Floridity? - Page 3

**carolyn137** · May 16, 2011

Oh, I love heirloom tomatoes, until a customer asks if we have all heirlooms and I state that they are mostly heirlooms or bred from heirlooms (which kinda applies to everything, when you think about it). Some walk away when we don't meet the "all-heirloom" test. Others walk away (softly cursing) when they find out we occasionally stoop to selling hybrids (Momotaro this year).

*****

Fred, you gave me the laugh I needed today when you said you failed the "all-heirloom" test.

And hybrids aside why don't you offer up some red and yellow currant varieties with maybe a dash of S.cheesmanii thrown in, and tell them THERE, those are heirlooms, straight from South America where tomatoes first originated thousands of years ago. And as long as they don't realize that there are many different attempted definitions of what an heirloom tomato is, and no consensus, you're home free.

FarmerShawn · December 14, 2011

I grew Blush this year, and this was also my first year selling at a local farmers market. When I had a bunch of blush and other cherries and grapes left over after market, I dried some, and WOW! That fruity flavor really came through - some likened it to dried apricots! Sounds strange, but some folks I shared them with said that for a snack, those dried Blush tomatoes were their favorite. I ended up wishing I had grown more, just so I could dry more of them. I certainly plan to grow a bunch more this year!
Shawn

Fred Hempel · December 15, 2011

Interesting Shawn,

We were underwhelmed by dried Maglia Rosa, but it looks like we need to try Blush dried.

How did you end up drying them? Did anyone find the dried Blush too sweet?

FarmerShawn · December 15, 2011

I simply cut them in half, arranged them cut side up on the dehydrator's trays, and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt. I also dried some grape tomatoes (wonderful, five star grape, I think) and some sungolds (surprisingly disappointing for snacking). Everyone who tried the Blush loved them.

Fred Hempel · December 16, 2011

Very interesting that you found Blush good for drying. I assumed it would not be that great for drying because we had previously found Maglia Rosa (like Sungold) to be mediocre dried, as they develop an unpleasant over-ripe flavor.

travis · December 16, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Oh, I love heirloom tomatoes, until a customer asks if we have all heirlooms and I state that they are mostly heirlooms or bred from heirlooms (which kinda applies to everything, when you think about it). Some walk away when we don't meet the "all-heirloom" test. Others walk away (softly cursing) when they find out we occasionally stoop to selling hybrids (Momotaro this year).

*****

Fred, you gave me the laugh I needed today when you said you failed the "all-heirloom" test.

And hybrids aside why don't you offer up some red and yellow currant varieties with maybe a dash of S.cheesmanii thrown in, and tell them THERE, those are heirlooms, straight from South America where tomatoes first originated thousands of years ago. And as long as they don't realize that there are many different attempted definitions of what an heirloom tomato is, and no consensus, you're home free.

Fred, whether they accept it or not, fact is most people wouldn't be growing tomatoes at all unless they either live in a totally disease free and perfect micro-climate, or if like the rest of us they are growing "heirlooms" that survive only because at some point in distant or recent history they were outcrossed to wild varieties in order to obtain resistances.

Since you can usually smell from half a mile away the type of tomato snooties that turn their noses up at the slightest divergence from pure heirloomity, why not cast aside your ethics and lie to those fools.

FarmerShawn · December 17, 2011

Fred, the other thing I love about the Blush tomatoes is that they, along with the Juliets, just kept on producing while all the others succumbed to my usual late season blight and disease. I call them pretty bulletproof - at least this year, in my garden. Thanks for creating them!

zipcode · June 12, 2017

I'm bumping this thread since there isn't much info added anymore about how pleased were people with this variety.
Good growth, nothing particularly vigourous or weak, and I think this can take prizes for worst production in a tomato plant. 8-12 fruits per truss in a cherry tomato for a plant with this large leaves is astonishing. Even Sungold does 20+ easily. I have 4 trusses until now and no multiflora style trusses like pretty much all hybrid cherries yet. I hope they will get bigger than advertised in this case. Growing one stem is a problem, but the thing is that with multiple stems this will become a massive bush. Leaves are 2-3 time larger than on Galina (the only tomato I allow more trusses to).
Seeds are nowadays somewhat cheap, and if you are in Asia they are actually dirt cheap, about 3 cent per seed. (less than buying op seeds here).
Still 3-4 weeks left till I can taste one, let's see what the fuss is about.
Rosada, also made by KnownYou in Taiwan was pretty gosh darnoodley productive a few years ago with 30-40 per truss no problem. I found them to be too sweet though, and this is supposed to have also high acidity.

Here is a picture of mine like a week ago or so:

clkeiper · June 12, 2017

I have never heard of them... so thanks for bumping this.

zipcode · July 3, 2017

Same truss, 4 weeks later.
Can't wait to try it. One thing I can say is that it sets well, and has a very vigurous upper growth. So probably one you need to continuously feed, and 'lean and lower', and might get decent production, but I can see this growing to incredible heights.

Gardeneer · July 3, 2017

The fruits look exactly like Juliet that I have in my garden right now.

zipcode · August 7, 2017

Well, after this time I think I can make a fair review. It was the first to ripen on my balcony, so it is early.
Leaves are long, droopy and twisted, but not quite wispy. Fruit size is quite consistent, due to fairly low fruit number per truss (12-20 usually). Weight is about 15-18 grams. Skin is thinner than many other grapes I tried. Didn't have a problem with splitting, but this is not a big problem here.
Pros: taste is good, more acidic than other grapes I've tried, which is something I like, but the taste is not particularly strong. It has the same flavour profile as all newly developed grape types, like Tomatoberry for example.
Cons: production. It has good vigour going up (extremely tall plant), sets very well, but the low number of fruit per truss makes it rather shy producer, compared to F2s from store bought grapes. Tomatoberry outproduces it at least 2:1.
Well, that's about it. I can certainly recommend it for people who have been looking in vain for a less sweet grape tomato.

May 16, 2011	#31
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Oh, I love heirloom tomatoes, until a customer asks if we have all heirlooms and I state that they are mostly heirlooms or bred from heirlooms (which kinda applies to everything, when you think about it). Some walk away when we don't meet the "all-heirloom" test. Others walk away (softly cursing) when they find out we occasionally stoop to selling hybrids (Momotaro this year). ***** Fred, you gave me the laugh I needed today when you said you failed the "all-heirloom" test. And hybrids aside why don't you offer up some red and yellow currant varieties with maybe a dash of S.cheesmanii thrown in, and tell them THERE, those are heirlooms, straight from South America where tomatoes first originated thousands of years ago. And as long as they don't realize that there are many different attempted definitions of what an heirloom tomato is, and no consensus, you're home free. __________________ Carolyn

June 12, 2017	#39
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	I have never heard of them... so thanks for bumping this. __________________ carolyn k

July 3, 2017	#41
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,919	The fruits look exactly like Juliet that I have in my garden right now. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening !

December 14, 2011	#32
FarmerShawn Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Vermont Posts: 1,001	I grew Blush this year, and this was also my first year selling at a local farmers market. When I had a bunch of blush and other cherries and grapes left over after market, I dried some, and WOW! That fruity flavor really came through - some likened it to dried apricots! Sounds strange, but some folks I shared them with said that for a snack, those dried Blush tomatoes were their favorite. I ended up wishing I had grown more, just so I could dry more of them. I certainly plan to grow a bunch more this year! Shawn

December 15, 2011	#33
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	Interesting Shawn, We were underwhelmed by dried Maglia Rosa, but it looks like we need to try Blush dried. How did you end up drying them? Did anyone find the dried Blush too sweet?

December 16, 2011	#35
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	Very interesting that you found Blush good for drying. I assumed it would not be that great for drying because we had previously found Maglia Rosa (like Sungold) to be mediocre dried, as they develop an unpleasant over-ripe flavor.

December 17, 2011	#37
FarmerShawn Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Vermont Posts: 1,001	Fred, the other thing I love about the Blush tomatoes is that they, along with the Juliets, just kept on producing while all the others succumbed to my usual late season blight and disease. I call them pretty bulletproof - at least this year, in my garden. Thanks for creating them!

August 7, 2017	#42
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	Well, after this time I think I can make a fair review. It was the first to ripen on my balcony, so it is early. Leaves are long, droopy and twisted, but not quite wispy. Fruit size is quite consistent, due to fairly low fruit number per truss (12-20 usually). Weight is about 15-18 grams. Skin is thinner than many other grapes I tried. Didn't have a problem with splitting, but this is not a big problem here. Pros: taste is good, more acidic than other grapes I've tried, which is something I like, but the taste is not particularly strong. It has the same flavour profile as all newly developed grape types, like Tomatoberry for example. Cons: production. It has good vigour going up (extremely tall plant), sets very well, but the low number of fruit per truss makes it rather shy producer, compared to F2s from store bought grapes. Tomatoberry outproduces it at least 2:1. Well, that's about it. I can certainly recommend it for people who have been looking in vain for a less sweet grape tomato.