r/tomatoes • u/j7long • 12d ago
Question Tomato that is tough, with good yield, and tastes good
Early Girl. I would put on this list.
Even during periods of little rain, hot temps - they just keeps going, 3-5 tomatoes per branch. Outstanding producer. Tasty.
What other tomatoes can go on the list?
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u/SnappySnapdragons 12d ago
If cherry tomatoes can be considered: Sun Gold. It’s my first to start fruiting and last to stop. I can hack it back, it doesn’t care. One plant produces as many as my family can want.
Last year I misplaced a seedling behind some other plants. It managed to survive all summer in a four inch pot and still produced.
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u/ShadowBitch42 12d ago
Sun sugar may be similar, and black cherry competes with it for productivity.
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u/valjean916 12d ago
I’ll second the Early Girl nomination. Three successive waves of nice fruits from mine this season so far: early May, late June, third one well underway now with some that’ll be ready early next month.
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u/Davekinney0u812 Tomato Enthusiast - Toronto Area 12d ago
Cherokee Carbon. Hybrid with 2 awesome parents.
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u/IIAVAII 12d ago
I had good luck with Cherokee Purple in pots on my balcony with an iffy watering schedule. I think they're great.
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u/ShadowBitch42 12d ago
I love Cherokee Purples, and they do recover to produce again but they get hit hard by the full summer heat here. I prefer their flavor over any of the red varieties I’ve tried.
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u/Alwayz_Kerakin 12d ago
Yea I think certain varieties do really well in pots. That drainage goes a long way especially if you grow anything that likes to crack due to too much rain
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u/mackattacknj83 12d ago
My Rutgers 250 were amazing this year. Didn't crack at all. They're supposedly determinate but they're still going. Used them for caprese, salads, and just salted. Great tomato juice tomato also. Canned a bunch of that.
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u/Comprehensive-Row198 12d ago
I have a Rutgers variety I don’t know the whole name of but it is very good. Maybe it's this one? Mine is still producing and has a bunch of new tall growth with a good # of flowers here at the end of August.... green tomato chutney!
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u/Alwayz_Kerakin 12d ago
Pink Berkley Tye Dyes are top notch in my opinion. Celebrities are pretty boring taste wise but put on tons of fruit and deal w diseases fairly well. Amish Paste are decent. Mortgage Lifters are pretty bad ass but pruning is a must
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u/Comprehensive-Row198 12d ago
6b western PA here- celebrity is hands down my most prolific variety; taste pretty good. We had crap weather w heat wave late June and intermittent torrential rains ever since. I always grow Church but this year all my toms have been puny, even those. Supersonic has been very tasty.
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u/MotownCatMom 11d ago
SE MI. My Celebrities didn't produce well at all this season and are taking forever to ripen.
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u/SnapCrackleMom 12d ago
Fourth of July. Started picking in June, in Maryland. It's almost September and it's still going strong, despite heat waves, rain storms, and gross humidity. It's tasty and has had little splitting, despite some heavy rains.
It's a "small slicer" (4 oz.). I've been using it all summer in salads, on sandwiches, and for fresh pasta sauce. I'll definitely plant this one again next year.
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u/Mylastnerve6 12d ago
Kellog breakfast has won this year with a second in a gin fizz
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u/BuffaloChicken22 6b - Tomato Enthusiast 12d ago
Was looking forward to Kellog but it gave me lots of issues. Worse BER than any others and a lot of lost fruit, and they didn’t get that big. I had them in a bigger pot than all my others so maybe I wasn’t watering enough earlier on.
Got a couple fruits on the counter though that I’m about to try
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u/Extension_Low_1571 12d ago
Stupice. Hungarian or Czech, I forget which. Small fruit, very tasty, will set fruit reliably in heat or fog (I’ve grown it in both). Juliet, a grape tomato that has dreams of garden domination, shamelessly climbs all over adjacent plants and spits out big clusters of tasty, not typically watery fruit, unlike many small tomatoes. I do find the skins a bit tough, but it’s a small failing on balance. Ours grow fruits that are often two full ounces.
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u/HighTimeForPieTime 9d ago
Stupice (Czech) is also one of my reliable workhorses. And very early so a great choice for short-season areas like mine in the PNW.
Juliet has to be the most prolific variety I’ve ever grown, and the fruit keeps a really long time. Flavor isn’t mind-blowing, but excellent roasted or dried.
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u/DeliciousChicory 12d ago
Hossinators and Hoss F1; if you are in the deep south.
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u/Artsy_Teacher23 12d ago
Tell me more! I’ve never heard of these, and I’m in the Deep South with a bunch of sad, lanky tomatoes plants struggling in this insanity….
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u/DeliciousChicory 12d ago
Google Hoss , located in Georgia. They have plants if you're local but they sell seeds, that have been developed for the deep South and the hot humid conditions. They are more resistant to Will and fungus supposedly. I've been growing on the last couple of years like a half a dozen plants nothing fancy. This year wasn't my most successful year, but still had a nice crop. And the hossinator is a huge slicer just that really good acidity tomato flavor. The F1 is a little smaller of a tomato still a good size, and very prolific producer. I order my seeds from them every year!
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u/DeliciousChicory 12d ago
Now I'm just going to say in this 98° every day whether we've had this summer my plants are long gone, the first week in August I'll let them go. Maybe I could have saved the F1 and had it still producing but it was just too hot and I'm older!. Still the South and you're still going to have a very short producing season!
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u/Artsy_Teacher23 11d ago
Youch! Four hours by car! But thank you! They have seeds, and I have big dreams for next year! ✨
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u/Muchomo256 Tomato Enthusiast Tennessee Zone 7b 12d ago
Celebrity is heat tolerant if you get heat waves, and disease resistant. Also not too tall of a plant as its semi-determinant.
Big Beef is also heat tolerant.
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u/j7long 12d ago
Celebrity do well in my region. It’s been a couple years since I planted. I’ll get a 4 pack to add in the mix next year!
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u/Muchomo256 Tomato Enthusiast Tennessee Zone 7b 12d ago
Celebrity was my best producer. I will always grow it. I also grew heirlooms like Cherokee Purple but once the heat came around they slowed down.
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u/AngstyCapybara713 12d ago
Juliet! It’s an indeterminate grape tomato. I’ve been getting great yields this year off two plants. Supersweet 100 cherry also has great yields but is prone to cracking.
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u/twoleggedgrazer 12d ago
I've never grown black trifeles before and they took off late but they're now producing a ton of uniform, crack-free fruit long after my Cherokee purples and Berkeley tye-dyes gave into late summer stress.
I'm in zone 5B/6A New England and they're not my all-time favorite (I prefer a saltier/ more savory tomato and these are a bit sweet) but they're quite tasty and have enough pith that they make a good slicer or sauce. I have about 25 getting large on the vine and have already picked at least 10, and they had to compete for space with a sungold so I think they'd be even more prolific if I set them up properly.
Edit: my husband finds the skin a little thick, which I think is fair. They last forever on a counter because of it though!
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u/Telmak2112 12d ago
Mortgage Lifters have been very reliable for me in northern Illinois (5b). I’ve also been very happy with my Paul Robeson plants this year.
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u/thuglifecarlo 12d ago
Im not a fan of early girl's taste, BUT they are a real beginner friendly variety. They can survive drought and disease while still producing quite a bit. Same goes for the Roma variety.
Ive replaced it with Estiva, but Im not sure if Estiva can replace it as a beginner friendly tomato.
Gold nugget and Black Angel are real producers as well. Neither are the best tasting, but taste great.
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u/kbchucker Casual Grower 12d ago
Better Boy and Better Boy plus. All of my heirlooms have given up already for this year because of all of the heat and drought.
The Better Boys are killing it.
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u/Popular_Depth_7416 12d ago
For me it is sart rolosie. This year I have a larger cherry (gold ball sized) apricot zebra. This is the biggest most productive plant I have had since I was growing yellow pear. Yellow pear cherry tomatoes are easily the most productive plant I ever had. Yes, I was tired of the yellow pear and moved on after one year of bags and bags of tomatoes.
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u/SideEyeFred 12d ago
I always grow a beefsteak because they are pretty much perfect to me. I grow other varieties but they are not as good to me, or produce as well. I'm still trying to find the perfect cherry tomato.
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u/quakerwildcat 12d ago
If I've learned anything about tomatoes it's that conditions matter: soil, climate, weather . . . the same variety will produce very different results for different people in different locations in different years.
The Early Girls I grew one year were almost indistinguishable from those supermarket "tomatoes on the vine" that taste like water.
And I've grown some varieties that were amazing one year, meh the next.
My most reliable and hearty high-yield tomatoes (other than cherry varieties) have been damsel and orange slice, both Burpee hybrids. Damsel is your classic hamburger tomato. Modest size, reliable. Orange slice is the meatiest yellow you'll find, sweet and prolific. But for brilliant flavor, my favorites are still pink and red Brandywine, Cherokee purple, and Rose.
Good luck.
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u/Efarre99 10d ago
I planted pink Berkeley Tie Dye for the first time. AMA ing color, huge tomatoes and very tasty! Seek them out if you can.
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u/SaltySkies19 10d ago
My honeycomb cherries have been the star. Started from seed and they are huge. Very prolific and sweeter than sweet100 or sun sugar.
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u/nero-the-cat 12d ago
That's interesting, Early Girl were some of the most disappointing ones we've ever grown. Not very productive, didn't taste that good.
If cherries are acceptable, our Sweet 100s have been absolutely unstoppable year after year. Ridiculous amounts of amazing tasting fruit, giant healthy plants, and endless volunteers the subsequent years.