Tomato reviews

[Jayb]

Sungold F1

A richly coloured yellowy-orange cherry tomato, indeterminate best for greenhouse or polytunnel but will crop outside too. Flavour is awesome, very sweet and savoury at the same time, with a great kick of flavour that just makes you want to eat more! One slight downside is the skins can be a bit tough and are slightly prone to splitting, more so when watering is erratic. I find Sungold is often the first tomato to ripen when grown in a greenhouse and they then just produce all season on tall healthy vines. Fruits set on long trusses and the toms are a lovely size for just munching on as you go past or filling a bowl for a snack, great halved or whole in a salad too. The leaves have a distinctive spicy smell which is different from nearly all other tomatoes. I think the fragrance is in the breeding line from a wild type of tomato.

In my opinion Sungold F1 are one of the best cherry tomatoes ever! Biggest drawback it's an F1 hybrid, the seeds are costly and we can only buy it as long as they produce it.

Would I grow it again- most definitely
Would I recommend it to others - most definitely
Score 10

[Jayb]

[Digeroo]

I love sungold but I find it gets blight very easily.  Seeds seems to be more expensive than it used to be.  Somehow I do not think it is as good as it used to be.  I remember a summer about 10 years ago when I had them dripping off the plants.

[Ian Pearson]

Have you tried 'de-F1-ing' it Jayb?

[Jayb]

I love sungold but I find it gets blight very easily.  Seeds seems to be more expensive than it used to be.  Somehow I do not think it is as good as it used to be.  I remember a summer about 10 years ago when I had them dripping off the plants.

That's interesting, I must admit I hadn't noticed it more susceptible to blight than other varieties I generally grow, but different growing conditions can make a difference. I think my seed is quite old   and haven't noticed any real difference. I stocked up on a few packets of seeds when they were on offer last year, so I shouldn't need to buy any for a good while. Fingers crossed they taste as good, but if not I'll grow Sun Sugar F1 instead. It's very hard to call which is which when grown alongside each other or even which is better.

Which company are your seeds from?

[Jayb]

Yes, but not followed it through far enough. I think I got some crossed seed mixed in so results became a little random and I've decided to go back to F2. I also had some F5 Sungold seeds via Lievien, not his selection but some sent to him. Very tasty cherry tomatoes but I'm still getting both gold and red cherries (if all is correct and not a cross) at F8 and 9.

I have been impressed by Ambrosia Gold the last two seasons, it really is good  Very much on a par with Sungold colour and taste wise, also it has that distinctive leaf smell. But from saved seed this year I have one that is red fruited, I'm not sure if it's a cross, still segregating or I miss labelled or contaminated the seed? Tastes very good whatever! Having tasted Ambrosia Gold I'd be more than happy to grow it every year, the test will be if I grow it instead of Sungold!!!!! I've tried some of the available Sungold open pollinated varieties, Big Sungold, Big Sungold Select and Sungold Select but none have really ticked all the boxes and given that flavour punch and sweet combination, just weren't as good as Sungold. Plus generally they were too big for me for a snacking cherry.

Have you had any success with Sungold 'de-F1-ing' ? 

[Squash64]

I agree with everything you said about Sungold Jayb.  It has been a favourite of
ours for quite a few years now.

However, this year I noticed that many of  fruit on some plants in the greenhouse remained
very small, about half the size they should have been.  It's the first time this has ever
happened.  Any ideas why?

[sparrow]

Black cherry

My vote goes for these this year. They didn't succumb to blight when my other plants did, have many trusses of 7-9 fruits (I am only a beginner at tomatoes and didn't get rid of sideshoots till too late). The tomatoes are biggish cherries and taste beautiful - very intense tomato flavour. A few have split in the rain and from my slightly uneven watering.

Definitely growing again.

[Pescador]

"In my opinion Sungold F1 are one of the best cherry tomatoes ever! Biggest drawback it's an F1 hybrid, the seeds are costly and we can only buy it as long as they produce it."

Totally agree, however, I think the seed cost is completely worth it, I suppose it depends on how many you grow.
T+M are selling them at £2.99 for 10 seeds, cost per plant (at 100% germination) is 30p,  the yield I got this year was around 70 - 80 toms per plant.
Well worth it, in my opinion!
On your last point Jayb, they'll keep producing it only if we keep buying it!!!
I'm buying some extra packs this year, normally only one, but I made a fantastic Sungold and Heatwave dipping sauce with the last of the ripe ones and it's fantastic, so next year I need to double the Sungold planting. Let's pray for another good summer!

[Silverleaf]

Hybrids are ridiculously expensive, even more so because you have to keep buying seeds every year if you want to keep growing the same variety.

I'd much rather have a good open-pollinated variety that I buy once only, since saving tomato seeds is so easy and you can still eat the fruit you save seeds from (unlike peas or beans).

A dehybridised Sungold would be a fantastic thing - maybe we should have a forum project! ;)

[squeezyjohn]

I've already extolled the virtues of Amish Paste after this great summer as a outdoor tomato that gives huge yields of brilliantly fleshy plum tomatoes.

The other one I love is tomatillo de jalapo ... it's a blight resistant tomato of weed-like tenacity ... the plants I have this year are entirely self-seeded and very productive.  Tomatillo de jalapo gives nice trusses of 8-10 juicy sweet red cherry tomatoes.  Seemingly nothing can kill it short of trampling on the plants!

[antipodes]

Sungold - yes they are very nice but were the first ones blighted... I tend to agree with Digeroo. I quite like Gardener's Delight for cherry tomatoes although they are smaller.

This year I grew Golden Sunrise, they are a yellow tomato. Very prolific and a nice flavour, quite juicy.
I also grew a yellow baby pear tomato, now I am not sure exactly of the variety. I think they are actually called "Yellow Pear", lol. Very good, they grow into a huge plant though! Long harvesting period, and they taste good even when not fully ripe. Loads and loads of fruit.

I have gone off the black varieties as I find them too sensitive and often I find their flavour too mild.

[Silverleaf]

Latah's pretty good if you want a bush tomato, sprawls and untidy but very early and productive and tastes  good.

[saddad]

Sungold are the only F1 I grow, Black Cherry are very good. I've found Whipper snapper and Garten Pearle excellent outdoors in baskets and tubs, they have shrugged off the blight and are flowering and fruiting again... 

[chriscross1966]

I'll stick a vote in for BLack Cherry.... really tangy tomato and I know I made some converts at work .... folks would be suspicious at first cos they'd be in a bowl with Gardeners Delight and Sungold, but everyone agreed it was the most "tomatoey" of them all, Sungold is loveley, but you could eat it with cream for pudding it's that sweet, Gardeners Deligth just does well for me in my greenhouse so I grow two of each of them and expect to be drowinging in cherry tomatoes for a couple of months...

Most of the rest of what I grow is culinary toms, an anonymous Giant Red and Giatn Yellow that I got from Spain of ebay many moons ago.... I've passed the seed around cos they are excellent big tomatoes, and their size makes. prep simple, you just roast them off for about 45 minutes and then use as per canned toms, or freeze them for use later....

Black Krim and Heinz are the  other  two I self-save can't fault them as cookers, big, taste lovely.... Black Krim can have some entertaining growth defects and therefore isn't for the complete beginner but the taste pulls you in and the darkness of the flesh can bring a lovely colour to sauces made with it.... Heinz is a bit of a sod to  keep seed form cos it makes so few seeds...

the other ones this year: San Marzano, bit late cropping but it looks heavy and it'll be a month before my greenhouse is too cold for it to ripen on the plant, annoyingly seems to attract tomato moth more than most....  this year's experiment was cherry plums.... nice, but not nice enough.... next years will be Stupice cos I'd like to have a stadndard tom in the mix..

[Vinlander]

I agree with Sungold and Gardener's Delight - streets ahead of everything else except the Piccolo/Piccolinos you have to pay £8 a kilo for.

I have tried Golden Sunrise and all the other recommended types like Green Grape - I can taste the water through the flavour in all of them - some people don't seem to notice - or they dislike intense flavours. I know plenty that actually like supermarket varieties - they prefer blandness in everything - tasteless mealy apples, asian pears and plums, pizzas that are 99% bread and 1% tomato pap... you name it.

However price is a problem best outflanked...

Both Sungold and Gardener's Delight are available for as little as £1 a plant - and if you get decent sized plants early enough each one will provide 8-12 big cuttings which will root really easily and produce fruit within a week of the "parent".

As to Piccolino - you'd be mad to buy seed when that £3 will buy you 400g of fruit equivalent to 10 or more packets (and a good meal from the leftover flesh). As to growing true, the big producers use huge greenhouses full of the same variety - much larger quantities than the seed producers, and probably much further away from the next different variety.

I also rate Green Tiger (from M&S - but indistinguishable from Highlander from seedsmen). It has a unique meaty flavour (possibly inherited from the impossibly finicky Green Zebra) and most people like to grill it - but I love it raw.

As to blight - I find each year brings a different sequence of what succumbs first and last. The only constant seems to be that hollow crowned varieties - mostly big ones - get blight first in the dip which presumably collects rain and dew - whereas the cherries tend to shrug off leaf attacks but get it in the stem before the fruit succumb.

Cheers.

[Vinlander]

I forgot to say I tried blight-resistant Losetto on a Which? recommendation - against my better judgement.

Breeding for blight-resistance had the inevitable result of sidelining flavour - it's as tasteless as the worst I've ever grown.

What's the point of growing red bags of water no better than the cheapest supermarket tomato?

Cheers.

[Silverleaf]

I haven't grown or tasted many types of tomato, so I'd love your recommendations!

I like my toms to be tangy and sharp and not sugary sweet (sweet is okay as long as it has enough acid for balance) with a nice strong tomato flavour. I don't mind what colour or shape or habit they are. I have to admit to a weakness for interestingly-coloured fruits and veggies, but I prioritise flavour over looks.

What do you think I'd like? I have a small greenhouse and could probably get 12 plants in there if I don't grow anything else in it!

[Silverleaf]

I found a small bag of seed in my stash that I saved from a supermarket tom called Sunstream years ago. I don't remember anything about it but I must have liked it enough to save it. Anyone know anything about it?

[galina]

I found a small bag of seed in my stash that I saved from a supermarket tom called Sunstream years ago. I don't remember anything about it but I must have liked it enough to save it. Anyone know anything about it?

Sunstream info for you:
http://www.enzazaden.co.uk/Products/fruitvegets/tomato/cluster/sunstream.aspx
The seed packet displayed does not say that it is an F1, therefore it is an open pollinated variety and should come true from saved seeds:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tomato-SunStream-Strawberry-amazing-flavour/dp/B003ABA5X8/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

[Jayb]

Sunstream toms were quite tasty as I remember, I know tesco's sold them a few years ago, I'm not sure if they still do. They were good tasting for shop bought tomato and a fair substitute for out of season homegrown ones. I know I saved seeds too, although I've not grown any out yet. I would think you will get some diversity, but useful sorts with a range of good traits many similar to the parent and you should be able to pick favourites to take forward for next year.

The seed packet displayed does not say that it is an F1, therefore it is an open pollinated variety and should come true from saved seeds:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tomato-SunStream-Strawberry-amazing-flavour/dp/B003ABA5X8/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

Despite the poor labelling, I'm pretty sure Sunstream are an F1 variety. It's very misleading when seed companies give the wrong information or leave things out.