Most Wanted Tomato

[Jeannine Anne]

I had a look at that site and found it a little odd.

At first glance it looks like any other commercial site selling an all round selection of vegetables, but when you look close they had very little choices of veggies, apart from onions, cabbage, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. I just found it odd that there would be a huge selection of onions and cabbages, in fact more varieties than even some of the big seed sellers carry, but not one lettuce , carrot , bean etc in sight. Strange..

Jeannine

[rhoder551]

Slugworth, I grew something that sounds like what you describe, named Joe Pesch. Got the seeds from Peace Seeds or Seedlings. I planned to grow it this year but the seeds didn't germinate and I decide not to try again since I had enough varieties. I gave an extra plant to a friend last year and he grew it along with some he purchased and found one called Anna's Russian that was identical. But since he purchase the plant that might not be the name of the variety, plants can be miss labeled at the big boxes.

[slugworth]

it was more like burpee super italian paste but fatter and longer.

[rhoder551]

From Peace Seed's website: Joe Pesch Tomato 15/4.00
A pink tomato with a long acuminate tip, quite unusual and unique in the tomato fruits we have seen during the past decades, of excellent flavor and a gift from Peter Zukis of Talent Oregon. Mr. Zukis, an accomplished gardener, got the seeds from an east coast buddy whose girlfriend's grandfather was a market and produce gardener in New Haven Connecticut during the 1920s. Joe Pesch brought it from Italy some time previous.

Maybe worth a try for you. I thought it was like an elongated heart shape with a nipple but the later tomatoes had something like a small tail. All the Italians I know loved it.... Yeah, and real squishy and fast to spoil if left to ripen on the vine. I picked this one when it just turned red ( or pink re: peace seed description) I grow another Italian called Canestrino with the same squishiness but both are great.

I just did a google search for Anna's Russian and the pics do not look like the Joe Pesch I grew which was not rounded like Anna's but elongated with a wider stem end and narrower blossom end and most were very large. I was going by what my friend said since I did not see his plant called Anna's Russian but the pics on the internet show a different shape then Joe...

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

I had a look at that site and found it a little odd.

At first glance it looks like any other commercial site selling an all round selection of vegetables, but when you look close they had very little choices of veggies, apart from onions, cabbage, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. I just found it odd that there would be a huge selection of onions and cabbages, in fact more varieties than even some of the big seed sellers carry, but not one lettuce , carrot , bean etc in sight. Strange..

Jeannine

I looked at that site too. I hunted around some different pages and it seems the web site is run by somebody named Kirby Foster and a LLC company of a different name out of NJ. Seems the reason that maybe there are so few types of some things is I remember correctly what I read it is a web site for small growers to sell their seeds, but it it not like most seed sites that do that and list the individual growers. Maybe be a good place, maybe not. Like others have said you may be taking a chance. Not knowing anything about the growers or their practices, me, myself, I would be a bit leery.

[slugworth]

we used to call it a boris tomato but that could have been the name of the guy that grew it locally.
I am 6' and I had to look up to it, so it had to be 7+ feet tall.
no pointy tip and I don't know if it was RL pr PL.

[Sundrops]

I appreciate everyone's response to my quest for Dona seed. I have contacted Charline and hopefully she can help me. I purchased the OP variety a number of years ago and was sorely disappointed. I am usually a lurker here and not much of a participant but am always amazed at how helpful everyone is to each other. Thank you.

[remy]

Originally Posted by cloz

For what it's worth, here is a screenshot from Google maps of their mailing address.

That's a little bit different than their FB page photo....
https://www.facebook.com/downrightnatural/?fref=ts

[slugworth]

Originally Posted by rhoder551

Slugworth, I grew something that sounds like what you describe, named Joe Pesch. Got the seeds from Peace Seeds or Seedlings. I planned to grow it this year but the seeds didn't germinate and I decide not to try again since I had enough varieties. I gave an extra plant to a friend last year and he grew it along with some he purchased and found one called Anna's Russian that was identical. But since he purchase the plant that might not be the name of the variety, plants can be miss labeled at the big boxes.

My late mother used to save seeds back in the 80's and 90's.
I was cleaning her cellar and found small jelly jars she used to save seeds in,but no seeds.Wait,she used the bottom of the jar to press the seeds into the potting mix and some had stuck to the bottom of the jar with some soil..
I was able to carefully remove 9 tomato seeds with peroxide and have them on a coffee filter in a zip lock bag.Should be interesting to see if any sprout after 25+years.She only saved seeds from big tomatoes so maybe with luck one will be the tomato I am looking for.

[rhoder551]

Sounds like an interesting experiment. Hope it turns out to be your tomato....

[cwavec]

I've seen that ad too but I think the company name was different although in that one
they actually claimed that their item is F1. Notice that all the information provided is
very general. I did email them to say how desperate I was to find a source of genuine
Dona F1 seed and could they verify that they actually had some, etc., etc., etc.
They never responded. So, Bogus.

[slugworth]

Originally Posted by slugworth

an heirloom italian tomato with no name that looked like a san marzano but was huge,24oz to 32oz commonly.
A relative got seeds from a co-worker but the supply ended back in the 90's.
I saw another example later on at a friends house he got from his italian neighbor,I should have grabbed it back then.Looked like a cross between san marzano and an oxheart.
The only flaw was it turned to mush fast,sliced at lunch time it would be mush by supper time.

I finally got some plants yesterday to try.
I won't know for sure until aug-sept. if the search is over.
He said the seeds are black instead of the usual color.Interesting.
The gilbertie tomato from Ct. was puny and nothing like this one.

[xellos99]

Most wanted for me is Ambrosia Gold. Cant get it in the UK