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Re: Applestar's 2017 Tomatoes (and peppers and eggplants)

Ripe and blushing fruits --

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Harvested --
Those Maglia Rosa x Coyote F3 white cherries are all from the SAME plant. Little one is from the lowest truss.
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...Uluru Ochre split in the rinse bucket... This first fruit from the plant is a bit runty, too.

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applestar
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Vernissage Yellow (Clear Flesh) was blushing today. I hope to find Clear Flesh in fruits of at least one of these three plants :-()

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applestar
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Today's near-ripe tomato harvest involved picking every last one of Maskotka in the SFH that was anywhere near ripe because I found this
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It made me nervous enough to pick these two MR.C F3-2 (white grape with point), which resisted my initial attempt to harvest it.
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BTW, I discovered another clerical error. :oops:
The hanging basket in the SF&H is Maskotka not Marz Pulcent. Marz Pulcent basket is on the KGP. I KNEW this and described them correctly when talking about them, but whenever I copied and pasted the label from the map so I wouldn't get the spelling wrong, I was apparently labeling with the wrong variety name/description because I had them switched around on the map. :roll:

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Can NOT wait for these Sergeant Pepper's to ripen :-()

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I've seen people post about fruits like this, but this was my first, ever. :shock:

This is the SF&H Maskotka in a hanging basket. It's a determinate so it's doing its best to ripen the remaining fruits, probably sacrificing the foliage in the process because they are getting ragged and yellowed fast, and falling to fungal assaults. This one is also drying out despite the emergency water bottle -- it gets more sun than the hanging basket Marz Pulcent on the Kitchen Garden Patio, which is in the house shadow by late afternoon.

Anyway, with the excessive rains we had, there was a split fruit way inside where I couldn't reach without going inside. So I was just going to turn the basket, you know? So I could reach? The something caught my eye -- there was a "nosy" fruit, peeking out from between the chicken wire :lol:

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---

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First of the large fruited varieties to ripen -- 
Mikhalych (tb 2016) in the Sunflower House
-- it's a lumpy fused blossom fruit -- red and almost full ripe on one side but not on the other ...

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(...oh yes, those black-looking --actually very dark brown-- things to the left are seriously mite damaged but ripe Pasilla Bajio peppers fruits from overwintered 2015 plant.)


In the SFHX (Sunflower House Extension) cherry tomato bed, harvest of ripe fruits continue -- today, 2nd fruit of Vernissage Yellow Clear Flesh and others from my crosses which will be reported in the Cross Breeding thread :wink:

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I have a Peppadew pepper plant grown from seeds received in trade and marked "do not share." I don't know if that means they were "genoowine", smuggled, black market seeds. :P I've overwintered it at least twice now, maybe three times. It struggled with mite infestation last year and this year, but have bounced back. I walk by it every day, but it hadn't caught my attention until today when I saw some fruits that look nearly ready to pick.

The plant looked "odd" -- I registered it without defining what it was that made it wrong... then while I was trying to take pictures of the blushed/nearly ripe fruits, it occurred to me that some ...no... SIGNIFICANT amount of foliage was missing... Hornworm, definitely. So I started looking, expecting something kind of small.... then saw this monster! :shock:

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How is it that it managed to escape my notice for so long? :roll:

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I'm keeping Maui Purple and Black Scorpion Tongue Ladybug strain plants next to each other so I can compare them. They are both currently growing in 6 inch clay pot, though I may plant them both in this planter.

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Maui Purple has upward growing pointy narrow fruits:
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BST Ladybug has blocky-blunt downward growing fruits. I'm hoping to see some streaking and spotting as the fruits mature:
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I've bagged a couple of flower trusses so I will be able to save pure seeds that haven't been bee-crossed with each other:
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...but it might be interesting if some DID end up crossing... Image

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Wes is a very tall variety, large red heart, somewhat wispy regular leaf foliage. It has excellent flavor when allowed to ripen almost past prime on the counter. Great for fresh eating and makes incredible sauce. I always squeeze at least a couple of plants in my burgeoning tomato garden every year, and grow extra plants for my MIL.

It has its quirks. As seedling, it grows faster than almost any other variety and is always trying to touch the lights. Once planted, it grows fast and taller than any other indeterminate except the cherry varieties. I have it marked with XXT in my master list.

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This year, it didn't set fruit on any of the lower trusses and first fruit is about 4 feet high, but have been productive above -- others have set above the top of the 5.5 ft trellis.

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Those vines should grow for at least another 3 feet or so along the top.

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Today --

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That green tomato is a Uluru Ochre with blossom end rot. Rather than leaving it on the plant and uselessly take up nutrients and water, I decided to cull it. Too bad because it's a good size, but there are quite a few more similar size fruits, and there is (a smaller) one almost ripe enough to pick. Other green fruit is a persimmon that I accidentally knocked off while trying to train an espalier branch. :(

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Tomatoes from today (well, yesterday now)

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Still loving the shape of "Jack Frost's Early Love". Had to pick the Dwarf Blazing Beauty because it had split at stem end. As it turned out, when I dumped it in the cold water in the rinse bucket, it completely split down the side -- such a pretty color tomato.

These Vernissage Yellow "Clear Flesh" are from 2nd plant and has larger fruits AND seem to have the hoped-for clear flesh. I tasted some of them today, and the smaller fruits were opaque, not clear fleshed and mushy/mealy textured while the larger clear fleshed fruits had the firmer texture I like. BUT the opaque-fleshed ones were sweeter and better flavored. But there was one that was all acid.... :|

The ones I had were maybe overripe -- all surface stripes had turned yellow -- so I'll try again tomorrow with some that still have green stripes and see if that makes a difference.

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Big fruited tomatoes are starting to ripen and trickling in. So fun to see what kind of colors, shapes, and sizes they turn out to be.

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lakngulf
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Looking good. Always like to see the colors you produce. This year I concentrated on Better Boy, Cherokee Purple and Brandywine. CP is by far the favorite to the folks I give tomatoes. I think my Brandywine seed have strayed and/or crossed. I have some late ones planted separately from original Thomas Jefferson Monticello store, hoping for some fruit and a save of clean seed.

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Today's tomatoes -- I'm having critter trouble

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Harvested these not quite ripe and even just blushed to keep them safe from the chipmunks :x
TOP -
Sgt. Pepper’s, Amy Sue, Dwarf Blazing Beauty, Dwarf Uluru Ochre
Ernie’s Plump, The Dwarf Chocolate Lightning, Dwarf Uluru Ochre
CENTER -
Vernissage Yellow, Whippersnapper x FFS F4 “Jack Frost’s Early Love"
Maglia Rosa x Coyote F3 - blushed - “Buttercream Punch”
Not Raymondo’s Australian Mist
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Close up of Sergeant Pepper's -- first time growing this variety. The first fruit was kind of runty, but I'll take it! Looking forward to these big two :-()

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More to come

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Fist full-sized Sergeant Pepper's is blushing :D

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Bear Creek is at color break :-()

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Ramallet Mallorquin Pequeño Multiflora -- all the green fruits in the foreground are from the two trusses on this one plant.

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Ramallet D'es Figueral #1 and #2

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applestar
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Wes

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:() Sergeant Pepper's

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6/14 - I REALLY LIKE this one

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Last edited by applestar on Mon Aug 14, 2017 7:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added today's Striped one

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This one is a segregate of "Steelhead" -- a cross between a strain of Brandywine and Ananas Noir. I can't remember what filial generation it's at. The breeder named it for the colors which reminded him of the fish.

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This is "Allons-y, Dr.X". It's a still-segregating F3 generation of Purple Elgin x Sgt. Pepper's from which a breeder is planning to select for specific characteristics and call it "Alonzo's Medals".

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When the segregate of the F2 I was growing produced a completely different type -- bi-color with antho (blue pigment) shoulders, he told me I could give it a different name and continue to pursue this segregate if I liked. So I saved the seeds from a fruit harvested (HBR 9.11.16), and named it "Allons-y, Dr.X".

This first fruit was a bit mis-shapen due to double-blossom/conjoined twin fruit and some incomplete pollination issues during the heat-wave, but when the distracting damaged parts were trimmed off, it looked quite impressive. I think those green streaks and speckles turned into these galaxy/nebula-like yellow marks? Red and yellow bi-color into the flesh... only a sprinkling of antho on this fruit, but the antho was also present in the flesh after the skin was removed.

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It was very tasty, too -- assertive front-end flavor, not so much sweet as maybe salty and very tomato-y, with building umami in the middle, then strong, tangy finish and lingering acid bite.

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I grew Sgt. Peppers a few years ago from seeds from Don. I don't recall the antho in them, but maybe they had it. I only grew them the one time due mainly to the fact that the plant was sort of sickly and spindly from the get-go. Are yours like that? I'm sure I still have seeds somewhere...

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This is Uluru Ochre. It's a genetic dwarf -- only 3-4 feet tall, but one of the newer generations that produce really nice sized slicers. And it is VERY productive as well. This one was 9.2 oz I believe and I actually grew it in a 2.5 gallon container.

It's also one of the "new" color tomatoes. I had such a difficult time trying to get the photo to turn out the right color. The whole fruit could be a little lighter yellow-orange color, which puts it in the "YELLOW" tomato category in tomato parlance. But it has green shoulders, which you may have heard is an old-fashioned trait bred out of modern solid red tomatoes which actually has great flavor genes linked to it. It also retains chlorophyll in the flesh and gel that give it that really icky greenish.brownish cast to it that give you a pause. When I first saw photos, I thought "how UGLY!"

But seriously, this is an absolutely delicious tomato. If you like black/brown tomatoes, I think you will like this one, too. You HAVE to try it to believe it.

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Edited to add -- my tomato-loving DD2's comment -- this is one of those tomatoes that doesn't need salt, just a little bit to make it sweeter (salt enhances/brings out the sweetness), but too much salt would ruin it.

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applestar
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JayPoc wrote:I grew Sgt. Peppers a few years ago from seeds from Don. I don't recall the antho in them, but maybe they had it. I only grew them the one time due mainly to the fact that the plant was sort of sickly and spindly from the get-go. Are yours like that? I'm sure I still have seeds somewhere...
Yep. Sgt. Pepper's has VERY wispy foliage and growth pattern -- thin, skinny leaves, droopy habit. But it's also one of the tallest seedlings in the bunch -- always trying to touch the lights. You will also find some strong antho expression in some of the seedling stems and leaf veins/leaves -- purple! -- which sometimes makes you think it's sickly like from being cold... but it's not. You get used to these oddball characteristics after growing a few of them :wink:

OK found a good representative photo --
Subject: Applestar's 2017 Garden
applestar wrote:Can you see the three super dark/antho stemmed, wispy foliage seedlings (one in left photo, 2 in right) that have outpaced the fellow seedlings and are growing past the reflector or into the lights, trying to touch them?

These troublemakers are all Sergeant Pepper's. The fruits will be Pink heart with antho/purple shoulders. :-()

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Here's Vernissage Yellow (VY) after peeling and deseeding. I'm comparing what I'm calling "clear flesh" trait in this selection. I have two distinctly different fruits from two different plants.

One is larger fruited than the other. The Large fruits have these big veining and clear flesh in between. The Small has clear flesh without the significant veining. I also included a fruit from Currant Leaf Not Raymondo's Australian Mist which I noticed also has clear flesh, and one of my crosses with white grape cherry which has opaque flesh.

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I was hoping to pursue the larger fruited VY for the size, but the flavor of the Small segregate is better. Large segregate has what we disdainfully call "mild" flavor.... On the other hand, the Large segregate seems to have more of the yellow-striped clear epi.

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I finally got around to cleaning up under the insect screen tunnel over the "Apple Guild" bed -- narrow bed just outside the dripline of the semi-dwarf Enterprise Apple tree ... I try to plant things that are part of the Apple tree Guild/Plant Commmunity according to permaculture guidelines (solanacea is one of them). The broccoli were stunted and in tatters where the leaves had been pressing against the netting and allowing access to cabbage moths -- they all went into the compost bin -- and most of the onions had dried tops and needed to be harvested.

The white pepper's I had been glimpsing through the netting are looking really good. No sign of pepper maggot infiltration. They were both originally started from seeds in 2015 and over-wintered. They had been stunted severely due to broadmite infestation.

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I think the 2nd plant must be Roumanian Rainbow since this fruit has the blunt bell pepper-like shape and I believe Feherozöne has pointed fruits. I lost track of which of the two this was and was waiting for it to fruit.

This one I think is the NOT Chocolate Cake I was trying one more time to see if These seeds would grow true before obtaining a new batch of seeds... and it doesn't look quite right this time either. Oh well.

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... UNLESS it's a Sweet Chocoloco....?

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This is a mystery volunteer RL indeterminate that looks like it is producing a cocktail sized beefsteak-shaped fruits in clusters. This first fruit -- maybe 1.75 inches in diameter -- looks like it wants to be white/yellow bi-color with a bit of green shoulder/striping going on. I don't know what variety it could be. According to last year's map, there had been a plant grown from seeds of 2015 Not Mikado White (clear epi yellow/red flesh bi-color) here that didn't grow well and was overwhelmed by weeds and the TKKx pumpkin vine. But it there had been some kind of fruit, this plant might be its off-spring, opening up an exciting possibility that this might possibly be a Not Mikado White PL Bi-color VGSIP'2015 x Champagne Cherry VGSIP'2015

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...when I was positioning to take an overall photo, I noticed the missing foliage at the top-left of the plant and immediately thought HORNWORM! So I started looking after taking the photos, and sure enough! :evil:

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This one was named "Steelhead" by the breeder after the freshwater fish. Those of you who fish them might recognize the coloring. It's a segregating off-shoot from 2015 seeds and the original line has been advanced so the one I have may or may not be true to type and I might not be correct in calling it by the given name. It was bred from a cross between a Brandywine he has been saving seeds and selecting for desirable traits and Ananas Noir. I harvested the fruit a week ago.

What GORGEOUS tomato! Definitely tri-color -- green, red, yellow. Yes, yes, I meant to eat this 2 days ago, but life intruded. So it did develop a (small) bad spot AFTER FULL 1 WEEK -- with scarring and mega-fused fruit like this, there are vulnerabilities -- but perfect fruit would have even better shelf life I think?

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Surprisingly Sweet and Fresh are the two main descriptors that come to mind. Sometimes these qualities are lost when fruits are overripe. Started with Sweet front end -- tomato Sweet, nor sugary, and then not the heavy, salty deep flavor but Fresh and clean flavor with continuing Sweet and satisfying richness, then tangy lingering finish. I think this would please folks who prefer the brighter flavored tomatoes. My DD tomato taster said it was SWEET, NOT TOO STRONG, and VERY GOOD.

I would prefer to eat this one alone or in garden salads I think. Not too much other stuff to clutter up and mask the flavor.

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applestar
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Sunflower House (SFH) dwarf and indeterminate/determinate tomato garden, left to right (west to east):

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Sunflower House Extension (SFHX) cherry and cocktail tomato garden with SFH in the background:

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Some of the notable ripening tomatoes: Dwarf Chocolate Lightning, Ernie's Plump, Wes, Amana Orange, Rebel Yell, Roman Candle
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Ramallet Mallorquin Pequeño Multiflora, Ramallet Pequeñito en Ramos Multiflora
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VGA High Raised Bed of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants... with basil. Chicago Hardy fig planted in front to train as a step over/fence. VGB Bed of indeterminate tomatoes behind it, and the VGB.PSRB (Pallet-sided Raised Bed) of indeterminate tomatoes and balsam in the back ground:

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SQWIB
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Very Impressive, I didn't even know most of these varieties even existed, this is more like an encyclopaedia than a post

Awesome.

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:D Thank you! :D

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Allons-y, Dr.X, Big Cheef Stripes, Steelhead-1, Steelhead-2
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Wes, Big Cheef Stripes (2), Steelhead-1, Dwarf Chocolate Lightning, Dwarf Orange Cream, Cheste (these 2 look pink... maybe not true)
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applestar
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Here are the trial varieties from Spain I mentioned earlier:
- Ramallet Mallorquín Pequeño Multiflora (gerardo'Nov2016)
- Ramallet Pequeñito en Ramos Multiflora (gerardo'Nov2016)
- De Colgar Papuo PL (gerardo'Jul2016)
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- Ramallet D’es Figueral (gerardo'Nov 2016)
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Gerardo also sent the seeds for
- Mucha Miel
- Mikhalych (...but I grew the seeds from tillyboris)

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Volunteer tomato seedlings from compost I added to this 2 gal bucket planter - one of them is antho PL ! :shock: .... oh... what to do....? Its already September -- first frost could be as early as mid-October.

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This bucket is meant to be for not table-worthy Blueberry culls in case any of the seeds within decide to sprout. In fact I *think* there is one little Blueberry plant growing in here already.

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applestar wrote:This is Uluru Ochre. It's a genetic dwarf -- only 3-4 feet tall, but one of the newer generations that produce really nice sized slicers. And it is VERY productive as well. This one was 9.2 oz I believe and I actually grew it in a 2.5 gallon container.

It's also one of the "new" color tomatoes. I had such a difficult time trying to get the photo to turn out the right color. The whole fruit could be a little lighter yellow-orange color, which puts it in the "YELLOW" tomato category in tomato parlance. But it has green shoulders, which you may have heard is an old-fashioned trait bred out of modern solid red tomatoes which actually has great flavor genes linked to it. It also retains chlorophyll in the flesh and gel that give it that really icky greenish.brownish cast to it that give you a pause. When I first saw photos, I thought "how UGLY!"

But seriously, this is an absolutely delicious tomato. If you like black/brown tomatoes, I think you will like this one, too. You HAVE to try it to believe it.
I will have to try that now, apple, due to your recommendation! This was one of the dwarfs I had in a list of "ones to try", when I was researching them before this season. Didn't get any of them, but I am definitely going to try some next season. I am looking for something indeterminate (I notice many are indeterminate, but most determinate), and something 4-5 feet, not something very small. Any suggestions? I think what got me thinking about the dwarfs again was when that nylon trellis of mine collapsed, because all of those tomato plants got so huge in those SIPs! Funny thing - none of them died, and they are still growing on the ground! From now on, all tomatoes only go on metal trellis - CRW!

Have you had any problems with splitting this season, with all this rain? Even in the SIPs, I have been having major splitting, with some varieties having almost every fruit split after some of those worst rainfalls. Fortunately, cherries recover quickly!

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Ohhh, I have some good ones for you to try, including Uluru Ochre! I'm in the process of weeding out the "mild" flavored ones which are not my/our favorites. Even good ones that are not fully counter ripened have been pronounced not good enough here -- yes have had some issues with overwatered/rain-soaked splitting, though not a whole lot ...most of this year's selections have been split-proof, though many have had stem-end cracking that reduced but not prohibited storage/keeping longevity.

DH and I like full-ripe, rich strong/complex front end flavors with building middle salt/umami, then good tangy finish, some with lingering acid afterburn as long as there is sweetness up through the the middle flavors. DD will also sometimes prefer richer flavored ones over sweeter but weak middle/finish varieties.

What kind of tomato flavors do you like? I'm guessing you might favor ones with good acid kick at the end which are typically great for Southeast Asian/Indian cuisine.

Try to be specific -- I can put together a list. Dwarf Chocolate Lightning is another one on ours. :wink:

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This is an overwintered 2nd year Gochu Garu yong Gochu 고추 가루 용 고추 (Pepper for chili powder) -- bought as started seedlings last year at Hmart -- being very productive in the Earthbox on the patio. :D
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...yes I have to take the isolation net bag off of the fruit growing inside of it :>

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You guessed right, apple. I prefer tomatoes with a stronger, tangy flavor, with that long finish, and mild tomatoes just don't hack it, for me. It seems that the juicier tomatoes always have more flavor. I like sunsugar, for a sweet tomato, but that's more for snacking on, and they make a delicious dried tomato, again, for snacking.

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Impressive and since you look like you've grown every tomato known lol. I have a question, what would you recommend to replace a Cherokee purple with, I love the tomato but it splits way before it even starts to ripen, they're way to finicky for me, any ideas on a good replacement. Its a shame because I absolutely love the tomato.

I'm hoping to find a decent slicing tomato, it don't have to be a beefsteak but something decent for slicing.
For next year I plan on Brandywine Reds, Celebrity, Box Car Willie, Sprite, and Matts Wild cherry.

Here are a few that I am interested in.
Pierce's Pride'
Dawson's Black Zebra
Maui Purple

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Ooh OK. Let me think about yours as well SQWIB. Had a rough day today and my brains are fried :roll: so I will try to work on this tomorrow. :wink:

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SQWIB I know where you're comin' from with the splitting problem. The only year I grew Cherokees, I got barely any usable fruits, and this season, with a Cherokee/Carbon cross, I had a huge number of tomatoes, but most were split, due to the excessive rain we've had. Even the ones in the SIPs were splitting, and those usually keep the wetness fairly constant. The Big Beef and Amish Gold Slicer had some splitting on their shoulders, but those were split all the way around.



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