Alaska 2015 tomatoes
 

My first batch is up. These were started in promix under a HPS as usual. Nearly every seed sprouted, and those that did not were from a couple of strains. I will start a large batch in a couple of weeks, I am pretty excited to get this going so I can taste some fresh tomatoes again
I think I have compiled quite the selection this year.
Have a great season everyone.
Mark

I'm excited for you, Mark- you do have an amazing selection this year! Can't wait to see how they do for you- I loved looking at your 2014 thread. Still can't believe what a long season you have been able to create up there in Alaska! Wishing you your best year yet-

kath

Your already starting seedlings. I have three plants growing indoors under HID lighting. But I am not even thinking about starts for outdoors yet, and I live in Oregon which is about 40 to 60 degrees warmer than Alaska.
Your green house grow last year was incredible.

awesome variety Mark, best wishes for another excellent year!
Karen

As Karen noted, great varieties! Who other than Tomatovillians would spend time checking out so many labels on a picture of tomato seedlings,lol...

Wishing you a bigger crop than last year.
Let's hope the weather hold for you again this summer.
Worth

Worth, I also hope for a nice summer, but if it's not it will be interesting to see how some varieties perform. You obviously have been up here for many summers and know how bad they can be sometimes, rain, clouds, mist, fog, and more rain.
This year I am doing a lot more stuff outside, I have a pretty decent collection of early type varieties for the gardens. I also bought some Big Zac seeds and plan on growing a couple of plants for pure tomato shock affect, we will see how that goes though.

Zero, I have found it is worth it to start plants as early as possible, I will be eating beefsteaks in May. You can really cram a lot of plants under a small HPS, then put out big healthy starts when it's time
Kath, so many of these are from PA, you live in tomatoland.
Salix & Karen, we can talk tomatoes, but not salmon right? lol

This year I feel I got a decent handle on varieties that are notable, I absolutely cannot wait to try them side by side.
Thanks, I hope this is a fun season for all

Your plants look terrific, Mark. If you have as nice a crop as you had last season,
you'll have a lot to look forward to. I hope everything does well! Keep up
the photos-we love them!

Darlene

Plants
 

The first batch that was planted on January 20 have been transplanted into gallon bags, and are doing great in the greenhouse now. A couple of crosses we did last year are pretty early, and a few already have flowers puffing out pollen.
I got a new gift brought to me today, a tomato called Klondike, I only found these seeds on Ebay, and from what I heard they are good. Anybody here ever try Klondike?
As the length of day increases the plants go crazy.
Another fun filled year of tomatoes

everything looks fantastic Mark. I'm getting jealous...
I've never heard of Klondike but rats rats rats that was a name I was thinking of for one of my crosses... back to the drawing board.
KO

Tomatos
 

Out of the first batch, the Bloody Butcher crosses that Sherry and I have been tinkering with have beat Early Girl for producing the first tomatoes. Potato leaf Black Krim x Pl Early Girl is second.
I have noticed in the F2's of Brandywine Cowlick's x Bloody Butcher that none out of 9 plants are as early as the F1's that are in the same row. What I will do is back breed the F1 into the earliest of the F2's, so I can recapture the early gene in there somewhere, then I will try again before I start segregation, and move the line forward. My hope is to capture the quality, as well as the early trait that I found in this F1 cross last year, as well as this year.
The BB x Dester F1 is just as early as the Cowlick's x BB cross, but I have not tried it yet. We have not done F1 of Caspian Pink x BB side by side yet, but it has been good tasting too.

As far as the classics, I have a Stump of the World that is earlier than Sudduth's, Cowlick's, and Fred Limbaugh's, as well as other Stump's, all in the same row. We also have a Mrs Benson which seems pretty earl.

I wish i had a awesome greenhouse like yours. Very nice crosses also.

I loved following your thread all last year and look forward to it again.

They look great, as expected. In the last picture, are they still in the gallon grow bags? If so, they are huge.

What are you feeding them this year?

I didn't realize your GH was so wide. A totally different perspective than when the plants are giants.

:D Looking great... thanks for taking the time to document your progress.

Have a great summer!

Steve

Oh, Mark, this is great to see! Starting with beautiful plants and early crosses, I'm so glad to see pix of 2015 in Wasilla... it'll be interesting no matter what kind of year, but I have no doubts about your setup... you're going to have a good one, rain or shine! :D8-)