I think I'm going no-till - Page 15

Cole_Robbie · July 1, 2016

Ambrosia Red is the best red cherry I have ever eaten.

I also tried a "Golden Bullet." It's a keeper, too. The trick is to let them turn orange.

Starfire Isis is similar. It's good, but boy is it easy to eat them when they are unripe, due to the unusual coloring. They need to turn a deep red before they taste good. I thought they were awful at first, but I was eating them unripe.

Bosque Blue Bumblebee is performing well again. It's going to be an every-year variety for me. The first fruit from inside the plant will be all yellow, because the sun doesn't hit them. Later fruit get the antho pigmentation. I picked my first two Yamali Yellow; it will be interesting to compare it to BBB.

I picked the first two Fuzzy Wuzzy. They are round, which is unusual, because they were oblong for me last year.

Also, I picked my first Crunch Sweet Orange pepper, and it was just phenomenal. It blows the lunch box hybrid from Johnny's out of the water in regard to flavor. Yield looks good, too. Strangely, the pepper I ate did not have any seeds in it. Hopefully, future ones will.

Cole_Robbie · July 3, 2016

Chocolate Lightning:
http://i.imgur.com/zXxJdmm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wDvSzjj.jpg

It reminds me of Black & Brown Boar, or Large Barred Boar, in that the color pattern is very similar. It's extremely juicy, good flavor, but "Lightning" is a good metaphor for it's shelf life, which is extremely limited.

I saved a few Big Green Dwarf seeds. The variety is delicious when allowed to turn all the way yellow.

SteveP · July 3, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Chocolate Lightning:
http://i.imgur.com/zXxJdmm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wDvSzjj.jpg

It reminds me of Black & Brown Boar, or Large Barred Boar, in that the color pattern is very similar. It's extremely juicy, good flavor, but "Lightning" is a good metaphor for it's shelf life, which is extremely limited.

I saved a few Big Green Dwarf seeds. The variety is delicious when allowed to turn all the way yellow.

Cole, while I was waiting for mod approval here to become a member, I spent that 8 weeks unable to participate and spent it reading the site. This thread was one I followed with interest and it persuaded me to give No-Till a try this year, as I hate tilling. Just wanted to say Thank You! NT is working out great for me and my garden is doing very well. You have been a help to me and I wanted to just let you know.

Cole_Robbie · July 3, 2016

Awesome, Steve, that's great to hear.

My no-till ridges feel completely dry underneath the plastic, although I run the drip irrigation almost every day. I get a little wilt from water stress, but only a few varieties are showing BER. It hasn't rained in a month here, but it is pouring right now. I'm supposed to get 2-4 inches of rain. I'm thinking the ridges will wick up the water and moisten themselves again. I'm always talking about the humates in my cow field dirt. One of the many benefits other than nutrient uptake is efficient use of water. Plants in high-humate soil can get by with less water.

My Step-dad's 1000' of tilled garden hybrids are just now starting to ripen. They look really good for it not having rained for so long. This rain is going to be hard on them, though. It will be a good test of which varieties are prone to cracking. He's got Big Boy, Better Boy, Big Beef, Carolina Gold, and I think I gave him some Chef's Choice Orange.

Cole_Robbie · July 3, 2016

I know I'm critical of a lot of varieties in reviewing them, especially in regard to flavor, which once again I mean as nothing negative toward whoever shared the seeds with me, or the breeder, or the seed company, etc. I'm happy to have tried even the varieties I hated the most. That's the only way to learn that I don't like them.

Having said that, it's nice to be able to share "best tomato I ever had" type of reviews.

Malachite Box wins my best GWR beefsteak award:
http://i.imgur.com/XgInLMX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/neT2lsK.jpg

Not only is it delicious, it turns yellow when ripe, which is something I require, especially if I am ever going to be able to sell people the plants in the spring.

Uluru Ochre may be the best orange tomato I've ever eaten:
http://i.imgur.com/MRkZ3lA.jpg

Here's tatiana's link about it: http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Uluru_Ochre

It is certainly an interesting work of breeding. It avoids the typical boring flavor of orange tomatoes with a nice acidity to the flavor, tremendously juicy, thick skin peels away easily, another trait I like.

On the down side, the fruit are pretty ugly. They look like bruised orange tomatoes that are about to go bad. It took me a few days to understand that they are supposed to look this way. They are going to be a hard sell to any market customer without a sample to taste.

Coastal Pride Orange is really good when allowed to ripen fully, but in a sweet orange type of way, different than Uluru Ochre. I also have a few KBX ripening in the garden to challenge CPO.

Gerardo · July 3, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

It is certainly an interesting work of breeding. It avoids the typical boring flavor of orange tomatoes with a nice acidity to the flavor, tremendously juicy, thick skin peels away easily, another trait I like.

On the down side, the fruit are pretty ugly. They look like bruised orange tomatoes that are about to go bad. It took me a few days to understand that they are supposed to look this way. They are going to be a hard sell to any market customer without a sample to taste.

I'm with you on the Uluru. I really liked the few tomatoes I was able to get from 3 plants, a total of 10 tomatoes. They are complex and delicious, alas unproductive for me.

Fred's Tie Dye has the same bolt of electricity as the Choc Lightning..

tryno12 · July 4, 2016

hi cole, i am over here in indy with same rain going on. i am just starting to pay attention to what i am growing, the wilts i need to fight etc. i still can't get to a color other than red to enjoy(although i did grow a purple brandywine a few years back - delicious!). got about 50 plants scattered about, different water sources, soil etc. mostly better boy, big boy, early girl, beefheart, parker's wopper, ??rocket , celebrity's, jetstar etc. wanna eventually get the good ones but first gotta learn to fight off the early blight, leaf spot/mold etc. i'm a newbee but enjoy the posts and am trying to learn.............

Cole_Robbie · July 4, 2016

Cool, man. I grew up with Jet Star. That was the variety that my grandparents grew for market in the late 80's. They really taste great. You might like Big Beef, too. Like Jet Star, it is what my grandpa would call "fit to eat." And of course he has discriminating taste about tomatoes.

A lot of what are called pink tomatoes are red-fleshed with clear skin, to make them look pink. But after you peel them, they are hard to tell from red varieties. So you might like some pinks.

I had a friend over tonight who told me that she did not like tomatoes. I got her agree to taste one of mine, but I didn't have anything at the moment that I thought to be up to that much pressure, without breaking into the Mat-Su and Rebel Yell I had saved for grandma. I would have put the Malachite Box that I ate today up to it, though. I can't imagine anyone not liking that flavor.

I'll do a seed offer over the winter, after I have trialed everything and saved seeds from the best stuff, so stay in touch and maybe I can mail you some seeds for next year.

Cole_Robbie · July 5, 2016

Here's a pic of a pick, yesterday, hadn't picked in previous two days:
http://i.imgur.com/oDEEbuh.jpg

Amurskiy Tiger:
http://i.imgur.com/t4RzRW9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fpCHJ4O.jpg

Flavor was pretty good. Fruit might be prone to cracking. It will be an interesting comparison with Sky Reacher, as they look to be very similar tomatoes.

tryno12 · July 5, 2016

Quite a nice bunch of maters! Thanks for the info! , i may try a few seeds- in my younger days i used to start plants but have not for 20 years. Am now trying to fight leaf spot, early blight, and wilt - what a bear! I guess it is in my plot so am now behind the curve - just started spraying everything w/baking soda water. the ground around w/ weak cl2 water and some soap w/alcohol and neem oil. hope i don't loose everything. Have picked off most of infected leaves and disposed.............

Lindalana · July 5, 2016

Great haul! What is this elongated small dark plum like middle left on the pic?

Cole_Robbie · July 5, 2016

Thanks. Most of that white bowl with the two Indian Stripe PLs on it is Maglia Rosa. I'm picking them at first blush, so the greenness of them makes them look dark in the pic. The dark round cherry is Black Hole Sun. I have a plant of Black Plum, and did pick some fruit off it, but a lot of them got BER.

Maglia Rosa, for being an elongated fruit, is extremely resistant to BER, I am finding. All of my other elongated types are getting BER. My problem with MR is stink bugs. It's hard for the spray to penetrate the bushiness of the plant.

Cole_Robbie · July 5, 2016

Georgia Flame pepper: http://i.imgur.com/Mn03hnf.jpg

Mine is not "mildly hot." Mine is ridiculously hot, hotter than jalapeno. I really over-did the water restriction to the garden. My hot peppers are going to be super hot. I ate a Shish!to in the garden that was way hotter than it should be.

Cole_Robbie · July 6, 2016

I tasted a Big Beef from the tilled garden today, and I have to say, it was really good. It was every bit as tasty as any Big Beef I had ever grown. It hasn't rained here in a month, which was perfect for the flavor of the dry-farmed tomatoes in the tilled garden. It was even better than some heirlooms I have, which tasted more watery than they should. Even though I let my plants wilt from water stress, I still have to run the drip when it's hot and doesn't rain. The soil under my plastic mulch is still very dry to the touch.

But...it just rained about three inches, and the forecast is for a chance of rain every day. It's going to be rough on the tilled garden tomatoes.

tryno12 · July 6, 2016

The tigers look scrumptious! I picked and ate a Skyrocket today - delicious! Trouble is not sure of variety but that was one i received from a friend. Are the "tilled garden tomatoes" stacked with leaves kept off the ground and those under the plastic raised so as to never touch ground -- all of this for disease control? newbie with a fight on my hands wilt, spot, and other fungi type stuff..........yuk! don't want to see me look like the picture on pg. 8 of dr. gary vallad paper on fl disease as i did last year!

July 1, 2016	#211
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Ambrosia Red is the best red cherry I have ever eaten. I also tried a "Golden Bullet." It's a keeper, too. The trick is to let them turn orange. Starfire Isis is similar. It's good, but boy is it easy to eat them when they are unripe, due to the unusual coloring. They need to turn a deep red before they taste good. I thought they were awful at first, but I was eating them unripe. Bosque Blue Bumblebee is performing well again. It's going to be an every-year variety for me. The first fruit from inside the plant will be all yellow, because the sun doesn't hit them. Later fruit get the antho pigmentation. I picked my first two Yamali Yellow; it will be interesting to compare it to BBB. I picked the first two Fuzzy Wuzzy. They are round, which is unusual, because they were oblong for me last year. Also, I picked my first Crunch Sweet Orange pepper, and it was just phenomenal. It blows the lunch box hybrid from Johnny's out of the water in regard to flavor. Yield looks good, too. Strangely, the pepper I ate did not have any seeds in it. Hopefully, future ones will. Last edited by Cole_Robbie; July 2, 2016 at 12:09 AM.

July 3, 2016	#212
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Chocolate Lightning: http://i.imgur.com/zXxJdmm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/wDvSzjj.jpg It reminds me of Black & Brown Boar, or Large Barred Boar, in that the color pattern is very similar. It's extremely juicy, good flavor, but "Lightning" is a good metaphor for it's shelf life, which is extremely limited. I saved a few Big Green Dwarf seeds. The variety is delicious when allowed to turn all the way yellow.

July 3, 2016	#214
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Awesome, Steve, that's great to hear. My no-till ridges feel completely dry underneath the plastic, although I run the drip irrigation almost every day. I get a little wilt from water stress, but only a few varieties are showing BER. It hasn't rained in a month here, but it is pouring right now. I'm supposed to get 2-4 inches of rain. I'm thinking the ridges will wick up the water and moisten themselves again. I'm always talking about the humates in my cow field dirt. One of the many benefits other than nutrient uptake is efficient use of water. Plants in high-humate soil can get by with less water. My Step-dad's 1000' of tilled garden hybrids are just now starting to ripen. They look really good for it not having rained for so long. This rain is going to be hard on them, though. It will be a good test of which varieties are prone to cracking. He's got Big Boy, Better Boy, Big Beef, Carolina Gold, and I think I gave him some Chef's Choice Orange.

July 3, 2016	#215
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I know I'm critical of a lot of varieties in reviewing them, especially in regard to flavor, which once again I mean as nothing negative toward whoever shared the seeds with me, or the breeder, or the seed company, etc. I'm happy to have tried even the varieties I hated the most. That's the only way to learn that I don't like them. Having said that, it's nice to be able to share "best tomato I ever had" type of reviews. Malachite Box wins my best GWR beefsteak award: http://i.imgur.com/XgInLMX.jpg http://i.imgur.com/neT2lsK.jpg Not only is it delicious, it turns yellow when ripe, which is something I require, especially if I am ever going to be able to sell people the plants in the spring. Uluru Ochre may be the best orange tomato I've ever eaten: http://i.imgur.com/MRkZ3lA.jpg Here's tatiana's link about it: http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Uluru_Ochre It is certainly an interesting work of breeding. It avoids the typical boring flavor of orange tomatoes with a nice acidity to the flavor, tremendously juicy, thick skin peels away easily, another trait I like. On the down side, the fruit are pretty ugly. They look like bruised orange tomatoes that are about to go bad. It took me a few days to understand that they are supposed to look this way. They are going to be a hard sell to any market customer without a sample to taste. Coastal Pride Orange is really good when allowed to ripen fully, but in a sweet orange type of way, different than Uluru Ochre. I also have a few KBX ripening in the garden to challenge CPO.

July 4, 2016	#217
tryno12 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Indianapolis Area 46112 Posts: 857	hi cole, i am over here in indy with same rain going on. i am just starting to pay attention to what i am growing, the wilts i need to fight etc. i still can't get to a color other than red to enjoy(although i did grow a purple brandywine a few years back - delicious!). got about 50 plants scattered about, different water sources, soil etc. mostly better boy, big boy, early girl, beefheart, parker's wopper, ??rocket , celebrity's, jetstar etc. wanna eventually get the good ones but first gotta learn to fight off the early blight, leaf spot/mold etc. i'm a newbee but enjoy the posts and am trying to learn.............

July 4, 2016	#218
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Cool, man. I grew up with Jet Star. That was the variety that my grandparents grew for market in the late 80's. They really taste great. You might like Big Beef, too. Like Jet Star, it is what my grandpa would call "fit to eat." And of course he has discriminating taste about tomatoes. A lot of what are called pink tomatoes are red-fleshed with clear skin, to make them look pink. But after you peel them, they are hard to tell from red varieties. So you might like some pinks. I had a friend over tonight who told me that she did not like tomatoes. I got her agree to taste one of mine, but I didn't have anything at the moment that I thought to be up to that much pressure, without breaking into the Mat-Su and Rebel Yell I had saved for grandma. I would have put the Malachite Box that I ate today up to it, though. I can't imagine anyone not liking that flavor. I'll do a seed offer over the winter, after I have trialed everything and saved seeds from the best stuff, so stay in touch and maybe I can mail you some seeds for next year.

July 5, 2016	#219
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Here's a pic of a pick, yesterday, hadn't picked in previous two days: http://i.imgur.com/oDEEbuh.jpg Amurskiy Tiger: http://i.imgur.com/t4RzRW9.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fpCHJ4O.jpg Flavor was pretty good. Fruit might be prone to cracking. It will be an interesting comparison with Sky Reacher, as they look to be very similar tomatoes.

July 5, 2016	#220
tryno12 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Indianapolis Area 46112 Posts: 857	Quite a nice bunch of maters! Thanks for the info! , i may try a few seeds- in my younger days i used to start plants but have not for 20 years. Am now trying to fight leaf spot, early blight, and wilt - what a bear! I guess it is in my plot so am now behind the curve - just started spraying everything w/baking soda water. the ground around w/ weak cl2 water and some soap w/alcohol and neem oil. hope i don't loose everything. Have picked off most of infected leaves and disposed.............

July 5, 2016	#221
Lindalana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 857	Great haul! What is this elongated small dark plum like middle left on the pic?

July 5, 2016	#222
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Thanks. Most of that white bowl with the two Indian Stripe PLs on it is Maglia Rosa. I'm picking them at first blush, so the greenness of them makes them look dark in the pic. The dark round cherry is Black Hole Sun. I have a plant of Black Plum, and did pick some fruit off it, but a lot of them got BER. Maglia Rosa, for being an elongated fruit, is extremely resistant to BER, I am finding. All of my other elongated types are getting BER. My problem with MR is stink bugs. It's hard for the spray to penetrate the bushiness of the plant.

July 5, 2016	#223
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Georgia Flame pepper: http://i.imgur.com/Mn03hnf.jpg Mine is not "mildly hot." Mine is ridiculously hot, hotter than jalapeno. I really over-did the water restriction to the garden. My hot peppers are going to be super hot. I ate a Shish!to in the garden that was way hotter than it should be.

July 6, 2016	#224
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I tasted a Big Beef from the tilled garden today, and I have to say, it was really good. It was every bit as tasty as any Big Beef I had ever grown. It hasn't rained here in a month, which was perfect for the flavor of the dry-farmed tomatoes in the tilled garden. It was even better than some heirlooms I have, which tasted more watery than they should. Even though I let my plants wilt from water stress, I still have to run the drip when it's hot and doesn't rain. The soil under my plastic mulch is still very dry to the touch. But...it just rained about three inches, and the forecast is for a chance of rain every day. It's going to be rough on the tilled garden tomatoes.

July 6, 2016	#225
tryno12 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Indianapolis Area 46112 Posts: 857	The tigers look scrumptious! I picked and ate a Skyrocket today - delicious! Trouble is not sure of variety but that was one i received from a friend. Are the "tilled garden tomatoes" stacked with leaves kept off the ground and those under the plastic raised so as to never touch ground -- all of this for disease control? newbie with a fight on my hands wilt, spot, and other fungi type stuff..........yuk! don't want to see me look like the picture on pg. 8 of dr. gary vallad paper on fl disease as i did last year!