Icicle Series from BC, What's up

[roper2008]

I bought the seeds of 4 different icicle series, but none of them made it
on my grow list for this year. Maybe I'll try to get a least one for 2012.

[swamper]

pink icicle was very bland tasting for me this year.

[austinnhanasmom]

I grew black, orange and pink and want my money back!

Nasty nasty nasty in my 2011 garden.

Sick plants and flavorless fruit. Maybe the arid, hot climate was bad for them.

[kath]

Originally Posted by austinnhanasmom

I grew black, orange and pink and want my money back!

Nasty nasty nasty in my 2011 garden.

Sick plants and flavorless fruit. Maybe the arid, hot climate was bad for them.

Uh-oh, black, orange and yellow just arrived today from a seed trade.

[austinnhanasmom]

I was SO excited for these, perhaps they just don't like my climate.

I coddle the seedlings when indoors. Once outside, however, it's heat and full sun and neglect. I plant deeply, mulch heavily and feed sparingly. The dripline waters deeply on an occasional basis, 2-3 times per week, and the tomatoes that dislike this seem to HATE me. When it's really hot, I'll water a bit more frequently, but the icicle series looked bad from the start.


Fingered crossed for Kath!!

Originally Posted by kath

Uh-oh, black, orange and yellow just arrived today from a seed trade.

[swamper]

Many growers like austinhana... may dislike wispy vines. That is a genetic trait that may cause problems in some climates. For me that's not a deal breaker. But lack of flavor, as I found in pink icicle, is.

[travis]

Originally Posted by austinnhanasmom

I grew black, orange and pink and want my money back! Nasty nasty nasty in my 2011 garden. Sick plants and flavorless fruit. Maybe the arid, hot climate was bad for them.

Not too many rave reviews.

Fred, did you grow your Baker Creek icicles out and find anything worthwhile?

I grew Blush this year, and while it did not produce 3 - 4 ounce icicles, as these Russion ones supposedly do, Blush was right tasty and quite an attractive bicolor icicle. The plants loaded up too. I have two right now that are covered up with tomatoes.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by travis

Not too many rave reviews.

Fred, did you grow your Baker Creek icicles out and find anything worthwhile?

I grew Blush this year, and while it did not produce 3 - 4 ounce icicles, as these Russion ones supposedly do, Blush was right tasty and quite an attractive bicolor icicle. The plants loaded up too. I have two right now that are covered up with tomatoes.

Now you've got me confused Travis b'c I grew Blush and Maglia Rose this year and both were bred by Fred Hempel in CA and both were great producers and both were long ovals, not so called icicles, not even malformed icicles, , and when the fruits were completely ripe I liked the taste of both of them. And bi-color for Blush? I thought I saw more than two colors on the exterior, kinda stripey looking and yes, I had my glasses on.

[Tania]

Originally Posted by travis

Not too many rave reviews.

I would not have expected any rave reviews for tomatoes of that shape that came as a 'novelty' from the Eastern Europe.

But I was curious about the White Icicle (because of its color and shape combination) and the Black Icicle (because it was recently bred/selected by a Ukrainian tomato breeder Denis Terentiev, and I wanted to see how similar it was to Purple Russian)

[travis]

Well Carolyn, I thought Blush looked like those pretty little icicle Christmas tree lights, long, slender, pointed at the tip, bright colored, almost twinkly in the sunlight. Very attractive. Yes, yellow streaked with red, but not gs stripes, interior streaks under the skin. So, bicolored pericarp the way I see it. One plant had fruit that was nearly all yellow while others had more red streaks.

[Fred Hempel]

Travis and Carolyn,

Blush is a bi-color with yellow stripes that are faint, unless the red marbling shows.

Although it is a bi-color, under many environmental situations the marbling is faint if it is there at all. We get more "blush" when plants are drying down at the end of the season.

The icicle series is much bigger, and more paste. Blush is really a long cherry tomato.

I have not had time to evaluate the icicle series myself, but since I had a bunch of crates of it today, I took pink icicle to a chef. He is going to evaluate it with another sweet paste tomato that I bred.

Pink Icicle was very productive. I am going to try to use it as a paste too -- but right off it seems a bit delicate and sweet for standard tomato sauces.

Originally Posted by travis

Well Carolyn, I thought Blush looked like those pretty little icicle Christmas tree lights, long, slender, pointed at the tip, bright colored, almost twinkly in the sunlight. Very attractive. Yes, yellow streaked with red, but not gs stripes, interior streaks under the skin. So, bicolored pericarp the way I see it. One plant had fruit that was nearly all yellow while others had more red streaks.