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Old September 13, 2017   #2
bower
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
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This is such an interesting question that I had to bump it even if I don't have the answer.
I don't think the perfect tomato exists which is at its best in every climate and condition. But there are people everywhere thinking about the same question.

Some of the issues are in common though, so you have traits that play significantly into the question of market qualities including firmness, tendency to split (thin skins), how well they hold on the plant and in storage, how easily they bruise and how quickly they fall apart when they reach a ripe stage, which farmers everywhere are concerned about.

Shape genetics which play a part in attractive appearance also affect the tendency to catface or have ugly blossom end scars. In fact badly shaped beefs are a beef for me, also, because they are more prone to molds getting in the stem end. The beef type fruit with some pointy genetics is less prone to bad blossom ends even when it is only slightly expressed, according to one of the papers I was reading this spring. I think I've noticed that. So that's a trait I'll be looking for in the ideal market tomato.

I've been thinking about yield vs size as well, from a market perspective I think the size is somewhere between a cherry and a whopper. Cherries are great but pick time is high and they really only pay their way when sold by volume instead of weight. Giant fruit are tricky to market. In pounds per plant, a really productive large fruit (Mazarini comes to mind) will outyield all the others. But the unit is too large for most people in a single sitting, so not that easy to market. Also the risk invested in each large fruit is daunting if a flaw can make it unmarketable, you lose a lot per damaged fruit. So to my mind the optimal size for the perfect fruit is maybe 4 or 6 to a pound.
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