Heirloom Tomato Slander

[lumierefrere]

If you're in Denmark, then I give you special dispensation to obsess over what happens 3 years from now. ;-)

I've grown the Sungold, Black Cherry and struggled with Momotaro 4 different seasons after hearing raves but had no luck. Maybe it's my soil or the sun but yeah maybe I can concede the Sungold is a bit sweeter than Galina but not to the point where I jump and shout. The Black Cherry is less impressive by far than Purple Haze and close to the same size.

This is my own admittedly far different emotional stance than most here--I don't ask a lot of the tomatoes. I'd rather give a little in potential flavor which I'm notoriously bad at detecting, and be able to save seeds from relatively reliable (in this garden) varieties. (What a dullard I am!)

[Tom C zone 4/5]

Originally Posted by lumierefrere

I immediately thought of Suze and Feldon and all the others from TX who seem to manage with great success.

Barb

Barb, I have stood in a feild (of tomatoes from seed of my own collection) and overheard a "master" gardener proclaim that it was impossible for a home gardener to save seeds true to type, AND that they are always (op tomatoes) non-viable due to lack of disease resistance.

I think she as accurate about the first as she was about the latter.

[travis]

Tom, I'm a Master Gardener and I've found that with Master Gardeners the problem often is they, just like all other people, often believe and repeat propaganda they've learned in class rather than truth they've learned from experience. The same often is true of people who like parrots repeat whatever they've read at online gardening forums. It's human nature, I guess, like herd instinct behavior.

[tam91]

Whenever I've called the university extension "master gardeners" they generally haven't known what I was asking about, tried to look it up on the internet, and came up with the wrong answer.

Except one guy, he seemed knowledgeable.

I'm not sure just how much training they actually get.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Tom C zone 4/5

Barb, I have stood in a feild (of tomatoes from seed of my own collection) and overheard a "master" gardener proclaim that it was impossible for a home gardener to save seeds true to type, AND that they are always (op tomatoes) non-viable due to lack of disease resistance.

I think she as accurate about the first as she was about the latter.

Maybe we need to talk to the MythBusters guys.

Barb,

My issue with Black Cherry is the disease it gets late (and sometimes not so late) in the season. I believe the culprit is Botrytis Gray Mold but I leave official diagnosis to the experts.


Black Cherry

I love Black Cherry, but harvest is late, and then it shuts down early due to this disease. The timing varies by year and climate, but I have always lost at least one Black Cherry plant before its time.

Purple Haze has none of those problems, and produces a bigger tomato.

[lumierefrere]

Experts...hmmm, not so much anymore.

I don't know anything about diseases. Late Blight was a complete shock. If there's anything else in my garden, I ignore it.

Next season will be F5 for my Purple Haze (where did the time go!). Yeah you will have trouble popping it into your mouth as it's 2 or 3 bites not 1. Altho some of you fellas maybe be able to do it.

I can be happy and satisfied. I learned that about myself. Or maybe I'm just a rut-type person and seeking the greater tomato is too much like work. (Where's Dice so we can get into the psychology of growing tomatoes?)

Barb

[dice]

(Where's Dice so we can get into the psychology of growing tomatoes?)

Given how many different styles and approaches there are,
how many different economic niches this hobby/business
fits into, the common psychological threads probably come
down mostly to flavor. We are all sort of gourmets of the
tomato, whether we eat them fresh, canned, as sauce, etc.

We may find more common ground in anthropology, because
the one prerequisite is to actually be able to grow a plant to
maturity that does not simply grow and produce by itself. In
short, we are all members of "the Green Thumb Tribe."

[lumierefrere]

Find a way to convince me that someone trying to grow a Big Zac to over 6 lbs has anything to do with taste. It's like growing a pumpkin that weighs 1100 lbs. You're not turning that into a pie.

Feldon,

Since you are a "displaced" Texan, are you growing those Black Cherry tomatoes in Denmark or Texas?

I'm growing them next year and am wondering if I need to watch for the same problem.

Ted

[Worth1]

I can only tell you guys the reason I grow anything is nurturing.
That's it, nothing complicated I just like to take care of things and know about where it came from how it grows and who ate it.
I will never eat my Agave but I like to know that one variety I have was developed by the Aztec for food.

I really only like fresh tomatoes and I only put up with sauce and such till I can get another fresh one.

Worth

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by tedln

Feldon,

Since you are a "displaced" Texan, are you growing those Black Cherry tomatoes in Denmark or Texas?

I'm growing them next year and am wondering if I need to watch for the same problem.

Ted

The picture is from Texas. I have no doubt you'll get some good tomatoes out of it. And depending on the weather, you may have a long, productive life out of your Black Cherry plant. If that picture I posted worries you, let me post pictures from past years:


2007


2008


Unfortunately, there's not really any room to grow tomatoes here in Copenhagen as we are in the city. I'd say 10-15% of the population outside of the cities have greenhouses for either flowers or veg.
I have eaten Black Cherry here in Denmark when I went to Smagedage in Køge in September. They also had Sungold.

[b54red]

Feldon I got that same type of stuff on nearly all my dark varieties at one time or another. If you don't stop it quickly it can devastate a plant. The two that I found most susceptible were JDs Special C Tex and Black Krim. I plan on trying Black Cherry next season so I will be on the lookout for it.

[tam91]

My Black Krim never got "the crud" this year, but my Nyagous and Black Cherry did.

What is it, and how did you stop it?

I just sprayed daconil equiv. and mancozeb, and they sorta straggled along. Got plenty fruit though.

[habitat_gardener]

My healthiest and most productive plant this month is a volunteer black cherry (it tastes and looks just like Black Cherry, but it's also possible it's a Purple Haze F4 or 5).

Re mythbusters, there is a horticultural "myth buster" at (all one line)

http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%2...les/index.html

and

https://sharepoint.cahnrs.wsu.edu/bl...t/default.aspx