Lycopersicon, Tomato 'Champion'

First year I ever tried Champion and had heard many good things about them. We're in Spokane, Washington. The plant itself grew to giga...Read Morentic proportions and was healthy and vibrant. And the tomatoes themselves were huge. A very plentiful crop, too. My problem was that all of the tomatoes split. Some reviewers here have called it "cracking." So much of this damage had to be cut off from each fruit that it rendered them impossible for slicing--like for sandwiches. And our biggest complaint was that they simply didn't taste all that good. Very bland. Not sweet, not acid-y, not anything, We didn't have the splitting problem with any of the other varieties we planted this year so we have to conclude that it's a problem with Champions.

I planted four of these last year, and I wasn't thrilled with them. The plants performed well, but I had several issues with the fruits:<...Read Morebr />
They were an awkward size. They were too large to use whole, like in a salad or something, but small enough that you could only really get one or two good slices from the middle, so they weren't great for slicing either, but I guess they were an alright size for just snacking on out of hand while I was tending the garden.

They cracked somethin' fierce. I live in Norman, Oklahoma and last May (May 2015) was the wettest May in recorded history in Oklahoma, so overall I had more issues with tomatoes cracking than usual, but of the four varieties I planted last year in the same garden plot, Champion cracked the worst. (If anybody is interested, last year I grew Champion, Celebrity, Arkansas Traveler, and Cherokee Purple).

My main issue was that the fruits were watery and bland. Again, I know part of this was due to the extremely rainy summer we had last year, but once again Champion suffered the worst offense among the varieties I planted. I just didn't think it was a very tasty tomato.

Maybe these would have been a lot better if it hadn't been for all the rain, but it was definitely my least favorite of what I planted last year, and I don't have very much space for a garden, so this year I saved what little space I have for varieties I like better.

Purchased seedling at favorite nursery. Container grown, first harvest was approx. 3 lbs.

Mixed results so far with only one season to go by. The ones I planted early died so I tried it as a late season tomato and it made a go...Read Moreod number of small and medium fruits. Taste was okay but they seemed a little too firm. Will try again next year.