North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Gordon Nofs" <gc_nofs@hotmail.com>]

Ginda
 I have tried many, many tomatoes over the many years. The best to me have 
been Delicious, which is very meaty, great tasting. But I think for the size 
you are looking for I would go to the "Amish Paste" good tomato size for 
eating out of hand or sandwich. Sort of heart shaped. Very meaty few seeds, 
and very good tasting. They are the 2 I try to grow most now.
  Gordon

********************************************
----Original Message Follows----
From: Ginda Kaplan Fisher <list@ginda.us>
Reply-To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
To: NAFEX <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] Off Topic - But tomatoes are fruit
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 23:47:19 -0500

Well, it's that time of year, and I'm debating which tomato seeds to buy.  I 
know this isn't what this list is for, but I know most of you grow tomatoes, 
and I beg your forgiveness.  Please reply off-list.

I really like a meaty tomato, but I'm the only tomato-eater in the family, 
and the giant beefsteak tomatoes are just too big.  I grew Jetstar for a 
couple of years, and I liked the tomatoes, but despite what the catalogs 
say, it isn't really indeterminate - all the fruit ripens at about the same 
time.  I seem to get better yields with hybrids that claim resistance to 
everything than with heirlooms.  Some combination of soil viruses and less 
than a full day of sun (6-8 hours) is probably the culprit.  I have 
inoculated these with various beneficial fungi, although I suspect my soil 
already has ample fungal colonies.  Most of my seed has come from Fedco, but 
I'm willing to buy a packet fo tomato seeds from almost anyone.  Here's my 
experience to date:

Big Beef - years ago, in a giant pot in very full sun.  These were great if 
I remembered to water them every single day.  The damn things needed more 
than a gallon of water on every sunny day or they wilted.  I liked the 
tomatoes, but they are bigger than what I hope to grow this year.

Jetstar - tasty and a good size, but the season is short and there's too 
much at its peak.  (Too much is not a serious problem, as I can give them 
away.)

Brandywine - One large delicious fruit and one tiny one.

Early Girl - lots of dry flavorless (but pretty) fruit.

Rutgers - Perfect fruit, but only two of them.

Cosmonaut Volkov - Not a single ripe fruit.

I usually grow one cherry tomato plant, too, and I've had good luck with 
both Sweet 100s and Peacevine Cherry.  I have a lot of Peavevine Cherry 
seeds left from last year, so I'll probably grow that again.  I'm not 
looking for cooking tomatoes, as I find some of the canned ones are very 
good, and my sunny space is very limited.

Thanks,
Ginda Fisher
eastern MA, zone 6

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Gordon C. Nofs
Flint, MI.

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