Mostly Mystery swap questions

[socalgardengal]

Interesting... what tomatoes do taste good where you are? I didn't care for the blues I grew last year. Really bitter and tough skinned.

[Tormato]

I should be more specific.

It's red beefsteaks that taste lousy (nearly tasteless) about 90% of the time, in my garden. Any other type of red... heart, globe, cherry, etc... does very well. All other colors and shapes of tomato also do very well.

As for blues, I don't think there's much flavor to begin with, let alone the taste of one coming from my garden.

[KarenO]

This Question is for whoever sent in the Cherry called "Abby's catch" is it supposed to be potato leaf?
KarenO

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by KarenO

This Question is for whoever sent in the Cherry called "Abby's catch" is it supposed to be potato leaf?
KarenO

Yes it is!

It's very early too. I grew it again over the winter in a 3 gallon pot, even though it likes to grow to a height of 7 feet. (They should have me up for cruelty to tomato plants!) It rewarded me with lots of very early cherry tomatoes, even though I am a bad tomato plant parent!

Linda

[Labradors2]

I just wanted to say that I grew mostly Mystery Swap seeds this spring (30+ varieties) and had excellent germination results! I can't wait to taste the tomatoes!

Thanks everyone!

Linda

[KarenO]

Thanks! looking forward to it. pretty little seedlings so far. You said they were yellow or gold cherries? I tried to find what you had said about them somewhere here but I couldn't find it in the thread. Did you breed it? Nothing on google re Abby's catch that I can find, I recall it is named after your dog Abby?
KO

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by KarenO

Thanks! looking forward to it. pretty little seedlings so far. You said they were yellow or gold cherries? I tried to find what you had said about them somewhere here but I couldn't find it in the thread. Did you breed it? Nothing on google re Abby's catch that I can find, I recall it is named after your dog Abby?
KO

It started out as a named variety from our local seed sanctuary. I could swear it was something like Pear Drop, and I grew it for 7 years. I searched on-line to find out it's name and figured it HAD to be Yellow Pear so I stuck with that. It always had potato leaves and cherry-sized yellow pears until last summer when it had round yellow cherries!

When I asked about a possible mutation on a forum, someone pointed out that YP does not have PL and that it was possibly Yellow submarine. I tried to find out what it could have been from the Sanctuary, but they claimed they had nothing pear shaped with PL.

Just to be sure, I grew out some seeds that I'd saved in 2008, and they had PL, so I don't think I was mistake on that.

Anyway, since it now has small round yellow fruit, I figured I would name it after my dog Abbey, who loves to catch them in mid-air.

When they are ripe, they are the colour of a school bus!

Linda

[heirloomtomaguy]

If there is any possibility of getting seeds still i would love to give this mater a try

[Labradors2]

Absolutely, I'm in Canada, but PM me if you'd like to send a SASE.

Linda

[Tormato]

Gajo de Melon is the one variety from the swap (of only one pack with a few seeds) that I kept to trial. Only two seeds germinated, one RL and one PL. Both were very weak growers that struggled to survive. I kept the PL plant, which while still a runt, looks like it may make it. The RL looked like it was in a slow spiral toward the compost pile, so it wasn't kept.

So, has anyone seen a PL Gajo de Melon, and what it produces?

Gary

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Gajo de Melon is the one variety from the swap (of only one pack with a few seeds) that I kept to trial. Only two seeds germinated, one RL and one PL. Both were very weak growers that struggled to survive. I kept the PL plant, which while still a runt, looks like it may make it. The RL looked like it was in a slow spiral toward the compost pile, so it wasn't kept.

So, has anyone seen a PL Gajo de Melon, and what it produces?

Gary

I've grown it and yes, it's RL as Tania's page and all the listings in the 2014 SSE YEarbook also say.

Kinda strange looking fruits,not all the same and the taste was not pleasing to me and I never grew it again.

From Tania's page you'll see that my seed source was Neil Lockhart, who was one of two who got it from the original listing.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Gajo_De_Melon

And I did not consider it to be a true bicolor either.

I had two plants in separate containers near my deck and they grew lustily, as it were.

Carolyn

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I've grown it and yes, it's RL as Tania's page and all the listings in the 2014 SSE YEarbook also say.

Kinda strange looking fruits,not all the same and the taste was not pleasing to me and I never grew it again.

From Tania's page you'll see that my seed source was Neil Lockhart, who was one of two who got it from the original listing.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Gajo_De_Melon

And I did not consider it to be a true bicolor either.

I had two plants in separate containers near my deck and they grew lustily, as it were.

Carolyn

Carolyn,

If you look at Neil's description (sweetness), you'll know why I'm trialing it. Or at least attempting to trial it, since my plant is a PL.

I've read a few other reviews, and flavor is all over the place.

Gary

[bower]

I was admiring the strange shape of these little fruit today, when I remembered, hey, is Sasha's Altai not an ordinary round one? So I checked online, and it's true, the Sasha is a small beefsteak. This one is what they call " piriform".

Just wondering if anyone else had odd shapes from 'Sasha' seed or is this a random crossed seed. (Or is it what happens when you crave little pear shapes... they appear!)

[dfollett]

I grew Sasha's Altai last year. About half the fruits were round and half like those in the photo - on the same plant. I wouldn't have known to call them piriform. I got the seed from Tomatofest and did send seeds to the swap. Probably those you received. Tomatofest described it as 'slightly flattened'. I assumed they fit the description.

It was quite early, extremely productive, had fairly good flavor and produced all season. It didn't make my grow list this year, though.

[bower]

Thank you dfollett. It is shaping up to be quite early and is setting well. Also appears to be indeterminate.