Mark's 2018 crop

[KarenO]

Wonderful that one of your own is your earliest and so prolific. Something to be very proud of
Karen

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by ddsack

Mark, just curious how you handle the sales of all those tomatoes? Do you sell directly to people coming to your greenhouses or do you do contract deliveries to restaurants or grocery stores when in season?

I wholesale most of them to guys who sell them at farmers markets, some go to restaurants, some are sold out of the retail GH too. There are a couple of guys around here who are pretty good growers, they are a bit more high tech than I am, they really produce some tomatoes. They also grow the same 4-5 varieties every year, GH production types. I like a nice selection, hybrids, OP varieties, and heirlooms. The crosses that Sherry has done and the ones we worked together are catching on with customers.

It is pretty fun, but hectic for a few months.
Take care, KP pics soon. LOL

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by AKmark

I wholesale most of them to guys who sell them at farmers markets, some go to restaurants, some are sold out of the retail GH too. There are a couple of guys around here who are pretty good growers, they are a bit more high tech than I am, they really produce some tomatoes. They also grow the same 4-5 varieties every year, GH production types. I like a nice selection, hybrids, OP varieties, and heirlooms. The crosses that Sherry has done and the ones we worked together are catching on with customers.

It is pretty fun, but hectic for a few months.
Take care, KP pics soon. LOL

You are such a tease!

[KarenO]

I have a feeling it will be worth waiting for...
K

[AKmark]

We had a family gathering at the farm this evening and tasted a few tomatoes.

Bloody Butcher x Yellow Brandywine F1 Good, interesting taste, pretty complex

Cowlick's Brandywine x Bloody Butcher F2 X Bloody Butcher x Dester F1 ( F2) Excellent taste, a superior tomato, very complex rich tomato taste.

Rebel Yell, sweet with a complex wrap around it, always a favorite.

Mat- Su Express, very tasty, complex tomato taste, very strong tomato bite.

Bloody Butcher x Dester F3 (pink), excellent, very yummy sweet complex tomato wrap

Yellow Brandywine, not so good yet, was a touch under ripe.

The whole group agreed that a couple of our crosses stood up against Rebel Yell. I think the favorite was the 3 way cross. It is the large red tomato left of YBW

[ddsack]

What a plate of good looking tomatoes! Thanks for the taste test results, so do you have a name picked out for

Cowlick's Brandywine x Bloody Butcher F2 X Bloody Butcher x Dester F1 ( F2) Excellent taste, a superior tomato, very complex rich tomato taste.

yet? I hope it doesn't take too long to stabilize it.

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by ddsack

What a plate of good looking tomatoes! Thanks for the taste test results, so do you have a name picked out for yet? I hope it doesn't take too long to stabilize it.

I have tried samples from several plants and they are all good, but a few of them are something else, some good genetics in there to play with.
Another good tasting one was Deshka that was created by Sherry from Stupice and Cherokee Purple, it is a great tasting tomato. It is stable, red, and F8. I should be tearing into some Chapman next week, have been eating an F2 cross of it trying to make a selection to move forward. Good stuff.

Going to take the camera down today and snap a pic of Karma Pink today LOL

[KarenO]

Omg finally
Yay!!!
K

[efisakov]

Mark, it is so nice to see that you are still experimenting, and not just with crosses but with the size of the buckets. I remember when you grew cuttings in small containers and posted pictures. So happy it worked out for you. Impressive.

P.S. Your Mat-Su Express looks amazing.

[peebee]

**Sigh**...just **Sigh** with a deep breath. I can only swoon at all your pics, you are a supreme master of the tomato kingdom, Sir Mark.

[PureHarvest]

This is year 4 for me using this system. Still learning and working out kinks.
Mark, you have been a huge help. This is probably the best crop I've had yet. And I guess it should be as we can make improvements every year off of last year's failures.

Mark, here are some pics. I am wondering about picking off leaves below the first fruit truss. The HG manual seems to say that the leaves below the truss feed that truss, yet I know you and others pick those off at some point to hasten the ripening of the truss.

Looking at my pics would you take those off?

6-7-18a.jpg

6-7-18b.jpg

6-7-18c.jpg

6-7-18d.jpg

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by PureHarvest

This is year 4 for me using this system. Still learning and working out kinks.
Mark, you have been a huge help. This is probably the best crop I've had yet. And I guess it should be as we can make improvements every year off of last year's failures.

Mark, here are some pics. I am wondering about picking off leaves below the first fruit truss. The HG manual seems to say that the leaves below the truss feed that truss, yet I know you and others pick those off at some point to hasten the ripening of the truss.

Looking at my pics would you take those off?

Attachment 81965

Attachment 81966

Attachment 81967

Attachment 81968

Your plants are looking good, are those Big Dena? I would not pluck the leaves until the fruit blushes, then the light speeds up the ripening.
At that point they don't grow anymore, and I don't think you will see any difference in sugar content either.
Glad you are rolling along.

[AKmark]

This is a nice Rebel Yell that I picked today that contains the seeds of my newest cross. Rebel Yell x Mat-Su Express. This RY plant was mid season, a touch earlier than others, and MSE can run from early season to mid on some plants. The MSE I have been trying have been excellent, a real tomato bite, RY is a touch sweeter and complex too.

I don't see it being a bad cross at any rate. LOL

[PureHarvest]

Thanks Mark
One row is big beef one is big dena
Denas aren’t as quite round as B.B.
I have a 3rd row not in those pics that’s a mix of things including heirlooms.
In that row I have my first successful cross. Can’t wait to get seeds in a couple weeks and sow them so can observe and taste the f1s in September.

[Gerardo]

Not a bad cross at all, not by any stretch. What a beauty.

The other multi-parent Dester cross sounds mighty interesting too (#95).

Quick question: did the other parents help in reducing Dester's early blight susceptibility? I love the taste/texture of Dester, however, it gets walloped big time with EB in my neck of the woods, even with preventative measures.