Experiences with Katja, Gold Dust and Northern Lights tomatoes

[JosephineRose]

I started 23 varieties of tomatoes this spring, all sown the same way, with the same soil, warmth and light conditions.

Three varieties looked weak and sickly from the start, had poorer germination and never looked as hearty as the others. All three were new to me, and the seeds were purchased from two different vendors.

There could be several factors, including user error, but I am interested in knowing if anyone has grown these three tomato varieties, and what their experiences have been:

Gold Dust, Northern Lights and Katja.

Thanks very much.

[Lindalana]

I had Norther Lights from Tania. Do not remember much of it being weaker or anything. Was reasonably productive. Taste was mild and fruity- not my thing to eat but great for cooking/ juicing.
Katja as female name? Sounds cool!

[JosephineRose]

My understanding is there are two lines of Katja. I have the large pink slicer from Sustainable Seed company. All my Katja seedlings died. They looked sickly from the start.

The Northern lights and Gold Dust both made it to plant out, but look weak. I don't know how they will turn out.

[Merediana]

I grow Northern Lights for the first time and they look great, normal growth habit, just the foilage seems to be a bit lighter than most other varieties.

[bower]

I had a seed mixup that caused me to start Northern Lights three years in a row, even though I didn't mean to because they were a bit late for us the first time.
So last year there were a bunch of NL seedlings in beer cups that went into the "cruel trials" for extras - hucked outdoors in their beer cups without protection or in a shady broken shed. The NL were fine before I put them out, but they performed really poorly under stress compared to some other varieties.
In particular, there were some 'new to me' seedlings that came down with septoria-like spots when subjected to the outdoor stress. We don't have septoria here as a rule but other foliage diseases are endemic, maybe it came on the seeds. Anyway, the Northern Lights also came down with the same foliage spots, while several other varieties appeared to be quite resistant and their leaves remained good. So my conclusion is that NL is especially susceptible to some foliage diseases, and not tolerant of cold stress.
I have another tray of them started by mistake again this year, and they look great. Vigorous and robust - but that's indoors not out. I wish I could send em to you in California!

[Cole_Robbie]

Northern Lights is in my top ten favorite tomatoes. Mine were delicious.

[loulac]

I was pleasantly surprised by Northern lights. They gave fruit very early in the season, maybe slowed down in August, then gave again high production till frost in November. I've been growing them regurlarly ever since.

[JosephineRose]

The seeds for Northern Lights I bought were not from Tania. I have had no issues with seeds from Tania.

These were from another online seller, though I don't want to name names because I don't care to speak negatively as other's MMV. However, it is not the first time I have bought seeds from this purveyor and found the seedlings to be sickly while the same variety from another online seller have been strong and productive. It could be bad luck, but I have wondered to myself if perhaps the issues were in the soil of the parent plant and thus the seeds… so I will just buy seeds elsewhere from now on.

I saw that Tania and Remy both offer Northern Lights. I may just end up buying new seed from them and start over next year as a test.

Thank you everyone for the helpful information. Here's hoping I get some fruit from this plant as I really was looking forward to this variety.