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The official "my tomato can beat up your tomato" thread

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fruitlovers:
iI remember that in the SSE garden Green Zebra was one of the most productive small tomatoes, not quite cherry size, a bit bigger. But what does best in Iowa may not do so well in FL, TX, CA, or HI. But they were productive there and nice tasting, Just a bit odd eating a ripe tomato that is green.

bsbullie:
Its all about picking the right variety for your location.  the save variety will not do well in the NE, Michigan, Cali, Texas and Florida.  The growing times and climates are just far too different.

Between a friend and myself, we grew about 30 different GMO free heirloom tomatoes over the last two years.  Some produced extremely well, some did very poor with everything in between.  Some same varieties even fared differently from year to year due to the climatic conditions....here in SFla, having to grow in winter time can cause some bumps in the roads.

Oscar - I have grown both the green zebra and its "cherry" version.  Its cherry version did phenomenal this year.  Also grew black cherry, was a heavy quality producer last year but much less this year and was out produced by the aforementioned green cherry.

Bottom line, at least for us here in SFla, you need to selectively pick the heirlooms that will thrive here and then hope you have optimal weather conditions.

fruitlovers:

--- Quote from: bsbullie on May 25, 2013, 06:39:07 AM ---Its all about picking the right variety for your location.  the save variety will not do well in the NE, Michigan, Cali, Texas and Florida.  The growing times and climates are just far too different.

Between a friend and myself, we grew about 30 different GMO free heirloom tomatoes over the last two years.  Some produced extremely well, some did very poor with everything in between.  Some same varieties even fared differently from year to year due to the climatic conditions....here in SFla, having to grow in winter time can cause some bumps in the roads.

Oscar - I have grown both the green zebra and its "cherry" version.  Its cherry version did phenomenal this year.  Also grew black cherry, was a heavy quality producer last year but much less this year and was out produced by the aforementioned green cherry.

Bottom line, at least for us here in SFla, you need to selectively pick the heirlooms that will thrive here and then hope you have optimal weather conditions.

--- End quote ---

Here in Hawaii we also have certain tomato cultivars that have been especially bred for our very humid climate. There are open pollinated types as well as hybrids that do well. Main difficulty in growing tomatoes here is fruit fly. They will sting tomatoes. Don't seem to bother cherry tomatoes hardly at all. Thicker/tighter skin i guess makes it hard for them to penetrate into the fruit. Very rainy weather here can also cause larger tomatoes to crack.
My main point to Mark was that with many thousands of heirlooms to be tried you can't put them down after having tried only a handful. Like with everything you have to be selective, but there is a HUGE pool to choose from! Heirlooms have survived in their regional areas because they are tried and true for very long period of time. Most hybrids come and go out of style very fast. The seed companies only push hybrids so much because they can be patented, a higher price can be charged for them, and the consumer has to return to the company to buy them as they will usually not come true from seed.

nullzero:
Did some research and here is some varieties that should perform well in FL;

Floradade
Homestead 24
Anahu
Neptune
Atkinson

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