What's your favorite Brad Gates tomato?

[Dak]

This is my first year growing a few of his tomatoes.

Black and Brown Boar is an amazing producer. I'm very happy with it's production, plus, it's just so pretty.

Brads Black Heart have an fantastic taste, but not a good producer for me.

Pink Berkeley Tie Die is another good one, though both PBTD & BTD has slowed production since this heat.

I want to try more of his next year. Any suggestions?

[kath]

I've tried Beauty King, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, AAA Sweet Solano, Haley's Purple Comet and Porkchop, but this year's Brad's Black Heart is the only one I'd maybe consider growing again because of its taste. I've only grown 2 plants in one year, but I didn't like it as much as Chocolate Beefsteak, JD's Special C-Tex or Amazon Chocolate PL which I also grew this season.

[FILMNET]

Brads Black Heart is my new favorite, I have grown BTD, Sweet carneros, Porkchop, and Beauty King, Brads B/B Boar

[tam91]

Brad's Black Heart is tasty. I do like Pink Berkeley Tie Dye also - can't decide between the two. Beauty King - I'm waiting for that to ripen, lost a few to BER. Friends that I gave plants to have been very fond of Beauty King.

So far, I do not care for Berkeley Tie Dye - very very tart. I don't mind some acid, but this one puckers me like biting a lemon. We'll see how some of the later ones are.

[Worth1]

Brad Gates is into tomatoes???????
I thought he was just into software.
I had no idea.
Worth

[Dak]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Brad Gates is into tomatoes???????
I thought he was just into software.
I had no idea.
Worth

Good ole Brad is breeding tomatoes along with eradicating polio.














Or was that Bill?

[Dak]

So how is Brad's Black Heart producing for you? It seems like I've gotten less than half a dozen tomatoes so far.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Dak

So how is Brad's Black Heart producing for you? It seems like I've gotten less than half a dozen tomatoes so far.

We got about 7 fruits off of each of the two plants we grew and they were all in the 14 to 18 oz. range. Each plant was kept to only one vine. I did notice a fair amount of catfacing and splitting with them this year, but that was common with many varieties that I grew this year with the conditions we had.

At this point, I'm still trying to determine which varieties I like for taste- then I'll regrow giving the plants more space and room to flourish so I can compare them for productivity, etc. So even though it might be in the #4 spot now, I'm not ready to put it into the "never again" category yet.

[remy]

I really like Pork Chop.
Remy

[Worth1]

Ive heard of the gingerbread operating system but Pork Chop is a new one.
Does it work with the android system?

Wait a minute this isn't the smart phone forum.
I seem to have my posts crossed I bet those folks over there think I have lost my mind.

Worth

[Dak]

Kath, does Chocolate Beefsteak go by another name? I can't find any reference that has seeds.

Thanks for letting me know about Brads Black Heart, I thought perhaps it was the seed I used.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Dak

Kath, does Chocolate Beefsteak go by another name? I can't find any reference that has seeds.

Thanks for letting me know about Brads Black Heart, I thought perhaps it was the seed I used.

Sorry about the Chocolate Beefsteak- I should have mentioned something about that one because I nearly went crazy looking it up before I heard back from "casino" about this one. He's not sure that it isn't an already named variety, so the answer to the question is, "Yes, it might, but I have no idea what that name would be." I'll look up exactly what he said and get back to you. I'm not sure he gave seeds to anyone else to try this year, but it would be interesting to hear what they thought about it.

It sounds like we had a pretty similar experience this season with Brad's Black Heart, yes. Then again, maybe someone else has seeds from a plant that did much better in the production department?

[Suze]

On taste alone, Pink BTD.

For production + taste + dependability - Black and Brown Boar.

Dino Eggs is a nice one too. Not one he's offered on his site yet, but I could be mistaken. Surprisingly tasty for a productive, med-small striped yellow.

Honorable mentions for BTD Heart and Pork Chop.

[Iva]

Remy, could you tell us more about Pork Chop. I have a few seeds and don't know if it is worth growing them out.

Brad's Black Heart was good but only produced four fruits for me, so I won't be growing it again.
Ditto on Haley's Purple Comet. For a saladette (really large cherry) type, it produces near to nothing as I only got about 15-20 fruits from it. But the taste is really good. Too bad for the production part.

Sweet Carneros Pink is one of the mot beautiful tomatoes I've ever seen. Love the pale stripes in all shades of pink. Very productive. But it was so sour, I couldn't eat it. In my notes I renamed it 'Sourling'...

AAA Sweet Solano was a winner for me. Very productive, and extremely tasty.
You can eat it in two stages, when it first turns yellow and looses the green stripes (it tastes like a great mildly sweet lemonade in that stage) ad when it turns almost orange and very soft.
In that stage, there is nothing you can do with it except eat it out of hand. It's too soft for cutting, too sweet for salad and the skin gets quite tough but the taste is divine. I just break the skin and suck out the tomato heaven. Yum!!

[FILMNET]

My Brads Black Heart has survived for far with some huge fruits on top of a 5ft plant. I got some huge fruits this years from this 1 plant I am saving seeds now for next year. I am sure my disease here is from the terrible rain after July. White fly's were near my potato plants I saw early, they must have spread a disease around my other plants. Tough year so far like Kathy's funny looking plants 1 stem clear to the top with fruits on top and a few leaves on top