Hello Kind Folks
What are some of your favorite informative tomato (heirloom or hybrid)
web sites. I'm looking for as much info as possible for next years crop.
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applestar
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[url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26730]2010[/url] and 2009 photo series by Duh_vinci
favorite tomatoes
favorite heirlooms
this one: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=51790
I think there are quite a few informative threads, including real life experience of how they grow and how they taste.
[url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26730]2010[/url] and 2009 photo series by Duh_vinci
favorite tomatoes
favorite heirlooms
this one: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=51790
I think there are quite a few informative threads, including real life experience of how they grow and how they taste.
Originally I learned a great deal by going through some of the major seed sites. I downloaded them so that I could go through them at my leisure,... cut and past to make lists, etc.
Some are a bit over the top in descriptions, some are quite useless, but if you go through enough you will get some idea on agreement for the best varieties, and which are just singe site hype.
The three I would start with are
Tomato Grower's Supply has a good selection of both hybrids and Heirlooms, with average information content
Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes (heirloomtomatoplants.com) has good information in the descriptions and a pretty solid favorites list.
Decriptions are a bit enthusiastic, but generally moreso for the better varieteis.
Victory Seeds has good accurate descriptions for many heirlooms.
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Tomatofest has a very large selection, but the descriptions are not as good as I would like.
Mariannas Seeds has a good selection, but the descriptions are a bit over the top for much that is offered. Things like yearly favorites can be trusted not to be sales hype.
Amishland Seeds sometimes has twisted or blatantly false information. They have actually renamed varieties, so I can't recommend them although they seem to have new and unusual stuff.
Tatianas Tomatobase is the largest information site, but it is too large to wade through starting out cold. It is useful to check on information on those varieties you find interesting at other places.
Today, the big problem with getting infomation off of any of the forums is that experienced growers/collectors are tired of talking about the great benchmark varieties, and there are a lot of rare and unusual varieties that growers can get their hands on, especially coming out of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. These "flavors of the month" make it difficult for a newby to find out about the great heirloom standards. To find out what many of these are go to the list of Carolyn Male's 100 Heirlooms from her book. The list is available as a search function on Tatianas Tomatobase.
Some are a bit over the top in descriptions, some are quite useless, but if you go through enough you will get some idea on agreement for the best varieties, and which are just singe site hype.
The three I would start with are
Tomato Grower's Supply has a good selection of both hybrids and Heirlooms, with average information content
Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes (heirloomtomatoplants.com) has good information in the descriptions and a pretty solid favorites list.
Decriptions are a bit enthusiastic, but generally moreso for the better varieteis.
Victory Seeds has good accurate descriptions for many heirlooms.
----
Tomatofest has a very large selection, but the descriptions are not as good as I would like.
Mariannas Seeds has a good selection, but the descriptions are a bit over the top for much that is offered. Things like yearly favorites can be trusted not to be sales hype.
Amishland Seeds sometimes has twisted or blatantly false information. They have actually renamed varieties, so I can't recommend them although they seem to have new and unusual stuff.
Tatianas Tomatobase is the largest information site, but it is too large to wade through starting out cold. It is useful to check on information on those varieties you find interesting at other places.
Today, the big problem with getting infomation off of any of the forums is that experienced growers/collectors are tired of talking about the great benchmark varieties, and there are a lot of rare and unusual varieties that growers can get their hands on, especially coming out of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. These "flavors of the month" make it difficult for a newby to find out about the great heirloom standards. To find out what many of these are go to the list of Carolyn Male's 100 Heirlooms from her book. The list is available as a search function on Tatianas Tomatobase.