Best 'early' tomato?
 

I'm looking to grow the best tasting early heirloom I can find. I know this is like finding a golden horned unicorn :D . I've grown early hybrids in the past but the taste is OK at best. Is there such an animal as a great tasting heirloom that's early? Any color, baseball size or bigger...

check out seedstrust.com

Tons of tomatoes from 52-70 days.

Tom

I grew stupice last year, and siberian, which are pretty common. not baseball size though. They have ones though that are half pound or so.

Tom

pacman
Do you want various colors shapes and varieties - two very popular are Stupice (stew peach ka) which you mentioned and Matina for salad size -
I consider 70 days kind of early mid-season but then who pays strict attention to DTM - Azoychka 65 , Black Krim 75 Black from Tula 80 Djena Lee's golden girl 75 Galinas 75 Fireworks 60ida Ukranian 75 days approx

now that I think of it are you looking for short dtm or those that can start in a little cooler weather? because ther are ones that go 80 days but can handle cooler temps

Years ago i thought really good early tomatoes don't exist. Last year I gave them another chance and tried with Bloody Butcher. It was better than all of my late tomatoes. Perfect sugar/acid ratio. Very early to ripen even in cold weather. It's not a baseball size, but larger than Stupice or Kimberly.
I think there are two strains of Bloody Butcher and mine is quite different of what you can see on the internet. This year I'll try another strain too and compare them.
Mine is bright red with yellow speckles, here's the photo:
[IMG]http://www.tomatoville.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12045&d=1263043588[/IMG]

Marko
yeah and there are more I forgot - that is a different Bloody B than I have grown - they are usually more of a salad size for me and perfect globes:surprised:


Dennis

Bloody Butcher for extra early but salad size, 2-4 oz., a must grow for super early and really great taste.

Moskvich which is an early red beefsteak, 6-12 oz., one of my favorite and semi-determinate.

Black Giant, 6-12 oz. black which ripens the same time as Moskvich. I find most black tomatoes ripen fairly early for me but this one gives more early ones. Compact indeterminate.

Early Wonder, 4-8 oz. pink that ripens early, not sure if determinate. Plant about the same size as Bloody Butcher when caged, about 4 feet.

Determinate is fine. I'm looking for the same thing I guess most look for, a great tasting tomato that gets me through the month of July (here anyway). I plant first week of May and am looking for something that I can get tomatoes by fourth of July or so. I've grown Fourth-of-July, Early Girl and a few others which produce tons of tomatoes but are grocery quality I'd call them. Bloody Butcher sounds like a great option. Doesn't 'have' to be baseball size, just not plum size or smaller. Something that could be sliced on a sandwich as well. Red or Pink would be preferable, but I'm more just looking for a good 'old-fashioned' tomato type taste. I've never grown determinates by I suppose that would probably make more sense as I don't really care if it produces after 80 days or so as I'll have all the others coming after that.

Thank you all VERY much for the insight.

John,
Bloody Butcher is great, but it really is smaller than you're asking for. I also like Early Wonder (the pink, slightly oblate one from TGS), and Silvery Fir Tree. SFT isn't a sweet tomato, but has a good strong flavor and nice thin skin. It ripens early, produces heavily (for a while), and is big enough to slice for sandwiches. I should mention, though, that a lot of people don't like its flavor. I love it!
Paula

Another nice early is Aurora. I'll never give up Stupice, which I grow for my very earliest, but last year I also grew Aurora and it was a bit larger and tastier, though just a tad later.

None of the very early tomatoes are going to be very big, though Azoychka which is a tart mid-sized yellow comes in very close on the heels of the earlies.

John,

Tomato sandwiches are what its all about for me too - especially early on in the season. Bloody Butcher makes a fine tomato sandwich for the first sandwich you'll have of the season. The secret I found is to make "half" sandwiches:
1. Take one piece of bread and slice it in half ( not triangularly but cross cut)
2. Slather with mayo
3. Put 3 thick slices in a row on the bread (you should get 2 per BB)
4. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Eat!

It is neater that way and the small slices don't fall out like they might when you put 5 in a whole sandwich.

Moskvich wins my vote. Bloody Butcher second place. I like Stupice too--it's very productive--but the flavor is very mild when fresh. Cooked, it soars.

Gregori's Altai has the best combination of early maturity and good flavor of any slicing tomato I grow. Bloody Butcher is a good golf ball size tomato as is Kimberly.

DarJones

I GREATLY appreciate the input. Just what I needed. Looks like I'm going to focus on [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][B]Mo[/B][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][B]skvich[/B] as it appears to have the traits I'm looking for. Understand the Bloody Butcher could fit the bill as well. Anyone happen to have some extra Moskvich seeds? If so I have a few varieties I could offer in trade. Just tomatomail me :)[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Thanks again guys. VERY helpful.[/SIZE]

I've already received a PM for the Moskvich seeds. Thanks everyone!