Russian Chocolate R.I.P.
 

Little Nickie

Born April 13, 2006
Died June 21, 2006

Papa Vic regrets to inform tomato lovers worldwide that Little Nickie, our beloved Russian Chocolate, went to spend eternity with other dearly departed cultivars in Tomato Paradise.

A special note of sympathy is extended to Andrej Baranovski of Minsk, Belarus, who entrusted Little Nickie, along with two sibling germplasms, to Papa Vic hoping that future offspring would enjoy wide spread acceptance among loving tomato growers all across the U.S. and Canada.

Unfortunately, one of the three seeds was a dead head, another made it to transplant in a friend's garden but passed on just two weeks before Little Nickie herself succumbed to an apparent broken heart and fell victim to the dreaded Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus.

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Where should I send the tomato blossom clusters to? Or should we send money somewhere instead of flowers?
Sorry about your loss.
On a Brighter note your baby dwarf seed you sent me is getting big and it does not look like the same as HGT.

PV, I'm so sorry your tomato-child commited dead because of Wilt virus. Mine is still fine, but I'm growing it in greenhouse, because it is not early enough to grow in open soil here. I will post its photo as soon as I will get camera once again.

Actually Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus is not a problem in Belarus or Russia. We are more into Early and Late Blights here. Probably this variety has not enough tolerance to this desease.

I will definately send you more seeds of it later if you want.

How about other varieties I've sent you?

Andrey,

Some of the others are doing well. Black Elephant is a really pretty little plant. Is it supposed to be short and sort of determinate?

If so, it's doing very well. It has very controlled growth, beautiful potato leaf foliage. Dark green leaves. It has set fruit and I will post a photo soon. I also sent one Elephant to a garden in Chandler, Indiana just for insurance.

Yabuchar also is a strong, pretty, regular leaf plant. Is that a Russian plant? It seems to have a Yugoslavian name. Anyway, it's a great plant that was growing right next to the Russian Chocolate and did not contract the spotted wilt ... yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And I sent Explosion home with my 86-year-old father to his garden in Alexandria, Virginia with a couple of others. Explosion was a great looking seedling, and I hope it's going to do well for dad (he's Estonian/Ukrainian descent, so he needs more Russian tomatoes in his garden).

Thanks a million for all your seeds ... I will start more next year ... and maybe try Russian Chocolate again but put it in a garden away from my house somewhere.

Hope your garden and greenhouse are growing well and producing wonderful things for you and your family to enjoy.

PV