2013 Project Photos

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Well, with all the rain and humidity I am seeing some Septoria this year. I'm somewhat disappointed in Iron Lady; it's resistance doesn't appear to be that strong as I am seeing Septoria on those plants as well. I've used Iron Lady in a number of crosses for it's disease resistance factors but I'm going to do the same crosses with Mountain Merit this week which is a larger fruited variety with robust disease resistance genetics.

Anyway, some of the things showing up are quite a surprise. For a couple of years Tom Wagner sent out packages of seeds labeled Searching for the Blue Zebra as bonus seeds with orders. This yellow with blue speckling was one of the ones that showed up for me last year. It tasted good enough that I planted 4 plants of it this year just to see what I would get, even though it wasn't all that visual.



These next pictures are two of the 4 plants that showed up from that seed this year. The other two don't have fruit large enough to get an idea of what they will be yet. Seeing what is coming out I may have to grow more plants from last years seeds next year.





I've got about 20 plants from another of Tom's lines, Shadow Boxing that are showing a wide range of types that I'll try to take pictures of tonight.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

After counting plants I've ended up with 18 Shadow Boxing plants this year from 5 different lines I got from other growers last fall. I've got several distinct phenotypes showing up. There are a number of other variants in the field, but a thunderstorm rolled in before I photographed everything. Reports of good flavor from last year have me excited for these to start ripening soon.


Shadow Boxing Type 1 - plum shaped, strong anthocyanin expression in fruit, stripes


Shadow Boxing Type 2 - globe shaped, light anthocyanin expression in fruit, strong stripes


Shadow Boxing Type 3 - nippled plum shape, light anthocyanin expression in fruit, some striping evident


Shadow Boxing Type 4 - nippled plum shape, strong anthocyanin expression in fruit


Shadow Boxing Type 5 - Dwarf plants, somewhat round fruit with pronounced nipple, no anthocyanin expression

[Mashman]

Mark:

I would be interested to hear what varieties impressed you this year.

Michael

[Alfredo]

Very interesting project you have going there. And some beautiful tomatoes already.

~Alfredo

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Unfortunately with our cool weather I'm still waiting on the majority of my plants to ripen anything! We had temps down in the 50's for a high just a few weeks ago, and are hovering in the mid 70's during the day and down around 50 at night so things are ripening slooow. It may have been the wrong year to go into the tomato business... ;-)

We are starting to get a fair amount of cherries though. I have a Bing Cherry line that I like this year, it has better color than what I had last year. Several of the standouts are the Artisan Seeds cherries that I got for being a contributor to Fred's KickStarter campaign. Getting some of the varieties a season before they became generally available was nice. Pink Tiger just started ripening a fair amount of fruit last week and I *really* like it.

Unfortunately just as things really started coming in I had to go out of town, so I haven't been able to take a ton of pictures. I believe I have several on Facebook that I haven't posted here, so I'll try to update this thread tonight from the hotel.

[Heritage]

Mark, your username change threw me - I almost missed this thread! I'll be following to see what creations you come up with. Looking good so far!

Steve

[Mashman]

Thanks for the update Mark. Not only do I look forward to your pictures, but have tremendous respect for your comments/reviews on the broad range of varieties you have been growing/testing.

Michael

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Of course, right before I left on my business trip the cherries and some salad tomatoes started coming in. The family has stepped in and picked while I've been gone and have started doing restaurant deliveries. I think they're having fun, except for my prodding them to get the tomatoes to the restaurants in the mornings (I'm the only morning person in the family.)


This is one my son Jack found (that's his hand) while picking. it's from the larger Blue Bayou derived line I found last year. Unfortunately the flavor hasn't impressed me yet this year.


These are Pink Bumblebee from Artisan Seeds. A definite grow again for me.


These are Sunrise Bumblebee from Artisan Seeds. Very nice, must grow more of them next year.


Here are a Blush and a Sunrise Bumblebee side by side. Fred told me that the early bumblebees will be larger, but as the season progresses they come down in size a bit.


This one is Pink Tiger, also from Artisan Seeds.


This is a pretty new F3, I like the slight antho color on the shoulders of this one. One of it's siblings is nearly black and I am finding that those are pretty much impossible to get other people to pick correctly.



Double Helix Farms had some F2 seeds in Caroline's seed offer. DHF-1200-33 is (F2 Anthocyanin seedling) x Serdste Buivola. The goal here is to get a "blue" anthocyanin heart shaped tomato, which I appear to have a candidate for. These are down at the bottom of the plant and are just starting to color up, they're in the low section that was flooded and have taken a while to recover.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Bing Cherry - Manu (Jemlestomates) This line has better flavor and darker color than the others I have from Tom Wagner's Bing Cherry line.


This is Green Tiger, an upcoming release from Artisan Seeds. I don't think any of these have even made it back to the car yet.




I've got a couple of Dwarf plants from Tom Wagner's Shadow Boxing line. I have hope, they appear to be showing stripes and antho. I trimmed some leaves to let some light in a few weeks ago, I'll be checking them first thing in the morning on Sunday...



This one I have labeled Shadow Boxing type 6. It doesn't show any antho, but is a pretty good looking one. I'm waiting until the end of August to make taste evaluations, still hoping it will warm up a bit.



This is from one of the Seattles Woolly Blue Mammoth descendant lines. It's not Yamali Blue, but it shares the wild look at this stage.

[natural]

Great photos Mark.

I grew Pink Bumblebee and Purple Bumblebee and Blush this season and like all 3. I am eagerly awaiting the release of Sunrise Bumblebee. Does Sunrise Bumblebee retain any prominent striping as the fruits ripen?

Thanks,
Bill

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Not that I have seen so far, it appears to blend in as they start to ripen. I do have what should be a couple of antho lines derived from some of Tom Wagner's crosses that are showing strong antho patterns in the striping and have a good possibility of yellow fruits, but they're going to be salad sized.

[natural]

Mark,

that sounds very nice. I am always looking for something yellow that "pops" in a mix of either cherry size or salad size. I had high hopes for Brads spot yellow or yellow furry boar, but neither of those had any striping for me.

This was my first season for growing a few blue cherries ( from J&L). The chefs were very excited to see them. I plan to trial several more blues next year. I appreciate teh information from your threads.

Bill

Originally Posted by Boutique Tomatoes

Not that I have seen so far, it appears to blend in as they start to ripen. I do have what should be a couple of antho lines derived from some of Tom Wagner's crosses that are showing strong antho patterns in the striping and have a good possibility of yellow fruits, but they're going to be salad sized.

[NarnianGarden]

Stunning beauties.

[newatthiskat]

Really interesting tomatoes! Looks like you are doing a lot of work to get this all going good

[meadowyck]

Oh to have land to plant that many would be a dream come true, thanks for sharing your adventures with us.