Main Crop Reds

[robbins]

I need some help pcking four red heirloom slicers for main crop growing. We've tried Mule Team (too small), Box Car Willie (too few), Neves (I love it and it will be one of the reds), Brave General (got lost in the field so don't know), and others. They need to be large but not humongous, prolific, no cracking, and wonderful tasting. Also commercially available as we will be planting about 1000 of them.
It is so easy to choose every other color, so why is it so hard to find great reds!?
Robbins

[travis]

Originally Posted by robbins

It is so easy to choose every other color, so why is it so hard to find great reds!?
Robbins

Maybe because you are setting the fruit size standard too high. I find most of the really great tasting, highly productive red varieties run in the 5 - 8 ounce range, or about tennis ball to baseball size or slightly smaller.

[coloken]

On the bases of 2 years for me:
Gigantesque, but it might br too large for what you want. 12 oz ??? I think the name refers more to the plant than the fruit. Give it a lot of room.

[carolyn137]

Robbins, I don't know of any variety that is split proof depending on several variables, but If Neves Azorean Red is about the right size for you then I'd highly suggest the following as other good ones, maybe not all the latest and newest, but good solid performers.

Red Penna
Chapman
Ashleigh
Milka's Red Bulgarian
Aker's West Virginia
Cuostralee

Couilles de Taureau*, seeds at Tania's or Gleckler and I think Adam wouold have the most seed b'c he also does subcontracting as well and so produces lots of seed for what he grows.

Guido*, also at Gleckler b'c I was checking to be sure he had the Couilles and there are some other large red slicers there as well. We encouraged Adam to list varieties that most other places didn't list so there are some really good red slicers there that you won't find elsewhere, same as at Tania or Sandhill but I'm just listing the ones I think might be best for you off the top of my head. And yes, with the top off my brain is still functioning.

Red Barn*, bred by Joe Bratka's father along with Box Car Willie and Mule Team and Great Divide and Pasture, but Red Barn is a larger fruit size and very good and is my favorite of all of those and much overlooked IMO. And the fact is that none of them are heirloom varieties, including the two that you already trialed.
Seeds in large amounts also at Glecklers.

OTV Brandywine, sets fine in the south and at least one parent is an heirloom and probably the other one as well.

Notice I did NOT list one heart variety as I sit here sobbing.

Hope that helps and I can prioritize for you if that would help, but look them up at Glecklers and Tania's site if you don't already know them.

[b54red]

I dedicated a lot of my space this year to new reds in the attempt to find a few more good ones. I found a couple of really good ones this year to go along with the great ones like Neves Azorean Red.

Lumpy Red was the standout of the new reds I tried this year. It pumped out good looking very evenly shaped tomatoes with good taste and they had the extra advantage of having good shelf life. I don't know why it has the name Lumpy because it had more evenly shaped fruit than almost any other tomato I grew this year. The plant is rather condensed and seemed to be very disease tolerant. The tomatoes are not as large as NAR; but are closer in size and shape to a hybrid like Big Beef with a slightly more orange color.

Franks' Large Red was the only other consistently evenly shaped good producing red this year for me. It is bigger than Lumpy Red and more oblate. It makes a good tasting juicy red that is also very productive.

Zogola is a very good productive red but has the tendency to produce a fair number of off shaped tomatoes and the size is much less consistent than the other two I mentioned.

This very hot dry year was a good test of which of the reds would produce under harsh conditions and the above three all out produced NAR which is my favorite red beefsteak. I also had great luck with a red heart that had great taste and juiciness called Fish Lake Oxheart. It was one of my best tasting large red tomatoes this year. If you are interested in really productive but smaller tomatoes you could also try Druzba or Andrew Raharts Jumbo Red. Both of these are very productive and tasty; but they are considerable smaller.

[Sun City Linda]

b54- My sister likes firm, juicey reds that are not very sweet. Does Franks Large Red have much sweetness? Thanks, Linda

[travis]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Robbins, I don't know of any variety that is split proof depending on several variables ...

Glamour is an open pollinated variety (Harris Seed 1957) that is fairly crack proof. It's a stable cultivar derived from the original cross of Burgess Crackproof x Sioux. So it also has a decent old time flavor, but again probably not the larger size you're looking for, Robbins. Mine were in that canner - modest slicer, 5 - 8 ounce range when I used to grow it.

[Mark0820]

In addition to those already mentioned, you could consider Red Brandywine. It is smaller than some of the varieties listed above, but still a good red tomato.

[Worth1]

If they didn't have to be heirloom I would recommend Arkansas Traveler.
It has everything else you want.
And their pink.

Worth

[huntoften]

Robbins...Mule Team too small? Mine were 1-1.5 lb monsters this year...much bigger than I thought they would be. I have some seeds you could have or could grow seedlings for you, but not enough for your whole operation...maybe 250 or so though. You might check with some suppliers to see if they have a supply of them that maybe produce a bigger fruit. I got my seeds from TGS I believe.

You might also try Rutgers. Excellent production, pretty fruits, and good old time tomato flavor.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by huntoften

Robbins...Mule Team too small? Mine were 1-1.5 lb monsters this year...much bigger than I thought they would be. I have some seeds you could have or could grow seedlings for you, but not enough for your whole operation...maybe 250 or so though. You might check with some suppliers to see if they have a supply of them that maybe produce a bigger fruit. I got my seeds from TGS I believe.

You might also try Rutgers. Excellent production, pretty fruits, and good old time tomato flavor.

Whoa here. I'm the person who was able to germinate the seeds that Joe Bratka couldn't and I can't remember getting any fruits of that size for Mule Team or Box Car Willie but did get some that size with Red Barn which was also part of that series bred by Joe's father.

You must have had them on steroids or some wonderful fertilizer or maybe they plumped up b'c of so much rain, but then you'd know that looking at the fruits of other varieties you grew.

[Tania]

Originally Posted by huntoften

You might also try Rutgers. Excellent production, pretty fruits, and good old time tomato flavor.

I'd second Rutgers, and I will add Nepal and Red Brandywine.

[huntoften]

Carolyn...I grew them because they were in your book. I thought they were going to be around the same size as Box Car, but these were monsters and delicious. They were grown in a new raised bed straight compost mixed with perlite and vermiculite at about an 8-1-1 ratio. I did use some 12-12-12 in my fertilizer injector/drip system twice this season. The neighboring plants were Nepal, Stump of the World, Zogola, Druzba, and Liz Birt. All did well except for Nepal that croaked after producing a few tasty fruit, but Mule Team and Zogola just CRANKED out the fruit and Mule Team was huge...easily the largest fruits from my garden.

As I think about it...I am pretty sure I got those seeds from a member here..It may have been TomatoAddict or Remy...I'll have to check my supply list when I get home.

At any rate...I saved seeds from these and they will be staples from now on.

[Douglas14]

I really like Red Brandywine here in MN. It may be smaller than you'd like though.
Jean's Prize might be a good one. They look like beauties in the pic at Glecker's Seeds. I haven't tasted them though, as hail did my Jean's Prize plants in two years in a row. I plan on trying it again next year.

[b54red]

Linda none of the tomatoes I mentioned are what I would call sweet. I like full flavored tomatoes and don't care for mild tomatoes or tomatoes that aren't fairly juicy. Franks' is a good juicy well balanced tomato. Lumpy and Zogola are probably a little firmer than Franks.