Dr. Dester

[carolyn137]

Darlene, I think what I'll do is to cut and paste your post and send it to Jere since it's been my experience that he usually doesn't come back to check threads.

And I mean with a PM, not an e-mail, since the one e-mail addy I had for him was on a previous hard drive and so I don't have access to a current personal address.

it's good to know that it was Larry who suggested that Anna send it to Baker Creek, which straightens out the time line for me, at least. And it's good to know that Larry is fine with it being called just Dester.

But I do agree with kath that it's too bad that Baker Creek decided to use a different name after it already been called Dester when Larry sent it to SSE two years before, and Jere being a listed member and also getting the Public Catalog I assume would have seen that, since two years ago it won 1st place and this past summer came in 2nd in the annual SSE tomato tasting event, so has some staying power. Many of us have Dester, as Dester, already. I saved seeds from the two huge fruits that were brought to me when that fellow came to interview me, and then a very nice person sent me several hundred seeds so I could offer it in my next seed offer.

Maybe I'll cut and paste this post as well and send it to Jere via PM.

[greyghost]

Thanks for offering to discuss the name with Jere-that's something I certainly
didn't want to do or more to the point, I guess I didn't feel it was my business
but I did wonder how I'd have id'ed Dester if I had purchased it from Baker Creek!
I know this variety is on the Baker Creek website and I'm guessing it might
be in their catalog which is probably being printed now--kind of awkward.

I did feel some sympathy for Larry calling it Dester's Amish initially. I kind of
like that name since I'm a sucker for Amish attached to a variety name too,
especially since I send plants into nearby Lancaster to a few people.

Now to pick out a couple of hoes at their tool website.

Darlene

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by greyghost

Thanks for offering to discuss the name with Jere-that's something I certainly
didn't want to do or more to the point, I guess I didn't feel it was my business
but I did wonder how I'd have id'ed Dester if I had purchased it from Baker Creek!
I know this variety is on the Baker Creek website and I'm guessing it might
be in their catalog which is probably being printed now--kind of awkward.

I did feel some sympathy for Larry calling it Dester's Amish initially. I kind of
like that name since I'm a sucker for Amish attached to a variety name too,
especially since I send plants into nearby Lancaster to a few people.

Now to pick out a couple of hoes at their tool website.

Darlene

Darlene, I don't know if it's my business either, but I do know Jere and I do know that Dester has been sold as mainly Dester for two years now so lots of folks have it either from Larry or SSE as Dester.

And yes, I was going to ask if consideration could be given at Baker Creek to just leaving it as Dester. Not hard to change it at the website, those kind of corrections are done all the time with various seed websites and hopefully the catalog hasn't been finalized. Even if it has the seed packscould still have Dester on them and not Dr. Dester.

I know that I asked Jere if he and larry and Anna could get together on this but I know he's busy and I know you started contacting Larry maybe two months ago about it, I can't remember exactly when.

So I'm glad that Larry did finally get back to you.

I'll wait until Subday to see if any others post in this thread and how they feel about it and then I can send Jere a link to the thread without having to do it post by post.

[Blk_Vegan]

Since the source of the seed referred to it as Dester and it was introduced through SSE to the tomato growing public as Dester then maybe for the sake of uniformity and to avoid confusion the folks at Baker Creek would reconsider calling it Dr Dester. If it is truly a great tomato as claimed it deserves stability of name.

[Douglas14]

I grew Dester(or whatever name is decided on) this year. I thought it was an excellent beefsteak variety, that had good production for me. I also grew Brandywine Sudduth, and Marianna's Peace. All three are very good varieties IMO. They were all pretty similar in size and were meaty, with not being overly juicy. That's what I look for in a tomato, for BLT's/sandwiches. They all had great taste, but I couldn't pick a favorite.

[fortyonenorth]

If Baker Creek took the liberty to rename it Dr. Dester, I can't wait to see what Amishland comes up with. How 'bout Dr. Dester and Mr. Pie's Magic Mutant Beefsteak. Extremely rare and offered nowhere else.

[Iva]

I will also try to get some seeds for Dester to grow it out next year as it looks and sounds like a great one

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Iva

I will also try to get some seeds for Dester to grow it out next year as it looks and sounds like a great one

Iva, I owe you for the two great varieties you sent me this past Spring, but it looks like Neil won't be able to get any significant seeds from either one b/c of the drought, and I think you said you had more seeds you could share with me.

I think I said above that a nice person sent me several hundred seeds of Dester, which I planned on offering in my next seed offer, so let me just send a few to you this Fall before I start puzzling over what I might have to offer in my seed offer here.

I'll PM you about it .

I'm pretty sure I have your address so let me just send some to you now, noting that the Post Office is raising the prices of stamps on Jan 1, 2013.

Going up one penny for first class in the US and while it's still 98cents to most places in Europe and 85cents to Canada, they are now going to be selling a stamp for $1.10 which can be used anywhere in the world, but over the oz mentioned, and I didn't note that, still 20cents to be added.

Folks, you heard it here first about the postage increases coming up and I just read about it in the paper this AM.

[greyghost]

Iva, I'm happy to see that you'll be getting some Dester seeds from Carolyn-
it was probably one of the best pink heirlooms I've grown.

For anyone from other countries interested in purchasing seeds of Dester (or
a number of other fine varieties including Dwarf-even one of the newest, Dwarf
Sweet Sue) heritagetomatoseed.com may be an option. On the home page
of Heritage, Steve has stated that he's currently able to mail to several foreign
countries. In addition, he said to let him know the country to which you'd like seeds
mailed and it would be added to the list providing it's legal to mail seeds there.

I've ordered from this site several times and I think this vendor is absolutely wonderful-also a member here at T'Ville.

Carolyn, I hope you get a positive response from Jere-I'm sure he has a lot of
respect for you as an author/heirloom historian. If anyone can get him to agree
to "Dester", I think you can!

Darlene

Dar

[Wi-sunflower]

As a side note to this discussion -- I can personally vouch for the quality of the Rouge Hoes mentioned in this thread. I didn't know they were Larry's.

I bought several of them when I was at the Michigan vegetable show on more than 1 occasion. I like their small "onion" type for close weeding. Because of a bad elbow, personally I like the "scuffle" type as you don't have to "chop". Both are strong and stay sharp for quite a while.

Something a bit different is the large squared off hoe that is like a large wide pick ax. Those are great for the way we plant our tomato plants. We use a 1 row plow to dig a furrow. Lay the plants on the low side. With maybe 3-4 pulls with these heavy hoes you can pull a lot of soil over the plants and they are done. We can do 1,000 or more plants with a 3 or 4 person crew and 2 or 3 hoes in about 3-4 hours. The rest of the day is spent watering in the plants.

BTW, I also grew Dester and Pierce's Pride from seeds from Larry this year. But due to the horrid weather we had, I don't think we got any ripe fruit. I do hope we have some greenies tho that I can get seeds from. It will be a bit tho before I can check as we finally got ALL the rain we didn't get this summer -- over 2 inches over the weekend. It will be knee deep in mud for a few days.

Carol

[greyghost]

Carol, Keep us informed about your Dester seed-I was a bit worried about yours
knowing you got an especially early frost-also, it seemed a bit late in my garden.

Thanks for the info about the Rogue Hoes-glad you have some. They have a
large number of styles-it was hard to chose. I was tempted by the onion hoe
but went with the triangle; first choice was a low profile regular type. Next year,
maybe I'll get some hand tools-they looked very appealing, too. Also liked their rakes but we have several common ones. We're moving aged manure from one
of our large bins. It's completely composted but because of all the rain the last
couple of years, it's very compacted. All I can think of is how much easier it'd be
if we had had a couple of those very heavy, very long-tined rakes! Darlene

[rnewste]

BTW, I will be growing Dester along with Dwarf varieties indoors over the Winter. Seeds were started last week. I'll have to prune it I am sure, but it will be interesting to see how it produces under grow lights.

Raybo

[BigdaddyJ]

Greyghost gave me a plant. It was a very fine tomato. I saved a bunch of seed and will grow it again next season. 81 DTM. Once they got started they came on gangbusters. Thank You greyghost...

[ScottinAtlanta]

Dester is on my grow list for 2013, folks. Thanks for the excellent comments posted in this thread, which sent me to Heritage to order the seeds.

[Iva]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Iva, I owe you for the two great varieties you sent me this past Spring, but it looks like Neil won't be able to get any significant seeds from either one b/c of the drought, and I think you said you had more seeds you could share with me.

I think I said above that a nice person sent me several hundred seeds of Dester, which I planned on offering in my next seed offer, so let me just send a few to you this Fall before I start puzzling over what I might have to offer in my seed offer here.

I'll PM you about it .

I'm pretty sure I have your address so let me just send some to you now, noting that the Post Office is raising the prices of stamps on Jan 1, 2013.

Going up one penny for first class in the US and while it's still 98cents to most places in Europe and 85cents to Canada, they are now going to be selling a stamp for $1.10 which can be used anywhere in the world, but over the oz mentioned, and I didn't note that, still 20cents to be added.

Carolyn, I do have seeds saved especially for you from both the varieties in question, Istra and Primorski Pacug. I'll be happy to send them to you before the end of the year and trede them for some Dester seeds