Campari Tomato
 

I am wondering if any of you have grown Campari tomatoes? It looks like they are a hybrid. One site says, "Campari is a type of tomato." Another site calls them Mountain Magic.

When I first tried them, they had been picked too early and the skin was like leather. I let them sit out on the counter for two weeks and now the taste is growing on me. It tastes both acidic and sweet - like a home grown tomato.

I just collected some seeds and am going to plant them.

Campari is a hybrid bred for greenhouse production. So the seed are mega expensive, and I mean mega, over $1000 for 1000 seeds. How much saved seed plants will vary from Campari who knows but it would be interesting. Also some of the babies might not grow well outside being descendants of a greenhouse tomato.Maybe someone else had experience with that.
Remy

Wow, over a dollar per seed bought in bulk. Thanks Remy

Someone sent me several packets of seeds and one of them was labeled Campari. That was 2012 and I didn't grow them out until 2015. Here's a picture from that crop. I'm growing it again this year from saved seeds. My notes of the 2015 crop says the flavor was full and rich and slightly sweet. Now, I don't know whether the seeds sent to me were F1 Hybrids or F2's.

So, let's see what comes from this year's efforts. The fruits came in long fruit stems with all fruits on a stem ripening fairly close together. It was a fairly large plant (larger than a lot of the determinates I see) and was about the size of a typical Tommy Toe Red plant.

I have been growing Campari from saved seed for a few years. My saved seed plants are very much like the fruits that I originally saved the seed from. It is a large sparse plant with few laterals. The fruit grow in trusses as Ted has described. The taste is also pretty good.

Salt, if you would like some of my F4 or F5 seed I would be glad to share.

Because I don't know what it was that I received, I don't know what generation mine are, or whether or not they are, in fact, Campari. Actually, I have some seeds and someone named them Campari. In truth, mine could be anything. But, in keeping with my motto for the Muddy Bucket Farm, I do know that they taste pretty good. It's a bit late for me, but Robert might have a "fall shot" at growing Patti's seeds.

[QUOTE=MissS;637629]I have been growing Campari from saved seed for a few years. My saved seed plants are very much like the fruits that I originally saved the seed from. It is a large sparse plant with few laterals. The fruit grow in trusses as Ted has described. The taste is also pretty good.

Salt, if you would like some of my F4 or F5 seed I would be glad to share.[/QUOTE]

I will send you a PM

Compari is sold at WM here.
Once I bought a package, after having heard its name in this forum.
To me the taste was not something that I would want to grow it.
Instead I kept buying a Grape tomato with very good taste. I saved seeds from it and am growing it.

Campari are my go-to if I absolutely must have tomatoes for some reason during the winter/spring season. Nothing to write home about, but typically better than the rest of the cardboard romas and beefsteaks available in the supermarket produce department.

Salt, all the ones I've ever purchased were round globes, but I see a slight elongation and very distinct points on your "Campari." It'll be interesting to hear how they turn out, whatever they are.

Those are Ted's that have the points. Mine are bought at HEB grocery store and are round. A little larger than a cherry tomato - golf ball sized.

They didn't have much taste until I let them sit on a counter for a couple of weeks.

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;637664]Those are Ted's that have the points. Mine are bought at HEB grocery store and are round. A little larger than a cherry tomato - golf ball sized.

They didn't have much taste until I let them sit on a counter for a couple of weeks.[/QUOTE]



Oops! I guess I was scanning through posts too quickly...

Some of the grocery store tomatoes have sharp fibrous spines running from the stem end into the tomato.
I have to pick them out, to me they are nasty like over mature okra fibers.:evil:

Imp and I have discussed Campari's privately and there is a difference between those coming out of Canada and those from Mexico. Not sure if it is the growing conditions or the tomatoes, but the Mexican tomatoes do not taste as good. Tomatoes grown in my yard from Canadian seed taste pretty much the same to me as those from the store.

I too have been growing Camapri from saved seed for a couple of years. It seems to be fairly cold tolerant from what I saw in the fall and it (year 3) has been doing well in cool temps this Spring. I've only been growing it out to see what would happen.

Campari is an old hybrid, it used to be considered very good, now there are better ones, from same company (also very expensive), like Annamay and Temptation.
I think the ones from the store are called like that just like we call running shoes adidas-es here. Not necessarily the original Campari.

I've grown Mountain Magic for several years now, seeds from Johnny's. It's a hybrid too, late blight resistant, usually last ones standing in the garden when LB hits, but won't survive it.
The fruit is comparable in size to Compari, but firmer. Very large healthy plants, a bit on late side, super productive, so I grew it every year. Flavor is okay, I prefer Compari for fresh eating. Last year, I got 1 plant that produced softer juicier fruit, very nice flavor so I saved seeds from it. I grew out both the F2 and the regular F1s this year and will see how they differ.

My Campari seed come true. They are great in winter when they are the only thing with taste available, but in summer there are so many better choices. But still, I always grow at least one, but I am not sure why, lol.

I've grown Mountain Magic for 3 years and it will always be in my garden. My experience is exactly as NewWestGardener described: very tall and healthy plants with incredible production. I grow MM for canning whole: thick skin, firm flesh and bite-sized fruits makes it an ideal tomato for canning. Another one I use for canning is Juliet: the same characteristics, only oval rather than round, so I mix them together when canning.
MM with green fruits: every single flower sets a fruit:

Green Go, those canned tomatoes are beautiful. Will you share your process for canning them?

I pretty much follow this process, except for spices I am using celery, parsley, garlic, peppercorns and chilli pepper:
[url]http://natashaskitchen.com/2013/09/06/canned-tomatoes-recipe/[/url]

Thanks for the link Green_go! They look like they are pickled than cooked and canned, definitely going to try those!

The Campari seeds germinated today. I didn't remove the gel - just planted them straight out of the tomato.

Oh, if you have an HEB nearby, 1 lb. Campari packs are 98 cents this week (May 20).

An unexpected storm wiped out the Campari plants this week, so I had to replant. I am doing a shelf life experiment with them, and so far they have lasted 32 days. For the replant, I just squirted some seeds into the pot. Here's the results.

Bellini Hybrid is an orange, Campari sized tomato that has great flavor and production on a compact plant. It's one of our favorites this year. I'll try to post a photo soon. It's typically listed with the cherries for some reason.

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;646504]An unexpected storm wiped out the Campari plants this week, so I had to replant. I am doing a shelf life experiment with them, and so far they have lasted 32 days. For the replant, I just squirted some seeds into the pot. Here's the results.[/QUOTE]

I have one that is finally wrinkling up and starting to lose shape. Saved from last fall. Seven+ months! :lol:

The seeds from its mate are now plants. One of them that started itself in January had six trusses really low down on the plant this week. Surprised me to see them all.

Campari lasting Seven+ months! Cool 8-)

Update November 25, 2017 - These are F2 Campari tomatoes that produced in our Fusarium Wilt race 3 and RKN soil. Just imagine what they would do in soil without soil borne diseases. I'll be saving F3 seeds.

Look good to me too.

Worth

Hooray! Tomatoes for Salt! They look pretty darn good too. Yep, I would keep grow'n them.

Looks like a tomato salad to me!