Italian Heirloom tomato

I ordered some "Italian Heirloom" and "Dester" seed from SSE this morning. Italian Heirloom was this years winner of the SSE taste test. Dester was last years winner and came in second in the taste test this year. I know the origins of Dester, but don't know the origins of Italian Heirloom. If you google Italian Heirloom as a variety, the results are for a variety of heirloom tomatoes of Italian origin. I'm curious if anyone knows any history of the variety.

Ted

[Gardenboy]

Check out www.tomatofest.com they sell the Italian Heirloom tomato seeds with a little bit of history attached to the description of the seeds..

[Moshou]

Very difficult to find Italian heirloom tomatoes as well as information about. Difficult to find Italian gardeners to be in contact with. May be I do not know how to do it. Does anybody know Italian forums talking about tomatoes (gardening)?

I am looking for a while to find Italian varieties such as: kilo della garfagnana, bernardini, belmonte, da appendere rosa with no success.

If somebody can help I'll be more than happy

[OmahaJB]

Ted, I've been eyeing Italian Heirloom for a few years from SSE. I bought it once but for whatever reason never grew it to maturity. (Can't remember why.)

I don't know any more about it than what SSE mentions, but have wondered if it's as productive as they claim.

[Tania]

Ted,

Is Dester in their public catalog now? I have not had a chance to look there yet. Little info on Italian Heirloom, other than it is an heirloom from Italy (duh?? )

Moshou, sorry I cannot help you with these varieties - I only have some info about Belmonte (http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Belmonte), I think I have a very few seeds for it, but have not grown it yet.

[Sun City Linda]

I bought seed two years ago after reading a long thread about it on forum, I think it might have been GW. Still have not grown it. Hopefully this year!

[OmahaJB]

Tania, Dester is on SSE's online website. Sounds like a tasty one.

[Moshou]

Apparently, Da appendere is Principe Borghese
http://www.seedsofitaly.com/product/23
About Principe Borghese (Da appendere or Eternal tomatoes) we can see:
"One of our clients Nino, told us that his father would grow these in Sicily and hang them green in the barn which was cool and airy, and they would last till the end of Feb. Principe Borghese is often called 'da appendere' or to hang and can keep for months"

Here we can see Principe Borghese da appendere
http://www.seedsofitaly.com/product/738

'Da appendere' means to hang or hanging. Probably this name is related to the way they can be stored for long. See pictures here
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=16666
We can see that Principe Borghese is also known as The Vine Tomato from Mount Vesuvius

Tania,

Yes, Dester is in the public catolog at SSE. I've never ordered from SSE before, but I received my seeds today. I was totally impressed with how they conduct business. The web page said the packets of Dester and Italian Heirloom would contain 25 seeds for a very reasonably price. While the Dester packets contained exactly 25 seeds, the Italian Heirloom packets probably contained 50 seeds per packet. To many for me too count. I never learned how to count past 25. They also included two bonus packets of some very interesting lettuce seed which I will grow next spring.
Dester and Italian Heirloom are on my grow list for next year.

I've paid as much as $5.00 for shipping and handling for a couple of seed packets from some vendors (read that as Burpee). SSE shipped my seed for $1.69 U.S.P.S first class. I could even track the order with a tracking number.

Ted

[Tania]

Thank you Ted and Omaha!

Moshou,

While this link to a YouTube video is a secondary link from one of your links, it seems to be an Italian Heirloom tomato. It isn't "the" Italian Heirloom listed by SSE. I do think the lady in the video has been practicing her skill for a lot of years. I can promise you I would have more tomatoes on the floor than she has on the string.

I did teach myself how to braid garlic a couple of years ago and plan on doing it again next year. Now I will need to grow some of these tomatoes so I can learn how to string them up like this lady. They say you are never to old to learn something new.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDpM...ature=youtu.be

Ted

[Sun City Linda]

Ted I dont remember their shipping (SSE) as being that cheap, but good to know. BTW I was on Burpee site because I have apparently LOST what was left of my Fourth of July seeds (What a drag it is, getting old..) Looks like they have free shipping over the weekend.

[roper2008]

Originally Posted by Sun City Linda

Ted I dont remember their shipping (SSE) as being that cheap, but good to know. BTW I was on Burpee site because I have apparently LOST what was left of my Fourth of July seeds (What a drag it is, getting old..) Looks like they have free shipping over the weekend.

I was thinking the same thing. I have ordered from them
many years. Maybe that's the shipping for 2 items.

Roper,

As I said, I've never ordered from SSE before. I double checked the postage amount on the little bubble pack envelope they shipped a total of six seed packs in and it was $1.69. The receipt inside the envelope showed the total charges did not include any handling charges, only the seed ordered and postage charges. If I remember from selling some items on Ebay in the past, the bubble pack envelope costs them about $0.30 each when purchased in bulk. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.

I seem to remember checking out some seeds and seed costs at SSE when I first became interested in growing heirlooms. I think the structure of their web page and cost then caused me to look at other vendors at that time. I can't remember looking at their site again until I wanted to order some Dester seed.

They may have given me a special deal because I am such a nice person.

Ted











4

[Sun City Linda]

Maybe because Ted is closer than we are? Arent they in Ohio?