So far, read negative about eagle smiley. Read some great reviews on Black Krim.
Grow conditions:
Humid
Day temps: always above 90 degrees besides sunrise and sunset (average 95 degrees)
Night temps: Regularly 78 degrees
Culture: Container or hydroponically (in ground is not an option due to property being built on base course)
Expected daily sunlight 5-8 hours on average.
by thuglifecarlo
9 Comments
Also, cant effectively use shade cloth to cool down temps. I find that plants get too leggy/do not produce with 30% shade cloth. Probably due to short amount of sunlight available.
I grew beryl beauty and eagle smiley last year. Out of 10 different varieties they were the last 2 standing after disease got everything else. The beryl had mild sweet tomato flavor that was my favorite from last year. It grew to about 5 ft and needed a stake to help it from falling over. The eagle smiley was crazy productive and refused to die. Its growth wasn’t like the other dwarf varieties I grew. It grew more like a indeterminate with sucker offshoots everywhere. Even with staking and trellising it constantly flopped over. They flavor was horrible for me as well. They were watery and sour. I dehydrated them to use like sundried tomatoes amd even after that they are still sour.
Looks like a good lineup! Hope you have a great season! I’ve grown Black Krim using Victory seeds for 3 or 4 years. They always do well in my garden: productive, relatively resistant to disease, excellent flavor. I have found a difference in Black Krim seeds from different nursery companies, and these from Victory have always been reliable.
Unfortunately, I’ve had the same flavor experience with Dwarf Eagle Smiley as u/sammille25. The plants grow well, but the fruit is overly sour, not well balanced. I tried them two years in a row, mainly because they get such high praise from Craig LeHoullier, but they were very disappointing.
I also usually grow Bella Rosa, but I get those seeds from Hoss Tools in Georgia. They have been an outstanding variety for me.
Black krim is very indeterminate and not even a little bit dwarf
It’s a great grower, very vigorous, and very cold tolerant (if it’s not freezing, as long as it’s vaguely acclimated, it won’t be stopped). I don’t know how they fare in hot weather, as we didn’t have a particularly hot summer, but I think they are well suited to cooler/shorter climates.
The fruits were tasty, I enjoyed them, but I also grew dwarf Tasmanian Chocolate and they were also tasty, and also far more well behaved, for a pretty similar tomato.
(Also a container gardener)
Only one of those I’ve grown is Black Krim. It’s indeterminate and does very well in Central Texas 9a.
I grew Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry and Jaune Flammee for the first time last year and I’m growing both again this year!
Dwarf Mocha’s is a small, sturdy plant – about 20 inches tall and very disease resistant. They definitely need staking despite their small size tho, I didnt stake any at first and they all fell over. The fruit took FOREVER to ripen on the plant. I planted transplants in ground around April 15 (not sure exact date but I plant tomatoes during tax week) and didnt get ripe fruit until July 15 – wayy later than all my other cherries. I planted out more transplants in high summer (July) – they were easy to tuck into spots open throughout my garden and I got a nice harvest in Oct/Nov.
I loved the flavor and size of Jaune Flammee, very fun and fruity (I think i read somewhere they are part of the parent lineage of sungold?) They made an excellent (and beautiful) tomato sauce. I would recommend planting out while the weather is still a little cool. Bc its a French variety I planted out about 2 weeks before my last frost and it did amazing in the cooler temps, but suffered greatly in the hotter weather. My plants ended up dying during a drought in the summer.
You may be able to find info on these varieties on Tatiana’s tomato base?
I can really only comment on Dwarf Eagle Smiley. It’s always been a well-producing, sprawling plant. It’s been a staple in my garden for 5 years and I’ve found the fruit to be very delicious. An almost savory taste, not overly sweet, but never a sour flavor like some have reported. It also produces longer than some other varieties I grow and seems more resistant to the common diseases here.
I do grow it in a very similar location to Craig LeHoullier so that may be why I’ve had success.
I have had good luck with Boronia in a grow bag. I grew it beside a Cherokee Carbon and though both the plant and the fruit size were not comparable, the flavour was. A win in my opinion especially if container gardening is preferred.