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-   -   Mr. Stripey (http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=17901)

hornstrider April 14, 2011 02:52 PM

Mr. Stripey
 
Has anyone grown Mr. Stripey before?..I am growing one this year because I thought I would give it a try. I have read that they are a good tasting yellow striped tomato, but fruit set is sparse. I have read that they taste similar to a Brandywine. My lone Mr. Stripey has been setting fruit like crazy. It is a very large plant, and has been very productive for me thus far. What can I expect as to the flavor of Mr. Stripey?

tedln April 14, 2011 03:01 PM

I'm looking forward to any answers you get concerning Mr. Stripey. My OP varieties grown from seed were killed in a late frost and I had to scramble around looking for other OP varieties from commercial greenhouses. I located most of what I grew plus a few I didn't grow. Mr. Stripey was one of the not grown varieties supplied by Baby's Greenhouse somewhere in Texas. Most of the info I found on the net was not very complimentary for the variety but I am anxious to see how accurate those comments are. Most people seem to report the fruit to be multicolored instead of striped with a rather bland flavor. It's fun to look at varieties new to me.

Ted

hornstrider April 14, 2011 03:20 PM

Ted........Everything I read was not complimentary also. Most of the complaints seemed to be lack of fruit set. That has not been a problem w/ this Mr. Stripey. Most of the people I found on my google search said they had good flavor, but there were not many fruits to sample.

OneoftheEarls April 14, 2011 03:29 PM

[IMG]http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj174/FirstFruitsGarden/yellowtom003.jpg[/IMG]

Found this late in a raised bed...one fruit, but the best sandwich tomato all summer.

hornstrider April 14, 2011 03:35 PM

Earl.........WOW that is a big mater.....Is that a Mr. Stripey?........I thought they were yellow striped.

Lunacy April 14, 2011 03:38 PM

I grew Mr. stripey last season which was my first season, I knew nothing about OP vs. f1s. My Stripey was the best tomato I grew! It was the most prolific and the best tasting. This year I'm growing a lot more heirlooms, and you know I'm growing another Mr. Stripey. Sorry, I have no idea how to describe the the taste but I grew celebrity, Better boy, and Early girl (basically what I could find at the big box, and the Stripey is the only one I can recommend.

hornstrider April 14, 2011 04:02 PM

Lunacy..........WOW........I can't wait. I am also growing Cherokee Purple, Rutgers, Big Beef, Early Girl bush, Black Krim, Sungold, and Stupice. I always try a new variety each year, and this year is Mr. Stripey.

organichris April 14, 2011 05:58 PM

I grew Mr. Stripey, the bi-color, the one pictured above. I wouldn't grow it again. It was better than store bought tomatoes, but that's about the only positive thing I can say about it.

carolyn137 April 14, 2011 06:04 PM

[quote=organichris;209448]I grew Mr. Stripey, the bi-color, the one pictured above. I wouldn't grow it again. It was better than store bought tomatoes, but that's about the only positive thing I can say about it.[/quote]


And I just did a longg post about this variety and lost it b'c there's some key I accidentally hit at the lower left which deletes what I'm writing.

I'll be back b'c ths history behind this one is interesting, to a point, but it's not a gold/red bicolor that I'd suggest to someone else.

I'll be back with the link to Google IMAGES which shows some pictures but not even all the pictures shown are correct for the variety.

Stuff happens.

tedln April 14, 2011 07:30 PM

I'm looking forward to your information Carolyn. I find the history of many varieties as interesting as the tomato itself.

Ted

hornstrider April 15, 2011 09:43 AM

Thanks Carolyn............I also look forward to your info.

camochef April 15, 2011 10:54 AM

There are two Mr. Stripey's. One is a small English variety, also known as Tigerella, that I don't have any familiarity with.
The larger Mr. Stripey is a beefsteak type that I had my first taste of quite a few years back when a friend brought me over some tomatoes to try. It was close to a lb in size, but I didn't weigh it. It was the best tasting of the half dozen or so that he had brought over. It had good texture and a well balanced taste. Although it was yellow and red it didn't taste any different than any other red or pink tomato that was average or above.
I planted 8 of them the following year. The plants grew well. Very full, lush green and tall. Very healthy looking. I couldn't wait till the large green fruits began to ripen.
Finally they began to set color and my anticipation increased with their enlargeing size. You can't imagine my disappointment when I finally got to taste my first one. It was bland and watery, the texture was mushy. Nothing like what I remembered from the year before.
Then I discovered that my friend never waters his garden...ever! What ever mother nature delivers in rain is it. I cut back on watering those plants and began to see an improvement in both taste and texture. All 8 plants were soon producing much better tasting tomatoes and the texture improved drasticly.
I grew them again the following year but they soon fell from favor for their were many better tasting tomatoes to take their place. I haven't grown them in years now, but they do produce very well and are of good size...just don't overwater them or give them as much water as other varieties. The only other tomato I've grown that seems to do better with less water is Kellogg's Breakfast, which also has a mushiness if watered too much.
I hope yours do well for you and that you have a great season before you!
Camo

carolyn137 April 15, 2011 11:47 AM

Sorry, I couldn't get back earlier but I've been watching TV tennis from Monte Carlo and I do have my priorities.

Camo has spoken partially to the issue but I'll go back to the beginning.

Wayne Hilton used to own TT, Shumways, Seymours Seeds, then took over Vermont Bean, etc. and then sold all of them to Jung's several years ago. it was Wayne who picked up this typical gold/red bicolor in GA, of which there are now close to 200 named varieties, not counting the one that a neigbor of my brother's in NC grows which my brother generously offered to me and I declined.

Hilton for many years had been a major customer of Seeds by Design in Ca who are seed wholesalers and also do subcontract growing. He gave them the seeds. At the time they knew little about anything heirloom and didn't know about the variety Tigerella that had been bred in England years ago which had an AKA of Mr. Stripey.

So they named it Mr Stripey. But it doesn''t have any stripes. Tigerella is a small red with distinct gold/orange stripes which has an agreesive taste I don't like at all and splits with the AM dew or if you look at it sidewise and is not a bicolor at all. The other two that came out of the same cross I do like and those are Tangella and Craigella.

I was going to link to the Google IMAGES pictures of this variety but any of you can do it as well as me and what you'll see are some that are definitely correct and some that aren't.

The reputation for Mr. Stripey has not been good as to plant vigor, yield and taste and I wouldn't even put it on a list of gold/red bicolors that I'd grow. But I will tell you that when most of them are great tasting one year that in my experience the same variety grown the next season can be bland and mushy; they are very much influenced by weather as are the fuzzy ones such as Nectarine, Peach Blow Sutton and the like.

And I can't tell you how many times I've posted about the difference between the two Mr,. Stripeys and there's still some catalogs that have to two confused.

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

hornstrider April 15, 2011 11:49 AM

Camo........Thank you very much. I will watch my watering.

hornstrider April 15, 2011 11:54 AM

Thank you Carolyn....much appreciated!!........Sounds like a finakee variety. I suppose I will just have to wait, and see for myself.

spyfferoni April 15, 2011 12:08 PM

Mr Stripey is pretty popular around here, I'm thinking that our hot dry summers must improve the flavor. I haven't grown it yet, but I have grown Burracker's Favorite and it was a beautiful tomato. I'm going to try it this summer to see how it compares.

Tyffanie

carolyn137 April 15, 2011 12:51 PM

I forgot to mention that Seeds by Design sends out a list of the varieties available from them, at wholsale seed prices, they aren't a retail place, and that list is sent to almost every place you can think of and that's why you see Mr. Stripey and many others at all the big Box Stores as plants from their commercial suppliers.

it was on that list that Cherokee Purple was listed as Purple Cherokee so when seeing the latter you knew where the seeds were from and it was also on that list that Opalka was spelled Olapka, or whatever, which led me into some interesting chats at Pinetree Seeds with the owner.:lol:

hornstrider, by all means grow it, I wouldn't call it finicky, see how you like it this year and then don't make up your mind of it having a permanent place in your garden until you grow it a second year when the weather is different.

As for me, I give a variety two years to make up my mind before ditching it, and that's if the variety comes to me from folks that I know well , other than that, I was always growing different varieties all the time, b'c the more you grow the greater the data base you have on assessing new varieties.

OneoftheEarls April 15, 2011 01:12 PM

not much red in this...only toward the bottom but I still have seeds of the original and ones saved from this...

hornstrider April 15, 2011 01:20 PM

Carolyn........Thank you again. My Mr. Stripey is in the ground, and the biggest mater plant in my garden (over 4' tall), and loaded w/ maters. I understand about growing more than one season. The first time I grew Cherokee Purple they did not do so well for me. After reading all of the mater forums w/ everyone saying it was their fav. mater I decided to try again. They did well for me the next season, and now I grow Cherokee Purple every year. Next year I will give Brandywine another try. The first time I grew BW I grew them in an earth box. In fact I asked you for advice as to why they would not set fruit. You told me to be patient, and I was, and finally I was able to pick a few maters. Most of the fruit that did set had BER, and I decided not to grow them again. I have learned so much reading these forums, and because of people like you I have much success now. Thank you for taking the time to help people like me.

organichris April 15, 2011 01:39 PM

For my basically negative experience with Mr. Stripey (bi-color beefsteak) I will also add that I did not water it - ever, and it was still bland. Not mushy or watery or anything - just not very flavorful.

I'm growing Tigerella this year, and have heard mixed things about it as well, but I've heard enough good things about it, and the tomatoes are beautiful enough that I felt they were worthy of a place in the garden.

tedln April 15, 2011 02:02 PM

Thanks Camo and Carolyn. That is a very interesting lineage for todays "Mr. Stripey". It will be interesting to watch the plant and taste the fruit simply to see which plant the greenhouse supplier labeled as "Mr Stripey" when he planted the seed.

I can't regulate my water supply for individual plants because I use a buried soaker hose to water the entire row. Fortunately I have it regulated with a flow disc and timer to minimize the amount of water the row gets. We just received a little rain after four months of no rain. My tomatoes or garden would not exist without supplemental water. I think it is interesting that my Mr. Stripeys are growing right next to some Box Car Willies. One comment I read on the Box Car Willies is that they prefer to grow in constantly wet, soggy, soil. They supposedly would be happy growing in two inches of water. There is no possible way to satisfy the needs of both plants unless I pull out the soaker hose and install drip irrigation. While I do have drip irrigation in some places, I'm not going to install it in the entire garden.

Thanks again for the information.

Ted

camochef April 15, 2011 04:20 PM

Hornstrider,
I just noticed that you read they were similar to Brandywines. I don't know how I overlooked that statement originally. NO Comparison! I'm a Brandywine lover. Brandywine-Glick's, Brandywine Sudduth's, Cowlicks Brandywine, Black Brandywine, True Black Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Brandywine Stumps, Red Brandywine. Even the Brandywine crosses like Bear Creek, Liz Birt, Dora, Gary O'Sena, and those like Ed's Millenium, Jd's Special C-Tex, or Earl's Faux. Mr. Stripey is not in that category at all.
It's far from the worst tomato I've ever grown but it's no Brandywine either. That includes the somewhat unstable Black Brandywines, which I am trying again this year after not growing it for a while.
Camo

cushman350 April 15, 2011 04:41 PM

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I grew a Mr Stripey last year in the hot and dry Wichita Falls part of TEXAS. Large fruit and plant, not many maybe 8 large toms, great tasting to me but the variety is not suited for my specific growing challenges. The second year mushyness I don't know, is that from saved seeds?

carolyn137 April 15, 2011 05:16 PM

One comment I read on the Box Car Willies is that they prefer to grow in constantly wet, soggy, soil. They supposedly would be happy growing in two inches of water. There is no possible way to satisfy the needs of both plants unless I pull out the soaker hose and install drip irrigation. While I do have drip irrigation in some places, I'm not going to install it in the entire garden.

*****

Now where would that information come from about Box Car Willie? Joe Bratka couldn't germinate any of the seeds that he found in a toolshed on his property that his father had bred and were already named.

So he sent the seeds to me and I was able to germinate:

Box Car Willie
Mule Team
Great Divide
Pasture
Red Barn, and I happen to think this is one of the best of that series.

There were three I couldn't germinate and I've always wondered what they might have been.

All to say that I've never heard that BCW or any of the others want that much water, etc., b'c I've grown them a lot, mainly for seed production for the earliest of my SSE YEarbook listings and they certainly don't need boggy, watery conditions to do well.

None of them are heirlooms as I said above, they were bred by Joe Bratka's father.

tedln April 15, 2011 08:58 PM

Here is the comment Carolyn. I would post the forum where it is located, but you may chastise me for linking to other forums on this forum. :twisted: and no, I do not believe everything I read, but I may consider it.

[B]"Box Car Willie grows very well for me. It is, however, very late and does not produce fruit until September. The yield is on par with other late varieties. It is quite tolerant of the tomato diseases that we have here. Appears to prefer very wet soil. While some tomatoes do poorly in wet conditions, it seems to grow best in mud and an inch or so of standing water. Plants grown in very wet conditions often grow well over 10 feet long. If grown in containers, Box Car Willie overwinters extremely well, even in a 50F area with only a small amount of light."[/B]

Ted;)

carolyn137 April 15, 2011 09:36 PM

[quote=tedln;209615]Here is the comment Carolyn. I would post the forum where it is located, but you may chastise me for linking to other forums on this forum. :twisted: and no, I do not believe everything I read, but I may consider it.

[B]"Box Car Willie grows very well for me. It is, however, very late and does not produce fruit until September. The yield is on par with other late varieties. It is quite tolerant of the tomato diseases that we have here. Appears to prefer very wet soil. While some tomatoes do poorly in wet conditions, it seems to grow best in mud and an inch or so of standing water. Plants grown in very wet conditions often grow well over 10 feet long. If grown in containers, Box Car Willie overwinters extremely well, even in a 50F area with only a small amount of light."[/B]

Ted;)[/quote]

Someone gop concerned when I transferred a thread from here to there saying that the folks may not want their user names and posts made public. So since then I'll transfer a thread if I can find it via Google already made public. And there are certain sites that I've never transferred threads to or from.That's the way I handle it.

As to your quote above. Have you ever had tomato plants under water, or half under water or in mud for any length of time? I have and here's what happens.

In waterlogged soils the roots can no longer get oxygen and no nutrients can be taken up by the roots. So at first the foliage turns yellow, then if it contues b'c the conditions are still wet, the leaves start turning brown and at that point there's no way back and the plants die.

It's intertesting to me that not all varieties respond in the same way to those kinds of conditions, which indicates, at least to me, that water/nutrient transport within different varieties can be different.

But I think we already know that when we think of BER and how that comes about.

So while I underatnd you to say that you would consider not just Box Car Willie, but perhaps even other varieties, should do better in waterlogged soils than not, It's not what I'd be thinking at all.:)

Jeannine Anne April 15, 2011 10:18 PM

Well this is interesting, as we seem to have had permanent rain for almost forever I was getting quite excited about the idea that a tomato actually liked the wet.

Also very interesting regarding Mr Stripey, I just has a tidy in a seedcase and found 2 lots of Mr Stripeys, yep I did it. I presumed they were both the UK one as I had a recent round robin finish here and put them together.I did intend giving them as part of a grab bag for new gardeners to our community garden but feel that would be unfair now.

I don't post too often but I sure learn something all the time from you folk.

XX Jeannine

tedln April 15, 2011 11:07 PM

Carolyn,

Nope! I actually prefer to grow tomatoes with the absolute minimum of water required. I believe it intensifies the flavor of the tomato. To much water for me usually means I get a lot more tomato plant than is needed to produce the same amount of fruit the minimum amount required produces. I don't drown my tomatoes in water.

Ted

organichris April 17, 2011 04:10 PM

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Yeah, so I had some extra time and was in the neighborhood, so I stopped by Home Depot to see what kind of trouble I could get into. Look at this amazingly fake looking picture. These guys ought to be ashamed.

tedln April 17, 2011 04:35 PM

[QUOTE=organichris;209896]Yeah, so I had some extra time and was in the neighborhood, so I stopped by Home Depot to see what kind of trouble I could get into. Look at this amazingly fake looking picture. These guys ought to be ashamed.[/QUOTE]

Yep, the photo is undoubtedly photo shopped to improve its' "desirability". I don't really blame Home Depot or the other big box stores for the misleading marketing. Bonnie Plants now seems to be the vegetable garden plant supplier for the three major big box stores. Talking with a Walmart garden center manager and a Bonnie Plant company regional sales rep. last year, I learned that Bonnie pretty much makes all the decisions specific to varieties sold at each location, and all marketing decisions. When the delivery truck arrives at the big box store, a Bonnie rep. determines the displays and then places the correct price stickers on the plants. It's almost as if the stores lease the space to Bonnie to sell the plants and then collects the money and shares the profits. I really liked Bonnie plants at one time and admired the company history (it's a small business to mega business success story), but I now avoid their product line with a vengeance due to their quality and aggressive marketing style.

Ted


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