Big Sungold Select vs. Sungold Select II?

[Greatgardens]

Can someone provide more info about these? I've seen some pics of Big Sungold Select, and they seem to vary quite a bit in size. Do they crack as badly as Sungold -- if I look at Sungold F1 the wrong way, they seem to split!

The Sungold Select II appear to be more uniform, but they seem uniformly smaller. I really prefer larger cherry toms -- it's irritating to keep picking bunches of teensy tomatoes. That's my complaint about SunSugar -- doesn't split so badly, but they are quite a bit smaller than Sungold.

-GG

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Greatgardens

Can someone provide more info about these? I've seen some pics of Big Sungold Select, and they seem to vary quite a bit in size. Do they crack as badly as Sungold -- if I look at Sungold F1 the wrong way, they seem to split!

The Sungold Select II appear to be more uniform, but they seem uniformly smaller. I really prefer larger cherry toms -- it's irritating to keep picking bunches of teensy tomatoes. That's my complaint about SunSugar -- doesn't split so badly, but they are quite a bit smaller than Sungold.

-GG

This thread from here at Tville should help as well as the links within it.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...ngold+versions

I think that most say that the II is best, and yes, Reinhard is still working on OP versions and otherwise is doing many crosses and selections for his own breeding projects.

If you want something larger that II and you aren't concerned about it being one of Reinhards, then I suggest you go to the Seed source Forum and take a look at J and L seeds to see what Lee has been doing.

Carolyn.

[Greatgardens]

Thanks, Carolyn! I didn't realize that Big Sungold had not turned out so well. This OP Sungold project sure looks like it has had a lot of work, but remains elusive. If the F1 just didn't split so badly! I wonder if it would do better in a container where the moisture could be kept more even. It's a big plant, but certainly doable.
-GG

[Cole_Robbie]

That's odd, Sungold doesn't split for me. I get splitting a lot worse with oblong-shaped cherry varieties. I'm not going to grow it again, though. The fruit are too small and take too long to pick.

I don't know if I had the select I or II last summer, but whichever it was did not impress me much. The fruit were huge, even large for a saladette tomato, almost medium slicer size.

Sungold and Big Beef are two hybrids that I don't think are ever going to go away. They seem impossible to stabilize into OP versions. Obviously a lot of people have tried and failed.

[Greatgardens]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

That's odd, Sungold doesn't split for me. I get splitting a lot worse with oblong-shaped cherry varieties. I'm not going to grow it again, though. The fruit are too small and take too long to pick.

I don't know if I had the select I or II last summer, but whichever it was did not impress me much. The fruit were huge, even large for a saladette tomato, almost medium slicer size.

Sungold and Big Beef are two hybrids that I don't think are ever going to go away. They seem impossible to stabilize into OP versions. Obviously a lot of people have tried and failed.

I didn't realize that much work had been done on Big Beef. Do you find that Sunsugar is generally smaller than Sungold? I also had problems with early blight on the fruit of Sunsugar last summer, but it was a plant I bought -- we probably lost half the toms from the blight. But this year I'll start my own and grow it as a control against at least Ambrosia.
-GG

[Cole_Robbie]

I haven't tried Sunsugar. I read people complain of it being small. Last summer I was close to reaching the limit of what I could harvest by myself, so I'm trying to avoid the smaller-fruited types of cherry tomatoes.