Opalka?

[carolyn137]

I seem to remember that Suze was right about SSE, which is a seed source to several commerical places, having the wrong Opalka Seeds and thus Pinetree got them via SSE. It was one of the few times that SSE had a seed problem.

As for Pinetree, I've used them for many years, but two things really have turned me off.

And I should say that I was the original source for them for Kellogg's Breakfast as well as Opalka and I can't remember what else. This was when Nicholas was Garden Manager and he used to produce their own OP seed for them.

Pinetree had bought some Opalka from Seeds by Design, my not fave seed producer of OP seed in CA who sell wholesale to many places. On their list they spelled Opalka as Olapka, and so that's how Dick Meiners spelled it. This despite the fact that I had had a gratis copy of my book sent to him as I did for other places as well.

I never said anything but then one person in particular told me what he'd gone thru trying to get them to change it and asked if I'd try as well. I did and the chat I had with Dick was NOT constructive. He then made an uneccessary dig in the blurb saying that SOME people spelled it Opalka, which was quite unnecessary, and I guess it's now back to Opalka by itself.

The same SBD list also sold Cherokee Purple as Purple Cherokee and so when you see anyone spelling it that way, that's the reason why.

In the past I also tried to get him to change the blurb on Golden Queen b'c he said it was an Amish Heirloom. It is not. I even xeroxed the pages from Livingstons book and sent them, to no avail.

Yes, it's an excellent place to get small sample sizes of seeds so you can try out far more varieties of anything without a large investment, but for me, the untarnished reputation of Pinetree is a bit marred by the response of the owner to the two issues I tried to deal with, one on behalf of someone else, the Olapka one, the other the Golden Queen one.

And yes, until I fell in Dec of 2004 I still bought seeds there but now, unable to plant and care for things I haven't, except for buying an occasional book on sale.

[Tomstrees]

I guess I was kindof duped with Opalka ...
But it kindof worked out ...

I got my seed from Totally Tomatoes.
When I was harvesting them however,
I noticed some had tips and others didn't quite ofen on the same plant ... What makes this happen ?

Anyway, they were all red ...
I got hundreds of great tasting paste fruits ...
I only saved seed from pointed fruits but when I
sent them out to friends in trade ... some got points,
some got rounded ends, but al agreed on one
thing: they all tasted great ~

I was able to scan in an old photo of
an blushing "Opalka" fruit on the vine from 2004.
This is a random pic of what I got when they were rounded ends:





This was one of many harvests
from them ... the crazy part ?
They all tasted good ... pointed or not ~



~ Tom

[ddsack]

In the 2 pictures i viewed, those are fruits quite semblant....of an Opalka, in the first pic. The second pic...neither of those fruits are even close to ripe....so...the picture does nothing to imbue the thread.

Gimmee - are you saying you have grown Opalka's that are pure yellow? Half the Opalka's from that packet of Pinetree were yellow and the other half had the vertical striping which I think is very visible in both the red ripe and green pictures. None of the true solid red Opalka's I grew in previous years from TGS had any sign of striping at any stage of growth.

I have purchased all kinds of veggie seeds from Pinetree over the years, especially appreciate having access to the French, Italian and Oriental seed sections. Always love to try new stuff. Good seeds at good prices and usually fast service, except for last year when it took a month and I had to email them to ask what the holdup was. Normally I've received my order in 10-12 days, the fastest of the seeds catalogs.

Will I continue to order from Pinetree? Yes, of course. But I will have a harder time trusting that the seeds I'm getting are the true variety. Does that matter? I don't know. I suppose in the end, they are all edible.

[Colorado_west]

I bought from Pinetree the first time this year. Like 28 packages. Only planted tomatoes and the peppers and rest never got planted. Hopefull get planted this coming year. I bought from other places and local seed house too. It is disappointing not to get what you order to say the least.

My "Opalka" looked like ddsacks second picture. Then turned red and yellow and pointed.

[Mantis]

Here are some of my first fruit. The largest one is about 5 inches long. Seeds from TGS

[travis]

First green cluster


Same cluster at first blush


The two blushing tomatoes from that first cluster now ripe and sliced


Same two tomatoes before slicing


Later in season, the tomatoes had no green shoulders


All above came from the one plant I kept. I gave away several sibling seedlings.

The seed came from Richard Baroch, Little Ferry, NJ. From this single example in my 2006 garden, I think Opalka is a great tomato and I saved many seeds to distribute and to grow again.

I remember the thread at GW about the speckled whatevers that came from a reputable seed vendor. So, there was a mixup.

I also think that yellow tomato show in one picture in this thread with a nipple like the Opalka is a daggone good lookin' tomato. How did it taste ... and did you save seeds?

PV

[ddsack]

Papa Vic -- I can't remember if I saved seeds from any of the yellow's because they were so far off type. From what I can remember, they tasted okay, just milder without that red tomato kick. Did not plan to regrow them, but might have saved seeds "just because". I'll have to do major excavation in my basement corner pile to find the unused seeds from that year.

Dee

[Gimme3]

Dee, ...No...never grew any Yellow Opalka, whatsoever, and i apologize for the confusion my statement may have caused. I figured you..being in Minnesota, probly jus pulled those when green, and they were beginning to ripen, off the vine. The shape is proper, and until an Opalka fully ripens, it will naturally streak from its green shoulders a varying amount of yellow/orange into its body. In re-studying your photos...those DO appear as a whole to not represent the Opalka characteristics near as well as the ones shown in Papa V's pics. Those are Dead ON Opalkas...in my book.

The most telling fruit in your first picture, Dee, is the round one in the center. Never seen that shape come from an Opalka. It also exhibits a Lot of streaking.

Hate to say it, but Tom...those Opalkas in your pic look more like a San Marzano...to me...they're too fat , sort of pear-shaped, as opposed to tubular/cylindrical.

[paul2101]

Follow this link to see pictures of Opalka.

http://www.tomatosite.com/index.php?...splay&tom_id=3

Opalka is my favorite paste tomato. It's lots better than Roma because its larger size makes it easy to process.

Paul

[Colorado_west]

Speckled roman is cross between antique? roman and Banana legs. That would maybe account for yellow ones.

I will buy from Pinetree and I figure they will replace the pepper seed I bought. Say they will stand behind the seed. All any of them do is replace or refund.

Do you have to peel Opalka to process? Romas the curly top virus trys to wipe them. They seem to love that tomato. Romas don't seem to sell here.