My Tomato Collection Tour - Part 16. Tomatoes #171-209

Our spectacular blood red rhododendron, in full bloom in our yard

Getting busy, so I better get this next one posted. The numbers are funky because some in this range were used for saved seed. There are a few really major tomatoes in this batch. Read on!

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Tomato #171 - Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter - I purchased the seed from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in 1989, and, sadly, never did grow out the seed. I went into the history of the variety in a prior blog, tomato #26.

Tomato #172 - Tappy’s Finest - Also from Southern Exposure in 1989, I did grow out - and enjoy - this tomato in my 1989 garden. Reportedly a West Virginian heirloom, but prior to that from Italy, it was named for “Tappy”, who did selection work to result in the released variety, in 1983. It is a big fruited regular leaf pink beefsteak type. First fruit came in at 72 days. I picked 23 tomatoes from the plant at an average weight of 16 ounces - so the plant gave me 23 pounds of nicely flavored tomatoes, flavor rating A-.

Tomato #173 - Peron - I already covered this tomato as Tomato #71, including my growing of the variety. This Peron seed was from WI BA L, SSE member, in 1989. I never did grow out this seed.

Tomato #174 - Anna Russian - Now we arrive at a classic - one of my very favorite tomatoes. It was sent to me in 1989 by Brenda Hillenius of Corvallis, Oregon. Her grandfather, Kenneth Wilcox, was given the seed by a Russian immigrant. I’ve grown it many times - first in 1989, and in my 2021 garden, last year, where it was a star of my garden. The very lanky weepy regular leaf plants (not atypical for heart shaped varieties) produces a heavy yield of medium to medium large, gorgeous true heart shaped pink tomatoes. The flavor is far superior to most pink heart shaped tomatoes, full and delicious with a tilt toward sweetness. I do remember in 1989 being amazed at how sickly the plant looked. First fruit was in 68 days. I picked 34 fruit averaging 8.4 ounces, so that straggly plant produced 18 pounds of tomatoes - rated an A for flavor.

Tomato #175 - Mrs. Lindsey’s Kentucky Heirloom - This tomato has been described several times under various names, initially my tomato #142, Yellow White. I received seeds from tomato #175 from Edmund Brown of Missouri, SSE member, in 1989, but never did grow out the seed.

Tomato #176 - Radiator Charlie - This tomato, essentially Mortgage Lifter, was sent to me in 1989 by Edmund Brown of Missouri, but I never did grow it out.

Tomato #177 - Viva - Another name for Yellow White (tomato #142), and sent to me by Edmund Brown in 1989, I did grow it that year. First fruit arrived in 78 days. I picked 39 tomatoes at an average weight of 10.9 ounces. The plant produced 26.5 pounds of fruit, but the very mild flavor rated only a B. I liked what should have been the same tomato, Yellow White, a bit more. I found Viva to be a bit shorter, the fruit a bit smaller, but the same color.

Tomato #178 - Believe it or Not - Already described as tomato #118, I received this seed from Edmund Brown in 1989. I’ve never grown it out.

Tomato #207 - Indian Reservation - Now here’s an obscure variety, a West Virginian heirloom sent to me in 1989 by Edmund Brown. Edmund received the seeds from West Virginia seed saver George Pesta. I grew out the variety in 1991. It produced typical yellow/red swirled beefsteak type fruit on a regular leaf plant. The flavor was typically mild/sweet/peachy, the dominant flavor of these yellow/red beefsteaks. The original history of the variety is not known.

Tomato #209 - Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom #4 - This was a follow up seed sample sent to me by Robert Richardson. The labelling must have been incorrect - this tomato grew exactly as Lillian’s Large Red Kansas Paste. I grew it in 1990.

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It is odd to realize that I’ve never grown the Radiator Charlie strain, authentic Mortgage Lifter. I’ve grown the Halladay and Mullens strains. Also huge in this list is Tappy’s Finest, and maybe the star of the list above, Anna Russian.

The view of Davis Mountain from our deck this evening

Off The Vine, Volume 2, Number 1. "C & Cs Corner" by Carolyn

Cherry tomatoes from July 2019 harvest - our last garden in Raleigh

Wow - somehow we are one third of the way through this mini project. Now that all of Volume 1 has been posted in weekly blogs, let’s dive in to Volume 2. This is the typical Carolyn opening post, laying out her , thoughts, details on subscriptions, articles, our newsletter aims, and our seasons. These types of columns are certainly the most “Carolyn” of the articles she wrote for Off The Vine - and they are such fun to read.

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C and C’s Column

by Carolyn

It’s time to renew your subscription if your mailing label has 21 written next to your name (21 means Volume 2, #1). If we’ve educated and entertained you we hope you’ll stay with us. Separate renewal notices will not be sent out so please send your renewal after you’ve read this issue. I would deeply appreciate it if you would write renewal on your check or on a short note; I sent second copies of Vol1, #3 to several folks who didn’t write renewal and I thought they were new subscribers. Until last December I could remember the names of most of our subscribers but I no longer can do that. Also please mention your favorite large red and pink tomatoes; I’ll have enough data to do that article for the fall issue of Off the Vine.

Subscription renewal prices for SU residents are $5 for one year and $12 for year years, for Canadian readers renewal rates are $6(US) for one year and $14(US) for two years and the renewal rate for other foreign addresses is $7(US) for one year and $16(US) for two years. The two-year rates reflect the increase in rates, starting with Vol. 3, that we announced in our last issue. Please check your address labels to be sure they are accurate and let me know if there is a problem with the expiration date given. Also, please remember to notify me of any address changes.

First, I’d like to apologize to those Off the Vine subscribers who received copies of 13 which were not of good quality. New subscribers received good copies. I had hired two students to help with the stapling and stamping and when I went to pick up the copies from the copy place, a national chain, they were bad. The manager agreed, but they didn’t know when their machine would be fixed and so I made an instant decision to take them because I had already hired the students to work at a specific time period. While the copies were a bit smeared and some of the print was wavy they were still perfectly readable. Hopefully it won’t happen again.

The months of February, March and April challenged me as those months have never challenged me in the past. Between trying to meet my academic obligations and process SSE seed requests, new subscriptions to Off the Vine, F2 seed requests, back issue requests and renewal return I was totally snowed under! Craig also was very busy with SSE seed requests, planting seeds, work and taxiing two daughters to all their various activities. All seed requests went out within one week and all new Off the Vine’s within two weeks but it was difficult. Craig and I were pleased and surprised to find so many of you interested in the F2 seeds we offered, so we definitely will do it again next year, but we’ll have someone help me and you can send your requests for F2’s directly to that person (details in our fall issue). Many of you asked specific questions which I simply didn’t have the time to answer and I asked you to please call me at home before 9PM; I hope you still will because I love to help folks if I can and I hope you can appreciate the time constraints that I have at that time of the year. Summer is better!

 I’d like to acknowledge the help of two very important people in getting your Off the Vine’s to you. Starting with the last issue, Jeff Fleming of Michigan is generating by computer the mailing labels, for which we are ever so grateful. Jeff is an SSE member and also a long time friend of Craig’s. Jeff works for Upjohn Pharmaceuticals and his computer skills are deeply appreciated. The layout is now being done by a colleague of mine in computer sciences. His name is Mike Kuhrt and I don't’ know if he even eats tomatoes! Mike and I need to tinker with the format to get what we want, so be prepared to see changes in the future. Starting with this issue we’ll try to do articles more sequentially so you won’t have to flip so many pages, and you won’t have to flip so many pages because we want to get the format back to what we promised in issue one, which was 4-5 (or so) pages double sided. That will mean reducing the font size back to what we started with. At least I’m learning!

 We have a mix of interesting articles for this issue. Amy Goldman of Rhineback, NY has contributed an article about Desert Sweet tomatoes, which are a group of tomatoes developed in Israel that are grown using brackish or saline water for irrigation. With lowered water tables and increased salinity being seen in many places in the US and elsewhere, the research that went into developing these tomatoes is of major importance.

Amy is an SSE member, a psychologist currently on “sabbatical,” a wife to Larry and a mother to young Sara, Executive Director of the Sol Goldman Charitable Trust and gentlewoman farmer who is determined to take the top prize in the Dutchess County Fair! This year she’s growing about 95 different varieties of tomatoes, 50 kinds of peppers, 26 varieties of winter squash and anything else that might garner her a blue ribbon. She “doesn’t do corn” like I don’t ”do windows or pump gas.” Amy and I met about a year ago after I got a phone call from her the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend when she explained that her tomatoes had been “frosted” and she was seeking replacements . We untangled about 200 plants from my seed pans, which I keep until the transplants are out in the field and flourishing, and she happily drove home with her new varieties. Typical of Amy, she insisted that I must taste some Desert Sweet tomatoes. They were flown in from Israel and she had them delivered from Rhineback to Loudonville where my mother and gerdens both reside because I was teaching. I expected to find medium size or beefsteak type fruit and was very surprised to find cherry tomatoes on the vine! The gorgeous deep red fruit were still attached to the vine, in clusters, but the leaves had been removed. What can I say, they were delicious: they kind of “popped” in my mouth, were sweet and full flavored. I was very very impressed! Amy states in her article that seed is not available, but naturally I had to save some. While they are probably hybrids, there’s only one way to find out: they’re on the list for next year.

Our second guest author is William Woys Weaver of Paoli, PA. Will is a well known food historian who has specialized in Pennsylvania Dutch cookery and has authored several books and articles on that subject. His most recent book, entitled Pennsylvania Dutch Country Cooking (ISBN 1-55859-568-6, Abbeville Press), won a prestigious Julia Child award. I was fascinated by the food history and the color illustrations are exquisite. I’m even more excited by the book Will is currently working on which is about heirloom vegetables. It will be called Epicure with Hoe, and is expected to be published by Henry Holt, Publishers, in the fall of 1996. We’ll keep you updated. This summer is a special challenge for Will because he’s growing all the vegetables that will be photographed for the book. Will grows a tremendous variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables at Roughwood, his restored 1805 farmhouse. He also develops and tests recipes for inclusion in his books and articles. Would that I lived closer! I first got to know him last year when he sent me an SSE request for a particular tomato that I thought had no redeeming virtues and had said so in the SSE Annual. I wrote him a little note telling him that I didn’t think it was a good tomato and that I was sending him some extras to make up for its deficiencies. Back came a letter explaining that he was researching the introduction of tomatoes from Haiti to Philadelphia and thus his interest in the tomato he had requested, Plate de Haiti. We had further chances to chat about what heirloom tomatoes he might include in that chapter of his new book. And yes, as he points out in his article, I did challenge him to make Riesentraube wine after he told me about the recipe he’d found. To be honest, I really didn’t think he’d do it, but I’ve since discovered that Will thrives on challenges! He recently sent me a sample of the Riesentraube wine and I think it is fantastic. It tastes, to me, like a medium sweet sherry and if, as he says, it will get better with age, I’ll be happy to sip from time to time to judge its progress! I’m delighted he’s written the Riesentraube article for us and hope that he’ll contribute more in the future … after the copy for his new book is completed!

A third article is the result of Craig’s interview with George Gleckler. Many of you, I’m sure, have ordered heirloom tomato seed from Gleckler’s and most of you should be interested in the insights George shared with Craig concerning the seed business. As usual, I write this column to update you on this and that, introduce our guest authors and outline the articles being presented. Finally, Craig and I have each written articles which share with you the mental processes we go through when deciding what to grow out each year.

Recently I had an opportunity to taste a very special tomato. I got a call from Rolf Boessmann, who lives her Rochester, NY, who said that the Wegman’s food chain in the area had been chosen as the initial world test market for a genetically engineered tomato called Endless Summer. He made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Rolf packed them well and one week later I received two 10-12 oz. deep pink (red?) fruit which were not soft. I took them to work and we had a taste testing at the start of a committee meeting. We were not impressed. Visually they were prettier than the standard picked green and gassed with ethylene winter types, but if there was an improvement in taste it was in the range of perhaps 5-10% over the standard winter rocks called tomatoes. At $2/lb. I’ll wait for summer. They were developed by researchers at DNA Plant Technology Corp. in Oakland, CA who identified a ripening gene and “switched it off”. Presumably they can be picked later than the winter rock type, thus improving the natural flavor. While the shelf life of standard tomatoes is 7-10 days the shelf life of Endless Summer tomatoes is stated to be 30 days. I believe it! A few weeks later George Losoncy, an Off the Vine reader, sent me an article which appeared in the NY Times on 4/11/95 about Calgene’s genetically altered tomato called Flavr Savr. I knew about these two years ago, but have never seen them offered. The NY Times article explained that the genetic changes made to the tomato resulted in fruit that bruised easily and Calgene is having major problems with adequate packing and shipping. I’m not sure what I expected from genetically engineered tomatoes: probably some taste in a winter tomato, but I know I haven’t seen it yet!

As of May 17th, Craig has already planted outside his 120 or so tomato varieties while mine are still in the greenhouse of a commercial farmer friend who grows them for me after I seed and transplant them. It’s been cold and windy here in upstate NY; I’m probably not even going to start hardening them off until this weekend. I’m growing about 160 varieties this year and that means 500-600 plants in the tomato patch! Germination was excellent save for two varieties received from others, which didn’t germinate at all: they’ll be candidates for potassium nitrate treatment next year. Since we have both received inquiries about germination problems we will write an article for the call Off the Vine issue telling you how we germinate seeds. It’s very distressing to me, for instance, to have someone tell me only one seed out of 10 came up while I get close to 100% germination with the same seed. We promised ourselves that Off the Vine would not publish articles about tomato culture, that’s not what our mission is about, but we think the germination situation requires some comment.

Once again we encourage you to consider writing an article about some aspect of heirloom tomatoes. Please check with us first, and if we can use it, we will. We’ve repeatedly stated that we want Off the Vine to be interactive with our readers, and that can’t happen unless some of you participate with contributions.

Have a wonderful summer growing season, without late blight, and we look forward to sharing with you again in our fall issue.

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Wow, this is a pretty interesting and packed issue - Some big time names for sure - Amy Goldman and William Woys Weaver, as well as Gleckler - and GE tomatoes. Lots to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Some eggplants and tomatoes from July 2019 from our last Raleigh garden

Off The Vine, Volume 1, Number 3. "Nothing in Moderation - an interview of Thane Earle" by Carolyn

Polish tomato plant, set into a straw bale a few days ago. The 2022 season begins!

Here it is - the last article in Issue number 3, which wraps up Volume 1.

Any SSE tomato collector who got going in the mid 1980s or earlier know of the code “WI EA T” - as in Thane Earle of Wisconsin. He wasn’t much on descriptions, but listed loads of interesting tomatoes. Carolyn had a great chat with Thane, and she captured the essence, below.

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Nothing in Moderation! An Interview with Thane Earle

by Carolyn

Whether it’s having 1200 varieties of tomato seed, 120 kinds of bantam chickens, 450 kinds of beans or going on photography safaris to Kenya, Africa twice, Thane Earle does very little in a modest way! His love of gardening began as a child when he helped his grandfather and mother in their one-acre vegetable garden. His father and grandmother tended to other chores on their general farm. Thane remembers leading the horse that cultivated the garden and remembers picking the tomatoes (Bonny Best, Marglobe, etc.) that the family would can and use for juice. Born in 1921 just a few miles from his present home in Whitewater, WI, Thane and his younger brother had an incredibly rich childhood in terms of family and memories. His grandfather was a great storyteller and every night thane listened to marvelous tales of hunting and fishing and ultimately, the discussions about Africa which culminated in two trips to Kenya. He and his grandfather had a book written by Teddy Roosevelt in 1909which described his trips to Africa to obtain animals for the New York and Chicago museums and this furthered Thane’s determination to visit that continent.

Following Thane’s graduation from high school he went into the carpentry/construction business for 25 years. During this time he and his wife raised two boys. The boys had a private zoo with lions, bears, snakes, monkeys and heaven knows what else! Thane says he was bitten only once, by a semi-tame fox to which he was giving a bowl of food. After leaving carpentry he gardened and raised fowl … in no small way. He had about 600 fowl he would load into a truck and do a “show string,” going to State and County fairs to compete for prize money. At the peak of this enterprise he had 140 different kinds of large fowl, 120 kinds of banties and about 30 kinds of pigeons!!! He and his wife, a teacher, also traveled extensively. Their first trip was to Guatemala, then to England (twice), France and the Continent, Africa (Kenya) and Egypt. Naturally I had to ask him how much local tomato seed he picked up on those trips but he said just a few, from England. Tragically, his wife was killed in an auto accident about five years ago. He has since remarried, to an old high school “sweetheart”, whose husband died many years ago. Their recent travels have been to Kenya and Tanzania, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (Thane says he’s 95% English with a touch of Scottish and Norwegian), and most recently to Costa Rica.

Thane joined SSE one year before Diane and Kent moved to Iowa and has attended every one of the Campouts at Decorah since 1984. Although he grows many different kinds of vegetables, those of us in SSE know him mainly for his tomato offerings although he says he’s currently checking out the germination on about 200 kind s of corn, 450 kinds of beans and “lots” of peas. I told him about a 14’ high corn I grew this year for an historical garden I did for the local Shaker Heritage Society and how impressed I was with the height. He countered that he remembered a variety of Central American corn that he once grew that was so tall he had to use a ladder to accomplish pollination. Over the years he built up a huge tomato collection. He did a lot of trading with Gary Staley, Fax Stinnett (Off the Vine Vol. I, #1) and Don Branscomb and had contacts in France, Australia and Germany. When I asked him why he settled on tomatoes he said it was because of the low rate of cross-pollination. He used to grow out about 300 varieties each year but now does about 100, and grows one plant of each kind in cages made from concrete reinforcing wire; the plants are spaced 4’ in all directions. I was a bit taken aback when he said he didn’t fertilize, but then he said he does add aged chicken manure to his already rich, black topsoil which was once a lake bed in prehistoric times. He sprayed one year, once, for early blight and that was it for the chemicals. He says he’s never grown a variety that he didn’t get seed from the fruit. Knowing the possible “critter” damage and disease that inevitably appears, that’s a good track record.

His transplants for the field are grown in 14 oz. Styrofoam cups and he plants with a bulb planter … works great. If his transplants get leggy he always digs a deeper hole because he feels that layering them on their sides in a trench doesn’t give you a vigorous plant. He does have a greenhouse and cold frames where he gardens them off. Favorites that he mentioned included Amish Paste, Persimmon, Nepal, Cabot, Green Grape and Georgia Streak. Noticing that he hadn’t included any pinks, I asked him, but we got off on another subject before completing the list. He gives away a lot of his tomatoes but only if he picks them first; it seems like folks don’t want to do their own picking. He chuckled when I asked him why he didn’t write more about his tomatoes in the SSE Annual and he answered that he didn’t have the time. I protested that I got frustrated seeing only 4” listed after one of his tomatoes to which he responded that at lest I knew how big it was. He says he doesn’t list days to maturity because it can vary from year to year and with this I will agree with him completely. He and his wife will continue staying on the farm. When he’s not growing vegetables he continues with his woodworking by making toys and clocks and he raises various kinds of chickens. For the past 8 years he has been a Horticultural Aide with the Cooperative Extension in the summer, working two days per week, where he says he gets the questions no one else can handle. He completed the Master Gardener Program several years ago. I could tell that he really enjoys this part time position.

Next time you read a WIEAT listing in the SSE Annual perhaps you’ll now think of Thane as the complex, interesting person who does very little in moderation. And we hope Thane and his wife will continue their travels and that he will continue to participate in the activities of SSE, an organization he thinks has done a fine job in fostering the preservation of heirloom varieties.

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Sadly, Thane Harley Earle died on June 15, 2010 in Wisconsin. His obituary is here. I recall getting to meet Thane on my first visit to Decorah for the SSE campout in the late 1980s. To me, he is a seed saving legend, right up there with Fax Stinnett and Ben Quisenberry - folks who played such a significant role in getting the SSE off the ground and helping its incredible relevance.

The next post will begin the posting of the entirety of Volume 2. Things are moving right along - I hope you are enjoying these articles.

Our amazing true red rhododendron just started to open!

My Tomato Collection Tour - Part 15. Tomatoes #161-170

2022 garden coming along! Sugar snap peas against the fence, with iris and daylilies in front

This group of tomatoes makes up for some of the less impressive recent ones. There are some treasures here, still significant parts of my recent gardens.

Tomato #161 - Azteca 10 - Acquired from SSE member IL BA E in 1989, I have no distinct impression of this tomato, which I grew in 1989. I remember that it seemed determinate, was medium sized and red, and beyond that, rather ordinary.

Tomato #162 - Lillian’s Large Red Kansas Paste - I was sent this variety by Robert Richardson of New York, a SSE member, in 1989. It is one of two tomatoes he received from Lillian Bruce of Tennessee. The plant is extremely wispy/straggly, but the production of red long plum shaped scarlet tomatoes was fine, and the flavor exceptional. This is far better and juicier than a typical sauce or plum tomato. In 1989, I harvested first tomatoes in 70 days. The 45 tomatoes averaged 7 ounces, so the plant produced nearly 20 pounds of tomatoes - and garnered a solid A in flavor.

Tomato #163 - Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom #1 - This is a gem - also sent to me by Robert Richardson in 1989. He was sent this tomato by Lillian Bruce of Tennessee - she was given this tomato by her sons, who attended state fairs and brought her specimens of produce exhibited there. This is simply a stellar variety, perhaps in my top three of all of the tomatoes I’ve grown. The vigorous potato leaf plants can be quite late, and yield large oblate clear pale yellow tomatoes with a pale pink blush on the bottom. The interiors are very meaty, but juicy and succulent, and each fruit produces but a few seeds. The flavor is superior, outstanding, balanced, and has it all. In 1989, first fruit didn’t come in until day 103 (yes, it was very late!) - I harvested 11 tomatoes that averaged over one pound, so picked nearly 12 pounds of tomatoes from the plant. I sent this to several seed companies, dropping the “#1” from the name.

Tomato #164 - Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom #2 - Robert Richardson sent this to me as well - it is a mix up, as the tomato that resulted, also growing it in 1989, was the same as Lillian’s Large Red Kansas Paste.

Tomato #165 - JSS 361 F1 hybrid - Sent to me to trial by Johnny’s Selected Seeds in 1989, this determinate red slicing hybrid really surprised me with its high quality. I harvested the first ripe fruit in 62 days. I harvested 22 tomatoes that averaged 6 ounces, so the plant gave me a bit over 8 pounds. I rated the flavor as A-, certainly as good as a determinate as I’ve ever had.

Tomato #166 - Jumbo Tom F1 hybrid - I purchased this variety from Thompson and Morgan seed company in 1989. Included in my hybrid vs heirloom contest, first ripe fruit was picked in 80 days I harvested 15 tomatoes that averaged an impressive 19.5 ounces - a bit over 18 pounds from the plant, with slightly oblate scarlet fruit that were really very good - A- in flavor.

Tomato #167 - Yellow Oxheart - This 1989 purchased tomato (from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange) was described in quite glowing terms in the catalog. I concur - this is one impressive tomato. It was originally released by the Livingston Seed Company in 1929. I found that the very weepy plant (grown in 1989 - typical for heart shaped varieties) first harvested fruit in 79 days. I picked 16 tomatoes at an average of 10.9 ounces - nearly 11 pounds of tomatoes from the plant. They were strongly heart shaped and pale orange, and the flavor was quite outstanding, rating an A. This is really one of my favorite varieties and I still grow it on occasion.

Tomato #168 - Djena Lee’s Golden Girl - I got this variety in 1989 from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, but didn’t grow it until 1994. It is a family heirloom that dates as far back as the 1920s (perhaps further). It won first prize at a Chicago fair for 10 years in a row. For me, it was a late, large oblate orange tomato with very good flavor. I really should grow it again, as it is rare in being a truly excellently flavored orange fruited variety.

Tomato #169 - Yellow Bell - This 1989 purchased (from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange) variety is quite something. It is an old, rare, unique Tennessee heirloom that produces bright yellow Roma shaped fruit on an indeterminate plant. Grown in 1989, first fruit were harvested in 70 days. I picked an astounding 245 tomatoes at an average weight of 3 ounces, making this a 46 pound yield plant. I grew it last year and found similarly awesome yield. The flavor is really good for a paste type - I gave it an A-. This is a spectacular tomato for slow roasting or sauce.

Tomato #170 - Fritsche - This is a family heirloom that was sent to me by Rosie Trevallee of Wisconsin in 1989, and they maintained it from the 1940s. I grew it in 1989 and really liked it. I picked the first ripe fruit in 71 days, and harvested 56 tomatoes at an average weight of 5.8 ounces. The plant yield was a bit over 20 pounds. The pink tomatoes had a delightful sweet flavor that I ranked an A-.

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The two Lillian’s varieties (the red paste, and the yellow potato leaf), Yellow Oxheart, and Yellow Bell are superb varieties. I really liked Fritsche, JSS 361, and Djena Lee’s Golden Girl too, but never did grow them very often.

Our bleeding hearts are pretty spectacular this year!

Off The Vine, Volume 1, Number 3. "1994 Harvest Report. Assessing the USDA Accessions" by Craig

It’s azalea time in Hendersonville

I was really so into digging into old seed catalogs and searching for old varieties on the USDA GRIN database. It was so much fun that I requested many old tomatoes that I never even found in the old catalogs. Here is the first major report out of how they performed.

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1994 Tomato Harvest Report - Assessing the USDA Accessions

by Craig 

When I look into my garden, I see a typical January sight for North Carolina.  There is no snow, of course, and there are the frost-bitten, blackened remains of pepper plants, adorned with the brightly colored, dried ghosts of their fruits.  There are piles of grass clippings and leaves, and even a couple of stakes where vigorous tomato plants used to stand.  If I look really hard, I can visualize what things may look like this summer.  Even more distinctly, I can recall all of the activity that occurred there in the summer of 1994, including over 100 varieties of tomatoes.  Among all of those tomatoes were a large number of varieties that were obtained from the USDA germ plasm collection, many of which are historically significant, and presumed to be extinct.

This article describes the results from this fascinating growout.  As a person who was attracted to the Seed Saver's Exchange in large part due to the possibility of finding and growing old commercially produced tomatoes, I was humbled by the experience, and consider last year's garden to be the most memorable of my summer's efforts to date.  It was remarkable to be able to look at old seed catalogs, such as the 1900 Livingston that I have in my collection, then to step into my garden and see many of these historic varieties "in the fruit"!  We haven't found them all, and not all of them appear to have made their trek through the years unchanged, but it was rewarding nonetheless.

Just a note regarding the condition of the seed we received from the USDA.  In general, we were delighted to find that most of the varieties germinated quickly.  As Murphy would predict, it seemed as though the varieties that we most wanted to grow out were the most stubborn to germinate.  But, when all was said and done, we had at least one plant of each of the varieties that we wanted to grow.

What follows are one by one listings of the varieties, along with the history, if known, and descriptions as observed in my garden.  Carolyn grew these in her New York gardens also, and any differences that we observed will be mentioned, as well as discrepancies from the old tomato literature.  All varieties are indeterminate unless otherwise stated.

Livingston Introductions:

Beauty:  Introduced in 1886, and considered by Livingston to be one of his finest releases.  It appears that the original selection was from a field of Paragon.  This was used most commonly as a shipping variety, as when picked green it traveled in good condition and shelf ripened well.  This was one of the stubborn germinators, and I had the lone success in my garden.  Despite an awful start (the plant was on its deathbed for quite awhile), it recovered gamely and was quite vigorous and productive.  The fruits were medium sized (6-8 ounces), slightly oblate and smooth, with no green shoulders or preference to crack.  The ripe color was medium pink, and the flavor was very good - juicy, with a good balance of sweetness and tartness.  In terms of matching the catalog description, this was pretty much right on the money.

Livingston's Main Crop Pink:  We don't have any historical information on this variety, but have assumed from its name that it belongs in this section.  With very vigorous growth, this was one of the more productive types, and is a fine tomato.  The slightly oblate fruits were smooth and pink, perhaps a bit larger and more crack prone than Beauty, but otherwise similar, in flavor as well.

Golden Queen:  This was touted as the best yellow tomato in the early 1900's, having been introduced in 1882.  According to Livingston, this was derived from selections of plants that he grew from seeds obtained from a tomato that was displayed at a county fair.  The plant is vigorous and moderately productive, and the fruits variable in size, from 4 ounces to over 1 pound.  It is one of the most beautiful tomatoes I've seen, being bright yellow with a pale pink blush at the blossom end.  The flavor was very nice, again with a good balance of sweet and tart, and not having the blandness or unusual flavors occasionally associated with many of the yellow or orange tomatoes.  Once again, this tomato seemed to perform up to the descriptions in the old seed catalogs.

Magnus:  This was the most difficult variety to germinate, but Carolyn struck it rich with 2 plants (she sent me one via mail!).  This was the cover variety for the 1900 Livingston seed catalog, and it seemed to grow true to type.  It is unusual in being a potato leaf variety that does not afford huge fruits.  The vigor is good, and the tomatoes are nearly globe shaped, very smooth, 4-8 ounces and medium pink, with a good flavor.  This one will get another chance next year, as its position in the garden was not the best.

Favorite:  This tomato, developed in 1883 from a selection of a plant growing in a field of the variety Paragon, was another star performer in the garden.  It was originally bred for canners at that time.  Vigorous, prolific and delicious, the fruits were 6-8 ounces, very smooth oblate, and rich scarlet, and the tomato had a real old fashioned, tart flavor.  It's performance seemed to match that of the catalog description.

Paragon:  One of the true hall of fame varieties, this was released in 1870 as the first smooth red tomato.  It was with this variety that Livingston started the, at the time, new and radical method for developing new tomato varieties.  Rather than select particular fruits from plants to save seed from, he studied large fields of plants and selected tomatoes from a particular superior plant in that field.  Livingston surveyed his tomato gardens, and found one plant that had very smooth, though relatively small, tomatoes.  From seed saved from tomatoes from that plant, he grew a large number of plants each succeeding year, selecting for smoothness and larger size.  By 1870, he had Paragon, which at that time was the first smooth, large, scarlet tomato.  The weather was not kind to it this year, as it was the variety most likely to get blossom end rot.  It was vigorous and productive, and those fruits that I did get were in the 8 ounce range, oblate and scarlet, but the jury is out on this one.

Acme:  This is one of the varieties that obviously has been crossed over the years.  It was released in 1875 as the first smooth, large, early pink tomato (though in the early literature, this color was often referred to as purple).  Livingston used the same method to "breed" Acme as he did Paragon; namely, selection of outstanding plants from fields of roughly shaped pink tomatoes.  The accession that we grew out was vigorous, productive and gave medium to large oblate to flat scarlet fruit of good flavor.  It is a good tomato, but not what we hoped for.

Dwarf Stone:  Carolyn grew this one out, and it is her description that follows.  This tomato was introduced in 1902 as a Stone-type tomato on a dwarf plant.  What Carolyn found was true to the description, being an attractive,  stocky, short plant with dark green, rugose foliage, bearing medium sized scarlet tomatoes of good flavor but mushy consistency.

Lutescent:  I am making an assumption with this variety, based upon information gleaned in the conversation with Dr. Charlie Rick.  In 1897 Livingston released an unusual tomato named Honor Bright.  It appeared as a mutant or sport growing in a field of the variety Stone, which is a medium sized scarlet tomato released in 1891, and still widely grown today.  Honor Bright was described as distinct for its pale green (almost yellow) foliage and tomatoes that went through several color changes on their way to scarlet.  This is exactly what we see with Lutescent, as it is one of the weirder tomatoes that can be grown.  As a seedling, the foliage seems to want to turn yellow.  In the garden, it is actually yellow toward the bottom of the plant.  The flowers are nearly white, and the small to medium, globe shaped, firm fruits turn from pale green to snow white, to yellow orange, finally to deep scarlet as they ripen.  The variety is very productive, and the taste is surprisingly good for such a firm tomato.

Other Heirloom Commercial Varieties:

Alpha:  A relatively short growing potato leaf type that has small to medium sized, crack prone, green shouldered scarlet fruit of good, but not outstanding, flavor.  It was introduced in 1882, and is considered to be similar to Earliana.

Essex Wonder:  This is obviously not the Essex listed in the Michigan State Bulletin of 1938, as it produced small to medium scarlet, not pink, tomatoes.  It is an average tomato in all respects, and is most probably an old English commercial variety.

Early Ruby:  Described in the Livingston 1900 catalog as a new, scarlet early type, and probably a synonym for Atlantic Prize, released by Ferry in 1891.  It is a rather non-descript, medium sized scarlet tomato of no outstanding characteristics.

Excelsior:  This is probably a synonym for Earliana, which was released in 1900.  Again, nothing special here, as it is another medium sized average tasting scarlet tomato.

Landreth:  Listed as a synonym for Bonny Best, which was released in 1908, and resulted from a selection from Chalk's Early Jewel.  It is a medium sized scarlet tomato, but has a nice tart full flavor.

Early Large Red:  From the name, you can tell that this is an old one, and first showed up in seed catalogs in the 1860's.  We found the variety to be a typically non-descript, medium sized, oblate scarlet tomato that had good flavor.

Triumph:  Released in 1879,  this tomato is another of the small to medium sized, slightly oblate scarlet slicers of average attributes.

Optimus:  This variety was released by Ferry in 1885, and was derived from a tomato sent to them by a customer.  It is similar to Favorite and Stone, and we found it to be a vigorous, productive plant giving medium sized, oblate, scarlet fruit of very good flavor.

Green Gage:  First listed in U. S. seed catalogs in 1879, but probably much older, this variety yielded nice tasting small yellow plum shaped tomatoes.

Redfield Beauty:  This variety grew very similarly to Beauty, described above, and is likely a different seed company's strain of the same.  It performed very well for us.

Buckbee's Beefsteak:  Released in the early 1900's by Buckbee, this was a typical scarlet beefsteak type; large, vigorous plant, medium to huge, irregularly shaped fruit with some cat facing and cracking, and good rich flavor.

Dixie Golden Giant:  Reputedly an old southern variety, this one has been on the "missing" list for some time.  Growing on a very vigorous plant, the tomatoes, though not numerous, were very large, slightly oblate, and of a golden color, and the flavor was quite rich and sweet.

Alpha Pink:  Supposedly similar to June Pink, this variety, released in 1915 by Isbell, produced delicious, medium sized pink tomatoes on a relatively small plant.  The yield was quite early, and relatively heavy, and it is in all quite a good tomato.

Trophy:  This is considered to be the first smooth, large tomato.  It was developed by Dr. Hand in Baltimore by crossing an old large crumpled red tomato with a variety called Early Smooth Red.  When introduced in 1870, the seeds were sold for $5.00 for a packet of 20 seeds!   Our experience with the variety was of a vigorous, productive plant yielding medium to large, flat to oblate scarlet fruit of a rich, full, acid flavor.

Mikado:  Also known as Turner's Hybrid, this variety was developed and released by Henderson in 1889.  It is described as a large, smooth pink tomato on a potato leaf foliaged plant.  From the USDA seed samples, we obtained both potato leaf and regular leaf plants, but all gave large, irregularly shaped scarlet fruit, indicating that crossing has occurred through the years in this variety.

Abraham Lincoln:  An important release of Buckbee in 1923,  there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this tomato of late.  The Shumway catalog description is of a late, large (1 pound plus) tomato growing on a bronze foliaged plant.  This accession from the USDA is the first that I have grown that at least gets the fruit correct; the plant does not have bronze foliage, however.  The fruits were nearly globe shaped, large, scarlet and delicious.

King Humbert:  A very old European variety listed in Fearing Burr, this is reportedly similar to San Marzano.  Carolyn found it to be a vigorous scarlet paste tomato that matches the description in Burr's book.

Alice Roosevelt:  Reportedly a synonym for Earliana, Carolyn found this variety to produce medium sized scarlet fruit of little excitement.

Mikado Scarlet:  Not much is known about this one,  except that it is a scarlet, smaller version of Mikado released by an Italian seed company.  The seed we obtained produced a very vigorous, productive plant yielding medium to large, oblate to flat scarlet fruit with a rich acid taste.

Winsall:  Henderson released this variety in 1925 as an improvement on Ponderosa.  From a vigorous productive plant was obtained large, pink beefsteak type tomatoes of excellent, full flavor.

Other Varieties Obtained From the USDA:

Beauty of Loraine:  An unusual tomato, the scarlet fruit were lobed and partially hollow on the inside, with the seeds in a fleshy mass at the center of the fruit.  The flavor was not very palatable, being bland, with dry texture.

Banana Leaf:  Distinctly different from other potato leaf varieties in that the leaves were more narrow and smooth, this variety yielded very firm, small, scarlet fruit of little redeeming qualities.

Queen Mary:  A very prolific and healthy variety, we found this tomato to produce small to medium, globe shaped scarlet fruit in clusters of 4 to 6.  The flavor was quite good.

King George:  Very similar in all respects to Queen Mary,  the fruits of this one were a tad smaller.

White Flowered Marge:  Aside from the color of the blossoms, which were a yellow tinged white, this was an ordinary, productive, globe shaped, medium sized scarlet tomato of good flavor, but prone to cracking.

White Flowered Marglobe:  This variety was very similar, if not identical, to White Flowered Marge.

White Queen:  This was a pleasant surprise.  Of the many "white" tomatoes that I have grown, this may be the largest and whitest, as well as the best flavored.  Very productive and vigorous, the slightly ridged, oblate tomatoes were ivory to white colored, and several grew to over 1 pound. 

Queen of the Purples:  Obviously a victim of cross pollination,  the seed produced an ordinary, medium sized scarlet, globe shaped tomato of fair taste.

Royal Purple:  This variety looked very much like Beauty.  The fruits were medium sized, smooth, slightly oblate, pink and delicious.

Geswein's Purple Bonny Best:  This may have been the best flavored and most attractive of the pink varieties we obtained from the USDA.  The uniform, medium sized, smooth pink fruits had a nice sweet flavor.

For those who are interested in obtaining seeds of these varieties, all of them will be offered by Carolyn and me in the 1995 SSE Annual, which should be mailed out in a month or so.  We also hope to stimulate the interest of some seed companies with regard to carrying some of the better or more historically significant varieties in their seed catalogs.  By the way, the historical background information for this article was primarily obtained from three sources:  the book "Livingston and the Tomato", by A. W. Livingston, published 1893; the 1900 Seed Annual of the Livingston Seed Company, and Michigan State College Special Bulletin #290, "Tomato Varieties" by Gordon Morrison, published in April, 1938.

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What fun it was to grow these out and get a sense of what tomato growers in the 1870 to 1920 period experienced in their gardens. Rather than the big, colorful heirlooms of today, the goal back then was smooth, medium sized scarlet red tomatoes for the most part - with a few pinks and yellows and a white mixed in. While most were not exciting, it felt important to grow varieties that my grandparents may have had in their garden.

Waiting for some treats - Marlin, Betts (looking very casual) and Koda

My Tomato Collection Tour - Part 14. Tomatoes #151-160.

Foamflower at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville, April 19.

The race to get through the first 250 tomatoes in my collection continues apace. This next 10 is a rather curious bunch - read on and see!

Tomato #151 - Mission Dyke - I clearly raided the Gleckler catalog in 1989 - here is another I purchased. Information is very scant (I need to find my old Gleckler catalogs). All I have is that it is pink and good for hot humid areas. I never did get around to growing it.

Tomato #152 - Lemon Bush - you guessed it - bought from Gleckler in 1989. And I didn’t grow it. And I can’t find a thing about it - I recall even the Gleckler catalog had little to say.

Tomato #153 - German Head - this is the last of seeds purchased in 1989 from Gleckler, and once again, never did grow. It is a regular leaf, large, meaty beefsteak in the one pound range, and reportedly from Germany. From reports on the web, this is one I should add to my grow list some day. I would have to repurchase the seeds.

Tomato #154 - Prudens Purple - I got this from MD BE B in 1989, and grew it that year. I first added this to my collection as tomato #73 - refer to that blog for the background. I picked first fruit in 72 days - 18 tomatoes at an average weight of 13.6 ounces, so the plant provided a little over 15 pounds of tomatoes. I liked the variety very much - the potato leaf plant produced oblate pink tomatoes that rated an A- - I think of this as a Brandywine type that is a bit smaller and earlier, and a little less intense in flavor.

Tomato #155 - Mrs. Lindsey - This came from SSE member Thane Earle of Wisconsin in 1989, and I grew it in 1991. It is the same tomato as Yellow White, described in my blog for tomato #142.

Tomato #156 - Kentucky Heirloom - this is also from Thane Earl in 1989. I need to return to the SSE yearbook to get a description, though for Thane, info is typically very thin. Is this another name for Mrs. Lindsey, above, or a different variety? Nope - I didn’t grow it (yet). I tend to think it is the ivory colored one aka Yellow White.

Tomato #157 - Dona F1 hybrid - This is one of three hybrids (this and the next two), released by Shepherd Seeds in 1989. All are indeterminate, European medium sized red tomatoes. Any listing for Dona non-hybrid should likely be avoided, since seeds saved from a hybrid could lead to anything.

Tomato #158 - Carmello F1 hybrid - see the info for Tomato #157, above. This is another red hybrid that I’ve not grown.

Tomato #159 - Lorissa F1 hybrid - yet again, a tomato purchased from Shepherd in 1989 that is a red hybrid that I haven’t grown.

Tomato #160 - trial variety JSS 8737 hybrid (released as Valley Girl) - I was sent this variety by Johnny’s Selected Seeds in 1989 as a trial variety, along with JSS 361 hybrid. I grew it in 1989, and found it to be a productive determinate medium sized red whose flavor was not all that much to my liking. I harvested first fruit in 74 days, and harvested 52 tomatoes from the plant - it is very productive! - fruit averaged 6.7 ounces, so the plant produced nearly 22 pounds - but the flavor was only a B.

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Not too impressive, hey? Although I suspect some of these that I didn’t try are fine tomatoes. Only Prudens Purple, of the above 10 varieties, left a positive impression.

Trillium on April 19 at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.

Off The Vine, Volume 1, Number 3. "Seed Sources" by Carolyn

Sweet Betsy trillium and Virginia Bluebells on April 19 at Botanical Gardens of Asheville

Here is an article that I’ve not read in a long, long time. It is very characteristically “Carolyn” for sure.

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Seed Sources

by Carolyn

There are two types of seed sources that I want to discuss. First, there are several commercial firms that carry a good variety of heirlooms and I’ll list them. Second, we have available for you some interesting F2 seeds you might wish to consider growing out.

Before listing the commercial firms I would again encourage you to consider becoming a member of Seed Savers Exchange (SSE). SSE is not a commercial firm and is not a seed company. It is an organization dedicated to the preservation of heirloom vegetables, fruits and grains. If preserving our genetic heritage is important to you, you might wish to consider membership. Additionally, membership will give you access to about 3000 heirloom tomato varieties; almost all of the varieties mentioned in Off the Vine are available to sSE members. Hoepfully you’ve read the material concerning SSE in our first issue and would, if you join, offer seed to others through the Annual Yearbook although that is most certainlyNOT a requirement for membership. Send $1 for information/brochure to Seed Savers Exchange, 3076 North Winn Road, Decorah, IA 52101.

The following list of commercial sources is not inclusive; they are companies Craig and I hand others we know have dealth with and have been pleased with both the seeds and the service. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, P.O. Box 170, Earlysville, VA 22936 (catalog $2) is a treasure trove of heirloom histories and excellent open-pollinated varieties; there is a large selection of heirloom tomatoes including several that have been mentioned in Off the Vine. Jeff McCormack added German Red Strawberry, Druzba, Manyel and Marizol Gold to his catalog this year and also has Riesentraube, Cherokee Purple, Eva Purple Ball and Green Grape along with many other excellent varieties. Gleckler’s Seedmen, Metamora, Ohio 43540 (catalog free) has a long list of heirloom varieties. Rob Johnston of Johnny’s Selected Seeds is enlarging his offerings of heirloom tomatoes and has several whose names you’ve read here such as Cherokee Purple, Cuostralee, Yellow Brandywine, Anna Russian and Tiger Tom. Craig and I have been sending seeds for trial to both Jeff McCormack and Rob Johnston for several years and are pleased that they have chosen to offer some of them to the public. Heirloom Seeds, PO.. Box 245, West Elizabeth PA 15088(catalog $1) is a small firm with an excellent selection of heirloom tomatoes. The following two companies carry both hybrids and heirloom tomatoes in their catalogs, which are free. Tomato Growers Supply Co. .O. Box 2237, Fort Meyers, FL 33902 and totally Tomatoes, P.O. Box 1626, Augusta, GA 30903. Linda Sapp at Tomato Growers Supply has greatly enlarged her offerings of heirloom tomatoes in the current 1995 catalog; craig and I are now sending seeds to Linda for trial and we hope that some of them will perform well enough to be offered through her catalog.

I think you could have a lot of fun with the F2 seeds we are making available to you. Stanley Zubrowski is an amateur Canadian hybridizer who has been trying to breed some taste (Brandywine) into some early varieties. We have F2 seeds of Brandywine X Kotlas, Brandywine X Stupice and Brandywine X Polish (red). The F1 plants of all three varieties gave fruit which was early, red or pink (should all be red; see discussion below) and with excellent taste; the Stupice, Polish and Kotlas F1 plants were potato-leafed. The foliage type will vary, as I’ll explain below, when you grow the F2 plants. Tad Smith, whose article about late blight is in this issue, gave us F1 seed from two crosses. Yellow Oxheart X Polish gave us huge pink hearts and Purple Perfect X Purple Price gave lovely dusky pink fruit with superb taste on a potato-leafed plant. The two parents of the “purple” cross have the same coloration as Cherokee Purple as do the F1 fruit. At the risk of incurring Craig’s wrath (Cherokee Purple is his “kid”), I must confess that I like Purple Perfect better than Cherokee Purple. If you send me a SASE (32 cents) I’ll send you 10 seeds of however many crosses of the five mentioned that you think you can handle. if you find a good one after stabilizing it for 20 years (I’m joking!) it would be a nice gesture to send me some seeds of your selection so I can forward them to Stanley and/or Tad. After all, they did the hybridizing and would like to know what the good offspring look like.

Now a few worlds about genetics so you’ll have some idea of what might happen when you plant the F2 seeds. The fruit which result from the initial hybridization of the two parents gives seeds which are referred to as F1 seeds. When planted, all the F1 plants and fruit of a particular cross will be identical. (In the Brandywine crosses mentioned above the F1 fruit should have been red because red is dominant to pink and Kotlas and Stupice and Polish are all red. The fact that Craig had pink fruit with the Kotlas and Stupice crosses suggests that some unplanned crossing occurred. Carolyn’s plants of the F1 Brandywine crosses gave all red fruit). It’s F1 seeds that you buy and plant if hybrid tomatoes are your preference. The fruit from the F1 plants gives seed referred to as F2 seed. When this seed is planted you’ll get a variety of different plants which might differ with respect to foliage type, fruit shape and color, earliness, etc. so if the F1 plants were potato-leafed, for instance the F2 plants may be regular or potato-leafed. If you find an F2 plant/fruit that you like, save the seeds and plant again the next year. These F3 seeds will also segregate out different characteristics so you’ll have to select again and re-plant. So how long does it take to genetically stabilize a variety? Well, how does 3-10 years sound? But it really is fun. As an example, let me tell you about an orange/red Brandywine that Craig and I are trying to stabilize. Three years ago Craig sent out some seeds of Yellow Brandywine. That fall he got back seeds from one person with a picture showing huge orange red fruit; clearly the seeds sent out by Craig had crossed with something else in his garden. Look, I’ve sent out crossed seeds too. You don’t like it to happen but it’s inevitable unless you grow varieties many feet apart (see article in first issue on isolation distances). So, the next Spring we planted the seeds. Craig got all regular leaf types with large so-so yellow tomatoes (not Yellow Brandywine type) and I got two potato-leafed plants (that’s what we’re after) that gave huge, delicious red/orange fruit and two-plants like Craig’s. I saved the seed from the potato-leafed/orange-red ones and planted them this past Spring. Well, the plants were all potato-leafed, so I was encouraged, but I got fruit which were pink, yellow and orange red. I saved the seeds from all three variants and will probably plant all o them this Spring even though I should only be planting the orange/red seeds. Craig grew out just one plant and it was potato-leafed with orange/red fruit. Some of the “rejects” are darn good and this stabilizing game really does start to grow on you. so if you have the room and the inclination, send me that SASE.

Lastly, I’ve received several requests and inquiries about my selling seed to the general public. Sorry, but I can’t, and I speak for Craig also. Our sole focus is to publish a newsletter which both educates and entertains with respect to heirloom tomatoes. Both of us are listed members of SSE and participate in related seed activities. When SSE requests start rolling in it is not unusual for us to spend 10-20 hours per week filling requests because we both list several hundred varieties with SSE. In addition, I deal with all the Off the Vine subscriptions and related matters which takes even more time. We aren’t retirees; both of us have demanding full time jobs. Craig is a chemist with Glaxo Pharmaceuticals and I am a college biology teacher. We both have other responsibilities; Craig has a lovely wife and two active daughters and I have an invalid mother who needs attention. I hope that also explains why we aren’t on a rigorous publishing schedule for Off the Vine; we’ll publish 3 issues per year but not necessarily on a rigid schedule. We have tried to enlarge the availability of some of our heirlooms to the general public by sending seeds for trial to Southern Exposure, Johnny’s, Tomato Growers Supply and now Pinetree Seeds; perhaps others will follow. After many years of friendship and a common passion for heirloom tomatoes Craig and I decided we wanted to share our enthusiasm and knowledge with others who have a similar interest, thus Off the Vine was “born”. And who knows, some day Craig and I might actually meet each other! Until then we “internet” it every few days unless a verbal exchange is necessary. And believe me, as those of you who know us personally already know, we are verbal!

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This issue really speaks for itself - homey, interesting, informative. And in some cases, a bit dated - addresses, people, companies, varieties - a testament that time passes, and things move on. Change is inevitable.

Sue near a native flame azalea in the Botanical Gardens in Asheville on April 19

General Garden Update

Avidly shrooming strawbales as of this morning. Future spot for tomatoes, peppers or eggplants

Tax Day. Easter Monday. One more frost threat. Less seedlings to manage. Lots of wildflower hikes undertaken, with many more to come. Azaleas, daffodils, tulips, redbud, magnolia.

There’s the list of what is going on in the garden, in the yard, in my life. It is astounding to think of my life at this time over the last 20 years. It was all about the seedlings - the dance in and out of the garage as frost threats were posted. It was endless transplanting, purchasing materials, writing labels, fretting their condition, and getting spaces at the Farmers Market - or scheduling visits to our driveway. One last frost threat has all of my seedlings huddled in my garage, to emerge on Wednesday mid morning.

The 2022 seedlings, just before being relocated to the safety of the garage

This year….pretty peaceful! I have just the plants I am going to grow plus the plants resulting from my typical overplanting. A few people will be coming by to pick up some of those extras - probably starting this coming weekend. (actually, it already started - two gardeners coming by for small but healthy plants in the last week).

The straw bales are now completely prepped and mushrooms and wheat are popping through everywhere. The cucumber, summer squash and bush bean bales are already planted (but not germinated yet - I am hoping the heat generated by the composting bales will preserve the seeds sitting just under the planting medium surface).

I will be making final decisions on tomatoes soon, and my planting goal is still somewhere around May 1. I am excited to ponder peppers and eggplants in straw bales. The location for my containers the past two years did not work for stellar results.

Here is a reminder that the tomato course Growing Epic Tomatoes (a collaboration between Joe Lamp’l and I) is still open to join - you have until the end of April if you are interested. I highly recommend it! Please email me with any questions you have about the course.

One final announcement - My weekly Instagram Live sessions are happening again, with the first last Thursday. As long as I don’t have a conflict, they will take place on Thursday afternoons at 3 PM eastern, with a duration of about 45 minutes. I will do some demos, updates and take questions. All previous ones can be found on my Instagram, @nctomatoman , found on the videos tab of my profile page. In last week’s kick off, I demonstrated planting seeds directly into straw bales, and also hunting dwarf tomatoes in the F2 generation.

I have three more Zoom workshops on my agenda - early May for garden organizations in Connecticut and Virginia, and in the fall for Orange County NC. If the workshops are open for all to attend, I will be sure to post the links on a blog, and on the Linktree in my Instagram profile.

Bleeding hearts in our side shade garden

Once the sun comes out and it warms up, on Wednesday, all of the seedlings and plants reemerge from the garage. I will resume transplanting seedlings to individual containers - I have plenty, so if you are close to Asheville/Hendersonville, get in touch with me to set up a time to get some. I have a Word doc list with details that I can send you. I have lots of yard work to dig into, particularly reworking some flower beds for daylilies and other perennials. I have seeds of some perennials started - Astilbe, Spider Wort, Coral Bells, Jacob’s Ladder, Baptisia - and more stratifying in my freezer.

Having a smaller garden and dealing with less seedlings is freeing me up - I love all kinds of gardening and hope to have the time this spring, summer and fall to fully dive in. But first, there are wildflowers to spot in the many wonderful trails nearby. You will find me and Sue and dogs there most mornings!

Bloodroot, found on a hike in DuPont yesterday

Off The Vine, Volume 1, Number 3. "Adaptation of Tomatoes" by John Rahart

I love growing Pansies from seeds - these were started in the fall of 2021 indoors, and are finally in bloom!

Here is another guest article, by Dr. John Rahart of Bosque, New Mexico, by invitation by Carolyn.

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Adaptation of Tomatoes

by John Rahart

Let me start by telling you about the tomato known as Myona. Brought to this country by an Italian immigrant shortly after the turn of the century, it was grown continuously in his garden. In the early 1980’s the man parted with some of his plants and a few of them made their way to my dad who lived nearby (Suffern, NY/Mahwah, NJ). People had always brought their favorites to dad and he had in his collection some impressive varieties, but Myona was equal to or better than the varieties he had previously grown. When I heard his glowing accounts I implored him to send me some spare seed, which arrived without a name. After checking back with the elderly man who had grown it those many years it was confirmed that I was called Myona and that it was the correct spelling. As the elderly man said in a heavily accented voice, “itza myona, itza gotta no nama, itza myona tomato! Ima already tolda you, watza damadda wid you annawayah!” Indeed, it was his tomato.

My greedy little fingers slipped the seeds out of their packet. I pressed my little trophies into the soil, watered, loved and bragged about them even before they flowered. Were these going to dazzle the neighbors or what? I could feel the fame and glory already. To shorten a lengthy narrative … they fizzled! The fruit were small, irregular and atypical compared to what they should have been. However, I had never seen “the real thing”.  So I saved seed and planted the next year. Ditto the next year. I wasn’t quite sure what my dad saw in them; they were OK but nothing to marvel about.

An amazing thing happened when the third generation plants matured their fruit. The tomatoes were very large 5 ½” by 4” wide oxhearts, uniform, solid, marvelous, stupendous tomatoes … nothing like the previous two years fruit. Elated at fostering a miracle I was still patting myself on the back when my dad back in New York laughed and said, “that’s the way they’re supposed to look”. I didn’t realize it at the time but I had just stumbled onto a coincidence. I lived in Wyoming: cool, arid, high ultraviolet (7000’ elevation), they lived in NY: hotter, humid, low UV at sea level.

Several years later I moved to New Mexico. After doing the traditional rave and brag dance about your most stupendous tomato I gave some seeds of Myona to a new friend who lived down the street. She carefully planted and grew them, and was NOT impressed! New Mexico: hot, very arid and high UV … it sounded familiar. In convinced her to do the three generation waltz with Myona.

Upon birth and delivery of the third generation of Myonas I was reestablished as a gardening star. How could I be so certain that the Wyoming experience was not just a fluke? The truth is that by then I had acclimated several other highly touted but low performing tomatoes and many of them responded in the same way that the Myonas had in Wyoming. I was not dealing with a cross-pollination problem but with plants which could not immediately respond to such drastic changes in growing conditions. By saving the seed each year and regrowing for several years (usually 3) I was able to get the plant acclimated to the new growing conditions and only then was the plant able to perform “as advertised”.

For people not satisfied with a new tomato which they feel has more potential than they observe, I’d suggest saving seed and growing out several generations before pronouncing it inferior, especially if the seed came to you from a non-similar climate or latitude. Why and/or how does this work? I don’t know; several theories are possible. First, all organisms carry dormant (non-expressed) genes in their chromosomes. It’s possible that stress activates these genes which are then passed active to the offspring enabling the offspring to better accommodate new situations. Second, climate, UV, elevation, photo-period and other stress agents probably affect gene expression as well as affecting the growing plant directly. Third, the presence of mycorrhizae might facilitate adaptation. Mycorrhizae are fungi which form a mutualistic relationship with over 80% of vascular plants. The endomycorrhizae (as opposed to the “ecto” type) are found, for example, in corn, wheat, tomatoes, beans and apples. The fungal hyphae actually penetrate into the plant tissue. In wet environments they can increase the amount of plant nutrients, especially phosphorus, and in arid environments they aid in water uptake. Perhaps adaptation is related to specific species of these fungi infecting the roots. If you absolutely must adapt a particular variety why don’t you ask the seed donor for some soil and mix that soil with your potting mix for that variety. It’s worth a try. Fourth, gnomes, devas and nature spirits … they probably hold back the growth of the plants until they thoroughly test everyone to see who really loves their tomatoes. Why not?

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This is really a fascinating article. It touches on a subject that I have lots of opinions on - whether a tomato can “adapt” to an area (as described above), or whether the particular variety is mixed - a hybrid - or early generation - and different results are from various genetic combinations showing themselves in small, random growing of seeds. So I republish this to share it with all of you - it is an opinion, an experience, and approach. Who can argue with that! Enjoy!

me and my pal Marlin, running errands this morning…waiting for Sue to be done with her shopping.

My Tomato Collection Tour - Part 13. Tomatoes #141-150

Spring in the yard - showing our prized American Redbud, a red leaf maple, lilac…and our straw bales (guarded by Koda).

Got lots of momentum now. Gardening season is starting to get really active, so I am thinking of taking this to tomato #250 and take a break until fall - gardening update blogs will become more prevalent once I take a tomato collection break. Let’s do this…two of the following are really good varieties. The rest are….interesting!

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Tomato #141 - Verna Orange - This tomato was obtained from SSE member IA CA D in 1989. I grew it several times, the first of which being 1990. It is typical for a heart shaped variety - very wispy foliaged plant, but quite early for its size and high yielding. It seems to be an Indiana heirloom, released by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in 1990. It is similar to the historic variety Yellow Oxheart, released in the 1920s by the Livingston seed company. The lovely pale orange hearts are very meaty, with a mild flavor - pleasant, but by no means a knock out.

Tomato #142 - Yellow White - This rare variety was sent to me by SSE member KY AN C in 1989. It is also known as Viva Lindsey’s Kentucky Heirloom. The lovely story associated with the variety is that seeds of the tomato were given to Viva Lindsey on the occasion of her wedding, in 1904, by the Martin family. It is a tomato I respect for its wonderful story, more than crave eating. I first grew it in 1989. The very tall, indeterminate plant produces very pretty ivory colored tomatoes that are quite large, and have a faint pink blossom end blush on some of the fruit. They are quite firm fleshed and have a mild flavor that is on the sweet side. My 1989 experience with this variety showed first ripe fruit in just 70 days. I harvested but 13 tomatoes from the plant, at an average weight of 17.6 ounces - really large for a white tomato - giving the plant a yield of 14.3 pounds. I rated the flavor as B+, so I clearly enjoyed it more than I thought I did!

Tomato #143 - Banana Legs - I acquired this variety from SSE member ONT RE M in 1989, which is the first year I grew it. It is unusual in being a determinate variety, though the 3-4 foot bushy plant is a tomato machine. It is a Tom Wagner-bred variety, first sold by his Tater-Mater seed company, likely as a selection from a cross of various varieties with the red paste variety Long Tom. The fruit are slender paste types that have yellow skin with faint lighter stripes. The flesh is firm and somewhat dry, probably a better roasting or sauce than fresh eating tomato. My 1989 trial showed a first ripe fruit pick in only 59 days. The plant produced 43 tomatoes at an average weight of 3 ounces, so 8 pounds for the plant with a flavor rating of B (which seems generous).

Tomato #144 - Big White - I acquired this tomato from Glenn Drowns, as a SSE transaction, in 1989, and first grew it in 1991 (it was also the last time I grew it). It appears to be a collection from the large collection of Californian Don Branscomb. My records, and recollection, on this variety are very scant. My guess is that it was a medium sized oblate ivory colored tomato of no great flavor interest - not uncommon in most “white” varieties.

Tomato #145 - German Garden Time - From SSE member MI KL R in 1989, this is one obscure tomato that I grew one time - in 1989. My recollection is that it was a rather large ivory tomato on a tall, vigorous indeterminate plant with fully unexceptional flavor. In its 1989 trial, first ripe fruit was harvested in 80 days, making it quite a late ripener. I picked 23 tomatoes at an average weight of 14.6 ounces (another quite large white variety), so the plant yield was nearly 21 pounds. The flavor rating was, alas, B- - the worst rated tomato for flavor in 1989.

Tomato #146 - Sutton - Yet another in a group of white tomatoes (which I clearly had an interest in during this period of my seed collecting), I received this tomato from Dorothy Beiswenger, SSE member, in 1989, and my single experience with it was also in 1989. There is essentially no information about the variety, but some speculation it is from the Sutton Seed Company in the early 1900s. I remember the plant being quite short for an indeterminate, with first fruit in 58 days. I harvested 44 fruit from the plant with an average weight of 8 ounces. The plant yield was an impressive 22.4 pounds, with a B+ flavor rating. I remember thinking it was the best flavored of those early tested white varieties.

Tomato #147 - Sweet Million F1 hybrid - What a tomato machine this variety is! Purchased from Stokes in 1989, I grew it that same year and others as well, due to its incredible productivity and pleasant flavor. It was developed as an improvement on the very popular Sweet 100 hybrid. In 1989, first fruit was harvested in 59 days, and I harvested - get ready for this (and yes, I counted them!) - 1,045 tomatoes with a half ounce average weight. I picked over 32 pounds of tomatoes - and it got an A for flavor. How’s that for impressive!

Tomato #148 - Yellow Stuffer - Curiously, this variety was also purchased from Stokes in 1989, but I never got around to trying it. The original source is unclear, but stuffing tomatoes (firm walls, shaped like a bell pepper, relatively hollow with the seeds in a cluster in the center) have been known for a long time and are available in various colors.

Tomato #149 - Dutchman - This famous tomato was first carried by Gleckler seed company in 1958, and I obtained it from them in 1989. The history is known, but it is assumed to be very old - it is a large, oblate regular leaf pink tomato that I’ve yet to grow.

Tomato #150 - Watermelon Beefsteak - A famous variety first carried by the Gleckler seed company, I obtained it directly from them in 1989. Gleckler introduced it in 1958 - little is known about its history except it seems to have originated in West Virginia in the late 1800s. It is a regular leaf, large oblate pink beefsteak type that I have yet to grow.

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Well, we are now at 150. Pretty good milestone there, and it is still 1989 in my collection. I was madly accumulating at this point, but it was pretty scattershot, and of the above, although some well regarded varieties have yet to be grown, there are a few winners. Verna Orange, Sutton, Sweet Million hybrid and Yellow-White are the tops of this ten varieties.

Seedlings waiting for consistent warmer weather!