Anyone grown these tomatoes

[gardeningwithe]

Has anyone grown the following and if so could you tell me a little about what like or don't like about them and your experience with how well they grow?

- Pineapple
-1884
-Kellog's Breakfast
-Snow White Cherry
-Chocolate Cherry Tomato (I'm not sure this one is heirloom)


Also any that you recommend?

[applestar]

I grew Snow White and KBX (Kellogg's breakfast potato leaf strain) this year.

Here's a post on taste of Snow White
viewtopic.php?p=311333#p311333

I have several posts on their growth too -- search for applestar and Snow White....

But in a nutshell, I really liked Snow White and flavor of KBX was outstanding, too.

[gardeningwithe]

Thanks applestar!!! I really appreciate it!

[rainbowgardener]

I know gixxerific has grown some of these tomatoes.

Here's a thread where he shows a picture of some including 1884 and Kellogg's breakfast

viewtopic.php?t=37676

DuhVinci was another contributer who grew lots of heirloom tomatoes. He hasn't been around lately, but his posts still are. Re the 1884 Purple he said

1884 Purple - 70 days. Mostly blunt heart shaped fruits so far (probably due to the weather). Smoky, rich flavor, sweetness in present. Very good tasting tomato, seems to be rather productive, larger size fruit mostly (so far)
viewtopic.php?p=148029

You can find more by typing your tomato name in the Google Custom Search box above (it looks like a google search, but it only searches Helpful Gardener), but some of what you will find is just where people listed the varieties of tomatoes they were going to plant or the seeds they had to trade, without other info.

[digitS']

. . .
-Kellog's Breakfast
-Snow White Cherry
. . . Also any that you recommend?

What about growing Cherokee Purple, a Tennessee tomato? I haven't grown it, GardeningWithE. I think it would be able to take the cool nights here and ripen but its days-to-maturity suggests that it may not. Besides, I have Cherokee heritage and what would the ancestors say if it failed for me??

I have grown Kellogg's Breakfast and while it has a wonderful flavor, it was one of those that had like 2 ripe tomatoes by the end of the season. More ripened indoors but that is true with other indeterminate choices. I'm always hoping for sun-ripened tomatoes!

Snow White had a flavor that I felt was short of "wonderful." I mostly go for those modern hybrid cherries but Dr. Carolyn has been in my garden for a few years. It has a good flavor and always, healthy plants. I don't really like the designation of "ivory-colored" but would call it a blonde cherry. Just because of its performance, I am tempted to grow the Dr. Carolyn parent: Galina (very early yellow) and Green Doctors (umm, a green).

Steve

[gardeningwithe]

digitS- I meant to list Cherokee Purple on my list. It is suppose to grow well here. (I am in good ole TN after all).


Rainbow Gardener- Thanks for the links and the info. about searching

[gixxerific]

I have grown all of these except Pineapple which I do have seeds for just never saw the dirt. Though I have heard they are very good.

Chocolate cherry was a good one and I am still not convinced it is any different than Black Cherry which is phenomenal. Very productive it is worthy of a grow.

1884 I grew though it didn't come true to form so I can not say anything on this.

Snow White is a decent cherry, though not one of my favorites, it was very productive which is a plus. Now I am not a big fan of "white" tomatoes as I find them a bit bland. This does have a sweet flavor not as sweet as some I grow though.

Kellogg's Breakfast was a big disappointment for me, though it was moderately productive and the flavor was good, they had almost no shelf life for me. The majority rotted on the vine. I have not grown KBX and usually potato leaf plants have more production due to a larger leaf and more leaf shading. At least in hotter climates though your mileage may vary.

As far as Cherokee Purple that is a great one. Though if you want to go that route I would suggest Spudakee which is a better preforming potato leaf version of Cherokee Purple. If you like black tomatoes like I do another great one is Spudatula a PL (Potato leaf) version of Black From Tula. A large beefsteak with great flavor and great production.

What exactly are you looking for, and how big is your garden?

Dono

[hendi_alex]

I've had similar experience with 'chocolate cherry' and 'black cherry' and have wondered the same thing about the varieties. For sure there is very little difference between these two very prolific vines that make exceptionally tasty fruit.

[PaulF]

I have grown Cherokee Purple almost every year since receiving seeds from Craig LeHoullier who helped name and reintroduce the variety many years ago. It was the beginning of the "black" tomato boom. Exceptional is all I can say about it.

Kellogg's Breakfast is another long time favorite. In Iowa where I first grew this Orange delight and here in Nebraska it is extremely productive and has a sweet, almost fruity flavor. A favorite of all who have tried it around here. Several years ago a tomato growing friend, Martha Hufford, sent me seeds from a discovery of a potato leaf version of Kellogg's Breakfast which came to be named KBX. Both versions are readily available from many seed vendors. In several side-by-side tests I have conducted both were so close in growth habit, disease resistance and most importantly, taste it is impossible to tell them apart. My personal favorite is KBX, but there is no hard statistical evidence to base that on.

Incidentally, a few years ago Darrell Kellogg (yes, that Kellogg) asked me for some KBX seeds so he could see what all the fuss was about. What a thrill for me!

Pineapple is a very sweet yellow/orange/pink bi-color. Very large fruit here but not extremely productive. Might try Orange Strawberry or Orange Russian 117 (which is a little sporadic...great some years, not so great others) On the good year one of the best of the bi-colors.

Black Cherry is the best cherry I have ever grown. Some say Chocolate Cherry is a re-naming of the BC. I don't know, never grew it.

I generally do not grow cherries and I do not grow white or green when ripe tomatoes, so no opinion on Snow White. For me they have no flavor.

[gardeningwithe]

Thanks everyone for the info. I have never grown any of these so we shall see. I mostly am trying to grow ones that had cool names (according to my 9 yr old) or different colors. I've never had anything other than red, pink, or yellow tomatoes so it will be an adventure for us both. I have heard the white type tomatoes are usually a little blander in taste and darker have a different flavor than red as well. I am excited to try the Cherokee Purple as it seems to get uniformly good reviews. Then again everyone's tomato taste run from one end of the spectrum to the other .

[ion]

From that list, I've only grown Snow White.
I grew Snow White along with Sun Gold, and Black Cherry a few years ago. They all tasted good, they tasted different but about equal in taste. It's a matter of preference, I remember liking SnowWhite slightly more than SunGold.
I didn't get much fruits from each plant because they all got hit by TYLCV virus after the first few truss of fruits. SunGold grew a bit better from sprout to maturity, but yielded about the same as SnowWhite with Black Cherry slightly yielding more. I found that Black cherry tolerates the virus and nematodes better than the other two.

[PunkRotten]

I also recommend Cherokee Purple. Best tomato I have ever eaten.

[gixxerific]

I also recommend Cherokee Purple. Best tomato I have ever eaten.

Great tomato it split for me a little, I still think if you like this variety you must try Spudakee the potato leaf version. I think it is a better plant with less splitting and better leaf coverage to ward of those hot summers day's I always have.

Though my favorite brown at this point would have to be Grandma Oliver's Chocolate. It walks all over C Purple.

(Not dissing anyone's favorite here just letting you know there is a LOT more good ones out there)

[digitS']

You keep your Grandma off of my Cherokee, Dono!

(As if I know anything about them . . . )

If Chocolate Cherry is the same as Black Cherry, and speaking of splitting, I had trouble with Black Cherry! Splitting is a problem in my garden because of overhead sprinklers and low humidity. Some varieties do fine, others not.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, all gardening is local. The trouble with all these hundreds of varieties and the info about them, is no one can really tell you how a given variety is going to do in your garden, will it be productive, even how it will taste. So the info can point you in certain directions, but after that, you just have to experiment, if you care about that kind of thing. I have so little space, it makes me pretty cautious, so I only grow red, round tomatoes, which is kind of my mental picture of what a tomato should be. This year I will be growing (red, round) cherry tomatoes for the first time.

[PaulF]

Come on Rainbow, live a little. Get off the red round kick. After retiring to my little village eight years ago and grew the tomatoes I do, I shared the bounty with the local folks by taking a box full of heirloom/OPs to the Post Office for them to take home. The first several boxes had the red, round ones removed first because they were "real" tomatoes. The pinks, purples, blacks, oranges, bicolors, tricolors, green when ripes, yellows, etc. etc were left until last.

People stopped me on the street and asked what those strange looking things were mixed in with the tomatoes. Some wondered if the dark ones were rotten or if I did something with chemicals to make those tomatoes look funny. Little by little people tried the "funny looking" ones. They were such a hit, requests started coming in to bring more of the funny ones and even got told,"Don't bother with those boring red, round ones any more.

In the spring, now the requests are for heirloom/OP plants so the gardeners can raise their own. The local cafe advertises that they use locally grown "real" heirloom tomatoes. I am not the supplier of all the tomatoes they use, just the instigator. There is, however, one old grump of a man who still refuses to grow or even eat any of "those new-fangled funny looking tomatoes." New indeed! All he grows and eats are the latest red, round, tasteless hybrids just like what you can buy at the grocery store in the winter. One of these days I will even get him to realize what he is missing.

Try 'em Rainbow....you'll like 'em.

[digitS']

Paul, I am just imagining what would be the reaction if I showed up at the Post Office with a box of tomatoes in this patriotic corner of the country.

I think I'd lucky to get out without being arrested and the county weed board would probably have to come in to spray the lobby!

You know, it may be that folks have to start with a tomato that is just a little different from round or just a little different from red. I was like that puppy poking at something with his paw. It took a while.

It was also a surprise for me to learn that I had been growing a few varieties that were heirlooms when I didn't even know it.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, it took me a long time to even try growing any heirlooms, because I was so scared about the lack of built in disease resistance. When you only have room for 4-5 plants, you really don't want to lose any! But I have grown some heirlooms the last couple years and they have done fine.

[Juliuskitty]

Rainbow, just try Cherokee purple. It is a great one to get your feet wet with. I just know you won't be sorry.the taste will knock your socks off.

[PaulF]

Steve: One of the good things about living in the dull small town mid-west is that we can get away with showing a little kindness to our neighbors without being hassled for doing it. Ten miles away in the "big city" of 3000, the box would be thrown in the trash or the local kids would use the tomatoes to pepper cars or store windows.

Fifteen years ago when making the switch from my father's bigger, better, best, boys and girls to tomatoes with personality there were warnings about disease resistance. Hybrids gave me nothing but trouble and there never was a year without losing those plants midway through the growing season. After "discovering" heirlooms, as they were called back then (now most call them Open Pollenated), I have had almost no disease problem. A little wilt at the end of the year was the worst and by then I was ready to let them go anyway.

Whether it was due to better and stronger plants or that I took care of my tomatoes better than when I was growing hybrids, I can't say. Even in the few times since I have tried a hybrid, it was a disease magnet. This is not an attempt to be a convincing argument, just my story and I'm sticking to it.

[gixxerific]

Red and round are boring, just saying,

[gardeningwithe]

Maybe if one doesn't have much room give one heirloom plant a try? Of course, I always enjoy putting something new and different in my garden- it gives me something to look forward to!