Bilders
 

I found this variety in Manfred Hahm's seed listing at Reinhard Kraft's site. Any time I see beefsteak, PL my curiosity gets aroused. It's a Red, PL ind. with fruit size up to 700 grams. This variety goes back to 1885 and came from Michigan accoding to VentMarin.
This is the first fruit off my plant which indeed is PL, vigorous and already past the 6 foot mark. Al Anderson (OHANA) is the only one listing it in the SSE yearbook except he lists it as an RL which is incorrect. The flavor I found truly describes the meaning of "Old Fashion Tomato Taste". Slap a slice on a BLT and you've got the real deal. Ami

Very nice tomato.

Neva

Looking good I am with you I like the PL plants as well.

Craig

Yes, looks very tasty, indeed.

Ami,

It looks absolutely delicious :love:

I searched through all SSE Yearbooks since 1988, and the first listing I managed to find appears in 1998 by SSE itself who says it is PL and pink. From this listing it look like the seed came from a SSE member, but I could not locate that member's listing in the earlier yearbooks.

[QUOTE]Builder: IA SSE HF - HAS - 6'6" indet., potato leaf
type, exserted stigma, irregulal shape, flat round pink
fruits, green shoulders, 4" dla. x 2.5 high, medium
blossom scar, radial cracking, from MI DE D, SSE
TOMATO 2421.
[/QUOTE]

Then, in 1999, Neil Lockhart reoffers it and describes it RL and pink, seed from SSE:

[QUOTE]5 days, indet., regular leaf
plant with a good yield of 8-12 oz. pink fruit, very good
flavor, from IA SSE HF 98, SSE TOMATO 2421.
[/QUOTE]

Neil is still the only person who offers it via SSE Yearbook.

So somehow the original pink PL turned into pink RL and now we have PL red.

Another mystery ;)

It would be interesting to find out where Mr. Hahms got his seeds.

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[B]edit[/B]: Looks like I goofed up big time - I looked up Builders and not Bilders! I will go and look up the correct one now and will be back...
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Ami,

That is a beautiful tomato and I am intrigued by your comment about that "Old Fashion Tomato Taste". I noticed the Bilder tomato has very small gel/seed cells compared to the amount of flesh in the tomato. I've read comments asserting most of the taste of a tomato is contained in the gel as opposed to the flesh. What is your opinion of the Bilder tomato? Did the "Old Fashion Tomato Taste" seem to be concentrated in the small cells or did it permeate the flesh as well?

When I am looking for varieties to grow, I lean towards growing varieties which are described as having "mostly meat with small seed cells". I'm curious if I am making a mistake and possibly should be looking for varieties with more gel in order to get more taste.

Thanks

Ted

now, this is getting more interesting! Looks like the Builder may be Bilder after all...

SSE 1992 Yearbook (my highlight in red):

[QUOTE][B]Bilder[/B]:[B] KY SP 0 - HAS[/B] - 85 days - regular leaf with
red fruits which are [COLOR="Red"]pointed on end[/COLOR], did not get very large for me, PA LE C 90; [B]MN BE D - HAS[/B] - 60 days - indet. prolific [COLOR="Red"]potato [/COLOR]leaf, red to pink large fruit; [B]PA LE C[/B] - HAS - 83 days - indet., very tall vigorous plant with [COLOR="Red"]curled [/COLOR]foliage, prolific, med. to large red fruit of various shapes (oblate to deep globe), mild flavor, meaty, from D. Deason, MI via Charlotte Mullens, WV 1990, [COLOR="Red"]very different from orig. str.received from D. Deason
(see in Pink Tomato section), probably this is a cross.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE][B]Bilder: PA LE C - HAS[/B] - 73 days - indet. very vigorous potato leaf, good yield of large oblate [COLOR="DarkRed"]pink [/COLOR]fruit to 1lb., firm, sweet, from D. Deason MI 91.[/QUOTE]
Maybe Craig can chime in to help to resolve this mystery... :)

So far it looks like the original true version of Bilder tomato was pink and potato leaf.

Tania

Tania, I'll post some more info on Bilders I just received from Spud as soon as I get back to my PC as I am at work.

tedln, I really don't pay much attention to seed cell size or the amount of gel they have. I grow them, cut them open, taste them and then make my determination. The only thing I dislike about alot of meat and small seed cavities is the lack of seeds to save. "Ashleigh" is a perfect example as last year I had 8 fruit all over a pound and only got 15 seeds! And Ashleigh is an excellent tasting tomato from the skin to the core. Ami

Here is what Bill Malin (Spudleafwillie) found.


"Found this additional info on Bilder in the 2004 SSE Yearbook, p 315, SSE Yearbook2001, p. 348
Bilder----80 days,indet, 60" long vines, potato leaf, red-pink fruit,meaty with an excellent sweet flavor,from WI ER B 01, a 120 year old variety from Dick Deason of MI via his neighbor, Jack Bilder, origin southeast asia,. If I could grow only one variety of tomati this would be it. , picked 75 lbs from 4 plants and 25 lbs still on plants when frost hit,seed from Dick Deason in 1989, had been in his family 104 years in 1989, Mr Deason died in1995."

Luc Fichot's site lists it as a red as well as the German Tomaten Atlas site. Ventmarin has it reddish pink, known since 1885, variety from Michigan USA.

Ami

Thanks for the replies so far. Bilder and Mayo's Delight both sound/look promising. I realize some of these are likely quite obscure varieties.... as some of these I'm interested in, are based on descriptions in the SSE Yearbook 2012.

I grew Mayo's Delight this year, it was so... delicious!!! Beautiful tomato. Very few seeds :(