Dr. Dester

[Blk_Vegan]

Interesting blog post at the Baker Creek site on the history of the Dester variety and how they acquired it.

http://rareseeds.com/blog/heirloom-t...new-favorites/

[ginger2778]

That was an interesting blog.
I planted out 2 of them Nov 18th, they are now 5 feet tall and only last week they finally put out their first blossoms, so I think they will be a fairly late variety. Good vigorous disease resistant strong plants.
i have had a very bad time with Septoria for some unknown reason this season. Never seen it like this, but it doesn't phase Dester's.
-Marsha

[rnewste]

Marsha,

That is very good news on the Desters. I now have 3 Desters seedlings that are growing well, so I'm really looking foward to trying this variety.

Raybo

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Blk_Vegan

Interesting blog post at the Baker Creek site on the history of the Dester variety and how they acquired it.

http://rareseeds.com/blog/heirloom-t...new-favorites/

But not quite the same background that Jere gave in I think post # 10, or close to It

Anna gave seeds first to Mike, he gave them to SSE where it won two awards in two years, Anna gave seeds to BC after giving them to BC and as Jere said, they never grew them out until after Mike had done so. Anna and Mike were both employees of BC at one time, as Jere also said above

Well, I'm not going to repeat what's been written in this thread already about the background, but that blog just doesn' do it for me.

I think what's important is that Jere realized that using a name of Dr' Dester vs what it was know as two years earlier, could well be confusing so at BC they changed it back to just Dester which was the right thing to do.

Carolyn, who as been getting lots of requests for Dester in her seed offer, which is moving ever so slowly, b;c she totally forgot to ask folks to put the seed age next to a variety name and trying to switch between the boxes with seeds of different ages has not been amusing and taking up LOTS of time.Sigh.

Thanks everyone for a very interesting read. I purchased my Dester seed this past fall from SSE and am really looking forward to growing it this year. I plant six seeds of each variety I grow to produce seedlings. I eliminate the three weakest appearing seedlings after they put on their first true leaves and up pot the remaining three. At plant out, I only plant the strongest one of the three remaining seedlings. I think this year, I will plant out all three of the Dester variety and select the strongest of the three to save seed from. I'm looking forward to watching them grow and tasting the tomato. I'm also looking forward to comments from the people I give the Dester tomato to. If I see a smile on their faces, I will know it is a good tomato.

Raybo, I hope you are doing well after your recent health scare. I'm glad you are planning an aggressive tomato growing season with the Dester's.

Ted