PlantFiles: Tomato
Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Arkansas Traveler'

I was a little disappointed with this cultivar because all the reviews I've read speak well of it. But in my climate/soil, this one just didn't yield the kind of flavor I was looking for. I didn't find the taste particularly remarkable, but the fruit is a lovely deep pinky shade of red. Perhaps (as the name suggests) this is a plant that does better in hotter southern climates. Yield was good, for what it's worth.

This time of the year it is the only plant still green and producing. Made it thru the heat, humidity and disease. It is a mainstay in my garden.

I have grown this tomato, for 17 years, in Gastonia,N.C.Great results ,excellent taste.

5/20/11 This so far has been an aggressive grower, and fruit producer. This has been a mild spring as well in Central Texas. I've got 12 different varieties growing on my over sized balcony garden, and this has been a not so completely unexpected success. The variety has a reputation for a reason. Groups of 6 to 8 medium sized fruits so far, but the real test will be to see how it handles Texas summers. I will update after fruit has ripened.

I grew these from organic seeds. I was impressed with how much fruit was on these small plants. The plants didn't get huge at all and the fruit is so heavy it's breaking stems. Definitely need to stake all stems early on and as they grow. I use old pantyhose as ties because it's gentler on the stems.

I'm using neutral rating because these have good and bad points for my garden.

Now, the problem I'm having is major cracking before they even get ripe. They start turning orange and they split on the top and on the bottom. I was told it's not enough water but I water every other day here in the dry Fresno area. Then I was told it was too much water but they are still splitting even with holding off water. Maybe it's the heat? Not sure but although this variety puts out alot of fruit, I've been unable to get any tasty fruits off the vines. Most are split and bugs get into them, some that look ok aren't really ok when you turn them over because bugs seem to like these in the just turning orange stage. I've lost most of the crop to bugs and cracking. My other varieties didn't crack but they didn't put on much fruit like this one did. It really sucks.

Maybe if I keep this variety separate from other varieties and put them on an entirely different watering schedule, then I might get better fruits. Will have to trial and error this for Fresno area to find what works best with this variety.

If I can get nice red fruits and not lackluster orange split fruits I think we have a winner. The taste of the orangish ones I've pulled that didn't split is less than desired. It's almost bland and very pithy feeling. If I can't get this one to grow well for me, I'll be sticking with my Green Zebras which produced pretty well but those are super tasty and they seem to ripen all at once and don't store well. Will review them on their site.

Anyone with any tips on Arkansas Traveler for a hot dry summer area, please let me know.

A standard for hot areas. It produces an abundance of medium to small tomatoes. Good flavor.

We had an extremely wet May and June this year in New York City which reeked havoc on many tomato gardens. This was my first year growing this plant and I was thrilled not only with the immense amount of fruit these plants produced but also with its taste. I will always make room in the garden for this plant.

I bought one plant about a foot high and planted it in April. This is the biggest plant in the garden with a great taste and was the first tomato to fruit. I live in a swampy area with many days in a row where the heat index is 105+ with several days in a row in a month of heavy rain and these do very well. Will grow again next year.

This variety will produce loads of small pink tomatoes with average taste. The tomatoes are not acidic by any means. The plants tolerate the heat very well and remain healthy.

A prolific grower. This year's plants are already 8 feet tall and are the first tomato to ripen for me this season. Tons of fruit on each plant, does well in heat and resistant to early blight. The fruits themselves are pink and very tasty. I will always have at least one of these in my garden.

I grew a plant that was sold as "Arkansas Traveler" but I'm not sure that's what it was. The fruit I got were on the large side (avg 12-14 oz) and slightly flattened. So take that into account when reading my review. Whatever it was, it produced well in the heat and humidity of Houston in the springtime, and the fruit tasted very good.

The tomatoes I got from 'Arkansas Traveler' were on the small side but had the best flavor out of the five varieties I tried this year. It does as well as anything during the peak of summer heat here in the central valley (California)

This is my measuring stick by which I measure all others. Nice uniformity, nice production, nice disease and pest resistance. Great taste and eye appeal too.

Very few tomatoes preform as well as Arkansas Traveller in this area.

Plus, to add to my enthusiasm about growing this plant, I recently heard that there is some kind of committee that will come to your home and pull your Arkansan card for not growing this one....

With that said, I wont be caught without it.

Produces well in the heat, fairly uniform fruits. Good canner, also good for fresh eating.

Rapidly growing, beautiful plant with nice-sized tomatoes. My tomato growing experience is a bit limited - this is only my third year, but I've never had a tomato plant with more tomatoes, especially at this time of year. I am, however, seeing a bit of "catface" scarring on some of the larger tomatoes, which I'm hoping won't effect the taste, or usable amount of tomato...
9/6 - UPDATE..By far and away the best tomato I've ever grown - I will NEVER have a garden without an Arkansas Traveler - a very sweet, pink tomato, juicy and thin skinned - outproduced anything I've ever grown. I've been bringing in about 10-12 tomatoes a day since mid-August, and they're still coming.

Most often the cultivar sold as the Arkansas Traveler today is either the Traveler or the Traveler 76. These are updated versions of the Gulf State Market released by the University of Arkansas in the late 60's and 70's respectively. Many seed companies are beginning to acknowledge this. There was an Arkansas Traveler in the 20's and 30's but may be extinct.

Great taste and prolific producer of blemish free fruits.Stands Southern heat well .

These round,baseball sized tomatoes are about one of the best all around varieties that I've grown.I've canned,dried,sliced and made salsa with them and they hold up well. Very thick outer walls make them great for canning.