1997

TOMATO VARIETY EVALUATION

Victoria County Master Gardeners, Cooperators

Joe D. Janak, C.E.A.

Kevin Davis, C.E.A.

SUMMARY:

This demonstration evaluated 20 tomato varieties and showed that Merced, Super Fantastic, Beefmaster, Roma, First Lady, Celebrity and Bingo preformed the best yielding up to 15 pounds per plant and could be used in local gardens with high success.

PROBLEM:

There are hundreds of tomato varieties to choose from. Victoria gardeners are faced with the selection process of choosing one or several varieties at the nursery. Disease pressures can reduce yield and not all varieties are consistent producers.

OBJECTIVES:

To demonstrate which tomato variety produces the best for our area.

MATERIALS/METHODS:

Four plants each of twenty tomato varieties were planted on March 10 - 14, 1997. Two of each variety were planted in two garden plots, each three feet apart within the rows and staked. Plants were soaked in a fertilizer planting solution and were also fertilized at planting with one tablespoon of 13-13-13 fertilizer placed 2 inches below each plant. Cans were placed around each plant to ward off cutworms. The plants were watered every Monday if needed.

Tomatoes were tied to the stakes periodically to prevent plants from touching the ground and enhancing diseases. Soil analysis showed no further fertilizer was needed, so none was applied. Various mulches including hay, wood shavings, paper and roofing paper were used around the tomatoes to reduce weeds and conserve moisture. The tomato suckers were not pruned. The varieties were monitored for diseases and data recorded on the pounds of fruit harvested per variety. Harvest continued nearly daily through July 7, 1997.

RESULTS:

Tomatoes did not have their suckers pruned due to time constraints. Pruning suckers would have been desired especially since they were staked. The suckers grew at great lengths especially the indeterminate varieties. By May 12, 1997 Early Blight and Late Blight diseases were found on the following varieties: Roma, Large Red Cherry, Marglobe and Super Fantistic. Better Boy had Early Blight and Early Girl had Septoria Leaf Spot.

The earliest producer was Early Girl which produced on May 12 and May 21 while the rest started on May 27 or later. By May 21, over 30 inches of rain had fallen in the area since January and the tomatoes were sprayed with Kocide 101 and Daconil several times for disease prevention. The largest harvest date was June 23 with 140 pounds of tomatoes harvested.

About 700 pounds of tomatoes were harvested by June 24, 1997 with the highest producer being Merced followed by Super Fantastic and Beefmaster (See Table 1). An additional 200 pounds of tomatoes were harvested from these plants after June 25 but weights were not kept separate for each variety. The total pounds of fruit harvested equaled 926 pounds on July 7, 1997. One variety ordered as "Dona" was probably mis-labeled and was a "Roma".

Table 1. Evaluation of tomato varieties and their production. Victoria Master Gardeners, Cooperators, Victoria County, TX 1997.

VARIETY	CHARACTERISTICS		POUNDS FRUIT HARVESTED
	GROWTH(1)	DISEASE(2)	PLOT A	PLOT B	TOTAL
MERCED	D	VFFGT	29	31	60
SUPER FANTASTIC	D	VF	26	31	57
BEEFMASTER	I	VFN	29	28	57
ROMA		VF	26	23	49
FIRST LADY	D	VFN	18	18	45
CELEBRITY	D	VFNT	15	29	44
BINGO	D	VFGTA	15	28	43
BLACK	I		20	19	39
BETTER BOY	I	VFN	22	17	39
EARLY GIRL	I	VFN	16	22	38
CARNIVAL	D	VFFNTA	22	13	35
PORTER	I		15	18	33
JETSTAR		VF	21	11	32
JUBILEE	I		13	10	23
HEARTLAND	I	VFN	11	10	21
LARGE RED CHERRY	I		5	16	21
MARGLOBE	I	F	12	8	20
YELLOW PEAR	I		10	9	19
DONA (ROMA)	I	VFFNT	11	4	15
RUTGERS	D	VF	7	3	10

(1) D - Determinate I - Indeterminate

(2) Disease Resistant to: V- Verticillium FF - Fusarium 1,2

F - Fusarium T - Tobacco Mosaic virus

N - Nematodes G - Gray Leaf Spot

The best tomato variety was Merced, producing on average, 15 pounds per plant. The top seven varieties were really the good producers and could be recommended for planting in this area.

Overall quality factors were rated for each variety including the flavor of the varieties. See Table 2 for these results.

Table 2. Evaluation of tomato varieties quality characteristics, Victoria County Master Gardeners, Cooperators, Victoria County, TX 1997.

VARIETY	MASTER GARDENER COMMENTS
MERCED	The best producer. The first of this variety were mealy but later had good texture and flavor.
SUPER FANTASTIC	An early and successful producing variety. The flavor was good - smaller in size.
BEEFMASTER	The first harvested Beefmaster were large, later coming in quite smaller. The scalloped shaped tomatoes yielded good pounds and had a good flavor without much insect damage.
ROMA	A good producer; some liked the variety and some didn't.
FIRST LADY	A smaller variety with good flavor - good production.
CELEBRITY	A good yielding tomato variety, good flavor.
BINGO	A good tasting tomato with good production.
BLACK	A large tomato with a good flavor. The outside and inside color of charcoal was quite different. Later in the harvest season, the skin cracked very easily.
BETTER BOY	A good tasting tomato.
EARLY GIRL	An early producing variety - smaller in size. Good taste.
CARNIVAL	A good tasting tomato with medium yield.
PORTER	An oval pinkish-red cherry tomato; not too favorable. Fairly good producer.
JETSTAR	A good tasting tomato with medium production.
JUBILEE	A golden color tomato - very tasty; fair production.
HEARTLAND	A later producing tomato with fair production.
LARGE RED CHERRY	This variety did not have a long shelf life and often fell off the vine before harvest.
MARGLOBE	A fair producing tomato; not too memorable.
YELLOW PEAR	Lots of tear shaped yellow very small tomatoes that became too much trouble to harvest.
DONA (ROMA)	A good producer; some liked the variety and some did not. It was not a "Dona" variety but really a "Roma"
RUTGERS	A late producing variety, this not too successful as it was getting too hot.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND IMPACT:

With tomatoes valued at about $0.75 - $1.25 per pound and the top seven varieties producing from 10 - 15 pounds per plant, values the fruit from $7.50 - $18.75 per plant if they had to be purchased from the grocery store. Subtracting time and labor, the top varieties still could return a net profit above expenses.

CONCLUSION:

Selection of the top yielding tomato variety is a very important decision. Based on this demonstration, Merced, Super Fantastic, Beefmaster, Roma, First Lady, Celebrity and Bingo preformed quite well and could be used in any garden with success.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

Appreciation is expressed to the Victoria County Master Gardeners for planting, harvesting and evaluating this demonstration and contributing 257 hours of volunteer time on this demonstration. Appreciation is also express to the Victoria Community Garden for donating garden sites for this demonstration. Special thanks to Mark Garretson and Earth Works Nursery for assisting in ordering and partially funding this project. Donation of rotary tillers from Mr. & Mrs. Allan Kovar and Albert Totah, made soil preparation possible. The Extension Service is grateful to Master Gardener project supervisor Annette Partain for coordinating this demonstration. Thanks to the Extension Service Horticulture Committee and it's members for assisting and partially funding this demonstration. Additional thanks is expressed to Krueger Construction for donation of the tomato stakes.