Just placed my tomato seed order from Heirloom Seeds

[independentpiney]

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/main/index.html?c37.html&1

There's just so many interesting varieties to choose from.. I settled on these ones and have Cherokee Purple, Rutgers and an unknown cherry I saved from last year. They're running a 28 day backlog on shipping already so I'm glad I put my order in now.


BIG RED TOMATO 85 days -We acquired the seeds for this tomato from a family in southern Illinois who had grown it for generations, and was always simply referred to as that "that big, red tomato". The large vines produce 16 to 24 ounce huge, sweet, red fruit, with just enough "bite" for that old fashioned, home grown taste. Perfect for sandwiches, salads or just eating out of your hand! This is the tomato you remember eating from your grandfather's garden! First introduced in the United States by Heirloom Seeds. Indeterminate vines.


BRANDYWINE TOMATO, RED 80 days-Our best selling tomato! First introduced in 1885 by Amish farmers in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the large vines produce fruit that are 8 oz. to 1 pound in size and deep red in color. This excellent tasting tomato is very productive, and is our favorite! This is the original Red Brandywine, first offered by our company in 1989. Don't accept other companies version of this best selling tomato - we are the ONLY seed company offering Red Brandywine from our original select strain! Indeterminate vines.



SUB-ARCTIC PLENTY TOMATO 40-60 days-For those with short growing seasons, this extremely early variety has upright stems packed with 1½ inch fruits. Has excellent cold-setting abilities. Great for early summer harvests or when used in Fall container gardening. Determinate vines.



LONG KEEPER TOMATO 78 days -One of our customers favorite! As the name implies, this tomato is meant to be grown for storage. Plant later in the growing season, so the fruits start to mature in late fall. Pick the ripe and partially ripe tomatoes before the first fall frost, and store in a well ventilated area with temperatures around 60 to 70 degrees F. Will last from 6 to 12 weeks in storage! Not as good flavored as some other varieties, but much better than any store bought tomatoes! Semi-determinate vines.


MEXICO MIDGET TOMATO 65 days -A very prolific producer of small, ½ inch, deep-crimson colored fruits that have great tomato taste. The tall vines keep bearing till frost. Great for snacking or in salads. Indeterminate vines.
PKT. - 20 seeds

Does anyone have experience with any of these varieties? I'm hoping to do a succesion planting with the Sub-Arctic and Long Keeper.

[shrike]

1. What's the price like? Cheaper than buying plants?

And can you reuse whatever seeds you harvest?

[independentpiney]

2. Yes on both counts

It's a 1.50/packet of 25 seeds, plus shipping. So say about 7.50 total and that's actually 2 seasons worth of seeds for me since I'll only grow out 6-8 plants of each variety. And the big advantage to my mind is that I have good sized healthy plants to set out as soon as conditions are right. Last year all the garden centers around here were all 2-3 weeks late with their plants,and the quality wasn't very good either. I've been switching my garden over to all heirlooms so I can save seed.Besides these new tomato varieties the only seed I had to buy this year was broccoli rape. Everything else I have saved seed from last year for.

[shrike]

3. Thanks so much

We're going to be expanding the garden this year, and this could fit in well with our plans.

[bvar22]

4. a note:

If you are growing more than one variety of heirloom tomatoes, there is the inevitability of cross pollination.
Your next generation will contain some surprises.


We like surprises, but also include some store boughts for our favorite must have tomatoes.

[HamdenRice]

5. Very interesting point. Many "heirloom" varieties arose under monoculture conditions

Another term for heirloom variety is "landrace" variety, which shows a bit more how a particular community or "land" had its own unique variety. A landrace variety developed in a particular land.

If you grow two or more heirloom or landrace varieties in the same garden, there will undoubtedly be cross polinization, and many seeds in the next generation won't be the same variety, but will instead be hybrids.

[Lisa0825]

8. Will only the seeds be different, or will it affect the fruit as well?nt

[independentpiney]

6. That is a really good point

so far the only heirlooms I've saved seed from and regrown were the rutgers and cherokee purple. I must have gotten lucky because they seemed to stay true. The plantings of them were separated, but not by more than 20-25 feet or so.

[bvar22]

9. From what I've read, tomatoes will generally stay true.

I'm NOT an expert, and only started researching heirloom vs hybrid a year ago to apply to our garden.

As I understand it so far, tomatoes are self pollinating. A single flower can, and usually does, pollinate itself. The majority of offspring will generally stay true to the original seed.
However, wind and insects can introduce pollen from other plants resulting in a hybrid.

There is a wealth of information (some contradictory) available on the net.
Just Google "Tomato Pollination"

I read on one site (that I can no longer find) that each seed in a tomato is the result of a single act of pollination from an individual grain of pollen. This would seem to indicate that it is possible to have both true heirloom seeds AND hybrid seeds in the same individual fruit. I can NOT vouch for this and can not find the site, but that is an interesting speculation.


(BTW: Cherokee Purple and Rutgers are two of my "must have in our garden" varieties.)



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x7979

[conscious evolution]

7. Thanks for the tip

The cross pol had not occurred to me.

Any recommendations on distance between varieties?

[bvar22]

10. See Post #9 above.

As I stated above, I am no expert.

I have read about some "Bagging" methods that would prevent the introduction of hybrid pollen, but the time and effort involved would far outweigh either buying true heirloom seeds from a reputable source, or simply letting nature take its course.

Talking about tomatoes is making my mouth water, and it is still a long time before I will be biting into a fresh off the vine, sun warmed homegrown.
YUM!