waiting on black from Tula...

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by Zenbaas

So what was the verdict on the Tula's....?

Verdict on Black from Tula:

Taste-wise they are excellent. The plants are relatively compact, and the bloom/fruit set is very good. Disease-wise, they are very susceptible to fungus, and susceptible to EB, but with a little help they do just fine. I have 6 plants right now and they are pumping away. They are a bit on the late side.

There's one in particular I thought was done for the season so I gave it a pretty hefty dose of liquid nutes and it came back strong.

I'll always have a couple of plants in my garden. Also, whenever I see the tag it elicits images of the atlantes at the great archeological site of Tula. Of course, it has nothing to do with that and is named after a Russian city, but my mind doesn't care.

So in short, definite recommend.

[Zenbaas]

Good to hear. Growing one this year and it has managed to split into 4 stems with a lot of blossoms and fruit. Look forward to them ripening up.

[Barb_FL]

I have one B f T growing now; young plant.

I also started Lemon Cucumbers; I have other Cukes growing (Beit Alpha's); tons of flowers and lots of young cukes; 1st couple full size should be ready tomorrow. The Lemon's haven't even produced a flower yet.

Both I had to spray with BT.

[Zenbaas]

Barb what is BT..?

[Barb_FL]

BT stands for bacillus thuringiensis, which is used to kill catepillars when they eat it; it is sprayed on leaves. It doesn't affect any other insects.

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

I have one B f T growing now; young plant.

I also started Lemon Cucumbers; I have other Cukes growing (Beit Alpha's); tons of flowers and lots of young cukes; 1st couple full size should be ready tomorrow. The Lemon's haven't even produced a flower yet.

Both I had to spray with BT.

Beit Alphas are great, they pump out all season long. The BT pieces work.

PS dont' forget to eat those lemon cukes green, once at yellow their flavor goes downhill a bit.

[Ricky Shaw]

Tula, Russia is a zone 5b, I bet they end up with a lot of green tomatoes every year.

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

BT stands for bacillus thuringiensis, which is used to kill catepillars when they eat it; it is sprayed on leaves. It doesn't affect any other insects.

Thanks Brab.

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Beit Alphas are great, they pump out all season long. The BT pieces work.

PS dont' forget to eat those lemon cukes green, once at yellow their flavor goes downhill a bit.

I need to try some of these lemon cukes...!

[Ricky Shaw]

Most everyone's blacks are late, so why are the estimated ripening dates so far off? Examples would be Paul Robeson and Black from Tula, listed as 75-80 days, but often they're the last tomatoes people talk about ripening.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Most everyone's blacks are late, so why are the estimated ripening dates so far off? Examples would be Paul Robeson and Black from Tula, listed as 75-80 days, but often they're the last tomatoes people talk about ripening.

DTM's ( date to maturity) are sheer guesstimates and always will be.

It depends on the specific season as to when grown, the weather in that season, how the plants were grown if amendments were used and if so which ones, when and how much,

I can look at a single variety in the SSE Yearbooks and see all sorts of DTM's from folks who live and garden in all parts of the US and Europe,Canada, Mexico, well just everywhere.

And where do some of the seed vendors get their DTM stats? From the SSE Yearbooks,

Few are the companies, mostly the smaller family ones,who actually grow their own crops and get local data. Fewer still are those who indicate early,midseason,late season and give a range of days for each which is much more helpful,

I've had midseason ones mature before earlies,lates before midseason ones, and on and on.

Carolyn

[Ricky Shaw]

Thank you for that.

[Zenbaas]

Oddly enough at the moment my BFT plant has the most and biggest tomatoes so far from all the varieties that I have planted. Will see if it stays the same as time progresses.