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-   -   Thread for posting assessment of the new Dwarf Project varieties (http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=17714)

nctomatoman March 28, 2011 03:07 PM

Thread for posting assessment of the new Dwarf Project varieties
 
All - Lee just reminded me of a post that I was meaning to make (thanks, Lee) - and here it is!

For all of you who purchased the new dwarfs from Victory and/or Sandhill (and end up doing so once TGSC gets Summertime Green and Dwarf Wild Fred listed and available) - please provide your impressions, feedback and experiences in this thread, making clear which one you are talking about.

I can ensure that this feedback gets to each of the offering companies so that they are clear on what they need to select for going forward. It is also extremely important information for Patrina and me as we monitor the characteristics, stability, and especially, success (or not) - the customer satisfaction part - to ensure that we can refine the project to best meet gardeners' needs.

So, please feel free to have at it in this thread as the season progresses. What is going to be especially important are those things we didn't have the resources to fully work out - yields, maturity dates, disease tolerance (or not) - evidence that things are not quite yet stable - you get the idea!

It will be really exciting to read about how these new varieties do for you all this coming season. Thanks in advance for your open and honest feedback!

WillysWoodPile March 28, 2011 03:46 PM

[quote=nctomatoman;207242]All - Lee just reminded me of a post that I was meaning to make (thanks, Lee) - and here it is!

For all of you who purchased the new dwarfs from Victory and/or Sandhill (and end up doing so once TGSC gets Summertime Green and Dwarf Wild Fred listed and available) - please provide your impressions, feedback and experiences in this thread, making clear which one you are talking about.

I can ensure that this feedback gets to each of the offering companies so that they are clear on what they need to select for going forward. It is also extremely important information for Patrina and me as we monitor the characteristics, stability, and especially, success (or not) - the customer satisfaction part - to ensure that we can refine the project to best meet gardeners' needs.

So, please feel free to have at it in this thread as the season progresses. What is going to be especially important are those things we didn't have the resources to fully work out - yields, maturity dates, disease tolerance (or not) - evidence that things are not quite yet stable - you get the idea!

It will be really exciting to read about how these new varieties do for you all this coming season. Thanks in advance for your open and honest feedback![/quote]

My seeds were purchased from SandHill. Their service was prompt: and I must admit that ordering by snail-mail intriguingly puts everyone on the same level.

Here is Summertime Gold. 6 of 6 seeds sprouted. They were a day earlier than Dwarf Jade Beauty, and thus seem a little more vigorous to me. Both were sown on 3-23.
[IMG]http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z388/WillysWoodPile/close%20ups%20maters/DSCF4928.jpg[/IMG]

Dwarf Jade Beauty. 4 of 6 seeds up; 2 pending
[IMG]http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z388/WillysWoodPile/close%20ups%20maters/DSCF4929.jpg[/IMG]

Side-by-side
[IMG]http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z388/WillysWoodPile/close%20ups%20maters/DSCF4927.jpg[/IMG]

I am more than satisfied with progress thus far.

Edited to add: Sorry about the sunny reflection. I will post more pictures soon.

geeboss March 28, 2011 04:31 PM

Well of the two growing right now Beryl Beauty and Emerald Giant, Beryl appears to have more vigor. Both are growing well for dwarfs. Waiting on Tasamanin Chocolate, Rosetal Purple, SummerTime Gold, Mr. Snow. to come up... And hopefully Linda will have SummerTime Green and Wild Fred up for ordering.....may find myself in the car heading down to the NC farmers market if they are not for sale by April 7th.

Emerald Giant on Left--------------------------------Beryl Beauty on Right

[IMG]http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL1124/13040625/23203537/395961732.jpg[/IMG]

Duh_Vinci March 28, 2011 05:59 PM

Dwarf Beryl Beauty - Germination in 4 days
Dwarf Emerald Giant - Germination in 4-5 days
Dwarf Mr. Snow - Germination in 4-5 days

Dwarf Rosella Purple - seeded 03/26/2011 [B]EDIT[/B]: Germination 2 of 3 in 4 days
Dwarf Tasmanian Chocolate - seeded 3/26/2011 [B]EDIT[/B]: Germination 2 of 3 in 4 days [B]EDIT[/B] 1 of 3 in 6 days

Overall, Beryl Beauty is the strongest of from the first three, followed by Mr. Snow and last, Emerald Giant


[IMG]http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/1231921698_Fo6MH-O.jpg[/IMG]


Beryl Beauty:



[IMG]http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/1231921769_oFYPn-O.jpg[/IMG]



Mr. Snow



[IMG]http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/1231921844_7qYEF-O.jpg[/IMG]



Dwarf Emerald Giant



[IMG]http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/1231922005_AwqQb-O.jpg[/IMG]



Beryl Beauty compares by it's vigor to the New Big Dwarf (seeded at the same time)



[IMG]http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/1231922143_SuWwR-O.jpg[/IMG]


All of these are n 2.5"x4" pots for the size reference...

Regards,
D

shlacm March 28, 2011 06:07 PM

Are these all PL or is it the "rugose foliage" that's throwing me off!?!?!?! If so, how do you tell the difference?

shlacm March 28, 2011 06:21 PM

geeboss, were those [I]started[/I] on 3/6 and 3/7?!?!?! They're huge!!!

geeboss March 28, 2011 07:17 PM

shlacm

Dwarf Emerald Giant was sown on 3/6 and Beryl Beauty sown 3/7 and emerged on 3/11/11. Can't wait till the others pop up its amazing how stout the stems are in 2 1/2 weeks.

George

shlacm March 28, 2011 07:55 PM

[quote=geeboss;207280]shlacm

Dwarf Emerald Giant was sown on 3/6 and Beryl Beauty sown 3/7 and emerged on 3/11/11. Can't wait till the others pop up its amazing how stout the stems are in 2 1/2 weeks.

George[/quote]

:panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic::panic:

Suddenly my stout little Frosty's are looking so un-impressive... and they're a week older!!! What do you do to them???

geeboss March 28, 2011 08:49 PM

I grow them in a mix of 2/5 worm castings, 1/5 MG potting mix, 1/5 Turface MVP,
1/5 perilite.

George

Gobig_or_Gohome_toms March 28, 2011 09:07 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Just got done watering so I snapped a picture of my dwarves, transpalted to MG non moisture control potting mix. Left front is New Big Dwarf (NBD) with the small Frosty F4 (3067 behind it) and the next row over is Frosty F4 (3066) with (3067) behind it. Next two rows are all NBD and the next four after that are Earl of Edgecombe which for me last year was dwarf like without the rugose foilage like NBD has.

And behind are all my other seedlings densly planted two weeks later then plants in front, will need to transplant them this weekend or before as they are just now getting their first true leaves.

Craig

Patrina_Pepperina March 28, 2011 09:54 PM

Along with various aspects that you folks look at, one of the characteristics I'm really interested in this year is productivity of new varieties grown in differing environments, so if you could keep an eye on that as well I would really appreciate it :yes:

In order to test out how well they produce, it would be better NOT to prune dwarfs or remove suckers, even if normally you prefer to do so. This will also test how well different varieties do in humid conditions versus dry conditions (depending where you live of course) since unpruned plants can get very dense in rich soil, and also very heavy. At my daughter's place I used some recycled thick plastic stakes, and not only did they bend under the weight, but plants still toppled over! :shock: A couple old wooden stakes broke, a type sold here that are hardwood but not thick enough for their height.

Patrina

nctomatoman March 28, 2011 10:05 PM

Strongly agree on Patrina to not prune dwarf varieties at all - once you start seeing how they grow, you will I am sure realize that they don't need it - they are not out-of-control growers like indeterminate varieties.

But they can get very heavy with fruit - so even though they are very stout and upright, they will topple and get top heavy with foliage and fruit. A short stake or cage is perfect - when you plant them in grow bags or pots in the driveway, that is when you get the toppling issue (as I experience each year!).

Patrina_Pepperina March 28, 2011 10:31 PM

Craig, my daughter's dwarfs were in ground (raised beds) and some were so jungle-like in her rich soil - a Snowy F2 ended up leaning over the side and hanging on the ground with hundreds of red cherries. I had to try to balance the plant on one arm and shoulder while I picked fruit with the other but could only do so with part of the plant at a time. I admit that I had only tied all her plants with string twice and then didn't get back to them until it was too late!

My own garden beds by comparison were very manageable with the plant sizes and weights and stake types, but my soil is not rich. Staking for pots can certainly be a challenge as you experience each year with toppling plants - I think that the pots you place along the edge of the lawn and drive stakes into the ground next to them work quite well, right?

I have a strawberry guava in a large pottery container (about 40-50 gal I'd estimate) and the whole thing toppled during windy weather one night recently but luckily it didn't break.

Patrina

nctomatoman March 28, 2011 11:00 PM

I also am going to use this opportunity to share a few characteristics for each of these newly commercially available varieties.

Dwarf Mr. Snow, Dwarf Beryl Beauty, Dwarf Jade Beauty, and Summertime Gold are all potato leaf dwarfs that are amongst the taller of the new dwarfs.

Summertime Green is a regular leaf dwarf that is also on the taller side.

The Five mentioned above are more "indeterminate" in nature, though still slowly vertically growing dwarf varieties with the thick central stem and dark crinkly looking foliage.

Tasmanian Chocolate, Rosella Purple, Rosella Crimson and Dwarf Wild Fred are all regular leaf dwarfs that tend to run a bit shorter than those listed above. These are more "determinate" in nature - and tend to have thicker, denser foliage, making it harder to find the fruit - except when the plant decides to throw a blossom cluster out the top of the plant!

If you've not grown a dwarf before - like New Big Dwarf, Golden Dwarf Champion, Dwarf Champion, Dwarf Stone or Lime Green Salad - I think you will enjoy how unique in plant habit this type is!

shlacm March 29, 2011 08:29 PM

Okay this is a very early report, but they have barely started to peak out, so I might as well...

I planted 6 each of Rosella Purple, Tasmanian Chocolate and Mr. Snow on 3/26
So, here we are on Day 3 and there are two tiny little stems beginning to show of Tasmanian Chocolate, and one each of Rosella Purple and Mr. Snow!


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