I have a lot of leftover tomato seeds. I know which ones I prefer, well except if I haven't grown it yet.

So I want to grow some tomatoes to give away. I know, I should probably survey the neighbors. The fact is that many of you have grown some of these varieties and know if you like them, or not.

Neighbors may not have tasted all of these, so I would like your opinion.

I am in my early 80s so I can't possibly grow them all in one season.

Also if you see some that you don't have and want to try some, let me know and I can send a few your way, if I have them to spare. Most likely I will, but if several people people want the same one, I will share until they are gone.

Here are the varieties:

Ace 55
Balconi Red
Beefsteak
Better Boy
Black Brandywine
Black Cherry
Black Krim
Brandywine (2)
Brandywine Red
Brandywine Yellow
(Platfoot Strain)
Brown Berry
Burpee's Big Boy
Burpee's Pixie
Bull's Heart
Caro Rich
Cherokee Purple
Chocolate Cherry
Climbing Tomato (Gurney's 10-15' tall!)
Costoluto Genevese
Cream Sausage
Delicious (3)
Dixie Golden Giant
Fireball
German Red
Gold Nugget (3)
Golden Ponderosa
Golden Queen
Golden Sunray
Golden Sunrise
Green Zebra
Hillbilly
Homestead (4)
Isis Candy
Italian Tree Tomato Jubilee
Marmand
Pineapple
Principe Borghese
Purple Calabash
Red Alert
Riesentraube
Roma VF
Shelby's Purple (dwarf)
Summer Sunrise (dwarf)
Summertime Gold
Sungold
Sweet Pea Tomato
White Cherry

Evelyn, I'm glad you started a separate thread, I was afraid it would get lost in the other.
I am not much for exploring. I have not grown any color besies red or pink or 'black/purple' and one striped. And I'm on the opposite side of the continent, too.
Cherokee Purple- my ideal for flavor, but possibly low production
Black Cherry- that great black flavor, good amount of fruit, but I am not a big cherry tomato user. I found myself unsure of judging its ripeness. And have a phobia of biting into a sour spoiled tomato.
Riesenstraube- not grown, recommended by a friend though.

I answered in the other thread, but I can't imagine you are the only one curious about people's favorite maters! Also, if people want seeds, do they send you a self addressed stamped envelope?

My palate prefers green, orange, bicolor and tri-color tomatoes. Sweet. Love acid too but must be balanced with sweet.



YES:
Hillbilly
Black Cherry
Pineapple
Delicious

NO:
Green Zebra - Good flavor, super thick skin. Couldn't get past it.
Isis Candy- I spit it out. Unpalatable. The Husband loved it though.


I tried Principe Borghese years ago and wasn't wowed. Neither was my sister, who grew them as well. Maybe we got a batch of bad seeds that year? Everyone raves about that variety. I am tempted to try again... Anyone have an opinion?

CorabethGodsey said:Also, if people want seeds, do they send you a self addressed stamped envelope?

Elizabeth ~ If there are any that you might want, just send me a treemail and I will let you know.

Some I don't want at all, and some I will use and then share the leftovers. I just don't really need that many seeds. They are not new, but I have not found any problems in germinating older tomato seeds. Some I have received in trade, and others I have purchased.

So TreeMail me if there are any that interest you.

Of your list I've done:

Beefsteak
Black Cherry
Cherokee Purple
Roma VF
White Cherry

Beefsteak, Cherokee Purple and Roma are great! Black Cherry has good taste but is bad keeper. The fruits mush if stored in the fridge for more than a few days. White Cherry is nasty. Too fruity in taste for me.

We've grown the following more than once because of the great taste/productivity:
Black Cherry
Chocolate Cherry
Golden Queen (although I had USDA strain, which some feel is different)
Isis Candy
Pineapple

Reisentraube--Haven't grown it personally but have grown it several times for our MG plant sale and it is always very popular.

I didn't have good luck with Cherokee Purple (although I love purple/black tomatoes).
Principe Borghese --we were not a fan of the flavor, and not productive for us.

For some reason the Chocolate Cherry was not to my liking. The flavor just seemed "off". The Black Cherry was good.

I grow the variety " Shirley " under glass, very popular over here.
Exhibitors are keen to grow them.
John

Some of the smaller varieties I plant are Campari, Yellow Pear, and Cherub. After many years of growing and saving seeds from the larger and sweetest tomatoes, these small wonders will rival the flavor of my larger Beefsteaks. Very prolific also. Over 100 a day from 8 plants during the height of the season. Campari are my favorites and I freeze enough to last until next season.

Holy smokes Evelyn you have such a variety of seeds! You and Newyork Rita could have a competition as to who has the most I cannot comment on which are best because my garden is only able to produce the tiny varieties (if lucky) and even those have a difficult time reaching maturity. I believe it is partly due to my clayish soil and partly the short growing season. The larger varieties come from the grocery stores and they certainly don't taste very good if they taste like anything at all. I would someday hope to find some of the "black" varieties to see how they taste. Your neighbors are going to be happy at harvest time.

Tiger ~ You can grow larger tomatoes in large pots if you wanted to grow your own. You won't be limited by your poor soil.
Start them now inside.

anyuser3222 said: Some of the smaller varieties I plant are Campari, Yellow Pear, and Cherub. After many years of growing and saving seeds from the larger and sweetest tomatoes, these small wonders will rival the flavor of my larger Beefsteaks. Very prolific also. Over 100 a day from 8 plants during the height of the season. Campari are my favorites and I freeze enough to last until next season.

Will Campari grow true to seeds? We've only ever seen this variety at the grocery store.....I'm not sure I've ever seen seeds for purchase.

Cherokee purple a perennial favourite. Low yield, but wonderful flavour.
Green zebra is all right, but not top of the list.
I've done reasonably well with Brandywines over the years. Nice tomato, but a fussy plant, fairly low yield.
Romas have generally done well for me, and so have the Boys and Girls in the past.
The German stripes thrive every year; the reds, not so much: in two seasons, everybody's got stripes.
I haven't planted hybrids for some years now and much of that list is unfamiliar. In my experience, the beast performance is from cherry and small pear varieties, both red and yellow.
But if I have a best-in-show choice, it's Bananalegs. https://plantura.garden/uk/veg... It's a hardy plant, vertical (which is good in containers) has a long fruiting period, is a nice compact size but not tiny, low acidity, high yield when it's happy, versatile.

Green Zebra
Beefsteak
Costoluto Genevese
Pineapple
Cherokee Purple

These are ones I have grown listed by preference but one cannot find most of those up here in Garden Shops any more.
Beefsteak is always around and of the ones listed only Costoluto Genevese was the only other one I would not have had to order online.

There are a few others on the list I have grown, being neither here nor there as far as wanting to put them in, but most of the list simply cannot be found up here now, whereas, twenty years ago, I am quite sure I could have gone to some more foo-foo type greenhouses and found three-fourths of those listed.

RpR ~ Do you save your own seeds? Then you don't have to worry about finding the more obscure ones.

Well , yes and no.

I get volunteers every year, and from their location often have a good idea of what they should be, BUT, I have now started any indoors in a long, long, long time and while I think about it, that is as far as that gets.

Now I have just plain planted seeds in the garden but like so much I used to do, that ship has pretty much sailed also.

What a list you had to choose from. Can't go wrong!!

@mom2goldens
Sorry for not seeing your question. Campari do grow true to seed and that is how I started them. Over the years I saved seeds from the biggest and sweetest tomatoes. The Campari I grow now are about twice the size of the store bought, slightly smaller than a baseball. I'll still get a few that are normal size too.