I did something different this year.....

[Tormato]

You should find many of your new ones to be very tasty, as long as it doesn't rain too much.

But then again, Row 6, #6...

[DonnaMarieNJ]

What about Row 6, #6? Don't scare me!

Originally Posted by DonnaMarieNJ

For the first time, ever, I planted 95% "new-to-me" varieties. I have maybe 6 varieties that I have grown before. There is nothing for me to fall back on. No Sun Gold, no Cherokee Purple, no Kellogg's Breakfast, etc. (or any of my other favorites).

Last year I gave away 60 seedlings - most were requests - and I was fairly certain how each plant would perform. This year I'll be giving away blindly.

What if they are all flops?

I'm worried!

All of my life, I've enjoyed taking risks. It simply made life more interesting and the risks extended to my garden. When it worked, I gave myself a good pat on the back. When it failed, it didn't seem to matter because I could always look forward to next year.

For some reason, security of the known has become more comfortable for me. This year, I planted about sixty plants of fifteen varieties of tomatoes. All of the tomatoes I planted were the best tasting and producing from past years. Security now seems to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Ted

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by kath

Your list is wonderful, Donna, and I'm sure you'll have lots of great tomatoes, so try to relax and enjoy the anticipation of all the many tomatoes of all different sizes and colors that will be the result of your hard work. I'm not sure how others could be disappointed unless they're paying you for the plants and/or fruits & vegetables. You're doing them a tremendous favor trying to anticipate all their many needs...if they're pleased, great, but if not, they can always look for another source for their plants next year.Enjoy!

kath

Where's the like button!

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by DonnaMarieNJ

Marsha

Well, I am not "most everyone" ha ha ha! I planted 2 Rebel Yell on 3/29; then again on 4/5 with soaked seeds this time - still nothing as of today. With SOO I did the same, first on 3/29 and again with soaked seeds on 4/5. It seems soaking didn't help for either RY or SOO.

My SOO are from 2013 - are yours more recent?

I'll take all the help I can get (begging - how sad is that? A tomato has brought me to my knees! What a cruel world! Cruel world!) OK. I'm done whining now.

Yes, more recent. My SOOs are from now, well about 2 months ago. But from 2013 they should be good.

Now I need to do a germination test on RY.

[barefootgardener]

Donna you have a great list!! I am wishing you all the best with your garden this year, and hope you update from time to time on your tomatoes. Look forward to some pics later on. Hint hint!!

If you would like some fresher seed of RY, I have a few left that I purchased from the Secret Seed Cartel this year. Excellent germination. Just pm me your addy.

Ginny

[charley]

im growing malinovy giant and mazarini this fall so let me know how you like it

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by DonnaMarieNJ

Marsha

Well, I am not "most everyone" ha ha ha! I planted 2 Rebel Yell on 3/29; then again on 4/5 with soaked seeds this time - still nothing as of today. With SOO I did the same, first on 3/29 and again with soaked seeds on 4/5. It seems soaking didn't help for either RY or SOO.

My SOO are from 2013 - are yours more recent?

I'll take all the help I can get (begging - how sad is that? A tomato has brought me to my knees! What a cruel world! Cruel world!) OK. I'm done whining now.

Donna, just wanted you to know that I did a germination test with Rebel Yell, because I wanted to be sure I'm not giving bad seeds to people. Sowed 6, so far 4 have root radicles, some are long. Its been around 3 days. So I'm pretty sure the seed is good. Why not start germination on a moistened paper towel folded over, then put in a ziplock sandwich bag, left where it is at least 70 degrees, but not on a heat mat. You will probably see germination in about 3 days, then just carefully transplant the infants to their first little 3-4" pots and let them grow to final transplant size. If a bit of paper towel sticks to the little baby root, just plant it with the paper towel left on it., and again, if you need more seeds, PM me and I'll send some along, as well as SOO. I want to help!

I've not grown Rebel Yell. Nor have I grown Bear Claw. I have grown Stump Of The World for many years and found it to be a great tomato in both taste and production. I am curious which traits of either parent were improved by crossing Stump and Bear Claw resulting in Rebel Yell.

I didn't plant Stump this year, but with my tomato garden planted and blooming, I did germinate Stump and Rutgers as late season replacements for any tomato plants which die in the heat of summer.

Ted

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by tedln

I've not grown Rebel Yell. Nor have I grown Bear Claw. I have grown Stump Of The World for many years and found it to be a great tomato in both taste and production. I am curious which traits of either parent were improved by crossing Stump and Bear Claw resulting in Rebel Yell.

I didn't plant Stump this year, but with my tomato garden planted and blooming, I did germinate Stump and Rutgers as late season replacements for any tomato plants which die in the heat of summer.

Ted

I grew Stump, but never Bear Claw. Stump was great, but RY has just a bit more acid, and sweetness, and the productivity was off the charts! You bite into it and get that pow! It was my favorite variety of the 87 I grew this season. Ted, PM me if you want to try it, now I know the seeds are fine.

Marsha,

Thank you for the kind offer, but I already have more tomato plants than places to put them in the garden. I'm just thinking ahead for next year. I usually start collecting seed for my spring garden in the fall so I may be contacting you asking if you have any Rebel Yell seeds left in October or November.

Ted

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by tedln

Marsha,

Thank you for the kind offer, but I already have more tomato plants than places to put them in the garden. I'm just thinking ahead for next year. I usually start collecting seed for my spring garden in the fall so I may be contacting you asking if you have any Rebel Yell seeds left in October or November.

Ted

Happy to help Ted. I intend to grow it again this coming season, so I might even have fresh seeds by January.

[clkeiper]

Donna are you starting these on heat mats or just in trays on a table? Heat mats make them germinate much quicker, but the cooler the soil the longer it takes to germinate them. I had several varieties that I had to finally put on heat mats to get them to germinate. Or is your heat mat too hot? I decided to direct seed my flats this year because I was hoping to eliminate a step in the process since I grow about 50 flats of tomatoes to sell. I had poor germination on the san marzanos, great germination on the super marzanos. I had to move the san marzano's to the other greenhouse and put them on the mat. I had Big Beef that germinated so-so. Some are 4" tall already and some are just emerging. Now I have to go through them and sorth them out and move the larger ones to the same cell packs.... Give your seeds time.

[DonnaMarieNJ]

Sorry for the delay in responding, I was potting up (oh, my aching back ) over the weekend.

Tonight, I took numerous varieties and put them in the paper towels.

Thanks for the offer, but I don't need seeds now. I have to admit, I used up more than I expected this year and I am either out of, or dangerously low on some. However, I have many in the wet towels now and, hopefully, most will germinate, and I'll be able to save seed this year.

I am determined to get them to germinate. It's not that I NEED these particular varieties to germinate, I WANT them. I've been reading about Sweet Ozark Orange, Rebel Yell, Elgin Pink, etc.. Not only that, but the pictures! The descriptions! And my eggplant - what gives with that? Those seeds, too, are fresh.

BTW, I do, at times, use a heat mat. I was careful to put a buffer between the mat and the bottom of the cell tray. Should I not have done that?

Oddly enough, I was able to get 2005 seeds of Sandul Moldovan to sprout, so I did one thing right this year.

It will be interesting growing about 90% new varieties this year. It can go either way.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[clkeiper]

I have no idea what kind of heat mat you are using or how warm it gets. Mine has a thermostat on it so I can set it, but yours probably doesn't, so you need to put a thermometer in the soil or in between the mat and the flat to see what the temperature is. Tomatoes don't need to be overly warm, but at 75f they pop up pretty fast. Eggplant like it at about 80-85f. to germinate and they sometimes take a long time to germinate. I bought burpees eggplant mix two years in a row and neither time did I get much in the way of germination. Normally Burpee's aren't bad seeds, just a bit pricey for some of them. I started buying most of mine from a commercial supplier and I get much better germination than I did with those. Just give your other seeds time. I still have tomatoes popping up that I started on March 15th. I didn't put them on the heat mat and they are germinating very sporadically!