[QUOTE=Barb_FL;602723]Mat-Su Express will be growing in Florida this winter. Seeds from Cole_Robbie so F5s, have been sowed - 100% germination.

Very excited to try this.[/QUOTE]

Oh good, do I will know who to get seeds from. I really kinda haveta grow this because my initials are MSE.:)

Thinking about it - the one grown in a 5 gallon buck could be started January 1. Brought inside when needed and grown outside most of the days in late February, March and April - 105 days later is April 15. That's way before the Texas heat sets in. Hmm, it might work.

I do not like red tomatoes. Usually they have not much flavour or they are sour. But with you telling how good mat su express is I am tempted to try.
How is the flavor? Sweet, acid, balanced...???
Did someone send some to Tormato for the swap? Or how could I get some coming to France? ;)

I did send in some for the swap. I still have plenty of seed. I saved a lot.

Mat-Su Express pics
 

Here is a few pics of the line from F1-4, the F5 pics are hiding somewhere, but greatly resemble F4's anyway.
Some of you have asked about MgSO4 deficiency, you can see it on plant A and B in the F3 pics. These were at the end of a season, I ran out of Epsom salt, they were on their own at that point. In the F3 notice the difference in plant A on the left, and B on the right, A threw bigger fruit, up to a pound, but B was loaded. I will send B out next season at F8, I want to continue to tailor it as I see fit, it is a true market tomato, the red cluster is B
The F3 was an important generation for selection, with A I greatly improved fruit size, B was/ is a monster yielder.
Anyway, you can see they yield a few tomatoes, and the F4 labeled May 5 was sprouted January 21 I think.

These Mat Su Express tomatoes are [I]amazing![/I] :love::yes:

Mark these are some beautiful tomato trusses. Do they need any support for all of that weight?

You have done a great job! It sounds as if half of our Tomatoville neighborhood will be growing this plant next year. Well Done!

MissS, Thanks. I did actually lose a couple of trusses on Mat-Su Super B, and that is something that rarly happens to me. I have used support a few times when I see a truss starting to give, but also would like to note that most of the time they just bend downward and make contact with the main stem, which usually provides some support. I have not lost very many trusses, very few actually.
Mat-Su should work well in your area. Like I said before, thank Sherry, she really enjoys tinkering with crosses, and got me hooked.
Just wait until you see some of her projects, she has a lot of stuff going on.

Thank you Sherry for bringing us this wonderful tomato. I hear that you are a genius at making tomato crosses. Keep up the good work!

I think that I will have to give this one a try too.

It's a great tasting tomato and early too. My friends had bought a plant from Mark this year and when they left on a trip, I had run of the ripe tomatoes in their greenhouse. It was the first one out of many early reds to ripen.

[QUOTE=AKmark;602663]Sherry AK and I have been working on several crosses of great tasting heirlooms with good tasting early varieties to make varieties that work well in northern climates. One of these is called Mat-Su Express, a cross of Brandywine and Bloody Butcher that is now at F6.
I sent a few seeds out at F4 and some F5's will be going around from those seeds known as plant (A). I have also sent out several batches of F6 from plant A - A was a selection in the F3.
Here is the important part of this post. I had a heck of a time finding good selections that were close to as early as the F1. At F4 about 25 percent were very early, F5 was about 50 percent. ALL I ASK is if you plan on passing around seed, please grow a few plants to make sure you get an early selection, taste is pretty stable, just a little variation. We call it Mat-Su Express because they are early. There are plenty of late season types floating around that tastes great, less early ones that taste great. I am growing over a 100 per generation to make good selections for the next generation, and will have it at F8 this next season.
I will send out some plant B (a selection in F3 also) next season, they are called Mat-Su Super B, they yield a lot of very tasty tomatoes

Enjoy, many will really like this strain.
Mark in the frozen north[/QUOTE]

Mark , got my F5 seeds from Cole Robbie. Thanks Cole.:lol: . What's approximate DTM on early ones? Plan on contributing seeds this year if all goes well.wanna make sure I don't save late ripeners.:lol:. Thanks again.jimbo.

The batch I saved seed from out of the F4's for plant (A) were 102-108 days from seed sprout, 8-10 out of about 40 were very early. The F5's from that batch had about 50 percent that were very early, and were in the same time frame. We can probably guess that F6's will have a few more that are very early, etc, etc.
Tailoring a line is hard work, we grow many examples so we get a good selection for the next generation. Mat-Su is mean't to be an early line that taste great. People can do what they want with them, of course, but using later maturing selections negates why it was started in the first place. With that said, grow a few, you will find what you want.

[QUOTE=charline;602782]I do not like red tomatoes. Usually they have not much flavour or they are sour. But with you telling how good mat su express is I am tempted to try.
How is the flavor? Sweet, acid, balanced...???
Did someone send some to Tormato for the swap? Or how could I get some coming to France? ;)[/QUOTE]

I made up 29 packs (5 seeds each) of M-SE, and noted that you're expecting it.;)

Charline, you asked about flavor. A few are sorta sweetish at first when you taste them, with a tomato taste that follows. The bulk of them have a very complex tomato taste, that on the strong side. I sell these at the markets, and they don't last long. In the first couple generations you kinda sense a BB taste, or a BW taste. I chose an F2 that was amazing, I based the whole line off of this one selection, then diverged it from there. I have only found a few that were just okay, both original parents taste good, so maybe it's sorta hard to find a ho-hum selection anyway. LOL
Good luck, thanks to Cole and Tormato for helping spread the Mat-Su around. BTW, Mat-Su stands for the Matanuska and Sustina Valleys, I kinda live between the two.

I just ate my first Mat-Su Express tomato
 

I'm growing quite a few plants; 4 plants in Root Pouches, 4 in EarthBoxes.

This tomato was grown in an EB with a SkyReacher Partner. This plant was not among the first planted out but was the first to produce a ripe tomato. So it is the earliest.

The taste was yummy; The tomato had thin skin, and intense flavor. The picture doesn't do justice to the deep color.

Next time I will get pictures with the good camera.