Opalka tomatoes

[Jim Mulcahy]

Has anyone grown either Opalka or Amish Paste tomatoes. I'm getting ready to order seeds and would love some input.

Jim

[FarmerDill]

Jim.

Go to

and look in the tomato data base. I know Amish paste has been reviewed. Haven't grown either of them myself , but most reviews of Amish Paste consider it more a traditional tomato (juicy) than a paste tomato (dry). Most like it .

[Sylvallah]

Hi Jim-

I've grown Amish Paste tomatoes. They are beautiful, with a little pointy end. The taste is pretty standard paste tomato, and they all came in around the same time. I had plenty of them. We got our seeds from Gore Place, a museum in Waltham, MA.

I have found with heirlooms that they tend to do better each year. This is partly because I've gotten better at saving only the best seeds, and also because the plant is adapting better to the local conditions with each successive season.

So if, for some reason, you find that you are only mildly impressed with your first crop of any heirloom tomato, I would recommend giving it the benefit of the doubt and growing it for a few years before passing final judgement. This advice, of course, applies only to those of us who have the luxury of space to keep these guys going. I've grown about 20 varieties- always adding more to feed my tomato obsession.

Sylvallah