[Greatgardens]

I'm growing 10 or so dwarfs this season -- quite a few that are new to me and several proven standbys. A little more than half are regular dwarfs and the others are the newer dwarf cherries. But there is a bit of a twist -- for each group, I'm growing one old-timer hybrid. For the regular dwarfs, it is Better Bush hybrid. For the cherries, it's Husky Cherry Red. It may or not be an F1 -- I've read both.

Here are all the regular contestants:
Dwarf Arctic Rose
Dwarf Pink Passion (a personal favorite)
Dwarf Purple Heart
Dwarf Golden Heart
Perth Pride
Chocolate Lightning
Better Bush Hybrid

And the cherries:
Dwarf Mary's Cherry
Dwarf Velvet Night
Dwarf Bendigo Rose
Husky Cherry Red

All of these are to be grown in regular Earth Boxes. I'm especially interested in how the cherries compare. My main focus is on overall performance: plant health, taste, yield, and fruit defects (BER, etc.). I'll document this with pictures and updates. I probably will not get to the point of weighing every tomato.

1. Germination and early growth.
All of the dwarfs except Perth Pride were planted on 3-10. PP was a late entry, when I discovered that I only had 3 seeds left, so I needed to replenish my supply. It was planted on 3-30, so to the extent that the weather may be a little different, its results might be skewed a bit. All of the varieties germinated normally and have grown very well. No wilting leaves, etc.

There are two anomalies -- both from the hybrids. The root system on Better Bush is much better developed than on any of the OP dwarfs (picture below). Every seed was grown in the same media -- Burpee's Organic (bagged) seed starting mix. In the first picture below, there is a comparison of the root systems. On the left, is Chocolate Lightning which was the most vigorous OP grower (by a slight amount). In the middle is Better Bush, and on the right is Husky Cherry Red. I looked at all the root bundles, and Chocolate Lightning's is very typical of the OP dwarfs. All had healthy looking roots, but fairly modestly developed -- and that included Husky Cherry Red. Is it significant? I have no idea, but if a prize were given for "best roots," then BB would surely get it at this point.

The second item of interest to me is that Husky Cherry Red's growth is much slower than all the others. It is short and stocky -- "husky" if you will. It did not germinate late, and the expected fruiting is in line with Better Bush at 68 days, but it clearly is growing differently. I've grown it several times, but have never done any type of a comparison in the past.

So here are the pictures taken on 4-21:

Note that in the pictures of plant size, Husky Cherry Red is in the foreground, and on the right. On the left is Perth Pride which is very small due to late planting. All the rest are dwarfs; all planted on 3-10.

I will update this as the season progresses.

-GG