[JayG]

Last year’s tomato popularity survey appears to have been quite useful to some forum users so I am running it again for 2011, a few months earlier than last year, in the hope that this year’s tomato growing experiences will be fresher in people’s minds so we will get more responses and therefore more meaningful results.

Include as many varieties as you like, but please remember we are trying to compare the yields and flavour of successful plants rather than, for instance, how quickly your entire crop was ruined by blight, as that is something that can unfortunately affect all varieties.

Against each choice, please give a rating out of 10 for yield and flavour so that they can be included in the final list.

Your entry should therefore look something like:

Red Firecracker; yield 8, flavour 10
Yellow fever; yield 10, flavour 7

I will collate the results into a table after a few weeks, and will again add information such as fruit size, colour, shape, and whether cordon or bush.

Thanks in advance for your participation.  

JayG

11th Jan 2012: The survey is now closed to further entries - thanks to all who participated. Results and summary are as follows:

A few points about the results:

1) Only those varieties which received 5 or more votes have been included in the “top ten”; these are shown in red and have been listed in descending order of the overall combined average scores for yield and flavour.
The rest of the table lists the varieties in alphabetical order to make it easier to find the one you may be interested in.

2) The number of votes received was too low to make these results statistically significant, but they do give at least some indication of some of the varieties being grown “out there” and what you think of them.

3) I have classified the top 10 varieties according to whether they are bush/cordon (determinate/indeterminate) and also an indication as to fruit size, shape and colour. I have not done that for all of them because frankly there were just too many "rare but interesting" varieties in the list.  

4) On the whole 2011 was quite a challenging year for tomato growers, even though many escaped the blight, but clearly several of 2010's favourites are still there in the top 10 (although strangely Gartenperle got no reports at all in the 2011 survey.)

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions from the results - hope the survey has been of some interest and possibly help to visitors and members.

JayG  (Jon)

Variety             No.of votes Av yield Av flavour Overall (y/f)   bush/cordon   Fruit type

Sungold F1 Sweet Million F1 Alicante Moneymaker Gardeners Delight Tumbling Tom (various) Golden Sunrise Black Cherry Tigerella Roma Ailsa Craig Aurora Bambino Black Russian blooming butcher Brandywine Brown Berry Canestino di Lucca Carlton Cherokee Purple Cherry Cherry Cascade Christel plum Christmas Grapes Cosoluto Fiorentino Country Taste Fantasio Ferline Flamme Galina Garden Peach Green Sausage Green Zebra Harbinger Heinz Homestead Ildi Inca F1 Jamie Oliver Cherry Koralik Legend Limmony Marmande Minibelle Orange Banana Orange Berry Outdoor Girl Pear Pineapple Pink Brandywine Plum Red Alert Red Beefsteak Red Cherry Red Cluster Pear Red Zebra Rio Grande Rosada F1 Ryder's midday sun Sakura San Marzano San Marzano 2 Scarlatto Shirley F1 Snowberry St Pierre Striped Stuffer Stupice Sub Arctic Plenty Summer cider Super Marmande Sweet Baby Sweetie 100 Tamina Tiny Tim Vintage Wine Yellow balcony Yellow Centifor Yellow Pygmy

9 6 5 8 13 6 5 5 5 8 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 4 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

8.0        8.3        8.6        8.1        6.4        7.0        7.6        6.0        5.4        5.3        8.0        7.0        8.0        7.0        6.0        3.0        8.0        9.0        8.0        9.0        10.0        8.0        8.0        7.0        3.0        6.0        2.0        7.7        6.0        7.0        4.0        4.0        6.0        6.0        9.0        7.0        6.0        7.0        7.0        7.0        3.0        4.0        6.0        8.0        8.0        6.0        4.0        8.0        5.0        10.0        8.0        6.7        10.0        8.3        6.0        8.0        7.5        9.0        5.0        8.0        3.7        5.0        5.0        7.0        4.0        6.0        5.0        6.0        5.0        9.0        4.3        8.0        10.0        9.0        5.0        4.0        9.0        8.0        5.0

9.6        9        7.6        6.4        7.9        7.2        6        7.4        6.8        6        7.5        8        8        7.5        9        6        10        10        10        10        10        8        9        8        6        6.5        4        7.7        9        8        2        3        8        5.5        7        8        6        8        8        5.5        6        6        6        8        5        8        6        9        8        9        8        6.7        9        8.5        7        8        8.5        10        5        9        4.7        3        5        6        2        8        4        8        8        10        7        8        10        5        6        7        9        8        7

8.8             8.7             8.1             7.3             7.2             7.1             6.8             6.7             6.1             5.6             7.8             7.5             8             7.3             7.5             4.5             9             9.5             9             9.5             10             8             8.5             7.5             4.5             6.3             3             7.7             7.5             7.5             3             3.5             7             5.8             8             7.5             6             7.5             7.5             6.3             4.5             5             6             8             6.5             7             5             8.5             6.5             9.5             8             6.7             9.5             8.4             6.5             8             8             9.5             5             8.5             4.2             4             5             6.5             3             7             4.5             7             6.5             9.5             5.6             8             10             7             5.5             5.5             9             8             6

cordon               cordon               cordon               cordon               cordon               cordon               cordon               cordon               cordon               semi-bush

medium gold       cherry       medium round       medium round       medium round       cherry       medium yellow       cherry       medium round       plum

[JayG]

To start the ball rolling, here’s what I think of my efforts this year (my first with a greenhouse, Yippee!)  :happy:

Marmande: yield 8, flavour 7
Inca F1: yield 7, flavour 8
Red Alert: yield 9, flavour 7
Sweet Million F1: yield 8, flavour 10

I’ve tried not to be too mean to Inca which are a plum type and intended more for sauce making than eating fresh, but there’s no denying that I thought Sweet Million were absolutely delicious, as did friends and neighbours too.

Red Alert did their usual sterling job in the cold frame (opened when they got too tall for it) but on the whole I think yields could have been better (this has not been a vintage year methinks!)

[stompy]

Here's my two peneth worth....

Sungold Yield 9, Flavour 10
Gardeners Delight Yield 9 Flavour 9
Red Cherry Yield 10 Flavour 9
Roma Yield 6, Flavour 8 (cooked)
Alcante Yield 8, Flavour 8

Can i just add though, although Sungold had exellent flavour and Yeild i did find the skin was a little tough, and as such i will only be growing 1 plant next year.

[mumofstig]

Carlton (Heritage beefsteak) yield 8 - Flavour 10
Black Cherry yield 9 - Flavour 9
Rio Grande yield 10 - Flavour 9 (cooked)
San Marzano yield 8 - Flavour 10 (cooked)
Shirley yield 6 - Flavour 8 (very tough skins this year  )

All grown in the greenhouse, same varieties grown outside had smaller yields.

[AndyRVTR]

Just the usual suspects for me this year...
Matina - Yield 7, Flavour 8
Ailsa Craig - Yield 8, Flavour 6
Moneymaker - Yield 10, Flavour 7

Sungold F1 - Yield 9, Flavour 10
 
Just to add to Stompy's post.. I tried the Sungold for the first time this year and found the flavour of this variety to be one of the best I've ever experienced, however, I did'nt have any problems with the skin being too tough, anyone any suggestions why that would happen?

[stentman]

No green house so in outdoor hanging baskets
Balconi yield 7 flavour 8
Tumbling Tom yield 7 flavour 6

In outdoor pots
Beef tomatoes yield 4 flavour 7

[angelavdavis]

I have been asked to post my feedback on this thread.

- San Marzano - yield - 2, flavour 4
- Roma - yield 2, flavour 4
- Sungold - yield 6, flavour 8
- red cherry - yield 7, flavour 8
- beefeater - yield 3, flavour 4
- cherry cascade - yield 8, flavour 8
- tigerella - yield 2, flavour 4
- fantasio - yield 2, flavour 4
- pomodora cosoluto fiorentino - yield 3, flavour 6
- sweet baby (trial) - yield 8, flavour 8 (prone to splitting though)
- sweet million - yield 8, flavour 8
- tumbling tom (hanging baskets outside) - yield 8, flavour 8
- black cherry - yield 4, flavour 8

All started early Feb and grown in an unheated greenhouse except tumbling tom which was grown in two hanging baskets.  Perhaps I am mean with my marks(?) or expect a bit too much but I am sure I used to have more luck with tomatoes.

[The Norfolk Turkey]

Tigerella - yield 3 flavour 6
Sungold - yield 8 flavour 10
Minibelle - yield 8* flavour 8
Gardeners Delight - yield 2 flavour 7 (a bad year on this one)
Tumbling Tom - yield 6 flavour 8

* the minibelle, as the name suggests were only small pot plants, but produced a good few, size considered!

[mashbintater]

Red Cherry yield 8 flavour 9

Moneymaker yield 8 flavour 6 - very late to ripen this year then succumbed to botrytis 

Was given ; Golden Sunrise yield 9 flavour 3 
 
- and Tigerella yield 8, flavour  7

Mash 

[Paul Plots]

In three unheated greenhouse (although one gets very warm):

Bambino                      yield 8 flavour  8
Sweet Million               yield 7 flavour  8
Sungold F1                  yield 7 flavour 10
Gardeners Delight       yield 5 flavour   7


All small / cherry types. In pots on grow-bags / ring culture style.

Not the best of years in terms of yield but not bad. Kept a sizeable extended family going.

[rizzla_lite]

My tomato experience for 2011

- Balcony Red (in hanging baskets) - yield 9, flavour 8
- Alicante - yield 9, flavour 8
- Black Cherry - yield 4, flavour 6
- Galina - yield 7, flavour 8
- Gardners Delight - yield 8, flavour 8
- Latah - yield 8, flavour 8
- Red Alert - yield 9, flavour 8
- Red Cluster Pear - yield 6, flavour 7
- Cosoluto Fiorentino - yield 3, flavour 6
- Yellow Centifor - yield 8, flavour 8
- Brandywine - yield 3, flavour 6
- Tumbling Tom (hanging baskets) - yield 8, flavour 8
- Outdoor Girl - yield 4, flavour 6

[goose]

-Sungold, yield 9, flavour 10 (inside & out)
-Rio Grande, yield 5, flavour 8 (outside)
-Roma, yield 5, flavour 3 (inside & out)
-Legend, yield 3, flavour 6 (outside)

[Brassica Blaz]

my results;
 
  koralik (outdoor) yield 6 flavor 4
  tamina (outdoor) yield 9 flavor 5
 
greenhouse:

 shirley       yield 9 flavor 6    ( stopped at 4 trusses)
 marmande yield 7 flavor 7    ( 3 trusses )
 ferline        yield 7 flavor 9    ( 3 trusses )
 sungold     yield 9 flavor 10   ( 5 trusses )
amateur     yield 2 flavor 0
 
 on the whole for me, not a bad year.albeit a tad late!

[Dandelion]

Black Russian: yield 8 flavour 9
Ferline: yield 8 flavour 5
Moneymaker: yield 8 flavour 5
Gardeners delight: yield 8 flavour 9

All grown outside in raised beds, seed started at the end of March on a windowsill. Moneymaker only grown because the seeds came free - will not grow them next year!

[Growster...]

Alicante.

Yield - 10
Flavour - 9

Better results outside than in greenhouse.