The KARMA Project - Page 90

KarenO · August 13, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by JosephineRose

Yes. That is accurate. I was using imprecise language.

And the taste of the fully ripe Karma Pinks are wonderful!

That’s wonderful! I’m so happy you enjoy them!
Karen

ginger2778 · August 14, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by JosephineRose

Here is the first Karma Pink eaten by me. Look at the size of it!

I let the others continue to ripen on the counter and I must say I preferred the taste of the darker red ones with no hint of yellow or orange. It was a complex blend of tart first, then deep tomato flavor, with sweetness as an end note. Like a fine wine, there was lots to the finish.

Loved it, and now know how ripe I like them.

I have a mixture of cherries and monsters like this one:

That's the biggest one I have ever seen!

SharonRossy · August 15, 2018

Some more photos of KP. I had to remove them before the squirrels got to them so they are still green. As you can see the sizes range from quite large to smallish. I even have two that liked each other so much they became one tomato!

encore · August 15, 2018

won't be long and this KARMA Pink will get a taste test!---tom

Idahowoman · August 15, 2018

Hi Karen and Marsha ,
KARMA Pink has been tasted in my corner of Idaho. After a rough start ,then with an aphid infestation it has taken longer than it normally would to start getting ripe fruit.
KARMA Pink was great tasting ,beautiful to look at and I am looking forward to more.
Susan

ginger2778 · August 15, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idahowoman

Hi Karen and Marsha ,
KARMA Pink has been tasted in my corner of Idaho. After a rough start ,then with an aphid infestation it has taken longer than it normally would to start getting ripe fruit.
KARMA Pink was great tasting ,beautiful to look at and I am looking forward to more.
Susan

Aphids! Argh! I am so glad you got to taste some. Thanks for trialing them in your corner of the world.

KarenO · August 15, 2018

Ugh aphids. Whitefly is my nemesis the year. It’s always something isn’t it.
I hope now that you are getting some they will continue to ripen more for you
Happy you like the flavour! Thank you for growing it

Karen

ginger2778 · August 16, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenO

Ugh aphids. Whitefly is my nemesis the year. It’s always something isn’t it.
I hope now that you are getting some they will continue to ripen more for you
Happy you like the flavour! Thank you for growing it

Karen

Be careful.... whiteflies give tomatoes a virus. TYLCV, incureable and contagious through more whiteflies feeding on the infected plant then the next one over to spread it. Fruit will get splotchy uneven color and uneven ripening. Really bad news.
Worse news: They have now found the virus can be seedborne.

Labradors2 · August 16, 2018

We had a horrendous thunder storm last night with hail! Some of the tomatoes in cages took a tumble. I haven't been able to check the rest of the plants yet because it was so wet.

Guess who I saved before the storm hit? A bowl full of KARMA's. They taste great

.

Linda

KarenO · August 16, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Be careful.... whiteflies give tomatoes a virus. TYLCV, incureable and contagious through more whiteflies feeding on the infected plant then the next one over to spread it. Fruit will get splotchy uneven color and uneven ripening. Really bad news.
Worse news: They have now found the virus can be seedborne.

Don’t worry I don’t have any disease. Just a bit of early blight at this time.
Me and my soap spray have the whitefly in hand.

K

PureHarvest · August 16, 2018

Final report:
My family loves them.
I see what they are saying, good combo of sweet and tart, but I just confirmed again that I hate cherry tomatoes. It's the aftertaste that makes me wrinkle my nose and avoid them.
My family doesn't understand what I mean, but cherries just have "that" taste to me. Funny how the palette perceives taste.
The plant in bag culture in my greenhouse struggled with cracking fruit. I would have had to pick practically green to avoid this. Then, it would take about 10-14 days for them to ripen on the counter.
The plants outside in the 100 gallon stock tank with same promix HP soil did not have this problem, although it still took a long time to ripen fruit. Even 50-75% ripe take a week or more to fully color up on the counter. However, the shelf-life is therefore tremendous.
So, in summary, for those who like cherries, they got high marks in my house.
From a commercial production standpoint (not that that was your goal), I don't think the production (albeit in my one-time trial using my methods) would warrant the space.
Hopefully you don't takes this as being critically negative, just trying to give honest feedback.

KarenO · August 16, 2018

Thank you for your evaluation from the perspective of a market grower.
The sentence that matters most to me is “ my family loves them “

Interesting that the tomatoes in the controlled environment cracked while those outdoors didn’t.
Thank you for the honest assessment, it is very helpful and interesting to me and I don’t find it negative at all. You make, I think perhaps inadvertently, some interesting points that are related to my specific breeding goals.. I breed my tomatoes for gardeners, for flavour. For thick non cracking skin and production over flavour there are hundreds of hybrids bred specifically for greenhouse commercial production that I’m sure would be much more profitable per plant. Profit for plant is not a gardeners goal- flavour is.
The long hold and slower ripening is useful in a home garden as well because unless one is selling tomatoes, few of us have use for gallons of ripe cherry tomatoes that quickly get soft or overripe appearing all at once. So looking at it that way, from a home gardeners perspective that is not a negative either since cherries are best eaten fresh and many of us struggle to know what to do with a million squishy cherries lol
Thanks again.
Maybe grow one for the family or save seeds for a home gardening friend.
KarenO

PureHarvest · August 16, 2018

No doubt Karen.
Great for a home gardener who likes cherries.
I have a one pound clamshell container filled with ones I picked last week at about 75% ripe. They are still perfect.
I did notice that when a couple from an earlier picking got over-ripe (I think they were off the plant for 2 weeks), they got wrinkled, not oozing rotten. So that is nice.
I'd guess you could pick some at half ripe and have them on the counter for a month.

seasyde · August 22, 2018

Thanks Karen and Marsha. The third try is the charm - I finally got to taste a ripe Karma Pink after jumping the gun on the first two. Delicious! Thanks for sharing! Everything was late this year. One plant was grown in ground and the other in a container. The in-ground is way outperforming the container grown, but then the container grown had some insect and watering issues that the in-ground did not. Will be saving seeds and growing them again.

Greatgardens · August 23, 2018

Karma Pink has largely stopped splitting now that the weather is somewhat cooler and the ground is very damp 100% of the time. I am picking them earlier, but they were splitting at the blush stage a month ago. So it should be worth another try next year in an EarthBox -- maybe they will like being constantly wet? In addition, it was a relatively small plant compared to the hybrids I grew. That also suggests it as an EB candidate.

Letting them ripen for a week or so indoors definitely helped the splitting, and the flavor got progressively better as the season progressed. It was tart-sweet, and not the reverse. It definitely has good flavor. It is similar to the Project's Dwarf Velvet Night, but of course, more productive due to its size.

Now, the not-so-good news. Aside from the splitting issue, it was the most susceptible to Septoria of any cherry I grew in dirt this year. (Esterina, Sunchocola, Big "Orange" Volunteer, and Karma Pink.) B.O.V. actually turned out to be red, and it had nearly as much Septoria. The hybrids -- not as much. Once we got into August, it has been raining quite frequently. I'm done with spraying for this season and willing to let nature take its course. I would not grow it again in dirt, but will very likely put one in an EB next season, and see how that affects splitting.

And I definitely thank Karen and Marsha for their work, and letting me try it this season.

-GG

August 16, 2018	#1347
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,922	Thank you for your evaluation from the perspective of a market grower. The sentence that matters most to me is “ my family loves them “ Interesting that the tomatoes in the controlled environment cracked while those outdoors didn’t. Thank you for the honest assessment, it is very helpful and interesting to me and I don’t find it negative at all. You make, I think perhaps inadvertently, some interesting points that are related to my specific breeding goals.. I breed my tomatoes for gardeners, for flavour. For thick non cracking skin and production over flavour there are hundreds of hybrids bred specifically for greenhouse commercial production that I’m sure would be much more profitable per plant. Profit for plant is not a gardeners goal- flavour is. The long hold and slower ripening is useful in a home garden as well because unless one is selling tomatoes, few of us have use for gallons of ripe cherry tomatoes that quickly get soft or overripe appearing all at once. So looking at it that way, from a home gardeners perspective that is not a negative either since cherries are best eaten fresh and many of us struggle to know what to do with a million squishy cherries lol Thanks again. Maybe grow one for the family or save seeds for a home gardening friend. KarenO Last edited by KarenO; August 16, 2018 at 12:17 PM.

August 23, 2018	#1350
Greatgardens Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,124	A funny thing happened on the way to this review. Karma Pink has largely stopped splitting now that the weather is somewhat cooler and the ground is very damp 100% of the time. I am picking them earlier, but they were splitting at the blush stage a month ago. So it should be worth another try next year in an EarthBox -- maybe they will like being constantly wet? In addition, it was a relatively small plant compared to the hybrids I grew. That also suggests it as an EB candidate. Letting them ripen for a week or so indoors definitely helped the splitting, and the flavor got progressively better as the season progressed. It was tart-sweet, and not the reverse. It definitely has good flavor. It is similar to the Project's Dwarf Velvet Night, but of course, more productive due to its size. Now, the not-so-good news. Aside from the splitting issue, it was the most susceptible to Septoria of any cherry I grew in dirt this year. (Esterina, Sunchocola, Big "Orange" Volunteer, and Karma Pink.) B.O.V. actually turned out to be red, and it had nearly as much Septoria. The hybrids -- not as much. Once we got into August, it has been raining quite frequently. I'm done with spraying for this season and willing to let nature take its course. I would not grow it again in dirt, but will very likely put one in an EB next season, and see how that affects splitting. And I definitely thank Karen and Marsha for their work, and letting me try it this season. -GG

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August 15, 2018	#1340
Idahowoman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Idaho Zone 4 Posts: 536	Hi Karen and Marsha , KARMA Pink has been tasted in my corner of Idaho. After a rough start ,then with an aphid infestation it has taken longer than it normally would to start getting ripe fruit. KARMA Pink was great tasting ,beautiful to look at and I am looking forward to more. Susan

August 15, 2018	#1342
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,922	Ugh aphids. Whitefly is my nemesis the year. It’s always something isn’t it. I hope now that you are getting some they will continue to ripen more for you Happy you like the flavour! Thank you for growing it Karen

August 16, 2018	#1344
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,886	We had a horrendous thunder storm last night with hail! Some of the tomatoes in cages took a tumble. I haven't been able to check the rest of the plants yet because it was so wet. Guess who I saved before the storm hit? A bowl full of KARMA's. They taste great . Linda

August 16, 2018	#1346
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	Final report: My family loves them. I see what they are saying, good combo of sweet and tart, but I just confirmed again that I hate cherry tomatoes. It's the aftertaste that makes me wrinkle my nose and avoid them. My family doesn't understand what I mean, but cherries just have "that" taste to me. Funny how the palette perceives taste. The plant in bag culture in my greenhouse struggled with cracking fruit. I would have had to pick practically green to avoid this. Then, it would take about 10-14 days for them to ripen on the counter. The plants outside in the 100 gallon stock tank with same promix HP soil did not have this problem, although it still took a long time to ripen fruit. Even 50-75% ripe take a week or more to fully color up on the counter. However, the shelf-life is therefore tremendous. So, in summary, for those who like cherries, they got high marks in my house. From a commercial production standpoint (not that that was your goal), I don't think the production (albeit in my one-time trial using my methods) would warrant the space. Hopefully you don't takes this as being critically negative, just trying to give honest feedback.

August 16, 2018	#1348
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	No doubt Karen. Great for a home gardener who likes cherries. I have a one pound clamshell container filled with ones I picked last week at about 75% ripe. They are still perfect. I did notice that when a couple from an earlier picking got over-ripe (I think they were off the plant for 2 weeks), they got wrinkled, not oozing rotten. So that is nice. I'd guess you could pick some at half ripe and have them on the counter for a month.

August 22, 2018	#1349
seasyde Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: PNW Posts: 81	Thanks Karen and Marsha. The third try is the charm - I finally got to taste a ripe Karma Pink after jumping the gun on the first two. Delicious! Thanks for sharing! Everything was late this year. One plant was grown in ground and the other in a container. The in-ground is way outperforming the container grown, but then the container grown had some insect and watering issues that the in-ground did not. Will be saving seeds and growing them again.