Opalkas Rule!

[Sunsi]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Do you buy plants for what you grow or raise them from seed?

There are some wrong seeds out there for Opalka so I know what you had, as you do, was wrong.

And remind me for I think I asked you once before but have forgotten, where in NYS are you? You can't be that far from where I live in true upstate NY.

I think these were from plants although I did grow a few of my own from seed this year like Jersey Devils but not the Opalkas. I got the Opalkas from a grower out in Calif. and the plants are always very nice and healthy looking. I'm starting to see that seed mix up can happen nothing to do about it but wait for next year.

Hahaha, "true upstate" yes, I am! A little town called Victory very near Lake Ontario I think I may even benefit (slightly) from the warmer zone caused by the lake. Another couple of miles east and we would be getting the horrid lake effect snow. I have mentioned to hubby how I wish we had settled out in your part of the state as I think it's very picturesque out that way with more rolling hills and rich in history!

[maggie c]

I got two opalkas growing right now. Everything else has bloomed and fruited, but these wispy, look-like-they-are-on-the-verge-of-dying plants haven't even produced flowers. They have finally decided that they want to grow, but boy do they look droopy. I keep hoping though.....I have about decided that next year I'm just not growing pastes at all. I'm making great sauce from the non-paste tomatoes, and I get bigger volume from the non-pastes.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Sunsi

I think these were from plants although I did grow a few of my own from seed this year like Jersey Devils but not the Opalkas. I got the Opalkas from a grower out in Calif. and the plants are always very nice and healthy looking. I'm starting to see that seed mix up can happen nothing to do about it but wait for next year.

Hahaha, "true upstate" yes, I am! A little town called Victory very near Lake Ontario I think I may even benefit (slightly) from the warmer zone caused by the lake. Another couple of miles east and we would be getting the horrid lake effect snow. I have mentioned to hubby how I wish we had settled out in your part of the state as I think it's very picturesque out that way with more rolling hills and rich in history!

Well now, there are two Victory NY's and the one in TRUE upstate NY, which runs up the Hudson River Valley to Lake Champlain to the candian border and is in Saratoga Country is not far from where I live and then there's your Victory which is in Cayuga County in WESTERN, NY.

And I know your Victory as well b'c I spent 4 years on the hill above Ithaca and then many years in Rochester and used to buzz back and forth on the thruway or rt 20 to the Albany area if I wasn't in a hurry.

It is beautiful here, not just rolling hills but the Adirondacks are just one hour west of me and the road I live off of deadends at the base of Egg MT in VT and if I could get over that mountain I could slide down into Manchester, VT. So the Green Mts of VT are to my East and are only about 2 miles up the road from me.

I love it here despite my Black Bear problem.

[psa]

I tried Opalka on the strength of Caroline's repeated recommendations. I don't normally like paste tomatoes, preferring to make sauce from the other varieties, but now that I'm raising so many tomato plants for others I needed to fill the requests for a paste variety.

The fruit this year have been very good. Suitable for eating out of hand, and very good flavor. The plants, however, were wispy and weak, with drooping stems and foliage that was quick to wilt. I seem to recall having this problem with other plum types in the past, and I know our dry, windy heat is hard on plants, but the 80-100 Opalkas were the weakest plants out of the 2000 or so I grew this year, from transplant to harvest.

I plan to grow them again next year, but I'll be adjusting their conditions a bit to get the stockiest plants I can, and I'll be asking my customers for feedback on its performance this fall to make sure that it produced for them.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by psa

I tried Opalka on the strength of Caroline's repeated recommendations. I don't normally like paste tomatoes, preferring to make sauce from the other varieties, but now that I'm raising so many tomato plants for others I needed to fill the requests for a paste variety.

The fruit this year have been very good. Suitable for eating out of hand, and very good flavor. The plants, however, were wispy and weak, with drooping stems and foliage that was quick to wilt. I seem to recall having this problem with other plum types in the past, and I know our dry, windy heat is hard on plants, but the 80-100 Opalkas were the weakest plants out of the 2000 or so I grew this year, from transplant to harvest.

I plan to grow them again next year, but I'll be adjusting their conditions a bit to get the stockiest plants I can, and I'll be asking my customers for feedback on its performance this fall to make sure that it produced for them.

And you know from reading here that I also share with folks that using the best tasting tomatoes I think is best when making sauce. And also suggest using varieties that have dense flesh with few seeds that are not paste varieties, and when asked also will list some of them.

But when asked about paste varieties I do list Opalka as ONE of the ones I think is worthy and also list the following at the same time:

Heidi
Mama Leone
Martino's Roma

So if the Opalka plants are not working out well for you I do suggest from the above list that you might wish to try Heidi and Mama Leone which many find works well for them.

[psa]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

And you know from reading here that I also share with folks that using the best tasting tomatoes I think is best when making sauce. And also suggest using varieties that have dense flesh with few seeds that are not paste varieties, and when asked also will list some of them.

Yes, and I agree with you, which is why I looked at your recommended paste varieties when people requested that I provide an actual paste tomato.

But when asked about paste varieties I do list Opalka as ONE of the ones I think is worthy and also list the following at the same time:

Heidi
Mama Leone
Martino's Roma

So if the Opalka plants are not working out well for you I do suggest from the above list that you might wish to try Heidi and Mama Leone which many find works well for them.

Yes, I had similar problems with Heidi in '05, which is part of why I think the weak vines and wispy foliage might be common to the type.

As I said, I'll grow Opalka again next year, assuming the feedback's not too bad from those who purchased my plants. I do like to give the variety more than one year to control for different different weather and give me a chance to taylor my cultural practices a bit.

But thanks for the reminder on the other varieties. I'll get a hold of some seeds and trial them alongside Opalka to see if they do better.

[RinTinTin]

I have found that most varieties do much better their second year in the plot. 'Maters seem to like to acclimatise their first season, and then explode the next.
And yes, most 'paste' types seem to have wimpy plants...they put all of the extra energy into fruit.

[psa]

All of my tomato varieties are rotated into new sections each year to control for positional performance anomalies, and the top six inches of all tomato beds are cycled through the compost each year and then to non-tomato growing areas to minimize pests and pathogens. I run completely organic so I can't afford to let any tomato problems get established in my tight growing conditions.

Of course, most of my tomato plants are raised elsewhere since I got into the business of selling them.

[ALLGOLD]

Thanks all! I'll give the purple russian a bash until i track the real Opalka down. We're only starting our growing season here in SA. Cant wait.

Thanks too Dice for the advice in regards to the search menu etc

[b54red]

Originally Posted by maggie c

I got two opalkas growing right now. Everything else has bloomed and fruited, but these wispy, look-like-they-are-on-the-verge-of-dying plants haven't even produced flowers. They have finally decided that they want to grow, but boy do they look droopy. I keep hoping though.....I have about decided that next year I'm just not growing pastes at all. I'm making great sauce from the non-paste tomatoes, and I get bigger volume from the non-pastes.

I had really good luck with Kosovo. It is a medium to large heart that is very productive and sets good in the heat down here. The fruit is very meaty yet still juicy and out of over 70 varieties was one of the most productive and with great taste. It made a terrific paste tomato for us and I plan on planting greater numbers next year. Another one that was really good for sauce was Neves Azorean Red. It is a very large meaty beefsteak type that in pounds per plant was far and away my most productive. It is now my favorite red beefsteak; but it makes so many that most end up in the sauce pot.

[Tom C zone 4/5]

I've tried Opalka several times and never once got a tomato that was true to type.

After while I moved on to other cultivars.

never a spitter per see, but underwhelming and underperforming. A 105 day cherry does not get replanted in north east.

[carolyn137]

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Opalka

I just loked at the seed sources for Opalka from the above. Opalka is one of my tomato kids that's made it big time so to speak, and I think well deserved and I suggest the following from Tania's seed source list as places to get true Opalka seeds.

Tania offers it herself
SSE, the public catalog
Pinetree Seeds
Tomato Growers Supply
Heirloom Seeds

I was the direct source of seeds to SSE and Pinetree but the other sources I mentioned above have, to the best of my knowledge, offered true Opalka. I'd like to add Sandhill Preservation as well, I sent seeds to Glenn, but apparently some folks have gotten some fruits that aren't quite what's expected, last I knew.

I assume that perhaps Sandhill grew out Opalka again this past season, but haven't confirmed that.

So there are number of places where true seed is available.

I've also seen NOT Opalka pictures posted at a couple of message sites where the seeds were obtained via trades and have seen pictures with seeds from trades that were correct for the variety.

But any of you who know me well know that I have strong feelings about folks buying maybe at least half of their seeds from some small family owned businesses that do so much to help preserve OP heirlooms by making them available to the public. SSE isn't family owned , for sure, but any seeds puchased from SSE helps a lot with the overall mission of SSE in terms of variety preservation for ALL the vegetables and fruits with their own growouts as well as sponsoring the annual Yearbook for members, with around 4000 tomato varieties alone as listed by SSE members, as well as the Public SSE catalog and finally the huge excellent seed bank they maintain.

[punky]

I'm growing Opalka for the first time this year, too, and finally started getting ripe ones. They're quite late for me, as the season is coming to a close here in just a few weeks, but I am DEFINITELY growing them again. I can't believe how delicious they are just sliced and eaten straight. They're huge and meaty and not even a drop of juice spills when I cut them. I can't wait to make some salsa and sauce with them, too. So far I've just been eating them as fast as they come in. I never thought a paste tomato could taste so good straight out of the garden. I got my seeds from TGS. Something strange about them is that when I go out to pick tomatoes and give the Opalkas a squeeze to see if they're ripe, they feel totally different from all the other tomatoes.... almost spongy. I think it must be because they're all flesh and almost no gel. It's an offputting feeling, but it's quickly forgotten once I start eating them.

[TomNJ]

Originally Posted by b54red

I had really good luck with Kosovo. It is a medium to large heart that is very productive and sets good in the heat down here. The fruit is very meaty yet still juicy and out of over 70 varieties was one of the most productive and with great taste. It made a terrific paste tomato for us and I plan on planting greater numbers next year. Another one that was really good for sauce was Neves Azorean Red. It is a very large meaty beefsteak type that in pounds per plant was far and away my most productive. It is now my favorite red beefsteak; but it makes so many that most end up in the sauce pot.

I agree fully with the Kosovo! They were very early for me, only 62 DTM, and out produced the other seven varieties I grew. The tomatoes are large pink hearts, very meaty and a bit sweet. They have a permanent slot in my garden.

Haven't tried the NARs yet. Maybe I'll seek out some seeds for next year.

TomNJ

[frdmfrc]

::jumps up and down:: Someone make mine ripen!!!!! They look so great and are huge and healthy but green, green, green