A couple of the tomatoes I'm growing this year are rated early (about 60 days from transplant to first ripening) and while impatiently waiting to taste them, I couldn't help thinking it would be nice to have tomatoes a week earlier than that. People have told me that there are no really tasty very-early tomatoes but rarely having grown any of those, I wonder if that is true.
      Below is a list of some varieties I found rated by their sellers to start ripening at 55 days or less. (There were some wide disagreements among the sources, so I often had to average the numbers or rely on a majority vote. Those that are suspicious or rated by one source only are marked with a ?)
      Here is where I would like to ask for your help. If you have ever grown any of these, could you recommend the better ones? They don't have to be great, just better than the average grocery store tomato. I have no preferences for color, fruit size, shape or flavor. I would even try the many micro-dwarfs (marked M) in the list which are 2ft high or smaller, but I would prefer a taller variety that might have a larger harvest. Thanks in advance for your help. I'm sure there might be plenty of others who might be interested in the results.

TOMATOES RATED AS RIPENING VERY-EARLY
Alaskan Fancy   54-55days
Ambrosia Gold   55-60
Beaverlodge Slicer    55
Bloody Butcher   54-60
Buckabee's New Fifty Day   50-55
Bush Early Girl   54-63
Candyland Red   55-60
Early Pick   55-62
Early Wonder   54-69
Extreme Bush   50 M
Fantastico   50?-60
First Lady   54?-66
Floragold Basket    55 M
Glacier           55-63
Indigo Pear Drops   65
Jagodka   50 M
Jochalos   55 M
Kimberley   54?-68
Mingold   55
Mischka   55?
Orange Pixie   52 M
Patio Choice Yellow   45-60 M
Red Alert   50-55 M
Red Robin   55? M
Rosy Finch   55 M
Shchelkovskiy Ranniy   50? M?
Siberia           50
Sophie's Choice   54-65 M?
Sub Arctic Plenty   55-65
Sub-Arctic Maxi   48-64
Sugar Baby   54-65 days,
Sun Belle   56?
Toronjina   55?
Tumbler         45-50 m
Yellow Balcony   55? M
Yellow Canary   55 M
Yellow Pygmy   50-55? M

Very nice to have such a complete list.

I have forgotten every one of the very early varieties I have ever tried but never have I found any that are really, really great.

My current earliest tomatoes are Early Girl which is all right tasting and very productive. And the smaller yellow tomato Taxi which is pretty bland and tasteless but it is mostly early.

I have grown Beaverlodge Slicer and never will again although it was very early. I really didn't get much of a crop, the plant was small and much like supermarket tomatoes in taste. Have also tried Bloody Butcher and wasn't impressed with the small tomatoes but at least they weren't bad as far as taste. Bush Early Girl made hard tasteless tomatoes all season and no one wanted to eat them.

Siberia is phenomenal as far as settling early tomatoes in the cold spring and that was it's only claim to fame. But if I wanted to wow someone with the fact that I had ripe tomatoes in early June I would plant it again.

I found Patio gave me decent tomatoes early mid July and I would plant Patio again as the taste was adequate.

So goes my report.

Here are my notes on early tomatoes grown in the Pacific NW Zone 8:

Bloody Butcher (I-OP-60): red salad, deep flavor, fairly productive, bit of cracking
Lemon Cherry (I-F1-58): yellow cherry, good, very mild, moderately productive
First Lady (I-OP-55): small red salad, smooth, no cracking, firm, but bland

I always go with indeterminates, and since I don't save seed it is unimportant to me whether they are open pollinated or hybrids. You might want to experiment with open pollinated tomatoes and then snag seeds from the first tomato to ripen, which would gradually fine-tune that particular plant specific to your micro-climate.

I have the best luck with tomatoes in the 60-65 day range, but do OK with longer ripening ones. I buy seedlings that are out of the greenhouse (so I don't have to do that hardening off thing) and plant them out in early June.

Quick Update to Very Early Tomato List (Most from another Tomatobase site)
Anmore DewDrop ? just listed as VyEarly
Anmore Treasures ?just listed as VyEarly
Early Doll 52-59
Early Treat 49?-80
Fourth of July 49    (had this one but somehow didn't transfer to above list)
Lyana 55-70dy,
Kalinka 48
Maglia Rosa 55-70
Mountain Princess 45-68
Siletz 57?-62
Silvery Fir Tree 58-73
Stupice 52-65
Whippersnapper 52?-70
+ some others with no U.S. sources.

Why do we need to have a U.S. source to include in the list?

Deb:
     My apologies. I probably should have said "no reliable sources" or "no informative sources" instead. I'm perfectly happy with several non U.S. sites (Tatiana's & T&M, for example) that give detailed descriptions of their offerings and have purchased seeds from them.
     As an example, the Russian variety 'Mongolski Karlik' received some good mentions as a very early tomato on the Tomatoville site who got their seeds from individual growers. Doing a Google search for it I found one seller in Croatia who just says it is early but does not give enough details on its characteristics to be sure it matches the desired plant. There were also two Ebay sellers for that name, but again they offer no details on their varieties, and after several bad experiences with buying from Ebay, Pinterest, Amazon or Etsy sellers, I no longer trust sellers who do not have mailing addresses or a website of their own.

Don, no worries, I was just curious. I, too, am cautious about reposting information unless I can verify that the source is reliable. Way too much 'if it's on the internet it must be true.'

Since we all grow tomatoes under different conditions, I wonder if we can identify a really early variety. Because I grow in a short season climate, I choose mainly Early and Mid Season varieties.
But then each season differs, and what is very early one year does not necessarily come early another year.

Usually it is such a thrill to get that first, from the vine, tomato, that I don't note the variety. But now I will be watching for the earliest variety for my own garden.

I picked a ripe Lyana yesterday.....very early for a Utah garden but we didn't have a freeze after mid-April and I gambled and planted some early. Back to the tomato. It was nice surprise, meaty, nice flavor, tender skin. Perhaps it was because I haven't had a decent tomato for some time but I was pleased......

Paul, there are no photos of Lyana in the database - maybe snap and post a few?

     After many responses on this and other forums, I have revised my "Very Early Tomato" list, adding a few, and removing several that growers said were not as early as their sellers claimed or did not have a reliable source for seeds or plants. As a reminder, I set an arbitrary limit of 55 or fewer days to maturity from transplant. Rather than link a spreadsheet that some might not be able to read, I'm submitting it as an image. Click to enlarge.



    Here are a few varieties that didn't quite make the list, but look quite interesting:
Clear Pink early (58days) Medium sized fruit
Early goliath (58) Medium
Kimberly (54-69) Cherry/Small
Lyana (55-70) Small
Maglia Rosa (55-70) Small
Moskvitch (60) Medium
Oregon Spring (58-70) Medium
Silvery Fir Tree (58-60) Medium

Don: Except for "Early Girl" and "Tiny Tim" I don't recognize a single tomato plant you have listed? Most likely me!! I always plant some of the "big beef style, etc" plants, additionally, I plant red/yellow/orange "Grape" tomatoes of which you show none, and of course, "Roma" style toms! And I hear on the plant talk shows about "sungold" which appears to be very popular here, I have never tried it, and it is not on your list? So are these possible"heirloom" toms from different sources?

Frank:
      The varieties on the list were not selected for taste or productivity, just being VERY early to get a jump on the season, so that may be why they are unfamiliar to you. There are few "beefsteaks" on the list, I suspect because large tomatoes take more time to ripen. I don't know why no Roma-like paste tomatoes are very early (55 DTM or less). Very early tomatoes are often sought by people in cool or short season climates like northern Canada, but I know your Nova Scotia seasons are much like mine in Connecticut. (Many years ago on an eclipse expedition to Greenland, our plane was stranded in N.S. for several days, so I got so see some of your sights including the Marconi wireless station.)
     Mighty Sweet Hybrid is a grape tomato, and some other early grapes that didn't make the list are Grape(62 days), Red Grape(60), Sugary(60-65), and a couple of others I couldn't find sources for.
      Sungold (aka Sun Gold) is a very popular early tomato. Some sources list it as 55 DTM, but just as many say 60 or 65. I listened to the many grower reports on the web that said it was early, not very early, so it did not make this list (but I'm growing it anyway!)
@fwmosher
     And as for your last question, many of the tomatoes on the list are hybrids (as is Sun Gold). I'm not predjudiced in favor of either hybrids or OP varieties.
     Oh, and in case you are wondering, the varieties in bold face are the one's I am thinking of trying (not all at once) in the next few years. I just forgot to remove the bold face before taking a screen shot of the spreadsheet.

Thank you for the list. It will be used next season, and will be useful here where we have a short growing season.

If you want to add three very early (under 60 days from planting in the field to harvesting the first tomatoes) extra cultivars:

Zao Que Zhuan Fan Que. Medium sized red tomatoes, good taste, small plant. Very resistant to Early blight.
Gold Krone. Yellow cherry variety, good taste, tall but not particularly vigorous plant. Very resistant to Early blight but low seed germination.
Cytrynek Groniasty. Yellow cherry variety, excellent taste, high yielding very tall plant. Very resistant to Early blight. Needs weekly "shoot thinning".

I've also had good success with the (in)famous Sasha's Altai. It starts giving tomatoes early (60-65 days) and stops late, excellent resistance to pretty much all common tomato diseases. My only complaint, and the reason I have stopped growing it last year, is it's a low yielding plant and with the little room I have here I cannot afford that. But if you have the room to grow plenty of them, that's definetely a must have.

@ElPolloDiablo
     Most of the varieties you mention seem to be offered only by European sellers (even the Amazon and Ebay sites, which I don't use, say they get them from Europe) most of whom don't seem to list the maturing season as U.S. sources do. GoldKrone (aka Gold Crown) and Cytrynek G. seem to be possible additions, thanks for mentioning them.
     Two French sites say that Zao Q.Z.F.Q. matures in 75-80 days.
Sasha's Altai (as I may have mentioned before) has DTM estimates of anywhere from 57-70 days, but as you did, I concluded that 60-65 was a reasonable estimate. It is probably one of the best varieties that didn't quite make the Very-Early list.
      Your screen name has me wondering....does a Pollo Diablo lay devilled eggs?

DonShirer said:@ElPolloDiablo
     Most of the varieties you mention seem to be offered only by European sellers (even the Amazon and Ebay sites, which I don't use, say they get them from Europe) most of whom don't seem to list the maturing season as U.S. sources do. GoldKrone (aka Gold Crown) and Cytrynek G. seem to be possible additions, thanks for mentioning them.
     Two French sites say that Zao Q.Z.F.Q. matures in 75-80 days.
Sasha's Altai (as I may have mentioned before) has DTM estimates of anywhere from 57-70 days, but as you did, I concluded that 60-65 was a reasonable estimate. It is probably one of the best varieties that didn't quite make the Very-Early list.
      Your screen name has me wondering....does a Pollo Diablo lay devilled eggs?

I wouldn't suggest any variety I have not tried myself, and in my experience ZQZFQ is an extremely early variety.
The logbook for the present season says 7" plants went into the garden on April 25 and I started picking tomatoes on June 22. That's less than sixty days and it honestly surprised me, as this year has not been hot by any means and we've had plenty of rainy days so far.
May be I wasn't given ZQZFQ seeds or may be as my brother sayd "the secret ingredient is love".

I have built lots of contacts in Eastern Europe to trade seeds. They have literally hundreds of varieties we haven't ever heard of, and a lot of pretty impressive stuff I am honestly surprised our seed companies haven't picked yet.

Some say El Pollo Diablo is an ancient curse from the Caribbean, but we don't believe in that kind of mumbo-jumbo, do we?

El Pollo (of any dispostion!):
      Thanks for the clarification. Grower experience is always better than seller hype. I'll move Zao etc. onto the Early list, but not the Very Early list which requires two sources that quote 55 days or fewer. Perhaps those French suppliers that quote 70+ days had lots of cloudy weather?