Tomato evaluation – The heirlooms
Though this is the Aug entry I’m writing this Sept 23 so I have a bit more insight
The first set was harvested mid-July, on to the second set, watch for blossom end rot and use mag-cal if seen. Look for hornworm damage and use black light at night to capture and remove it. Bligh on most varieties – OK to just leave the leaves on – or remove them if too much dampness. Either way removing the blighted leaves will not effect the fruit.
Yellow Brandywine: Slicer. Good producer, 6-7ft, 8″ blight, remove misshapen fruit. Delicious slicer.
Cherokee Purple: Despite all the hoopla about this being a tasty heirloom, there was a lot of cracking around the top and the green seeds were unappetizing on a caprice salad. Blight was 12″ up the plant, though a OK producer with consistently rounded fruit, I won’t be planting this next year.
Dr. Wyche’s: This was an internet influencer’s recommendation as their favorite tomato and is quickly becoming mine. It’s a yellow tomato. These carried enormous fruits in clusters of 3-6. One cluster of 5 ripped off the vine and ripened on the counter, and each was still delicious. Set one (the first cluster on the vine to ripen) has 2 6″ remaining, and the second set has 13 at 4-5″ currently and is about 7ft high.
A cluster of Dr. Wyche’s, too heavy for the vine to support, ripped of the main stem. Heavy clusters like these may need additional support as to not destroy the entire plant.
Brandywine: Red slicer – producer with inconsistent shape, leaving me with another slicer to find for next year – I may go back to my mainstay – the beef master. plants were about 5 ft high with 13 second set coming along. Blight just starting.
Bonny best: consistent baseball-sized good producer on shorter plants. 14 on the second set, with 10 on the third set. Good for slicing and sauce (and canning/freezing). Small cavity.
Hogs Heart: Paste, a small cavity, with a mild taste, great for sauce. Only tomato that got blossom end rot, quickly resolved with cal-mag and fish fertilizer with seaweed once a week till BER is no longer visible. Excellent producer, flavor with small seed cavity with clusers of 7-9. second set has 18 tomatoes, third set 17, and the fourth set 15. blight just started. Wash and freeze in gallon bags with no additional prep work. The skins will easily slide off after thawing.
Tomato plans for next year: more hogs heart, find a better red slicer.
