Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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June 17, 2014 | #1 |
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
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"Impossible Dream" tomato
I just may have found my unreachable star of tomatoes. I am giving it a name..."Impossible Dream" and I think I can finally beat the so called 'unbeatable foes' of store bought tomatoes.
The tomato is a hybrid that I made last year and is going through a number of tests to see if it is, indeed, a winner. I have frequently said that the way to find a truly good tomato is to taste it in the mature green stage just before it starts to turn color. "Impossible Dream" has it in spades! Wrapping up a half dozen mature green tomatoes a couple of weeks ago has paid off handsomely in my evaluation tonight when I extracted the seed and tasted the fruit. They had the tantalizing sweetness of a fully grown and ripe tomato, the richness of flavor of a large heirloom and the tartness that only an unusually tart tomato can deliver. I pick many of my tomatoes breaking color or at the mature green stage since if I didn't...they would be picked by others. Frequently the tomatoes suffer in the lack of sweetness and flavor after a couple of weeks. Not "Impossible Dream"...I was shocked by the sensory perception. I have further crosses of this hybrid and in hindsight I am glad I have them. I have other plants of "Impossible Dream" in different locations and I will continue to try out the tomatoes at different stages of ripeness. Not that I think tomatoes should be picked at the mature green stage but that is almost what store bought tomatoes are....and they lack flavor all too often. The area I live in is not exactly tomato country and finding a tomato that has this kind of flavor early and ripens in wrapped paper for two weeks is startling. I am sowing lots of tomato seed this week for the fall evaluation, therefore I will sow the two parents also to make lots of the "Impossible Dream" F-1 seed. The male parent is almost a 'spitter' to some people, and no, it is not the Green Zebra. My California experience 20 years ago in tasting non-ripe tomatoes is finally paying off. The three varieties in the hybrid were part of my California crossing blocks. The parents are like the 'Beauty and the Beast' and the combining ability is superb. My tomato grafting experts/friends are looking for a tomato like "Impossible Dream" and I will approach them to make it available on grafted root stocks. |
June 17, 2014 | #2 |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Tom, I have a large number of music videos and play some of them before I turn off my computer each night.
So when I saw your Impossible Dream,of course I had to fetch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfHnzYEHAow And yes,I'm still singing it right now. Carolyn
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Carolyn |
June 17, 2014 | #3 |
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
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Thanks, Carolyn, for linking to Man of La Mancha and the music. The Don Quixote quest that I am on with a lifetime of tomato breeding is somehow ominously parallel to fighting a war against all odds.
I went to the Frank Sinatra version of the song that has lyrics as you listen. I am not the only one who is chasing tomato windmills, some of us try out huge numbers of tomato varieties each year in their 'quest' for the perfect tomato. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjI7VeIA7ZI I am guilty of being an impossible dreamer. How many of us are considered 'mad' by our family, friends, co-workers and employers? However ridiculous and incredulous pumping out dozens of new varieties each year is....does it truly leave the world a better place?. Carolyn, I believe you are, indeed, one of those who leave the world a better place. Thank you! I've got tomatoes to transplant, tomatoes to cross, tomatoes to extract seed from, so pardon me while I get on my horse and charge some windmills! |
June 17, 2014 | #4 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Quote:
You wrote: (Carolyn, I believe you are, indeed, one of those who leave the world a better place. Thank you!) Well thank you Tom but do you know something I don't know about leaving the world, at least in the short term? Carolyn
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Carolyn |
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June 17, 2014 | #5 | |
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
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Quote:
Since I wrote the lead topic conversation on the IMPOSSIBLE DREAM, my chances of sending in the inbred parents to a winter nursery are looking up. Most places making custom hybrid seed need to get their seed sown by October in order to have seed sown next spring. I am hoping my supporters want to put the F-1 seed on grafts. I have already been advised to make cuttings of my remaining plants and send to another state for trials. Carolyn, sorry if I alluded to any impassibility from this world. |
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June 17, 2014 | #6 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Quote:
However, if you still feel badly about it my birthday is the 26th of this month, I'll be 75,and you can send me a pack or two of stable seeds, knowing that I'm not into the blue stuff, I mean something I haven't grown before that you think I might like, and also some chocolate covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii, or some good dark bittersweet chocolate. Carolyn
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Carolyn |
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June 17, 2014 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SoCal Inland
Posts: 2,705
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Tom, I know almost nothing about breeding tomatoes but I can tell that you do! I am happy for you and your Impossible Dream tomato! How great to have a place like this to post and share this kind of excitement with friends who understand!
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August 14, 2015 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Georgia
Posts: 153
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Can we get an update on Impossible Dream?
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August 15, 2015 | #9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 3,893
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Love the name. Hope it turns out to be exactly what you are hoping for!
Linda |
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