RE: [tomato] Great Book
cvinson@mindspring.com (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Fri, 2 Jul 1999 09:02:45 -0400
Bill wrote:
RE Black from Tula in New England. I do not know if any of the ITG tomatoes
are Black from Tula, but I do have three or four started with Chuck's seeds.
Looks like I have a few more weeks before they ripen. Will let you know
about coloring. I can say that I was very impressed as to their ability to
set fruit. I put my tomatoes out early this year (mid May as opposed to the
traditional Memorial Day planting) and had problems with fruit set on the
first clusters on some of the tomatoes(especially Prudens Purple, Eva Purple
Ball, etc.) However, even though it was cool in late may, the Black from
Tula had an especially good fruit. This was also the case with all the
Russian tomatoes I have (Caspian Pink, Silvery Fir). The Stupice also did
very well.
Is this a trait common to Russian tomatoes?
Bill,
Many of the Russian/Siberian varieties consistently demonstrate a
significantly above average ability to set and matuire good fruit in extreme
weather conditions of either/both heat and cold. A couple of growers in
Texas who regularly grow out 100-200 varieties of o.p. varieties swear by
the Russian varieties, as do experienced growers and seed savers in the high
desert, Montana, Florida. I've grown Black from Tula for the past four
years. Three years ago in Atlanta it was my most productive variety....and
second in overall taste. It was still producing in November and I picked
first fruit in late May. That's unusual for Atlanta.
Catharine