Tomato reviews likes & dislikes 2015 - 2020

[veggiechicken]

Mine came from the lovely VC and the marvellous VSP. There are none in there at the mo, but I should be sending some back to VC probably around Nov/ Dec time

Waddya want, NG?

[Guest]

^^^^ummmm..........seeds!

.........be careful of the toes you step on today and all that

[Guest]

I read that the Blue Osu was smuggled out during the early stages of Jim Myers breeding programme. The indigo rose came later and was a released version - probably more stable than the earlier versions.

Oo-er on the same site it lists Blueberry tom with a similar story to yours. Smuggled but then stabalised by a gardener.

[Ryleh]

An interesting read when you get into it. Has anyone tried Purple Smudge? (Or Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge to give it its full name)

[Ryleh]

Actually since posting that I've discovered there's a red and orange variety of Purple smudge with the red one usually just being called Purple Smudge.

Might have to track down some of those too, the list grows longer

[Scarlet]

Actually since posting that I've discovered there's a red and orange variety of Purple smudge with the red one usually just being called Purple Smudge.

Might have to track down some of those too, the list grows longer

I hope you've got a big green house

[Ryleh]

I've got a good sized polytunnel so I'll be mostly be relying on that

[Scarlet]

Scarlet, do you have any tips for growing Black Russian - I always struggle with this for some reason.
.

Nothing special but they do need regular watering, a good soak daily in the green house during the summer. They have a really thick stem and the tomatoes although not "beef type"are quite large, with several per truss and probably need more watering than "cherry type" plants. I feed with the liquid from my worm bin. I have them in the border of my GH, I haven't tried growing these in pots, are you growing in pots or in the ground? I think they would struggle in a pot unless it's very large.

[sparrow100]

My Black Russian were pretty much the last to ripen. Katya, Orange Banana and Purple Ukraine all had larger tomatoes, and still beat the plant to it.

[Scarlet]

Same here! My Black Russian has also been the last to ripen, though that's not a bad thing.

[Tripmeup]

Nothing special but they do need regular watering, a good soak daily in the green house during the summer. They have a really thick stem and the tomatoes although not "beef type"are quite large, with several per truss and probably need more watering than "cherry type" plants. I feed with the liquid from my worm bin. I have them in the border of my GH, I haven't tried growing these in pots, are you growing in pots or in the ground? I think they would struggle in a pot unless it's very large.

I grow some of my Black Russian in flower buckets and they seem to do okay once they are watered well....Mine have all more or less ripened at this stage too.

[Philthy]

I have them in the border of my GH, I haven't tried growing these in pots, are you growing in pots or in the ground? I think they would struggle in a pot unless it's very large

Perhaps that is where I have been going wrong - growing in pots, and the same size as I've used for all other types. Pots are probably similar to a flower bucket in size. But add to that the admission that yes, sometimes I'm not as diligent with the water as I should be, that could be the tipping point for successful development of these biggish tomatoes. (cherry tomatoes do seem to be a lot more forgiving).


Next year I think I'll just have to focus on the black types. Black Cherry goes without saying, DWS and Indigo Rose I am very much looking forward to trying. Black Russian I'll give another go (as I should have my GH border created by then).
Great, roll on next year

[Scarlet]

Next year I think I'll just have to focus on the black types. Black Cherry goes without saying, DWS and Indigo Rose I am very much looking forward to trying. Black Russian I'll give another go (as I should have my GH border created by then).
Great, roll on next year

Try black icicle its really worth a go.

[Ryleh]

Black Icicle is another that I've added to the increasingly long list of tomatoes I'm hoping to grow next season

[Penellype]

Roma VF

First attempt at these this year, and I may simply have been unlucky. Difficult to tell whether these are meant to be a bush or a cordon, but I found if you grow them as a cordon you get only a couple of trusses with about 3 fruit in each. The outdoor plants grew about 1-2ft high and never looked at all happy, although the fruit started to go red faster than those in my friend's greenhouse. The greenhouse plants were much more vigorous, growing to the advertised 4ft, and incredibly difficult to stake as they formed a thicket of branches which tended to end up lying on the floor. Plenty of fruit but so far only one ripe tomato on each of 2 plants.

Taste was directly compared with Shirley of a similar ripeness, and was bitterly disappointing and bland. I was expecting a fleshy tomato full of flavour and I got an insipid smallish fruit with no more flesh than a medium sized Shirley.

Health & vigour: 4/10 outdoors, 8/10 indoors
Taste: 4/10
Grow again? probably not

Incidentally I rated Shirley 7 for taste - those were tomatoes grown in my house. The greenhouse ones deserve a 9, even in this wretched summer.