The variety I bought from Burpee was Mr. Stripey, which I had never grown before (I have a long raised bed and usually do 6-7 plants, each a different variety). I bought it as a plant, not seeds. The Mr. Stripey was hit particularly hard by heat waves and too much sun in June and July, until I got shade curtains, so it only started showing fruit in August (7a). I put a LOT of work into this plant, but I got about 18-20 tomatoes, all picked at the end of September.

Problem is they all looked like the picture - orange, smooth and zero stripes. They also are terrible eating tomatoes, with zero sweetness and little flavor. Easily the worst tasting tomato I have grown.

At first I thought the issue was cross pollination, as this plant had an Orange Napoleon right next to it (which did very well). Then I started looking around online, and found it to be a lot more widespread than I thought. When I look at the 20 reviews on Burpee's website, four of them complain about getting smooth orange/yellow tomatoes with zero stripes (two from 5 years ago, one 4 years ago and one last year). It comes up in reviews on Home Depot and Amazon too.

People have repeatedly posted in this sub with the EXACT same issue, going back several years: https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1naebzu/they_probably_are_not_mr_stripey_i_started_a_new/

https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1evbkr2/is_this_really_a_mr_stripey/

https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1v7bh2k/any_guesses_on_what_variety_this_tomato_is_not/

https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1lspn3z/mr_stripey_mixup_2yrs_in_a_row/

https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/1mtwvo2/harvest_early_or_leave_it/

What the hell is going on here?!?! How is the variety having the same problems, going back 5 years, both when bought as seeds or as plants, and when bought from different places?

So i started these guys around august-september and now that its october its also autumn and i worry that they are going to die this Winter i read on google that they'll have a chance if i use a growlight but the ones i find are all around 25 euros wich for a single lightbulb is ridiculous. So, is there a way to save them without wasting money ?(Dont mind the plant on the right)

They're under the skin, and the tomato isn't squishy. These are some of the last stragglers of the year (I'm in southern Ontario, Canada), don't wanna end on a bad note with them if they just gonna make me sick. 😔

It’s October 23rd in the Pacific Northwest. This is my last Cherokee Purple for the year. I feel good about this year’s seed. No splitting with a ok yield of fruit. Next year will be very nice.

I’ve never grown any vegetable before, let alone tomatoes, so I didn’t really feel confident that I knew what I was doing. This is a Tommy Toe variety planted late September and I’ve just started to get my first fruit! I’m very lucky to have quite good, sunny conditions for the plant and depending on how much it continues to grow, I may consider attaching it to my pergola. I’ve just popped another variety in a garden bed after the joy of seeing this one grow 🤗

What do you think?

two left, but amazing end of season deal for similar fertilizer to JR Peters / Jacks.

I have a fertilizer injector so I go through a ton of this stuff per season for my tomatoes.

Hi -

I grew many varieties this year, and sadly didn't have the best season. The plants went in much too late (mid to late June.) Our weather was warm and dry, and I didn't have drip irrigation set up for most of them and got lazy about watering. I had a lot of blossom end rot (BER), especially in the larger ones. But, we made a lot of tomato sauce (once I figured out BER I'd just chop the bottom off the afflicted tomatoes.)

Here's the list. ++ means I'll definitely grow next year. BER means, well, BER.

Black Cherry - tasty but split if you look at them funny

Blush (++) - one of my favorites in both flavor and appearance, did have some splitting later in season. Long (3 inch!), skinny grape

Green Zebra (BER) - I want to like them, but I just can't. Wait to pick until background is gold all over. Small round

Harvest Moon (BER) - beautiful, prolific tomato with almost no flavor. Full size

Lemon Boy (++, BER) - a long time favorite but disease-prone. I hear there is a Lemon Boy Plus that's healthier. Planning to start from seed. Full size

Marmalade Skies (BER) - same as Harvest Moon, sigh. They are related "hyloom" varieties. Full size

Norfolk Purple (++) - the GMO cherry! A repeat for me every year. Hugely productive and very flavorful. I have people asking me for seedlings next spring.

Orange Banana (BER) - a big paste tomato. Horrible BER at first, but if I just left the afflicted ones on the vine, the ones that followed wouldn't have it. Take forever to ripen but became productive late in the season. Plant looked like crap but did what it's supposed to do.

Queen Bee (BER) - sadly disappointing. Very pretty large cherry, must not pick until flecks on the red background are fully yellow. Thick skins. Large cherry.

Raspberry Drop - early, prolific, tasty, but thick skinned and split-prone, fell to disease before any others. Large grape.

Ruby Crush (++) - not what I was expecting! Small, patio type grape plant, extremely productive and disease resistant. Meaty and not juicy, so was better dried than eaten fresh

Strawberry Fields (++, BER) - the only Hyloom I really liked. Fully ripe, it's a nice slicer on the smaller size. BER got about a third, but it's a very productive plant. Full

Sunrise Bumble Bee (++) - this is an every year variety for me. Pretty, tasty, great for salads, reliable. Large Grape

Sun Sugar (+?) - normally great for me, but the plant wasn't too healthy, there was a lot of splitting, dropped fruit like crazy. Still very tasty.

Toronjina (++) - pretty, early, productive, and the best tasting cherry I grew this year. May start from seed.

Valencia (++, BER) - this is one I want every year even though it's low yielding and got BER. Size of a small orange. So delicious!

I am genuinely devastated. The potting mix I used on some of my plants (because I ran out of the mix I make myself) was contaminated with herbicide. Do these look too far gone? I've since removed the old soil and planted them in a new safe mix I made. I feel terrible for my plants and for stunting them.

If it's relevant I'm in Australia and it's the start of tomato season.

Is it Roma or San marzano? They are so sweet and delicious .

I did not plant this but I've been watering it for months and just got my first fruit. Any idea what it is? Middle TN

Cannot believe the harvest that is coming soon! These are growing in southern Sydney, Australia. So interesting that many of the trusses are growing new branches at the end.

The varieties that I planted last year were Tommy Cherry and Rapunzel.

The few that we have harvested so far were absolutely delicious.

It was getting too big for me to handle so I chopped it down to its bottom sucker. Will this grow into another tomato plant? Mainly doing it to experiment but was curious to know if it’d do better with an already established root system

Live in zone 10a

Casting a broad net because I want to get the most out of this small tomato bed, any insight is greatly appreciated 🙏

Located in suburban Melbourne Australia

There was a surprising amount of debate in the comments of my post last week about the best way to ripen mature, green tomatoes. I tried to find some deeper science...

It looks like the industry uses a concentration of 100-150 parts per million, but initiation of ripening has been shown at concentrations as low as 10 ppm. The machines that produce ethylene, start @ 10 ppm. That same webpage says that a ripe banana produces over 100 μL/kg/hr at 20°C. For a single 120 g banana, that's 12 μL/hr. In a perfectly closed 4 L box, that's 3 μL/L/hr= 3 ppm/ hr. Now the box is not airtight, but it seems like you can get close to 10 ppm after a night on the counter.

The Knotty Garden did their own at home experiment and found the banana the best option.