Correction for Baker Creek Catalog

[rockhound]

There is the practical side too. Many of BC's seeds are missing info I need like "days to maturity". I have often wondered if you know something about your seeds and don't pass it on, why? If you don't know it, can I even trust that you grew these seeds or know much at all about where they came from?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by rockhound

There is the practical side too. Many of BC's seeds are missing info I need like "days to maturity". I have often wondered if you know something about your seeds and don't pass it on, why? If you don't know it, can I even trust that you grew these seeds or know much at all about where they came from?

I wouldn't fault BC on the above b'c the same could be said of many seed companies.

The source of seeds varies a lot, that is, a place can produce their own, subcontract out, buy wholesale off the shelf, import seeds from elsewhere, or a combo of those methods.

I think it's up to the person who is buying seeds to get the info they feel they need by looking elsewhere, and for tomatoes, go to Tania's site first and if the variety isn't there, then Google it.

We/ve discussed the DTM issue here before, and it's my opinion that DTM's are sheer guesstimates b'c there are so many variables involved, which is why I prefer just referring to early, midseason and late and putting a day range on those categories.

All you have to do is to look at one SSE listing in the SSE YEarbook where lots of folks have listed a single variety and you'll see DTM's all over the place b/c it depends on where, geographically, plants are grown, the weather in the season when grown, how the plants are grown, what amendments are used, or not, and if so, which ones and how much. Those are just a few of the variables that make DTM's indicated next to a variety name sheer guesstimates.

That's just the way it is.

[travis]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I think it's up to the person who is buying seeds to get the info they feel they need by looking elsewhere, and for tomatoes, go to Tania's site first and if the variety isn't there, then Google it.

We/ve discussed the DTM issue here before, and it's my opinion that DTM's are sheer guesstimates b'c there are so many variables involved, which is why I prefer just referring to early, midseason and late and putting a day range on those categories.

I agree that Tatatiana's Tomatobase provides a wealth of information about hundreds of tomato varieties. But with regard to days to maturity (DTM), I find Tania's DTMs to be rather longer than what I experience for the same varieties.

So, I agree 100% with your second comment quoted above that categorizing varieties as early, midseason, and late season is perferable to stamping them with a DTM. One might add more categories such as first early, early midseason, late midseason, clean-up batter, etc.

[rockhound]

Agreed on the DTM. I just like to have something to go on in a relative way. Nobody expects a tomato marked as "dtm 73" to really ripen on that day for everybody in all zones with the other variables. Just that it's nice to know something. If I'm ordering 3 tomatoes all called 85 days, then I'd hope they come out close.

[travis]

Rock, I agree. Just that Tatiana, for instance, says 85 days for Indian Stripe, and I've consistently got it ripe in 72 - 75 days down here. You might get it ripe even quicker. So for me, it's an "early midseason," while for the Pacific Northwest, I suppose it's more of a "late midseason."

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by travis

Tatiana, for instance, says 85 days for Indian Stripe, and I've consistently got it ripe in 72 - 75 days down here. You might get it ripe even quicker. So for me, it's an "early midseason," while for the Pacific Northwest, I suppose it's more of a "late midseason."

I'm used to go by "early midseason" and "late midseason", here "semi-early" and "semi-late", and everything is your own decision. Mostly what Tania writes is valid for me too, probably because we have similar climate.