micro-dwarf 2019 trials

[Scooty]

Some observations from growing microdwarfs next to each other in the ground. Preparing notes for future crosses and growouts. These are all the seeds I got from other members: MrBig46, GrowingCoastal, nyrfan, Dapseeds, dfollet from my thread request. Thought this information might be useful for other members.

Measuring fruit diameter, height from base to tip, spread, and notes on staking. Haven't tasted everything yet. Saving tomatoes to do side by side taste.

Andrina .75" fruit, 5" height, 3" spread, need staking
Aztec .75" fruit, 8" height, 5" spread, might need staking
Bajaja (Baby) 1" fruit, 12" height, 18" spread, needs staking
Chibikko 1" fruit, 7" height, 28" spread, no staking
Florida Petit 1.5" fruit, 7" height, 4" spread, no staking
Golden Pearl .5" fruit, 10" height, 3" spread, no staking
Hardin .75" fruit, 7" height, 5" spread, needs staking
Hahms Gelbe Topftomate .75" fruit, 6" height, 4" spread, no staking
Minibel .75" fruit, 10" height, 7" spread, needs staking
Red Robin 1" fruit, 7" height, 3" spread, no staking
Rosy Finch 1" fruit, 8" height, 4" spread, no staking
Pinocchio .75" fruit, 7" height, 6" spread, no staking
Pinocchio Orange .5" fruit, 8" height, 4" spread, no staking

Window Box Roma, 1.25" fruit, 13" height, 6" spread, no staking
Yellow Dwarf .75" fruit, 6" height, 4" spread, needs staking
Yellow Canary 1" fruit, 6" height, 6" spread, may need staking
Yellow Pygmy .75" fruit, 13" height, 7", needs staking
Venus .5" fruit, 8" height, 3" spread, no staking
Vilma 1" fruit, 8" height, 4" spread, no staking

Only major notes are that Chibikko and Bajaja are much bigger than I imagined. Bajaja is squat and very bushy, compact, dense foliage. Chibikko tends to sprawl out very wide. The later seems to get away with no staking, but it's almost vining like an indet. I think everything but these two you might get away with planting two maybe even three in a single 2-4 gallon planter. Chibikko and Bajaja are big enough that they will require a planter to themselves.

Window Box Roma I noticed did really poorly in the cold. I set these out in May but we had a couple of stretches of late cold sub 50 days. WBR was the only one that just didn't bother growing. It starting to grow only once we hit 65.

I also grew out Red Russian, Russian Red, Orange Hat, and Jochalos. I think I mixed up the first two, and the latter two got hit by hail, so that's the next growout. Tormato was kind enough to send over some blacks, and included Microtom, which I grew out as well. It's a bigger plant than I expected, almost as big as some of the DTP 'maters, so I didn't bother including it in my measurements.

[GrowingCoastal]

Interesting indeed! Looking forward to the taste test results.

[Scooty]

I got frustrated last year because my trial growouts ate the literal dirt after a hailstorm and a second later trial was ruined by rabbits (first time ever they went after my maters). Also, I was unable to find my memory card with all the pictures until recently. I must have mixed them up because I discovered the pictures on the memory card for my phone instead of my camera.

Brix
Red Robin - 4.0
Venus - 6.0
Golden Pearl 5.8, 8.0
Hardin - 6.3, 6.9
Pygmy - 6.2
Yellow Canary- 6.6
Andrina - 5.2, tough skin

Golden Pearl - 8.0
Yellow Dwarf - 4.4
Baby 5.4
Chibikko - 6.9
Rosy Finch - 4.8

I think of the reds, Hardin is probably my favorite. It retains more tomatoy taste. We had excess rain last year when I did these growouts outside, so I wasn't able to prevent some of them from tasting watered down. Baby was extremely prolific with its fruit, good, but very mild flavor. Hardin held up much better even with so much rain. Golden Pearl was the same story. Brix jumped to 8.0 as soon as there was a stretch of dry clear weather.

[imp]

Wow, a lot of good information there, Scooty! Thank you for posting both the height and spread as well as if they needed a stake.

[Nan_PA_6b]

My family also likes the taste of Hardin's. Bajaja was a joy to behold here. SO prolific! It pumped them out for about 1 month, with good taste.

[Jayc]

Lots of great info thanks. I've just started several of the varieties you mention so good to have more of an idea of their size and brix level.

[nyrfan]

Great info! Thanks for the acknowledgement. Glad to have helped.


P.S. - Esmerelda Golosina (from your 2019 melon, mater offer) was great. I'll be growing it again this year.

[GrowingCoastal]

Rabbits and hail! What can you do but grow on.

[Hatgirl]

That's an impressive amount of work, Scooty! Harden gets bumped up my To Try list based on your review.

From your list, I have also grown Bajaja, Chibikko, Minibel, Red Robin, and Yellow Canary.

Here are my notes for them, if you're interested. They were all grown indoors in 8inch pots with LED lights supplementing natural daylight. If they needed support I would add a 1ft, three ring support to the pot. I usually grew at least two of each variety. I like tomatoes with a high proportion of gel rather than flesh, so my notes tend to highlight that.

• Bajaja - Grows well in 7inch pot, and manages in a 5inch pot. Upright plant 1ft by 0.5ft , OK without support. 0.5oz / 15g red fruits. Tasty, sweet, lots of gel. I would grow it again
• Chibbiko - 18 inches tall. Needed support to stay contained. Red fruit with an unusual almost musky taste, that I didn't enjoy but others did. I might grow again it again for someone else.
• Minibel - was initially extremely small with no branching, then after a long time suddenly doubled in height (2 plants, same pattern). Bright red round fruit. Nice amount of gel and some flesh (nice) and nice flavour. 14g (0.5oz) to 23g (0.8oz). I would grow it again
• Red Robin: Compact plant with very tasty fruit. I would grow it again
• Yellow Canary - Needed support for weight of fruit. 1ft. Yellow fruit, mediocre flavour but decent amount of gel. I would grow it again