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Old February 2, 2017   #22
JLJ_
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 759
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b View Post
JLJ, did Zolotoe Serdtse and Medovoe Serdtse retain a good taste when ripened in storage? . . .
Taste is so relative I don't have a good answer. All I can tell you is that I normally pick most tomatoes at "mature green" stage. I accidentally found several years ago that if I then ripen them in trays (indoors in a cool to neutral temp area) under the same plant fluorescent lights I use for seedlings (but farther away from the fruit in order to not add heat) nearly all fruit ripens as well as it would have in the garden. (And much better than it would have if the garden is suddenly under a couple feet of snow.)

I tentatively believe that the cool light enables the green fruit to continue ripening a little bit more as it would have in the garden than if the fruit was ripened in a dark area. And snow jokes aside, by the time there is much mature green fruit, we are often beginning to have pretty cool nights . . . and I think most tomatoes ripen better if they've never experienced temps much below 50 F . . . so ripening temps indoors, even in a cool area indoors, may be more favorable for the tomatoes than the outside night time temps. But as Carolyn mentioned, the cooler climate here may produce results different from those seen in warmer areas. On the other hand, in hot areas, many have air conditioned houses, so it may not be that different after all . . . I just don't know.

Ripening indoors does also prevent damage from critters (Malamute excepted), wet weather, etc . . . and that benefit is the same everywhere.

I have grown "long keeper" varieties and while they were OK, they didn't seem to warrant the garden resources they consumed, especially since other varieties seem to keep just as well, if treated as one is supposed to treat long keeper tomatoes -- pick mature green and let ripen slowly indoors. But I did notice that Zolotoe Serdtse and Medovoe Serdtse ripened slowly and still had nice fruit around when most of the others had been eaten or processed -- probably at least a couple of months after picking, maybe longer. Might be worth a try if you're testing keeper tomatoes, anyway, to see what they do for you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by carolyn137 View Post
My Sandhill catalog is over by my bed, it's the 2016, the 2017 hasn't come yet and I haven't been to the website to see if Linda has updated yet.

There is no Livingstons' Aristocrat. Here is the link to Mike Dunton's section on Livingston varieties and he's the authority on same

http://www.victoryseeds.com/tomato_livingston.html

However, there is a Dwarf Aristocrat that mike also mentions but via Burpee.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/tomato_b...r-century.html

Aha, so there once was a Dwarf Aristocrat but gone with the wind . . .
Sandhill updated their tomato list mid-January.

And, it's true, sadly, that most sources I've found say that Aristocrat is "believed to be extinct" or has "no known sources for seed" . . . which is why I mentioned it in this thread, and who knows, maybe one of these days . . .

The Burpee Quarter Century you mentioned is interesting. Though not receiving that name until 1901, it had been introduced in 1896, only three years after Livingstone introduced Aristocrat . . . which seems to have been very popular for some years. Having a stated lineage, it probably wasn't just a renamed Aristocrat, but especially considering the 1906 reference "it might be called an improved Dwarf Aristocrat", the tomato eventually named Quarter Century might have been a deliberate attempt to duplicate Aristocrat.

(Livingstone said he'd found Aristocrat in a field of Dwarf Champions, probably, he believed, an accidental cross with one of his better reds. Quarter Century was a 3rd generation offspring of a deliberate cross of a good red tomato with Dwarf Champion . . . which would mean that the initial cross was done about the time that Livingston's juicy description of the new Aristocrat -- and the released variety itself, appeared in public.)

Below is Livingston's 1893 description of Dwarf Aristocrat, which I think explains its appeal for me . . . also interesting that portions of the later description of Quarter Century could almost have been lifted from Livingston's description of Aristocrat, but Aristocrat seems to have had a larger combination of appealing features that Quarter Century (and other Livingston tomatoes) lacked.

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From "Livingston and the Tomato" 1893 p. 42-44

16. Livingston's New Dwarf Aristocrat Tomato.—
It would seem after all that has been said of the
tomatoes already described, that no more could be added,
or any other improvements made on them; yet there
are many more points of excellence to be attained, some
of which I claim are found in this new dwarf tomato
which will be introduced this year—1893. It has a
strong, erect, bushy stalk, that is often one and a half
inches in diameter. Because of its erect bearing and
dressy appearance it is called " The Aristocrat." The
plants are so stalky and stiff from the time they come
out of the ground that they reset without wilting or
falling down, and are therefore not stunted; nearly a
week on "first early'' is gained in this way. Plants can
be set much closer than those of other varieties ; at least
one-half more will be required to set the same plot of
ground. With this advantage, and their extra productiveness,
I believe under special cultivation they will
produce one-third more to the acre than other kinds.
It begins to bear with the earliest varieties, and does
not cease bearing until frosts kill the vines. Yet because
of its erectness, bushy habits, and close standing
in the field, it is saved from the early frosts, and only
the hard freezes in the fall will reach the fruit hid up
under its foliage, and thus bears abundantly when other
kinds have been entirely killed. The fruit has the peculiar
quality of keeping in a dry, cool room, before
decay sets in, for three or four weeks after they cannot
longer be trusted in the open field. It is also a large
sized tomato, of a bright glossy red color, very fine
fieshed and flavored, uniformly smooth, and is an all
purpose tomato for shippers, canners, market gardeners,
and for fancy and remumerative home-culture. In a
word, it carries the good qualities of its forerunners
among my varieties, and has some others peculiar to
itself. I prophesy a brilliant future for our Aristocrat.
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