Thought I would try a "new" heirloom (new to me). Aunt Ginny's. Also giving Red Cup, Sweet Cluster, Isis Candy, Lemon Cherry, Sioux, Jet Setters and Homely Homer a try.

No more brandywines. Can't get any abundance.

Everyone in my family is still bummed-out by the Late Blight disaster here last year. Couldn't get anyone to put the effort into it this year. Sad...

What is the trick to getting "sweet" tomato's? I usually just get grape or supersweet100 from walmart. Sometimes they are so bland, and sometimes they are very sweet. I don't get it. Is it variation in the seed quality or is there something I should be doing to get them sweet.

I was told by a gentleman at one of our local nurseries that he holds back on watering until the tomato is almost wilting. Then he waters. He says this makes the tomato more flavorful and also causes the fruit to be more dense.
Don't know if it works or if anybody else has tried this.

thebman42 wrote: Thought I would try a "new" heirloom (new to me). Aunt Ginny's. Also giving Red Cup, Sweet Cluster, Isis Candy, Lemon Cherry, Sioux, Jet Setters and Homely Homer a try.

No more brandywines. Can't get any abundance.

Yeah Brandywine is disappointing. However there is one mator out there with great production, very large fruit, and taste better than Brandywine; try Marianna's Peace.

eriocaulon wrote:What is the trick to getting "sweet" tomato's? I usually just get grape or supersweet100

Just proper care is the simple answer.

Make sure the soil is rich in organic matter and very well drained.
When you transplant them add a Tablespoon of Epsom Salt and Table Sugar in the bottom of the planting hole.
Do not over fertilize, you want fruit, not great big plants full of leaves.

Variety also plays a role. Two suggestions for you on the Cherry types as this is my specialty in my garden. Look for Super-Sweet 100 OP and Sungold. The SS 100OP has a huge tomato taste like a concentrate. Somethin glike a whole bottle of ketchup in a little cherry. What is really cool if you use the SS 100 OP, you can save the seeds and use them next year.

Sungold's are super sweet just like candy and just as productive if not more than SS 100.

Cherokee purple---not the biggest or best looking, wait till you taste it, that's the story.
Click here for more information
have some of these plants producing now, they were a little slow as they're planted where they only get 6-8 hours of sun.

UPDATE: Great tomato year for me. The Jet Setters produced more tomatoes than we could eat have given away as many as we've eaten. We're still getting tomatoes from the Jet Setters. I could never get the Isis Candy to grow. A little research shows they are an extremely weak tomato plant and several people indicated they could not get them to grow. The Homely Homer or Ugly Ripe is a fantastic tomato and produces like no heirloom tomato plant I've seen (easily 3 dozen tomatoes from one plant). The Red Cup tomato was okay. Kind of like a pepper. Okay for stuffing but no very good alone. The Sioux tomato was late season for us. The texture is grainy and not very tasty. The Aunt Ginny plant produces alot of tomatoes but again not very tasty. The Sweet Cluster is the work horse tomato and is has a good taste. We've gotten about 4 or 5 dozen tomatoes from one plant! Then Lemon Cherry produced some very tasty, light yellow colored tomatoes. I will definitely keep some seeds from the Homely Homer and possibly try the Cherokee Purple next year. Hope everyone else had a great tomato season.

Brian