AMKuska's 2022 Garden

[ducks4you]

I like SanMarzano for canning.
I like Rainbow's, but I have been growing Cherokee Purple for the last 2 seasons, even saving my seed. They are very sweet, but I haven't tried all that's out there.
I still have a hard sell with family bc I harvest/cut them/can them while still slightly green and it is a Halloween WICKED looking blackish green.
Here is an article that might help:

35+ sweet tomatoes

While growing conditions like sunlight, heat, and soil nutrients can all affect a tomato's taste, the genetics of the cultivar determine much of the sugar

www.homefortheharvest.com

 

[ducks4you]

You probably should spend some time reading online and also check with your land grant university's AG extension office. Your soil is different from mine so the same tomato won't taste the same here and at your place.
They may have some reccomendations as to what tomato will do best.

 

[AMKuska]

One of the reasons why I'm so hurt over this tomatoes is that I did spend a lot of time researching them. I thought they'd be an awesome fit to the garden, but I think 80 days is just too long for my gardening season.

I think contacting our local land grant university is a great idea! Unfortunately while they discuss tomatoes on the website there's no handy list, so I sent them an email. Thanks so much for the tip!

 

[meadow]

This year was unusually bad for us. I barely got any 'larger' type tomatoes to ripen, whereas last year it was no problem. (I'm not far from you)

 

[heirloomgal]

If you ate them fresh, they were probably very dry, pastey and tasteless, right? Everything, inluding texture, was way off?

 

[Zeedman]

I think it was a bad tomato year for many. This was only the 2nd time since 2005 that I did not start my own tomatoes, and had to buy plants. The grape tomatoes did great as always (just roasted the last of them 2 days ago for salsa) but the Oxheart tomatoes were small & late. I'm looking forward to starting my own plants again in 2023... as are my neighbors, who I've always given plants. They had similar bad results this year from purchased plants.

There are several versions of San Marzano in circulation. I grew the original Roma-type one in the 80's; it was larger & more productive than Roma (and did surprisingly well in part shade) but IMO just OK taste-wise. San Marzano Nano is an indeterminate tomato with 2-3 ounce sausage-shaped tomatoes; it had a great yield, but I didn't (and still don't) have the equipment to process them efficiently. San Marzano Redorta is indeterminate, and has elongated 6-8 ounce tomatoes with few seeds & really great flavor. SMR is the only one I still grow. It is late, but since it tends to ripen about the same time as my heirloom peppers, it is well suited for making canned salsa.

@AMKuska , what was it about the flavor of San Marzano that made you want to throw them away? What flavor characteristics are you looking for, and how will they be used? Do you need a short DTM? In my trials, almost any large potato-leaf tomato, most oxhearts, and many of the elongated paste tomatoes have good flavor. I might have a tomato that you would be happy with.

 

[AMKuska]

It tasted like I had lumpy vasoline in my mouth. -.-

This year was unusually bad for us. I barely got any 'larger' type tomatoes to ripen, whereas last year it was no problem. (I'm not far from you)

They were remarkably late to ripen, so that might be a contributing factor.

If you ate them fresh, they were probably very dry, pastey and tasteless, right? Everything, inluding texture, was way off?

I didn't try them fresh. I was prepping them for tomato sauce so they were in various stages of cooking.

I think it was a bad tomato year for many. This was only the 2nd time since 2005 that I did not start my own tomatoes, and had to buy plants. The grape tomatoes did great as always (just roasted the last of them 2 days ago for salsa) but the Oxheart tomatoes were small & late. I'm looking forward to starting my own plants again in 2023... as are my neighbors, who I've always given plants. They had similar bad results this year from purchased plants.

There are several versions of San Marzano in circulation. I grew the original Roma-type one in the 80's; it was larger & more productive than Roma (and did surprisingly well in part shade) but IMO just OK taste-wise. San Marzano Nano is an indeterminate tomato with 2-3 ounce sausage-shaped tomatoes; it had a great yield, but I didn't (and still don't) have the equipment to process them efficiently. San Marzano Redorta is indeterminate, and has elongated 6-8 ounce tomatoes with few seeds & really great flavor. SMR is the only one I still grow. It is late, but since it tends to ripen about the same time as my heirloom peppers, it is well suited for making canned salsa.

@AMKuska , what was it about the flavor of San Marzano that made to throw them away? What flavor characteristics are you looking for, and how will they be used? Do you need a short DTM? In my trials, almost any large potato-leaf tomato, most oxhearts, and many of the elongated paste tomatoes have good flavor. I might have a tomato that you would be happy with.

I'd say both texture and taste were off. A bit like holding lumpy petroleum jelly in your mouth. The smell improved slightly with cooking, but I don't think enough oregano in the world is going to cover that up.

The packaged reads, "San Marzano Paste Tomato" and doesn't specify anything else. It says indeterminate and 3" long fruits, in case that's relevant.

 

[AMKuska]

Just wanted to add, thank you all so much for helping me figure this out. <3 It's frustrating, but I know next year will be better.

 

[heirloomgal]

So even cooked they were awful? Okay, that's a bit different than fresh. Sounds like they didn't develop any sugar levels, or have a very high Brix. Not enough hot, bright sun can do that, and yeah, I'd say you're right that late maturing affects flavor too, for the worse. That's a tricky thing with paste types, many of them are later maturing by nature. I have a lot of them in my tomato collection and many are just right on the line when it comes to maturing. I don't know much about gardening in your area, but you might be better off with a tomato type you can bottle but isn't a romano/paste type. As @Zeedman suggested, oxhearts are a great option to consider. I don't find them as productive but they can be earlier and they are often nice and meaty, better flavor. You could also try next year some organic molasses water with your plants, seems a popular choice for many tomato growers, and it might make up for some of the lower brix due to environmental conditions.

When my kids were younger I did everything garden related as quickly as possible. I froze all my tomatoes whole, and they are really good that way. I would run them under water, the skins fall off, then throw a bunch on a glass baking dish with peppers, onions, celery, few herbs, olive oil, put them in the oven a couple hours and done. It saved me blanching, burnt fingers and sterilizing and the taste was honestly better than my stepmum's bottled tomatoes! I could actually taste the 'garden fresh' still in there!

 

[meadow]

It tasted like I had lumpy vasoline in my mouth. -.-

That doesn't sound true-to-type for that tomato. hmm. Maybe heirloomgal has it right about the heat levels... we sure didn't have much of that this year.