Anyone else growing Golden Cherokee and or Barlow Jap for the first time? - Page 4

Mark0820 · September 10, 2011

I didn't try Golden Cherokee, but I would have to agree with Damon that Barlow Jap is a winner. In a bad year for growing tomatoes, my Barlow Jap plants were loaded, and the tomatoes store extremely well (taste excellent too).

Iva · September 11, 2011

Grew Barlow Jap for the first time this year. I have to say, the seeds I got had a hard time germinating, so I only got one seedling and it was in poor condition and also a dud (no growing tip). I pinched the top of (had nothing to lose) and it grew two stems from behind the cotyledons, one being a dud again, so I removed that one entirely.

It was a problematic plant from the get go. I decided to give it a try anyway and planted it out in the only spot left in the garden that was mostly shade. Didn't expect much from it anyway. It was very slow to start and grew slowly afterward too.

And just when all my other plants began to have problems with late blight in early June (we usually get blight in August) and then with the scorching heat in July, Barlow Jap took off like a rocket, with vigorous growth and many flowers, also setting fruit fairly well. I got about five ripe fruits at the end of August and they were lovely. I fell in love with the complex sweet flavor and the creamy texture.

It is still flowering like crazy and setting fruit and I'm hoping some will get to ripen before frost. I saved seeds from this survivor and hope it will have a better start next year. If all is well, I expect to get fruits from it at least one month earlier than this year...

fortyonenorth · September 11, 2011

For me, here in NW Indiana, Barlow Jap was very shy to flower early in the year. I've harvested only one fruit so far, but it was a beautiful and delicious one pound plus. A very distinct taste amid a sea of sameness. I can't say precisely when flowering picked up, but it may have been during the hot period at the end of July. The plant is currently loaded with fruit that should ripen here in the next few weeks - well ahead of our first frost. Hopefully they'll measure-up in taste. In any event, that one fruit was enough to merit a re-grow next year with a few plants.

kath · September 11, 2011

My Barlow Jap has been dead and pulled for a while now and I'm wondering if it was the real thing. It gave 14 fruits from a single vine with the smallest at 4.3 oz. and the largest 12.9 oz. The first one was picked on 7/24 from a 5/12 plantout. The seeds were noticeably large to me and most were quite mealy in the center. They were gorgeous sliced but not as sweet as JD's, which I still prefer.

The Golden Cherokee produced fewer, but larger fruits (6 to 22oz) but stayed mealy and blah tasting all season. Hawaiian Pineapple was our hands-down favorite in the yellow/orange/gold/bi color category/categories.

The Taresenko6 plant I referred to earlier in this thread turned out to be a "-Not". It is one of the few plants still showing any signs of life in my garden and produces fluted red hearts with a nice texture, good taste and still unblemished fruits, which is nothing less than amazing given the devastation that used to be my tomato patch.

Mark0820 · September 11, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by kath

My Barlow Jap has been dead and pulled for a while now and I'm wondering if it was the real thing. It gave 14 fruits from a single vine with the smallest at 4.3 oz. and the largest 12.9 oz. The first one was picked on 7/24 from a 5/12 plantout. The seeds were noticeably large to me and most were quite mealy in the center. They were gorgeous sliced but not as sweet as JD's, which I still prefer.

I will send you some seed if you want to grow it again next year. I haven't saved any seed yet, but I have four in the house and my plants are loading up again. I didn't have any as small as 4.3 oz. All of mine were fairly large (at least 12 oz. and most probably even a little larger).

greyghost · September 11, 2011

Kath, I had the same experience as 41North-very, very low intial fruit set.
(our seeds are from the same source) In fact, I had pretty much decided not to regrow it as my other varieties had a heavy early fruit set. After tasting the Barlow, I decided it's worth another chance. It has quite a few fruit on it now
but stinkbugs are making them very unappetising!

They should be fairly large pink fruits. I noticed you compared it to JD and
I wondered if you had gotten a dark fruit? Anyway, I'm suspecting that you
may not have had correct Barlow Jap seed.

I also grew Tarasenko6 which produced a large quantity of large, bright
red fruits (a little too mild for our tastes, though). I'm suspecting that
that seed might not be correct either. I had a lot of BER on my Tarasenko6
fruit. However, I had given a plant to another T'Viller and he got a lot
of perfect fruits (and really liked the taste). Both our plants were huge
and healthy. His Barlow Jap, however, bit the dust due to foliage disease
before he got any fruits. It sounds like you're happy with the "Tarasenko"
fruit, anyway!

This just really was an odd year here-I'm not far from you-in the southeast
corner of PA where PA, DE, and MD meet. Most of my plants set absolutely
huge fruit early on during the rainy warm spell we had. Later, it seemed
to be near 100 degrees a couple of times and they had trouble setting fruit
at all. I wish many of my varieties tasted as good as they looked but they
were mild and bland like '09 fruits. One saving grace, once the bland tomatoes were cooked down into sauce, they had an intense taste.

kath · September 11, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark0820

I will send you some seed if you want to grow it again next year. I haven't saved any seed yet, but I have four in the house and my plants are loading up again. I didn't have any as small as 4.3 oz. All of mine were fairly large (at least 12 oz. and most probably even a little larger).

Thanks, Mark, I definitely had a "not" for Barlow Jap because I looked back in my Ripening Happens thread and see that it was a dark tomato, not pink! Maybe we can trade later when you're ready.

kath · September 11, 2011

You're right, Darlene, I did remember it as a dark and verified it by checking my photo thread.

I grew way too many tomato varieties for me this year.

The Tarensenko6-Not is really interesting to me now and although I wasn't successful in bagging any fruits on this one, I may try to save some seed from the fruit that ripened on the vine recently and is still on the counter. I can't even remember the last time I was able to let a fruit ripen on the vine without it rotting due to an open hole of some kind or other. The bugs and rain have been a plague for over a month now.

Thank you, kindly- I appreciate your input and offer to share the real deal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greyghost

Kath, I had the same experience as 41North-very, very low intial fruit set.
(our seeds are from the same source) In fact, I had pretty much decided not to regrow it as my other varieties had a heavy early fruit set. After tasting the Barlow, I decided it's worth another chance. It has quite a few fruit on it now
but stinkbugs are making them very unappetising!

They should be fairly large pink fruits. I noticed you compared it to JD and
I wondered if you had gotten a dark fruit? Anyway, I'm suspecting that you
may not have had correct Barlow Jap seed.

I also grew Tarasenko6 which produced a large quantity of large, bright
red fruits (a little too mild for our tastes, though). I'm suspecting that
that seed might not be correct either. I had a lot of BER on my Tarasenko6
fruit. However, I had given a plant to another T'Viller and he got a lot
of perfect fruits (and really liked the taste). Both our plants were huge
and healthy. His Barlow Jap, however, bit the dust due to foliage disease
before he got any fruits. It sounds like you're happy with the "Tarasenko"
fruit, anyway!

This just really was an odd year here-I'm not far from you-in the southeast
corner of PA where PA, DE, and MD meet. Most of my plants set absolutely
huge fruit early on during the rainy warm spell we had. Later, it seemed
to be near 100 degrees a couple of times and they had trouble setting fruit
at all. I wish many of my varieties tasted as good as they looked but they
were mild and bland like '09 fruits. One saving grace, once the bland tomatoes were cooked down into sauce, they had an intense taste.

greyghost · September 11, 2011

I had written to Carol Knapp earlier to see how she's doing (I haven't
seen her on the forum lately). She wrote back saying she's having
terrible computer problems on her new computer; she often can't
even respond to e-mails. When she's able to correspond again, I'll
alert her to this thread. She had mentioned earlier she may have
Barlow Jap seed available for '12. Maybe she can update everyone on
that possibility.

September 10, 2011	#46
Mark0820 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 907	I didn't try Golden Cherokee, but I would have to agree with Damon that Barlow Jap is a winner. In a bad year for growing tomatoes, my Barlow Jap plants were loaded, and the tomatoes store extremely well (taste excellent too).

September 11, 2011	#47
Iva Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Slovenia, EU Posts: 249	Grew Barlow Jap for the first time this year. I have to say, the seeds I got had a hard time germinating, so I only got one seedling and it was in poor condition and also a dud (no growing tip). I pinched the top of (had nothing to lose) and it grew two stems from behind the cotyledons, one being a dud again, so I removed that one entirely. It was a problematic plant from the get go. I decided to give it a try anyway and planted it out in the only spot left in the garden that was mostly shade. Didn't expect much from it anyway. It was very slow to start and grew slowly afterward too. And just when all my other plants began to have problems with late blight in early June (we usually get blight in August) and then with the scorching heat in July, Barlow Jap took off like a rocket, with vigorous growth and many flowers, also setting fruit fairly well. I got about five ripe fruits at the end of August and they were lovely. I fell in love with the complex sweet flavor and the creamy texture. It is still flowering like crazy and setting fruit and I'm hoping some will get to ripen before frost. I saved seeds from this survivor and hope it will have a better start next year. If all is well, I expect to get fruits from it at least one month earlier than this year...

September 11, 2011	#48
fortyonenorth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 1,150	For me, here in NW Indiana, Barlow Jap was very shy to flower early in the year. I've harvested only one fruit so far, but it was a beautiful and delicious one pound plus. A very distinct taste amid a sea of sameness. I can't say precisely when flowering picked up, but it may have been during the hot period at the end of July. The plant is currently loaded with fruit that should ripen here in the next few weeks - well ahead of our first frost. Hopefully they'll measure-up in taste. In any event, that one fruit was enough to merit a re-grow next year with a few plants.

September 11, 2011	#49
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	My Barlow Jap has been dead and pulled for a while now and I'm wondering if it was the real thing. It gave 14 fruits from a single vine with the smallest at 4.3 oz. and the largest 12.9 oz. The first one was picked on 7/24 from a 5/12 plantout. The seeds were noticeably large to me and most were quite mealy in the center. They were gorgeous sliced but not as sweet as JD's, which I still prefer. The Golden Cherokee produced fewer, but larger fruits (6 to 22oz) but stayed mealy and blah tasting all season. Hawaiian Pineapple was our hands-down favorite in the yellow/orange/gold/bi color category/categories. The Taresenko6 plant I referred to earlier in this thread turned out to be a "-Not". It is one of the few plants still showing any signs of life in my garden and produces fluted red hearts with a nice texture, good taste and still unblemished fruits, which is nothing less than amazing given the devastation that used to be my tomato patch.

September 11, 2011	#51
greyghost Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: southeastern PA Posts: 760	Kath, I had the same experience as 41North-very, very low intial fruit set. (our seeds are from the same source) In fact, I had pretty much decided not to regrow it as my other varieties had a heavy early fruit set. After tasting the Barlow, I decided it's worth another chance. It has quite a few fruit on it now but stinkbugs are making them very unappetising! They should be fairly large pink fruits. I noticed you compared it to JD and I wondered if you had gotten a dark fruit? Anyway, I'm suspecting that you may not have had correct Barlow Jap seed. I also grew Tarasenko6 which produced a large quantity of large, bright red fruits (a little too mild for our tastes, though). I'm suspecting that that seed might not be correct either. I had a lot of BER on my Tarasenko6 fruit. However, I had given a plant to another T'Viller and he got a lot of perfect fruits (and really liked the taste). Both our plants were huge and healthy. His Barlow Jap, however, bit the dust due to foliage disease before he got any fruits. It sounds like you're happy with the "Tarasenko" fruit, anyway! This just really was an odd year here-I'm not far from you-in the southeast corner of PA where PA, DE, and MD meet. Most of my plants set absolutely huge fruit early on during the rainy warm spell we had. Later, it seemed to be near 100 degrees a couple of times and they had trouble setting fruit at all. I wish many of my varieties tasted as good as they looked but they were mild and bland like '09 fruits. One saving grace, once the bland tomatoes were cooked down into sauce, they had an intense taste.