Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blue - Tom Wagner - Page 2

Granite26 · January 16, 2012

Deep red at bottom changing to dark blue up to the shoulder. It was really hard to let them hang because they were tasty but those that did stay on the plant longer were even better!

RobinB · January 16, 2012

Yes, I went to the website and ordered seed for three different tomatoes this morning: Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blues, Russian Cossack and Shadow Boxing. I am in the planning stages of my garden and would like any and all information there is as to size of these plants and approximate days to maturity. Hopefully, I didn't get ahead of myself, as we have trouble growing out really long season tomatoes here in Reno.

January 16, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Granite26

Deep red at bottom changing to dark blue up to the shoulder. It was really hard to let them hang because they were tasty but those that did stay on the plant longer were even better!

That fits with Dancing With The Smurfs also tasting much better in the later part of the season.

I also ordered Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blue

Granite26 · January 16, 2012

I got my Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blues in late...best guess is second week June and was eating some mid August.

green_go · July 6, 2013

I got the seeds at the last year tomato swap and I had space only for one plant.
Wow, what an unusual fruit color!

**Tom Wagner** · July 6, 2013

Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blue is shaping up to be a durable variety. There will be lots of new varieties coming out the the more recent crosses I have made with it.

I potted up about 70 varieties of tomatoes today in 3 gallon pots for further crossing and for flowers solely for flowers/anthers to continue the breeding through July. Most of these 70 are from Taryn who collected varieties such as Brandysweet Plum and Bawole Serce. A cross of HJB to each of those could help create a potato leaf blue cherry and a heart shape blue respectively. Now that I mentioned those two I will go out tomorrow and see if I can make those crosses.

pdxwindjammer · July 6, 2013

I am growing HJB and look forward to tasting these. I wasn't a fan of the Indigo Blue flavor although the fruit was beautiful!

I would LOVE to see a dwarf blue with the same foliage as Silver Fir Tree. I would grow these in my new ornamental/edible garden in front of my house!

**Tom Wagner** · July 6, 2013

Just got back from one of the tomato plots.

My dwarf Shadow Boxing is partly blue with stripes. I crossed the pollen of this to a number of blue types to speed the increase of candidates for further dwarf blues.

One of the plants I went to with the pollen above was to Cotton Candy which has Silvery Fir Tree in the pedigree but I selected away from that foliage. Cotton Candy is a compact determinate with extremely woolly leaves. The leaves are much smaller than regular tomato leaves but not the finely laced type of SFT.

One dwarf I used a lot to today was Yukon Quest. Since it has Black from Tula in its ancestry I crossed it to the hybrid Green Zebra x Black from Tula. I will send the hybrid seed to Hawaii along with many of my new hybrids for growing out the plants to get the F-2 seed. Beings YQ was crossed to a dozen or so blues...hmmm.. This winter I should have lots of dwarf blues in Hawaii.

I used odd sorts of tomatoes in crossing today...Lutescent. Salisaw Cafe, Aunt Ruby German Green, and Orange Flesh Purple Smudge.

pdxwindjammer · July 7, 2013

Tom, your descriptions are making me swoon! I love the sound of Cotton Candy. I did a search for them and couldn't find any source for seeds. Are they just not available yet?

**Tom Wagner** · July 8, 2013

I am growing out the Cotton Candy here in Washington, Hawaii, and Portland, OR.

No decision has been made to offer it yet. I may hold it back for making hybrid seed.

I will send my seed out to Hawaii this September for yet another grow out during the Fall months and by February will know if it passes muster. The main thing is to have a candy like sweetness and super woolly foliage. Reminds me now of what I need to cross it with to get the high brix in a hybrid. Note to self: make a dozen or so crosses to a single 10 brix or higher variety to get 200 plus seed to send to Hawaii. I will do the reciprocal cross just to make sure I have ample F-1 for inventory and evaluation. The direction of cross has a lot to do with the success of a hybrid launch.

July 6, 2013	#20
green_go Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Canada, Ontario, z5a Posts: 142	I got the seeds at the last year tomato swap and I had space only for one plant. Wow, what an unusual fruit color! __________________ Gala

January 16, 2012	#16
Granite26 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Western WI Posts: 359	Deep red at bottom changing to dark blue up to the shoulder. It was really hard to let them hang because they were tasty but those that did stay on the plant longer were even better!

January 16, 2012	#17
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	Yes, I went to the website and ordered seed for three different tomatoes this morning: Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blues, Russian Cossack and Shadow Boxing. I am in the planning stages of my garden and would like any and all information there is as to size of these plants and approximate days to maturity. Hopefully, I didn't get ahead of myself, as we have trouble growing out really long season tomatoes here in Reno.

July 6, 2013	#21
Tom Wagner Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204 Posts: 1,157	Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blue is shaping up to be a durable variety. There will be lots of new varieties coming out the the more recent crosses I have made with it. I potted up about 70 varieties of tomatoes today in 3 gallon pots for further crossing and for flowers solely for flowers/anthers to continue the breeding through July. Most of these 70 are from Taryn who collected varieties such as Brandysweet Plum and Bawole Serce. A cross of HJB to each of those could help create a potato leaf blue cherry and a heart shape blue respectively. Now that I mentioned those two I will go out tomorrow and see if I can make those crosses.

July 6, 2013	#22
pdxwindjammer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 625	I am growing HJB and look forward to tasting these. I wasn't a fan of the Indigo Blue flavor although the fruit was beautiful! I would LOVE to see a dwarf blue with the same foliage as Silver Fir Tree. I would grow these in my new ornamental/edible garden in front of my house!

July 7, 2013	#24
pdxwindjammer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 625	Tom, your descriptions are making me swoon! I love the sound of Cotton Candy. I did a search for them and couldn't find any source for seeds. Are they just not available yet?

July 8, 2013	#25
Tom Wagner Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204 Posts: 1,157	I am growing out the Cotton Candy here in Washington, Hawaii, and Portland, OR. No decision has been made to offer it yet. I may hold it back for making hybrid seed. I will send my seed out to Hawaii this September for yet another grow out during the Fall months and by February will know if it passes muster. The main thing is to have a candy like sweetness and super woolly foliage. Reminds me now of what I need to cross it with to get the high brix in a hybrid. Note to self: make a dozen or so crosses to a single 10 brix or higher variety to get 200 plus seed to send to Hawaii. I will do the reciprocal cross just to make sure I have ample F-1 for inventory and evaluation. The direction of cross has a lot to do with the success of a hybrid launch.