Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Eristic on November 25, 2007, 03:07:27
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I have saved seeds from the one and only tomato plant to survive the entire summer, such as it was. Like many others here, my tomatoes were ruined by blight, all that is except one plant. This plant was given to me from Bulgarian seedstock and maybe its a fluke or maybe it has genuine resistance to blight. While all the other plants keeled over in rapid succession, this one developed all fruit to full size and maturity, lasting until the middle of Oct.
I would like to run some tests on these saved seeds to see if this plant does have blight resistance and require guinea piglets to assist. Anyone participating must be prepared to harvest some seeds from the best plants left standing and return them to me for redistribution again the following year. So if you are willing to participate, monitor progress, and harvest some seed please send me a pm. This is not a seed swap per se but an experiment hopfully for the eventual betterment of us all.
The plant itself is a vine type to be grown up a cane or string and is well suited to outdoor growing, at least in the south. The fruit is red coloured, normal sized and of plum type, best suited for cooking but a good general purpose tom.
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Do you want savers from Spain, or just the UK?
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Everyone is welcome until I run out of seeds.
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Please count me in if that is ok.
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Yes, I'm interested.
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yep me too Im in the south
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I'll be glad to help too....have pm'd you
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Hi,i am willing to help you from the other side of the pond.
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Count me in!
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I'll give it a go in the sunny Midlands!
;D
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Certainly interested. Blight was terrible here this year. I "harvested" 4 tomatoes from 9 plants.
Now, how to work out a PM. Where's my son?
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I'd also be more than happy to give this a go. Would you be able to post some guides to seed saving? I know that Real Seeds are pretty good at this...
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Send you a p.m. eristic.
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Have pm'd you Eristic - would be glad to join in.
Tricia
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What's the variety?
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There are probably enough seeds for between 6 - 10 more packs at 20 seeds each but I won't know for sure until I bag them all up.
What's the variety?
I asked the lady that gave me the plant that question and she said 'Red one, plum'. The seeds came from commercial packets and I'm sure the producers would have variety name, strain no, batch no etc. but the purchasers seem to simply look at the picture on the packet.
It has already occured to me that they might be f1 but given the limited range that seems to be on offer I doubt it. Anyway, this experiment is not aimed at producing a show stopper salad tomato but looking to produce a plant that does not collapse in a rotten heap after only one or two fruit have set.
Would you be able to post some guides to seed saving?
First we get the fruit.
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You've had quite a response, With only a few packs, If you want to miss me out and keep it in the UK (blight not a big issue here in Spain) I don't mind, good luck with the experiment
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I won't need more than 10 seeds Eristic - so that makes another bag of 10 for someone else.
Tricia
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Good luck everyone. I`d love to join in but I`m already over booked with old faves and newbies I want to trial in my small way. So many good varieties so little space :'(
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I'd like to give it a go ... and like tricia won't need too many ... will pm you.
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Just to update, I've now gone through the seed and there was lots more than my original guesstimate and there is still seed available. In order to ensure as many people participate as possible, I will hold the remaining seed for a couple of weeks and share it out between you. Anyone still wanting to have a go should send me a PM and please include your address. Offer open to anyone in UK or EU.
I am in the process of setting up a web page and am considering what information needs to be recorded. At the moment all I think matters is the number of plants growing and situation vis under glass or grown in open ground. Later maybe how many plants are surviving. What else?
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Got the seed this morning eristic thank you, I dunno.....maybe size, taste, drought resistance, germination rates, pollination success, pest and other disease resistance.
I will do some in the open and some under glass, hopefully that may give you growing differences in my area.
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I received mine too ... thank you :)
Growing condidtions maybe ? ... such as types of soil ... ring culture / open ground etc ??
Best cooked results ... flavour / qualiity of sauce etc ??
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Thanks Eristic - seeds arrived this morning. Can't think of anything to add to all the above, just keep it simple for folk like me though ;D ;D.
Tricia
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Just to update, I've now gone through the seed and there was lots more than my original guesstimate and there is still seed available. In order to ensure as many people participate as possible, I will hold the remaining seed for a couple of weeks and share it out between you. Anyone still wanting to have a go should send me a PM and please include your address. Offer open to anyone in UK or EU.
I am in the process of setting up a web page and am considering what information needs to be recorded. At the moment all I think matters is the number of plants growing and situation vis under glass or grown in open ground. Later maybe how many plants are surviving. What else?
Hi Eristic,
I used to be a member of the HDRA many years ago and they often called on members to do seed trials. They had a checklist that you had to work through - am sure they would share this with you if you asked, though I think you have covered pretty much everything above as it is.
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I would love to be included in trying the seeds out as my tomatoes were a disaster this year and have been for quite a few years now. I am sure 5 seeds would be enough for me as I was thinking of not growing any tomatoes on the plot, but stuck as I don't have a garden at home and tomatoes are one of my favourite homegrown veg. Many thanks if you have them to spare, if you let me know how much the postage is I will send it to you.
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Hi Eristic - got the seed today, ta very much, should be able to try under glass and in the open next year
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seeds arrived safely today thank you very much
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Got mine today, thanks. I get blight at some point every year, so they're bound to be put to the test.
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C'est arrive!
;D
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Mine arrived as well.
I'm looking forward to the results. I'll grow alongside Brandywine and Super Mamande, with some in the greenhouse as well.
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Seeds arrived safely on the other side of the pond,thanks a lot.
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C'est arrive!
;D
Me too! - thanks!!
Being a simple chap, my understanding is that we're primarily looking for blight tolerance. I suggest that we should record anything that may influence this, and at this stage should be ignoring taste etc... sorry, I know we only grow it for the taste, but hear me out!
Whilst taste, texture, etc could be useful, and one day it should be the only aim of any project like this, the relative humidity and min/max temps for the last few days would be a lot more useful.
Possibly at this stage, and the more wine I drink thinking about it, the more important it becomes, would be a measure of the gap between first local exposure and these plants showing signs of blight. Any thoughts?
One day my firends, <he says, climbing onto his soap box and warming to the theme>, if we can find something to outlive blight, we will be able to have all the texture, size & taste combinations we could ever imagine!!! And the tomato in all of our personal dreams can be there for us to pick without the rotten hands of capitalism... er, and blight,,,,etc>
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Yes! My primary aim is to grow tomatoes that produce more than 3 or 4 from the bottom truss before turning into a rotten pulp. Truly scientific experiments would record weather details and prevailing conditions in great detail but this may not be practical.
I'll have a think about this and may build some sort of weekly tick box system for later interpretation but I do not want to turn this into a chore for everyone. I'm in the process of setting up participants with log-in details and a PM is on its way to everyone later tonight.
If the seeds remain true to the parent, you will get good general purpose tomatoes ideal for cooking. I rendered all mine into soup bricks as it was not ideal weather for salads so failed to eat one raw.
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Pm'ed you Eristic... ta
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Many, many thanks Eristic, I received them today, quiet made my day. :)
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Eristic just picked up this thread ( been away for a few days) sounds fantastic! am I too late to request a few seeds? 5 would be great. would be happy to send S.A.E. please let me know.
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There should be enough seed for about 15 - 20 more people and I'm now holding the letters so that I can reduce the seed quantity if needed. If you fancy helping in this trial do not leave it too long to contact me or you may miss out.
Its only about 8 weeks now before the lucky folks with greenhouses will be sowing their tomato seed. Proud owners of windowsills such as myself will be a few weeks behind but by then Christmas will just be a distant memory.
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Will pm you. I have no greenhouse so they will have to rough it with the other tomato plants in the homemade polythene tomato house I cobble together each summer. But at least it has a roof and stops the plants getting too wet. This year blight struck heavily around the margins so I think I would set the trial plants across the width of the tomato house, plus a couple outside with no protection at all as controls.
God you can tell I am of the scientific persuasion can't you! :D
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As our lottie site gets lots of blight every year I tried Fantasio which is suppose to be blight resistant. Although they withstood the blight for longer than the rest they finally caught it - and they looked quite promising - good healthy plants! IT broke my heart to have to pull them out.
Oh well ! better luck next time and I will be watching this strain closely to see the progress. Good luck everyone!
Jitterbug
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There are still about a dozen packs available and I want to mail out the lot after New Year. Anyone else interested please send PM with address.
Eristic
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I will have a go if you like, in Hull, I will do them outdoors at home rather than on the lotties, have you any idea what they were called , I will PM you with addy if you still have some to spare. May I give you something in return? Thank you XX Jeannine
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if tom trail is still going l can do that l live in north wales do you need any more help
julie
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The name is unknown at this time, the original plant was given to me by a Bulgarian lady on the allotments and was grown from a commercial Bulgarian seed packet. The fruit was red and of a medium sized plum shape, and cooked well.
This was the only plant I grew that survived to maturity so I considered it was worth some effort to grow on. As it was grown adjacent to many other varieties, there is the possibility of cross polination but I am more interested in the survivability genes.
The offer is open to all A4A members within the EU district but please contact me via the PM system with your address otherwise I lose track.
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Hi Eristic,
I'll give it a trial in the North-East ...if you have any seed left.
Will PM you.
Debs
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I would like to give it a go if there are any still available.
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I've noticed quite a few names here asking for seeds yet have failed to send me their address to my PM box.
It's like this: No Address. No seeds.
There's still a few more left but I'm not going to thin them down any further so when they're gone, they're gone. OK.
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Hi Eristic, just to say seeds arrived :) many thanks :-*, its quite exciting I feel like a right saddo ;D getting excited about tomato seeds that's what having a Lotti does to you. Hope your right about the blighty thing lost all mine last year! so as you say gotta be worth a go looking forward to it
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mine arrived this morning thoogh need some tips on starting them off either unheated greenhouse or windowsill, cheers dave. quite exited about getting blight free toms.
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Eristic, are the toms determinate or indeterminate? :)
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I believe them to be indeterminate. I grew it as a vine and pinched all sideshoots. As mine was outside and the weather none too good I pinched the top to restrict it to 4 trusses which all matured and set nicely. In a warmer summer they should easily do 5 trusses outside as a vine and many more under glass.
With blight so prevalent it pays to keep the plant as open and airy as possible so even though it may grow as a bush the higher humidity may cause problems.
I would like to give you all the variety name and full description but these facts are not available at this time. The original plant was given to me by a Bulgarian plotholder grown from commercial seed purchased in her native country. There will be some detective work done later to find out more info.
There are still a few seeds left if any latecomers wish to join in but you must send me a PM with your address. Webpage covering the trial http://david-frary.com/Plot/tomato_trial.php (http://david-frary.com/Plot/tomato_trial.php)
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Mine are here too, and so many. Thank you, we have an isolation plan all worked out XX Jeannine
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Eristic, I think I've been very rude. I had not replied to say thank you and that the seeds have arrived safely - Well they have. - Many thanks again
- Riffster...
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Hi, my seeds arrived safely on Saturday. I will sow them with the rest of my toms that have to rough it outside in about 6 weeks time.
Thanks
Suzanne
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Been away for a few days, Seeds arrived safe and sound
many thanks
Will split them (after germination) 50% outside + 50% inside
Last year germinated my Toms starting at end of February, this year going to try from April 1st onwards as the Autumns are certainly getting warmer so a later start may give stronger 'babies'
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Hi Eristic,
I sent you a PM earlier - would like to help with the trial if I am not too late.
No past experience to compare to, but I can share with you the results i get!
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Yippee, my seeds arrived yesterday.
Thank you.
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Seeds arrived this morning - many thanks!
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Thanks again Eristic, I planted my seeds today!
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I've sown my second batch today after germination problems with the first batch. It's strange because 36 of the 38 varieties I sowed at the same time have germinated well. :-\
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Doing mine tomorrow XX Jeannine
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I've also had very bad germination. Only have three seeds left which I shall sow tomorrow. From seeds sown so far have just two meagre seedlings.
Tricia
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I haven't sown mine yet, but I find I have quite variable germination from saved seed. It may depend on how it's been stored.
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Four seeds had germinated and I potted them on in 3" pots on Friday. Sowed more seeds last week.
Sinbad
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I sowed mine on the 26th Jan. They had 50% germination. So far the survivors are 3" tall and doing well. There are 12 plants in all, 2 are fairly weedy looking, but give them chance eh?
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Well done Star :)
Is there some way we can put photo's so we can see the others progress?
Sinbad
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I have also a 50% germination reason i dont know.The ones who are left are 5cm high and i am repotting them today.
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Sowing mine today, will keep you posted
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I sowed mine on 2 March (fruit day). Sowed 6 modules - I thought with two seeds each but have counted the seeds left in my bag and I have 11 left - I know I started with 20?? Anyway I have 5 seedlings which have put on their second leaves now and will be repotted with the rest of the tom seedlings into 3" pots on the next fruit day. However I am not sure so counting this as around 50% germination
I am mentioning sowing/planting by the moon because if there are any other enthusiasts out there we can compare notes with non mooners.
That hasn't come out right but you know what I mean ;)
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Cheeky!!
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Always been a fan of Frankie Howard.....................titter ye not! ;D
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Bump!!
Eristic, I have potted my plants into their final pots. I have only three I am afraid, more did germinate but sadly I lost them along with all my others when I got ill.
Anyway, I am rambling here.
The three I have are good strong plants, currently in the greenhouse.
Do you want us to put them outside to test the blight thing.
Any particular tips you want to pass on for their growth.
Keep in touch.
XX Jeannine
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I have three plants from about 11 seeds. I've planted two outdoors at the lottie, they are covered a bit with fleece as they look distinctly chilly at the moment! I've kept one plant for the greenhouse as a reserve plant......
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I have 2 planted outside, they are good and strong. And 2 in the greenhouse (ring culture) Lost 1 to slugs, another just pegged it. The 6 at the farm are doing well too.
I will take pics tomorrow if you like Eristic.
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We have some but the oracle has just gone out... :-[
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Do you want 50p for the meter?..........ohhhhh the oracle.......... snigger
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I had 5 plants from 12 seeds. I have planted one in my tomato house with the cherished, one outside the tom house with the well-loved and the other three have to rough it at lottie 2 with the liked.
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ok i sowed three but only 1 has survived, it is currently doing well in my plastic greenhouse, will be needing re potting in the next day or two :)
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Mine are doing really well, one of the plants has flowers on it. They are all looking healthy and much more advanced than my other toms, mind this could be to do with sowing them so early, I was that keen.
Sinbad
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Sinbad one of my three has flowers on as well and all my varieties got planted on the same day so it would seem they are gonig to be earlies.
XX Jeannine
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So how many of us got to the end ???? :-X
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My outdoor plants got blight in this past week - the eristic tomato plants as susceptible as anything else. the plants in my tom house are just ripening now - although given we have just had mini Gustav - thunder, lightening, gales Idon't think the leaves will have stayed dry as my tom house is not that good. I will keep a watch but fear that they also may succumb to blight shortly.
So all in all an okay sauce tomato, probably slughtly more resistant to blight than Roma or San marzona but not significantly so.
But loved to take part in the trial. Did the same with calabrese several years ago!
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There is another thread with more info on..but for me..the fruit are of variable size, at first I thought they were small but I have some huge ones. They matured early compared to everything else I had. Flavour is mediocre but they are very meaty with few seeds so would be great for a sauce. I have had no blight on anything at all so can't comment on that. I will pick some more tomorrow and put some pictures on XX Jeannine
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Well it was an experiment therefore there has to be conclusions so I ask all who took part to report whether it would be worth rounding up the seed to try again next year. I personally saw no significant resistance compared to the parent plant but this was a difficult year for outdoor tomatoes to say the least.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for giving their valuable time and limited space to this project.
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Here we ... saved from blight ... now Green Tomato Relish !!
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/Flowerlady_2006/Lottie%20121/Lottie019.jpg)
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Some of mine are very big too, but really struggling to ripen now. More relish making here as well ;D ;D
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Are those quails eggs?
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D.....oh heck, I put mine against sparrow eggs.
Mine (some) are the size of duck eggs..............brag brag :P
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In shape, the toms look very like Floridity.
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Are those quails eggs?
..... ::) ;D ;D ;D
Nope thems is proper big chook eggs ... and that's a giant spoon rest too !! :D
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Hi Erisitic, I have about 100 seeds from your original seeds for you. There will be more if you need them as I still have more fruit.
These were picked off 3 of the biggest of fruits, each one weighed 6 1/4 ounces give or take a tad.
My thoughts on the tom .
At first I wasn't keen, the first fruits were small and quite bland but they got bigger as the season rolled on, the taste improved too.
I grew two inside and one out, there was no real difference in taste but the outside one was about three weeks behind.
I got no blight on them, but to be fair I didn't have any on anything else either.
The plants were very robust, super prolific and they made a very good size in the end.
I cordoned the two inside ones and let the outside one do it's own thing, I feel they are not a bush as the outside one just kept going tied to a trellis. I finally had to top it at about 5 feet.
They make an excellent sauce, very few seeds, very meaty thick walls, cooked down very thick.Deep red colour if left to fully mature.
Would I grow them again.. yes..I am taking some of the seed to Canada with me. They grew better than my other plums actually.
Thank you for allowing me to take part, it was quite interesting.
Please PM me your address to send the seeds to.
XX Jeannine