Re: [tomato] getting ready to order seed. Need opinions.

mlaute@micron.net (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Sat, 23 Oct 1999 08:06:21 -0600 

At 11:16 AM 10/22/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi Michelle,
>
>Please oh please let me know how things turn out for you next fall!  I live
>in Redondo Beach, CA and would really love to hear how others near me did.
>
>This year I ordered 10 varieties from Chuck and grew them this year at a
>friends house in El Segundo (I didn't have a yard at the time).  I grew:
>
>1.  Anna Russian
>2.  Brandywine - Joyce's strain
>3.  Grushkova
>4.  German Johnson
>5.  Korean Love
>6.  Reisentraube (cherry)
>7.  Marizol Gold (Bi color)
>8.  German Gold (bi color)
>9.  Mammoth Gold (Bi color)
>
>and one other I can't think of at the moment and my records are at home.
>
>
>>I am in Southern Calif, zone 9, and I grow all of my tomatoes in large
>>containers. If anything I have listed would not be suitable for containers,
>>please let me know. Thanks.
>
>None of the varieties I grew are suitable for containers unless you prune
>the HEAVILY, as they are all vigorous indeterminate varieties.  Most of them
>broke the bamboo supports I tied them to!  When I grow these next year I
>will space them out much more and use a much sturdier support.  Many of the
>vines were more than an inch thick and the plants really spread out.  If you
>want to use containers, I would imagine 10-20 gallon size minimum per plant!
>
>FYI, Anna Russian is a very wilty plant (looks like it needs water, but
>doesn't).  Chuck says this is normal for oxheart varieties.
>
>At any rate, my garden was near LAX airport and as you know, we had a very
>strange summer; cool and overcast near the coast until recently.  I chose
>all of my varieties by chucks descriptions.  I was really looking for SWEET
>tomatoes.  Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.  My tomatoes all grew
>vigorously.  However, they all didn't taste much sweeter than store bought
>tomatoes!!!!  None of them were sweet in the least bit even though they were
>very ripe.  I asked Chuck for his opinions and he said that there are so
>many variables in climate, soil, etc. that any combination of these factors
>could have contributed to the differences he and I experienced.  I
>personally think it was due to a lack of warm sunshine.
>
>Chuck was easy to do business with -- he was very prompt in shipping the
>seeds and I'd do business with him again.  All my seeds germinated at over
>90%.
>
>
>I'm going to try these varieties again next year and hopefully, we'll get
>some better sun here by the beach.
>
>I hope this helps.
>
>
>Greg
>
Greg, that Riesentraube should have been sweet. also, try Pruden's Purple
and a Peach tomato. Anna Russian has been a big disappointment to me, and
I've been persuaded to grow it twice. Neither time did it come close to the
exuberant descriptions I've read of it. Maybe it just doesn't do well in
the West. Margaret L