Azoychka - early or?

[fortyonenorth]

I'm growing Azoychka this year for the first time. I've read (widely) that it's early - some go as far to say it'll be "...among the first tomato to ripen in your garden."

For me, in Zone 6, it has ripened it's first fruit several weeks after Flamme, Mule Team, and Druzba, among others. It's about tied with Orange Strawberry and Earl of Edgecombe. Is this unusual for this variety?

Another thing that surprised me: it loaded up with fruit and most of them (I'd say easily 70%) have ripened almost simultaneously. I picked my first fruit yesterday morning and have harvested ten in the last 24 hours. I've never had another tomato do this.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by fortyonenorth

I'm growing Azoychka this year for the first time. I've read (widely) that it's early - some go as far to say it'll be "...among the first tomato to ripen in your garden."

For me, in Zone 6, it has ripened it's first fruit several weeks after Flamme, Mule Team, and Druzba, among others. It's about tied with Orange Strawberry and Earl of Edgecombe. Is this unusual for this variety?

Another thing that surprised me: it loaded up with fruit and most of them (I'd say easily 70%) have ripened almost simultaneously. I picked my first fruit yesterday morning and have harvested ten in the last 24 hours. I've never had another tomato do this.

Yes, it's an early variety when it's an early variety.

But many years my midseason ones were ripe before the earlies and the late season ones ahead of the mid-season ones.

And that's one of the reasons that folks should pay little attention to DTM's IMO, b'c they're sheer guesstimates.

The primary determinant of how long it should take to get ripe fruits is always the genes, the DNA, but the specific weather in any one season can mess that up pretty badly.

[fortyonenorth]

Thanks for your reply, Carolyn. So, in other words, environmental factors do not affect all varieties in the same way. For example, warmer-than-average weather does not mean that ALL tomatoes will be early.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by fortyonenorth

Thanks for your reply, Carolyn. So, in other words, environmental factors do not affect all varieties in the same way. For example, warmer-than-average weather does not mean that ALL tomatoes will be early.

Correct in that environmental factors do not affect all varieties in the same way. And warmer than average temps doesn't mean that ALL varieties will be earlier.

Let's say I put out Azoychka 5 year in a row. In my experience maybe 3-4 years it will be the early variety it is.

Warmer than normal temps also can mess up things a lot b/c of increased blossom drop, so many varieties have to wait it out until cooler temps and anothe blossom cycle and that delays ripening of varoetoes b'c of delayed pollenization and fruit set.

One last example. I used to grow my tomatoes in a large field in 250 ft long rows. There were several depressions in that field and when we'd have a deluge type rain the plants in those depressions would be under water to one extent or another.

THe soil is waterlogged so no nutrietns OR oxygen can be taken up by the roots. Now some of those varieties will wilt ASAP and go on to have yellow foliage, that foliage turns to brown and the plants die. other varieties may have yellow foliage and hang in there and recover nicely. What's at work is differential transport with the plants of different varieties.

And we also know that's true based on the fact that some varieties are much more prone to BER than others b'c of different transport of Ca++ within the plants aside from all the variables that can help induce BER in general.

Makes sense?

[ddsack]

I always grow one Azoychka plant in a large pot for an early, and it usually starts ripening a tomato shortly after Stupice which I grow in the ground. Not this year. Don't know why, but I've had Sungolds, a couple of Moskvich, a few Black Cherries, and even a Hege's German Pink, but no yellow color yet on the Azoychka greenies. I do think that there are so many variables in soil, site, weather, individual seed/plant vigor etc. that just growing one or two plants per variety doesn't always give a very accurate picture, just your luck of the draw for the season. From past experience, I plan to keep growing Azoychka as an early, even though this year it didn't come through for me as such.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Originally Posted by ddsack

I always grow one Azoychka plant in a large pot for an early, and it usually starts ripening a tomato shortly after Stupice which I grow in the ground. Not this year. Don't know why, but I've had Sungolds, a couple of Moskvich, a few Black Cherries, and even a Hege's German Pink, but no yellow color yet on the Azoychka greenies. I do think that there are so many variables in soil, site, weather, individual seed/plant vigor etc. that just growing one or two plants per variety doesn't always give a very accurate picture, just your luck of the draw for the season. From past experience, I plan to keep growing Azoychka as an early, even though this year it didn't come through for me as such.

How was the Hege ddsack? I just was looking into that one today after seeing some positive posts about it wondering how it tasted grown in Minnesota.

Craig

[fatboy]

1 week after Sungold for me in MN

[ddsack]

Craig, the Hege was delicious! But I suspect it was an aberration for it to be so early. I have one row in which three plants next to each other all stayed short and grew very little while everything around them was shooting up. Two of them, a German Pink and the Hege's German Pink both produced only one big early tomato (just picked the GP today) and only now are the plants themselves starting to catch up in height to the rest in that row and setting more tomatoes. I am looking forward to doing side by side taste tests when the main crop of tomatoes comes in, right now everything tastes wonderful after store-bought. I sure wish it would quit raining for a while though, that can't be helping the flavor. I'll have some Hege seeds I can send you this fall.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Sounds good, you will have to keep us updated as you taste more fruits. I might have to hit you up for seeds in the fall

Craig