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.