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Old April 18, 2018   #31
JosephineRose
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Well, here is an interesting twist.

I got seeds from Marsha and my fruit was primarily yellow with a few red stripes at peak ripeness, and way too soft. When overripe, it fell off the vine and was never as red as some of the pictures here.

I liked the fruity hints, but the texture thing put me so far off that I couldn't stand it. I ended up saucing it with a bunch of other tomatoes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Hempel View Post
And you have the red ones?

I think Charline grows the yellow bicolor (the original).

Seems like the lack of complaints about fruit softness may be due to the fact that the red variety represents a cross or variant, and it is not as bad as the bicolor version.

Last edited by JosephineRose; April 19, 2018 at 11:58 AM. Reason: Photo in this picture of early picked fruit to avoid the over-softening.
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Old April 18, 2018   #32
Labradors2
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I also grew Lithium Sunset last year (seeds from Marsha ) and I could swear that mine too were mostly yellow. Mine, unfortunately, developed black spots on the fruit and I spent a lot of time peeling them. I was glad that I did because they were absolutely delicious!

L.S. was the only plant out of the 30 varieties I grew that developed the disease on the fruit, but I liked it enough that I'm giving it a second chance this season .

Linda
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Old April 18, 2018   #33
Koala Doug
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That is kind of what I suspected... there is some level of variability between yellow/red.

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Old April 18, 2018   #34
green_go
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How interesting. I am growing LS for 2 years and all of mine look like this
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Old April 18, 2018   #35
ginger2778
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Quote:
Originally Posted by green_go View Post
How interesting. I am growing LS for 2 years and all of mine look like this
That's beautiful.
2 questions: Do you have a cut fruit photo to see the flesh? Was I your seed source?
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Old April 18, 2018   #36
Spartanburg123
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I found a few more pictures of my Lithium Sunset tomatoes. It seems that I had much variation in yellowness/redness from tomato to tomato, as shown previously. Some of mine are mostly yellow, and one is quite selectively red (this is the one shown cut earlier).
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Old April 18, 2018   #37
JRinPA
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I looked for pics the other night of the ones I grew. They were marked lithium sunset 2014 IIRC. Also had Fred Hempel's name on it, maybe in the description. The tomatoes were yellow with faintish red stripes. Very pretty, and I imagine they would sell. But they were softish and some collapsed somewhat on the counter waiting to be eaten. They tasted okay but not like some. No doubt the disease hurt some.

Found what I wrote last year:
Quote:
Lithium Sunset was had nice looking fruit with a solid first few trusses, but the taste was blandish/lemony and the plant did not hold up to disease well at all. I saved seed from one but don't plan to grow it next year.
I couldn't find any pics; those plants were hit harder by blight than the neighboring tomatoes and I pulled them first of any. The only pic I seem to have of that garden was taken when there is a hole in that spot. These Lithium Sunset colored about like an Orange Russian 117 but shaped more like a brandywine.

I did save seed if anyone wants some but they were not bagged and I don't do anything to clean the seeds other than ferment. Plants were hit by EB or septoria like all the other tomatoes, nothing worse.
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Old April 19, 2018   #38
JosephineRose
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So my question is, were the "Red Lithium" tomatoes also extra soft?

I'd love to try seeds from the Red Lithium, since mine reverted back to the original soft yellow with red stripes.

Green Go, yours looked amazing.

It would be interesting to start charting this. Who got yellow lithiums, who got red lithiums and who got the "gradient" lithiums, and the seed source.

Last edited by JosephineRose; April 19, 2018 at 12:03 PM.
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Old April 19, 2018   #39
ginger2778
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JosephineRose View Post
So my question is, where the "Red Lithium" tomatoes also extra soft?

I'd love to try seeds from the Red Lithium, since mine reverted back to the original soft yellow with red stripes.
Not soft at all, texture was great. So was the taste. Pm me JR.
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Old April 19, 2018   #40
JosephineRose
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Oh gosh, you know I am going to. And we both know that means I am making room in my garden for a regrow!
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Old April 19, 2018   #41
Rajun Gardener
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I'm growing one plant this year, it's in the garden now about 20" tall. I'll post pics when it's ripe to see what color it is unless someone knows who sent these seeds. I'm sure it's from the swap last year.
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Old April 24, 2018   #42
JRinPA
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I found my source seed bag, 7 seeds left. If anyone wants them, PM me, I'll pass them along.
"Lithium Sunset - RL - 2014 - Mid - multi
colored striped mostly round - great flavor
By Fred Hempel - not formally released
packed by dfollett and his email address
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Old April 24, 2018   #43
Fred Hempel
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Summary:

Lithium Sunset is a "feral" tomato.

It didn't meet our standards for release (even when they were lower). But, it got out there, and either it wasn't true-breeding yet, or it crossed to something, and that is why we now have a Red Lithium that seems to have better fruit characteristics than Lithium Sunset.

But, that doesn't mean that the bicolor original doesn't have good flavor. It seems some folks still like it, because when care is taken to harvest in the small ripening window before it has become too soft, it is a flavorful tomato.

We are still working on creating a striped bicolor tomato with a decent shelf life. It looks like we might have something within the next year or two.
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Old April 26, 2018   #44
PaddyMc
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[IMG]Untitled by paddymcilvoy, on Flickr[/IMG]

Lithium Sunset from the first year I grew it (as sent to me by Fred Hempel - thanks Fred!) Yellow BC w/red stripes. Looks like at some point after I shared it with a couple people it got crossed. Should (I think) be Yell BC w/red stripes (in a very particular and unique pattern) and a ruffled fruit shape.

I pretty much immediately started incorporating it into various breeding projects I was working on and you can always pick out it's place in some of those lines by the unique stripping pattern. For example --


(Sungold x Mikado) x Lithium Sunset


(Lithium Sunset x Pink Boar) x Hippie Zebra
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Old April 26, 2018   #45
PaddyMc
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Also, FWIW, I thought it was quite tasty from the first.
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