Jenny168
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Location: Zone 10, Santa Monica, CA

Tomato choice advice

Hi,

My friend is asking me to pick 5 beefsteak tomatoes for her. That's all she has room for. I thought I would suggest one pink, red, black, green and orange or yellow. Please tell me what you would choose if you only could have one of each of these colors. I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts. By the way, she is growing in the San Fernando Valley of California where most summer days are over 100 degrees. So they must be good in high heat.

Thanks and here are my potential suggestions:

Green:

Aunt Ruby's German Green or if that's not available
Green Giant
Green Beefsteak

Pink

Brandywine or
Tappy's Finest

Black - this is sooo hard to choose just one but

Cherokee Purple or
Black from Tula or
Black Zebra or
Paul Robeson

Red

Neves Azorean

Orange/Yellow

Kellogg's Breakfast
Ananas Noir
Hillbilly
Captain Lucky
Dagma's Perfection

Thanks so much!!

Jenny

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rainbowgardener
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It's always very difficult, suggesting tomato varieties, but it helps if you give some guidance re criteria.

Your friend is also in Santa Monica, like you? Santa Monica is right on the ocean, that means you have a very stable climate year around, with cool summers. Is it sunny a lot? If not, then you are looking for varieties that can handle cool, foggy, moist summers, where it rarely it gets much above 70. Tomatoes don't love TX/AZ weather where it is over 100 for long stretches, but they do like it warmer than 70, 80 being about ideal.

Are you looking for best yield, disease resistance, best flavor, or just something exotic?

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applestar
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Are these going to be grown from seeds?

Aunt Ruby's German Green is the only one of the listed greens I have seeds for and this is my first time growing. My understanding is that they are VERY Late maturing variety and not very productive. Have you considered Cherokee Green or Grubbs Mystery Green? Cherokee Lime is said to be even better, though my plant struggled last year. I'm going to try Cherokee Lime Stripes which failed to grow last year and *maybe* try Cherokee Lime too since I don't think I got to taste the best it could deliver. I guess Cherokees don't always grow really big beefsteak size fruits though Cherokee Purple is sometimes shown to get that big,

Also out of the bi-colors you listed, I grew Captain Lucky and Ananas Noire last summer -- both somewhat similar in appearance... And they were more like Green with yellow epi and blossom end blush, and GWR and red flesh tri-color (with orange color appearing where yellow skin meets red flesh). I would recommend both highly though my Captain Lucky was just a bit better. I intend to try growing them again (though no this year) in case Ananas Noir had an unfair location. Copper River is another one that is often compared against these two.

I grew KBX (Kellog's Breakfast PL version) which some say is better. Typically PL plants seem to do better where it is hot. I'm hoping to try comparing a whole selection of yellow and pink/red bi colors this year including Lucky Cross... But Grandma Viney's Yellow and Pink is my current favorite yellow/red•pink bicolor flesh variety (compared two years ago vs. Northern Lights, Nature's Riddle, and Beauty King. Beauty King may get another chance this year.)

For Pink, Brandywine is another late one and sometimes not very productive depending on where you get them. There are a at least 1/2 dozen different strains. I was hoping to compare them this year,mbut I think I may have to wait. Currently TERHUNE is my favorite even though not very productive but a fabulously delicious and healthy disease resistant indeterminate. Stump of the World is another good one. Tidwell German was really good last year and Soldacki the year before. Another one that may not be easy to find is Missouri Rose. A bunch of pinks are on my list at the tail end of the seed starting schedule. They may or may not get their chance this year, but I really want to try Berner Rose, Gritmire's Pride, Fishlake Oxheart, among others. Oh! You didn't mention -- are hearts OK to include?

WES is a really nice red heart but Neves Azorian Red was terrific last year.

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digitS'
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You may be running up against ideas of "what a tomato should look and taste like." That's somewhat of a problem here. DW doesn't like black tomatoes and I can't generate any interest in a green-when-ripe variety.

Of those I've tried on your list, in a fairly hot and arid environment altho much further north and higher altitude, Brandywine was delicious and Kellogg's Breakfast is a favorite yellow/orange. I just wish those two would ripened a little earlier here.

I should say that it was Brandywine OTV that I have grown on the advice of a high altitude gardener. It's a red Brandywine and it looks like you have already decided on a red: Neves Azorean. That variety did surprisingly well in my garden last year. The shape of the fruit wasn't what some might consider tomato perfect.

Dagma's Perfection is lovely and usually does fine for me but has a very mild flavor.

If Gary O Sena is available for you, you might think of it as a compromise altho it stands out as an excellent choice, IMO. The parentage is Cherokee Purple and Brandywine. Dark shouldered pink is about the best way to describe its color. I'm very pleased with this one :).

Steve

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I know you wanted big tomatoes, but if you go too large, they will not be high yielding. Also while the heirlooms are great, they can be fussier to grow. Most of your selections are for heirloom slicers, is that want your friend wants? Cherry tomatoes will give you a better yield, be more heat tolerant and they usually are sweeter than large tomatoes.

I would have at least one Heat tolerant tomato. If you want an heirloom, I would suggest Arkansas Traveler
In the heat of summer cherry tomatoes are more tolerant and will produce longer- Sungold is very good and sweet but it is prone to cracking. Sunsugar is smaller and red, but does not crack as much.

Pruden's Purple is a large tomato that is fairly productive.

Brandywine is a massive plant with excellent tomatoes, but not that many compared to the size of the plant, and they do not store well.

catgrass
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I am not familiar with some of the ones you have listed. I do know this, though. I have grown Brandywine after all the hoopla about how great they taste. I am in zone 9-and I found them to be almost totally tasteless. Watery, and badly mishapen (which is a characteristic of that type). Then, later, I was told by a long time gardener that Brandywine does not do well in our climate, so you might want to consider that. I would check with your local Ag center and see what they suggest. Here in Louisiana, high heat producers are Florida 91, Heatwave and Solar Set. They are NOT heirlooms, though.

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rainbowgardener
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imafan, note that OP (who may or may not be coming back to respond to any of this, lots of people never do) was in Santa Monica. If the friend is too, it rarely gets much above 70 degrees right there on the coast. They do NOT need heat resistant varieties. They need ones that can produce well with cool, moist, foggy summers. What do the Pacific NW people grow?

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rainbowgardener
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I think I am going to start just responding to new people with a question. If they never come back to answer the question, then no reason to bother writing anything else out for them.

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digitS'
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Don't be discouraged, Rainbow Gardener.

The OP does say, "By the way, she is growing in the San Fernando Valley of California where most summer days are over 100 degrees. So they must be good in high heat."

That may be an edit. HG posts are very easy to edit. I make much too much use of this. Stumbles are part of my charm, or something like that.

Okay, be discouraged if'n you really want to be, RG. It can serve as an excuse for a cup of tea. But, as you observed on another thread, we often engage in conversation just by the prompting of a question - fulfilling our "helpful" roles, or not. Can't be too much wrong with that. We are never quite as good of gardeners as we could hope to be.

Steve

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rainbowgardener
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oh wow.... I'm sorry, I don't usually miss things like that, about it being in San Fernando, not Santa Monica. Very different climate even though only about an hour's drive away - it's an hour inland from the coast, so it makes a big difference.

Yup, heat resistant varieties.



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