PNW tomato season

[dice]

I have to add that although Gregori's Altai
has washed-out flavor this year, I'll grow
it again, just in case we get better weather
next year. It set fruit early and often, in
both sunny and cloudy weather, and it has
more big green fruit on it by far than
any of the other large fruited varieties that
I grew this year. (I had 2 plants, and they
are both alike, so it probably wasn't mere
hybrid vigor in action.)

[tache]

I don't know quite what to make of this year. My plants are the most pathetic things I have ever seen. But these skinny scruffy vines are just churning out the tomatoes. It doesn't make any sense. I suppose I shouldn't complain.Maybe if I compalin I'll end up with great lush thick vines and no tomtoes.

[PNW_D]

Thank goodness for my Salmon's PL Black - the only 'larger than saladette' to ripen thus far - accompanied by Andrey's Pertsevidnyi Polosatyi or was that Slivovidny Polosaty Help please Andrey

Have pulled Aunt Gerties - diseased and not a single fruit set - but such a flavour the one year I managed to ripen two fruit - will likely try again next year. Have two 'Not Large Pink Bulgarian' I'm looking foward to and Persey is loaded per usual, but someone couldn't resist my first almost ripe

Anyhoo, at least I don't have to think much about what to do with my extras !!

[Tania]

D.,

Is you Salmon PL Black related to the PPP x PP "C" you sent me? It looks absolutely gorgeous!

[PNW_D]

No Tania, not the PPPxPP one – unfortunately that one has done very little this year

I’ve been growing SPLBlack since 2004. Seed from the tomatoes shown above will be F5 (if this was a cross).

My original seed came from 2004 grow out. Very many PL volunteer seedlings appeared in some of my tomato containers (assume from my compost) so decided to save one of the healthiest, strongest looking. Much to my surprise the fruit ripened to black. My taste notes from that October indicate very sweet rich flavour. 1 oz fruit, dark green shoulders – look something like a small Paul Robeson. Assume this one is fairly early, as it managed to set fruit from a plant which germinated in May/June – small plant, fruit has clear skin. NOTE: Determinate Potato Leafs that Craig knows of are Southern Night, Blue Fruit, and Black Sea Man. Did grow SN in 2002. Also Vorlon in 2002 PL Indet, and early.

Notes from 2005:
Salmon’s PL Black (F2)
Seems to be stable and indet., so I am not sure if this is a cross, or just a volunteer of a PL Black I’ve grown in the past, but does seem different. Plant does not get the ‘crispy dieback of leaves’ that seems to plague my other blacks. Clear skin, juicy, tomatoey taste, with lingering “acid” finish. Not a deep flavour but nice, tending toward sweet/acid as opposed to rich. Skins somewhat tough, but nice texture.

Notes from 2006 (F3):
Grow SPLB ’05 (very healthy plant – still looking good mid-October, good sized tomatoes) juicy rich higher “acid” taste with nice background sweetness. GROW THIS ONE: Sept. 4/06 *** SPLBlack

2007 (F4): Here’s a pic of my two plants as of today; not terribly prolific, but at least they have provided some tomatoes this season and still remain fairly healthy.

[dice]

One of the oddballs (wrong types, crosses, etc) from
Seeds Trust turned out to be a bonus: it has dark leaves
like Black Prince, smaller plant, bigger fruit.

I found a ripening fruit today and snatched it off there.
It is a pale red-brown all over with green shoulders
and a very fine speckling of yellow or gold dots
on it that could be environmental. It is still quite firm,
so it will probably get darker, deeper color yet.

I'm hoping for flavor like Black Prince or Black Krim
or Black From Tula (all good-flavored).

OTOH, the Red Siberians, that at first all seemed to
be growing with the same growth habit, leaf color,
leaf shape, etc, have fanned out like a handful of F3
seeds. Besides the little wrinkled mini-beefsteak (not
a spitter, but not a keeper, either), there is a pale yellow,
about Stupice-sized, also not very tasty, and a red that
I've only had one ripe, golfball-sized fruit off of that
actually was good-tasting (a little sharper flavor than
Stupice, for comparison, without being excessively or
exclusively either sweet or tart).

Many in our climate have probably come across the
glowing description of Cougar Red at DG's cultivar
reference, supposedly very early, and wondered about
it. I grew 3 this year. They were not so early, but then
with the kind of year we had, that means nothing. They
were sparse foliaged, RL, with clusters of tennis-ball
sized reds on a plant that got to about 5 feet tall,
reasonably productive.

The stems are not very strong (2 of them basically collapsed
in last week's couple days of rain), so staking or caging
is a must if you don't want them ripening on the mulch
(within easy reach of slugs, snails, etc).

The flavor is unusual, very sweet but kind of one-dimensional.
I couldn't taste any of the "bass notes", etc, that the stronger
flavored tomatoes I grew have. Like a high-brix cherry tomato
but with a more meaty texture.

Edit:

The mystery dark tomato I mentioned first in this
post was quite tasty. Sweet, but with more of what
people call a "complex flavor" than Cougar Red,
for example. Biggest one on the plant looks to be
about 12 oz. Probably a stray seed from one of the
well-known dark-fruited indeterminates rather than
a bee-made cross (plant came up from purported
Galina seeds, which also produced a couple of real
Galina plants and an RL yellow cherry, so far).

[maryinoregon]

I am picking cherries every day and am darn grateful for that. I can see some of the slicers starting to ripen. Now if the weather just holds on long enough. Some of the seeds from trades or gifts are not what I expected. So I got some crosses or wrong seed in a pack. I don't mind that at all because you never know what you'll get. Could be something wonderful. My Sun Gold F3s are quite good. Not exactly Sun Gold, but quite good to my way of thinking. And very uniform. Two of the Sun Gold F3s are red. One is a round cherry that tastes like the orange ones, only the color is red. The other is a mini plant, maybe a foot or two across sprawled, so I guess I should call it a small determinate. It has slightly elongated fruits that finish in pointed ends. Taste - quite boring.

I'm even getting fruit from some of my volunteers. Who knew? Weather has been in the upper 80s and in the 50s at night. Hope your weather is holding on and that you get some ripe ones.

[dice]

One thing about the mystery black tomato:
it is not a long-keeper by any stretch of the
imagination. It goes from hard to soft overnight,
and if you don't eat it within a day or two it
becomes mush.

(Good excuse for just eating them right on the
spot as soon as they turn soft.)

[jwr6404]

Sunset Red Horizon
Early this year I tried,without success,to grow my tomatoes from seed. I had a few SRH seeds left and rather than discard them I planted them in Top soil and more or less ignored them. When they sprouted I kept 2 plants and after 3 weeks I put them in the wifes garden. The plants grew huge and this weekend I got 4 monster size tomatoes and still have 50+ larger greenies. Never,except for Pale Perfect Purple, had a tomato produce this much and this has been an overall tomato disappointment for me. By the way the taste is good

[maryinoregon]

Harvesting my first slicers. Grandfather Ashlock, Chianti Rose, Aunt Gertie's Gold, Green Giant, Grub's Mystery Green. Yahoo!!! Yummy! My plants are loaded. Am hoping for the best. I just wish more than a few were ripe. Nights getting colder. I'm told it was in the 40s F. last night. Yikes! Still picking at least a half pint of Sun Gold F3s every day. Since they are really good, according to my taste and those I have shared with, I have fermented some seed to grow out as F4s next summer.

Here's to hoping the weather holds out. All the best to everyone.

[squibT]

Here in Nanaimo things are slow to ripen but I have some nice sized maters coming along. Galina, Sugary were the best tasting so far. Health Kick a disapointment, Yellow ML fantastick, red ML coming, Brandywine, Lemon Boy coming in the next few days. A few others yet to be sampled. Funny...we have been eating cukes for a few months now...
We tried a bunch of different tomatoes on top of a pizza WOW! Fantastic! Gonna put a bunch of Galina, Sugary, Sweet 100, and others in baggies ( one baggie per pizza) for winter pizza toppings.

[Jonathan_E]

Does anyone here live on the ocean, as opposed to Puget Sound or one of the other inland waterways? How is it growing tomatoes in, say, Seaside, Oregon? Or Ocean Shores, Washington? Or Tofino, BC?

[squibT]

Nanaimo is on the ocean. I live a block from the ocean and tomato growing is not too bad. Odd weather this year and all tomatoes for me were late. Blight seems to be a common thing here I think due to the cool temps and rainy weather? But you can get a good harvest before it hits. Lots of people here grow their tomatoes in plastic covered sheds and they do great.

Tim

[Jonathan_E]

Tim, thanks for the input. When I said the ocean, however, I meant the ocean as opposed to any of the Inland waterways such as the Strait of Georgia on which Nanaimo is located.