Need a bit of info?

[b54red]

It is still early in the season and some of the varieties are just starting to ripen. I am already making some observations on some of the new varieties and am finding a problem with one that is a favorite of mine that had crossed in my saved seeds so I ordered replacement seed. The problem I am seeing is on my Marianne's Peace I have both regular leaf and potato leaf plants from the seed. On St. Teresa I have two distinctly different tomatoes showing up as they grow. One is a large beefsteak while the other plant is a large plant producing plum shaped tomatoes.

I am planting pairs of the same varieties side by side as much as I can so I can easily compare them if there are major differences in some of the plants. So far most of the others seem to be true but I still have some that haven't produced yet due to the late planting.

I did notice one very interesting variety St. Lucie is the most densely foliaged plant that I have ever seen. Even with suckers pruned and single stem it is so dense you can't see the fruit except by parting the leaves. I have two of them side by side and single stem aggressively pruned yet they look like barrels of solid green leaves. It would certainly be a candidate where sun-scald is an issue if it does well in the heat which is yet to be determined. I will be interested in whether this super dense foliage creates disease issues down here where air flow is so important in preventing disease.

My Cuostrale plants both have huge first clusters and I fear I won't get any large fruit from those clusters. The tomatoes are starting to ripen on some varieties and these clusters are certainly looking like they should have been culled some.

I have only gotten to sample one of the new varieties so far and that was Italian Tree which was earlier to ripen a couple of fruits than any of my plants. It had an excellent well balanced flavor that really topped a grilled hamburger well.

Bill