Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old July 21, 2013   #1
Labradors2
Tomatovillian™
 
Labradors2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 3,886
Default Pink tomatoes from Québec

I have some fond memories of the delicious pink tomatoes that I grew when I lived in Montreal in the '80's. I bought them as plants from a nursery on the West Island of Montreal.

It is written that "Québecers love their rosé tomatoes" and it must be true because I haven't been able to find any pink tomato plants for sale here in Ontario!

Are there any recommendations about flavour for:

Rosabec
Mac Pink

or others?

Linda
In Kingston
Labradors2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #2
Tom Wagner
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
 
Tom Wagner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
Default

Linda,

I am the wrong person to answer your post, but I couldn't help but notice three words that caught my eye:
Pink
Tomato
Québec

Search terms for this Googledegeek are in constant use. And I thought, "What do I have that would fit this need?"

Yesterday I made a cross between a white dwarf tomato and my Woolly Blue Jay.
The dwarf female plant is called Blanche du Québec

If I get seed to develop from this cross I was thinking about a name for the hybrid and a different name for a selected pink tomato during the F-2 generation.

The hybrid name could be Québec Laineux. It would be a non dwarf...early red of about 3 to 5 oz, with slight woolly (silver/green) appearance. Maybe a faint shadow of blue on the shoulder.

I am thinking about sending the F-1 to Hawaii to be grown out to get to the F-2 seed faster and with this seed a small percentage of the resulting fruits will be pink.
If you want a little woolliness, a lot, or none at all is up to your selecting ability. If you want dwarf plants...those will show up one out of four times. If you want blue fruits...those will show up one out of four.

Say you want a plant that is all of these traits....dwarf...blue..woolly, pink, large fruits ...ouch!....you will have to grow 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 =1024 F-2 plants just to find odds for a single plant



Maybe Linda could find a grower to provide this special assortment and sell to gardeners in Quebec and everybody could find their favorites.


Tom Wagner. (Hint) if anyone wants me to do this...
Tom Wagner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #3
Labradors2
Tomatovillian™
 
Labradors2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 3,886
Default

Hi Tom,

Apparently, in the early 70's Roger Doucet developed several varieties of pink tomatoes that could stand the cool June nights in Quebec

"Quebec consumers are fond of pink tomatoes so two of Doucet’s cultivars are Rosabec (1975) and Canabec Rose (1976). Slightly earlier, in 1973, MacDonald Agricultural College (McGill University) released MacPink."

Since our climate is changing, although we still have those cool June nights, we now experience extreme heat in July, perhaps we need varieties that can handle both with aplomb.

Your experiment sounds intriguing and it's amazing how many plants you would have to grow to get all those traits! Personally, I'd skip the "woolly" and "large" so that would bring the numbers down, but there goes the name. How about developing a tasty pink dwarf "Iron Lady" called "La Dame de Fer?"

The tomatoes that I remember were pink, medium sized and perfect. They tasted divine. However, I had not tasted Brandywine then and the memory is known to play tricks on one.

Linda

Last edited by Labradors2; July 22, 2013 at 08:07 AM. Reason: typo
Labradors2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #4
carolyn137
Moderator Emeritus
 
carolyn137's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
Default

And Raymont Tratt in Canada sent many of the Doucet ones to Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation, so you might look there as well, and there were some others, too.

I didn't check the Sandhill website or catalog to see if Glenn is still listing them.

Carolyn
__________________
Carolyn
carolyn137 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #5
Labradors2
Tomatovillian™
 
Labradors2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 3,886
Default

Cool!

Sandhill does have Rosabec, which they say is tart tasting - hmmmm.

They also have Canabec Rosé.

Thanks for the suggestion Carolyn!

I wish someone would comment on flavour, but I guess everyone is out in their gardens now that the weather has cooled in this area.

Linda
Labradors2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #6
Tania
Tomatovillian™
 
Tania's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Anmore, BC, Canada
Posts: 3,970
Default

Linda, I wish I could comment on flavor, but I have not grown either one yet. These are not very common varieties that I see mentioned here.
__________________

Tatiana's TOMATObase
Tania is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #7
KarenO
Tomatovillian™
 
KarenO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,918
Default

http://solanaseeds.netfirms.com/catalog.html

This is a small seed company based in Quebec. They carry quite a few Quebec-bred heritage tomatoes. including rosabec and a number of others. I cannot comment on the pinks but I have grown superbec which is a red and it grew well for me. I have ordered from this company myself and received good service and good seed. I think They are closed for the summer although you can still order but they don't resume shipping until sometime until in September. To be honest, I find it easier to order from Canadian sources due to customs hassles I have experienced when ordering seed from outside of Canada
Karen O

Last edited by KarenO; July 22, 2013 at 03:46 PM.
KarenO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #8
Labradors2
Tomatovillian™
 
Labradors2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 3,886
Default

Hi Karen,

Many thanks for the info. It seems odd that not many of these tomato varieties haven't really found their way out of the country very much. I wonder if that's a statement of how they taste....

I will have to be patient and wait until September before ordering I guess. That will give the suppliers a chance to package up "this year's" seeds.

Linda
Labradors2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 22, 2013   #9
KarenO
Tomatovillian™
 
KarenO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,918
Default

You're welcome Linda,
of note, they are pretty much all determinate varieties. Quite early as well in the 60-65 day range. bred for production for canning and juice and larger scale field growing I think. I am sure the flavor will be good, not spectacular maybe but good. I thought superbec tasted quite good, nice old fashioned tomatoey flavor. not very sweet. good for cooking and fresh.
I tend to mainly grow more unusual indeterminate types these days but determinates have their good points too. depends what you like and what you plan to do with them.
KarenO (from near Edmonton)
KarenO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 23, 2013   #10
Rideau Rambler
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 69
Default

https://www.seeds-organic.com/catalo...j3r7jmcefl5bn0

Hi,

I'm not sure I did the link correctly but I like Greta's organics, if you are ever up in the South end of Ottawa, or she has mail order. This should be a link to her pink heirlooms. She is a wealth of tomato knowledge and history.

Karen does have a point, by ordering Cdn you do get shorter season varieties. I participated in both Heather and Gary's swaps last year and wound up with 13 different pink tomatoes, not including hearts, however most of them were pushing the length of Ottawa's growing season.

Enjoy the break in humidity, here's hoping now that it's cooler some tomatoes will set
Rideau Rambler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 23, 2013   #11
Labradors2
Tomatovillian™
 
Labradors2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 3,886
Default

Hi Rideau Rambler,

Thanks very much for the link to Greta's organics and for the info about the seed swaps. I stay away from the late-fruiting tomatoes because of our short season and hadn't considered that others don't have our problem!

Oh this cool weather is such a treat, for us, our dogs, and the tomatoes!

Linda
Labradors2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 23, 2013   #12
SharonRossy
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 1,140
Default

Hi Sara, thanks for the link. But so many farmers grow the late varieties, maybe in greenhouses?? We have a cousin with a farm up north from Montreal. I know he only sets his tomatoes out by the second week of June and he grows heirlooms. He must grow varieties that can handle the cool weather. I guess if we look hard enough, we can manage to find some really good varieties that produce early. I am going to check out Roger Doucet.
SharonRossy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 24, 2013   #13
Rideau Rambler
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 69
Default

I see you can get a Roger Doucet variety at Greta's. And if you go to seeds.ca you can see some of the varieties developed in Canada. I am trying Alacrity simply because it says it was developed in Perth. I figure growing it in both Westport and Ottawa should get me at least some tomatoes since the climates are so close

I figure the best bet for early tomatoes is to use the collective wealth of knowledge and experience here on Tville and sign up for Tormato's "early" category in his swap
Rideau Rambler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 24, 2013   #14
KarenO
Tomatovillian™
 
KarenO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,918
Default

Hello you Canadians
I grow mainly midseason heirlooms here in Zone 3A just outside of Edmonton. Mine do quite well and I grow only a few earlies to tide me over unitl the biggies start to ripen, (about now for me) . I do avoid late varieties for the most part although I am still tempted by a few here and there. Have a look specifically at some Russian and Ukrainian heirlooms from Tatiana's Tomatobase for hundreds of great varieties. I find the Russian, Ukrainian and Slovanian tomatoes like my short season Canadian garden. Tatiana's is a Canadian company based in B.C. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Main_Page amazing amount of information there as well as an extensive catalog of heritage seeds, not only tomatoes.
Karen O
KarenO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 24, 2013   #15
nancyruhl
Tomatovillian™
 
nancyruhl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan
Posts: 1,051
Default

I've ordered from this Canadian company, www.heritageharvestseed.com. You have to wade though the information to find your color and dtm's, because they don't list them by color or season. They are generous with their seeds and have a lot of different varieties not found elsewhere.
nancyruhl is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:53 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★