I would try Arkansas Traveler, Bloody Butcher, Jet Star, heck even Beefy Boy.

Homestead is an older variety that is worth growing if you are looking for a medium red.

You can try netting, and others have done exactly that including Shelley and Roy in Houston. It’s worth noting that last year was a 100 year record drought in most parts of Texas, making wildlife desperate for water. In a typical year, I pick my tomatoes early, when they have just started to blush halfway up the sides, and then continue to ripen stem-side-down indoors on a countertop. I have found no difference in flavor to tomatoes I’ve overlooked and found only when fully ripe.

“Information I found on it shows that it came out of the breeding program of Joe McFerran at the Univ. of Arkansas and was released around 1980. It has Traveler ‘76 in its background and was bred to include verticillium wilt resistance, which became a problem in AR in the mid 70’s. It is described as being similar in internal fruit quality to Traveler ‘76 and earlier in maturity than Traveler ‘76. Joe McFerran developed pink fruited indeterminate varieties with good flavor for the Arkansas vine ripe industry, whose trademark used to be the pink tomato.”

Here’s the few open-pollinated varieties that come to mind at the moment – some I’ve grown, some I haven’t:

Texas Wild – origin Southern Texas, found on old homestead – small red cherry, currant/pimpinellifolium, similar to many of this type

Texas Pink – I have never been able to find anything out about the origin or history, but it is a nice flavored med-lg pink beefsteak I’ve grown

JD’s Special C-Tex – bred by the late JD Whitaker of Conroe, Texas, thought to be a cross between Brandywine and an unknown black, one I like

Tamu-Joy – I have not grown this one, and all I know about it is it was developed by Texas U and is red and OP

Texas Kansas Marketer – med red that I haven’t grown and know little about, can’t find any specifics on origin/history

Texas Star – another one I can’t find any history on – similar in appearance to Oaxacan Jewel, good flavor

When they are ripe, the husk turns brown and starts to split. Many people use them in salsas or for making sauces used in Mexican cuisine.

First of all, those are beautiful pictures of Traveler tomato. Mouthwatering!

Bradley is another tomato bred for southern heat and humidity by University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. It’s parentage is Gulf State Market x Pinkshipper.

Bradley subsequently was used in the development of Traveler, which is to say, Gulf State Market provided input as Morgan points out. Traveler 76 is an improved version of Traveler and is even more crack resistant.

Even though I live in Indiana, I’ve found Arkasas tomatoes like Bradley and Indian Stripe perform very well for me during our hottest and most humid spells. They also have grown well for me in containers while other tomatoes have pooped out in the heat.

Bill