growing"old" favorites this year

[Douglas14]

I seem to be difficult to impress when it comes to tomatoes. So a large percentage of tomatoes I grow each year are new to me. It seems like almost every year, I think my line-up is the best I've ever had(wishful thinking I guess). I've been growing heirloom tomatoes for about 20 years, so hopefully now, with all the varieties I've tried, I can start discerning which varieties deserve to be grown on a regular basis in my garden......we'll see.

I like things which are old but proven. Every year, my wife buys me some new cold weather clothes, but I seem to dig out my old favorite jackets and sweaters. They may have some small rips and stains, but they just feel warmer. I grow Mortgage Lifter tomatoes most years for the same reasons. It is an old variety which most people find boring. For me, it is reliable and dependable. It isn't the most productive variety. It isn't the absolute best tasting tomato. It isn't the largest tomato in my garden. It just gives me the security of knowing I will have plenty of good tasting tomatoes every year.

I broke an old, leather belt yesterday. The thread that holds the end wrapped around the buckle finally gave way from age and stress. I have plenty of new belts in the closet but I don't want to give up on something that has worked well for a long time. Since I don't have a sewing machine strong enough to sew leather, my belt is in the shop with the end super glued where thread used to hold it together. It has a couple of strong clamps holding everything in place while the glue drys. If the glue doesn't work, I do have some leather punches and brass brads which will work. The old belt just feels right when I am wearing it. Many old tomatoes feel the same way.

Ted

[aclum]

Hi,

I've been practicing my grafting skills during the offseason. I was considering things experimental and, since it was way early for starting seeds in my area, I figured that this would just be a test run and I'd end up tossing the experimental grafts before starting my "real" seeds for the spring. So I thought I'd use some "expendable" seeds - i.e. "old" seeds that I had a bunch of and really had no expectations of growing anytime soon.

For my experimental graft scions, I ended up using some 2003 seeds from Chuck Wyatt's Heirloom tomatoes. (Plus Gary'O Sena I wasn't planning to grow this year - just because I wanted a black in the mix in case I tried multi-grafts in different colors).

I ended up with really good germination on all but one of the varieties (Aunt Ruby's German Green) - and ended up with multiple grafts of the following:

Magnus
1884
Russian 117
Polish
Kelloggs Breakfast (I normally grow KBX)

After planting, I reread the descriptions of the varieties on Tania's site and decided they sounded pretty good ! Since the grafts turned out so well and I anticipate finishing my greenhouse soon so I can "hold" the plants for longer than usual and slow down their growth a bit, I've decided to keep them all!

FWIW, here are the grafts I've got going now (Scion listed first, then rootstock):

Magnus on RST-04-105-T (105)
Magnus on MagiQo (MQ)
Magnus Control

Russian 117 on 105
Russian 117 on MQ
Russian 117 Control
(possibly 117 on Tasmanian Chocolate - still healing)

Polish on 105
Polish on MQ on 105 (a "stacked" graft with MQ in the center section)
Polish on Tasmanian Chocolate
Polish Control

Kelloggs Breakfast on Rosella Purple
Kelloggs Breakfast Control

Haven't grafted any of the 1884 yet - waiting for the rootstock to catch up in size. Also, from Heirloom Tomatoes 2003, I'll be growing Brandywine Sudduth and Cherokee Purple which I haven't grown since 2003.

So, while I had no plans for using my older seeds this year - it looks like I'll actually have a fair number of them growing!! Should be fun

Anne

[GunnarSK]

For many 2014 will be the oldies and goodies year, and for me too.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

This year I intend to grow 230+ varieties ranging from as old as Livingston's Paragon to as new as Wild Card Blues.

I grew large numbers of different varieties for several years mainly to find the ones I liked the best and the ones that would do well in my garden. It was a great deal of work and a lot of trouble keeping up with all the different varieties. Over the last few years I have drastically cut back in the number of varieties and due to grafting I can now make my selections based more on taste. This year I will cut back even more and limit myself to probably less than 35 varieties but I will use multiple varieties of different rootstock just to see which works better with which scion. When I look at my list now I see that most are old favorites with only a few of the new to me varieties. The truth is that almost all of the varieties I tried over the years were disappointing in some way or another so now I am going to stick with the ones that I found most enjoyable to grow and consume.

Bill

[Fred Hempel]

What are those varieties, Bill?

[PaulF]

Tell me again why you guys are so interested in grafts? Is it because of the nematode problem in the south? Here it seems that any slicing and dicing of stems would do irreparable damage to otherwise very healthy plants.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

What are those varieties, Bill?

Fred I think it was Bill who posted this several years ago (I saved it because I thought it was pretty good info);
The ones showing the strongest resistance or the best production despite getting fusarium last year were in order of resistance:
Indian Stripe
JDs Special C Tex
Neves Azorean Red
Berkley Tie Dye Pink
Old Virginia
Gary O' Sena
Marianna's Peace
Kosovo
Linnie's Oxheart
Pale Perfect Purple

The ones below showed some tolerance and still produced well enough before dying to be worth replanting if you like their taste and are in no particular order:
Stump of the World
Limbaugh's Legacy
Gregori's Altai
KBX
Black Krim
Donskoi
Cowlick's Brandywine
Royal Hillbilly
Akers West Virginia
Pruden's Purple
Stupice
Red Siberian
Mortgage Lifter

These showed little in the way of resistance but still managed to make a small to medium crop before dying:
Noire de Crimmee
Druzba
Rostova
Hege German Pink
German Red Strawberry
Noire de Crimee

The ones below got multiple plantings and all died without producing more than a couple of small fruits. These are listed starting with the absolute worst:
Coustralee
Reif Red Heart
Costoluto Genovese
Delicious
Heinz 1370
Mrs. Benson
Orange Heirloom
Golden Ponderosa
Aunt Gertie's Gold
Break O Day
Green Zebra
Paul Robeson ( I did get one plant to produce very moderately but since this one got almost a dozen plantings in the last 2 years it made the worst list)

[b54red]

Originally Posted by PaulF

Tell me again why you guys are so interested in grafts? Is it because of the nematode problem in the south? Here it seems that any slicing and dicing of stems would do irreparable damage to otherwise very healthy plants.

Grafting is a major pain to do because of the time and care it requires not to even mention the added cost of buying all the hybrid seed necessary. The number one reason for me to go to all the trouble is the terrible problem I have with Fusarium Wilt. It can also help with nematodes if a nematode resistant hybrid is used for the rootstock, but nematodes usually kill the plant much more slowly in my garden than does Fusarium.

Bill

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

What are those varieties, Bill?

Because of grafting I can now make most of my selections on the basis of taste instead of the ability to withstand fusarium. I like to grow most of my tomatoes for fresh eating so good slicers are my favorites but I like to mix in a good variety of tomatoes that are very productive for use in sauce. Below is a list of varieties I will be using for scions but some will not make it through the grafting process. This year I am trying a variety of rootstock and some may not be compatible with each other as I found on a few last year.

Varieties based solely on my personal preferences for flavor and texture:

Brandywine Sudduth's
Giant Belgium
Barlow Jap
German Johnson
KBX
Brandywine Cowlick's
Stump of the World
Limbaugh's Legacy
Indian Stripe
JD's Special C Tex
Cherokee Purple
Pruden's Purple
Mrs. Benson
Virginia Sweets
Zogola
Druzba
Fish Lake Oxheart
Neves Azorean Red
Tarasenko-6

The following don't make my top list for flavor but are either grown for sauce or just for fun:

Red Barn
Anna Russian
Kosovo
Big Beef
Bella Rosa
Omar's Lebanese
Gary O' Sena
1884
Akers West Virginia

With my usual failure rate in grafting I will probably have no more than half of the above ready for plant out this season. Since I am still trying to find out which varieties match with which rootstock to produce the best fruit I will probably still be experimenting with this til I am unable to garden anymore.

Bill