Hearts!

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by b54red

Tracy if you are looking for hearts that set fast then you really need to try Fish Lake Oxheart. It made faster than over 100 varieties last year. The earliest FLO made in was 55 days. Another that has produced very quickly is Kosovo which usually takes about 60 days.

FLO is definitely on next year's list! Kosovo, too. Maybe even the fall list.

[Douglas14]

I've grown a few hearts through the years, but don't currently have a favorite.
This year I'm growing the following hearts, which are all new to me:

Calf's Heart
Fish Lake Oxheart...I'm happy to hear that it can be an early ripener.
Petit Coeur de Boeuf
Greenbush Italian
Monomakh's Hat
Abruzze....some can be heart shaped I've read...but shape is variable.

[chalstonsc]

Douglas,
how tall does Monomakh's plant get to be?

[Douglas14]

chalstonsc,
I've never grown Monomakh's Hat before. I purchased the seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. There is one review of the variety, where the person stated that the plant didn't get as large as some of the others they grew.

[chalstonsc]

Douglas,
Thanks

[Yak54]

Anyone know a source for Nicky Crain ?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Yak54

Anyone know a source for Nicky Crain ?

Yak, whenever you want to know a seed source for a variety I higly suggest that you go to Tania's wonderful website where she has info and pictures for most of the over 3,000 varieties at her site.

Here's a link to the page for Nicky Crain:

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Nicky_Crain

Perhaps there are no good commercial sources for 2012 as seen in the above link or perhaps she just didn't get to that one yet.

In any case is she were selling seeds for it it would be listed as her for a seed source and I did check Sandhill and Glenn isn't offering it for 2012.

I then did a Google search and did a quick scan and didn't see any good sources.

If I had fresh seeds, b/c I like it and have grown it, that would be one thing, but I don't.

So I'm going to suggest that you go to the Seed Exchange Forums and post in the WANTED subforum that you're looking for seeds of this variety b'c that's where all wants are supposed to be posted.

When you're through reading the page for Nicky Crain that I linked to above, go to the upper left and click on MAIN, which takes you back to the home page. And see all the ways you can search for tomatoes.

When I know the name of a variety I use the alphabetical way to find it and that link is on the home page, just scroll down a bit.

Hope that helps.

[Yak54]

Carolyn

Thanks for your reply. I did search Tania's catalog this year and last year, as well as a few other sources and was not able to find Nicky Crain seeds for 2011 or 2012. Perhaps I'll be able to get some for next season. It's one of the Hearts I've not grown yet, and I've wanted to try it out ever since I first read about it in your great book a few years ago. Hope your health improves and I happen to have a couple of "extra" prayers that I'll send your way.

Dan

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Yak54

Carolyn

Thanks for your reply. I did search Tania's catalog this year and last year, as well as a few other sources and was not able to find Nicky Crain seeds for 2011 or 2012. Perhaps I'll be able to get some for next season. It's one of the Hearts I've not grown yet, and I've wanted to try it out ever since I first read about it in your great book a few years ago. Hope your health improves and I happen to have a couple of "extra" prayers that I'll send your way.

Dan

Dan, as I suggested in my post to you above, you might want to consider posting in the WANTED subforum of the seed exchange and ask if anyone knows where you can buy seeds for Nicky Crain or if anyone has some seeds to spare.

I can't believe that there aren't some folks here at Tville who might well have somewhat fresh seeds for it, while I don't.

There are many many seed sites now and many of them aren't on Google, so there could still be some sites out there with seeds to sell.

But I'm betting on the folks here at Tville to come to the rescue when you post in that WANTED subforum.

[Yak54]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Dan, as I suggested in my post to you above, you might want to consider posting in the WANTED subforum of the seed exchange and ask if anyone knows where you can buy seeds for Nicky Crain or if anyone has some seeds to spare.

I can't believe that there aren't some folks here at Tville who might well have somewhat fresh seeds for it, while I don't.

There are many many seed sites now and many of them aren't on Google, so there could still be some sites out there with seeds to sell.

But I'm betting on the folks here at Tville to come to the rescue when you post in that WANTED subforum.

Carolyn

I followed your direction and I appreciate your help as always. Blessings upon you !

[tedln]

Having never grown heart varieties in the past, I had no idea what to expect this season. So Far, the WES plants are one of the most productive cultivars in my garden. They are loaded with large (soon to be larger) green tomatoes of rather odd shapes. I call the shape odd because I've not seen large hearts before. The Granny's heart cultivars are seeming rather stingy in comparison to the WES. I'm looking forward to sampling both.

If the WES fruit has taste as admirable as reported by many, it will definitely be a regular in my future gardens. It has also exhibited good disease resistance and a prolific growth habit.

Ted

[lakelady]

First year growing hearts for me. I've got:

Kosovo
Danko
Brads Black Heart
Gildo Pietroboni
Provenzano


Provenzano got eaten very badly by some caterpillars. It’s on the mend. Brad’s has been disappointing, I thought it would be more productive, but I still look forward to the taste. Gildo seems to be pretty good in terms of flowers. Kosovo and Danko are flowering like mad so I’m really excited to see what I get of them. Danko looks sick (more droopy than all the others and small) but its pumping out flowers like crazy so it must be doing pretty well. The leaves tend to flip and turn in addition to being droopy. I’m leaving it alone as long as it is producing. Carolyn loves Danko so I’m pretty excited to try it, and Kosovo gets great reviews.

I have another tomato from a trade that's from Italy. Seems to be a heart, I was told beefsteak. Very wispy and stingy on flowers unfortunately, but I'm waiting for the taste test to determine if it's a keeper.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by lakelady

First year growing hearts for me. I've got:

Kosovo
Danko
Brads Black Heart
Gildo Pietroboni
Provenzano


Provenzano got eaten very badly by some caterpillars. It’s on the mend. Brad’s has been disappointing, I thought it would be more productive, but I still look forward to the taste. Gildo seems to be pretty good in terms of flowers. Kosovo and Danko are flowering like mad so I’m really excited to see what I get of them. Danko looks sick (more droopy than all the others and small) but its pumping out flowers like crazy so it must be doing pretty well. The leaves tend to flip and turn in addition to being droopy. I’m leaving it alone as long as it is producing. Carolyn loves Danko so I’m pretty excited to try it, and Kosovo gets great reviews.

I have another tomato from a trade that's from Italy. Seems to be a heart, I was told beefsteak. Very wispy and stingy on flowers unfortunately, but I'm waiting for the taste test to determine if it's a keeper.

Gildo can get huge with huge tomatoes. Last year I had several off one plant near 2 lbs and the average size was well over a pound. It had the largest average size tomatoes of any plant I have ever grown.

[tedln]

My spring season is nearing it's end due to the arrival of the summer heat. Regarding the WES variety, I can only say WOW. Great production of perfect tomatoes with a very good taste. Granny's has finished the season with good production and the tomatoes taste good. Granny's did have the odd tendency for almost every tomato to form cracks from the stem end down the shoulders in an evenly spaced pattern. If we got a little rain or excess moisture, those cracks would widen leaving large splits into the flesh of the tomato. If they didn't split, the cracked end of the tomato was easy to cut off, but a lot of tomato was sacrificed to remove the cracks. I didn't see a single WES tomato crack even with excess moisture.

Ted

[RobinB]

I don't have much experience growing hearts, but I think I'll try FLO next year. I always try to find short season maters.

I have plant in my main garden that is/was supposed to be Haley's Purple Comet, but the first tomatoes on it look like hearts. It has regular (non-wispy) foliage, too. We'll see what happens! My other Haley's plant has round tomatoes, the way it's supposed to be. The foliage looks the same between both plants. When I get a ripe tomato, I'll post a picture to see if anybody knows what might have happened. I got the seeds from Remy.

I purchased some seed this year for Siberian Pink Honey from Ohio Heirloom Seeds, and there was only a tiny photo. The description says it's an oxheart. The foliage is indeed wispy. There's not a lot of information on it, but I know that quite a few Tomatovillians are growing it this year too. Mine have only been in the ground 15 days but they are doing well.