Mountain Merit?

[carolyn137]

Bill, of interest to me is that the only other variety that I've grown, and I've grown plenty as you know, that has the same white speckles as you call it that EPB has is Redfield Beauty.And Redfield Beauty also falls off the vine when ripe and is also a globe as is EPB.

I've thought about that relationship from time to time,noting when Redfield Beauty first appeared.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/R...b=General_Info


Carolyn


Carolyn

[moon1234]

Mountain Merit was an OK producer for me this year. I did not have much if any late nor early blight problems. Every year I have TSWV and more importantly Septoria problems. My standout this year, by far, was IRON LADY. It was new this year from High Mowing seeds. Mountain Merit was completely defoliated from septoria. We stopped spraying about 3 weeks ago when it no longer seemed to be providing any control. Iron Lady though has some very moderate septoria problems, but is still producing while mountain merit is dead.

On the other hand Mountain Magic is still going strong. I have not found another tomato in this size class that produces such exceptional fruit. The tomatoes are just perfect, they hold for weeks in 50F storage with zero decline in quality. They have moderate problems with septoria, but seem to be ripening fruit faster than they are being defoliated.

Far and away the two best producers this year for me have been grape tomatoes. Tami-G and Solid Gold BOTH have no listed resistance to septoria, but seem to be holding up as well as Iron Lady.

For large tomatoes I have almost given up on them and will probably only grow iron lady next year. I need a tomato with strong Septoria and TSWV resistance and there just is not much out there at all with that. If I had tunnels I might think differently, but open field production of large slicers just sucks at my location. I get double the yield off the cherry and grape tomatoes.

The only additional tomato I am adding next year is an orange grape called Lizziebelle. Mixed grape tomatoes sell really well with my retail grocer customers and I was just lacking an orange. It seems no one but the wholesales want cherry tomatoes. I can sell them, but the retail guys want the crack resistance of the grapes.

Sorry for the rant. I had high hopes for Mountain Merit, but I just did not have the Late Blight/Early Blight pressure this year. Even the old Big Beef variety from Seminis out performed Mountain Merit yield wise.

[carolyn137]

On the other hand Mountain Magic is still going strong. I have not found another tomato in this size class that produces such exceptional fruit. The tomatoes are just perfect, they hold for weeks in 50F storage with zero decline in quality. They have moderate problems with septoria, but seem to be ripening fruit faster than they are being defoliated.

Far and away the two best producers this year for me have been grape tomatoes. Tami-G and Solid Gold BOTH have no listed resistance to septoria, but seem to be holding up as well as Iron Lady.

&&&&&

I agree with your comments about Mountain Magic andIdon'teven have to keepit at 50 F tohave itlastaslongas it does. It was bred by Dr.Randy Gardner , formerly with NCSU at Fletcher,NC,now retired, but still breeding tomato varieties.

A few years ago Randy, whom I've known for a long time, sent me a huge number of seeds of Mt Magic, Plum Regal and Smarty, all hybrids, and I included all of them in my annual seed offer here for several years.

As for a grape tomato you might want to look at Smarty, which he also bred as I mentioned above.

Carolyn

[moon1234]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I agree with your comments about Mountain Magic andIdon'teven have to keepit at 50 F tohave itlastaslongas it does. It was bred by Dr.Randy Gardner , formerly with NCSU at Fletcher,NC,now retired, but still breeding tomato varieties.

A few years ago Randy, whom I've known for a long time, sent me a huge number of seeds of Mt Magic, Plum Regal and Smarty, all hybrids, and I included all of them in my annual seed offer here for several years.

As for a grape tomato you might want to look at Smarty, which he also bred as I mentioned above.

Carolyn

I had thought about Smarty, but I have had three good years with Tami-G now and most people like the taste. It has an awesome sheen to the fruit that makes it really stand out in pulp/clamshell containers. What is the taste and appearance like with Smarty? The seed catalogs always overexpose the images so it is not a true representation. How is uniformity and yield?

The only knock I have for Tami-G is that is not very uniform. Some of the first fruit are a little large and the last fruit are on the smallish size. It is not terribly bad, but it is annoying to pick small fruit. I had thought about five star as a trial next year to see how it performed as the university trials seem to like it and Hepworth farms had a positive comment on it. I really, really like solid gold for a yellow grape. It has almost the same glossy appearance as Tami-G (Agriset something) and the two just look so appealing in clamshells.

You are in Wisconsin as well. What do you have good luck with on the larger slicers. I can't seem to find a reliable field tomato that doesn't crack, cat face or require a huge fungicide schedule to get reliable unblemished fruit. I want Mountain Magic at about two to three times the size. I just wish I could sell more Mountain Magic. I never thought a 2oz tomato would be so hard to sell. It seems to either be too big or too small for most of my markets.

[Mashman]

Originally Posted by moon1234

My standout this year, by far, was IRON LADY. It was new this year from High Mowing seeds...... Iron Lady though has some very moderate septoria problems, but is still producing while mountain merit is dead....

===============================================

Iron Lady was a production machine for me too (looked like a small fruit tree at one point)..... but the taste was bland. Magic Trick (a late blight crusader from TWS) was even more productive.....like nutty productive.... and the flavor IMHO was excellent if you like sweet.

Michael

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by moon1234

I had thought about Smarty, but I have had three good years with Tami-G now and most people like the taste. It has an awesome sheen to the fruit that makes it really stand out in pulp/clamshell containers. What is the taste and appearance like with Smarty? The seed catalogs always overexpose the images so it is not a true representation. How is uniformity and yield?

The only knock I have for Tami-G is that is not very uniform. Some of the first fruit are a little large and the last fruit are on the smallish size. It is not terribly bad, but it is annoying to pick small fruit. I had thought about five star as a trial next year to see how it performed as the university trials seem to like it and Hepworth farms had a positive comment on it. I really, really like solid gold for a yellow grape. It has almost the same glossy appearance as Tami-G (Agriset something) and the two just look so appealing in clamshells.

You are in Wisconsin as well. What do you have good luck with on the larger slicers. I can't seem to find a reliable field tomato that doesn't crack, cat face or require a huge fungicide schedule to get reliable unblemished fruit. I want Mountain Magic at about two to three times the size. I just wish I could sell more Mountain Magic. I never thought a 2oz tomato would be so hard to sell. It seems to either be too big or too small for most of my markets.

Since you were answering a post of mine,nope,I'm not in WI,I'm in upstate NY,my zone most of the time is 5,I don't know what yours is.

I think you're asking for impossible varieties when you say no cracking,catfacing.etc. as in unblemished fruits, and if you're in an area where the major foliage pathoges are present all the time, I think you're going to have to use a good anti-fungal for the fungal ones, and hope they are fungal since there's very little that;s known to be effective for the bacterial ones.

BUT,having foliage infections does NOT always mean that fruits will be damaged, far from it in my experience.

I could list some of my fave large slicers, but no promises on getting the unblemished fruits you want.I sold fruits to restaurants and kind of subcontracted out selling fruits at a major large farmstand, and didn't have that much problem.

So if you want me to list a fewI can,if you tell me which colors you prefer, and if not, that's OK too and none of them would be hybrids.

Carolyn

[b54red]

I have been growing Lumpy Red for three years now and it is probably the best tomato for unblemished fruit that I have ever seen and the size is very nice usually from 6 to 10 ounces. The first truss will have some a bit larger but after that they look like they come out of a mold. I don't know why it is called Lumpy Red as it is one of the most perfect looking tomatoes and the fruits are more uniform in size and shape than even most of the commercial market hybrids. It is also the least likely to split when we have drenching rains yet it has a fairly thin skin.

Bill

I grew Mountain Pride, which I believe was one of the Dr. Randy Gardener varieties; either last year or the year before. It was a large fruited variety which produced well, tasted good, and seemed to survive diseases better than most in my garden.

Ted

[travis]

Mountain Pride, released 1981, is one of the older Mountain Series tomatoes, a hybrid with Cherokee (Red) and NC50-7 as parents. Mountain Pride is resistant to fusarium wilt, verticillium wilt, grey wall, and puffiness. Many of the more recent Mountain Series should be much more disease resistant.

[b54red]

Is Mountain Merit resistant to all three races of fusarium?

Bill

[Fusion_power]

One parent has the i-3 gene which conveys resistance to F3. It is dominant so would be expressed in Mountain Merit.

[nathan125]

rather than make a new topic i will just post.
I am growing mountain merit and half of the fruit i have harvested from the plant is heart shaped. taste is ok, but about 12oz and meaty with few seeds.

has anyone else got a heart shape fruit from this plant?

[heirloomtomaguy]

Originally Posted by nathan125

rather than make a new topic i will just post.
I am growing mountain merit and half of the fruit i have harvested from the plant is heart shaped. taste is ok, but about 12oz and meaty with few seeds.

has anyone else got a heart shape fruit from this plant?

I too am growing Mountain Merit and half the fruit is also heart shaped. I will be growing out the F2 to see what i get just for fun. I have yet to taste one but they seem to be as hard as a rock ripe. I will say they are super productive though. Perhaps i should make some crosses with it.

[Gardeneer]

Can anyone post a picture of the fruis and cuts ?
Talking about a tomato (shape, color, size ..) a picture can reduce the volume of text.

Gardeneer

[BigVanVader]

Bump,

I just ordered Mountain Merit and found this thread. Will be interesting to see what I get