Black Icicle Tomato

I am not a huge raw tomato lover, but my family loves them and I enjoy them in tacos and sauce. In view of that fact, these are the best tasting garden tomatoes I have ever grown. Even I like them, they are mild yet full flavored. I have grown them for three seasons now and they are my husband's favorite. He is a big tomato lover and insists that I keep growing this variety. They need lots of space and they split fairly easily, but they are well worth it!

There was a general consensus that these tomatoes were the runt of the litter from 4 breeds i grew last year. In terms of raw eating, the flavor was underwhelming and the texture left something to be desired. The fruits themselves are very fleshy husk like elongated cherry tomatoes. in fact, they grow in an an alternating pattern as cherry tomatoes do. They didn't do so well when the cold started to move in. I wont be growing these again, but that isn't to say they're bad by any means. They were very good for sauce anyway. I grew this tomato a few different ways and found it produces the most fruit if you cut all the suckers and establish a single stem up a string trellis. (Square foot method) - 2 week shipping to Canada, 70% success rate for germination.

These tomatoes germinated well and now that its summer they are producing delicious little tomatoes. We love the flavor, and they have a great texture too. It was not the earliest of our tomatoes. It grows quit tall, over 6 ft already. It's not a heavy producer but it's got a unique look and delicious flavor. I will be growing it next year!

We grew this one in pots. It started out very strong but struggled with both growth and dropping blossoms during the heat of summer. This variety developed BER in its first flush of fruit but came back after treatment to produce more blemish free fruit. Despite looking pitiful, it was a heavy producer for us. The fruit was well shaped, well colored and had good flavor. We found it to be more typical homegrown tomato flavor with earthy back notes. We hope this one will be happier in the garden plot instead of pots.

I live in SW MO in zone 6b and this is only my 2nd year for gardening. I have raised beds with soil that wad prepared with compost. We had more rain than usual this year and I think this contributed to these tomatoes splitting. Otherwise they were great producers and the tomatoes were delicious. Barely any BER. They are unique looking and a great conversation starter. They produced much earlier than my cherry and stripey tomatoes. I plan on planting these again next year.