Thread for posting assessment of the new Dwarf Project varieties

[Greatgardens]

I tried the following Dwarf Varieties from the project:
Zone 5b, Planted in EarthBoxes, Organic fertilizer 3,4,4

Perth Pride
Summer Sunrise
Arctic Rose

Of these, the only real "keeper" is Perth Pride. about 4 ft. tall; toms mostly 4-6 oz. Well-shaped -- (round/slightly flattened). Bushy plant with good foliage cover. Very good flavor. Early mid-season. For me, this is a very good tomato, decent production, and worth growing. After the initial crop, production fell off dramatically.

Arctic Rose -- about 3 ft' tall; 4-5 oz flat, misshapen toms. OK, but bland flavor. Early mid-season. OK, but nothing special IMO.

Summer Sunrise -- I might try this again. Decent sized plant -- 4-1/2 ft. nice PL foliage. Good sized flat, but mostly nicely shaped toms. 6-8 oz. Flavor -- for me this was a "tart" tomato. Distinctly lacked sweetness typically found in orange/gold toms. Others say "sweet" but not for me -- flavor reminded me of "Golden Queen."

None of these were big producers. For me, in Earthboxes, tomato plants have a shorter useful life than those planted in dirt. I've been doing the EB thing about 5 or 6 years, and this still is the case for me. Big producers are for instance, Early Wonder. Probably produces twice what any of these did in the period of a month. But as I said, PP is a "keeper" and definitely worth growing again.

-GG

[ScottinAtlanta]

Wrong post.

[Greatgardens]

Another possibility for Summer Sunrise -- maybe I am not letting them get sufficiently ripe? I've never grown a tomato quite this color before -- closest was Taxi, but it is a bright yellow IIRC. What should I look for to gage ripeness?

-GG

[Greatgardens]

...Nope -- let several get dead ripe. Still quite tart; not sweet.

-GG

[nctomatoman]

That's actually what I love about the yellows from the Sneezy line - plenty of tongue-grabbing tartness, which is not at all typical for yellows. Sweet Sue is somewhat the exception, with more sweetness (obviously!)

[nctomatoman]

I am growing out all of the new introductions this year so that I can go an overall performance/taste assessment - realizing the risks involved (one plant of each, possibility of a bit of remaining instability, impact of my techniques/this season's weather). But, one point graph it is.

I am going to list these in order of ripening - so this will be edited as the season progresses. All are growing in my sunniest location (driveway), in grow bags that have been bleached, air dryed, sprayed with a Quat ammonium detergent, air dried, filled with new sterile mix, and staked with new stakes.

There are 25 of these...you can get an idea of ripening time by the order, as well as how the list grows - missing info means I've not collected it yet. Today is day 63 - it is July 14.

Sleeping Lady - 48 days - prolific, healthy (until a few days ago), average 4 oz oblate smooth chocolate fruit, a few get to 6 oz or more, juicy, mild, pleasant. Sets quickly, probably a few dozen fruit at least on the plant - but it is going down quickly now - doesn't care for our humid, Raleigh heat. It has lasted longer in other seasons.
Iditarod Red - 51 days - prolific, healthy, average 2 ounce round smooth red fruit, some with a slight point, juicy, mild, pleasant. Sets quickly - the plant is loaded - handling the heat well.
Dwarf Arctic Rose - 55 days - prolific, healthy, average 4 ounce oblate smooth pink fruit, a few get to 6 oz or more, very nice flavor, well balanced, juicy. Sets quickly, the plant is loaded, handling the heat and humidity well.
Big Green Dwarf - 55 days - productive, healthy initially but struggling now, average 6 ounce oblate fruit that develop a yellow skin, green flesh, only tasted one that was picked a bit early but typically well balanced flavor, nice texture. Need to reevaluate the flavor - I picked a nice one today. The plant is really struggling - in the years I've grown it the variety seems particularly prone to variability with the differing seasons. Retasted a nice large one tonight - on the tart side, mild, reminded me of a tomato from my youth that my mom refrigerated first (not totally unpleasant - hard to describe!)
Dwarf Kelly Green - 59 days - prolific, healthy, average 3-4 ounce round, smooth fruit, clear skinned, green flesh, some with a very faint pink blossom end blush. Tasted a nice ripe one tonight - very well balanced flavor, perhaps on the sweet side. Doing very well health-wise, setting lots of fruit.
Perth Pride - 62 days - productive, very health, average 4 ounce very round, smooth fruit, some up to 6 oz, tends to radial crack and retain green shoulders, purple tomato (clear skinned black), just delicious with a very sprightly flavor - lets its tartness show! My best year with it so far, with great plant health and fruit set.
Tasmanian Chocolate - 63 days - productive, reasonably healthy, average 6 ounce slightly oblate fruit, chocolate color (yellow skinned black). Just picked today, yet to taste. Starting to develop some health issues - tends to vary widely season to season as far as staying power. Now tasted - good, mild, balanced tomato flavor.
Chocolate Champion - 63 days - productive, struggling, average 5 ounce oblate chocolate fruit - just picked today, yet to taste, but the plant is now separated from the rest due to extreme foliage disease. Another that tends to vary widely season to season in terms of health, but always quite productive. Tasted a bit, mild, balanced tomato flavor
Rosella Crimson - 63 days - Just picked today, yet to taste. Disappointing in that it is a dead ringer for Rosella Purple for me this year (growing from saved seed, not the release batch). Just another example of how the more recessive traits tend to show up a bit more stubbornly. I expect it to be delicious, but it is not Rosella Crimson (the seed I grew it from was from a delicious specimen last year, which I grew from a Patrina selection). I will be interested in reading about how those who are trying it this year are finding it. Finally tasted it - superb, rich, full flavor of Rosella Purple.
Dwarf Jade Beauty - 64 days - 3 ounce round green fruit, faint blush, nice balanced flavor, good intensity, really productive.
Rosella Purple - 64 days - 6-10 ounce or more oblate purple fruit, crack prone this year, yet to taste - Storey publishing loved it . Superb texture, juicy, intense, just delicious
Dwarf Blazing Beauty - 65 days - 4-12 ounce smooth oblate bright orange, nice tartness, great flavor
Sean's Yellow Dwarf - 65 days - 4-8 ounce smooth oblate medium yellow, pale yellow inside, juicy, really impressed with the flavor and productivity.
Yukon Quest - 66 days - 3-6 ounce smooth round to oblate fruit, pink, very pleasant balanced flavor, productive
Dwarf Wild Fred - 67 days - 6-10 ounce smooth oblate purple, finally tasted tonight - not quite the flavor intensity of Rosella Purple, but a really nice tasting tomato - well balanced, pleasant - and retasted tonight and really loved it.
Boronia - 67 days - 6-10 ounce purple smooth oblate, good productivity, good flavor intensity - really nice
Summer Sunrise - 68 days - 6-10 ounce smooth yellow, wow! Real nice tart kick atop a full, delicious tomato flavor. What's neat is that the various ivory to yellow Sneezies are all distinct in flavor characteristics - I love them all!
Mr. Snow - 69 days - 4-12 ounce smooth oblate ivory to pale yellow, WOW flavor - outstanding, one of the best of the year - on the tart side, but really has it all - for our flavor buds. Lovely interior structure too.
Summertime Gold (reselected) - 70 days - 6-8 ounce smooth yellow, full, rich, superb flavor - one of the very best of the Dwarfs.
Sweet Sue - 71 days - 4-6 ounce smooth slightly oblate yellow, very productive, healthy - wonderful full flavor, on the sweet side, but really intense.
Beryl Beauty - 72 days - 3-5 ounce smooth round green, faint blush, prolific, just delicious
Emerald Giant - 72 days - 6-12 ounce smooth oblate green fruit, faint blush, outstanding flavor this year, really impressed
Summertime Green - 72 days - 6-12 ounce smooth oblate green, beautiful, great texture, just delicious - think Green Giant but perhaps not as much sweetness.
Wherokowhai - 79 days - 6-8 ounce plus smooth oblate yellow with red blushing - just like its daddy, Lucky Cross. Lovely color, nice texture, well balanced, delicious flavor, perhaps on the sweet side - tastes quite a lot like it's daddy, Lucky Cross!
Sweet Adelaide - plant diseased, may not ripen a fruit

Sweet Scarlet Dwarf - not yet released, but also growing - 4-6 ounce smooth oblate pale scarlet red, superb intense flavor - I've seen a bigger selection, but the plant is struggling with disease.


Summary of flavor on a 10 point scale so far: (+) means at the top end of the score or sl. better, (-) means at the lower end.

6.5 - good but lacking a bit of something - intensity, depth - or perhaps too tart (varied reasons) - Sleeping Lady, Big Green Dwarf, Chocolate Champion
7 - Tasmanian Chocolate, Yukon Quest, Iditarod Red
7.5 - Sean's Yellow Dwarf (+), Kelly Green (+), Arctic Rose (-), Jade Beauty (+), Boronia
8 - Beryl Beauty, Perth Pride (-), Rosella Crimson (purple fruit - so actually Rosella Purple), Emerald Giant (+), Blazing Beauty, Sweet Scarlet Dwarf, Summertime Green (+), Sweet Sue (+), Summertime Gold (+), Dwarf Wild Fred, Wherokowhai, Rosella Purple
8.5 - Mr. Snow, Summer Sunrise

yet to taste - Sweet Adelaide (plant is not doing well, likely to get no fruit this year)

Just for reference, those 8s are right in there with the best large fruited indeterminates of this season.

Others tasted that are in development - Uluru Ochre was quite good - 7.5 - 12 ounce and smooth; Fred's Tie Dye looked nice but didn't quite have the flavor I was after - 6.5 or 7. Tennessee Suited is very good - 7.5. Saucy Mary - both a bomb and Roma shape - are 7 or slightly better, as is Jeremy's Stripes. I picked a blushing Confetti today - lovely, 12 ounces, yellow with pink and even some green - sadly, it is lacking in flavor... and eagerly await the blunt hearts growing on both potato leaf and regular leaf Emerald Isle selections. Kangaroo Paw Yellow didn't do well - diseased, and the two yellow fruit picked tasted bland. The fruit from Orange Bicolor Beauty was actually a green/yellow stripe with a pink blush that had a nice flavor. And a rich yellow with a faint blush from Orange/Green Harmony was really delicious.

Best of the season so far - Dwarf Mr. Snow, Summer Sunrise (8.5 at least)

Out of the 24 tasted (25 releases, one plant didn't bear fruit for me - Sweet Adelaide) - 13 rated as 8 or better - over 50%! Another 5 were 7.5 or slightly better. I have to admit to being really pleased at what this project has accomplished to date!

[nctomatoman]

Kicking this - just did a big update. Fun comparison, very impressed for the most part!

Let me also reiterate - this is one season, one plant, one chance, on impact of weather on particular varieties, with my taste buds whatever they are at the moment - meaning this is data, it may be interesting...but it is just a one shot comparison, and not particularly scientific....or definitive!

[Sun City Linda]

I loved Wild Fred have two still in buckets waiting for cooler temps so they will set again. Will try to attach a pix of it at its highest and best use.....I have seeded 4 Rosella Crimson from Remy for fall, two came up looking exactly like dwarfs and two have already grown almost an inch taller and seem less "dwarfish" so not sure how these will end up. Will they catch up and all the the same or is it a variation? We shall see!

On the non dwarf front I have grown and tasted my first Kellogs Breakfest and do not have enough superlatives to describe how much I love its looks and flavor! Any thoughts on making a dwarf marriage with kellogs any time soon?

Thank you all for you hard work. I enjoy having a smaller vine as opposed to one that takes over the back yard!

Maybe somebody already has done this but a group discount on small packages of 10-12 seeds in groups of say 5 would likely be in demand. A couple reds, a pink, purple or black, yellow and maybe an gwr.

[nctomatoman]

Dwarf Blazing Beauty should satisfy your Kellogg's Breakfast love...not as large, but even better flavored, to me...Wherokowhai's flavor may be closer.

[Patihum]

Have two Tasmanian Chocolate growing. One in a five gallon bucket and one in the ground. The one in the ground is out performing the bucket big time. The largest in the ground has been 15.44 ounces compared to the bucket at 6.75 ounces. Flavor from the one in the ground is better too. This is a definite grow in the ground for me.

[nctomatoman]

That's a realistic observation - I have no doubts that the dwarfs will do great when planted in the garden soil...but the fact that they do just fine in 5 gallon containers is what expands these varieties to patio/deck/driveway gardeners, or those who don't want to deal with 8 foot stakes!

[nctomatoman]

kicking - more tasting notes added - I've nearly tasted all released varieties this year. Dwarf Mr Snow edges Summertime Gold, Sweet Sue, Emerald Giant and Summertime Green barely as the best of the season yet. I guess my wife and I really like those Sneezy offspring....the Green Giant flavor genes shine through!

[tivia]

Hi,
Just wanted to add some of my observations to this thread. I decided to grow ONLY dwarf varieties this year; I have a fairly small garden, and it always seems like there's a few varieties that get out of control-- so this was an attempt to keep things in line. It's also the first time I started from seed, which went great.

The eight varieties that I chose:

In-ground:
Boronia
Wherokowhai
Summertime Gold
Dwarf Blazing Beauty

In 5-gallon pots:
Dwarf Arctic Rose
Perth Pride
Sleeping Lady
Rosella Purple

I planted these out on the week on May 19 (zone 6b, northern Philadelphia suburbs).

There's more variability in the size of the in-ground plants; all of the varieties in pots are around 30 inches tall. I've just started picking the first ripe fruits. I'll post pictures in a subsequent message.

A difference from my garden this year is that I haven't had any problems with fungal infections on my tomatoes. In previous years many of my plants showed signs of what I though might be anthracnose (I lost a dogwood to this a few years ago). I've been diligent about spraying with copper fungicide this year, but I also wonder if these varieties show more resistance due to the rugose leaf type.

More later.

Marie

[tivia]

Hi-- some pictures of the in-ground varieties:

Left to right: Boronia, Dwarf Blazing Beauty, Summertime Gold
Boronia cropped.jpg Dwarf Blazing Beauty cropped.jpgSummertime Gold cropped.jpg


If you can read the "yardstick" in these pictures, you'll see that Summertime Gold stretches the definition of "dwarf", at least in my opinion! (Please excuse the formatting-- I'm just learning how to use this!)

Marie

[ddsack]

Thanks for posting, Marie! I am very interested in hearing how people are doing with the new dwarf varieties. As you have seen, a few varities can get tall enough (especially in the ground) so that some people may not see them as "dwarf" if you judge only by height. But with the rugose foliage, they don't have the trailing sprawling overgrown nature of normal indeterminates. I'll be waiting to hear how you like the tastes!