2021 Tomato harvest

[WthrLady]

I had 6 varieties this year. Next year I'll cut back to three, maybe 4.
Two meat will take most of the 50 plants, two cherry tomato plants and 10 max of two slicer varieties.

ALthough I'll grow and sell more varieties to sell from the greenhouse. Sales paid for supplies this year, Next year's sales goes towards the building itself.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Hello gardeners and tomato lovers!

I'm starting this thread to document my 2021 tomato harvest, as well as my opinions on the varieties I've grown. Anyone with any thoughts, questions, insights, or general comments, please chime in.

My first 4 quarts of tomatoes are in the canner as I type. I prefer to do 7 quarts at a time, since that's what my big canner holds, but since the 'maters are just starting to ripen, I only have enough for 4.

Here are the varieties I grew this year, with some comments on each.

Amish Paste, indeterminate, heirloom.
My standby. These plants are from my own saved seed from last year. I started 19 plants (10 for a friend, 9 for me) and all 19 germinated and grew. I saved seed from my biggest (and earliest) AP from 2020, and most of the fruits I see on the plants are big. I'm saving the seed from the biggest one this season, and it is huge.

Early Girl Bush, determinate, hybrid, new to me.
I needed some more plants, and this is one of three kinds that I purchased as starts. I MUCH prefer heirloom, as I want to save seed. But I could be talked into doing this one again. The plants are loaded, they're a fairly short season tomato, and the fruits are generous size. The latter is important to me for canning. We'll see how they do; I'll probably be canning them either later this week, or early next week.

Better Boy, hybrid, new to me.
Another purchased plant. I bought 3, and a deer stepped on one when it was little. These are still all green.

Golden Jubilee, determinate, heirloom, new to me.
My other purchased plant. These are just starting to ripen.

The rest are my starts from saved seed, or in one case, seed from a friend.

Cherokee Purple, seed from a friend, heirloom, new to me.
Well, either the seed isn't actually CP, or something funky happened. They are supposed to be BIG. And purple. I got 7 out of 9 for germination, which is plenty good. The fruits are small, like a large cherry tomato, but with a little bit of a core. Tasty, but not what I was planning on. But two of the plants do have a large tomato that looks nothing like the others. Very curious... We'll see what the big ones look like when they're ripe, which will be in a week or so. I've been eating the little ones for 2-3 weeks already.

Backa, determinate, heirloom, new to me (I'd never heard of it)
This one looks promising. I chose it for resistance to blight, as that can be a problem for me. So far, the fruits are growing large, and are just starting to ripen. 3 of 9 germinated.

Ace 55, determinate, heirloom
Ace 55 was a hybrid at one time, but I guess after many years, it has sort of standardized itself and is considered stable enough to sell it as open pollinated (OP). This is the first time I've grown it, but I think my parents did many years ago. The fruits are big and just starting to ripen now. 3 of 9 germinated.

Manitoba, determinate, heirloom, new to me
I chose this one for two reasons: resistance to blight, and a short season (65-70 days). Most of the others listed, except Early Girl, are 80-90 days. This looks like it's doing well; probably a week more to ripen enough to can. 2 of 9 germinated

Sohpie's Choice. determinate, heirloom, new to me
Another short season tomato. There are a decent number of good sized fruits on the vines, but the vines are all but dead, so this must not have any resistance to late blight or whatever is in my soil. I don't know if the fruits will ripen, but I won't be growing it again. 3 of 9 germinated.

Since some seeds didn't do diddly for a germination rate (all the purchased seeds, btw!), I'm going to base my start number on this next year, if I grow any of those varieties again. In for sure: Amish Paste. Very probable: Backa and Ace 55. Probable: Manitoba. Nuh-uh, gonna skip it: Cherokee Purple and Sophie's Choice.

There is a very prolific tomato, called "The Mortgage Lifter".

This a tomato a farmer in West Virginia who developed it, called it the West Virginia Mortgage Lifter and planted enough tomatoes to sell and off his mortgage every year.

True or not these are some of the best tomatoes I've ever eaten

I would take the Mortgage Lifter overt a beef steak tomato any day.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

@vall, I've seen this advertised so many times in the seed catalogs I get. Is it as good as they say? I'd like to try more big, beefsteak types of tomatoes.

If I had a garden I would have several mortgage lifters planted.

I would eat it over a beef steak any day.

 

[Sally PB]

Well, it seems lots of people like Mortgage Lifter, so I will try that for sure next year. On my list!

I'm canning my first of the Early Girls. Those plants are loaded! I wish it were an heirloom, so I could save the seed. Hmmmm.... Maybe I'll try saving seed anyway, even though I know it won't breed true. Maybe I'll come up with the Sally Girl tomato that will be even bigger/better. Worth a try, just to see what happens.

One of my deciding factors is how the whole processing job goes. One that I already know I won't be planting again is Sophie's Choice. The plant is turning brown (probably blight; not sure) before the fruit even ripen. Two were ripe though, so I had them in my last canner load. Pain in the butt to peel! The skins are tough, and they took a lot of meat off with them.

Early Girl peeled like a dream though. I bought those plants as starts, and I'll try growing some commercial seed next year, along with some saved seed (marked to know the difference, for sure!) and see how they do. I can buy some plants if I need to.

 

[Sally PB]

I forgot to say...

Last year when canning supplies were in short supply/non-existent, I got canning lids from Fillmore Container.

https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/70mm-generic-lids-silver-bulk.html

Good price, and I want to say that so far, 8 out of 8 have sealed. I know some people were getting lids online that were Ball knock offs that didn't seal worth a darn.

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

I agree with Sally PB, I'm going to have to look around for some Mortgage Lifters for next year. They sound very similar to what I'm looking for in the tomatoes that I grow.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I’ve had an insane amount of volunteer cherry tomatoes. All different shades of scarlet and gold and orange. They’re seeet and tart and burst in your mouth. I collect them every day.
Then I found this.

 

[Sally PB]

Then I found this.

Well....? Then what happened?

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Well....? Then what happened?

I ate it.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I ate it.

Very good.