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Fusion_power · December 4, 2010

Carolyn,

I got the original seed from Chuck in 2002. The rest of the seed in that pack produced a mix of regular Large Pink Bulgarian tomatoes with just a few plants that produced off types. All of the plants were regular leaf. One of the plants produced Stupice sized fruit and another produced these large lumpy red tomatoes that were half way between a beefsteak and a heart. That large lumpy tomato gave seedlings in 2003 that were 1/4 potato leaf. I saved some of the potato leaf plants and grew them in my garden that year. Some of the PL plants produced beefsteak tomatoes but two of them produced hearts. The next years growout result was the tomato in the photo.
http://www.selectedplants.com/garden...peLPBheart.jpg

I then sent seed out to a few dozen people in 2005 who grew them and sent seed back to me. Two growers reported better than average production and flavor. I grew out their seed and selected one of them as the best of the two overall. Since then, I've grown them just about every year because they are a reliable producer comparable to Kosovo in my garden but with red fruit and potato leaves. Please call to memory that I described the leaves of the plants as having the wilty trait typical of many heart tomatoes but because they are potato leaved, all the leaves do is twist sideways.

As for living through 22 degrees, I can assure you that these plants did. I had them outdoors under a tree on April 7th 2007 when we had a 22 degree freeze here at my home. I lost several thousand plants in the greenhouse because the heat failed. I have very good reason to remember that freeze. From the cup of Tastiheart seedlings, over 3/4 were killed. All other seedlings, several thousands in number of about 200 varieties, that were sitting beside them were killed. These were all excess plants above and beyond what was in the greenhouse and not needed at the time which is why I had left them outdoors. About 1/4 of the Tastiheart seedlings survived. I grew out several of the resulting seedlings and they have consistently been the most cold tolerant tomatoes I've grown.

DarJones

December 4, 2010	#24
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Carolyn, I got the original seed from Chuck in 2002. The rest of the seed in that pack produced a mix of regular Large Pink Bulgarian tomatoes with just a few plants that produced off types. All of the plants were regular leaf. One of the plants produced Stupice sized fruit and another produced these large lumpy red tomatoes that were half way between a beefsteak and a heart. That large lumpy tomato gave seedlings in 2003 that were 1/4 potato leaf. I saved some of the potato leaf plants and grew them in my garden that year. Some of the PL plants produced beefsteak tomatoes but two of them produced hearts. The next years growout result was the tomato in the photo. http://www.selectedplants.com/garden...peLPBheart.jpg I then sent seed out to a few dozen people in 2005 who grew them and sent seed back to me. Two growers reported better than average production and flavor. I grew out their seed and selected one of them as the best of the two overall. Since then, I've grown them just about every year because they are a reliable producer comparable to Kosovo in my garden but with red fruit and potato leaves. Please call to memory that I described the leaves of the plants as having the wilty trait typical of many heart tomatoes but because they are potato leaved, all the leaves do is twist sideways. As for living through 22 degrees, I can assure you that these plants did. I had them outdoors under a tree on April 7th 2007 when we had a 22 degree freeze here at my home. I lost several thousand plants in the greenhouse because the heat failed. I have very good reason to remember that freeze. From the cup of Tastiheart seedlings, over 3/4 were killed. All other seedlings, several thousands in number of about 200 varieties, that were sitting beside them were killed. These were all excess plants above and beyond what was in the greenhouse and not needed at the time which is why I had left them outdoors. About 1/4 of the Tastiheart seedlings survived. I grew out several of the resulting seedlings and they have consistently been the most cold tolerant tomatoes I've grown. DarJones Last edited by Fusion_power; December 4, 2010 at 02:07 AM.