Grew Tasmanian chocolate, gold nugget, stm2255, BHN 589, joelene, celebrity plus, floradade, and black angel. Rainy season so I dont think its fair to knock these varieties on disease resistance and low production. Grew these to compete with roma tomatoes production but with hopes of tasting better.
Tasmanian chocolate had great flavor, but tomatoes were quite small. Growing again during the tomato season to see how much increased sunlight will increase productivity.
Gold nugget was recommended on here. A must grow from now on. Compact determinate cherry tomato plant, highly productive, and great flavor. Not as delicious as black cherry or a sungold, but sweet enough for me.
Stm2255 just now started to fruit. Not sure if I'll try this one again.
BHN 589 died.
Floradade died both attempts.
Joelene's production was weird. Initially one large tomato then producing a few more after I picked that first tomato. Good flavor, but a little too juicy. Might grow again.
Celebrity plus just doesnt want to produce. Healthy plant, a lot of flowers, pollinate once a day. Might be too hot here?
Black Angel (picture) might be the one to beat romas for me. So many tomatoes at once. Nice shaped. Very few blemishes. Have one ripening on a windowsill. Hope they taste amazing.
by thuglifecarlo
2 Comments
I made my list to reply and just realized how little care I gave my determinates, lol. Only success has been Gold Nugget.
These are the ones I tested this year:
**Celebrity Plus F1**: Currently mature, just under 3 months old. Initially grew very well, then I left it in a McD’s cup on the grass for too long and it caught disease. Grew very well after moving into 20L bucket with MaxiGro and MaxiBloom. Currently not doing well, no fruit, lost all flower trusses, not growing, youngest foliage are thick, coarse, and small. I think I may have locked out nutrients last month when I switched to Masterblend.
**Patio Choice Yellow F1**: Germinated fast and grew very well but I never gave it a real bucket. It was in a 5L food container on the grass where leaf suckers and diseases ravaged it. It had its first 3 fruit when I decided to cull it because every leaf was diseased.
**Gold Nugget (eBay)**: Parthenocarpic, and solid again, this second time that I’m growing it. It’s still no brochure image but it’s vigorous, healthy, and fruiting even with just 3-4 hours of direct sun. Bounces back from disease quite well if the leaves are pruned in time. I’m still waiting for the current generation’s fruit to ripen (any day now — some are at full size!). It’s nice to not worry about the climate destroying the pollen.
**Haruki (UH Manoa)**: Two germinated but I accidentally tore off the cotyledons from the stems…
**Komohana (UH Manoa)**: Germinated these 5 times over the years but I never took care of the seedlings so they always died… I really should put effort into them sometime, lol.
**Oregon Spring**: Another parthenocarpic variety. Very short, stocky plant with nice thick stem, but for the 3 months I grew it, it just writhed like crazy and I felt sorry for it. I want to try growing it again at lower EC and higher pH, as it obviously didn’t enjoy 2.5-3.0 EC and 5.0 pH.
**Madhatter**: It’s just gotten big enough that I need to think about transferring it from its McD’s cup to a bucket.
**Micro/Dwarves (Red Robin, Pinocchio Orange, GG’s Glory)**: Did their jobs growing but couldn’t fruit due to my negligence.
Still have to test these determinates and dwarves for the next few years (🤣):
||
|:-|
|Bush Early Girl F1|
|Carolina Gold F1|
|Charger F1|
|Fantastico F1|
|Heatmaster F1|
|Mountain Man F1|
|Mountain Merfit F1|
|Ruby Crush F1|
|Tonopah F1|
|Warrior 5443 F1|
|42 Day (eBay)|
|Black Sea Man|
|Bubblegum Centiflor|
|Cherry Falls|
|Dark Stripe Multiflora|
|Dwarf Eagle Smiley|
|Floradade|
|Geranium Kiss|
|Glacier|
|Gold Nugget (TLM)|
|Marglobe|
|Microberry Multiflora|
|Rutgers|
|Siletz|
BTW I noticed the spots on your plant. Have you been able to pinpoint what it is? That’s the most common, basic one that ALL my tomatoes get, and my best guess so far is Leaf Mold. Some hybrids have “Resistance to Leaf Molds A-E” so I’ve bought a few varieties to test next year. Other diseases come and go, too, but that one happens every time it rains. It doesn’t kill fast and doesn’t infect fruit, though, which I’m grateful for.