High Tunnel 2017

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks, Van. I see a lot more mistakes than perfection, but that is just perspective. Sun scald has been really bad for me. It may be that all my plants have a mild fusarium infection, one of the symptoms of which is burning off the lower leaves, which leads to sun burn. The problem is getting better as I pick higher up the plant.

I have tasted better red tomatoes, but all of them have come from being dry-farmed in just the right weather, in my local soil, which happens only once every several years. Mat-Su is also very juicy, which may not lend well to all uses. Mr Bruno would be my pick over Mat-Su for most canning and cooking uses. Mat-Su is still my favorite fresh-eating variety, and my favorite red to grow.

[BigVanVader]

How many MSE did you grow? Mine were smaller and more oddly shaped. I'm not the best judge of reds since I don't eat many. I admit that sometimes I never even taste the hybrid reds and let others gauge the taste. My wife gave MSE an 8 and I'm going to get my neighbor and a few customers opinions.

[Cole_Robbie]

I have six plants total. Three Super B and three Plant 11. I am happy with fruit size and shape, especially on the Super B. Sun scald has been my worst issue.

[BigVanVader]

Hmm I have 4 but most of my tomatoes are around 6 ounces.

[AKmark]

Mat-Su will average 6-10 OZ the first couple will go over a pound sometimes. If you prune off a few tomatoes the size is 8-10 usually. The line is based on several good selections for different reasons. I think this year a selection in plant 8 stole the show taste wise, it was superior. Yield is another reason I selected others, with a good taste. All in all the line is pretty stable, but there can still be some great selections to be found here and there for taste.

[tryno12]

Cole,very good looking bunch of Tom's! Are the Mat Su and Mr. Bruno dwarfs and where can seeds be gotten? They both seem to be early and good producers and I may want to give them a try next yr. Thanks
Pete

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by AKmark

Mat-Su will average 6-10 OZ the first couple will go over a pound sometimes. If you prune off a few tomatoes the size is 8-10 usually. The line is based on several good selections for different reasons. I think this year a selection in plant 8 stole the show taste wise, it was superior. Yield is another reason I selected others, with a good taste. All in all the line is pretty stable, but there can still be some great selections to be found here and there for taste.

Well like I said Mark the taste was shockingly good. The acidic tomatoey taste I get from most reds wasn't there and I guess I would describe it as smooth tasting. Great texture and mouth feel with very balanced flavor. Great work! Now to see if my uber critical tomato expert wannabe customers like it

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by tryno12

Cole,very good looking bunch of Tom's! Are the Mat Su and Mr. Bruno dwarfs and where can seeds be gotten? They both seem to be early and good producers and I may want to give them a try next yr. Thanks
Pete

Neither are dwarf, but they are both early and good producers. I'm sure I will have seeds to offer.

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Well like I said Mark the taste was shockingly good. The acidic tomatoey taste I get from most reds wasn't there and I guess I would describe it as smooth tasting. Great texture and mouth feel with very balanced flavor. Great work! Now to see if my uber critical tomato expert wannabe customers like it

Hey BVV, glad you liked the taste. If you got plant 11 could I get some seed from you? I cannot find that seed and lost all of mine to disease, so I would not save the seed anyway.

[AKmark]

Have I sent BB X Dester to you guys, or the backcross of that with F2 Mat-Su? This year I grew the F2 of of the back cross and F4 of BBX Dester. The back cross has a super taste, 95 days ripe from seed, beat Mat-Su by a solid week, Dester cross is great too, not as early as Mat-Su, maybe 110 from seed. The tastes are different, but excellent. My son calls the Back cross a western old fashioned tomato taste, whatever that means. He is 17, so cannot relate to Old Fashioned either. LOL He does know his tomatoes though, and is a real tomato snob.

[Cole_Robbie]

beat Mat-Su by a solid week

That's crazy talk! Mountain Fresh is 75 days, and my Mat-Su might be three weeks faster than that.

I will have to send you some Babushkin Potseluy. It's like a yellow Mat-Su.

[Cole_Robbie]

Rumi Banjan was a fun variety to grow. It is a good producer, but not as early as I would like for such a small-fruited variety. I didn't like the first one I tried, but I sampled a few riper fruit, and it is growing on me. The very ripest ones are definitely the sweetest. It has a unique look, and I think would be a good seller at market.

Most remarkably, the variety shows tolerance to my soil's fusarium wilt, not quite as much as the Mountain Fresh F1 next to it, but better tolerance than any OP variety I have grown in the parts of my garden that has fusarium the worst.

[tryno12]

Good looking tomato's Cole. Was wondering about OP? I thought that all tomato's were OP. I understood that to mean each blossom has a male and female part that required nothing more than a wind, shake, electric toothbrush, or a bee to pollinate - what am i missing? like a non hydrid heirloom is not OP?
Thanks
Pete

[Cole_Robbie]

each blossom has a male and female part that required nothing more than a wind, shake, electric toothbrush, or a bee to pollinate

The tomato flower is indeed "perfect," as you described, whether it is a hybrid or open-pollinated variety. OP is generally used to mean non-hybrid variety. It is a larger, more inclusive term than 'heirloom.'

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by AKmark

Hey BVV, glad you liked the taste. If you got plant 11 could I get some seed from you? I cannot find that seed and lost all of mine to disease, so I would not save the seed anyway.

For sure, I have 3 #11's growing and I'm cloning some for fall growing so I will save a ton. I already have a small batch fermenting actually. Let me know the pref date you need them and how many and I will make sure I get them to you.