A tomato question I almost dread to ask.

[Denninmi]

But, since our forum host here is a tomato expert, I think I can safely ask him, and anyone else here of course, this question, without the acrimony it could raise on certain dedicated tomato forums.

Background:

I grow somewhere between 200 and 400 plants a year, depending upon how many quarts of canned tomato products we think we will need for the family for the upcoming year. We generally put up somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 quarts of various things -- whole canned, stewed, tomato juice, salsa, and spaghetti sauce are the main products, then a smattering of oddball items like ketchup and chili sauce.

I also enjoy having a nice assortment of colors, shapes, sizes, and flavors for fresh use.

I have grown as many as 90 varieties in a season. However, I find it sort of logistically overwhelming to keep track of all of that.

So, the question:

What would you consider the best one or two varieties in each of these categories?

Main crop canning/processing tomato

Red sauce/plum type

Orange

Yellow

Green

Purple

Black

White

Striped/Bicolor

Cherry

I would like to just grow one or two real winners in each category for 2012.

TIA.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. That's a fun question....and each tomato enthusiast will have equally valid responses.

Main crop canning/processing tomato - Nepal and Red Brandywine (Landis strain)

Red sauce/plum type - Martino's Roma and an Opalka type (so many differently named similar ones)

Orange - Yellow Brandywine, Kellogg's Breakfast

Yellow - Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Lemon Boy or Azoychka

Green - Green Giant, Cherokee Green

Purple (which is a pink or clear skinned black) - Cherokee Purple, Carbon or Black from Tula

Chocolate (which is a red or yellow skinned black) - Cherokee Chocolate, Black Prince

White - Great White, White Queen

Striped/Bicolor - Lucky Cross, Little Lucky

Cherry - Sungold, Black Cherry

You forgot....Pink - Stump of the World or Brandywine, Winsall

And our new dwarf growing tomato project has many of the sizes/shapes/flavors above in easy to grow short varieties now!

[HopeHoops]

2. It really depends on the spring.

If there's too much rain, fuck trying to deal with heirlooms. Hybrids like Celebrity and all of the cherry-style (like Sweet 100) do great. Heirlooms like dryer soil at the beginning of the season and will get blossom end rot quickly if their feet are damp. Personally, I like the black and purple varieties for flavor, but they look like a mess of dog shit when canned. The only thing I bother to can are sauce tomatoes. They tend to do well in any sort of weather. We eat all of the "sandwich" tomatoes and my middle daughter picks the cherry style plants clean. To be fair, she does bag a lot of them, along with her strawberries, but still eats most of them. I like making a simple Caprice salad with tiny fresh mozzarella balls, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and fresh herbs from the garden (mostly basil and oregano). That doesn't last long in the refrigerator. It doesn't go bad - it doesn't have TIME to go bad in our house.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. since I grow them all in pots, the heirlooms are not a problem at all. (good drainage is the key).

There are very few hybrids I enjoy eating, so to us it is well worth the risk. Also disagree on the canning results of the purples and browns - we can everything together, so when we can, as many as 60 or more types of every color end up all together. Just gorgeous - we have about 20 quarts remaining, thankfully!

Blossom end rot for us occurs when you get dry plants (wilting dry) on hot days when young fruit are formed - again, containers minimize it as long as you keep them well watered (you can't overwater a container grown plant fortunately!).

Big change next year is more Sungolds - we had 4 of them last year, still not enough!

[Denninmi]

4. Yes, I can all colors as well.

They are very pretty mixed together, and once they cook up, I see very little color difference in the end product, be it pasta sauce, chili, whatever.

[Agony]

7. Sungolds are great

and I grow a _lot_ of them but they do have a serious problem with splitting here when humidity and moisture levels are all over the place. Most years they are a mortgage lifter... other years I consider giving up on them...

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. Yup! Fortunately, they don't last on our plants long enough! We observed the splitting years ago

and act accordingly! Can't do without 'em.

[JDPriestly]

10. Sungolds are great for those of us who grow in pots. We love the taste, and they ripen quickly.,

[wildeyed]

5. I do a combination of heirloom and hybrid.

I love love love Brandywine and Sungolds, like others have mentioned. The Sungolds are wonderfully early little jewels since they are so small. I start the Brandywine in a wall-o-water (kind of a mini-greenhouse) to get them going super early. They take a long time to ripen and sometimes are not fully there by the time the really hot weather sets in.

For hybrids, I like Early Girl. Also do some Romas. They are easy and prolific. Can't wait to try some of the other varieties mentioned in this thread!

[mtnester]

6. Where is your most treasured place to buy heirloom

Plants and seeds? Lots of places for seeds I know, but who are your trusted placed as far as catalog or internet for shipping live plants?

[Gormy Cuss]

9. My nominees

Main crop canning/processing tomato :Early Girl

Red sauce/plum type: any San Marzano type

Orange - Orange Oxheart.

Yellow- Taxi.

Green -- none

Purple -- Cherokee Purple

Black -- none

White -- none

Striped/Bicolor -- Striped German (massive fruit)

Cherry ---Sweet 100, Isis Candy, Chocolate Cherry.

We grow mostly big heirlooms (Brandywines,Prudens,Germans) but every year we try a few new varieties.

One really good variety we grow that doesn't fit into your categories is Principe Borghese. This is a smallish tomato used traditionally for sun drying. It produces massive amounts of fruit on one plant. Obviously it's a a good choice for drying or roasting but because of its intense flavor it's also great for making tomato paste. I don't make ketchup but I bet that it would be good for that use too.