Thinking About Tomatoes Already

[so lucky]

I was disillusioned to read that the hybrid tomato I was planning on using rather than depend on heirlooms again--Big Beef--is a Monsanto creation. Don't want to start an argument, but I would just as soon avoid supporting Monsanto any more than I have to.
So I remembered I said I was going to grow non-hybrid Gary O'Sena, but I see that is a purple one, and not very productive, and kind of smoky tasting.
So I saw Liz Birt, which looks good, and is said to be more productive than comparable open pollinated varieties. It's a cross of Cherokee Purple and Brandywine, and classified as a pink tomato. Altho one description I saw said it is smoky and sweet, they also say it is more acid than Gary O, which I would like, as I am not all that nuts about a sweet tomato.
Any one here have any experience with Liz Birt?
Or should I just bite the bullet and go with Big Beef?

 

[w_r_ranch]

I personally have no problem with Monsanto, DuPont or Dow AgroSciences, I've used a number of their products over the decades & have never been disappointed in the results.

Why people insist on ragging on a highly successful companies is beyond me... I understand facts, however I do not understand emotional reactions based on some paid researchers' pseudoscience. Designing any experiment or 'study' to support a contrived outcome is not 'science'.

But to each their own, life is too short to worry about irrational people & their unfounded fear mongering. I prefer to live better through science. That's my 2 cents.

Now, back to the tomato thread...

 

[digitS']

Doggone it, @so lucky ! First chance I get for happiness today and you expose my failure to live up to higher standards ...

Well, this has happened to me before ... first, I will cast doubt on your standards ... we have a name for that underhanded behavior but I forget what it is.

Okay, yer wrong! Okay, yer right but look how these things happen: Petoseed is the originator of Big Beef. I grew it almost from its date of introduction in 1991. Then, Seminis bought Peto Seed in 1995 and Monsanto bought Seminis in 2005 - (link).

What are you gonna do? I tried a year without Big Beef, going with Jung's Goliath. I've grown it a number of seasons and it doesn't quite measure up to Big Beef. By the way, I know some folks who will have nothing to do with Jung's. Shoot.

Let me say that you are heading off in a good direction. You know about your neighbor and his breeding of both Gary O Sena and Liz Birt. They are full siblings. Dora is the 3rd sister. You might want to know that Kieth Mueller has said that he selected Gary O on the basis of taste alone.

Of the larger OP varieties that I have grown, only Thessaloniki does as well as Gary O in my garden. Gary O is better eating and larger.

I'd like to know about the other 2 sisters and encourage you in that direction, also.

digitS'
Steve had nothing to do with this post and probably has other skeletons in his closet that cannot bear the light of day, or something like that

 

[so lucky]

Yeah, Dora sounds like a good one, too. I was thinking about the Liz Birt due to the higher productivity. I just don't feel like giving much garden space over to a plant that may only produce one tomato all season. This has happened with other heirlooms I have tried.
Well, now that you mention it, I do remember that Petoseed developed Big Beef. I guess the third owner in line can be given neither credit or blame for it.

 

[digitS']

You got me thinking about tomatoes, which is something I always enjoy @so lucky . Fruit seems a treat to me.

With over 60 plants and 20 varieties, I get things mixed up. For example, I often sell and/or give away all the plants of 1 variety - then have none for my own garden. That happened this year with both Isis Candy and Brandywine OTV . I also lose things once they are out there.

I'd already harvested several tomatoes off a nice plant that I thought was a Big Beef before discovering it was a Thessaloniki. That gives you an idea how it nearly matched the Big Beef plants, nearby.

The Gary O showing up as ripe is just a delightful thing for me. I have lots of Early Girls but I've really placed much of the emphasis in the tomato patch on the smaller-fruited varieties.

I can trust and appreciate Bloody Butcher, Buisson and this odd version of Woodle I have. The hybrid golden cherries and Sweet 100 fill the smallest niche.

I'm still lookin'! I'd be delighted to support Tatiana and she has an early pink Li Cun that might add more diversity amongst the slicers .. Maybe I should try another early hybrid but you see how I can be led around on a short leash by those who own the means of production ...

Steve

 

[baymule]

I loved the German Johnson I grew last year. We had a wet spring, all my tomato vines got blight and died. I will grow German Johnson for 2015. Also going to try Mortgage Lifter. @Carol Dee grew Mortgage Lifter for the second time last year. Hey Carol! How about a report on how they produced for you?

German Johnson, Cherokee Purple and Tommy Toes are keepers for our garden.

 

[Carol Dee]

They did really good. A better year for everything in the garden. Not as hot or day as the summer of 2013. I could not keep ahead of them and we gave a way lots and lost more to grasshoppers and splitting.

Some German Johnson and some Mortgage Lifters.

 

[catjac1975]

There are many beefs. Beefsteak is great.Hybrids are great. Bulls heart and pink cadillac are also large beauties. There are old varieties. I think Burpee advertises that none of the products are GMO. There are many seed companies that are organic. I doubt that you can get away from Monsanto totally.
And Ranch many of us are organic. Monsanto does a lot of great things but a lot of toxic things too. If there is nothing wrong with the products than what's the big deal about labeling? We can better choose our preferences with labeling.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've been thinking about tomatoes too. Last year I just grew a few for me to eat fresh and to give away. My wife was at a point medically she could not eat tomatoes because of the acid and what it would do to her stomach. We had several jars of tomatoes, puree, and spaghetti sauce in the pantry that never got used so I did not grow any with the intent to can. All I canned this year was one small batch of spaghetti sauce and that was from eating tomatoes, not sauce tomatoes. It took forever to cook then down to sauce consistency.

Now she has changed her medication again and can eat tomatoes. That kind of switching what she can and cannot eat happens a lot, depending on her medication. The pantry is running low on tomato products. So next year I'll grow a lot of sauce tomatoes with the intent to restock the pantry. The best luck I've had with sauce tomatoes are the Burpee hybrids, Supersauce and Big Mama, so I'll have several of those.

I'll still plant one cherry tomato near the garden gate for me to snack on when I'm in the area. I have no idea what cherry I'll grow. That will be a spur of the moment decision when I see one available, probably at the local Mom n' Pop garden store or when I check out what a certain guy that sells plants at a local "Natural" grocery store plant sale has.

I'll have a few to eat on to. I'll have a couple of Jubilee from seeds I saved. That is my standard yellow tomato that does pretty well here most years. It's pretty meaty and has a decent flavor, at least to me . I usually grow a black but don't know which one yet. I really like the Japanese Black taste but most years it is not very productive here. Krim has its years, some good and some awful. Last year I grew Chocolate Stripe. I was OK with those but not impressed enough to save seeds. Which one I try will be another spur of the moment, probably from that plant sale guy.

I was planning on trying Early Girl last year for the first time, mainly because of some of the comments I read on this forum. But by the time the weather had warmed up enough to plant tomatoes, the local Mom ' Pop, Lowe's, and Walmart has all sold out of Early Girl. They are obviously very popular. I'll probably get some small Early Girls early and grow them to transplanting size myself. I always grow 4th of July, another hybrid from Burpee. It's a thin-walled small red but really dependable here and with good flavor. Not much for sauce but good to give away and eat fresh.

I'll probably pick up a couple more, just some that strike my fancy when I visit that plant sale guy. He normally has a few different ones that are fun to try. That will be plenty for fresh eating and to give away.

So the only thing I've really settled on is about a dozen sauce tomato plants, a few Jubilee and 4th of July, and some that will be spur of the moment decisions. The sauce tomatoes will give me the volume for sauce. The others will go in the sauce and add their own unique flavors plus be good for giveaway and fresh eating.

 

[catjac1975]

The Ox heart (also bull's heart) is a very large meaty and sweet tomato. And it is beautiful in it's heart shape. I think the sweeter tomatoes are lower in acid also. You can add a bit of baking soda to the sauce to reduce acidity.