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'Speckled Roman' Tomatoes
 
Sub-Category: Paste
Main-Season
 
Sub-Category 2:
Description: Main-season paste tomato (good for slicing, too). Stabilized cross between two heirloom varieties, 'Antique Roman' and 'Banana Legs'. Indeterminate plants bear meaty, 3-inch-wide by 5-inch-long fruit with jagged yellow and orange stripes and few seeds.
Days To Maturity: 85-90
Seed Sources: Seed Savers Exchange - updated in 2014
Totally Tomato - updated in 2011

 
Rating Summary
 
Overall: (3.8 Stars)Overall
Taste: (4.2 Stars)Taste
Yield: (3.8 Stars)Yield
Ease/Reliability: (3.6 Stars)Ease/Reliability
 
Reviews
 
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Number of Reviews: 5

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KEY: O=Overall Rating, T=Taste, Y=Yield, E=Ease

Reviewed on 09/08/2012 by Ferdzy - An intermediate gardener

Overall Overall
Taste Taste
Yield Yield
Ease/Reliability Ease

Ontario, Canada
Frost Free Season: 143 - 163 days
Soil Texture: Sand
Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40')
Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day

The long skinny shape and striped skin make it seem like this is just a novelty, but nothing of the sort. This is a good, productive tomato that produces quite large tomatoes in generous quantities over a long period of time. They are tasty fresh, and solid enough to can - a winner! EDIT 2015: We will not be growing these next year; much as we like them, they have a nasty tendancy to develop black fungal problems along the lines of the stripes or speckles. Sad.
 
1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.  

Reviewed on 02/08/2011 by phenocryst - An experienced gardener

Overall Overall
Taste Taste
Yield Yield
Ease/Reliability Ease

Inyo, California, United States
Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days
Soil Texture: Sand
Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet
Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day

Large, beautiful, meaty tomatoes but VERY susceptible to blossom-end rot compared with others I have grown. If I could succeed with these, I would grow them every year, but after a 3 season trial they are out of the rotation.
 
2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.  

Reviewed on 10/19/2007 by Jim Oliver - An experienced gardener

Overall Overall
Taste Taste
Yield Yield
Ease/Reliability Ease

Wayne, New York, United States
Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days
Soil Texture: Clay
Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet
Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day

1st year growing this variety. Good results. Will plant again next year.
 
1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.  

Reviewed on 01/21/2005 by Julie - An intermediate gardener

Overall Overall
Taste Taste
Yield Yield
Ease/Reliability Ease

Kentucky, United States
Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days
Soil Texture: Loam
Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet
Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day

Speckled Roman was a pleasant change from some other paste varieties; however, not all of the seed produced red/yellow striped fruit. In 2002, two of the six plants I grew ripened to yellow with darker gold stripes, and the fruit from these seemed mealy in comparison to the reds.
 
1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.  

Reviewed on 09/14/2004 by Catskills - An experienced gardener

Overall Overall
Taste Taste
Yield Yield
Ease/Reliability Ease

Ulster, New York, United States
Frost Free Season: Fewer than 103 days
Soil Texture: Not Sure
Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40')
Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day

2005 update: Even better than last year! Delicious. 2004: Beautiful tomatoes! The skin is orange-red with subtle yellow streaks running vertically. The skin is especially smooth and blemish free, like plastic or vinyl-- but not overly tough, even in this terrible tomato summer. Lots of fruit per plant. They do better tied up as some of those on the ground have succumbed to rot and pests. Size varies from small like Juliette to almost as big as Amish Paste. The flesh is delicious sliced and they excel in paste. This is our 4th year with Speckled Roman. They have produced beautifully in all summers.
 
2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.  




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