Quick Summary of Aunt Gertie’s Gold
- 🌍 Origin: A very famous American heirloom tomato variety, frequently ranked among the top 10 best-tasting heirlooms in the USA.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), highly vigorous, and fast-growing with massive potato leaf foliage. In a greenhouse, it easily reaches over 2.1 m (7 ft). Growers recommend pruning it to a single stem for best results.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright, large, orange-gold beefsteaks. The flesh is highly pigmented, and growers note it literally seems to “glow” from the inside. Fruits typically weigh 200-450g (7-16 oz), but can reach up to 850g (30 oz / 1.9 lbs).
- 👅 Flavor: The fruits are tender, melting, and juicy, with an intense, highly concentrated fruity aroma. The taste is harmonious and pleasant with a slight tartness/acidity.
- ⏳ Maturity & Yield: Mid-to-late season. It sets fruit reliably without skipping trusses (no blossom drop), even in rainy and overcast summer conditions. Harvested ripe fruits have a decent shelf life of about a week.
Seeds were from Kulik.
Description (from the seller):
A famous tomato variety that often ranked among the top 10 American family heirlooms. Bright, large orange fruits with highly pigmented flesh. The fruits are very tender, melting, and juicy. Intense, highly concentrated fruity aroma. Plants are vigorous, potato leaf. A late-season variety, bushes up to 1.80 m (6 ft) tall. Fruits are oblate, up to 850 g (30 oz / 1.9 lbs).
My experience:
A strong and fast-growing indeterminate with huge potato leaves.
It grew in the greenhouse, pruned to two stems, reached 2.1 m (7 ft), and was then topped (growing tip removed).
Yield is average. Mid-season. There were no skipped trusses (no blossom drop).
It’s better to prune it to a single stem.
On each truss, there are 1-3 fruits ranging from 200 to 450g (7 to 16 oz), oblate in shape.
It has the most beautiful flesh color of all the yellow-orange varieties I’ve seen.
The flesh literally seems to “glow” from the inside.
Inside the fruit, there is a perfect balance of meatiness and juiciness (“water”).
Fruits picked ripe can be stored for about another week.
The bush grew in the 4th garden bed (furthest from the Sun) + we had a rainy and overcast July, but:
the taste was harmonious, pleasant, with a slight tartness. A solid 4 out of 5.
I liked the variety. I will definitely plant it next year, but closer to the Sun.
I ordered it from China
The Chinese one somehow doesn’t look like it in shape…
