Ramapo Seeds Arrived Today

[mdvpc]

Here is my ramapo on May 8.

[Tomstrees]

Good growing Mike!
Got mine planted out last night - pics to come!

~ Tom

[mdvpc]

Tom-going to be interesting to compare how this n.j. tomato does in my desert southwest garden in a container vs. your experience vs barkeater, etc.

[barkeater]

I'm glad Rutgers released new seed this year. The F1's I got last year that did so well, I had the hardest time getting any to germinate this year. It took 3 germination tries to get even 1 to sprout. And that was all I got out 11. As a side note, the only germination I got was when I sowed them on the full moon.

I wanted to see if there was any difference between the 2, since last year Rutgers did the crossing, this year a company in Israel did it. Germination was quick and 100% (4/4) on the new ones.

This year then, I'll be planting the following Ramapo's:

2008 F1
2007 F1
2007 F6
2005 F4

[mdvpc]

Looking forward to seeing the results of the 4 different seed.

[barkeater]

I finally got a digital camera,and a new laptop, a couple months ago. I'll try to figure out how to add pictures to my posts. They are all going side by side in the same row, so comparisons should be easy.

[Tomstrees]

My neighbor complained of "weak gangly" looking (Ramapo) seedlings -
I told him its probably a "grower related issue":
even though he's been growing tomatoes for 30 years, lol

Def. will be cool to compare plants/fruit Mike.
Bark is North - I'm mid-Atlantic, and you're out west.
Should be interesting for sure.

~ Tom

[mdvpc]

lets try and post photos of all the ramapo growouts-good news for me, if it does well for me, I have enough seed for 10 years.

[Douglas14]

I look forward to seeing(tasting) how Ramapo compares with Sioux and WI 55. I expect the fruit to be somewhat larger, but taste is more important to me.

[mdvpc]

Here is my Ramapo in the container. Very healthy, vigorous plants. The photo on the left is from 10 days ago, the photo on the right is today , May 18. Flower buds should be open soon.

[Tomstrees]

Very nice Mike you're way ahead of us - we've had some cold temps and rain so my plants are going through that "I can't believe he put me out this early" phase, lol - Plants are about 7 inches tall and only 3 sets of leaves!

Good growing,

~ Tom

[mdvpc]

Tom-It was great here yesterday, but we are supposed to have a 3 day heat wave-supposed to be 97 today. Phoenix, where one of my sons lives, was 106 yesterday. I hope my plants get through this without much blossom drop. No fruit set yet on Ramapo-I just checked.

[mdvpc]

I have fruit set on my Ramapo. Its super hot here this week, going to be around 100, so dont know how much more fruit will set.

[barkeater]

So how's everyones' Ramapos coming along?

Surprisingly, my most vigorous plants are two F4's I planted. I was only going to plant 1, but the spare looked so good I had to plant it too. Although no open flowers yet, they are swelling, and will open before my '07 and '08 F1's, and my one F6. They were all transplanted 9 days ago, May 30.

The reason I'm regrowing the F4's are threefold:
1. I only had 4 seeds left.
2. The F3 fruit, which the F4 seed was saved from, was the best flavored generation.
3. The plant vigor seemed to drop off with the F5, and we'll see what happens with F6.

[Tomstrees]

Mine are doing well so far (no open blossoms yet) - when I get home tonight I snap a pic.

~ Tom