Tomatoes for Alaska,

[Worth1]

I have a work mate that wants me to bring him some tomato seeds of the open pollinated type or, “weird tomatoes” is his exact words.
He lives in Wasilla Alaska and I would like to know of some varieties that would grow well there.
I have planned on bringing him some early season seeds but would like to know of some that have been successful to others in this part of the north.
He does have a green house and has grown tomatoes from seed; he would just like to try some of the ones that aren’t offered in the store.

Thanks in advance,

Worth

[grungy]

Hi Worth,
While I don't live in Alaska, I did live in Northern Canada, and I can think of a couple of varieties he should try. If you like you can contact me, mention Bursztyn in the note and give me your address where you would like the tomato seeds sent and I can see what we can do.
Cheers,
Val aka grungy

[Tomstrees]

Worth,

From one of my gardening books:

USDA Zone 3 / Anchorage Alaska /
Jeff Lowenfels garden columist for
the garden section of the Anchorage Daily News
(at the time this book was written - 1997) suggests:

Sub Artic 25 (relaible producer for Alaska)
Siberia (sets fruit @ 38 degrees)
Glacier (good flavor for early variety)
Early Tanana (Alaskan Tomato medium fruits/poited tips)
Wilamette Pink Cherry (First of the season - low acid)

Hope this helps TX bud ~
Stay warm ...

Tom

[missionrandy]

Worth,

Moskvich, Stupice, Siberian, Glacier, Zogola and Black from Tula will work in the Pan Handle of Alaska, so will many others... If a greenhouse is used it expands the list even more! Further north in a greenhouse, the first four will provide lots of success.

Randy

[akgardengirl]

Worth,
Randy's suggestions are good. Most of the determinates do well here. I go with mostly early season tomatoes since I grow outdoors only. Andrey's seeds for Belarus would work here, the early ones. Sherry of Wasilla has a greenhouse and she'd be the one to give you a reliable list. Last year, everything was crummy as your friend knows. I plan on starting some seeds soon. If you would like a sampler to give your friend, pm me.

Sue

[Worth1]

Thanks everyone for the kind response, as for seed I have enough here so I wont be needing any.
I will be going back to Alaska this Wednesday so even if I had responded earlier they would not make it to me in time. ((((He wants the seeds NOW)))))).

Here they are,
Black from Tula
Black cherry,
Orange banana,
Copia,
Zogola,
Gregori’s Alti,
Old German,
Sausage,
Paul Robeson,
Costoluto Genovese,

Wish him luck.

Worth

[missionrandy]

Worth,

Black from Tula was started in January last year as a test germination.

Received very high germination ratio, got the seedlings to 4" tall under lights. Placed them in my cold frame at the begining of March. Thought nothing of it, I just didn't wish to kil the plants... Two weeks later I visted the cold frame to clean out for spring planting, and was amazed the plants were still alive and healthy.

Two more weeks passed, and noticed the plants had gotten twice the size and three times the width. The stems were very thick for that size too... Decided to place them right into the main garden in Mid-April, where they thrived!

Usually I start this variety in March, not January! Nice to know they can handle the cool weather of early spring up here in the PacificNorthWest. Try that with most other tomato's, and watch them fade away!

Randy

[TomatoDon]

Mark Feron's Snowbank Blush. An extremely rare OP from unknown origin, perhaps the Ukraine, perhaps not. It has been photographed growing in snow with Bigfoot nearby. We saw it here first. We have photographic evidence. However, we do not have seed.



Don

[Worth1]

I remember that snow bank tomato.
I was supposed to get seeds but never did.

Worth

[Grub]

LOL. The Yeti.

I reckon if you can grow maters in Alaska I can grow 'em year round.

[Andrey_BY]

There was one Russian gardener (P.Y. Saraev) from town Orenburg who developed a bunch of very cold tolerant tomato varieties which can survive several short-term light frosts (not below than - 10 C) :wink:

There is an entry for one of his varieties (0-33) in SSE Yearbook. Another two varieties (Spiridonovskiy and Kemerovets) I'm gonna grow in 2007 for the first year.

Now I'm trying to find other Saraev varieties like Orenburzhets, Sibiryak, M-16, I-3, Gruntovye-1, Vesennie Zamorozki, Stoykiy, Stepnyak-50.

[barkeater]

I can add Bloody Butcher to that list of a great, cold tolerant early tomato.

Although a beefsteak, Polish is supposed to be cold tolerant, and ripened midseason here.

[Sherry_AK]

Hi, Worth. I live in Wasilla and, as Sue mentioned, I have a greenhouse. (My neighbor has a greenhouse and works on the Slope ... it would be funny if it's him you're talking about!)

In my greenhouse I've grown Stupice, Bloody Butcher, Black Cherry, Gregori's Altai (this one does better for me outdoors), Azoychka (also better out of the g/house), Silvery Fir Tree and others. Although not OP, I always grow Lemon Boy in the greenhouse too. We really enjoy that one.

There are many others which don't come to mind at 5:30 a.m., but this is a start.

Sherry

[Worth1]

Sherry Is his name Steve?

Worth

[Sherry_AK]

Nope, it's Wes. Wes and I swap plants and seeds every year. He's a great guy. (And I'm sure Steve's a great guy too ... after all, he loves tomatoes, right?)

Sherry