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Looking for input on this variety - and wondering why more people don't grow it after reading some good reviews. I'm sure there are better reds
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More nostalgia with a hint of
bathos, just to allow for human interest.
I was able to get some seed of New Yorker not long after it was released and compared it with the Earliana tomato that was considered a first early tomato for canning back on the family farm in Kansas. I just reviewed the pedigree of New Yorker and it reminded me that Earliana was in its heritage! I always thought there was some connection. Within just a few years I had New Yorker crossed into all kinds of diverse pedigrees. I was into early varieties that I did not have to stake or water later in the season in Kansas.
By the time I had some good hybrids and segregations going, our family wasn't into canning anymore. The breeding work was put into mothballs. I looked at some seed put away this past season and was surprised that the New Yorker was buried into single clone pedigrees of 30 to 90 other varieties. I haven't used a New Yorker in direct crosses for thirty years or more. Just derivatives.
Carolyn correctly stated that New Yorker was a variety for the NE USA, but I would add Canada into that niche.
Dr. Robinson gave me some seed of New Yorker BC4 (backcrosses) around 1979 that became the nucleus for the continuation of further breeding within my program. I was looking for earlier, more cold tolerant selections. This is the venue that works well for me now.
About this time around the late 1970's, commercial tomato production declined in New York State. That is probably one reason why it is not more popular, however home growers should have had good luck with New Yorker. I think the decline of OP varieties favoring hybrids pushed it to the hinterlands. Heirloom OP's didn't take off until later.
Carolyn compared New Yorker with Valiant. Good analysis!
Valiant is a grandparent of New Yorker. I put together some pedigree pastes to show how entrenched the pedigree of New Yorker is within NE USA varieties. See further below:
When I read the comments from Craig
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I've not grown New Yorker, but did try Fireball....bleech!
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I had to laugh and try to think why that could be. Fireball, the male parent of New Yorker, has a round plum line as one its parents, and we all could agree that the plum line likely did not add any flavor.
Since I have bred tomatoes adapted directly to the area I have lived, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, California, and now Washington State, my research using New Yorker is increasing in importance here in the PNW.
New Yorker (Geneva 11 x Rhode Island) x Fireball. 1966.
Rhode Island Early (U.R.I. 54-305) - Breeder: University of Rhode Island, Agric. Expt. Sta., Kingston. Vendor: Stokes, Canada. Parentage: (Earliana x Victor) x Danmark. Characteristics: extreme earliness; firm; uniform ripening; excellent color; uniform 4 to 5 ounce size; small blossom. Adaptation: northern United States and Canada. Rhode Island Agr. Winter 1958.
Geneva 11 no pedigree available
Fireball - Breeder and vendor: Joseph Harris Co., Rochester, New York. Parentage: Joseph Harris Co. round plum line x Valiant. Characteristics: early, firm fruit. Similar: Victor. Adaptation: eastern United States, and some use in northern Europe. Harris Catalog 1952.
Victor - Breeder: Michigan State College, East Lansing. Parentage: Allred x Break O'Day. Characteristics: early, determinate, uniform ripening, flattened, often tough fruit. Similar: Bounty and Early Wonder. Adaptation: short season areas. Mich. Arg. Expt. Sta. Quart. Bul., 23 Aug. 1940.
Earliana and Danmark no pedigree info.
Allred - Breeder: North Dakota Agric. Expt. Sta., Fargo. Parentage: uniform color line x Bison. Characteristics: believed to be the first commercial cultivar with uniform color. Similar: Bounty. 1937.
Bison no pedigree info
Valiant - Breeder and vendor: Francis C. Stokes Co., Vincetown, N.J. Parentage: selection from Stokesdale. Characteristics: 5 days earlier than Stokesdale with smaller vine and larger fruit. Similar: Stokesdale. Adaptation: northern tier states and Canada. Stokes Cat. 1937.
As tomato growers, we have history, presence, and future. Each of us is like the embodiment of these experiences with tomato varieties. It's kinda nice to share one take.
Tom Wagner