Pruden's Purple ? Need advice please

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by jillian

I am so happy to report that I just discovered 3 baby fruits on the PP. Also there is a suckers growing from bottom so I will leave it. Thank you all so much for the replies! I will keep updated on the progress.

I had to check, my PP seeds came from Tradewindsfruit.

Hopefully all the flowers will produce, I am very hopeful. You guys are wonderful, thanks again.

If yours end up not as good as you wish, pm me and I will send you some of my seeds, mine is wonderful.

[jillian]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

If yours end up not as good as you wish, pm me and I will send you some of my seeds, mine is wonderful.

Will do Marsha, thank you!

[JosephineRose]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

PPP's are a late producer. If you have time to wait then they are great. But if you get diseases or early/late frosts, then they won't yield for you.

That certainly has been my experience. This is my first year growing it, and 97 days from transplant I am now getting massive fruit production on two stems. I had some pest trouble early, and I thought I would lose the plant because nothing was producing, and all of a sudden, I have multiple trusses of huge fruit approaching what must be 2 lbs each. This one alone has four enormous fruits that are just starting to blush.



Really looking forward to these.

[b54red]

I really think PP likes the heat. One of the plants I set out on June 19th has already produced a nice medium sized ripe fruit early last week even ahead of ISPL. The ISPL plant has more fruit but PP is second only to it in the number of fruits set so far on those plants set out past mid June. Nothing else has produced a ripe fruit but it won't be long for some of them. It and Limbaugh's Legacy and Frank's Large Red are the only pink beefsteak varieties that I can usually count on to produce in the mid and late summer heat down here. There are a lot of reds and blacks that do fine to great in the summer heat but finding a dependable pink is a trick. I actually set out a small bed of tomatoes this past weekend for fall production. I don't know if they will have time to produce much but I like trying and continuing to experiment with different varieties at different set out dates.

Bill

[MissS]

I too am wondering if you have the right plant. PP is certainly not known for having such large fruit. The fruit size is a medium slicer. Now I am quite curious to see what becomes of these tomatoes.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by MissS

I too am wondering if you have the right plant. PP is certainly not known for having such large fruit. The fruit size is a medium slicer. Now I am quite curious to see what becomes of these tomatoes.

I sometimes get a large tomato but rarely over a pound though I have a few times. With its heavy fruit set PP tends to have medium sized or even smaller tomatoes but I guess with a very small fruit set you will get more big ones.

Bill

[JosephineRose]

Originally Posted by MissS

I too am wondering if you have the right plant. PP is certainly not known for having such large fruit. The fruit size is a medium slicer. Now I am quite curious to see what becomes of these tomatoes.

Interesting. Now I am too!

Seed source was Baker Creek. It's in an Earthbox, and there are only 7 tomatoes on the plant right now, as I severely pruned, so maybe that's it? I will say all of my plants have been producing exceptionally large fruit this season. GGWT, Sart Roloise, Lithium Sunset and Pruden's are all producing fruit in the 1 lb or more range. My Margaret Curtains have been close to that too. The Lithium Sunsets are just starting to blush but I can see the size on the vine. Similar clusters of four or so huge fruits. It's really been something.

Our weather has been exceptional this year. High 70s-low 80s starting in May and lots of sun with very little fog until this week. An unusual pattern for us, and my Earthboxes are on pavement, which reflects more heat. Could this be the very good fortunes of the right conditions coming together?

I had a smaller cat faced fruit on the PP a few weeks ago that fit the medium slicer profile, just as all these were starting to set. I've also been supplementing with organic fertilizer down the hole once a month, and the snack every ten days or so. This picture is from this morning and is of the first of the seven to come ripe, and I picked this a little early to avoid bottom cracking (which has been an issue with all these large fruits as they come ripe):



That giant cluster of four PPs remains in its sling to ripen. I'll keep you posted and take another picture of this one as it comes ripe. It's grocery store ripe right now, and a little too firm for me.

[JosephineRose]

So the cluster of four was harvested yesterday. Here are the results:









As a comparison, here are the Lithium Sunset tomatoes harvested at first blush the same day. Also massive. Should they be?

[jillian]

I wasn't very impressed with PP. The plant did eventually set fruit nicely, and I had some large ones as well. But, of all the varieties I grew this year PP was the only one that split, nearly every tomato. The last ones I picked early to prevent it. Taste was so so. I pulled the last tomato today and there are no flowers so it will be the first plant I pull out.

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by JosephineRose

So the cluster of four was harvested yesterday. Here are the results:









As a comparison, here are the Lithium Sunset tomatoes harvested at first blush the same day. Also massive. Should they be?

Wow those are beautiful, and massive for sure! I can't answer for PP, but my largest Lithium Sunset was about 1 lb. It looks to me like you had your soil just right!

[Gardeneer]

I love IS PL.
My first plant ( 3/22/17 plant out) still producing.
My second plant ( started from cutting about June 1st ) is also having ripe tomatoes and setting..
My PP is also producing but not like IS-PL
Our weather probably does not get as hot like in Alabama( where Bill is ) or like Dallas, TX but its quite hot. Besides , my garden get direct sun all day, with no shade.
Just today's high was about 95F.
So PP and IS-PL are winners in my garden.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by MissS

I too am wondering if you have the right plant. PP is certainly not known for having such large fruit. The fruit size is a medium slicer. Now I am quite curious to see what becomes of these tomatoes.

PP is a great example of a tomato that dramatically increases fruit size when suckers are pruned. You'll get less, but bigger fruit.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by jillian

I wasn't very impressed with PP. The plant did eventually set fruit nicely, and I had some large ones as well. But, of all the varieties I grew this year PP was the only one that split, nearly every tomato. The last ones I picked early to prevent it. Taste was so so. I pulled the last tomato today and there are no flowers so it will be the first plant I pull out.

That doesn't sound like Pruden's Purple to me. They are one of the plants that will still produce usable fruit when it rains too much. They will get some splits but not like most of the others. Some others that for me are less prone to splitting are Delicious, Red Barn, Franks Large Red, and Neves Azorean Red. A lot of the black varieties are splitting machines with too much rain as well as some of the great tasting pink beefsteaks.

Bill

[jtjmartin]

My Pruden's Purple was the largest, stockiest plant in the garden early in the year. The fruit was very good and fairly productive.

ISPL was definitely the biggest producer in my garden - it seems like the plants always had some tomatoes ready to go.

I'm very impressed with Red Barn too.