Old Bess

[tomatoaddict]

Anyone have any info on the size of Old Bess?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tomatoaddict

Anyone have any info on the size of Old Bess?

Now you've made me feel just terrible Terry.

Two years ago George Simms sent me seeds for Old Bess b'c he wanted me to grow them out and list them in the SSE YEarbook. the first ones didn't get to me, the second ones did and there was a long history with them, but basically he got them from an Abbess at a Monestary in Canyon, TX and she got them from a neighbor in Hart Tx in 1940..

I forgot all about those seeds until I saw your thread title and never grew out those seeds. So how do I remember some of the history? B'c there are two folks who list it in the 2010 Yearbook and one gave that history.

One person says a high yield of 1 oz pink grape shaped fruit and the other person says small pink plum, extremely productive, similar to Porter.

And both of those listers are here at Tville, Hi Neil G, but the other Neil , as in Lockhart, doesn't post much but reads a lot.

I found just one reference via Google which was George saying he had sent seeds to someone but nothing was said about the variety.

I hope I can find those seeds in my back room, called the tomato room, and can grow them out next year as Goerge originally asked me to do in 2008. The problem is that right now I don't know if I'll be doing tomatoes next year.

I am embarrassed abouot this varity and those seeds.

[mdvpc]

Carolyn:

I grew those out last year-in my opinion they were porter, the original porter. It could have been that porter was taken from them, or they grew out porter and changed the name, etc. But I grew them out side by side, and they were one in the same, as best as I could tell. I didnt save seed.

[tomatoaddict]

Here's a couple of pics Carolyn. It was really tasty. Was like a bigger, plum shaped cherry.

[mdvpc]

Thats what porter looks like. Carolyn, I checked and I did save seed-but it wasnt bagged.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tomatoaddict

Here's a couple of pics Carolyn. It was really tasty. Was like a bigger, plum shaped cherry.

Terry, you asked about size and in the Yearbook Neil said about 1 oz. Is that in the ballpark of what you show? And I have to admit that some small plums can look like grapes, so I wouldn't discount the person who said 1 oz grape shape. A "bigger" cherry could be in the range of maybe 1.5 to 2 oz, wouldn't you say?

I just looked up Porter to see what some who list it say, and I the consensus suggests about a 1-2 oz pink plum so it looks like Michael is spot on.

And it wouldn't surprise me that someone in TX would have been growing what was originall Porter and then lost the name

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Porter

I had done some Googling to look at the history of Porter and Porter Improved and then looked at some older Yearbooks and came to the conclusion that the first Porter was red and then there was an improvement and then I got tired so went to Tania's site and started laughing when she said that the Porter she described was about the same as Old Bess. Ah well, maybe I won't look for those seeds after all.

But it makes sense and the seedsman who first developed it was in TX and I found one entry that said Porter, don't know if the pink or the red was being grown in 1938, so it all kind of fits as I see it.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by mdvpc

Thats what porter looks like. Carolyn, I checked and I did save seed-but it wasnt bagged.

We posted two minutes apart and you posted while I was just finishing off mine and I agree now that Porter and Old Bess are the same , or very similar, as Tania also indicated.

[retiree]

I grew it last year and a friend of mine wanted something productive so I started two for her and they are loaded now.
I believe I said "similar to Porter" in my Seed Savers Exchange description. I haven't done a side by side but I have grown Porter and I thought they were quite similar. From memory I would say it is pink. I've also grown Porter's Pride aka Improved Porter and from memory I think it's pink as well. They are both very good tomatoes. I was quite impressed with Porter's Pride and should grow it again.
Neil (Canada)

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by retiree

I grew it last year and a friend of mine wanted something productive so I started two for her and they are loaded now.
I believe I said "similar to Porter" in my Seed Savers Exchange description. I haven't done a side by side but I have grown Porter and I thought they were quite similar. From memory I would say it is pink. I've also grown Porter's Pride aka Improved Porter and from memory I think it's pink as well. They are both very good tomatoes. I was quite impressed with Porter's Pride and should grow it again.
Neil (Canada)

Carolyn wrote:
(One person says a high yield of 1 oz pink grape shaped fruit and the other person says small pink plum, extremely productive, similar to Porter.)

Neil, I did say that you said "similar to" as noted in what I just cut and pasted from my post above. What I didn't do was to ID you specifically with that comment, but did say Hi Neil.