Announcing TODD - A new resource for selecting tomato varieties.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE LATEST REVISION - TODD6 - WITH OVER 1000 VARIETIES

      Tomatoes are wonderful fruits that come in a myriad of shapes, sizes, colors and flavors, and are almost as much fun to grow as they are to eat. Each spring, gardeners with ambitious dreams but limited space face the question of which of the thousands of available varieties of tomato seeds or plants to grow.

      Looking through catalogs for the right tomato can be exhausting. Wouldn’t it be convenient to have an advisor (let’s call him Todd) who could suggest, for example, a few productive orange beefsteaks with some sweetness that could be grown in a container?

      Several Web sites have large collections of information on tomato varieties. But most have no easy way to combine requests for combinations of traits, and none include estimates of fruit flavor or production, a primary concern of many gardeners. To see if such an expanded resource could be created, an intensive search compiled data on more than 600 tomato varieties favorably mentioned in websites and reference books. Since many gardeners are familiar with spreadsheet applications, implementing TODD (for TOmato Description Datasheet) as one allows the data to be sorted and filtered to select a desired combination of tomato qualities. TODD was written in Excel, but may be opened and used in Open Office and Numbers applications as well.

HOW TO OBTAIN THE DATASHEET
      TODD4, the current version, is available to everyone from a Dropbox site, along with a .pdf file Intro to TODD4, containing an explanation of how the data are arranged plus suggestions on how to identify varieties with a desired combination of traits. Paste one of the URL’s below into your browser address field to see the file and then click on DOWNLOAD to copy the file to your computer. You may have to click on the MORE tab ( labeled ••• ) at the top of the page to see the DOWNLOAD option.

TODD4:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rtbr2saefnhgixi/TODD4.xlsx?dl=0
INTRO:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0w9zgyidsndvje/Intro%20to%20TODD4.pdf?dl=0

      These links have been tested using Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer by a valued crew of beta-testers. Some users with an older version of Windows and IE were not able to connect to Dropbox. If you have any trouble downloading these files, send an email to dshirer@att.net and you will be sent a copy. (Dropbox has announced an update for March 15, 2017. If these URL’s change, a correction will be posted here.)

      I hope this effort will be of use to gardeners. Updates will hopefully be available annually. Suggestions, changes or additions are welcome, since there are many worthwhile tomatoes not yet on the list. The appendix of the Intro to TODD file contains information on how to submit them.


This message was edited Oct 21, 2017 3:36 PM

Don, just downloaded your XLS file TODD4 but had to do some manuevering as Im on an android device. Wanted to congratulate you and thank you for your effort and tenacity in developing it. I know because I tried the same thing a while ago but proved to be un-surmountable for me. The classifications were okay but the-subjective opinions: like/ dislikes, regional variations, etc, I gave up. I find it a good souurce in determining what varieties to grow in a hot, humid climate (I even have my own DB on them but it varys fom year to year depending on the weather....and the bugs prevelant.
I apprciate the listingsand will refir to it often. Thanks again.....oh i alomst forgot the 1st plant looked up was Tribute which wasnt there but it being a new variety pobaby didt exist when you docuented. Happy gardening and DBing! . Ken Rice

Thanks, Ken.
Just wanted you to know that I had the same problem with "subjective opinions" that you did. The ones I finally used were not mine, they came from the suppliers descriptions or grower reviews on the web. I will release an updated version with over 1000 varieties soon, and will try to make it clearer in the intro that I am quoting or summarizing those "opinions" from others. (I'll also check 'Tribute', thanks.)

TODD6 NOW AVAILABLE WITH OVER 1000 TOMATOES !

     The latest revision of TODD, The TomatO Description Datasheet is now available with searchable and filterable details on more than 1000 varieties, just in time to help you select plants to grow for 2018. You can download the datasheet and the instructions for its use by entering the following dropbox URL’s into your browser.

TODD6:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uer7c1aw97ff8wp/TODD6.xlsx?dl=0
INTRO TO TODD6:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zv6ae769mgr7s8p/Intro%20to%20TODD6.docx?dl=0

     If you haven’t heard of this resource before, the original announcement with a brief description may be found at the top of this thread. Some of the data was supplied by DG posters like you.


This message was edited Oct 21, 2017 3:43 PM

Bravo! Thank you. The endless variety of tomatoes are overwhelming. This is a useful tool to help sort among them. Is there a way to add to this public list? I don't want to put things in if you consider it closed.