Dotson's Lebanese Heart Growout, 2017

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

Here's a pic of ones with pretty stripes:
Attachment 76373

And here's my biggest, probably about 12 oz + :
Attachment 76374

OMG those are gorgeous! I also had a few with light striping, and also a few with zippering. Thank you so much for growing these out, and I hope that the taste is good for you! Pictures of ripe fruit or it didn't happen!! LOLOL

[Nan_PA_6b]

This season is horrible, but Dotson's Lebanese Heart is doing best among my large fruited plants. It has set the most fruit: 14 -No, edit: make that 15. (In this bad year, that's more than any other & I'm glad to get it.) Nothing ripe yet, but our season was delayed by more than a month. There will be pics of ripe ones when they get here.

Nan

[Nan_PA_6b]

It's my biggest DLH:
DLH14oz_resized.jpg
When I went to the garden, I found the gate (8' of wire deer fence) mangled. A deer must have run into it at night. One tomato cage was mangled, too. I decided it was time for Mr. D. L. Heart to move to a safer neighborhood. (This is the one I had estimated at 12 oz or more.)

Nan

[Spartanburg123]

That's a beaut Nan! Take some sliced pics and report on flavor!!

Darin

[Nan_PA_6b]

Depending on how it ripens, it will accompany us to the CHOPTAG tomato tasting this Sunday.

Nan

[Spartanburg123]

Here is a DLH plant grown by another of my co-workers, showing how brawny this plant can get. She has removed over 20 tomatoes so far, and the plant is still carrying many as well as flowering in this August heat.
My three plants are struggling with septoria and other issues, as are all of my plants. I don't believe there is time to get another flush of fruit this fall.

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

Depending on how it ripens, it will accompany us to the CHOPTAG tomato tasting this Sunday.

Nan

Awesome! I hope it does well for you!!

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

Depending on how it ripens, it will accompany us to the CHOPTAG tomato tasting this Sunday.

Nan

What a beauty Nan. I can't wait to hear what people think of the taste.

[nancyruhl]

I had my first Dotson's Lebanese Heart today. It weighed in at one pound. I have another ripe one, but it has BER. Unfortunately, my plant has not been as vigorous as the ones grown south of Michigan. I only have a few very small tomatoes starting that probably won't mature, as well as new flowers, It may have to acclimate more to this climate to be productive for me.

The flavor was marvelous. It was sweet and juicy, though it had the meatiness associated with hearts. Loved it. Thanks for the seeds, Darin.

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by nancyruhl

I had my first Dotson's Lebanese Heart today. It weighed in at one pound. I have another ripe one, but it has BER. Unfortunately, my plant has not been as vigorous as the ones grown south of Michigan. I only have a few very small tomatoes starting that probably won't mature, as well as new flowers, It may have to acclimate more to this climate to be productive for me.

The flavor was marvelous. It was sweet and juicy, though it had the meatiness associated with hearts. Loved it. Thanks for the seeds, Darin.

Thanks for that feedback, Nancy! I hope the flavor was good enough to earn another spot in your garden next year, it may go gangbusters! One thing I have noticed, some seedlings are just incredibly more vigorous than others, which is typical I believe for most varieties. The monster I had was the most vigorous at the seedling stage, while the "runt" tailed behind and grew more slowly. It ended up producing about 20 tomatoes, but the big one produced close to 50 fruit! So if you do try it again, plant 3 or 4 seeds and select the most vigorous of those.

Thank you again!

Darin

[ddsack]

I have three plants and two of them are now producing ripe DLH tomatoes, the third one was a late germination and is still lagging way behind with a couple green smaller fruit.





My plants are doing fine, but not nearly as tall or productive as Darin's monster plant. I tend to forget to fertilize my tomatoes once I start falling behind on my other summer chores, so no surprise there. Tomatoes ranged in size from 7 oz at the small end to almost 1 1/2 lbs for the largest. I have never grown the original Omar's Lebanese so can't comment on any similarity of taste or growth habit. Flesh was meaty and juicy with few seeds.

The flavor was mild and sweet for the first couple that I tasted, but they may have been over ripe. My tastebuds are different than a lot of folks in that I don't like sweet tomatoes unless they also have an strong acid component, so this may not be the tomato for me. I'll try tasting a few earlier, firmer fruit and see if they have a little more kick to them. But a very nice tomato for those who like sweet.

[imp]

This is one I want to grow side by side next year with Omar's, to compare the taste for that year, as well as growth habits and such, if I get seed for it. Hopefully, it'll like the heat, LOLO, and I just want to see how each does ( and yes, eat lots of tomatoes, too!).

This year is being a bust so far, my fault for various reasons, not the plants. But hope springs eternal for the gardener and farmer, so I bought 15 dozen canning jars today for next years produce.

Now, THAT is optimism!

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by ddsack

I have three plants and two of them are now producing ripe DLH tomatoes, the third one was a late germination and is still lagging way behind with a couple green smaller fruit.





My plants are doing fine, but not nearly as tall or productive as Darin's monster plant. I tend to forget to fertilize my tomatoes once I start falling behind on my other summer chores, so no surprise there. Tomatoes ranged in size from 7 oz at the small end to almost 1 1/2 lbs for the largest. I have never grown the original Omar's Lebanese so can't comment on any similarity of taste or growth habit. Flesh was meaty and juicy with few seeds.

The flavor was mild and sweet for the first couple that I tasted, but they may have been over ripe. My tastebuds are different than a lot of folks in that I don't like sweet tomatoes unless they also have an strong acid component, so this may not be the tomato for me. I'll try tasting a few earlier, firmer fruit and see if they have a little more kick to them. But a very nice tomato for those who like sweet.

Nice looking tomatoes there DDSack! They are definitely on the sweet side of the spectrum. I see yours also varied in the degree of bluntness- some of mine were quite pointed, while others, especially the very large ones, were blunt at the end. Thanks for growing this out and sharing this feedback!

Darin

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by imp

This is one I want to grow side by side next year with Omar's, to compare the taste for that year, as well as growth habits and such, if I get seed for it. Hopefully, it'll like the heat, LOLO, and I just want to see how each does ( and yes, eat lots of tomatoes, too!).

This year is being a bust so far, my fault for various reasons, not the plants. But hope springs eternal for the gardener and farmer, so I bought 15 dozen canning jars today for next years produce.

Now, THAT is optimism!

Imp- I do hope you can grow it next year. There is a member here- Rhines81- who grew two DLH next to two OL and I was hoping to see some feedback- but I haven't heard anything as of yet. I sent a PM to them.

And, I'm sending a PM to you regarding seeds

[Nan_PA_6b]

Originally Posted by Spartanburg123

Nice looking tomatoes there DDSack! They are definitely on the sweet side of the spectrum. I see yours also varied in the degree of bluntness- some of mine were quite pointed, while others, especially the very large ones, were blunt at the end. Thanks for growing this out and sharing this feedback!

Darin

Mine are a little more pointy for the most part.

Also, as far as Septoria tolerance, DLH is performing favorably with respect to the other full-sized tomatoes. DLH is still producing flowers where the other full-size tomatoes have stopped or nearly stopped, and has more new growth than most. If this had been a better growing year, I bet this one would have gone gangbusters.

Nan