Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post

gourmetgardener · August 18, 2011

I did a trial of 5 cocktail tomato varieties this summer, which is still in progress. The varieties I have for trial are:

Mountain Magic F1 from Johnny's selected seeds (100 seeds)
Temptation F1 from Osborne Seeds (25 seeds)
Campari F1 (25 seeds) and Annelise F1 (25 seeds) - bought by my swedish friend from Lindbloms in Sweden (They do not ship outside EU)
Adoration F1 (25 seeds) - got them as a sample at a vegetable growers conference in Culiacan Mexico from a rep.

The plants are being grown on a V-trellis, single stem, on black plastic mulch outdoors. Irrigation is through T-Tape. Initial fertilizer regime consisted of solution grade AN 2 weeks after bedding out, switched to Calcium nitrate at first cluster set, then switched to 50% potassium nitrate, 50 % monopotassium phosphate - injected by a dosatron fertilizer infusion pump.

Performance wise - Adoration was tops - fairly consistent ripening pattern, long life on the vine, good cracking resistance. Weight averaged about 50 grams, brix was 10.2 on August 17th. Good sugar acid balance. Second place was a tie between Annelise (9.1 brix) and Mountain Magic (9.7 Brix). Both averaged about 50 grams. Ripening on Annelise was very consistent, but was somewhat less consistent on Mountain Magic clusters. Tempation was third place - 8.2 brix, but fruit was larger than what I would like to see for a cocktail tomato - as high as 70 grams. Saw some slight cracking. Dead last was Campari (8.1 brix) - showed some greenback and a tough woody pith.

As for next year, it is a toss up between Adoration and Mountain magic. Adoration's high cost (Quote from Uniforce is $1328 per 1M), while Mountain Magic's cost is $205 per 1M, but a lesser proportion of Mountain Magic can be cluster harvested. Annelise and Temptation are priced at roughly $850 per 1M, while Campari sells for around $1500 per 1M. Campari is a no-go - it cannot take large day/night temperature fluctuations. Adoration is recommended for non-heated cultivations, while Campari is only for heated greenhouse cultivations - but Adoration has a more pleasing sugar/acid balance than even store bought Camparis.

August 18, 2011	#1
gourmetgardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Canada (Zone 6b) Posts: 119	My Cocktail tomato trial I did a trial of 5 cocktail tomato varieties this summer, which is still in progress. The varieties I have for trial are: Mountain Magic F1 from Johnny's selected seeds (100 seeds) Temptation F1 from Osborne Seeds (25 seeds) Campari F1 (25 seeds) and Annelise F1 (25 seeds) - bought by my swedish friend from Lindbloms in Sweden (They do not ship outside EU) Adoration F1 (25 seeds) - got them as a sample at a vegetable growers conference in Culiacan Mexico from a rep. The plants are being grown on a V-trellis, single stem, on black plastic mulch outdoors. Irrigation is through T-Tape. Initial fertilizer regime consisted of solution grade AN 2 weeks after bedding out, switched to Calcium nitrate at first cluster set, then switched to 50% potassium nitrate, 50 % monopotassium phosphate - injected by a dosatron fertilizer infusion pump. Performance wise - Adoration was tops - fairly consistent ripening pattern, long life on the vine, good cracking resistance. Weight averaged about 50 grams, brix was 10.2 on August 17th. Good sugar acid balance. Second place was a tie between Annelise (9.1 brix) and Mountain Magic (9.7 Brix). Both averaged about 50 grams. Ripening on Annelise was very consistent, but was somewhat less consistent on Mountain Magic clusters. Tempation was third place - 8.2 brix, but fruit was larger than what I would like to see for a cocktail tomato - as high as 70 grams. Saw some slight cracking. Dead last was Campari (8.1 brix) - showed some greenback and a tough woody pith. As for next year, it is a toss up between Adoration and Mountain magic. Adoration's high cost (Quote from Uniforce is $1328 per 1M), while Mountain Magic's cost is $205 per 1M, but a lesser proportion of Mountain Magic can be cluster harvested. Annelise and Temptation are priced at roughly $850 per 1M, while Campari sells for around $1500 per 1M. Campari is a no-go - it cannot take large day/night temperature fluctuations. Adoration is recommended for non-heated cultivations, while Campari is only for heated greenhouse cultivations - but Adoration has a more pleasing sugar/acid balance than even store bought Camparis.