galahad and defiant

atilgan · September 14, 2020

I tried both galahad and defiant this year. They are both highly disease resistant including late blight. I cannot comment on disease resistance since I had no problem with diseases this year. Galahad is medium sized with a very good taste while defiant is small and has a nice taste if you like acidic tomatoes. I will grow galahad next year. Here is a picture of galahad

Greatgardens · October 1, 2020

I also grew Galahad this season. I planted it late, and it did very well. It has great taste -- definitely on the sweet side. It even tastes good when under-ripe. Typical size was 8-9 oz. It held up quite a bit better to Septoria than my OP, but still eventually lost a lot of foliage. (I did not spray this year.) It was highly crack resistant. Zero splitting. And it had little to no sun scald. It had two issues -- 1) I had BER growing it in a 10-gallon grow bag. And 2) It's production period was only a month. It is definitely determinate, about 4' tall and not very bushy. Overall, this one is worth the cost of the hybrid seeds.

I will most definitely grow it again. At the current time, most sellers are out of Galahad. Presumably, that will change over the winter. It is an AAS winner, and those tend to be popular with seed buyers. Attached is a picture of mine from August 26. (Sorry for the picture on its side. I tried several tricks to get it correct, but every time it ended sideways.)

https://all-americaselections.org/20...n-aas-winners/

Barb_FL · October 3, 2020

I grew it early in 2020 and it did great for awhile until it REALLY did not like the hot weather.

So I'm growing again and started it with my determinate tomatoes and it's not even that hot anymore but compared to my other determinate plants, it is way behind on blossoms not to mention fruit set. I have 2 plants; one is tall now b/c I had to put it behind shade cloth (the wimp - no other plants needed shading). The other plant was fine with the sun until I planted it out.

The leaders of the determinate plants are: HeatMaster (no surprise it's a heat variety), Bella Rosa (2nd now but coming on strong and loves the heat / humidity), Defiant and BHN589 and Mountain Merit all have lots of blossoms and some fruit set.

Even EM Champion which probably not meant for Florida doesn't have issues with the heat/sun although no blossoms/fruit. At least it is still short.

So I read the AAS winner description for Galahad and it is the AAS Regional Winner for the Heartland, West/Northwest region. No wonder it doesn't like the heat.

BTW - Defiant and BHN589 produced ALL season last year (season starts Sept through June). I continued to feed the plants the entire time.

I thought Defiant tasted good but was not very large.

---
Maybe I will give Gahalad another shot by starting now so when it is cooler from Nov-March it can handle it.

Richard - I wonder if your BER was indirectly related to heat.

Greatgardens · October 3, 2020

It might. The plants have to use a lot more water when it is hot and sunny, and the root system is constrained in the grow bag/container. I need to come up with a better strategy for next season. But I still think it is genetically susceptible. I grew Stellar last season in the same spot and grow bag without any BER, and it had more tomatoes. (If Stellar just tasted nearly so good to me!)

-Larry

October 3, 2020	#3
Barb_FL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Indialantic, Florida Posts: 2,000	I grew it early in 2020 and it did great for awhile until it REALLY did not like the hot weather. So I'm growing again and started it with my determinate tomatoes and it's not even that hot anymore but compared to my other determinate plants, it is way behind on blossoms not to mention fruit set. I have 2 plants; one is tall now b/c I had to put it behind shade cloth (the wimp - no other plants needed shading). The other plant was fine with the sun until I planted it out. The leaders of the determinate plants are: HeatMaster (no surprise it's a heat variety), Bella Rosa (2nd now but coming on strong and loves the heat / humidity), Defiant and BHN589 and Mountain Merit all have lots of blossoms and some fruit set. Even EM Champion which probably not meant for Florida doesn't have issues with the heat/sun although no blossoms/fruit. At least it is still short. So I read the AAS winner description for Galahad and it is the AAS Regional Winner for the Heartland, West/Northwest region. No wonder it doesn't like the heat. BTW - Defiant and BHN589 produced ALL season last year (season starts Sept through June). I continued to feed the plants the entire time. I thought Defiant tasted good but was not very large. --- Maybe I will give Gahalad another shot by starting now so when it is cooler from Nov-March it can handle it. Richard - I wonder if your BER was indirectly related to heat. Last edited by Barb_FL; October 3, 2020 at 01:03 AM.

October 3, 2020	#4
Greatgardens Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,124	It might. The plants have to use a lot more water when it is hot and sunny, and the root system is constrained in the grow bag/container. I need to come up with a better strategy for next season. But I still think it is genetically susceptible. I grew Stellar last season in the same spot and grow bag without any BER, and it had more tomatoes. (If Stellar just tasted nearly so good to me!) -Larry