Hearts!
 

I've had very little interest in the past for growing heart shaped tomatoes. I believe my lack of interest was based on growing for shape. Many people kept describing the "great" taste of many heart shaped tomatoes. This year, I am growing WES, Granny's Heart, and Prue. All of the plants are growing well but they are very interesting with their thin, wispy, RL foliage. I guess the foliage is a common trait of the heart varieties. I am curious how the wispy foliage became associated with the heart varieties. I'm also wondering if any really good hearts are produced on PL or normal RL plants.

I remember someone commenting on the many desirable traits of the Prue tomato but also stating they will not share Prue seed because most people would over water or over fertilize it to save it from it's normal sickly appearance. It really is a puny looking plant with all the stems and branches bending down towards the soil, but it is growing great and blooming great.

Ted

[QUOTE=tedln;268319]I've had very little interest in the past for growing heart shaped tomatoes. I believe my lack of interest was based on growing for shape. Many people kept describing the "great" taste of many heart shaped tomatoes. This year, I am growing WES, Granny's Heart, and Prue. All of the plants are growing well but they are very interesting with their thin, wispy, RL foliage. I guess the foliage is a common trait of the heart varieties. I am curious how the wispy foliage became associated with the heart varieties. I'm also wondering if any really good hearts are produced on PL or normal RL plants.

I remember someone commenting on the many desirable traits of the Prue tomato but also stating they will not share Prue seed because most people would over water or over fertilize it to save it from it's normal sickly appearance. It really is a puny looking plant with all the stems and branches bending down towards the soil, but it is growing great and blooming great.

Ted[/QUOTE]

I absolutely LOVE heart varieties but wanted to point out that Prue is NOT a heart variety. It was introduced by Tom Galucci who posts here and the history is given at Tania's site.

Prue is one of the varieties I can ID by taste alone and I love it, but you'll see fruits of ALL shapes on the plants.

I don't know what the business is with not wanting to share seeds b'c if that's so some folks somewhere are going to be out a good variety.

I told Tom I'd send it to certain seed sites b'c I thought it was so good, and Glenn put it in the paste section, which it is not, and Tom let him know about that for it is not a paste variety.

I also sent it to Linda and TGS and last I knew she hadn't had a chance to grow it out, so well shall see.

[URL]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Prue[/URL]

Above is the page from Tania's site and it reminded me that I was also the person who sent it to Adam Gleckler, but no time to check my records on that.

I see that Tania is already sold out of seeds for 2012.

I'm growing Brad's Black Hrart this year. My first heart ever. Seems to be doing very well so far. One of the first to start blooming.

Ted, last year I asked a question about the wispiness (or lack thereof) of my list of heart varieties and got quite a bit of feedback, so you might find that interests you there:

[url]www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=18190[/url]

kath

Carolyn,

Thanks for the information. I guess you would have a hard time classifying the Prue based on fruit shape if it produces various shapes. It does seem to have the foliage common to heart varieties I am familiar with and possibly produces some heart shaped fruit from my understanding.

I got my seed from Glecklers last year I think so my plants will only be two generations away from yours. I'm sure I will be commenting on the fruit as it is produced.

Ted

Ted I have grown a good number of hearts and have found many of them to be bland and lacking in juiciness. It seems that some of the most productive ones were also some of the mildest but they made great sauce. I have found a couple that I really like for just their flavor and the fact that they will make fruit down here in the heat and humidity.

Donskoi: My all time favorite heart for its taste alone. It can make some huge fruits that are very juicy with a full rich tomato flavor. The biggest drawback to Donskoi is moderate production; but I would grow it every year even if it only made one or two fruits. They usually make between 8 and 12 tomatoes per plant but sometimes less.

Fish Lake Oxheart: The earliest full size tomato that I have grown in the past two years. It has full balanced tomato flavor and is juicy. It will also set some fruit when it is very hot.

Kosovo: One of the most reliable large pink hearts. It has decent juiciness and the taste is good. It is very productive and produces for a long time.

i love hearts!

1st as carolyn stated prue is not a heart. 90%+ of all fruits are shaped like this - twice as long as it is wide at the shoulders, tapers to a point or pronounced nipple. i have only seen 2 or 3 shapes, carolyn refers to 1 shape as a bomb, almost round but it still has that point tho it is subtle. i can't recall the 3rd shape. size varies from 4 oz to well over a pound but typically they are around 7-10 oz for me. yields vary from year to year. they are sparse plants so i put 2 and sometimes 3 plants into a 26 or 28" diameter crw cage. prue does look like a charley brown christmas tree and i always warn people to not over water for that reason but i never heard of anyone refusing to share seeds for that reason. i have grown prue since the early 80's, it was grown by my ex wife's grandfather. i have distributed well over a thousand seeds over the years.

i wondered what ever became of the tgs seeds carolyn, i thought linda just did not care for the production so she decided to not list it in her catalog. good to hear she needs to grow it still to decide. btw, i sent seeds of prue to adam gleckler when he requested seeds here so his seeds are from me.

wes and prue are my 2 favorite regular sized tomatoes along with sun gold. wes is fantastic and produces much heavier than prue. i like prue just a little more for it's unique sweet taste but wes is right up there! :yes:

tom (gallucci)

austrailian red oxheart. not many seeds and the best eating tomato that iv,e ever had but theres alot more tomatoes out there that i have not tried.

Never tried hearts before but after hearing so much about them on here, I can hardly wait for my first heart tomato! My Brad's Black Heart looks like its set at least one fruit so far and is a big, healthy plant.
I'm hoping I like them. Next year I'd like to plant a few more hearts.
I do a lot of cooking and fresh salsas, plus dehydrating, so I think hearts will work well into our game plan.

I've never tried hearts before either, but this year Rebecca Sebastian's Bull Bag and Orange Russian 117 are in the lineup.

I also have seeds for Pink Oxheart and Joe Theinaman's Australian Heart but didn't have enough room for all the varieties I have seed for. It was very difficult to pick which two of the four to plant this year.

Have to admit, I'm really excited about the hearts. You hear so much about how meaty they are and how few seeds they have. Hope they live up to the hype in my garden. I've also looked at Brad's Black Heart, so it will be fun to hear how Tracydr does with hers.

So many tomatoes, so little space!

[QUOTE=livinonfaith;269093]I've never tried hearts before either, but this year Rebecca Sebastian's Bull Bag and Orange Russian 117 are in the lineup.

I also have seeds for Pink Oxheart and Joe Theinaman's Australian Heart but didn't have enough room for all the varieties I have seed for. It was very difficult to pick which two of the four to plant this year.

Have to admit, I'm really excited about the hearts. You hear so much about how meaty they are and how few seeds they have. Hope they live up to the hype in my garden. I've also looked at Brad's Black Heart, so it will be fun to hear how Tracydr does with hers.

So many tomatoes, so little space![/QUOTE]

I would be downright dangerous if I had a lot more open dirt!
One reason I've not gotten excited about hearts before is I had the impression they weren't big producers. True or false?

Tracy, they are just like any other tomatoes some are very productive and some aren't.

The varieties that I have grown in the past that were very productive for me per plant were:

Hungarian Heart
Kosovo
Linnie's Oxheart
Wes
Oleyar's German
Gildo Pietroboni

The ones that stood out for low production for me were:

Brad's Black Heart
Joe Thienaman's Australian Heart
Bull's Heart
Mazarini

The rest of the hearts that I have grown have been moderate producers.

Brad's Blackheart is a good one with typical whispy leaves of the heart varieties that will send newbies running to the Dr. Feelgood cabinet thinking the plant is under nourished or has a disease. But not to worry as that is the nature of the variety.

They do well in containers starting at the 5 gal size and up. In my experience production has to do with the variety and growing conditions. Brads Blackheart was putting out fruit the whole season. Krasnyi Mayak was another tomato machine and heat didn't seem to bother it. Admiralteyskoe Serdtse which I grew next to Krasnyi Mayak all but shut down flower production until the heatwave was over then took off. So if you have area's in your yard that get 4-5 hours of direct sunlight that might be a good spot to grow heart varieties. Ami

I'm partial to Danko, Serdste Buivola and Zolotoe Serdtse, first two from Sprtsguy and last from Sherry, because they do very well in containers, are productive and very tasty.

Brads is my fav, i posted shots here a few days ago Tracy you should look for them here. They get big healthy fruit and plant, i had a fungus disease last year it was my last plant to die. and we so much rain in june i never had to water the garden but i pick fruit off as soon as any color came . Because they would Blow up from the rain. Finally in August I left one on the plant to rippen it was wonderful strong taste.