choices, an early tomato

[papadennis]

First of all, heirlooms is the only way to go. I like Earliana, Early Wonder, and Stupice. But I have already picked 2 ripe tomatoes from Matt's Wild Cherry and Tommy Toe. Although they are both Cherries, it is really cool to enjoy a ripe tomato in June

Dennis

[bower]

The trouble with early tomatoes, I just can't wait for the first one to be ripe. At six or seven months since the last fresh tomato, my judgement is impaired. So I ate the first Kimberley June 20th not quite ripe, I thought it was good anyway... I had my first Siberian Pink the week before from a plant I started in January and grew indoors until April. I was happy to eat it as soon as pink. But reality checked in a day later, when I realized there was a distinct similarity to the 'cellopak' tomatoes we used to get when I was a kid... definitely, not ripe. I held off for days, circling the first blushing Beaverlodge Plum like a shark... so pretty, and bigger than the others! When I bagged it it was quite firm, but also juicy and... alright. Not a really strong tomato flavour, but much better than NO tomato.
The second Kimberley was allowed to really ripen, it was delicious and stands out from all the unripes or semi-ripes I have eaten so far.... and Kimberley is probably 20 days ahead of Stupice which has yet to blush.
Can't wait to taste the later bigger ones, but I will say Black Early is well ahead of Indian Stripe for early fruitset, and Yaponskiy Krab also shaping up to be heavy bearing and earlier than the Stripe. Earliest of all though is Zolotoe Serdtse which has set a ton of nice sized fruit in spite of cold weather.... can't wait to taste!

[wally mcgee]

Well, after taking in everyone's opinions and the idea ; why not ten? I have come up with a list :

Earliana
Stupice
Kimberly
Glacier
Kotlas ( sounds interesting )
Beaverlodge Slicer ( because I like the name )
Black early ( because I have never eaten a black tomato)
Clear pink early
McGee ( Its a must )
Zolotoe Serdtse ( because it sounds exotic)

I will have to get the tiller out and put a couple new beds in increasing my garden from 30 x60 to 30 x 70ish./ Not to worry, I've still got another 19 acres I could till up

[swamper]

I second Bloody Butcher as a extra early variety. I too rely on cherries to keep me happy until the main crop ripens. Last year Dora was weeks ahead of the other slicers.

[wally mcgee]

Dumb question.

When you plant so many varieties, do you worry about how much distance is between the types?

Rob

[dice]

do you worry about how much distance is between the types?

Speaking for myself, no. Some bee-made chance crossing happens,
but I have been around 2% or less since I have been saving seeds
from fruits. Many people report averages no higher than 5%. That
is only 1 seed out of 20 crossed, without bagging blossoms to protect
them from insect pollinators.

Most flowers self-pollenate from wind. I also use an electric toothbrush
for a vibrating pollenation wand on the flower clusters, so many of
them have already self-pollenated from that before bees ever get
there. A bee vibrating a flower that still has pollen in it but has already
self-fertilized does not seem to induce any crossing of varieties.

If you want to only save seeds from fruit that you are assured are
not crossed with something else, you can put something like an
organza bag around flowers until fruit set, then remove the bag
and mark that cluster with some kind of label (some people use a
piece of yarn or a twist tie around the stem of the flower cluster for
a marker) as "safe for saving seeds". One grower posted a picture
in another thread of homemade bags made from Tyvek with
glued seams on three sides and a yarn drawstring to close the open
end after sliding it over the flower cluster.

Many growers simply save their own seeds without bagging
fruit clusters and "don't sweat the bee-made crosses." (A
bee-made cross is an opportunity for serendipity to create
something well worth growing.)

[Redbaron]

Wally,
There is one I am growing that has exceeded all expectations so far. I haven't tasted it yet though. It's new to me but was highly recommended so I grew several instead of the 1 or 2 that I grew of most other new varieties.

The Miracle BPF. It is an Italian heirloom so I hear. It only makes salad sized tomatoes. But it is an early that is supposed to have that old fashioned taste. I have some fruit set already and a ton of blooms on a small compact plant. All my tomatoes are at least a month behind, but this one seems to be going into full production. If these blooms set fruit, I'll surely have a bumper crop. I just hope it meets the hype flavor wise. Time will tell.

[thefluffybunny]

Originally Posted by wally mcgee

Could some of you seasoned tomato growers recommend an early heirloom variety for me to try.

This is easy for me to answer: Black Giant. Awesome tastes, some claim 65 days from transplant. Others say 80-85. Since I started growing it, it has been among the earliest variety but it holds it own against pretty much any tomato taste wise. If I had to grow only one tomato, currently, this would be it. One interesting thing I noted about Black Giant, is it does not seem to go into transplant shock like other plants. So one thing you can do is start one or two early and keep putting them in large containers. My observation is it doesn’t seem to mind the cold like other tomatoes either so it works well with agriculture fabric. And as they are sizing up it doesn’t seem to mind going in and out of the house each day till I can plant it out. Doing this I had Black Giant 3rd week of June in Chicago land last year. This year the rabbits took them out.

In determinants, Mountain Princess is not bad around 67-72 days.

And Pruden’s Purple is early, around 75 days.

[wally mcgee]

Thanks,

I like easy.

[wally mcgee]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Wally,
There is one I am growing that has exceeded all expectations so far. I haven't tasted it yet though. It's new to me but was highly recommended so I grew several instead of the 1 or 2 that I grew of most other new varieties.

The Miracle BPF. It is an Italian heirloom so I hear. It only makes salad sized tomatoes. But it is an early that is supposed to have that old fashioned taste. I have some fruit set already and a ton of blooms on a small compact plant. All my tomatoes are at least a month behind, but this one seems to be going into full production. If these blooms set fruit, I'll surely have a bumper crop. I just hope it meets the hype flavor wise. Time will tell.

Is it comparable to a cherry tomato?

[wally mcgee]

Originally Posted by thefluffybunny

This is easy for me to answer: Black Giant. Awesome tastes, some claim 65 days from transplant. Others say 80-85. Since I started growing it, it has been among the earliest variety but it holds it own against pretty much any tomato taste wise. If I had to grow only one tomato, currently, this would be it. One interesting thing I noted about Black Giant, is it does not seem to go into transplant shock like other plants. So one thing you can do is start one or two early and keep putting them in large containers. My observation is it doesn’t seem to mind the cold like other tomatoes either so it works well with agriculture fabric. And as they are sizing up it doesn’t seem to mind going in and out of the house each day till I can plant it out. Doing this I had Black Giant 3rd week of June in Chicago land last year. This year the rabbits took them out.

In determinants, Mountain Princess is not bad around 67-72 days.

And Pruden’s Purple is early, around 75 days.

Black Giant looks like a nice tomato. I've never tried one of the dark tomatoes. I am growing Cherokee Purple this year; first time. I can't wait to try it. I've got about 100 tomatoes, (also: German Pink, and Brandy Wine) on and nothing to eat yet.

[dice]

Black Giant was earlier than Cherokee Purple for me (grew
them in the same year). Cherokee Purple was a solid "80 day"
tomato, and Black Giant was in the 70-75 day range. (Both
would be "mid-season", with growers that divide up DTMs
as "early", "mid-season", and "late".)

I usually grow enough 65-day and 70-day tomatoes to be able
to compare "mid-season" cultivars to those. Black Giant was near
the end of that group, and Cherokee Purple ripened first fruit
5-7 days later. (That happened to be a summer with relatively
abundant sunny days for our climate, when everything growing
ripened some tomatoes.)

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by wally mcgee

Is it comparable to a cherry tomato?

Bigger than a cherry already. Salads are mid range between slicers and cherries. But these I am not 100% sure how big they will get in the end. I have several green ones already 3 times bigger than cherries though. How much bigger? We will see. This is my first year growing it.

Edit: PS: I just checked Tatianas tomatobase and there are two sizes listed there. One says ~2 oz and the other says average 3 oz.

Cherries average ~1 oz .... So I am guessing my bigger ones are close to finished growing and will start ripening soon. cant wait!

[AKmark]

I love them, they also have the perfect canning tomato taste that I like. I also grow many beefsteaks, Brandywines, Cherokee, and crosses, about 50 varieties this year, and I still love these little guys. My son cannot walk by them without smashing one into his mouth, complex taste for an early, and IMO better taste than Early Girl and many other earlies. 55 days, great yield, easy to grow, will even grow outside in AK, in a container, a raised bed, whatever, they work well.

[Fusion_power]

Yer all off yer rockers! Off I say, Off with their heads!

Try Jagodka for an early tomato with very good stress tolerance. It is 1 to 2 inches diameter, very heavy flowering, and sets a heavy fruit load. Plants are 2 feet tall so definitely in the small category. Don't expect it to produce like a large slicer, but if you just want a very early tomato that tastes decent, it is worth a place in the garden.

I have to finish evaluating early tomatoes in my garden this afternoon. There are a couple of surprises that I will post about later.

Otherwise, I agree with Stupice, Kimberly, Matina, and Bloody Butcher. I love Gregori's Altai as an early pink beefsteak.

DarJones