hey, i am participating in a tomato research project

[mopinko]

a uic grad student is testing heirlooms v hybrids in gardens and urban farms across the area.
what do you think of these tomatoes?
Arkansas Traveler
Better Boy (F1)
Big Beef (F1)
Brandyboy (F1
Celebrity (F1)
Crimson Sprinter
Crnkovic Yugoslavian
Defiant (F1)
Dester
Early Girl (F1)
Eva Purple Ball
German Pink
Italian Heirloom
Mortgage Lifter, Halladay's
Mountain Merit (F1)
Mountain Fresh Plus (F1)

really looking forward to a couple. also a couple on that list that have not done well for me. which is a good thing i guess.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. I could write a chapter of a book just on your post!

Let me ponder and get back to it later - way back in the late 1980s I ran a three year comparison of many hybrids vs heirlooms (and it will be an appendix of my book)....but I will respond on your OP here tonight.

[mopinko]

5. specifically

he has to whittle the list to 10. i am wondering what you would cut.

hate to make my suggestions. he is doctoral candidate. i would hope he has a clue.

[Aerows]

8. Your Lucky Cross

is the prettiest, finest tasting tomato I've ever had.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Would be interested in knowing what the test parameters are.

A great tasting hybrid is a rarity.

[mopinko]

7. here's what he says-

A total of ten commercially available hybrid or open-pollinated, red, medium to large fruited tomato varieties will be evaluated at each garden or farm. They will be planted in three blocks per site with one to two plants per block, for a minimum of 30 plants per site (3 blocks x 10 varieties x 1 plant minimum per variety per block) and up to 60 plants per site. Gardeners/farmers at each site will act as co-researchers. They will help project staff lay out and plant the tomato plants. They will maintain the plantings over the course of the summer, watering and staking the plants as necessary and keeping a record of inputs such as fertilizer. Gardeners/farmers will also help evaluate the performance of the plants. They will participate in a brief training on evaluation procedures and will record their weekly observations on any disease or insect infestations and other evaluation criteria of interest on a standardized, illustrated evaluation form. At least once a week, they will also harvest and weigh separately the fruit from each plant and report the weight on the evaluation form. Weekly text and email messages will remind co-researchers to collect project data. The project will provide all materials, including organically grown plants in 3-4” pots, stakes, forms, and scale for weighing production. Gardeners/farmers will have the opportunity to participate in workshops sponsored by the project on seed saving and plant selection and breeding techniques and will also receive a $200 honorarium.

Note too that we’ll be characterizing the physical environment at each garden/farm by taking soil samples, measuring the amount of light the site receives, and recording air and soil temperatures throughout the growing season using small automatic data loggers.

[LiberalEsto]

3. I've tried growing some heirlooms

including a few on your list. However they all died miserably of Early Blight. Celebrity is somewhat more resistant to the blight. Better Boy and Early Girl are kind of bland in terms of flavor.

I love Brandywines. Last year I had a couple of Pink Brandywines which produced well and tasted great. I also love Rutgers, partly because it's my alma mater, but also because it's reliable and good tasting. Not as good as Brandywines, though.

Good luck with your project!

[Major Nikon]

4. I'm doing beefsteak and romas seedlings right now

I plan on doing them hydroponically.

I might include one or two more varieties in the fall.

[femmocrat]

6. I'm a fan of Arkansas Traveler.

They came in late here but held up well into the cooler late summer temps. Nice smaller tomato, good for one serving.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. OK - here's some comments on the list

First, what are the objectives? Yield, flavor or both?

Arkansas Traveler (not really an heirloom, but a commercially produced variety from the 1950s - a good tomato, medium sized, productive, pink - fairly flavorful, good for hot humid areas)
Better Boy (F1) (still one of the best hybrids)
Big Beef (F1) (one of the best recent hybrids)
Brandyboy (F1) (I've not grown it)
Celebrity (F1) (ho-hum flavor - one of the most common ones grown locally for farmers market tomatoes)
Crimson Sprinter (haven't grown it, not really well known or highly recommended as far as I can tell)
Crnkovic Yugoslavian (not all that well known or popular, a typical regular leaf large pink tomato of the German Johnson type)
Defiant (F1) (aggressive name! Probably one of the recent disease tolerant/resistant ones, flavor will be iffy)
Dester (a new favorite, really good flavored pink tomato, will be very similar to Crnkovic Yugo)
Early Girl (F1) (more for yield and earliness than flavor)
Eva Purple Ball (pretty, very round and doesn't crack much, medium sized, pink, on the sweet to bland side)
German Pink (large potato leaf pink, similar to Brandywine but not quite as flavorful, the tomato that really started the idea of the Seed Savers Exchange since it was from the founder's family - a good tomato, not as flavorful as Brandywine)
Italian Heirloom (I loved it when I tried it at the SSE tasting, but it is really disease prone for me)
Mortgage Lifter, Halladay's (huge pink sweet tomato, a favorite, monster plant)
Mountain Merit (F1) (one of Randy Gardeners's new disease resistant or tolerant types, probably more for yield than flavor)
Mountain Fresh Plus (F1) (ditto)

Some you are missing that I would recommend - hybrids: Whopper, Lemon Boy, Sungold
Non-hybrids - the authentic Brandywine (to compare to Brandy Boy), other colors that are delicious - Cherokee Purple (and/or Chocolate and/or Green), Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Regina's Yellow, Lucky Cross, Green Giant, Yellow Brandywine and/or Kellogg's Breakfast - if you want to make it more visually interesting and kick up the flavor.

[mopinko]

10. ok, this is not my trial.

the guy is trying to whittle the list, not grow it!!
personally, i would like to see it whittled to 6. he wants home gardeners to participate, but wants people to take 2 of each.

i will send on the comments, tho. especially about mortgage lifter. monster plants with so many to grow=good one to cut.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. Ah....if you are looking for a good six tomato comparison....

Big Beef
Better Boy
Park's Whopper hybrids

Cherokee Purple
Aker's West Virginia (or Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red)
Dester

That would be a great trial for flavor, size, color, etc!

[mopinko]

12. i think they are after more productivity than flavor.

alas.

[Botany]

13. If you want productivity I would suggest "Lemon Boy"

although not heirlooms Jet Star and Rutgers have always done very
well in the mid west ..... VFN too

[Aerows]

14. I've gotten seeds for

Beefsteak and Brandywine heirlooms. First time I've grown from seeds, but it is extremely exciting to see them sprouting.

I put a couple of cucumber seeds in the little peat cups, too, and they look like they are something out of Little Shop of Horrors ready to eat everything in sight. I swear they are growing by the dern hour.

[mopinko]

15. the thing about starting squash family seeds

i used to think that was insane, since they grow so fast. but found out accidentally that if you have them inside, the squash beetles cant hit them.
they lay eggs on seedling but the things dont die until they are ready to fruit. gggrrrrr.

[Aerows]

16. I'm growing mine inside

with indirect sunlight until I can set them out. It's still a bit iffy here.

[mopinko]

17. they need a lot of light

they will come up and grow their first couple leaves, but then they will start to fail if the light is not enough.
if they aren't bright green, get them more light.

[KurtNYC]

18. Here is video from a similar experiment last year with 18 varieties

that included Mortgage Lifter and Celebrity:

In general the hybrids did better than the heirlooms with the top producers being Juliette, Sungold and Sweet 100s. This was a test of varieties side-by-side in a biodynamic environment with organic compost in Knickerbocher loam. They were not sprayed and were allowed to develop blight and any other conditions they were prone to.

Taste wise, the Brandywine and the Green Zebra were outstanding, with Sungold and Mortgage Lifter doing well. Middle of the pack was Juliette, Sweet 100, Celebrity, Black Krim, Beefsteak, Oxheart and not recommended were: Stupice, and Mister Stripey.

Blight resistance: Celebrity, Sweet 100, Sungold, Beefsteak, Green Zebra
Nailed by blight: Stripey, Black Prince, Black Krim, Roma, Seeds of Change organic Cherry

[mopinko]

19. i think the trouble with green tomatoes is seeing that it is time to pick them.

especially if you dont remember that it is the green one. easy to squeeze them if you remember.

they are quite tasty, tho.