So my question is, which tomatoes should I plant, the hybrid brands or the heirlooms?
The tomatoes I plant will be used for slicing for salads and sandwiches.
Any help will be appreciated........
Thanks
“...but the one variety seemed to start splitting around the tomato as it ripened.”
Some varieties ‘crack’ more than others, so you can read the seed packet descriptions to try and avoid that.
Cracking (sometimes called, ‘cat facing’) in tomatoes is caused by irregular watering; sometime you can’t help that due to Mother Nature, or an unplanned trip.
If a tomato plant dries out, then is given a lot of water, the fruits can crack because the inside expands/grows faster than the outside peel can keep up with.
It’s not a disease issue; just an environmental one.
I seem to remember you grew your tomatoes close your house? If there’s rain runoff from the roof onto your plants (specifically to the ones that cracked), that could’ve been the culprit.
I have a spot across the front landscaping that gets a DELUGE of water off the metal roof when it rains. I can’t get a shrub or perennial grass to grow there, so I’m moving a birdbath to that spot. :)
Crack-Resistant Tomato Varieties:
• Arkansas Traveler. 80 days. Pink, slicing.
• Big Beef. 70 days. Indeterminate; globe shaped, hybrid.
• Big Boy. 78 days. Indeterminate; meaty.
• Black Cherry. 65 days. Indeterminate; cherry.
• Blondkopfchen. 75 days. Indeterminate; cherry, heirloom.
• Box Car Willie. 80 days. Indeterminate; large, heirloom.
• Burpee’s Big Girl. 78 days. Indeterminate; large red, hybrid.
• Burgess Crack Proof. 80 days. Indeterminate; large scarlet fruit.
• Celebrity. 72 days. Semi-determinate; medium-large.
• Chianti Rose. Beefsteak, Italian heirloom.
• Colonial. Midseason. Determinate; medium-large.
• Debarao. 72 days. Medium, deep red, paste or salads, open-pollinated.
• Delicious. 77 days. Indeterminate; large globe shape.
• Eva Purple Ball. 78 days. Indeterminate; heirloom.
• First Lady. 66 days. Indeterminate; slicing, hybrid.
• Gardener’s Delight. 70 days. Indeterminate; small, round, red.
• Glamour. 74 days. Indeterminate; medium-size, heavy clusters.
• Gold Nugget. 70 days. Determinate; yellow cherry, open pollinated.
• Golden Sweet. 60 days. Indeterminate; grape.
• Grape Tomato. 60 days. Indeterminate, bright red.
• Jackpot. 70 days. Determinate, meaty.
• Japanese Black Trifele. 80 days. Indeterminate, meaty, dark fruit.
• Jet Star. 70 days. Determinate abundant producer to 8 ounces, hybrid.
• Juliet. 60 days. Indeterminate; red oblong grape, hybrid.
• Market Champion. 80 days. Indeterminate, heirloom.
• Morado. 85 days. Dark purple-pink.
• Monte Verde. Midseason. Determinate; large, hybrid.
• Mountain Fresh. 79 days. Determinate; large fruit.
• Mountain Gold. 80 days. Determinate; yellow heirloom.
• Mountain Pride. 77 days. Determinate, large, hybrid.
• Mountain Spring. 79 days. Determinate; large red.
• Park’s Whopper Improved. 65 days. Indeterminate, big juicy.
• Peron Sprayless. 68 days. Indeterminate; globe shape.
• Piedmont. Mid to late season. Very large.
• Pritchard. 90 days. Indeterminate, heirloom.
• Prize of the Trials. Cherry tomato.
• Pruden’s Purple Tomato. 65 days. Indeterminate; pink-purple heirloom.
• Red Rose. 85 days. Indeterminate.
• Red Sun. Determinate; medium red.
• Rutgers. 75 days. Determinate; bright red globe-shaped.
• Santa. 60 days. Indeterminate; cherry.
• Spitfire. 75 days. Determinate; large, hybrid.
• Summer Sweet. 58 days. Indeterminate; grape, hybrid.
• Sun Gold. 57 days. Indeterminate; orange cherry, hybrid.
• Sun Sugar. 60 days. Indeterminate; yellow cherry.
• Sunpride. Midseason. Determinate; very large, matures green.
• Super Fantastic. 70 days. Indeterminate; canning, hybrid.
• Sweet 100. 65 days. Indeterminate; cherry to 1 inch in diameter.
• Sweet Chelsea. 64 days. Indeterminate; large red.
• Sweet Million. 65 days. Indeterminate; round cherry.
• Sweet Olive. 57 days. Grape, hybrid.
• Thessoaloniki. 77 days. Indeterminate; for slicing.
• Traveler 76. 76 days. Indeterminate; Southern growing, open-pollinated.
• Williamette. 70 days. Determinate; smooth, globe-shaped.
• Yellow Pear. 78 days. Indeterminate. Sweet, continuous harvest.
https://harvesttotable.com/crack-resistant_tomato_varieti/
Personally, I like heirloom tomatoes for the food-production part of my garden. But, there are big differences between heirloom varieties, so it’s worth taking the time to match the variety to your growing conditions and gardening style.
Can you give us any more details about your garden? What’s the soil like? Is the weather usually damp, usually dry, or something in-between? Roughly what area are you growing in? Your FR profile says Qatar, is that where your garden is?
Do you plan to use cages for your tomatoes, trellis them, or let them ramble unsupported? Do you prefer most of them to ripen at the same time, or would you rather have a steady trickle of ripe fruits? Do you know what kinds of pests and/or diseases they’ll have to deal with?
If the above seems overwhelming, I apologize. The simplest way to approach is to just try some popular varieties and see how they do. “Brandywine” and “Mortgage Lifter” are both popular heirloom varieties that do well in most of the US. But if they don’t, or if you want something a little more tailored to your climate, then I can help, but I would definitely need more information first.