Azoychka growers, anyone?

[SharonRossy]

Hi I decided to try Azoychka and only one seed germinated. And it was slow to germinate too. My plant is now about 6' and I have two small tomatoes. Is this a slow one too? I m finally getting some flowers but I really thought I'd have more at this point.

[NarnianGarden]

I can't say about slow or normal, as this year has been very cold and rainy, but my Azoychka is definitely doing well under the circumstances. Already several little fruits and gorgeous flowers. Horsemanure might have something to do with that..

[Lindalana]

Have grown it for many years. It is one of the earlier tomatoes with good production. Never noted problems with it, tolerates cold weather, set fruit in cool weather well. Not growing this year as I am trying all new varieties.

[AKmark]

I have grown them in the past, and are growing several plants now, they are fairly early and produce great. For the best tasting fruit let them fully ripen.

[bower]

Sharon I have the same problem as you. Germination was poor and late, the little seedling turned into a huge plant, it flowered late, it didn't set what it flowered. Two little fruits just set on it.... I have already topped it down to the leaf above those fruit as it isn't earning its share of space.. tempted to pull it ( but really... can I give up those two little fruits ).

[saltmarsh]

Azoychka is the fastest growing and tallest tomato in the garden this year.

We have 7 plants and this is part of the past week's harvest. (we canned the cat-faced and blemished and also had Mayo and tomato sandwiches twice.) They have a really great flavor and the vines are still loaded.

We don't use any fertilizers, insecticides or herbicides. All natural. Claud

[SharonRossy]

Wow, I'm impressed. I ignored mine yesterday and today when I went to check, I found more fruit forming and more blossoms so maybe it needs tough love! It's quite large which really surprised me because as a seedling it really was slow. Bower, hang in there! It'll be interesting to see how both of our do. I'm looking forward to tasting it. I'm not too sure how early it's going to be here.

[zipcode]

It did very well for my brother in 5 gallons per plant. The most productive and quite early.
I'm trying it this year in the garden and it's not terribly happy, the leaves are rather curled.

[bower]

Saltmarsh's crop is impressive... too bad, it's not happening here this year. Such a foggy spring, all the plants have reached or nearly their maximum size in my greenhouse, and the shears came out yesterday for the unfruitful, so the others can get the space and light they need.

Azoychka will be on my list to try another year, with Prudens Purple and Missouri Pink Love Apple, neither of which has grown a single fruit this time. Moskvich is another disappointment, but since it's in a grow bag I can move it outdoors and let it grow or drop the measly fruit set.

[saltmarsh]

We have a false Spring here normally. Three weeks of absolutely beautiful weather followed by 7 - 10 days of frost and freezing temperatures. This year was typical. The first round of tomatoes were planted on March 14 and grew like bats out of a cave until April 15th when we had the last heavy frost where the temperature dropped to 26 degrees for 3 hours. We lost 150 plants that morning. I had seeded extra plants at the same time as the originals in case something like this happened. The Azoychkas were a part of this backup group.
We had 7 plants survive the freezing temperatures without protection and no damage. The original planting had 3 Azoychkas but all were damaged by the freeze.
All the damaged plants were replaced on April 17. The 7 Azoychkas currently growing were part of this second planting. Ain't this fun. Claud

[SharonRossy]

Saltmarsh, were are you exactly? Wow that's gutsy gardening. And a lot of plants! Bower, sorry to hear Azoychka met the fate of the clippers! But it's understandable. Where did you get your seeds? I got mine from Tomatofest. Anyways depending on how it performs this year, we will see. I'm thinking that germination for a for some varieties really needs bottom warmth vs just a warm environment and this might be one of them. Who knows!

[bower]

It's a wierd fact that some varieties handle extremes better than moderate conditions, especially if 'moderate' involves not much sunshine. They just can't make the switch from vegetative to reproductive mode. And since my greenhouse is overfull with over-vegetated large plants especially this year, overcrowding adds to the 'low light' situation.

I've had plants that refused to grow fruit in my greenhouse even in better years, but set right up when I put them outdoors - factors include maximum sunshine (or daylight at least!), colder night temperatures and a greater day/night temperature difference. Some examples from other years - Isis Candy, Alaska come to mind. Pale Perfect Purple was another great honkn vegetable with no fruit. But we don't have much of a growing season for tomatoes outdoors here, at the best of times. Next time around I'll be sure to put Azoychka in a grow bag so I can move it if necessary instead of cutting it down.

[Labradors2]

Interesting that AKmark says to let Azoychka get fully ripe before eating it. I sampled one at a taste test and thought it was a spitter, but now I wonder if it just wasn't perfectly ripe!

Linda

[ddsack]

If you need sweetness in your tomatoes, you won't like Azoychkas. They have a very acid lemony taste. I like them, but didn't grow any this year since I have too many new ones to try. I try to grow one in a large pot every year as an early, which they are for me. But like Stupice, which I also grow as an early, I lose interest in them once the mid-season tomatoes start to ripen.

[Labradors2]

Thanks Dee. That's good to know! Scratching that one off my list......

Linda