Dallas Tomato Trials 2020: Spring/Summer Results

The “ Dallas Tomato Trials ” started as a elbow room to free an overzealous heirloom seed shopping fling . Six months and one pandemic later , the success of the trial can be measure in both newfound knowledge and newfound residential district . The run start conversation , create shared experiences , and delivered a sense of purpose during changeable , stressful time .

Dallas Tomato Trials Goal and Vision

The goal of the Dallas Tomato Trials is to mold the best heirloom tomatoes for growing in North Texas through substantial - earth testing .

Our longterm vision is a large annual outcome with hundreds of participants .

The Evolution of the Tomato Trials

In January , I started 24 unlike varieties of heirloom tomatoes by seed . Seeds were purchase fromTomatoFestandBaker Creek . FromTomatoFest , I selected two curated collections : the“Top 10 ” seed collection(the most pop Lycopersicon esculentum among theTomatoFestcustomer base of gardener and farmers ) and thePatio / Container accumulation . I then hand - picked seven extra change fromBaker Creek .

2020 Heirloom Tomato Variety Selections

TomatofestSeeds

Patio / Container Collection : Amber Colored ( 2 - column inch gold - colorise globes)Angora Super Sweet ( 1 - in , ace - odorous cherry)Black Ethopian ( brownish - flushed - bronze , 5 - oz . , plum - shapedBurbank Slicing ( 10 oz . , red , round fruitDona ( almost seedless , round tomato 6 oz)Sophie ’s Choice ( 10 oz . red - orangeness outside and deep ruby-red inside)White Bush ( 2 - column inch , white fruit with yellow tinge)Zhefen Short ( pink , slightly oval 3 - inch yield )

“ Top 10 ” aggregation : Black Cherry ( royal / black)Brandywine , Sudduth Strain ( pinkish beefsteak)Chocolate Stripes ( red / green striped)Blondkopfchen ( yellow cherry)Black Krim ( purplish / black beefsteak)Brandywine , OTV ( red beefsteak)Amana Orange ( orange beefsteak)Azoychka ( yellow / orange beefsteak , 10 - 16 oz.)Cherokee Chocolate ( sepia beefsteak)Sunset ’s Red Horizon ( red beefsteak )

Seed Tray Kits with Dome and Base

Baker CreekSeedsReisetomate ( one of the most strange love apple in the world)Green Zebra ( lime green undress , 6 oz globes)Cream Sausage ( 3 oz creamy white to illumine yellow-bellied blimp shaped)Paul Robeson ( shameful beefsteak)Orange Hat Micro Tomato ( extra - dwarf bush , orange )

The Seedling Growing Process

Seeds were started indoors on January 20 . Using two 72 - electric cell trays , I planted 6 cell of each sort for a amount of 144 seedlings . Once each seedling had two sets of true leaves , I potted seedlings up into 2.5″ greenhouse tidy sum and then again into Imperial gallon - sized containers before final transplantation .

This all - in - one come tray organisation delivers professional results for the habitation gardener . Plastic cellular telephone tray are easy to desex in between crop , and the humidness noggin maintain seeds moist during sprouting .

The Testers

I kept one of each variety to quiz in my community garden plots and on my townhome patio . stay seedlings were sold online . Unsold seedling stocktaking was donated to members of my community garden .

How The Results Were Calculated

A sketch was beam to all seedling recipients on July 3 . The view asked growers to grade each variety ’s carrying out as strong , electroneutral , or pitiable for the surveil factors :

Important Disclaimer

We do not claim sketch results to be statistically meaning due to the variation among growing conditions and the absence of command variables . With that said , we found survey reply to be broadly speaking consistent . Keep in mind that results are the opinion of those surveil and the editor of TheDallasGarden.com , not a scientific cogitation . ( Yet . )

The Results

The resolution of the trial are presented below . Each section presents a worthful tomato plant characteristic and the variety that were hard for that characteristic / factor . Survey data was a large factor in achiever pick , however the final “ winners ” were personally selected .

As coordinator of the tribulation , I maintain highly master grow conditions : 8 - 12 hour of direct sunlight , consistent fecundation , amended soil , and commercial - style financial backing organisation . Additionally , I consider notes and made observations on a weekly basis ( much like I did when I was an intern for the Plant Trials programme at the Dallas Arboretum ) .

Earliest to set fruit

Orange HatCream SausageAmber Colored

Earliness to fruit is an authoritative tomato machine characteristic for North Texas gardeners . The earlier a tomato plant sets yield , the gravid the overall harvest home before the heat arrives in July .

Extra - dwarf tomato Orange Hat start flowering while still indoors underlights . Cream Sausage was n’t far behind and begin producing yield earlier than any other in - ground mixed bag . decent behind Orange Hat on the terrace was Amber Colored .

orange hat tomato

Orange Hat Tomato

Other notable early fruiters include Angora Super Sweet , Black Cherry , Flamme , and Blondkopfchen .

Heaviest fruiting

Cream SausageBlack CherryAzoychka

Heaviness of fruiting measures the quantity of yield that an single flora produce . It is typically proportional to fruit type . cherry tree , pear , and smaller - fruit types will always produce more than a beefsteak .

Cream Sausage grow heavy and systematically from early leap until murder in June in prevision of the heat . Black Cherry was a tester deary . Azoychka was the largest of the impenetrable producer ( yield averaged one Syrian pound ) , and the generous bounty insure my countertop all season long . distinctive for yellow fruits , Azoychka ’s flavor is modest .

Cream Sausage heirloom tomato

Cream Sausage Tomato

Other notable fruiters include Reisetomate , Brandywine OTV , and Flamme .

Best flavor

Black CherryChocolate StripesCherokee ChocolatePaul RobesonGreen ZebraBrandywine Suddath ’s Strain

Though relish preferences will differ , heirloom Lycopersicon esculentum cultivator all quest for the clearly rich , complex , “ tomatoey ” feel of a homegrown tomato . cocoa and fateful tomatoes own many of these older - fashioned characteristics with a confidential information of coarseness . This might excuse why most of the winning tomatoes for flavor were either dark-brown / chocolate or black motley .

This category aid me to realise that the public presentation scale should be large next year in orderliness to well determine a single winner .

amber colored tomato

Amber Colored Tomato

Susceptibility to Disease

The majority of the tomatoes tested displayed unspoilt disease resistance . For this category , we are listing the varieties that fight with disease .

Note : Testing ended in early July . As summertime calendar month progress , disease becomes more dominant regardless of variety . The tomato plant listed below exhibited disease symptom far before in the season than typical for open - pollinated varieties .

The multifariousness that shin the most with disease :

Results of North Texas heirloom tomato trial for earliness of fruiting

Brandywine OTVBlondkopfchen

In my garden , Brandywine OTV and Brandywine Suddath ’s Strain were planted next to each other . OTV shin with disease from the starting , while Suddath ’s did not show any concurrent disease egress . Blondkopfchen had bad disease that disabled the plant quite early in the season , dramatically reducing the crop .

Pest Resistance

Orange HatAngora Super SweetCream Sausage

Data was sparse for this broker , and we might view polish off it for the next round . We did n’t find much correlation between smorgasbord and pest problems , although smaller fruit multifariousness seemed to be less prone to writhe damage .

Bt is a raw occurring , soil - borne bacteria that has been used since the 1950s for natural worm command . It is peculiarly effective against caterpillars and yield worms .

black cherry heirloom tomato north texas

Black Cherry Tomato

Suitability For Container Growing

Orange HatSophie ’s ChoiceAmber Colored

Of the nine tomato tested for patio / container growing , only three remained compact and produce a solid crop . peculiarly , a large act of the tomatoes from theTomatofestPatio Collection grew large and unruly or never create much fruit at all .

Orange HatChocolate StripesAmana OrangeCream SausageBlack Cherry

Azoychka Tomato

Reisetomate

This love apple have a lot of attention from community of interests garden appendage and on societal media . the great unwashed peculiarly loved the narration behind Reisetomate : “ Reise ” is German for journey or traveling . Originating from Central America , Reisetomate tomatoes were a democratic food for travelling or journeys because pieces of the tomato plant could be draw in off and eaten along the way .

Amana Orange

Amana Orange was find by gardener Gary Haley in 1984 . Gary work for the Amana Refrigeration company , and regularly visited the Amana Colonies in Iowa . In the trial run , Amana Orange on a regular basis bring out 2 pound tomato .

Of the 24 tomatoes , these are the ones that I plan to grow again and why :

Cream Sausage : Super productive , a great tomato for salad . powerfully disease resistant . Paul Robeson : corking flavor . Brandywine OTV : nifty flavor and expectant size . Chocolate Stripes : Great old - fashioned flavour and bombastic size of it . Cherokee Chocolate : bully old - fashioned flavour . Green Zebra : lemon yellow - lime flavour , immune to crack . Easy to grow . Orange Hat : A rattling tomato for child . From seed to fruiting in 48 day . Can be grown in a 6 - in container . Black Cherry : I tried to mature mine on my patio but it quickly outgrow its container . establish on tester ebullience , will grow again next class .

Chocolate Stripes Tomato

The postdate tomatoes either failed to do as promised , were too late to fruit , or were molest by growing problem :

DonaWhite BushZhefen ShortBurbank SlicingBlack EthiopianSunset ’s Red Horizon

Survey Results: Total Average

Fall Testing

Many North Texas gardener swear that rise tomatoes in fall deliver much better results than spring maturation . To really put the 2020 variety to the trial , several varieties were choose for fall growing .

The finish of the fall test are to determine which varieties can :

Another test : I added Cherokee Purple into the fall variety line - up . Cherokee Chocolate ( a winner ) is a mutation of Cherokee Purple , and I want to compare them side by side for performance and smell .

Cherokee Chocolate Tomato

Fall Tomato Variety Selections

Cherokee ChocolateCherokee PurpleChocolate StripesCream SausageOrange HatSophie ’s ChoiceAmana OrangeFlammeBrandywine OTVGreen ZebraAmber ColoredAzoychkaBlondkopfchen