Brads Tomatoes...report.

[Glenn 50]

Been an interesting tomato season down here in New Zealand.
Old favourites regrown, new unusuals...Stick, variegated etc, my own crosses, multicolourd ones and the dehydrator working 24/7.

One of the most interesting experiences has been the tomato seed that Brad (Feral tomatoes) kindly sent me.
These were finally pulled 2 days ago and were a source of great fun and good crops.
They were late arrivals and unfortunately fizzed out in our autumn/winter weather while still covered with heaps of green fruit.

Brad wanted me to isolate any unusual ones but they performed perfectly as far as stability went. No surprises or extra unusual freaks.

Berkley Tie Dyed....
This is an amazing tomato. The colours were just like the pictures posted by others but what I was unprepared for was the vibrancy of the slices that I dried in the dehydrator. The slices have kept their unusual colours and consistancy throughout the drying.

Berkley Tie Dyed Pink Version...
Jans favourite. Beautiful port wine/ pink colouring. Striped. Heavy cropper. Flattened beefsteak shape. Wine interior. Solid.

Turbo Tart....

My favourite. Slightly smaller than medium round tasty tomatoes with a tartness we anglophiles love. Zebra striped in the darker colours Brownish purple. Juicy interior.

Pink Boar Ideal...
Larger Turbo Tart. Medium size. Colouring was more into the wine/ pink stripes. Very heavy cropper.

Egg Shape Suzy....
Egg shaped alright! About the size of a small pullet egg. Bright red with gold stripes. Stunning. Juicy interior. Great to just pick and eat straight off the bush. Very heavy cropper I think....so many were eaten during the day I couldn't tell.

Pork Chop....
A great match with BTD Pink Version. Similar size and shape. They looked good together on plates. Yellow beefsteak with light yellow stripes. This one dried well too.

Heartshaped Black....
Muddy brown in our climate. Slight point on bottom. Bigger than medium. Didn't crop as well as the others.

Fuzzy Red Boar Stripes...
Medium red striped with dullish matt skin. Good all rounder. Not as attractive as some IMHO.

Large Barred Boar....
Ignored the one above because I was smitten with this one next door to it.. Cherokee Purple Type with stripes. Lovely flavour. Good sandwich variety.

Backyard Beauty King...
Big bicolour...yellow with red stripes. Did well this hot summer. Vigorous grower

Plus another 3 varieties...but I have to go to bed!

Healthy foliage on all. Maybe the genes or probably because we had a brilliant summer with little rain.
All in all I found that I kept bemoaning the fact that I hadn't planted them out earlier as I missed out on so many unripe ones. Then again I picked to within 12 days of our official winter.
Stability was remarkable.....bit of a shame really as I couldn't nick any strange ones and christen them "Glenns Pride" or something. LOL
Found there was a lot of suckers and laterals compared to my others. Once again don't know whether it was genetic or the late planting.

It is amazing how blase one gets. For weeks I have been slicing open amazing fruit without thinking of the unusual colours that I have been handling.

Everyone had good points. Some had similarities. Egg Shape Suzy was the one that stood out from a distance. Different colour shape and size to all the rest.

Thanks Brad for the opportunity and the fun!

Glenn.

[Dunkel]

Too early for me to reply on maters from them, but BTD and Beauty King are vigorous growers! I also had 3 Pork Chop seedlings going nice and strong when I dropped a flat of seedlings and lost 17 varieties. Unfortunately Pork Chop was one of the casualties. Hopefully I can get some more seeds in the fall to try again to grow them in 2007.

[dokutaaguriin]

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for the report as I found it a very interesting read.
I don't suppose you have any pics, especially of the dried fruit from BTD.
Jeff

[feraltomatoes]

Thanks for the report Glenn. I forgot I sent you the possible black heart. Muddy brown black heart will do. Was it a very dense tomato? I sent about 15 people seeds from this and reports back have been slow I think.
Glad the egg shape Suzy came through. Very pretty and unusual shape. I kind of thought this was also a mutation. Very lucky find although I never got to taste them, tossed four fruit on my truck seat and sat on one so all seed came from remaining three.
Berkeley Tie Dye Pink(working name) I thought this one might stand out.
I sent Large Barred Boar to alot of people that recieved possible black heart, BTD and porkchop where sent to many also. Backyard BTD was from an isolated plant that was very productive(2005).

[nctomatoman]

I have a few growing - Pork Chop, possible Black Heart (has typically floppy foliage of heart shaped varieties, so hopeful!), Beauty King, Giant Green Zebra (got from Reinhard - is this one of yours originally, Brad?), Fuzzy Cherokee, Berkeley Tie Dye, Large Barred Boar. All plants looking vigorous and healthy - but just recently planted, so it will be a few months before reporting on ripe fruit (though I do expect the unripe fruit to show some interesting stripe patterns).

Glenn, those new ones you describe sound great - would just love to try some in my garden next year!

[akgardengirl]

Craig's description of the possible black heart fits my 2 plants also. Today is the big day when all the tomatoes go into their summer homes. The daytime temps have been close to 70 with nightime around 50. I will report back soon (I hope) with some blossom progress. I also have the large barred boar, which Brad thought would do well in this short season.
Sue

[akgardengirl]

Whoops

[NCTIM]

Thought I'd jump in.

I've got Three Berkley Tie-Dye's growing. Two are in homemade self-watering containers and the other is in the ground. I also have one Large Barred Boar growing. It's in a homemade self-watering container as well.

My report on them is the same as Craig’s.

I had a heck of a time with the germination of BTD. The last attempt, that obviously was successful, came from seeds that Brad mailed me.

I still am forever grateful to the tomatovillian who twice sent me BTD seeds that just wouldn't come up for me.

[angelique]

I plan on transplanting BTD and Brad's Black Heart to 12 gallon containers this weekend. I wanted to plant it sooner, but the weather was horrible last weekend and the previous weekend I was out of town.

I'll keep you update through the season.

Cheers,

Angelique

[Suze]

Enjoyed reading your comments, Glenn.

Took this pic of a BTD fruit today. Fruits are sure growing rapidly since they recently set. And, no, that's not a blush at the blossom end -- think it's just a reflection from my hand.

[Suze]

First BTD picked -- 18 oz. Surprisingly good flavor. I guess I figured this would taste like a big ol' GZ (which I don't particularly care for).








The black heart is still taking its sweet time.

[Mantis]

Great report Glenn. Glad to see you had a good year as well eh.

[NCTIM]

I'm glad you started this thread Suze. I now have an idea of what to look for when my BTD is ready to pic.

I think I remember seeing a BTD pic that was more red. How did you know it was ripe

Keep the pics coming

Tim

[Suze]

Tim -- I knew the BTD was was ripe by feel. Appearance-wise, probably not the best example of exactly what to expect, because as you can see it was horribly catfaced. Luckily, others I have on the vine are not. I think Little Rhody posted a pic a couple of months ago and I agree, there was a bit more red in that fruit.

Here's that pic--



Bruce posted a good one last year as well (at GW).

[Sorellina]

Ciao all,

My report on this tomato will be one of the latest ones, but hopefully before the Aussies, lol! The problem started on transplanting day when I inadvertently beheaded the plant and had to root it inside for several days before re-transplanting it. It took very well, fortunately and it's got 1 open flower now with some others not far behind. The plant is about 2.5' tall, so it will be some time before I get any fruit from it. I'll try to post some pictures next week.