WinterSown

[AlittleSalt]

I'm still checking out seed catalog sites and I got stuck on the WinterSown.Org site that habitat_gardener gave me/us info about. In the past couple of days, I must have looked at least 50 different sites just to see pictures and information on a lot of those types of tomato seeds offered at http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Your...mato_SASE.html

I had it narrowed down to the $10 donation that returns 12 choices and 8 defaults. Then we found out our car's alternator has to be replaced today, so I had to whittle those 12 choices down to 6. I kept the 2 seed choices that made the most logical sounding sense for where we live, and I chose 1 other that you guys have mentioned that I should try. The last 3 just looked great or sounded exotic. After all, the seeds are free so why not try something cool and different?

Here are my choices: *

Arkansas Traveler ~ Delicious pink tomatoes, about 8 ounces each, good cropper for hot and humid climates, IND, about 80 DTM

Kwangtung 105 ~ Chinese variety with bright red, mostly medium fruits, fine all-purpose tomato is good cropper, Semi-DET, about 72 DTM

Mountain Gold ~ Pretty and delcious oblate golden-yellow fruits, good cropper and disease resistant (V,FF), DET, 70+ DTM

Riesenstraube ~ German name means 'giant bunch of grapes', this red cherry tomato has pointed ends, very yum, IND, 75+ DTM

Siberian ~ Extra-early Russian variety produces 2" - 3" red fruits on small plants, nice for fast tomatoes, DET, 57+ DTM

Texas Wild Cherry ~ Large plants are loaded with small red cherry tomatoes, yummy and sweet with a touch of tang, IND, 70+ DTM

*The above info is a sited selection from WinterSown. I just added the Bold and color in MS Office Word 2003.

From May - July, it is very hot and humid here typically. We live about 300-or-so miles from the Gulf of Mexico, but it is still really humid here in those 3 months. I chose Texas Wild Cherry and Arkansas Traveler because of this. And Worth1 said-so on the Texas Wild Cherry Tomatoes.

Siberian comes from you guys mentioning I should try them.

Riesenstraube and Kwangtung are just exotic sounding to me.

Mountain Gold tomatoes in the pictures I've seen look like the quintessential beautiful golden-yellow tomato. Well, it looks really good at least.

Edit Starting here: "My PC crashed due to a power outage and this post - posted anyway. Odd"

What I was getting to is that looking at the WinterSown site is a lot of fun. As I wrote above, "habitat gardener" suggested the site, and wow, thank you.

[KarenO]

sounds like a fun list! Keep an eye out for the fall swaps here as well as Carolyn's seed offer next winter. A wonderful way to become a tomato seed addict like the rest of us
Karen

[AlittleSalt]

I'm staying up late tonight doing the malwarebytes sweep and getting ready to change out this PC with our newer one loaded with Windows 8.1.

I just looked up to reply, I saw your posts are at 1,111. Congrats.

As far as being addicted here to Tomatoville in general... I already am. I worry that I ask too many questions here. I have so many questions.

Fall Swaps and Seed saving is exciting to think about... There is one tomato seed type I want to offer, but it is not from the biggest healthiest looking plant back in June and July growing in full sun. It is a from a volunteer growing in mostly shade (95-98% shade) that is producing here in 100+F temps in August. What I am hoping is this one tomato plant might help others to grow shade loving hybrids with disease tolerances. That would be really good for growers in heavily shaded areas, high temperature areas, and especially for anyone growing on/in retirement apartment balconies. An heirloom type favorite growing in shaded areas with hybrid disease tolerances sounds good to me

Now, I need to learn how to save tomato seeds.

[RobinB]

I love Wintersown! There's always some unique selections there!

Sorry to hear about your car! Unexpected bills are no fun at all.

Why don't you put out a request for the varieties you're still looking for? There is a section here for "Wanted Varieties". You might be surprised at how generous Tomatoville people are! Swaps are great, but they can be overwhelming when you get back SO many varieties.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by RobinB

I love Wintersown! There's always some unique selections there!

Sorry to hear about your car! Unexpected bills are no fun at all.

Why don't you put out a request for the varieties you're still looking for? There is a section here for "Wanted Varieties". You might be surprised at how generous Tomatoville people are! Swaps are great, but they can be overwhelming when you get back SO many varieties.

Not only overwhelming for the swaps, but I've been following the so called mystery ones that quite a few folks got from seeds sent to Gary. Same thing can happen with traded seeds.

And most of what Trudi at Wintersown offers are seeds sent to her as well, she does grow some herself, but she puts a clear disclaimer at the site in terms of getting wrong varieties.

Carolyn

[kayrobbins]

I grew three of those on your list. Arkansas Traveler is a workhorse tomato. I grow it in the summer and fall and it keeps producing when all my others have stopped. I like the flavor too. This was my first year to grow Reisenstraube and I very impressed with the productivity. It was the first to produce and kept going all summer. I only grew Siberian because a friend gave me a plant. After seeing how productive it was I plan on order seeds for next spring.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Not only overwhelming for the swaps, but I've been following the so called mystery ones that quite a few folks got from seeds sent to Gary. Same thing can happen with traded seeds.

And most of what Trudi at Wintersown offers are seeds sent to her as well, she does grow some herself, but she puts a clear disclaimer at the site in terms of getting wrong varieties.

Carolyn

Even the big seed places can have mixups. I had two wrong types from a big tomato seed site. In fact, I posted that my Reisentraube tasted like cherries from the grocery store. It didn't have the nipple, either.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

Even the big seed places can have mixups. I had two wrong types from a bid tomato seed site. In fact, I posted that my Reisentraube tasted like cherries from the grocery store. It didn't have the nipple, either.

Yes, the so called big places have also sent out some wrong varieties from time to time.

If your Riesentraube fruits didn't have a nipple, that's OK b'c some fruits don't and if they didn't taste good I wouldn't blame a seed company, I'd chalk it up to the weather in any one season as well as all the many other variables that relate to taste.

When I was at Garden Web I did a wrong varieties thread each year, and it was very clear that seeds obtained via trades and seed offers had the most wrong varieties.

And each year one could rate thise seed companies that had the lowest number of wrong seeds sent out as well, and that stayed the same every year until I stopped doing it. And I stopped b'c there several seed site owners were upset b'c someone would call or e-mailbabout a wrong variety but when their computer records were checked, often it turned out that a person had bought the seeds elsewhere.

I wasn't explicit enough above, When someone reported wrong varieties I would ask if they had notified the place, which is the proper thing to do and over half the time they said they just couldn['t do that, so I did it for them, and that's when I got the personal remarks from the seed site owners.

Carolyn, who will never do a wrong varieties thread again, and hopes no one else will since it's a sure way to make bad feelings arise. Especially here at TVille where many of the seed site owners are members.

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

I grew three of those on your list. Arkansas Traveler is a workhorse tomato. I grow it in the summer and fall and it keeps producing when all my others have stopped. I like the flavor too.

Arkansas Traveler, is a tomato name that just, "Rang a bell" for me for some reason. I've been to Arkansas for a few days once back in the mid 1970s, but I was only 10 or 11 years old then. Maybe I heard grown ups talking about them while visiting Arkansas?

But anyway, everything I have read about the Arkansas Traveler tomatoes absolutely supports what you have experienced growing them. It sounds like I'm going to have fun growing them.

[kath]

In the past 4 years I've grown out a couple dozen varieties from WinterSown and all grew true. A couple of 'mysteries' have turned up from purchased seeds, but by far the most from trades and swaps. It's just to be expected if you choose to participate.

[Zana]

I always enjoyed Reisenstraube. Hardy in our humid summers here (although perhaps not always in the range that you get, or not like our current summer)....and also seemed to handle the cooler temps into the fall. In fact it was still putting out flowers into November one year! That year I finally harvested the last of them about mid November! Not bad for Canada!

[AlittleSalt]

Zana, I have friends that grew up in Michigan, my brother's fiancé is in Ontario, and my mother in-law moved to the Sylvan Beach, NY area and they all tell us about 3 things: Horrible humidity, giant mosquitoes, and half a year of snow.

(Joking here) Being that I have lived my life in Texas, and there is north and south Dakota between where I live and Canada - You guys growing tomatoes sounds amazing .

Joking aside, my friends and family that have traveled to Canada all tell me that I have to go visit. They tell me that it is beautiful there.

[Zana]

The Dakotas are more than a "bit" west of here and are in fact farther north than I am in southwestern Ontario (I'm west of Toronto and north east of Windsor/Detroit).

I've been told because where we are in southwestern Ontario, surrounded by 3 of the Great Lakes, we're prone to nasty humidity as well as lake effect snow. I've seen -40F and 110F (-40C and 43C) in the same year here....and that's without factoring in windchill factor in the winter and humidex in the summer! It can be rather amazing the seasonal changes.

And this past winter was an especially long hard one....hopefully we don't see another like it my lifetime...but I won't hold my breath with all the climate changes.

Been to Texas many times....lots of beautiful country down your way too. Y'all have to c'mon up and visit...set a spell....kick back.

(BTW...you might get a chuckle out of this...last weekend on the way to our cottage up in the Muskoka area - "near north"(lol) of Ontario, we were driving up the HWY400 and almost lost it laughing....there was a car with Texas plates/tags and SNOW SKIS on a roof rack! If they were planning on driving until they found snow for skiing, they weren't even half way to where they needed to go. LOL Sheeeeeeesh.)

[AlittleSalt]

Zana, where wife's mother, brother, and family live in NY, they tell us that it snows over 100 inches there each winter. Wow, 43C is over 100 F! That's just too hot and add in high humidity - it must be like breathing soup. Our soon-to-be sister in-law lives in Toronto. When she visits down here in the summer, she often sits outside in the heat. She loves it.

A Texan in search for ski snow in August.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Yes, the so called big places have also sent out some wrong varieties from time to time.

If your Riesentraube fruits didn't have a nipple, that's OK b'c some fruits don't and if they didn't taste good I wouldn't blame a seed company, I'd chalk it up to the weather in any one season as well as all the many other variables that relate to taste.

When I was at Garden Web I did a wrong varieties thread each year, and it was very clear that seeds obtained via trades and seed offers had the most wrong varieties.

And each year one could rate thise seed companies that had the lowest number of wrong seeds sent out as well, and that stayed the same every year until I stopped doing it. And I stopped b'c there several seed site owners were upset b'c someone would call or e-mailbabout a wrong variety but when their computer records were checked, often it turned out that a person had bought the seeds elsewhere.

I wasn't explicit enough above, When someone reported wrong varieties I would ask if they had notified the place, which is the proper thing to do and over half the time they said they just couldn['t do that, so I did it for them, and that's when I got the personal remarks from the seed site owners.

Carolyn, who will never do a wrong varieties thread again, and hopes no one else will since it's a sure way to make bad feelings arise. Especially here at TVille where many of the seed site owners are members.

Thanks,Carolyn. In fact, you actually identified my other wrong seed and the source sent me a replacement. It was supposed to be Purple Prince and was actually Purple Price, if I remember right. It was a potato leaf, plum shaped, black fruit.