I think I'm going no-till - Page 14

Cole_Robbie · June 19, 2016

To be fair to the Sweet Cranberry, I ate a Cyril's Choice in the garden yesterday, and despite it being one of my favorite varieties from last year, it was not good at all.

Both varieties tasted mealy, and it reminds me of the way the very last tomatoes of the year taste, when the nights start getting down into the 40's. When these fruit were forming in May, I had a lot of cold wet nights in the low 50's.

The high tunnel, despite being planted at nearly the same time, is thankfully not having the same flavor problems. It's unheated, so the night temps were the same, but the plants were a lot warmer in the daytime and not wet at night.

bower · June 19, 2016

It is certainly a challenge to find varieties that the fruit quality doesn't suffer in cold weather. I have a few lines I'm working on that were superb in the nasty weather last year, much to my surprise. If I can get some basic traits stabilized I'd be happy to share seeds in the future.
One trick you should try with the fruit that are not living up to expectations, pick them at the first blush and let them finish ripening at room temperature (65-70 F). I don't know if that's a cure for mealiness or not (nothing mealy survives the cut here I can't stand it) but I read about this as a way to get the best flavour from tomatoes subject to chills. It seemed to work for some, but not all, of the fruit I was growing last year. Some just don't get any better.

Cole_Robbie · June 20, 2016

The flavor of that Sweet Cranberry is improving dramatically. I keep eating them in the garden. Today, I actually did not spit it out, so it passed the test of being good enough to keep.

A lot of my plants have a little blight or fungal issues. I have been busy spraying for whiteflies (I sprayed Spinosad for the first time tonight), so I have not sprayed anything anti-fungal. Part of me doesn't mind if I lose a few plants, as I want to select the varieties that do the best with minimal spraying.

You can see a little of that fungal problem in the pic I just took of New Big Dwarf: http://i.imgur.com/3qPeBbS.jpg

But holy cow, look at that fruitset! And that's using almost zero fertilizer. The land my ridge of cow field dirt is placed on is virtually worthless for tomatoes. The plant had a light sprinkling of osmocote in the root ball. I did trying using my fertilizer injector about three times, but burnt everything even with a light dose, and had to quit. I've only been injecting molasses. Part of my whitefly spray includes a light dose of seaweed. But all of that adds up to only a very tiny dose of fertilizer. I am finding that soil-building can turn traditional concepts of fertilization on their collective heads.

Lindalana · June 21, 2016

Wow, really impressive yield! Love reading this post!

Cole_Robbie · June 24, 2016

New Big Dwarf is delicious. I just tried my first one.

Sweet Adelaide was not as good, but I am saving seeds anyway, just in case later fruit are better. The one I ate may have caught some mealiness from the cold spring. But the NBD grew right next to it and did not.

Cole_Robbie · June 24, 2016

I misspoke about New Big Dwarf above, regarding that picture, because it is actually "Tsar's Royal Gift" in the pic, and not NBD. Yield is still good with NBD; I like it a lot.

My Black Hole Sun is more cherry-sized than saladette. It really just looks and tastes like Black Cherry.

I also ate a Bola Maciza, and it was excellent. It is a dark red saladette.

Coastal Pride Orange is pretty good. Letting it get very ripe is the trick. I'm still having a hard time telling it apart from Qiyanai Huang.

My Big Green Dwarf fruit turn yellow when ripe. The first one wasn't that impressive.

I really liked Sweet Sue last year, but this year, I am getting very poor fruit set, low yield, and fungal issues.

I'm starting to get a little BER in a few plants from not watering enough. It has not rained here in about three weeks. I'm trying to run the drip irrigation only as little as I need to. 20-30 minutes is not enough when the weather is hot. I've started running it for at least an hour on hot days. If I run it too much, the tomatoes crack, and can taste watered-down. I use about 270 gallons per hour.

Cole_Robbie · June 26, 2016

I've only picked one Perth Pride, but it was delicious. It rivals Tasmanian Chocolate in regard to flavor.

Cole_Robbie · June 27, 2016

Zebra Rita: http://i.imgur.com/KyNZroD.jpg

Gargamel: http://i.imgur.com/d9BJThL.jpg

Cole_Robbie · June 28, 2016

I just tried one of these:
http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Wherokowhai

It's the best bi-color I have tasted since Lucky Cross, which makes sense, since it is basically Dwarf Lucky Cross. That's what I am going to have to call it, because no one can pronounce the name it was given.

Lindalana · June 28, 2016

Love Perth Pride! Hmm, Wherekowhai was rather late for me

bower · June 28, 2016

Cole you're making me insanely jealous, such an amazing variety... keep it up!

Cole_Robbie · June 29, 2016

Thanks.

On a whim, I just peeled and cubed one very ripe Qiyanai Huang, which is an orange tomato, then added two heaping spoons of cane sugar, a shot of everclear, a handful of ice, and then blended it with a stick blender.

It looks, and even kind of tastes a little like a mango daiquiri. It's really good. Next time, I'm going to try to take the seeds out of the tomato first, though.

Gerardo · June 29, 2016

Cool you get to try some varieties with little rain in the picture.

Gonna give Perth Pride a shot.

Cole_Robbie · June 30, 2016

Dwarf Pink Passion was not bad, but it's a mild pink as far as flavor goes. I don't think I will save seeds, as mild pinks are not my thing.

I was skeptical about how Gargamel would taste, having Violet Jasper flashbacks, perhaps, but it is actually quite good. It has a nice, red tomato flavor. I'm waiting to see how well the plant yields before I grow it again. If yield is halfway decent, I probably will invite it back.

Zebra Rita was also very good. I never tried Green Zebra, but I had Red Zebra, and it was too firm and too tart. Zebra Rita's tartness is very mild, balanced with a light sweetness, very juicy. I wouldn't call it amazing, but it is very good. I saved seeds and will grow it again.

Cole_Robbie · July 1, 2016

Big Green Dwarf tastes good, if I let it turn yellow, but I am yet to get any marketable fruit out of the plant. They have all been too ugly.

Sweet Sue and Mr Snow are both delicious, but as of yet, I am unable to tell them apart.

Also, the huge-producer dwarf, Tsar's Royal Gift, was a letdown flavor-wise. I'm not growing it again.

July 1, 2016	#210
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Big Green Dwarf tastes good, if I let it turn yellow, but I am yet to get any marketable fruit out of the plant. They have all been too ugly. Sweet Sue and Mr Snow are both delicious, but as of yet, I am unable to tell them apart. Also, the huge-producer dwarf, Tsar's Royal Gift, was a letdown flavor-wise. I'm not growing it again. Last edited by Cole_Robbie; July 1, 2016 at 04:43 PM.

June 19, 2016	#196
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	To be fair to the Sweet Cranberry, I ate a Cyril's Choice in the garden yesterday, and despite it being one of my favorite varieties from last year, it was not good at all. Both varieties tasted mealy, and it reminds me of the way the very last tomatoes of the year taste, when the nights start getting down into the 40's. When these fruit were forming in May, I had a lot of cold wet nights in the low 50's. The high tunnel, despite being planted at nearly the same time, is thankfully not having the same flavor problems. It's unheated, so the night temps were the same, but the plants were a lot warmer in the daytime and not wet at night.

June 19, 2016	#197
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	It is certainly a challenge to find varieties that the fruit quality doesn't suffer in cold weather. I have a few lines I'm working on that were superb in the nasty weather last year, much to my surprise. If I can get some basic traits stabilized I'd be happy to share seeds in the future. One trick you should try with the fruit that are not living up to expectations, pick them at the first blush and let them finish ripening at room temperature (65-70 F). I don't know if that's a cure for mealiness or not (nothing mealy survives the cut here I can't stand it) but I read about this as a way to get the best flavour from tomatoes subject to chills. It seemed to work for some, but not all, of the fruit I was growing last year. Some just don't get any better.

June 20, 2016	#198
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	The flavor of that Sweet Cranberry is improving dramatically. I keep eating them in the garden. Today, I actually did not spit it out, so it passed the test of being good enough to keep. A lot of my plants have a little blight or fungal issues. I have been busy spraying for whiteflies (I sprayed Spinosad for the first time tonight), so I have not sprayed anything anti-fungal. Part of me doesn't mind if I lose a few plants, as I want to select the varieties that do the best with minimal spraying. You can see a little of that fungal problem in the pic I just took of New Big Dwarf: http://i.imgur.com/3qPeBbS.jpg But holy cow, look at that fruitset! And that's using almost zero fertilizer. The land my ridge of cow field dirt is placed on is virtually worthless for tomatoes. The plant had a light sprinkling of osmocote in the root ball. I did trying using my fertilizer injector about three times, but burnt everything even with a light dose, and had to quit. I've only been injecting molasses. Part of my whitefly spray includes a light dose of seaweed. But all of that adds up to only a very tiny dose of fertilizer. I am finding that soil-building can turn traditional concepts of fertilization on their collective heads.

June 21, 2016	#199
Lindalana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 857	Wow, really impressive yield! Love reading this post!

June 24, 2016	#200
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	New Big Dwarf is delicious. I just tried my first one. Sweet Adelaide was not as good, but I am saving seeds anyway, just in case later fruit are better. The one I ate may have caught some mealiness from the cold spring. But the NBD grew right next to it and did not.

June 24, 2016	#201
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I misspoke about New Big Dwarf above, regarding that picture, because it is actually "Tsar's Royal Gift" in the pic, and not NBD. Yield is still good with NBD; I like it a lot. My Black Hole Sun is more cherry-sized than saladette. It really just looks and tastes like Black Cherry. I also ate a Bola Maciza, and it was excellent. It is a dark red saladette. Coastal Pride Orange is pretty good. Letting it get very ripe is the trick. I'm still having a hard time telling it apart from Qiyanai Huang. My Big Green Dwarf fruit turn yellow when ripe. The first one wasn't that impressive. I really liked Sweet Sue last year, but this year, I am getting very poor fruit set, low yield, and fungal issues. I'm starting to get a little BER in a few plants from not watering enough. It has not rained here in about three weeks. I'm trying to run the drip irrigation only as little as I need to. 20-30 minutes is not enough when the weather is hot. I've started running it for at least an hour on hot days. If I run it too much, the tomatoes crack, and can taste watered-down. I use about 270 gallons per hour.

June 26, 2016	#202
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I've only picked one Perth Pride, but it was delicious. It rivals Tasmanian Chocolate in regard to flavor.

June 27, 2016	#203
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Zebra Rita: http://i.imgur.com/KyNZroD.jpg Gargamel: http://i.imgur.com/d9BJThL.jpg

June 28, 2016	#204
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I just tried one of these: http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Wherokowhai It's the best bi-color I have tasted since Lucky Cross, which makes sense, since it is basically Dwarf Lucky Cross. That's what I am going to have to call it, because no one can pronounce the name it was given.

June 28, 2016	#205
Lindalana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 857	Love Perth Pride! Hmm, Wherekowhai was rather late for me

June 28, 2016	#206
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Cole you're making me insanely jealous, such an amazing variety... keep it up!

June 29, 2016	#207
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Thanks. On a whim, I just peeled and cubed one very ripe Qiyanai Huang, which is an orange tomato, then added two heaping spoons of cane sugar, a shot of everclear, a handful of ice, and then blended it with a stick blender. It looks, and even kind of tastes a little like a mango daiquiri. It's really good. Next time, I'm going to try to take the seeds out of the tomato first, though.

June 29, 2016	#208
Gerardo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: San Diego-Tijuana Posts: 2,598	Cool you get to try some varieties with little rain in the picture. Gonna give Perth Pride a shot.

June 30, 2016	#209
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Dwarf Pink Passion was not bad, but it's a mild pink as far as flavor goes. I don't think I will save seeds, as mild pinks are not my thing. I was skeptical about how Gargamel would taste, having Violet Jasper flashbacks, perhaps, but it is actually quite good. It has a nice, red tomato flavor. I'm waiting to see how well the plant yields before I grow it again. If yield is halfway decent, I probably will invite it back. Zebra Rita was also very good. I never tried Green Zebra, but I had Red Zebra, and it was too firm and too tart. Zebra Rita's tartness is very mild, balanced with a light sweetness, very juicy. I wouldn't call it amazing, but it is very good. I saved seeds and will grow it again.