Chapter Four: That’s A Wrap on Tomatoes on Trial 2024
By Kathryn Hamilton, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County
Thank you for following along as we put three new tomatoes on trial this past summer. It was a great opportunity to appreciate the work of the NC State’s Fresh Market Breeding team who created tomatoes that stood up to, and by some measures, surpassed the vaunted Cherokee Purple. Perhaps the results will give you some perspective for your own tomato garden in 2025. I’d also like to express my sincere thanks too for the wholehearted support we received from Durham County Extension agents Cheralyn Berry and Ashley Troth and the fabulous “tomato team,” Peter Bent, Caryl Cyd, and Lalitree Darnielle who contributed labor, insight, wisdom, and friendship all summer long. Here’s the recap.
-Kathryn Hamilton, 2024 Tomato Project Team Leader
Analyzing the Trial
The final count for our 16 tomato plants was 639 tomatoes. Here’s how the varieties fared.
| Mt. Regina | Mt. Girl | 20 x 1030 | Cherokee Purple | |
| First Fruit | July 13 | July 13 | July 20 | July 6 |
| Last Fruit | Sept. 5 | Sept. 12 | Aug. 31 | Aug. 24 |
| Total Fruit | 148 | 173 | 164 | 118 |
(Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)
(1) All tomatoes had some degree of disease, but unquestionably the cultivars from NC State looked better longer and were the last tomatoes standing. They also had a longer harvest window than the Cherokee Purples. On July 27, a wilting Cherokee Purple stood next to an unaffected 20 X 1030.
(2) In the garden we were very impressed with Mountain Regina. For an indeterminate tomato it had a relatively compact form. Unfortunately, this tomato will not be available to home gardeners in the short term. This Mountain Regina was photographed July 6.
Almost every Cherokee Purple suffered from cat-facing. Despite regular watering, all tomatoes had some radial cracking (after 22 inches of rain in July and August). However, the Cherokee Purple also had very severe concentric cracking.
(Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)
Putting Taste to the Test
In a taste test, held at the Extension office in early August, participants were first asked to rate the characteristics of each variety on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (exceptional) based on the cultivar’s flavor, texture, sweetness and appearance. Cherokee Purple and Mountain Girl were essentially tied in terms of quality. Mountain Regina was in third place followed by 20 X 1030.
When varieties were compared to each other (participants were asked to rank the four tomatoes in terms of personal preference), Cherokee Purple was the tasters’ first choice, followed by Mountain Girl, Mountain Regina, and 20 X 1030, although all ranked within a percentage point of each other. At the same time, Mountain Girl was the only tomato to receive a “5” of five possible points. While It’s hard to compare taste tests across the state as variables such as time of harvest, the amount of rain immediately prior to harvest, and soil composition come into play. Nonetheless as state-wide averages, the results were similar: Cherokee Purple was most favored followed by Mountain Girl, with 20 x 1030, and Mountain Regina swapping third and fourth places.
Mountain Girl is available from Wild Mountain Seeds. NC State’s Fresh Market Tomato Breeding program was founded in 1976 in response to verticillium wilt. Today the program focuses on developing tomatoes especially suited to North Carolina’s growing conditions and produces some of the most disease resistant tomatoes you can find. The tomatoes in this trial were hybridized to be “market stable with heirloom quality taste.” Branded as “Mountain” tomatoes, several different cultivars are available through popular seed outlets.
(Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)
In our taste test when the scores were averaged out, all tomatoes fell within the “ordinary” range. Even the vaunted Cherokee Purple didn’t outperform. While heirloom tomatoes have come to be regarded as the “Ne plus Ultra” among tomato growers, there is something to be said for a plant that produces long into the season and is not a whole lot “less” than a favorite variety such as Cherokee Purple. And for this reason, “Mountain” tomatoes would seem to deserve a turn in the tomato garden.
Previewing Tomato Trial “25”
Next year we will trial three new tomatoes developed by Dr. Dilip Panthee of the NC State program. They will test against Carbon, a Durham master gardener favorite, chosen for its flavor, and the highly disease-resistant Celebrity Plus, which was the last plant standing at Briggs in the summer of 2024.
Chapter Three: Longevity and Productivity
By Kathryn Hamilton, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County and leader of the 2024 Tomato Project Team
This installment began on August 12th as a mid-year review. We had just completed our tomato taste test and to date harvested 533 tomatoes. The summer had started strong with hot dry weather. Based on last year’s performance of Mountain Merit, another NC State cultivar, we were looking forward to tomatoes until frost.
During the month of July we had 12 inches of rain (the average for July is 3.7 inches), and by mid-August the tomatoes were beginning to show it. Despite our rigorous watering they began splitting and cracking; with almost 10 more inches of rain in August, diseases were spreading. By September 15th, it was clear that this write-up would actually become an end-of-season summary.
Process
Three of these tomatoes, Mountain Girl, Mountain Regina, and 23 X 1030, were hybridized by NC State with the goal of creating a market-stable tomato with heirloom-quality taste. The tomatoes had already passed “reliability” muster with growers. The question now was, “How would they survive a typical homeowner’s gardening?” – with no crop rotation or suckering, and limited pest and disease deterrence. The fourth variety was Cherokee Purple, renowned for its flavor, but not its disease resistance.
We planted four beds of tomatoes, four plants to a bed in a randomized order. The seedlings were planted May 10th, 6 inches deep with 1/3 cup of TomatoTone® fertilizer added to each hole. Per instructions the tomatoes were caged (not staked). They were watered three times a week and fertilized at four-and-eight-week intervals. We did not sucker or treat the tomatoes with any chemicals. We trimmed any bottom leaves dragging in the dirt and picked off the occasional hornworm.
Progression
Here are some progress notes:
| June 1 | All plants started budding |
| June 8 | First fruits appeared, with Cherokee Purple leading the pack followed by Mountain Girl and Mountain Regina. Interestingly the Mountain Regina in Bed One was one of the first to flower. (More on this later.) |
| June 15 | Some yellowing was observed on bottom leaves in Bed One. |
| June 24 | Everything looked robust with isolated instances of yellowing leaves. Despite hot temperatures, all plants continued to flower. |
| July 6 | All vines were so laden with fruit that many were in danger of breaking. After the July 1 storm, several plants, with their cages, had fallen over and we needed to stake the cages and secure dangling branches to the cages. |
| July 16 | Cracking was observed: on almost every Cherokee Purple; in isolated instances on the three NC State specimens, Mountain Girl, Mountain Regina, and 23 X 1030. |
| August 15 | After another week of rain, most plants were deemed “on their way out,” and 9 of 16 were pulled: 3 Cherokee Purple; 3 Mountain Girls; 1 Mountain Regina; and two 23 X 1030. |
These were the test-bed survivors on August 31.
(1) Bed One: Mountain Regina. (2) Bed Two: 23 x 1030. (3) Bed Three: Mountain Girl. (4) Bed Four: Mountain Regina. (5) Closeup of Mountain Regina. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)
As a point of comparison, here are two tomatoes on August 31st not grown as part of the test. The tomato depicted below in the left photograph was a grafted Carbon. On the right a Celebrity Plus. Both tomatoes were designed to resist diseases.
(Left to right) Two tomato cultivars, Carbon and Celebrity Plus, pictured here for comparison to the four tomatoes featured in the tomato trial. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)
Also interesting was the 23 X 1030 randomly planted in another bed (outside of the test beds) in which tomatoes have also been grown for several years. This tomato received the same “non-care” as those in the test beds. It turned out to be among the most vigorous and disease resistant and had the last fruits (albeit green) on October 5th.
(Left to right) Bed Five, 23 X 1030 on August 31; Bed Five, 23 X 1030 Tomatoes on October 5th. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)
Productivity
Here’s where we netted out.
| Bed / Tomato | First | Last | Total # |
| 1: M. Regina | 7/13 | 9/3 | 42 |
| 1: 23 X 1030 | 7/20 | 8/10 | 9 |
| 1: M. Girl | 7/13 | 7/27 | 18 |
| 1: Cherokee | 7/6 | 7/27 | 17 |
| 2: M. Girl | 7/13 | 8/10 | 48 |
| 2: M. Regina | 7/27 | 8/10 | 52 |
| 2: Cherokee | 7/20 | 8/10 | 33 |
| 2: 23 X1030 | 7/20 | 8/31 | 64 |
| 3: Cherokee | 7/12 | 8/24 | 39 |
| 3: M. Regina | 7/20 | 8/24 | 41 |
| 3: M. Girl | 7/27 | 9/5 | 56 |
| 3: 23 X1030 | 7/20 | 8/24 | 40 |
| 4: 23 X 1030 | 7/13 | 9/3 | 60 |
| 4: Cherokee | 7/13 | 8/17 | 29 |
| 4: M. Regina | 7/27 | 8/17 | 49 |
| 4: M. Girl | 7/13 | 8/17 | 51 |
| Week | Total Tomatoes |
| 7/6 | 2 |
| 7/13 | 28 |
| 7/20 | 92 |
| 7/27 | 162 |
| 8/3 | 121 |
| 8/10 | 128 |
| 8/17 | 64 |
| 8/24 | 4 |
| 8/31 | 9 |
| 9/7 | 4 |
| 9/14 | 1 |
Variety Totals
| Mt. Regina | 184 |
| 23 X 1030 | 164 |
| Mt. Girl | 173 |
| Cherokee Purple | 118 |
| Total | 639 |
Summary
In terms of productivity, the queen of this tomato test was undoubtedly Mountain Regina. She was statuesque in appearance, looked the best the longest, had some of the most prolonged staying power, and out-produced every other tomato.
For the last four summers, these beds have been planted exclusively in tomatoes making them absolutely ripe for diseases. Different tomatoes succumbed to different diseases at different times. However, Bed One was an anomaly into and of itself. None of the plants thrived. They were all smaller and less robust than the plants in the other three beds. When we removed one of the plants, we could see it had a very shallow and sparse root system.
The plants in Bed One were the first plants to be pulled in the summer, except for Mountain Regina, which held on until the end of September. She was stately, hard-working in the face of adversity, and courageous. At least in our garden test, it seems like all must bow to the Queen. But will her royal stature withstand the taste test?
Mountain Regina withstood disease pressure, drought, and abundant rain. It turned out to be a resilient and fruitful cultivar. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)
A Final Comparison
Master gardener Eric Wiebe grew Mountain Girl and 23 X 1030 in his home garden. Tomatoes had last been grown in this bed in 2022. Eric pruned his tomatoes to two leaders and suckered throughout the season. To reduce the spread of fungal disease, he sprayed the plants with copper sulfate four times, the last being on July 10th. Here’s how our two experiments compared.
| EMGV Wiebe Garden | Briggs Avenue Garden Average | |
| MG Harvest | 12 | 43 |
| 23 x 1030 Harvest | 33 | 41 |
| Last Harvest & Pull Date | 10/10 | 10/5 |
It is logical to assume that our Mountain Girl harvest was so much larger than Eric’s because without pruning and suckering we had many more opportunities for fruit. But, even with minimal care at Briggs Avenue, longevity compared favorably to those benefiting from master gardener ministrations.
I also had the chance to compare production of these tomatoes to the tomatoes grown in our grafted experiment in 2020. Then, we compared longevity and production of grafted Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye tomatoes to ungrafted Pink Berkeleys.
As a comparison:
- The last grafted tomato was pulled 8/18/2020, almost two months earlier than any of the NC State tomatoes grown this year.
- The average production for Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye plants was 10.9 tomatoes
- The average production for the grafted tomatoes was 13.2
- Per cultivar, this year’s averages were: Mt. Regina 46; 23 X 1030 43; Mt. Girl 43, and Cherokee Purple 30.
Of course, the results of the taste test remain, but one would be hard pressed to discount the productivity of these NC State cultivars.
In our next chapter, we’ll look more closely at the tomatoes themselves and report on the taste test we held on August 10th.
Chapter Two: Tomato Trials the Master Gardener Way
By Eric Wiebe, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County
At Briggs Avenue Community Garden, we are trialing the new NC State tomatoes with the most casual of care, as we would expect of most gardeners. We thought it would be interesting to see how the tomatoes fared under the very perspicacious care of a Master Gardener volunteer. Eric Wiebe, who scrupulously tracks his plants, was kind enough to oblige and share his methodology, findings, and impressions.
–Kathryn Hamilton, 2024 Tomato Project Team Leader
I was at the right place at the right time when the trial tomatoes were going in at Briggs and was given the opportunity to take home two plants – one Mountain Girl and one 23 x 1030 – to try out in my home garden. Unlike the hands-off protocol being used at Briggs, I was allowed to treat them as I would any other tomato I was growing. This meant that they went into a 4-foot-wide raised bed at the end of a double row of tomatoes. I last grew tomatoes in these beds two years ago. Soil tests for this bed over the last two years indicated slightly high pH and a need for nitrogen, both of which were addressed. The soil had high organic content and drained well. This time of year, the area gets 9-10 hours of sun.
Tomatoes were planted May 11th. (Left) The Mountain Girl already had one small tomato. (Image credit: Eric Wiebe)
Planting, Growing and Observing
I planted the tomatoes on May 11th. This was about three weeks after my first planting of tomatoes went in, but about the same time as the second planting went in. It is worth noting that the Mountain Girl already had one set of flowers and a fruit forming on the 12-inch-high start. Other than adding bone meal to the planting hole and watering-in with dilute 10-10-10 fertilizer, nothing was done to the plants until a copper spraying on May 22nd after a period of cooler, wet weather. As the plants grew, suckers were selectively pinched to keep each plant to a manageable number of side branches. The plants were trained up string on a trellis system I use.
By early June, differences in growth patterns were already apparent:
| June 22 | 23 X 1030 | Mountain Girl |
| Plant Height | 24″ | 18″ |
| Flower Nodes | 2 | 2 |
| Fruits | 12 | 5 |
By June 22nd, the first fruit on the Mountain Girl filled out and began to change color. By July 3rd, it was apparent the two plants, along with my other tomato plants, had slowed growth considerably. I suspect this was due to the hotter and drier weather we had been experiencing during this period.
| July 3 | 23 X 1030 | Mountain Girl |
| Plant Height | 5′ | 4′ |
| Fruit | 18 | 7 |
| No. of Primary Branches | 5 | 2 |
| Primary Branch Condition | Medium thick | Thinner |
Except for leaving a single sucker near the base of each plant to form a second primary branch, I pinched suckers as they formed. I stopped pinching suckers off the Mountain Girl in early June because of its particularly slow growth.
(Left to right) Mountain Girl and 23 X 1030. At the end of July, Mountain Girl caught up to 23 X 1030. Both were 5 1/2 feet tall. (Image credit Eric Wiebe)
Although, at the end of May, after heavy rains, I had noted some early blight and bacterial spot outbreak on other tomatoes planted ten feet away, there was no evidence of disease on either
of the two trial plants. As of early July, both plants continued to look generally healthy without disease spread. At this time, supplemental slow-release fertilizer (3-4-4) and compost were
side-dressed on all the tomatoes.
Evaluating for Taste, Texture and Appearance
Appropriately, July 4th was the tasting day for the first Mountain Girl fruit. It was 3” in diameter with the look inside and out of a red slicer. Per my usual approach, the tomato was sliced, lightly salted and peppered, and allowed to rest for about 15 min before consumption. It was mildly acidic with a good, rich flavor. The texture was a bit mushy. It compared favorably flavor-wise with the hybrid Damsel, but without as good texture. Not surprisingly, the heirlooms Cherokee Purple and Carbon had better flavor and texture.
Another copper spray was applied July 10th and the first four of the 23 x 1030 tomatoes were picked July 15th. They were very uniform in size and shape, approximately 2 1/4″ in. diameter, slightly tear-dropped shape, and weighing 3 oz. After a few days finishing ripening inside the house, the first 23 x 1030 was prepared and tasted. Overall, it was a milder flavor than the Mountain Girl, but better texture. Interestingly, a second picking of 23 x 1030 tomatoes July 23rd displayed green shoulders on some of the fruit. However, they resisted the cracking and splitting that a number of my other varieties have suffered after recent heavy rains.
(Image credit: Eric Wiebe)
That’s all for now. It has been a privilege to participate in the trial this year, and I look forward to continuing to eat these bonus tomatoes.
…and before you go…the first tomato to ripen at Briggs was Cherokee Purple! Please come back for Chapter Three when we’ll have an interim update from Briggs.
Chapter One: Tomatoes on Trial
(Left to right) Meet the tomatoes on trial: Mountain Girl; Mountain Regina; in its first trial, the mysterious 23 x 1030; and Cherokee Purple. (Image credit: Wild Mountain Seeds; Dilip R. Panthee, PhD; and World Tomato Society)
By Kathryn Hamilton, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County and leader of the 2024 Tomato Project Team
Welcome to “Tomatoes on Trial,” our guide to our 2024 Tomato Project. We are thrilled to announce that Durham County is one of eight North Carolina counties chosen to participate in this year’s statewide tomato trial.
Throughout the summer a team of Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers will evaluate three new tomato varieties, created by NC State, for taste, productivity, and suitability for home and community gardens. We’re hoping that at least one of these varieties, when grown without too much fuss in a home garden, will represent the perfect tomato specimen: a long-lasting, heavy bearing plant with delicious fruit. And in August, we’ll have a taste test to assess the results.
The new tomatoes, bred through the NC State Fresh Market Tomato Breeding Program, are:
- Mountain Girl: a compact indeterminate with large fruit.
- Mountain Regina: an indeterminate that bears large, red fruit.
- 23 x 1030: an experimental, Brandywine-heirloom hybrid bred for better fruit set and less vigorous, more compact, determinate growth. This is the first time this tomato is being trialed.
We will compare the performance of these tomatoes to Cherokee Purple, an heirloom variety with indeterminate growth and large, purple fruit. Cherokee Purple is regarded for its flavor and productivity but has little disease resistance. In addition to recording when the harvest started and stopped, we will count each tomato and observe pest and disease tolerance.
“The Durham trial is being conducted at Briggs Avenue Community Garden” said Dr. Ashley Troth, Extension Agent, Agriculture – Consumer and Commercial Ornamental Horticulture. “Master gardeners planted sixteen tomatoes in four beds. To encourage root development they were planted deeply and fertilized with 1/3 cup of tomato fertilizer. Soil tests of all four beds fell exactly within the tomatoes’ optimum range of 5.5 to 7.0. Learn more about soil pH here.
Troth continued, “In many ways, this is an ideal test situation. Tomatoes have been the only crop in these beds over the past several years, so these conditions closely replicate those faced by a home gardener unable to rotate crops in their garden. And they are densely planted, four tomatoes per 4 x 10’ bed. Conditions are ripe for both soil- and air-borne diseases.”
During the project, the master gardeners will also be tested, as we put aside our training and refrain from aggressive maintenance.1 We will do little more than water on a thrice-weekly schedule, and fertilize twice in the growing season. Tomatoes will be supported by 54” cages but will not be staked; minimal pruning will be limited to vines touching the ground and obviously diseased leaves. Further increasing the potential for air-borne diseases, the plants will not be suckered.
The trial was designed by Matt Jones, N.C. Cooperative Extension horticulture agent in Chatham County, and Inga Meadows, NC State Extension Specialist for vegetable and herbaceous ornamental plant pathology. Dr. Troth is supervising the Durham team.
Throughout the summer, in addition to regular progress reports, we’re hoping to dig deeper into the NC State Fresh Market Breeding Program; the folks behind the new tomatoes, and, of course, the tomatoes themselves.
Team members are at Briggs Avenue Community Garden, 1314 S. Briggs Ave., on Saturday mornings from 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM; visitors are invited to come by, learn more, and when production starts, to sample a tomato!
Notes
1–To learn more about best practices when growing tomatoes in the home garden–or the more “aggressive maintenance” approach, see our recent blog post “Achieving Peak Tomato Performance.”