Variety - Black Bear

[Baizanator]

Intrigued by this variety. Had never heard of it until it was seen on Mariana's Seeds but seems to be popular with those who've grown it.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Baizanator

Intrigued by this variety. Had never heard of it until it was seen on Mariana's Seeds but seems to be popular with those who've grown it.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Black_Bear

The history is interesting since the seeds came originally from Andrey in Belarus who is a member and posts here. There was quite a flap when it first came out b'c of the name, as you can read in the link above. There are also comments from others on that page as well.

Adam Gleckler of Gleckler Seedmen, who also is a member here and posts when he has time also lists it along with a really great list of hard to find varieties. When Adam revived the family business, which goes back to his grandfather who had a catalog in the 40's, then passed to his father from whom several of us here bought our first OP tomato and other varieties, decided to follow his father's passion for tomatoes, I saw that he was doing so and the terrific members here at Tville pitched in and helped.

I started a thread in the WANTED Forum and it was decided to send to Adam varieties that were hard to find, scarce, and for several years that's exactly what happened. Seeds were sent by Tville members here in the US as well as many Tville members from many other countries.

Black Bear. As you can see from the link above it was Neill Lockhart who received the seeds from Reinhard Kraft in Germany and there are a few of us, Neil included, who have traded seeds with Reinhard for many years and I just checked the listings for Black Bear in the 2012 SSE yearbook, for members only, and almost every one of them got their seeds from Neil, including Marianne. Taste comments varied but were in general quite positive. Many of the varieties Reinhard grows are for sale by Manfred Hahm at Reinhard's website since Reinhard does not sell seeds to the public.


Hope that helps.

And I know I wrote too much but I'm sitting here waiting for my cat to come home for the night b'c there are too many critters out there and she's overweight and can't run that fast.

[Baizanator]

Gracias Carolyn. By the time I grow everything I want to grow I'll be 80 ha ha. So many maters and so little time.