Carolyn's Fall 2011 Feedback Data For Seeds Sent

[gill_s]

Phil's Fantastic-2 plants grown. One of these was productive, producing a good crop of large fruit(average 1lb). They had good flavour, but were not attractive looking, with radial cracking. The other plant was less good. It was not juicy and had partially hollow cavities. We had some problems with the input of the nutrient solution into some of our SWCs.

Bawole Cerce and Serdste Buivola.-Carolyn thought these were the same variety and I was comparing them. They have been very similar and probably the same. I tried to give the plants as similar growing conditions as possible. The Bawole Cerce seemed to set fruits slightly earlier and the first tomato ripened 10 days earlier but otherwise I could not detect differences. The tomatoes were initially more 'beefsteak', shaped but later heart shaped. They were pink, blemish free and with very good flavour.

The above plants were grown in a greenhouse, the following ones outside.

Burning Spear- Moderately productive. Two fruits set on the first truss, none on the second with 5 or 6 on next three trusses. they were tasty and quite sweet. The foliage was very thin and whispy. It did not look as if it would support any fruit!

Pervaya Lyubov. I grew one plant. but two others were grown by friends.
They were of very good flavour but my plant suffered from the cool and windy Summer. They would benefit from being in the greenhouse.

Kazachka. This tomato was a disappointment. From its reputation I had expected more. The only tomatoes that have ripened so far have been small 'beefsteak' like. They looked like the small fruits which grow but have not set. The flavour was poor. The later fruits are more globe shaped but have not ripened yet. I think that Kazachka would also have been better inside.

All my tomatoes are grown in containers, with just one main stem being allowed to grow.

Gill

[carolyn137]

Kazachka. This tomato was a disappointment. From its reputation I had expected more. The only tomatoes that have ripened so far have been small 'beefsteak' like. They looked like the small fruits which grow but have not set. The flavour was poor. The later fruits are more globe shaped but have not ripened yet. I think that Kazachka would also have been better inside.

******

Gill, if you look at the seed offer I said that Kazachka has two forms, one a cherry and one a mini-beefsteak and if you save seeds from the former you can get both forms, and same from the latter.

When I checked with Andrey about this, he being my seed source, he was getting the same thing.

So your mini-beefs were perfectly OK , but I don't understand the transition from mini-beef to globe on the same plant.

I'm sorry that you found the flavor to be poor which hasn't been my experience, but then as is oft said.......your mileage may vary.

About the Heart of the Buffalo ones. Same variety, just one spelled in the Polish language and the other in Russian language so they should be the same variety.

[wmontanez]

Thanks again for the seeds. I was away in the peak of the season an a friend got to freeze them for me to make sauce and got herself plenty to enjoy fresh.

Prue (2003) 7 out of 8 germinated. Grew 3 plants and gave away 4 plants with the promise they will save seeds and pass it to other people. All reports are that flavor was excellent.

Ludmilla Red Plum (2008) 6 out of 7 germinated, some still producing

Sarnowski Polish Plum (2003) 3 germinated, some still producing

Perito Italian (2006) 1 germinated, very tall plant, few big fruit, lost the plant early on

Burning Spear (2010) no germination

[frozengirl]

Burning Spear??????????????

[wmontanez]

Doesn't look like the picture Tatiana has in the website http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Burning_Spear
or Gleckler's http://www.glecklerseedmen.com/Burni...7_2570893.aspx

It's supposed to be orange...My prue looks like that, is the folliage whispy?

[nancyruhl]

I have a lot to report on as you sent me seed on 3 occasions. Again thanks so much. As this was my first time receiving seed from you generous offer, I didn't really keep notes on leaf shape, but all tomatoes grew true to description of the fruit.

From the general seed offer I received:
Couilles de Taureau- red beefsteak, little dissappointed in the flavor. Not the intense taste I had expected from a French beefsteak. It was good but not great. My cogrower said he thought it would be a good slicer to put on a sandwich.

Green Zebra Cherry--Great flavor but the skins were tough. Very pretty. A little large for a cherry. I think I'll stick with Green Doctors next year.

Zleovo--Great taste and production of large red cherries. Again, this is a size I don't really know what to do with. Too large for a cherry and too small for slicing or canning.

Kazachka--I had the large cherry variety as opposed to the mini beefsteaks. Excellent flavor similar to Black Cherry (one of my all time favorites) Good production. Again, though, too large for a cherry and too small for slicing.

Trees Bottom Yellow-- I had a stem borer very early in the season that nearly killed the plant. I cut off the top of the plant and rooted it, but that really delayed this variety. I did get some large yellow tomatoes with the red streaking. Very mild flavor. Very pretty slicer.

Sara's Galapagos--Rampant vines cover with red currant tomatoes. Even though I didn't give this one a great spot in the garden, it produced like crazy. Excellent intense tomato flavor that I grow currant tomatoes for.

Maria Amazilites Giant Red--A great tomato with large red hearts that are very tasty. Good production and fairly early. Mine did not reach the proprotions of German Red Strawberry that was it's competitor, however. Still very worth growing.

Lastly, Ste Colombe. Definitely my favorite of the varieties I grew. Large pink beesteaks with wonderfully rich tomato flavor. Very meatly. Average production. He/ She will be back.

Thanks again. Had great fun sampling all these varieties. It's pretty laughable watching us conducting our taste tests and seeing the excitement with each new variety. Looking forward to the next growing season with it's possibilities. Nancy

[fortyonenorth]

Nope. Not BS. They look to be generally the same shape, but BS is bright yellow/orange. Similar (in color) to Sungold for me this year. I'll be interested to hear Carolyn's take on your fruit.

Originally Posted by frozengirl

Burning Spear??????????????

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by frozengirl

Burning Spear??????????????

Nope, not Burning Spear which should be Orange and look like the picture at Gleckler's and I sent the seeds to Adam and I think to Tania as well.

Well, I love the name and I thought they would be good for a paste tomato so sent seeds to quite a few places for trial.

My initial seeds came from Melody Rose who is an admin at DG along with the variety Blackfoot but I don't think I ever grew out Blackfoot.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Off hand I don't know what it is you show. When I pack seeds I have only the one envelope with seeds on the table so there's less of a chance of a stray seed.

OK, I just looked at my own seed offer and the Burning Spear seeds I used for the 2011 seed offer were from Adam Gleckler, who also furnished seeds for Green Doctors and Green Doctors Frosted.

I also saw that I didn't have enough seeds of BS myself to offer which is why Adam offered to furnish some.

So if there were no labelling problems at your end, and please let me know about that, then I'll contact Adam and let him know.

I did see quite a few folks who had no to low germination with Burning Spear and I know the seeds were very dark in color but I didn't think too much about that b'c I too have had perhaps slightly over fermented seeds that were dark in color as well and they were OK.

[carolyn137]

Just a general note that I hope will reach those of you who didn't get good results with the Burning Spear seeds which I didn't see that much of in the germination thread in the Spring.

Above I noted that the BS seeds I sent out for the 2011 seed offer were from Adam Gleckler and suggested some reasons for the low to no germination of that variety. To be honest I'd forgotten that they weren't my seeds until I went back to my own seed offer where I had posted the seeds were from Adam, and thanked him there as well.

So unless any of you want to send me some fresh known Burning Spear seeds I think I'll delete it from the 2012 seed offer.

So, there are, and still about 60-70 of you who got seeds from me in the seed offer and even if you grew out just some of them I'd really like to know the results.

I think you can now see how valuable it is for me to get this kind of feedback in terms of what I might offer. The Spring germination thread was also excellent feedback when it became clear that germination was low or no for several varieties, such as Fish Lake Oxheart and friends, and we know why, and at that point there was still time to have those regrown for fresh seed this past summer, although at this point I haven't collected all the data from Shoe and Lee and some from Craig L in NC as well as Neil in IL to know where things are at.

[Farmette]

Carolyn: Here are my results again, with an update on Burning Spea. Sorry I do not have good news to report.

Burning Spear (2010), sowed 7 seeds on 3/25 and 3 have germinated.
2 seedlings died before reaching maturity and 1 seedling achieved mature plant status, but was very wispy, very fragile, developed some flowers, but died before producing fruit.

Fish Lake Oxheart (2010), sowed all 5 seeds sent on 3/25 and 0 have germinated.

Meme Beauce (2010), sowed 6 seeds on 3/25 and 0 have germinated.

Chris

[Idahowoman]

My germination report for the seeds that Carolyn sent me.
I sowed these in mid March.
Fish Lake Oxheart-6/1 plant germinated and was sickly.
Green Zebra Cherry -7/1 blind- died
Green Doctors Frosted -6/0
Kardia Karpos-7/1 PL
Orange Minsk-6/1
This is also growing in the greenhouse.
This is my update.
Fish Lake Oxheart and Orange Minsk lived and had a few tomatoes.
I saved seed.
I had one Kardia Karpos and will update in that thread.
Thanks alot for the seeds
Susan

[gill_s]

I did save some Burning Spear seeds from bagged fruit so could send some but they alone would not be enough for your seed offer, Carolyn!

Do I understand that while Bawole Cerce and Serdste Buivola are Heart of the Buffalo and the same variety, they are different from Couilles de Taureau and Cuor di Bue. Are they translated as Heart of the Bull and are they different from each other?!
Gill

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Farmette

Carolyn: Here are my results again, with an update on Burning Spea. Sorry I do not have good news to report.

Burning Spear (2010), sowed 7 seeds on 3/25 and 3 have germinated.
2 seedlings died before reaching maturity and 1 seedling achieved mature plant status, but was very wispy, very fragile, developed some flowers, but died before producing fruit.

Fish Lake Oxheart (2010), sowed all 5 seeds sent on 3/25 and 0 have germinated.

Meme Beauce (2010), sowed 6 seeds on 3/25 and 0 have germinated.

Chris

Chris, bad luck on the Burning Spear, I knew from the Spring germination thread that Fish Lake Oxheart was not germinating well, so mentioned above that it's one of the ones that was regrown this summer for fresh seeds.

The Meme Beauce seeds from 2010 were my saved seeds and as I recall they germinated pretty well for others, so bum luck there as well.

There's always next year.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by gill_s

I did save some Burning Spear seeds from bagged fruit so could send some but they alone would not be enough for your seed offer, Carolyn!

Do I understand that while Bawole Cerce and Serdste Buivola are Heart of the Buffalo and the same variety, they are different from Couilles de Taureau and Cuor di Bue. Are they translated as Heart of the Bull and are they different from each other?!
Gill

Gill, let's wait and see what the Burning Spear comment I made does. I can't offer everthing every year, but I did like that one.

Yes, the serdtse and Bawole ones both include buffalo as part of the variety name as in heart of the buffalo.

They are very different from the two others you mentioned.

Couilles de Taureau is red, the above two are pink and Couilles translates out to actually bull's balls ( testicles), if the software allows for that. I've mentioned before it originated in Spain but was first known in the French language by someone in Belgium . The original Spanish name I don't think is known, at least by me and many others I assume,but it would have had the word cojone in it, that's for sure. And not a heart variety.

Cuore di Bue is also red, not pink and tranlates out to heart of the bull.

[Farmette]

Carolyn, yes I am already looking forward to next year. I appreciate the seeds and always like to try new varieties. I am thinking that perhaps my germinating medium this past year or something I did or did not do impacted my results. In the end, though, I did have more than enough seedlings...some for myself and some to give away. Now it is nearly time to clean up the garden, get the beds ready for some garlic and wait for the seed catalogs. It doesn't get too much better than that!