Tomato suggestions for next year....

[mzgarden]

DH has asked me to try a new tomato next year and I'm kind of overwhelmed trying to find one for him. 

Here's his wish list, but he's flexible.

Early fruiting (we're in Zone 6a), Red (deeper red the better), more meaty than juicy, medium sized fruit, old fashioned tomato flavor and open-pollinated to save seeds. 

Ideas?

[coppice]

Rutgers or traveler for slicers.

Stupice for an early cherry.

Cows tit or gilbertie for a better paste.

[paquebot]

Calling Stupice a cherry is a bit of a stretch.  It's a 1½" to 2" salad type.  Actually is a good one for canning whole.  If there's a cherry-sized Stupice being offered anywhere, it's a wrong variety. 

For the OP's need, more meat than juice points to oxheart types.  However, not many are early.  Instead, there are many beefsteaks that would qualify for his specifications.  One of the best that I've grown is African Queen.  It's meaty with few seed locules and thus the best for slicing or sandwiches.  It's a pink but redder than most reds.  Won't be found in any major seed company but I have it.

Martin 

[coppice]

Stupice won a taste trial of Organic Gardening, back when they did such things, as the best tasting early tomato of their trials.

I will conceed Paquebots's description of its size. In only about 25 years of growing OP tomato, Stupice is still commonly described by non-gardeners as a cherry.

[paquebot]

Stupice really is a decent one but does like to crack. I presently have two Moravski Div which have been non-stop production since mid-July. It is a Russian commercial strain of Stupice. Since it was around 2000 when I previously grew Stupice, can't confirm that they are the same. Definitely liked the original and this one.

Martin

[mzgarden]

Thanks for the ideas. No go on beefsteak types, he prefers more compact fruit, doesn't care for the xl tomatoes. need to look at stupice maybe. Thanks for the ideas.

[Deleted]

15 years ago we started saving seed from Early Girl tomatoes. We planted 60 plants every year then. With the saved seed we planted 100. When they set tomatoes and ripened we pulled about 15 inferior plants. We kept seed from the best plant, best fruit, most like the parent plant and fruit. We did this each year for a couple years, then went back to planting the normal 60. Now we only plant 15. Over the years we think we have a sweeter, firmer tomato with the great taste of the Early Girl. You can save seed from hybrid varieties....James

[paquebot]

Stupice would be far from what he wants as it's mainly a pickling, a common thing where it originated from. You might want to try the last major commercial one developed just before hybrids took over, Wisconsin 55. Not too big and not too juicy and not a beefsteak and available from me in both red and yellow.

Some of the early hybrids were simple crosses and easily stabilized after a few generations. One that would fit the bill is Moreton which is a nice medium slicer. It's available commercially as a hybrid and from growers like me as a stable OP.

Martin

[Weed]

paquebot ,  You have stable OP Moreton seed! Good to know...I didn't know that one was available as OP.  Here's an interesting article about that tomato that's dated from earlier this year (March/16').  It's one I wanted to grow out this season but my local extension was all out of seed, only way to purchase would have been by mail through Rutgers Univ. so it never happened.  njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/MoretonTomato.htm

BTW...I saved a good amount of seed from the Ramapo OP from this years garden and plan to do a germ test before sending them back to you. You probably remember, I recieved them via you from a SSE member back in 14'  What a great tasting perfect tomato!  They were one of many standout producers here this year and also one of the last to fade.

[Use Less]

I've had good luck here and in the country with Celebrity, not so much with Moreton, both of which are Rutgers/New Jersey types. Rutgers is a group, not a variety. There was an original Rutgers, developed between the World Wars, but it is "lost". 

[Weed]

Use Less, same here with the Celebrity...its another one of the eye candy, good flavor type perfect tomatoes I grow every year. Maybe it's the climate, maybe the soil?, but I've always had good results with the "Rutgers types".  Which state are you in?

[paquebot]

Use Less, the original Rutgers is supposedly still available. What was lost is one of the parent, J.T.D. That which is in the USDA GRIN seed bank is not correct so the original cross can't be made. What is usually listed as just Rutgers is probably one of the improved strains. Currently there is Rutgers, Rutgers Improved, Rutgers Original, Rutgers Select, Rutgers Space Select, Rutgers VF, and Rutgers Yellow plus a few others which are possibly extinct.

Martin

[Use Less]

Sept 18, 2016 21:23:19 GMT Weed said:

Use Less , same here with the Celebrity...its another one of the eye candy, good flavor type perfect tomatoes I grow every year. Maybe it's the climate, maybe the soil?, but I've always had good results with the "Rutgers types".  Which state are you in?

New York state. I've grown Celebrity out in the rural Finger Lakes, relatively elevated, and here in town about 15 minutes south of Lake Ontario, which is modestly a more-temperate zone.  

[willowgirl]

I grew Celebrity a lot back in Michigan (NW Lower Peninsula) and it always performed well for me there.