Has Anyone Tried These Early Varieties

[carolyn137]

Vehza

.......is what Jeanne wrote for that variety which she said was an early.

First, it's my fault that Sandhill spelled it that way b'c from time to time I'd spell it that way myself and I'm the one who sent it to Sandhill.

But the correct spelling is Vezha, not Vehza.

In the 2007 SSE Yearbook both Andrey and I spell it correctly as Vezha.

Jeanne, I'm really surprised it's an early for you since it's a late midseason ( 75-80 days) for Andrey and myself as well as Bill Minkey who also listed it, seeds from me. My seeds were from Earl who got Vezha from Andrey.

So this AM I wrote to Linda at Sandhill and asked her if she could correct the spelling in the next Yearbook, on their website and in the catalog. I know she's close to sending in that catalog copy but I hope I got to her in time. And I know that Joanne at SSE is still entering data for the 2008 Yearbook so maybe Linda can correct it there as well where Glenn lists it as Vehza, not Vezha.

Sheesh, if things like this were all I had to worry about life would be grand. But I wanted to correct my own error so that the misspelling of Vehza didn't get perpetuated when the correct spelling is really Vezha.

This is a Public Service announcement brought to you by the original perp who misspelled it.

[dice]

You can find Tania's reports on and pictures of Clear Pink Early
and Demidov here:

http://t-garden.homeip.net/mwiki/ind...ear_Pink_Early
http://t-garden.homeip.net/mwiki/index.php/Demidov

[montanamato]

Carolyn....I always figured that spelling was a typo...You are right it is not one of the first in my garden, but pretty much everything ripens the last week of August and I lose track...

Bark...Redskin started out early and fairly productive , but then came to a halt after the 3 weeks of near 100...It set heavily late again once temps moderated, so don't know what it would do in a normal year...The plants are wimpy and mine sprawled on the ground...Fruit was not pretty or round, sort of oblong....Taste is much like an oxheart and texture is super...
Basket Vee is a better plant that supports itself and produces well...Flavor not as good as Redskin, but fruit is more eye appealing and the flavor was very good by my standards...It was definately early as I planted it out the end of June and it still beat most of my varieties to ripeness.

Jeanne

Oh Cosm. Volkov was pretty late for me too, but a friend I gave a seedling to had a great harvest and some really large fruit...I should probably try it again I suppose....

[Andrey_BY]

Vezha has got an excellent rich tomato flavor and usually is not early or even mid-early. Midseason or mid-late. The name means "Tower" in Belarusian language.

[Tormato]

Bark, it had bite. I'm talking about Sweetie. I trialed it in 2006. In a great tomato year, it wasn't.

Tormato

[barkeater]

Tormato, say it ain't so! Sweetie is #1 on my list. :-(

[Tormato]

Bark,

With a name like Sweetie, I don't know how it made your #1. Your posts generally gravitate toward zesty, zingy, tangy, tart tomatoes. While Sweetie was large and early, it was mild and sweet, for me.
, for you? You'll never know unless you trial it.

Tormato

[barkeater]

It's #1 on my list for a very early, large, attractive, and productive tomato to sell, so maybe the flavor will still appeal to the masses.

[eyolf]

I don't know if there is a commercial source in the US, but I have been growing a Canuck-bred variety called "Melfort" for several years.

It isn't perfect, but it is the best early slicer I've tried yet. It beats Stupice/Kimberly/Kotlas to the table by 2-3 days, and consistently produces 5-6 oz fruits.

There are downsides as a marketer: the taste isn't really remarkable, and they are truly determinate...and all ripen within about a week, so you'll have to plan accordingly. But it sure is fun to have sliced tomatoes when every one else has only a longing, wistful gaze....

[barkeater]

eyolf, I think Melfort is available in the states. I remember you've mentioned it before. And having it all ripen in a week is a good thing, not a bad thing for marketing. A week after Melfort, there would be many other varieties that can take over. Thanks.

Originally Posted by barkeater

If I decide to grow for market again in a few years, I need very productive early varieties with size and flavor. These are listed on Sandhill Preservation's website that look promising. Has anyone grown them before?

Early Rouge: 62 days. Semi-determinate, huge yields of top grade, uniform 6 to 8 oz. globe red tomatoes. Excellent choice for the market gardener.

Burpee Gloriana: 67 days. Determinate plants with 6 to 8 oz., globe-shaped fruit. Outstanding yields.

Burpee Sunnybrook Earliana: 58 days. Semi-determinate plants, flattened, 6 to 8 oz., red fruit. Very old Burpee selection. The 1920 Burpee Seed Catalog says the following about this tomato, "The entire crop can be gathered generally in about three weeks from the time the first fruit ripens. Sunnybrook Earliana is undoubtedly the very best, earliest, scarlet fruited tomato."

Sweetie: 63 days. Indeterminate plants. Large, 1 pound plus, pink beefsteak type that continues to be the earliest pink beefsteak.

Superbec: 55 days. Determinate plants, early, 8 oz. fruits, red globe from Quebec.

Ultrabec: 65 days. Determinate plants, 8 to 10 oz. globe-shaped fruit, from the Canadian plant breeding program.

Old thread, I know, but yeah, I like it.

I've grown Early Rouge, Burpee Gloriana, and Burpee Sunnybrook Earliana (all in the same year along with many other earlies). It was a hot/dry year and many tomatoes experienced stunting from heat stress (we had black plastic, which made it even hotter).

Early Rouge didn't do much for me. The foliage looked fine, other than that there wasn't a lot of it, however.

Burpee gloriana got a wave or two of prolific, large (think 8 to 11oz tomatoes), round to oblate, heavily cracked, tangy, soft tomatoes. Then it stopped producing. It wasn't super early; maybe the early side of midseason.

Burpee Sunnybrook Earliana had small fruit (maybe 2 to 4oz). The fruits were kind of beefsteak-shaped—definitely not round. It wasn't early or late. It kept producing for the rest of the season. Flavor was good.

Since a lot of people have mentioned Bloody Butcher, I think I'll review it, too:

It's a soft, but very meaty, round, salad-sized tomato with decent flavor (not my personal favorite for flavor, but I can see how many people online would favor it). The fruits are a bit smaller than my Early Girl F1 fruit this year. The plant is PL and grows a normal length for an indeterminate, but isn't terribly bushy (in a cage, anyway). It's very productive. It seems to like drought more than Matina. Fruits don't spoil immediately, but they won't keep on the vine forever. You need to harvest them often or they'll get too soft. It's a good tomato, and it doesn't take a lot of real estate. If you really like Bloody Butcher, I suspect you'll like Marion, too. I suspect most people would like Marion, though. It's significantly different, but has some significant similarities that I like. (They're both prolific, early and of a similar shape.)

Someone mentioned Manitoba not having much flavor. Mine was very flavorful in 2017, in drought conditions.

[davidj]

Bison is my best producer of early saladette/coctail tomatoes about 60 days after transplant. I have one plant that has produced yet more than 100 tomatoes (total 7 kg) of 2-4 oz, and it still have some tomatoes to ripen. The problem is once I start having beefsteak tomatoes, I don't know what to do with all these small Bison tomatoes !! It has been bred in North Dakota, so it is doing well even in cold climate. Please note that my tomato plants were too close to each other and were shading each other, I never irrigate my tomato plants and there was not so much rain this summer, so under better growing conditions, they probably could produce even much more !

My best mid-early slicer tomatoes this summer were Thorburn Terra Cotta, Katja and a ribbed Alpha tomato (probably a cross). Anna Russe is also an excellent early-mid producer for me and Cosmonaut Volkov was a bit later than usual (too much shade, I think), but still an excellent mid-season tomato.

I grew "Black early", which was earlier than other black tomatoes, but was also susceptible to cracking.

I'm still looking for an early bigger orange tomato. I should have grown "Golden Delight". I really like the taste of Jaune Flammée and it is a good mid-early producer of 2-3 oz tomatoes, but I'd like a bigger tomato.

David

[MrBig46]

How tall is this Bison tomato?
Vladimír

[davidj]

Originally Posted by MrBig46

How tall is this Bison tomato?
Vladimír

About 2.5 to 3 ft tall. It has multiple stems because I do not prune tomato plants.

David

[RJGlew]

Over time I have concluded that earlies which produce 1lb tomatoes in 60 days do not actually exist for me in Zone 3a.