Heart Tomatoes

[Tonio]

I grew Franchi's Red pear and Cuore di bue this year...among others.

Cuore di bue is a heart-perhaps pink v., and red pear is a ribbed pear(much like zapoteck?).

I can post pics, but may take a while, as photobucket updated their software, which makes it unusable at this point and I am in a transition period for uploading pics to another host site. Plus the cuore di bue pictuers I took are not the best

[dfollett]

Deleted post.

[nancyruhl]

In last years garden, Tsar Kolokol won for most productive. The first branch was so loaded, the fruit came out misshappen. I did get lots of Gildo Pietroboni also. Carolyn has listed Orange strawberry as moderate, but for me the plant was enormous and I havested lots of tomatoes over the season. I won't try to container grow that one again.

[SharonRossy]

Anyone growing Anna Russian? Mine are not doing much. Just starting flowers, dropping a few and in general although its growing, it looks like its angling on for dear life.

[Father'sDaughter]

I've never grown them before, and I can't for the life of me remember why I decided to buy seeds for it this year, but I have an Indiana Red plant that has quite a few large tomatoes on it already. Last year I grew Pink Honey, and while it was very productive, and very early, I wasn't entirely thrilled with the mild taste. While we did eat the earlier tomatoes, once the other, more strong flavored varieties started ripening, most of the Pink Honeys ended up in the sauce pot.

[Salsacharley]

This is my first year with hearts. I'm growing Hungarian Heart, Oxheart, Orange Strawberry, Orange Russian and Berkeley Tye Die Heart. None are ripe yet, but so far they look way good.

Charley

[NarnianGarden]

Any recommendations which heart or oxheart variety might do well in cooler climates? I'll have a look at dave's garden and tatiana's page, as well as tomatofest for what I might try next year.

It's not exactly cool in Finland right now (Sahara deser rather), but a more normal summer would mean lots of rain and chill....

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by SharonRossy

Anyone growing Anna Russian? Mine are not doing much. Just starting flowers, dropping a few and in general although its growing, it looks like its angling on for dear life.

Sharon, heart tomatoes have wispy, droopy foliage. It may look not so good but most of the time survive and produce. Just give it a chance.

I am growing Anna Russian (early pink heart, 75, RL) and Brad’s Black Heart (75, black, RL).

Anna Russian was in Carolyn J. Male book "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden" described as delicious, sweet, juicy and productive. Has Russian origin. I have quiet few of still green tomatoes on my plant. Few days ago, I picked 2 huge caterpillars from it. You can imagine what I did to them.
Brad’s Black Heart has less tomatoes on it but they are going to be in a 10 oz or bigger range. Plus it is a black tomato, I love me some black tomatoes.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

This is my first year with hearts. I'm growing Hungarian Heart, Oxheart, Orange Strawberry, Orange Russian and Berkeley Tye Die Heart. None are ripe yet, but so far they look way good.

Charley

Charley, please post the taste test results and pictures when you pick them.
thanks

[bower]

This year I'm growing Zolotye Kupola, Zolotoe Serdtse, Danko and also Serdtse Dezdemony (hearts and ruffles? so far look mostly blunt) and Rozoviy Flamingo (it's wispy leaved and has perfectly pointed fruit).
For productivity, here's fruit count to date, bearing in mind that Z. Kupola and S. Dezdemony didn't grow any fruit until the weather warmed up, so they may catch up... possibly.
Rozoviy Flamingo: 3 exquisitely shaped fruit with elfin points.
Serdtse Dezdemony: 7 blunt and uneven or odd shaped fruit
Zolotye Kupola: 10 nicely developing broad hearts
Danko: 14 mainly beautifully pointed hearts, a few are wierd shaped
Zolotoe Serdtse..... 44!!!!!!FOURTY FOUR I mean, somewhat rounded heart shape, with the fully grown fruit around fist sized Truly an amazing producer in the cold, and still setting.
Haven't tasted any of these yet.
Anna Russian I grew last year, it behaved like ZK and SD, setting little nubs but not growing any until it got hot and sunny. The plant had a lot of foliage disease all season but produced very well in spite of it.

[SharonRossy]

My orange Strawberry is finally setting fruit. I have one tomato that should have been two and they melded together! So there are quite a few tomatoes going on that one. Although OS started off looking wimpy, its really doing well much to my surprise. Cuor Di Bue is really starting to pump out tomatoes. You're right about Anna Russian, since we had a few days of sun and heat, it looks like I'll get a few tomatoes.

[Father'sDaughter]

I have two Dwarf Pink Passion plants I'm growing for the Dwarf Project this year that are absolutely loaded with blossoms and have set quite a few fruit already. It's parents are Roza Vetrov and Anna Banana Russian. These two are the healthiest of my dwarf plants which are all in five gallon grow bags. They came through the cool, rainy weeks just fine, and our current heat wave hasn't seemed to bothered them at all. I can't wait to try them. I think this is one of the varieties that might be close to being released.

[SharonRossy]

Can't wait to hear how you like it. I'm growing Tasmanian Chocolate (not thru the project) and its starting to set fruit. I might be interested in helping out with the project for next year. Anna Russian still not doing much. I'm debating how long before I yank them.

[b54red]

Most of the hearts I have grown have been fairly productive to very productive. The most productive have been Kosovo, Anna Russian, and Olyers German.

Hands down the best tasting has been Donskoi every year. Anna Russian and Fish Lake Oxheart are not too far behind Donskoi but neither has the explosive flavor of Donskoi. Kosovo and Olyers German are also good but most of the other hearts I have grown are either too dry or too bland for my taste. I like many of them as sauce tomatoes though because they will really fill up a pot quickly and don't require nearly as much cooking down as most varieties.

For just plain old dependability Kosovo would be my choice it has good taste, good size and is a big producer every year.

Bill

This is a good question, but I'm still not sure if it has been definitively answered. I grew Prue last year. It had wispy, droopy foliage like most heart varieties. It had many fruit with the heart shape and pointy end at the blossom end. It also had fruit in a variety of shapes like some of the other defined heart varieties. I'm curious why Prue doesn't qualify as a heart by the descriptions in this thread. It was also a very good tasting tomato.

Ted