ACE 55 tomatoes

[jay3534]

Has anyone grown ACE 55 tomatoes? If so what are the pros and cons? I'm in eastern N.C.

 

[DFB]

I see online its an older variety dual purpose tomato

"Ace 55' was bred and introduced by Asgrow Seed Company in 1964"


One description said indeterminate (but others list it as determinate) with a fairly long time to maturity. 80-85 days.

Descriptions also seem to vary on size from about 1/2 to 3/4 lb.

Then some say as big as 14oz.


And it does sound much like a good processing/canning tomato. They all seem to agree its a low acid tomato though

Has a disease resistant to fusarium wilt, verticillium wilt, and alternaria stem canker.

Why do YOU want to grow them?

 

[jay3534]

Looking low acid
Any other suggestions would be welcome

 

[DFB]

I've grown a lot of different tomato varieties over the years

I see ACE 55 is considered an heirloom now...gez it only 50 years old! :laughing:

When I first read about it sounded a lot like the old classic tomato Rutgers. Also heirloom, and turns out that is a parent plant of the original ACE developed for Campbells

Ace - Breeder and vendor: Campbells Soup Co., Sacramento. Parentage: Rutgers, Victor, Garden State; a distinct cultivar. Characteristics: uniform ripening, determinate, high color, large, smooth fruit, thick walls, soft core, pleasant flavor. Adaptation: same as Rutgers. Seed World. 3 June 1953.

Ace 55 (XP623) - Breeder and vendor: Asgrow Seed Co. Characteristics: early midseason dual purpose cultivar for shipping and processing. Resistance: verticillium and fusarium wilts. Similar: Ace. Adaptation: general. Asgrow "Your Crops-What's New for '65", Fall 1964. 1965.

https://www.ncsu.edu/search/global.php?search-submit=&q=tomato+cultivar&cx=



So is it a heirloom open pollinated type you are after..

or is a more modern hybrid one to consider?

Many of the yellow varieties are advertised as low acid tomatoes.
I've grown the hybrid lemon boy many times, along with the Russian heirloom Azoychka

Pink Girl is another nice sweet hybrid tomato and was regular in my garden and with farm market sales years. Juicy and sweet.
Not considered a red tomato

And Sungold cherry tomatoes are really nice too


But for a modern red one Jet Star is a highly acclaimed large red productive tomato and definitely a low acid type. My old fil grew them commercially for a wholesale distributor so I had access to lots of them for many years and when the ex wife made tomato sauce from them she would have to add lemon juice to tang it up enough for my tastes. You can find Jet Star tomato in most catalogs and plants in many garden centers.

Low Acid Tomatoes - Urban Farmer



Celebrity is my favorite its what I grow every season on my home garden. full flavored/and very acidic as are the awesome Crista's we grow in greenhouses where I work.

 

[jay3534]

Thanks DFB / lots of info

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I've grown a lot of different tomato varieties over the years

I see ACE 55 is considered an heirloom now...gez it only 50 years old! :laughing:

When I first read about it sounded a lot like the old classic tomato Rutgers. Also heirloom, and turns out that is a parent plant of the original ACE developed for Campbells

Ace - Breeder and vendor: Campbells Soup Co., Sacramento. Parentage: Rutgers, Victor, Garden State; a distinct cultivar. Characteristics: uniform ripening, determinate, high color, large, smooth fruit, thick walls, soft core, pleasant flavor. Adaptation: same as Rutgers. Seed World. 3 June 1953.

Ace 55 (XP623) - Breeder and vendor: Asgrow Seed Co. Characteristics: early midseason dual purpose cultivar for shipping and processing. Resistance: verticillium and fusarium wilts. Similar: Ace. Adaptation: general. Asgrow "Your Crops-What's New for '65", Fall 1964. 1965.

https://www.ncsu.edu/search/global.php?search-submit=&q=tomato+cultivar&cx=



So is it a heirloom open pollinated type you are after..

or is a more modern hybrid one to consider?

Many of the yellow varieties are advertised as low acid tomatoes.
I've grown the hybrid lemon boy many times, along with the Russian heirloom Azoychka

Pink Girl is another nice sweet hybrid tomato and was regular in my garden and with farm market sales years. Juicy and sweet.
Not considered a red tomato

And Sungold cherry tomatoes are really nice too


But for a modern red one Jet Star is a highly acclaimed large red productive tomato and definitely a low acid type. My old fil grew them commercially for a wholesale distributor so I had access to lots of them for many years and when the ex wife made tomato sauce from them she would have to add lemon juice to tang it up enough for my tastes. You can find Jet Star tomato in most catalogs and plants in many garden centers.

Low Acid Tomatoes - Urban Farmer

Celebrity is my favorite its what I grow every season on my home garden. full flavored/and very acidic as are the awesome Crista's we grow in greenhouses where I work.

Celebrity is good; I usually plant 2 or 3 plants for variety, but in this area I have come to the conclusion that the Super Fantastic variety is far superior to anything else. In good years most varieties produce well, but for consistent results Super Fantastic will produce when nothing else does. Don't think it is low acid though.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Duplicate

 

[DFB]

Lots of great tomatoes out there...lately I just stick with Celebrity and La Roma just out of convenience. I seldom do more than short stake and let them sprawl both have that low habit. I like the flavor of Celebrity tomatoes and the combination of those two makes a good sauce too. I put up 9 gallons of freezer tomatoes back in Sept/Oct. Made another batch of sauce again this week and I still have 4 left.

I have tried a lot of them I grew mostly heirlooms when I had my own market business. And were I work now we sell the Super Fantastic along with about 2 dozen others including all the Burpee types like Big Boy, Better Boy, Early girl etc. and Heirlooms like Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Polish Linguisa, and Rutgers. We also have that open pollinated San Marzano plum tomato that is on the list as low acid. Plus some yellows and most all the cherry types.

I don't know what it is about that Jet Star that makes it so popular in the Northeast. Its consistently being voted like best tomato, especially in Massachusetts. :confused2: Its can't be for flavor (at least not by my standards :laughing: ), but it is undeniably a very large, very productive juicy red tomato.


My ex fil switched over to Sun Series Sunbeam, Sunshine etc. for commercial grade long keeping shipping tomato for his wholesale side, like what you find in supermarkets hard and orange looking. He actually lost business on the farm stand with them. Wonder why.

Some tomatoes are developed for certain specific regions and where the OP is the Mountain Series of tomato Mountain Pride, Mountain Fresh Mountain Spring, Mountain Merit, along with many others developed and trialed by NC State University to perform well in that region.

You can source Mountain Variety tomatoes a lot of places Johnny Seed is one place.
Johnny's Selected Seeds - Superior Seeds & Gardening Tools

The Crista that we grow for commercial retail sales I believe was developed with them also. If you can source some seeds I can highly recommend trying it. It is a big plant and produces very large, flavorfull, long keeping tomatoes. We consistently get good results with it.

https://www.harrisseeds.com/Storefront/p-8260-tomato-crista.aspx

There are loads of tomato growing trials to found online, I think one needs to at least grow any potential variety at least twice as conditions can vary so much even year to year to make an honest assessment.

And if you get consistent results year after year...yea its a keeper!

I love talking about different tomatoes varieties
Gee whiz less than 90 days I will be back at it all again here.

 

[jay3534]

Ordered Brandywine and Cherokee Purple.
Will see how they do

Thanks

 

[DFB]

Ordered Brandywine and Cherokee Purple.
Will see how they do

Thanks

Probably the two most popular (or best known) of the heirloom varieties.

And sweet flavor with both.