Armenia - any special varieties?
 

Folks, I am in Armenia this week. I am looking for seeds - does anyone suggest any special varieties that I should be looking for?

I just checked TomatoBase and there aren't any varieties listed as coming from Armenia. That doesn't mean there aren't any, just that Tania doesn't have any listed.

Most people don't even know where Armenia is. It's between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. South of Georgia and north of Iran.

So I would think there should be some good dark pink or black varieties there. farmers markets might be a good source IF they have anything at this time of the year.

Good luck in your trip,
Carol

You lucky fellow! I've wanted to go to Armenia for a long time, but haven't been yet. It's on my bucket list!

I've seen a variety of tomato called 'Armenia'. The only other vegetables I think I've seen are the melon 'Tigger' and of course Armenian cucumber. But I bet if you ask people, you are bound to find local varieties.

Scott, I would suggest you to look for melon seeds but the season is not right. Still, if you come across someone who can provide you with seeds, you should definitely ask for melons.

Scott,
Are you in Yerevan? I'll try emailing cousins in Yerevan,Gyumri and Krasnadar to see if they can hunt up an answer for you. If I hear back I'll post the varieties here.
Zana




Scott - How do you get them home? Are there restrictions on bringing seeds back into the States by air?

I've sent email requests out to the cousins. Now to sit back and wait for answers.
Zana

Folks, Thanks for all ideas. I went to a seed shop yesterday, but they had only 24 seed varieties across all vegetables, and 100% were imported hybrids from Germany and the US. So I am looking now for a local gardening shop. I went to a grocery store and found some interesting peppers locally grown, and I might just get a few and dry some seeds. I will be back here in March, and might have more luck then.

I always get my seeds into the US legally. Enough said about that!

Zana - you mentioned Krasnador or I wouldn't have remembered - There is a variety called Krasnador Titans in Tania's dbase. They are supposed to be good canners of medium to large size. I believe they are one of Carolyn's introductions.

Mine were much smaller, so probably not correct seed.

[QUOTE=Zana;325111]Scott,

Scott - How do you get them home? Are there restrictions on bringing seeds back into the States by air?

Zana[/QUOTE]

Here's the information for importing small lots of seed into the US.
[url]http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/plant_imports/smalllots_seed.shtml[/url]

Thanks Dee,

I've added that to another email to the cousins. Asking for seeds of those or others like them.

Zana

[QUOTE=Doug9345;325199]Here's the information for importing small lots of seed into the US.
[url]http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/plant_imports/smalllots_seed.shtml[/url][/QUOTE]

Thanks Doug.

Zana

The tomato "Krasnador Titans" is easily available here in the U.S. It is sold commercially and there are several folks who listed it at SSE.

Folks, I scored some seeds for the Anahit tomato today in the Yerevan open market. The nice lady pictured below sold me a pack of about 300 seeds for about $1. The Anahit is not in Tania's database, but a Google search found one reference to it - an old Armenian variety from the 1930s (see excerpt below from Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction or Folklore?). She described the tomato as large, juicy, and tasty. Will be offering this one when I get home.

(At [url]http://books.google.am/books?id=0oXYX9Qzx9oC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=anahit+tomato&source=bl&ots=f5TAalL6U1&sig=ymosjfDoLscuVNPOnqLcsh0ezOM&hl=hy&sa=X&ei=RcsPUaL6LIzitQaomYB4&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=anahit%20tomato&f=false[/url])

Oh goodie! A juice tomato!

[QUOTE=ddsack;325147]Zana - you mentioned Krasnador or I wouldn't have remembered - There is a variety called Krasnador Titans in Tania's dbase. They are supposed to be good canners of medium to large size. I believe they are one of Carolyn's introductions.

Mine were much smaller, so probably not correct seed.[/QUOTE]

[URL]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Krasnodar_Titans#tab=General_Info[/URL]

No, I didn't introduce it although Tania did get seeds from me. Perhaps I did SSE list it, I can't remember, but I wasn't too fond of it as I recall.

In the history you'll see the name Belfer and she was the one who made a huge seed offer for it in a gardening magazine and charged more money for it than I ever would have. Right now I can actually see in my minds eye which row it was in at Charlie's farm where I grew it. And I remember the leaves were very coarse and I remember asking Charlie if any of his sprays he used elsewhere on his farm might have been the cause of that, but no others being grown there of mine had that problem.

I think I got my seeds for it from Belfer but it was when I was a participant in a website called Garden Writers of America, or somthing like that. And there was an intermediary, I can't remember his name now, who was the person who got Belfer to make that seed offer.

Now I'm annoyed b'c I can't remember the name of that gardening magazine, not Organic Gardening, but based in CA and one of the former staff at ORganic Gardening was the editor.

Aha, it was Mother Earth magazine.

If I wait long enough I can usually, but not always, come up with a right answer.:lol:

Carolyn

More Armenian seeds - and need help with Russian
 

I went to the Yerevan open market Gum today and found a seed seller. Here is what I have now - the pictures below are of the seed packs. Most are from Armenia, and the names are translated into English. Some are from Ukraine, and I do not read Ukrainian. If anyone can translate the Ukrainian names, that would be appreciated.

I don't know how many seeds are in the packets, so I don't know if I will make a general offer for these seeds. If you have a burning desire or special reason to try some of them, PM me and I will try to send a few. I do have plenty of Anahit, the 1930s variety of juice tomato.

[B]Armenia Tomatoes (none in Tania's database under these names):[/B]
[B]Anahit [/B]-- see [URL]http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=26429&highlight=armenia[/URL]
[B]
Nver [/B]- A 2008 report from Armenia Min of Ag says "Two varieties of tomato “Gandzak” and “Nver” created through distant hybridization with wild species have been released."

[B]Lia [/B]- Seems to have been improved in the 1990s in Armenia.
[B]
Zurab[/B]
[B]
Yerevany Kangun 447[/B]
[B]
Hayastany Hrashq 476[/B] -- reported as early maturity
[B]
Gandzak [/B]- A 2008 report from Armenia Min of Ag says "Two varieties of tomato “Gandzak” and “Nver” created through distant hybridization with wild species have been released." The Scientific Center of Vegetables and Industrial Crops (SCVIC) under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture released 35 varieties from the period of 2000–2004. The released varieties of tomato (‘Lusaber’, ‘Ranny Nush’, ‘Sofi’, ‘Gandzak’, ‘Mush’, ‘Arakel’, ‘Noi’,
‘Norakert’, ‘Donik’, ‘Berdavani-401’, ‘Novy Anait-351’ and ‘Novy Anait-361’)
[B]
Araqel [/B]-- The Scientific Center of Vegetables and Industrial Crops (SCVIC) under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture.has released 35 varieties from the period of 2000–2004. The released varieties of tomato (‘Lusaber’, ‘Ranny Nush’, ‘Sofi’, ‘Gandzak’, ‘Mush’, ‘Arakel’, ‘Noi’,
‘Norakert’, ‘Donik’, ‘Berdavani-401’, ‘Novy Anait-351’ and ‘Novy Anait-361’)
[B]
Getapnya [/B]-- Reported as "[FONT=Times,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Getapnya is becoming best among late ripe cultivars, and totally, among all 16 cultivars of tomato." at [/SIZE][/FONT]http://www.agrscience.ge/abstract3_2.htm

[B]Armenia Peppers[/B]
Arajnek - Hot pepper.
Unknown - enormous red pepper I have pictured below. I bought one in the market to save the seeds. Thick walled. Used for stuffing. Wow, just ate some of it for lunch. Definitely got a zing to it - not sweet. But slightly hot. I got about 50 seeds out of it, and am anxious to see how it goes in Atlanta.
Zmrukht - seems to be a yellow elongated sweet pepper
Nush - 55 - A green sweet pepper, like a pointed bell

[B]Armenia Eggplants[/B]
Tavush - a white one. Released in 2000–2004 by SCVIC.
Karine -- Released in 2000–2004 by SCVIC.
Avand
Armavir - Released in 2000–2004 by SCVIC.

[B]Armenia melons[/B]
Arpy or Arpi - a yellow rind, white flesh melon. Released in 2000–2004 by SCVIC.

Govakan - a larger green melon. "The melon Govakan, selected in Armenia among a local population from the Oktemberyan region, has a thin rind with white, sweet, juicy flesh that is only slightly fibrous."

And then the various Ukrainian varieties pictured below.

Wow, Scott, you hit the jackpot! I must admit that I am green with envy over your trip. The markets look like really neat places. Was the vendor able to give you any indication as to whether the seeds were open-pollinated or hybrids? I'm guessing not.

He said they are traditional Armenian varieties, although my research on the Net indicates that some of them were created in the 1990s and 2000s, but I am almost sure that they are OP.

The hybrids that I saw in the market are from outside of Armenia, are packaged differently, and cost much more.

Scott, great finds!

I do hope that you will retain the original names of these varieties, and not have them circulated under their translated names! :)

The 'non-Armenian' packets are Russian. I can help with both transliteration and translation.

Pic 1: top right: Черри - Cherry. Vendor: Vitas. I guess it is just a non-name or generic cherry tomato?
Pic.1 bottom right - Золотая Россыпь - Zolotaya Rossyp' - Vendor: Vitas. The name means something like Gold Mine

Pic.3
Персик - Persik - Peach. Vendor: Gavrish
Апельсинка - Apelsinka - the name means sometime like 'little orange' (referring to a fruit). Vendor: Gavrish.
Богатырь - Bogatyr. Vendor: Udachnye Semena.
Ледяная сосулька - Ledyanaya Sosulka - this is probably a translated name of a well known radish 'White Icicle'.

Thanks, Tania. By original name, you mean the transliterated English name? If so, yes, definitely, that is the name that I will always keep with the seeds. They have a clear history in Soviet and Armenian ag research that should be maintained.

Thanks for the translations. The vendor told me they were Ukrainian, so sorry to get that wrong.

Did you see the final picture of other Russian varieties? If you could cast an eye on those, I would be grateful.

Perhaps the vendor got them from Ukraine, and this is why he was thinking they were Ukrainian.

Scott, I am not sure which picture you are referring to? I got #1 and #3 covered.

Thanks - somehow didnt see your comments on the picture #3. I see them now.

The Russian tomato is called Persik or "Peach"? It looks like an interesting peachy color, for sure.

I have seen the Persik tomato in Russia before, and I still have not figured out if it is related to our Peach (i.e. garden Peach) tomatoes. I think I have seeds, so I just need to grow them side by side to compare.

I would not trust the color on a Russian seed packet :)

Armenian melons are awesome!
And I love that Armenian hot pepper. I wonder how hot it gets - please let us know when you grow it!

There are some Armenian roots in my heritage, but I have never visited Armenia. And I so not know Armenian language. Sigh.

Scott,

Pics #1 &2 have some or all Armenian writing. I can double check the translation if you want. Many have been given names that are "given names" - first names of people....just at a glance. Will translate and edit here in a few minutes.

Zana

[QUOTE=ScottinAtlanta;325672]Thanks - somehow didnt see your comments on the picture #3. I see them now.

The Russian tomato is called Persik or "Peach"? It looks like an interesting peachy color, for sure.[/QUOTE]


Scott, this was my fault, as I edited post later - I needed to save it and return to your original post to view the 3rd picture. :oops:

I was booked to go do architectural research in Armenia back in my undergrad days. But the Canadian dollar was doing a nose dive and the trip just got toooooo expensive to do on a student budget. Which was a bummer since getting there was going to be the expensive part....especially since I'd spent months getting all the paperwork done to go. And there was a serious pile of diplomatic tapdancing to do to get permission to go.

That was all before the fall of the USSR. No issues now. Quite a few family members have visited Armenia and family there. Its funny but I wasn't even aware of how many relatives I had there until I started working on the family tree in the past 7-8 years. Apparently a number of my Father's first cousins left Egypt to go to Armenia in 1947. Then couldn't get out after Stalin clamped down. Some left for the U.S. in the 1990's, some were killed in the big earthquake in 1987, and some are still there.

A trip there is still on my bucket list. So love to hear about other's trips there.

Zana

Hi Scott,
[FONT=&quot]A recent post caught my attention and brought me back to this thread. The first seed pack in row six (third from the bottom going up) of your post #15 is of interest to me. The pack is written in Russian and labeled as Перец БОГАТЫРЬ. Перец is the Russian word for pepper and БОГАТЫРЬ refers to knights or valiant warriors. There is famous painting of bogatyrs (БОГАТЫРЬ) by Viktor Vasnetsov here; [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Vasnetsov#Later_years_.281890.E2.80.931926.29[/URL][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I am very interested in growing this pepper out and multiplying the seeds for distribution.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Dutch

[/FONT] P.S.Some folks might consider "Ragnarok (Thor)" to be a bogatyr type character.
[FONT=&quot][URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7MGUNV8MxU[/URL][/FONT]

Bogatyr sweet pepper is very common here in former Soviet Union countries. It is widely distributed by many Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian seed companies. It is Moldovan CV from 1980s.

Scott,you certainly lead an interesting life and come up with some interesting stuff. Keep us posted.

Jon
PS I am still enjoying the peppers from Vietnam. Thanks again.

[QUOTE=Dutch;671042]Hi Scott,
[FONT=&quot]A recent post caught my attention and brought me back to this thread. The first seed pack in row six (third from the bottom going up) of your post #15 is of interest to me. The pack is written in Russian and labeled as Перец БОГАТЫРЬ. Перец is the Russian word for pepper and БОГАТЫРЬ refers to knights or valiant warriors. There is famous painting of bogatyrs (БОГАТЫРЬ) by Viktor Vasnetsov here; [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Vasnetsov#Later_years_.281890.E2.80.931926.29[/URL][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I am very interested in growing this pepper out and multiplying the seeds for distribution.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Dutch

[/FONT] P.S.Some folks might consider "Ragnarok (Thor)" to be a bogatyr type character.
[FONT=&quot][URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7MGUNV8MxU[/URL][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Very amusing. Sure, you can have some seeds from that pack.