This is why I grow tomatoes...

TorontoJoe

TorontoJoe

Administrator
I'm up to my ears in tomatoes right now and I couldn't be happier. But sometimes a plant produces some pretty special specimens. Check out these beauties. This vine has had four around this size. It's an old family heirloom that came from the old country. My father used to win blue ribbons at local fairs with this tomato back in the 80's. They're big, but unlike many massive tomatoes these are juicy and firm and not at all mealy.

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And yes, I have a c.1984 deli scale. My father had a shop back then and this is still the most accurate scale I've ever owned. :)
 
TorontoJoe said:
I'm up to my ears in tomatoes right now and I couldn't be happier. But sometimes a plant produces some pretty special specimens. Check out these beauties. This vine has had four around this size. It's an old family heirloom that came from the old country. My father used to win blue ribbons at local fairs with this tomato back in the 80's. They're big, but unlike many massive tomatoes these are juicy and firm and not at all mealy.

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And yes, I have a c.1984 deli scale. My father had a shop back then and this is still the most accurate scale I've ever owned. :)
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Almost reminds me of the Amish Paste I grew last year, big nice and meaty. The strange thing about the AP strain I had was I was getting 4 different types of tomatoes off the same vine, some looked like normal Roma style, others came out like what you have here, then some were small and more round then ones that looked like really big Roma's--but all nice and meaty. I didn't grow it this year cause I didn't feel like dealing with the excessively large vine--it was breaking my 7' stakes.
 
Looks like an excellent tomatoes and it definitely has a great story and lineage! So, to save your seed for next year, do you just let a few ripen as much as possible and then harvest the seed from those?
 
TorontoJoe said:
I'm up to my ears in tomatoes right now and I couldn't be happier. But sometimes a plant produces some pretty special specimens. Check out these beauties. This vine has had four around this size. It's an old family heirloom that came from the old country. My father used to win blue ribbons at local fairs with this tomato back in the 80's. They're big, but unlike many massive tomatoes these are juicy and firm and not at all mealy.

View attachment 12669View attachment 12670View attachment 12671View attachment 12672View attachment 12673View attachment 12674

And yes, I have a c.1984 deli scale. My father had a shop back then and this is still the most accurate scale I've ever owned. :)
Click to expand...
Are those the Grossi tomatoes? They are big and delicious. I still have some seeds.
 
RandyK said:
Looks like an excellent tomatoes and it definitely has a great story and lineage! So, to save your seed for next year, do you just let a few ripen as much as possible and then harvest the seed from those?
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I pull a few seeds from the best 2 or 3 of each variety (then eat the rest).

I keep a catalog of seeds with samples from every year. I learned the hard way to keep seed from multiple fruit, Occasionally I have saved them where all the seed from one particular tomato for some reason was not viable. Now for each fruit's seeds, I note the variety, date, weight for each baggie.
 
TorontoJoe said:
Those are indeed the Grossi. Frankly, I'm surprised they did so well given how stunted the plants were in the spring.

By the way.... Lunch, was awesome! 🤤 I can't believe one tomato and one pepper filled me up so much
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they were VERY filling. I grew those last summer at the other house. I stuffed them with chicken salad and tuna salad. either way was delicious. they were almost all meat and little amount of seeds. Also the Coure was a very good size and meaty. I saved seeds from them both so I can grow them again.
 
Figgerlickinggood said:
they were VERY filling. I grew those last summer at the other house. I stuffed them with chicken salad and tuna salad. either way was delicious. they were almost all meat and little amount of seeds. Also the Coure was a very good size and meaty. I saved seeds from them both so I can grow them again.
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Cuore and Grossi are my top pomodori. They make up the majority of my tomato crop. :)
 
TorontoJoe said:
I'm up to my ears in tomatoes right now and I couldn't be happier. But sometimes a plant produces some pretty special specimens. Check out these beauties. This vine has had four around this size. It's an old family heirloom that came from the old country. My father used to win blue ribbons at local fairs with this tomato back in the 80's. They're big, but unlike many massive tomatoes these are juicy and firm and not at all mealy.

View attachment 12669View attachment 12670View attachment 12671View attachment 12672View attachment 12673View attachment 12674

And yes, I have a c.1984 deli scale. My father had a shop back then and this is still the most accurate scale I've ever owned. :)
Click to expand...
I just love your deli scale. Wish we had one of those at my grocery store. Every one of tomatoes you weighed the price was FREE. 🤣
 
Nice tomatoes and a nice scale, Joe. Love that vintage look.

I hear you about the mealy texture. I can't stand those and, surprisingly, there are quite a few of those, and people like them. I like my mater smooth as cream cheese :)
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This year was fantastic for tomatoes. All tomatoes that ripened in July and early August this year in the heat we had, tasted exceptionally sweet and flavorful. We had more BLTs and salads in those two months than in the past year, maybe two :)


Over the past 10 years or so, I've grown probably close to 200 varieties, maybe more. From all over the world. Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Balkans, Italy, Central Asia, France, Spain, US and Canada. I now grow about 20 varieties. Next year will like be more like 12. Only our favorite ones, the best of the best for our tastes. I do add 1-2 new varieties to trial but it seems nothing beats our staples anymore.

I grow tomatoes because it's impossible to buy truly tasty tomatoes here. Like figs.
 
With our hot weather, I was told we can only grow determinate early in the season. Plants shutdown above 80s. Not sure if that is the limit but it is hard to get even cherry tomatoes.
 
grasshopper said:
With our hot weather, I was told we can only grow determinate early in the season. Plants shutdown above 80s. Not sure if that is the limit but it is hard to get even cherry tomatoes.
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Optimal daytime temps are 75-80F, but they can certainly tolerate higher temps. Also, what matters is how persistent those temps are. We've had a rollercoaster here, lows 80s, mid 70s, high 80s, high 70s, low 90s. That did not affect my tomatoes at all. Maybe some blossoms dried out on very hot days, but my second flush of tomatoes is quite good from the what was set in July during heat. We preserved a lot and also gave away a lot to friends and neighbors. Anyone who came left with a basket :) I even had a couple of contractors come to do some work and they each got a basket too :)
 
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