Peach

Mortgage Lifter

The rest:

Amelia

Big Beef

Celebrity

Carolina Gold

Lemon Boy

Super Sweet Cherry

SV 7631

I've finally got my greenhouse out. I can plant the tomatoes any time. This is my greenhouse's third year (the vents are kind of falling apart, it's wrinkled, and missing the plastic connectors, which fortunately aren't absolutely necessary, nor are the four vertical bars they're supposed to connect—I didn't take the best care of it). However, I understand that's pretty old for a ready-made miniature greenhouse; it still works.

My tomato list is pretty much finalized. It's pretty similar to what I posted above, but there are some differences. I need to finish planting some of my other stuff before I do tomatoes, though.

To make labeling my black cell-based containers easier, I decided instead of writing on them with whiteout (which is effective, but laborious) I would just wrap some masking tape all the way around them and write the labels on the tape with an industrial Sharpie. It's much faster. Hopefully the tape stays put sufficiently.

Those are watermelons, peppers, okra, and Kiwano in it, right now. I'm experimenting with some ideas I have about watermelons (so, that's why I'm starting them super early, contrary to the usual recommendations).

That's a heavy duty tarp under the greenhouse (it doesn't have its own floor). I didn't use the tarp the first year, but I wanted it to keep the weeds out.

It doesn't come with stakes (these are the ones I use).

These are the trays I use to hold those 16oz foam cups and the seed cells.

(No, I'm not a salesman trying to sell the products in the links; I like to let people know how I do what, and links help to document.)

I finally planted my seeds so this list is final. I didn't add my list before because I am always indecisive and changing my mind up until the last minute.

Sun Gold

Dr. Wyche's Yellow

Dad's Sunset

Dixiewine

Allegheny Sunset

German Red Strawberry

Cherokee Purple

Kentucky Beefsteak

Orange Strawberry

Brandywine Yellow

Northern Lights

Abc Potato Leaf

Marianna's Peace

Copia

Black Mountain Pink

KBX

Tiny Tim

African Queen

Thunder Mountain

I am only growing one of each plant with the exception of Tiny Tim.

Hi ye,all. I just loged in on my cell. Not very comfortable to type. Anyway, i am growing 24 vars. Onl one them is new, the rest are a selection of my past trials. Here they are

Let me try to name them without looking up my notes.

Ananas Noire

ARGG

BIG BEEF

BRANDYWINE

BRANDY BOY

BROWN HEART

CUOSTRALEE

DELICIOUS

ESTERINA

GERMAN JOHNSON

GERMAN QUEEN

HILLBILL

INDIGO APPLE , INDIGO ROSE

IS-PL

LIMMON

MAT SU

MYSTERY

SARA BLACK

SILVERY FIR TREE

SMALL GRAPE

STUPICE

TIGER HEART

TIGER GRAPE

Sun Sugar

Sungold

Persimmon

Bulls Heart

Sweet 100

Anna Russian

San Marzano

Garnet

Green Zebra

Coustralee

Kosovo

Cherokee Green

still looking for a red cherry that will produce like my Sungolds and Sun Sugars do.

Any ideas?

darth_veeder, I haven't tried them, yet, but you might try Ambrosia Red and/or Matt's Wild Cherry.

I don't recommend Sweetie (which I have tried), but it is prolific. The fruits are very small, and the taste isn't my favorite, but they are sweet. Others might like it.

If you don't mind a dwarf indeterminate growth habit, I recommend Husky Cherry Red F1, which I've also tried.

Have you tried Juliet F1, Sweet Million F1, or Grape F1?

I see Sweet 100 F1 is on your list. Have you tried it before? It might be what you want.

I just thinned my tomatoes and peppers, today. I'm pretty excited for the boost in size the tomatoes will get soon (they tend to do that soon after I thin them after they've been crowded).

We've probably had our last frost already (I hope), but I need to wait at least another week before transplanting, on account of our trees coming down and how we're planning to put black plastic down.

A few of my tomatoes didn't sprout, but most did. I'm just glad Domingo survived (both seedlings received some damage, but they look like they've recovered).

Stick looks pretty cool as a seedling. It grows straight up, and looks strong.

Shule, thanks for the suggestions. I've tried the 100's and millions before and they are ok but not like the 2 Sun's. I looked up the Wild Cherries and they look interesting. Maybe next year unless I can find them as starts somewhere.

Thanks again

@Shule,

I wanted to show you my mater from the seeds you sent me of Thessaloniki Oxheart.

Not sure why, but the auto upload made my pic look distorted. I just wanted to stop in and say hello to thank you again for sending me seeds.

You've got fruit already? Awesome! You're welcome! Thanks for the picture! It looks great. I see more ribbing than was on my fruit, but that could be normal. I'm curious to know more about it as it progesses.

I'll keep you updated and get another picture when it's ripe.

I have about twelve fewer tomato plants, now. The thinned plants are getting bigger (some at a more accelerated pace than others). I'm impressed with Clementine F1. Although I'm planning to give it away, this year, I might grow it myself, next year (or the F2s). I like how it branches early and looks very healthy (both plants).

Gurney Girl's Best F1 is looking great, too. Thanks for that one, wayne_5! :) I'm excited to transplant and taste it.

Shule, looks like I have a few more.

That middle one has some cool stripes on it.

Loving the pictures. Hope to see more as your tomatoes flourish.

This year we are trying to grow a variety of tomatoes, the only ones tried and true being the Sun Gold (delicious!).

In no particular order, we are growing Black Cherry Drop, Indigo Cherry, Dancing with Smurfs, Pineapple Pig, Porkchop, Zlatava, Sun Gold, Ukrainian Purple, Gold Medal, Blue Gold, Candy Sweet Icicle, Pink Accordion, Cosmic Eclipse, Indigo Apple, Black Opal, Delta River Red and It's a Mystery tomatoes (mixed blend from eBay). I am seeing tiny hole marks in my Zlatava leaf and going to spray them with a Dr. Bronner Castile spray mix - wish me luck! :)

I'm getting a lot of fruit setting right now. Only my Pork Chop plant is lagging behind but it is blooming pretty well. I gave all the plants some Texas Tomato Food yesterday so that should really send them into overdrive,

Here is one bed.

L-R - BKX, Big Beef, Carbon, Big Beef, JD's Special C-Tex

Garden pictures · More Info

Sungold

Garden pictures · More Info

Black Cherry

Garden pictures · More Info

Awesome pictures everyone.

I'm getting a few daily now.

Shule,

I went ahead and pulled this one early because it was hanging low and I was afraid some critter might steal it. It will ripen up on my counter in a few. I really appreciate you renewing my seeds for this variety. I know you might not be able to tell, but this is a nice sized tomato. It will come real close to covering a slice of sandwich bread.

Tomato lover - the onions and leeks help to deter critters but they will definitely be eaten.

HMN - Nice looking harvest!

I think I've heard that onions help deter spider mites. I'm curious how true it is.

As of Saturday, I finished transplanting my tomatoes (except some I just seeded a few days ago). I started transplanting in very late May. I have 67 plants in the ground. Most are different kinds, with the exception of Domingo, Sub Arctic Plenty, Mountain Princess, Tatura, and Stick. I've got two of each of those. I've got two Husky Cherry Red F5s transplanted, but they're probably pretty different from each other, and they had different parents.

Those I just seeded recently were more Husky Cherry Red F5s (~4 cups of them), from the larger parent of the two I mentioned above, since I lost the plant, and found it again after I seeded these.

I gave away about 12 kinds of plants that I listed above.

My computer that had most of the plant records on crashed (so, I need to see if the data for my records is still there).

Yes, this is a late transplant for me, and they're closer together than I was hoping (most are about 2' apart, give or take some inches, but they're further apart than last year); I guess I didn't factor in the paths (we didn't have paths last year). We had lots of trees and ground preparation to handle. All the transplanted tomatoes except 6 are in black plastic. There are reseeded tomatoes, too. I'm planning to let as many of those grow as I can, this year. Same for tomatillos and ground cherries.

Now onto the melons, okra, peppers, and basil!

Thanks for sharing the pictures, everyone!

I'd probably take pictures to share, but it's dark right now.

Most of my tomatoes transplanted well, fortunately. Maybe 3 tomatoes had some difficulty.

Okay, so I got the official list of tomatoes, this year, and took pictures. Millet's Dakota already set fruit, too!

Here they are:

Brandy Boy (from john11840 of Gardenweb; stabilized)

Sub Arctic Plenty x 2

Poca Roja (a red version of Big Sungold Select)

Manitoba

Mountain Princess x 2

Watermelon Beefsteak

Sheyenne

Millet's Dakota (set fruit by 5 June)

Frosty F. House

Orange Minsk

Earliana

Cougar Red

E H House

American Original Red Beefsteak F1

Huevos De Toro

Husky Cherry Red F5 (from a non-dwarf indeterminate F4; 4 more cupfuls not transplanted, yet)

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye

North Dakota Earliana

Early Rouge

Italian Giant Beefsteak

Oroma

Husky Cherry Red F5 (from a micro F4)

Pruden's Purple cross

Tigerella

New Yorker V

Tatura x 2

McGee

Green Tiger

Galapagos Island

Bush Early Girl II F1

Polbig F1

Peron

Ultra Sweet F1

Bush Champion II F1

Jetsetter F1

Early Pick F1

Champion II F1

Garden Leader Monster

Stick x 2

Gurney Girl's Best F1

Gold Dust

Domingo x 2

Old German

Heatwave II F1

Aunt Mary's Paste

Virginia Sweets

Marmande

George Detsikas Italian Red

Alpha Pink

Super Marmande

Nodak Early

Urban Beefsteak

Alpine

Sausage

Burpee Gloriana

Sasha's Altai cross PL (setting fruit by 6 June, if they develop)

Burpee Sunnybrook Earliana

Coldset

Fahrenheit Blues

Jaune Flammée (a friend gave this plant to me; it was more mature than my plants)

Several reseeded tomatoes

More photos to come.

After growing Rutgers exclusively and in containers only last year, I finally have a raised bed this year too, which allows for 14 plants total. I got New Big Dwarf (for containers only), Rutgers 250, Sun Sugar, and Roma. All from seed except the latter. I needed to fill out the bed at last minute and those were the only respectably looking seedlings left at the nursery. My Sun Sugars already have 44 fruit in various stages of development across three plants (a fourth is a later planted rooted sucker cutting with no buds yet), none ripe, though.

Shule, are those tomatoes just for your consumption? I love that you have put plastic down. Something to consider for next year. I am very excited as a few of the cherries are already showing flower buds like the Sun Gold.

@Tomatoe Lover

I just saw your reply. I'm not sure why I didn't reply sooner!

We used them for fresh eating, pizza toppings, burrito toppings, canning, and to give to neighbors and others.

It was a hot year. The black plastic made the ground even hotter, and a lot of the tomato plants suffered from heat stress (but it improved the taste over all, I think, and some tomatoes probably did better in it). The stabilized Brandy Boy (which turned out to be a regular leaf accidental cross) and Sausage were the top producers (and provided most of the harvest), but one of the Mountain Princess plants, Cougar Red and some cherry tomatoes also produced a lot. Green Tiger was the sweetest, I think. The prolific cherries were Galapagos Island (which was a cross) and Husky Cherry Red F5 (which was a cross, probably with Sweet Orange Cherry). Porter (a volunteer) actually did amazingly well, too.

We used black plastic in 2019, too. The plants didn't suffer from heat stress, this year (but that might be because they grew more foliage and shaded the plastic more; the extra foliage growth was probably due to a cooler and wetter spring than we've had in years). My favorites this year were one of my Brandy Boy cross F2s, Marion, Galapagos Island (not from the cross), Sweet Orange Cherry, and Porter (didn't do as well as the Porter volunteer last year, but it's still acclimating and that one last year had been grown on the land for more generations). Sausage could have been a favorite, but I grew 17 plants, which grew too big (due to the good tomato year) and smothered each other. One of my Brandy Boy cross F2s, Marion, Sheboygan, Polish Linguisa and Porter were favorites for taste. Early Girl F1 (the store-bought plant) also did very well, this year, and was quite sweet. I think Early Girl F1 is my favorite burrito tomato (followed by Mountain Princess, followed by Burpee Gloriana)—for the flavor they add (not for any lack of juice).

I came to realize that the heat stress in 2018 might have been averted with extra potassium or other nutrients.

The watermelons really do a lot better with the black plastic (they don't get bigger, but they ripen and taste better on average, and the weedy grass doesn't spring up all over them as much).

Even though I grew loads of plants, it should be noted that I gave them drought conditions. Plus, the plants could have been more mature at transplant time (and been transplanted earlier) for a better harvest. And, I didn't do much in the way of soil amendments and fertilization. So, we could have had a lot more production, probably.