Sun Orange and Sun Green

[Barb_FL]

We will see what these Tokita varieties are made of.

I transplanted a tiny Sun Lemon into an Earthbox on Wedsnesday night (3/11). It was paper toweled for germination (only the one germinated, was given the seeds)
but then sowed in mix on 3/27; so transplant at 15 days.

It is way too small to give it any support. Tons of wind last night too. I gave it some shade around 3 PM yesterday and will check out doing the same today.

Honestly, it looks like it is holding it's own. It will either thrive or die. It is so late in the season here.

--
The other two (SO and SGr) are doing amazing. Really adding bulk. SO has 4 tomatoes on the first cluster; size of marbles now.

SGr is taller with long buds; any hour/day they will be blossoms. They all have yellow peaking through.

SO 2nd set of buds are about to blossom. All from first set are now wide-open flowers or tomatoes.

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Finally, just an observation, but my OLD SunPeach plants / SunGold and Sun Chocola to an extent have all regenerated themselves with new lateral growth (with flowers) close to the lower stem.

They are much more successful at that than Esterina.

[beninla]

Hi Barb, your plants look very nice. Can you please share how did you grow your seedlings, like what soil and fertilizer did you use? Thank you.

[Greatgardens]

...and could you share where you purchased your seeds? Looking at the web, I only find Osborne and Norseco (which I presume is in Canada?). Norseco was $28/for 50 seeds and Osborne was $70 for 10 seeds. (???)
-GG

Edit: Evidently the "10 seeds" is a no-no. I tried 50 and 100 seeds and got more realistic prices of $15 and $27. A 50-seed quantity for $15 is not so bad. Looking forward to seeing how they do overall for you -- say against Esterina which is really good, I think.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Greatgardens

...and could you share where you purchased your seeds? Looking at the web, I only find Osborne and Norseco (which I presume is in Canada?). Norseco was $28/for 50 seeds and Osborne was $70 for 10 seeds. (???)
-GG

Edit: Evidently the "10 seeds" is a no-no. I tried 50 and 100 seeds and got more realistic prices of $15 and $27. A 50-seed quantity for $15 is not so bad. Looking forward to seeing how they do overall for you -- say against Esterina which is really good, I think.

I ordered the SunGreen and SunOrange from Osborne.

Their pricing is :

$10.90 for 25
$15.55 for 50
$24.90 for 100

I will definitely keep this thread updated as the plants grow. I only trialed the one seed because it was so late in the year. I'm just so happy they are vigorous growers so I can get to taste one this spring.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by beninla

Hi Barb, your plants look very nice. Can you please share how did you grow your seedlings, like what soil and fertilizer did you use? Thank you.

Since I was only sowing one seed of each, I sowed in 4.5" pot in the intense Florida Sun.

I sowed in ProMix. I didn't add any dry fertz to the mix. On occasion when I fed it, I gave it what I was giving my mature plants, mainly the MasterBlend solution. I remember giving it soluble kelp at least once too.

[Greatgardens]

Thanks, Barb. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it tastes like Sungold but larger and more crack resistant!
-GG

[beninla]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Since I was only sowing one seed of each, I sowed in 4.5" pot in the intense Florida Sun.

I sowed in ProMix. I didn't add any dry fertz to the mix. On occasion when I fed it, I gave it what I was giving my mature plants, mainly the MasterBlend solution. I remember giving it soluble kelp at least once too.

Thank you for your reply. Look forward to hearing how Sun Orange does for you

[Barb_FL]

25 sustained on Sunday and then a huge storm blew in with heavy gust. Rain was sideways but really not much accumulation.

Monday started out calm, but spent most of the day about 20 MPH with some gusts.

On Sunday, I put the shade cloth on the cages of these young plants to block the wind down. Seem to work fairly decent. I moved it to wind direction today (Monday). Hopefully, can take it off tomorrow.

SunGreen on the left, SunOrange on the right.

Sungreen has flowers and one new bud set starting. I don't know if any fruit has set yet.

SunOrange has set fruit on a couple of flowers in their 2nd set. Has 4 bud sets going.
8 tomatoes set so far.

SunLemon is holding it's own even being planted out too young.

[Barb_FL]

SunGreen has set fruit - April 19; so 48 days from sowing.
SunOrange beat that by 10 days.

SGr is putting out suckers galore.

Both plants have bushed out a bunch this week. I'm trying to root one of the SO suckers. Crazy b/c it is SO late in our season.

4 separate clusters of yellow peaking through on the SO buds.

Will take new pics one week from the last one.

[hl2601]

Looks great Barb!

[Barb_FL]

Thanks HL2601

So after basically no rain for months, it is making up for it over the last few days with huge wind gusts.

Here is a picture taken when it was just cloudy and no rain. SunGreen on left, SO on right.

2 more days until SunLemon's 1 month anniversary since being sowed. It really hung in there for being planted out at 2 weeks.

Observations: SO has set fruit in 4 of the clusters and has more clusters formed / forming. I counted at least 8. I don't see the original fruit set growing too much; definitely not larger than a SunGold at this time.

[RJGlew]

Hi Barb - thanks for posting the pictures. Your plants look really good - SL looks very robust.

[Barb_FL]

First picture is SunOrange and SunGreen on their 2 month birthday. They are very robust plants.

Then some SO fruit.

Next is a SunOrange Clone - 7 days for generating roots; 6 days planted out.

Fourth pic is SunLemon - about 5 weeks old. I don't think you can see it, but it is flowering now.

ETA - Fixed the pictures to display correctly, but out of order so
SunOrange at 2 months since sow follows.

And Last of all is SunGreen, which will be getting a cage extender tomorrow.

I've taken some cuttings of SunGreen; hopefully will get some clones quickly.

Daytime temps are 80-82 all week but night time lows are creeping into the 70-72 range. Hopefully, these being cherry tomatoes will overcome the warm nights and continue to set fruit.

[Barb_FL]

Size is not as large as expected. Shaped slightly rounder and more squat than Sungold. (BTW - I expected the size to be in the SunChocola category)

Weather is very warm this week low 80s, any days with highs in the 70s will have to wait until late October.

I also have 2 SunGold plants that are still producing a lot of SunGolds and another one that was a clipping, planted earlier and is slightly larger and have tons of green sungolds.

What I am trying to say is that the comparison of SunOrange and SunGold will be easy and obvious.

-----
SunGreen is producing a lot of tomatoes; has totally caught up in fruit set with SO;
shape is more grape vs round.

Next update will be the taste test.

[RJGlew]

Hi Barb, thanks for the update. I am looking forward to hearing about the SunOrange/SunGold taste test.