progress report, mostly cherries

[swampr]

I got a slow start; overall yield will be low, but I'm looking forward to ripe fruit from 16 crosses I made last year.

Ripe so far: sugary, purple haze f1, sungold f1, bcxsg (or sungold f2?), sweet baby girl, sugar snack, pink san marzano, blush and maglia rose.

jelly bean will be next. the jelly bean vine is industrial strength promising heavy yield. still it's a grape and i'm not a huge fan of the thick skinned crunchy

sungold is in a class of it's own.

Sugary has been my favorite pink cherry for the last few years. (Ahead of sweet quartz) The name betrays it, because although it is very sweet, it also has a very rich depth of flavor when fully ripe and I like the deep crimson flesh.

I like Purple Haze f1, Jolly, Dr. Carolyn Pink, Halley's Purple Comet, and Mountain Magic for their richness of flavor as well.

I'm having my first tastes of sugar snack and it's quite good for a red cherry. More of a balanced cherry tomato flavor with lots of sweetness.

[roper2008]

I'm planning on growing more cherries next year. I don't
have the varieties you have, but I did get in a trade
orange santa , and sweet treats op. Have you tried these?

[swampr]

I'm growing sweets treat f1 but haven't tasted one yet, it appears to be a high yielder with many long trusses loaded with spherical fruit, i grew it's grape sister sweet hearts f1 last year which was good but a bit crunchy. it was one of the most crack resistant cherries i have grown. i've grown red santa, but not orange. i'm not as much a fan of the crunchy grapes and would prefer a larger fruit to the smaller ones like santa.

i tried my first 2 sweet quartz x sungold f1s this a.m., they look and taste a lot like sungold with a little more acidity. more to come....

i also have ripe hawaiian cherry, ramapo, valencia, jelly bean, and dora x unknown cherry (pink fruit 2" diameter).

[roper2008]

I hope the orange santa is not crunchy, I will find out
next year. Not sure if I should grow the sweet treats
op. I'm assuming the person that gave them to me
collected it from an f1 sweet treats. The sungold cross
sounds good.

[maf]

Aug 12, 2011 21:29:30 GMT -5 @mulio said:

Something that is mildly annoying to me is when a cherry tomato squirts out all over your face or shirt.

I have long suspected a special gravitational attraction exists between clean shirts and the inside contents of watery/seedy cherry tomatoes.

[swampr]

first ripe wow yesterday, it was flavorful and fruity, but not as much as sungold f1.

first ripe amish salad, ok but not bursting with flavor, the pink color is very attractive and skins are perfect and unblemished.

pink san marzano has impressed me as on the bland side so far. i really wanted to like this one.

[maf]

What location/climate are you growing in swampr? I ask because I bought a packet of Haley's Purple Comet seeds from WBF last year, but in the end did not plant them because I heard they did not grow/taste so good in cooler conditions, and I live in the UK. It sounds like they are fairly early (and a favourite) for you.

The cherry/grape types that are performing well and tasting good for me this year are Sungold F1, Piccolo F1, Sungrape F1 (from the same company as Sungold), and Crimson Grape F1. The tomatoes on my Mountain Magic F1 are not ripe yet and look more like tiny Beefsteaks than cherry tomatoes so I suspect there is something wrong there, and my Tess's Land Race Currant that was planted super early has set about a thousand (well, several hundred at least) tomatoes on loads of two feet plus long trusses, but only one or two fruits have ripened so far.

[swampr]

I am in Northwest Connecticut at 1000 ft elevation zone 5. last frost date usually around may 15. My nights are cooler than others in CT, but I am fortunately not in a frost pocket. I have some morning and late afternoon shade due to tall trees, and my soil isnt the greatest so I add liberal amounts of compost to each hole when planting tomatoes. this is my second year growing halley's purple comet, and everything is slow for me this year due to problems I had in May.

HPC is not an early producer for me, especially for an extra small tomato. The plants last year grew enormous but did not ripen fruit until many of the mid season varieties were ready. Yield was average, but the thing that impressed me was that the flavor was full and rich (like cherokee purple), in September when all the other varieties were beginning to fade in flavor due to reduced light and cooler temperatures. I guess all that leaf was enough to produce a lot of sugars and flavors, to make a great tomato.

My advice would be to try it, but give the plants a good early start.

My HPC plants this year seem to have more early blight than most of the other plants out there. I did not spray any fungicides this year.

[nolika]

Aug 13, 2011 14:53:51 GMT -5 maf said:

What location/climate are you growing in swampr? I ask because I bought a packet of Haley's Purple Comet seeds from WBF last year, but in the end did not plant them because I heard they did not grow/taste so good in cooler conditions, and I live in the UK. It sounds like they are fairly early (and a favourite) for you.

Maf, I kind of live closer to you ;D and I'm growing Haley's PC this year. The taste is just fantastic, the plant is huge and vigorous but the yield is just disappointing, I expected more out of this one.
It might be worth growing for the taste alone but I'm still in the process of thinking about that option...

It wasn't early either, the first fruits started to ripen about two or three weeks ago although I sowed this one sooner than my other varieties, end of February...

[maf]

Thanks swampr and nolika, I think I will plant one or two next year just for the flavour, as you both rate it so highly. I know now not to expect anything early or especially productive, but excellent flavour in a late variety will be worth the trade-off.

[roper2008]

Well I ordered from Baker Creek today. Decided to add
two cherries. Sweet Beverley and Tonadose des Conones.