PlantFiles: Tomato
Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Marion'

This is not only a family favorite, but a regional favorite in the SC midlands. My dad grew the Marion variety along with others in his garden every year. I like the taste and the uniformity of the fruit. Just enough acidity. Makes a great tomato sandwich. I plant Marion and Celebrity, along with a Roma variety called Viva Italia for use at home and I also produce for our all local market on Main St. in Columbia, SC. I have tried some heirloom varieties, but my experience has resulted in nice looking plants with low production. Some seed catalogs list the Marion as an heirloom. I always have a bountiful crop of these and my customers love them. Marion is well suited for this area and is one of the best slicing and canning varieties.

I have been planting Marion's for about four years. I like the fact that they bear very well and have better than average disease resistance. They have proven to be a good choice for anyone's home garden here in the southeast.

Bought a flat of nine plants (small) and planted them in April. They have good tasting small fruit in clusters. Heavy yielders. I live in a very moist area, with lots of days where the heat index is 105+ with several days a month of heavy rain. These do very well. Will grow again next year.

I wasn't impressed with the texture and size of this variety. The production was good and did well in the hot summer. There are much better tomatoes out there.

Marion was released by Clemson University. It is a Rutgers type, similar in growth, appearance, and size. It is suppose to be more adapted to the climate of the southeast than the Rutgers. It is more tart than many of 8 oz red globe tomatoes. It also seperates from the vine easily. If they get over ripe they fall to the ground. If you are one of the folks who claim a good tomato should set their fever blisters on fire, this is the one otherwise it is just an ordinary red tomato.

Scarlet fruit is medium-large and deep-globe-shaped. Matures in 75 days.