African Queen Tomato

[Garf]

I planted 5 seeds for African Queen about a week ago. I have a single seedling, the smallest I have ever seen. Not too good germination. Time will tell.

[Garf]

Here is a pic.

[rainbowgardener]

African queen what? I looked it up and I found a kind of trumpet lily, a kind of fuschia, and a kind of impatiens all called African Queen. I'm guessing maybe you mean the lily. If it is, growing lilies from seed is not easy. They usually take special treatments, like warm then cold stratification then warm, and may take months to germinate.

I'm guessing that what you have is not your African Queen (which ever variety you mean), but some stray seed that popped up.

[Garf]

Being that it is posted in the Growing Tomatoes forum, I didn't feel it necessary to label it as a tomato. It is a tomato.

[rainbowgardener]

Oh sorry, I didn't even notice. I just go under New Posts and go down the list, which is all different forums. I didn't pay enough attention. I was thinking it looked like a tomato seedling!

Yes, not very good germination rate for tomatoes. Do you have them on a heat mat?

[Garf]

No heat mats need in Miami, Florida.

[Garf]

I have a second sprout. Even smaller.

[applestar]

Where the seeds small or skinny? I'm seeing good reviews for this variety, but since it's a heat set (heat tolerant), maybe it manages to set fruits but have difficulty developing the seeds during hot weather.

I often see tiny undeveloped and underdeveloped seeds in fruits harvested after a heat wave.

I'm looking forward to your flavor review•report, though this might be a variety that won't do as well here.

[Garf]

We're going into summer here. This plant may not survive to produce any fruit. Here is the second pic.

[Mr green]

I have best results when planting my seeds in individual small pots. Its a bit more work, but as soon as I get sprouts I can let them dry out a bit more than the ones that still hasnt sprouted. They seem to benefit from that in my experience.

[Garf]

I used to do mass planting of seeds, but I wasted too many that way.

[Garf]

Where the seeds small or skinny? I'm seeing good reviews for this variety, but since it's a heat set (heat tolerant), maybe it manages to set fruits but have difficulty developing the seeds during hot weather.

I often see tiny undeveloped and underdeveloped seeds in fruits harvested after a heat wave.

I'm looking forward to your flavor review•report, though this might be a variety that won't do as well here.

The seeds were small for a tomato. If I need to start more later, we will see what happens.

[Garf]

Another pic. they are doing very well.

[suncitylinda]

I don't recall every reading that African Queen is or was a heat set, or even good in heat. As a large pink potato leaf, I would not necessarily expect it to be. Have no idea where the "African" in the name originates, seems to me this came out of the mountains in the South Eastern U.S Am I missing some information?

[Garf]

I jumped on it too quickly before researching it. Oh well.

[Garf]

The smaller of the pair fell over. Looks like damping off disease.

[suncitylinda]

the one that's supposed to have been brought over from Africa by slaves is Goose Creek, at least according to Jimmy Williams who claims it as a family heirloom. I only grew it once and can't recall if it did well or not in heat. I am trialing Heidi this year which Carolyn introduced and I understand its origins to be African.

[Garf]

One of the seedlings died from Damping off disease. The other seems to be doing well.

[Garf]

The survivor is in it's final pot. Now to see how well it does in the Miami summer.

[Garf]

Coming along.

[Garf]

The plant had no resistance to spider mites. It's almost dead.