New SSE Public Catalog Additions

[travis]

In the tomato category, SSE 2007 Public Catalog is offering the following "new" entries:

Earliana: "Standard early variety developed by George Sparks of Salem, New Jersey and introduced in 1900. Smaller 30 - 36" plants, clusters of fruit, average 4 - 5 oz. each. Very good flavor. Indeterminate, 85 days from transplant."

Ponderosa Red: "Large, meaty 10 - 24 oz. beefsteak type fruit tend to be flat and fairly rough. Great mild and sweet flavor, tends to do better than most varieties in humid areas. Introduced to American gardens in 1891. Indeterminate, 80 - 90 days from transplant." (I'm thinkin' this may be aka "Crimson Cushion" and "Beefsteak.")

Rose: "Heirloom from the Amish in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Large, meaty, dusty rose colored fruits. Great taste, rivals Brandywine. Strong healthy plants with lots of leaf cover. Indeterminate, 75 - 80 days from transplant." (I guess this isn't the same "Rose" as the one bred from Rutgers X Brandywine unless the Amish took to it to raise.)

Powers Heirloom: First offered in the 1990 SSE Yearbook by Bruce McAllister from Freedom, Indiana. His seed originated in Scott County in southwest Virginia over 100 years ago. Heavy yields of 3 - 5 oz. yellow paste tomatoes. Similar to Amish Paste, great flavor. Indeterminate. 85 - 90 days from transplant. (Now there's another one that rivals the "best" for heirloomity in terms of antiquity.)

I haven't yet compared the 2006 catalog to the new 2007 catalog to see if any varieties have been deleted.

PV

[feldon30]

Odd that half of the additions are old commercial varieties.

Earliana is on my possible list.

[travis]

Originally Posted by feldon27

Odd that half of the additions are old commercial varieties.

Earliana is on my possible list.

Feldon,

Do you think Victory Seeds' long list of old commercial varieties is influencing SSE's lineup? I think there is a certain nostalgic appeal with many of the "old commercial" types similar to the appeal of "family heirloom" types, but more atuned for folks with a "technical" bent.

PV

[carolyn137]

(I'm thinkin' this may be aka "Crimson Cushion" and "Beefsteak.")


It is. There was a thread at GW about this and I gave the complete background there.

I haven't received mine yet, but no, I don't think that Victory Seeds has influenced Aaron's choice of some older commercial heirlooms.

I receive the commercial list, which is all that they offer re tomatoes, peppers, and lots more, to seed companies and I do think that the above are just a few to round out the total general offerings. There have been plenty of older commercial heirlooms offered in the past, but those of you new to SSE no doubt don't know that.

So I don't see any change in philosophy re the introduction of some commercial heirlooms.

Probably some varieties were dropped to add the new ones since it's easier to do that than to increase the number of pages and thus the cost.

This is a consideration that Linda at TGS has talked about in terms of enlarging her catalog.

And my guess as to what might have been dropped might include one or more of the following:

Brown Berry
Cream Sausage
Red Zebra

Maybe, maybe not, since the above three are recent additions.

Of course they have the sales numbers for the various varieties and that's going to seriously influence what gets dropped and replaced.

[travis]

Nope ... Brown Berry, Red Zebra and Cream Sausage are still there.

Dropped varieties appear to include:

Austin's Yellow Pear
Bloody Butcher
Christmas Grapes
Garden Peach
Principe Borghese
White Beauty

PV

[feldon30]

I can understand why Yellow Pear took one for the team.

Bloody Butcher might be because Burpee carries it and they want to differentiate themselves. I know Burpee carries Brandywine and others. Perhaps SSE wants to limit any duplications with large commercial seed providers to exemplary varieties.

When I talk to tomato novices, they ask for one of two things:
* A tomato that tastes like tomatoes used to taste (i.e. the better market varieties pre-1960)
* A beefsteak tomato (I then have to explain to them that "Beefsteak" is not a variety but a shape and there are hundreds of tomatoes with that shape)

Then I introduce them to pinks (which I understand used to be called purples before the true purple/black tomatoes showed up, hogging all the attention ), purples, yellows, golds, etc.

[travis]

Originally Posted by feldon27

I can understand why Yellow Pear took one for the team.

Feldon,

The 2006 catalog had both Austin's Yellow Pear and Beam's Yellow Pear. 2007 only has Beam's.

Also, 2006 and 2007 catalogs both have Austin's Red Pear.

The 2006 catalog said of Austin's Yellow Pear "... the yellow, milder tasting strain. Otherwise identical to the red variety ..."

So maybe it's like "Austin's" yellow pear takin' the hit for the team and SSE keepin' Beam's Yellow Pear.

I think there'll always be a demand for the yellow pear tomato regardless of how insipid some folks think it is. It's just embedded in the American home garden for better or worse.

SSE claims claims of Beam's Yellow Pear "this was our favorite when we compared 25 different yellow pears in 1998 ... endless supply of 1.5" pear tomatoes with great taste ... ideal for salads ..."

Doggonit ... makes me want to order 50 seeds for 2.75 ... bound to sell seedlings like hot cakes round these parts! 8)

PV

[feldon30]

I consider them, along with Ceylon, as an ornamental. But then again I have not grown each so I should probably keep my mouth (and fingers) immobile.

[carolyn137]

Austin's Yellow Pear
Bloody Butcher
Christmas Grapes
Garden Peach
Principe Borghese
White Beauty


So I guessed wrong.

But Bloody Butcher is from the same hybridizers that did Brown Berry and Cream Sausage and I kinda thought some of those might go.

And why have two Yellow Pears? Makes little sense to me.

Garden Peach, interesting but not one of my faves of the fuzzy group.

Principe Borghese, not my fave sauce tomato and I don't dry tomatoes.

White Beauty, again, I think there are much better so called whites than that one.

And so it goes.

[barkeater]

How can varieties so old, and so available everywhere, be so new??? , except for powers.

If anyone needs Bloody Butcher seed, I have plenty and they're spectacular!