Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
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Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
I see these two seeds available with two different vendors. One vendor has been more questionable in the last few years and the other is one I don’t like to support with my dollars. I have things I can trade or stamps I could trade if you don’t need seeds.
Thank you for looking
~Sam
Thank you for looking
~Sam
Tomato and pepper collector
Zone 6a, Northern Illinois.

- MissS
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Re: Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
I happen to have both of these. Gildo Pietroboni can be had through my giant seed offer which will be coming up soon, but do realize that these seeds come with a condition that you enter the fruit into the giant tomato competition this year. The price for the seeds this year is a SASE. You may want to look at my offering from last year to see if you would like to add anything else to your request. There may also be a few more additions to the list.
~ Patti ~
AKA ~ Hooper
AKA ~ Hooper
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Re: Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
MissS wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2025 9:24 am I happen to have both of these. Gildo Pietroboni can be had through my giant seed offer which will be coming up soon, but do realize that these seeds come with a condition that you enter the fruit into the giant tomato competition this year. The price for the seeds this year is a SASE. You may want to look at my offering from last year to see if you would like to add anything else to your request. There may also be a few more additions to the list.
I’m not sure if mega Marv would really fit into this category or not, if it does I could probably supply you with some seeds to share with others. I did procure “Big Malaka” seeds from Australia recently and it is on my 2025 grow list as well.
If you would like some mega Marv seeds please send me your address in private message and how many people you expect to participate so I can try and send enough to you.
~Sam
Tomato and pepper collector
Zone 6a, Northern Illinois.

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Re: Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
Seeing the thread title, I thought it was an old one of mine. Gildo and Slankard's were my top two wish lists varieties a few years ago. I received one pack of Slankard's this year. Gildo, a couple of years ago, did not germinate.
I grew Slankard's several years ago. For me, all tomatoes were no larger than about 20 ounces, except for the mega-blossom ones, of which there were at least a few on each plant.
Miss S, I will request them too. But, as far as entering them in the giant tomato competition, I'd expect to come in last place. I heavily restrict watering of my plants in search of more flavor. I would not expect anything larger than 30 1/2 ounces, my 2nd largest tomato that I've ever grown. Nearly all large beefsteaks, in my garden, have a maximum size of between 26 1/2 and 30 1/2 ounces, most very close to 28 ounces. I always suspected that my scale was stuck. I've only grown 1 tomato in my life that was over 2 pounds.
I grew Slankard's several years ago. For me, all tomatoes were no larger than about 20 ounces, except for the mega-blossom ones, of which there were at least a few on each plant.
Miss S, I will request them too. But, as far as entering them in the giant tomato competition, I'd expect to come in last place. I heavily restrict watering of my plants in search of more flavor. I would not expect anything larger than 30 1/2 ounces, my 2nd largest tomato that I've ever grown. Nearly all large beefsteaks, in my garden, have a maximum size of between 26 1/2 and 30 1/2 ounces, most very close to 28 ounces. I always suspected that my scale was stuck. I've only grown 1 tomato in my life that was over 2 pounds.
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Re: Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
Tormato wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:37 pm Seeing the thread title, I thought it was an old one of mine. Gildo and Slankard's were my top two wish lists varieties a few years ago. I received one pack of Slankard's this year. Gildo, a couple of years ago, did not germinate.
I grew Slankard's several years ago. For me, all tomatoes were no larger than about 20 ounces, except for the mega-blossom ones, of which there were at least a few on each plant.
Miss S, I will request them too. But, as far as entering them in the giant tomato competition, I'd expect to come in last place. I heavily restrict watering of my plants in search of more flavor. I would not expect anything larger than 30 1/2 ounces, my 2nd largest tomato that I've ever grown. Nearly all large beefsteaks, in my garden, have a maximum size of between 26 1/2 and 30 1/2 ounces, most very close to 28 ounces. I always suspected that my scale was stuck. I've only grown 1 tomato in my life that was over 2 pounds.
I actually didn’t find these based on looking for XL tomatoes. Between old message boards and old Facebook posts I was looking for them because people had mentioned how wonderful the flavor was.
What did you think of the flavor of the one that grew for you. Did you grow it again after the first year?
I have 80 retail spaces to grow this year and have really been working diligently to try and go back through the past and find ones that were really wonderful but forgotten about by most.
Some others I will have this year that are either forgotten or little known are:
Pruden’s Black
Black malachite
Burgermeister (Bill Jeffers )
Jeff Davis
Daniel’s
Bing (beefsteak )
Little Miss Dixie
Iva’s purple rust
3945
Prince Cherokee baby (Tom Wagner)
Gordi
Coffin
Hazel creek
Toadbusch pink
Never will (Tom Wagner)
Grandpa Willie
Grandpa Charlie
Tomato and pepper collector
Zone 6a, Northern Illinois.

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Re: Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
I believe I sent in mega Marv seeds to you. None were mega blossoms but all were nearing in at 2lbs each in my garden and the plants had 12-15 fruit on each. Flavor was decent too. In case you wanted to give them a try. Earl was my original seed source for them a few years ago.Tormato wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:37 pm Seeing the thread title, I thought it was an old one of mine. Gildo and Slankard's were my top two wish lists varieties a few years ago. I received one pack of Slankard's this year. Gildo, a couple of years ago, did not germinate.
I grew Slankard's several years ago. For me, all tomatoes were no larger than about 20 ounces, except for the mega-blossom ones, of which there were at least a few on each plant.
Miss S, I will request them too. But, as far as entering them in the giant tomato competition, I'd expect to come in last place. I heavily restrict watering of my plants in search of more flavor. I would not expect anything larger than 30 1/2 ounces, my 2nd largest tomato that I've ever grown. Nearly all large beefsteaks, in my garden, have a maximum size of between 26 1/2 and 30 1/2 ounces, most very close to 28 ounces. I always suspected that my scale was stuck. I've only grown 1 tomato in my life that was over 2 pounds.
~Sam
Tomato and pepper collector
Zone 6a, Northern Illinois.

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Re: Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
Slankard's was a typical heart, sweet and meaty. I remember it being a very tall robust plant, taller than just about every other plant in the garden that year. I don't expect that of heart plants. Like most hearts, it has very good to excellent flavor, tomatoey, but just not complex like the best beefsteaks. On average, hearts are my favorite type for flavor, almost none being less than very good. Beefsteaks will have more that are less than very good, but also more that are excellent to superb. I haven't gone back to Slankard's, yet, because at the time I had 100+ other hearts to trial. The one drawback with hearts, here, is that extreme weather conditions usually means very poor production. So, I generally limit myself to about 10 heart plants out of about 175 total plants each year.Homegrwoninillinois wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 7:43 amTormato wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:37 pm Seeing the thread title, I thought it was an old one of mine. Gildo and Slankard's were my top two wish lists varieties a few years ago. I received one pack of Slankard's this year. Gildo, a couple of years ago, did not germinate.
I grew Slankard's several years ago. For me, all tomatoes were no larger than about 20 ounces, except for the mega-blossom ones, of which there were at least a few on each plant.
Miss S, I will request them too. But, as far as entering them in the giant tomato competition, I'd expect to come in last place. I heavily restrict watering of my plants in search of more flavor. I would not expect anything larger than 30 1/2 ounces, my 2nd largest tomato that I've ever grown. Nearly all large beefsteaks, in my garden, have a maximum size of between 26 1/2 and 30 1/2 ounces, most very close to 28 ounces. I always suspected that my scale was stuck. I've only grown 1 tomato in my life that was over 2 pounds.
I actually didn’t find these based on looking for XL tomatoes. Between old message boards and old Facebook posts I was looking for them because people had mentioned how wonderful the flavor was.
What did you think of the flavor of the one that grew for you. Did you grow it again after the first year?
I have 80 retail spaces to grow this year and have really been working diligently to try and go back through the past and find ones that were really wonderful but forgotten about by most.
Some others I will have this year that are either forgotten or little known are:
Pruden’s Black
Black malachite
Burgermeister (Bill Jeffers )
Jeff Davis
Daniel’s
Bing (beefsteak )
Little Miss Dixie
Iva’s purple rust
3945
Prince Cherokee baby (Tom Wagner)
Gordi
Coffin
Hazel creek
Toadbusch pink
Never will (Tom Wagner)
Grandpa Willie
Grandpa Charlie
Your mentioning "rust" (Iva's Purple Rust) reminds me of one of the extremely few hearts that I didn't like, Everett's Rusty Oxheart. I found the flavor awful, and the splotchy color even worse.
I'll have to return to Toedebusch Pink, if my old seed germinates. The one year, here, without a summer, being cool with lots of rain, that the garden got hit with late blight, 103 of 104 plants were dead within a few days. Toedebusch Pink, the last tomato at the end of the most northern row, was the only tomato that survived, completely unaffected by LB. Did the spores miss this one tomato plant that was only a few feet north of the next closest tomato? I have no idea.
Going back to the past, to me, means mostly tomatoes from the 1930s or earlier.
- MissS
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Re: Gildo Pietroboni and Slankard’s
Welcome to the Giant Tomato Competition! I have no idea of how you expected me to find this request without tagging me, but the request has been noted. It would be best to PM me your request so that I don't forget about it. Me mind is running a tad bit slower these days.Tormato wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:37 pm Seeing the thread title, I thought it was an old one of mine. Gildo and Slankard's were my top two wish lists varieties a few years ago. I received one pack of Slankard's this year. Gildo, a couple of years ago, did not germinate.
I grew Slankard's several years ago. For me, all tomatoes were no larger than about 20 ounces, except for the mega-blossom ones, of which there were at least a few on each plant.
Miss S, I will request them too. But, as far as entering them in the giant tomato competition, I'd expect to come in last place. I heavily restrict watering of my plants in search of more flavor. I would not expect anything larger than 30 1/2 ounces, my 2nd largest tomato that I've ever grown. Nearly all large beefsteaks, in my garden, have a maximum size of between 26 1/2 and 30 1/2 ounces, most very close to 28 ounces. I always suspected that my scale was stuck. I've only grown 1 tomato in my life that was over 2 pounds.
~ Patti ~
AKA ~ Hooper
AKA ~ Hooper