Holy Land Tomatoes

[julieh68]

Does anyone have any information about Holy Land's? Or photos?
I was given seeds to grow last year and did have some HUGE tomatoes from the plants but they were not all shaped the same.
I do have a pic, I will try to post later today.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by julieh68

Does anyone have any information about Holy Land's? Or photos?
I was given seeds to grow last year and did have some HUGE tomatoes from the plants but they were not all shaped the same.
I do have a pic, I will try to post later today.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Holy_Land

Above are pictures and some reports.

In the 2014 SSE YEarbook there's only one listing for it and that from SSE itself indicating original seeds from__________in Indiana and SSE #89 which means it was first listed when SSE started in 1975.

I could go back and look at the 75 and 76 yearbooks, but that would cause all my yearbooks to tumble down and I'm not up for that to happen.

Carolyn

[travis]

There is a Holy Land that is red, and there is a Holy Land, yellow strain, which in fact is a bicolor tomato.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w..._Yellow_Strain

Although I got my Holy Land, yellow strain seeds from Susan Anderson, when I grew them out, the tomatoes did not look as fully red as what she shows in the photographs on that page in the tomatobase.

Mine were dark yellow with yellow shoulders. The body of the tomato had a heavy red blush from the blossom end then about halfway up the sides. The yellow flesh was heavily streaked with red as well. Possibly hotter weather in Austin causes more red lycopene that what I saw up here in Southwestern Indiana.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by travis

There is a Holy Land that is red, and there is a Holy Land, yellow strain, which in fact is a bicolor tomato.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w..._Yellow_Strain

Although I got my Holy Land, yellow strain seeds from Susan Anderson, when I grew them out, the tomatoes did not look as fully red as what she shows in the photographs on that page in the tomatobase.

Mine were dark yellow with yellow shoulders. The body of the tomato had a heavy red blush from the blossom end then about halfway up the sides. The yellow flesh was heavily streaked with red as well. Possibly hotter weather in Austin causes more red lycopene that what I saw up here in Southwestern Indiana.

I chose to link to the better known one which is the red but Tania also linked to the yellow on that same page, as well as listing it separately.

I remember some hollyhocks that were offered and said to come from the Holy Land, and Tania referred to a suggestion that the red one came from Palestine, but without a clear history it's hard to say if the red one came from there and if it did I'm pretty sure it came with European immigrants to Israel.

I also visited Israel, primarily to look at historic sites, same trip to Greece and Crete and Santorini for the same reason. And I remember the guide at one of those places telling the group to, well, not pick the flowers, meaning not the seed heads) or there would be none left/

Carolyn

[julieh68]

140721_002.jpg Hope this shows up! We did have the red variety, this was an average sized one (in my husbands hand). We had one that was about 3 times that big! Unfortunately my father in law ate it before we could snap a pic and weigh it

[loudog]

I,ve grown the Holy Land yellow the last three years, mine average around a pound with a few larger and are mostly yellow with a red blush on the blossom end and are very good tasting and the neighbors always ask for more! Louie

[julieh68]

Are these considered an heirloom? I've had several people tell me different things.
You're right Louie, these are great, we couldn't get enough of them!

[loudog]

The history seems to be blurred on the holy land yellow from what I could find, maybe someone with more knowledge from SSE can shed some light on the subject? Louie

[PA_Julia]

HEY!! I pretty much only grow giants for weight competition. Did you weigh any of these?? I'm always on the lookout for strain that will produce multiple fused blooms that has the potential to get me over the five pound mark.

[julieh68]

We never got to weigh any scale wise but there were a couple that had to be about the 2 pound mark. We don't grow them for competition but with the right care. you probably could produce some HUGE ones!