Tomatoes are a highly prized crop all over the U.S, but consumers are seeking more flavorful and high-quality produce. Tomatoes are also popular with growers and consumers in colder regions as well. Short and cold growing seasons provide a significant challenge to tomato production while most breeding and research on tomatoes has been done in warmer climates. In an effort to provide research relevant to growers and breeders in colder regions, this project conducts a germplasm screening of over 80 heart-shaped, indeterminate tomato varieties, many of which were bred in colder regions, in order to provide information on specialty, open-pollinated tomatoes that may be better suited for a shorter season. These tomatoes are characterized by their large size, heart-shape, fleshiness, and fewer seeds. Varieties were obtained from a number of seed catalogs as well as from the USDA Germplasm Repository. In the first year of the project, the varieties were screened for yield, earliness and fruit size measurements as well as dry matter, Brix, pH, and titratable acidity. Genotypes were planted in an augmented design and managed organically in an unheated high tunnel. Based on this year of data, some of the high yielding varieties with the mentioned satisfactory quality traits included ‘German Red Strawberry’, ‘Cuore di Toro’, ‘Russian 117’, ‘Upstate Oxheart’, and a GRIN variety ‘G32329’. None of the varieties exceeded acceptable levels of acidity, but there was much variability in both yield and Brix within the experiment. We also found that a number of varieties categorized as “heart-shaped” were not morphologically heart-shaped. This experiment will be conducted over another growing season in order to collect further data and insights on this project.
