Started Some New (to me) Micros

[GoDawgs]

The six micros that have been producing for a good while under the lights are getting a bit long in the tooth. I should have started their replacements a while ago to have an uninterrupted flow of cherries. But as luck would have it, the procrastination resulted in new varieties thanks to the MMMM! So two days ago, after checking the sizes of all the micros I got, I started six of the smallest so one each of Baby, Florida Petite, Mohamed, Monteka, Pigmy, and Venus.

I've also started a sortable spreadsheet and have entered all of the MMMM seed I received and am now looking them all up online to fill in the data such as DTM, leaf type, shape, type, determinate/indeterminate etc. This will be handy when it comes to choosing categories to look at like hearts, dwarfs etc. 45% done, 55% more to go but hey, it's fun and it's useful!

[Acer Rubrum]

Sounds awesome! I considered Venus when deciding which micros to grow this winter. It will be interesting to see how it does for you. Hopefully they all do well.

[jmsieglaff]

Keep us updated! I'll be starting some micros in a couple weeks, one that I've been following from a cross for a while now, it is a multi-flora microdwarf, this year at F6 and probably stable--I probably should get to naming it. I'm also going to grow a plant of Orange Pinocchio (grew it once maybe 5ish years ago) and also trying Florida Petite for the first time. Both will serve as comparisons to my other one.

[Tormahto]

The six micros that have been producing for a good while under the lights are getting a bit long in the tooth. I should have started their replacements a while ago to have an uninterrupted flow of cherries. But as luck would have it, the procrastination resulted in new varieties thanks to the MMMM! So two days ago, after checking the sizes of all the micros I got, I started six of the smallest so one each of Baby, Florida Petite, Mohamed, Monteka, Pigmy, and Venus.

I've also started a sortable spreadsheet and have entered all of the MMMM seed I received and am now looking them all up online to fill in the data such as DTM, leaf type, shape, type, determinate/indeterminate etc. This will be handy when it comes to choosing categories to look at like hearts, dwarfs etc. 45% done, 55% more to go but hey, it's fun and it's useful!

I'm hoping that you and others can share those spreadsheets. While I may generally know what most varieties are, I don't know the details. I'll have to make room in the spreadsheet in my head, for that. What will my brain dump, 1960s TV sitcoms?

[GoDawgs]

I'm hoping that you and others can share those spreadsheets. While I may generally know what most varieties are, I don't know the details. I'll have to make room in the spreadsheet in my head, for that. What will my brain dump, 1960s TV sitcoms?

I sure will! It's slow going because, as you know, plant descriptions are so similar grower to grower (lots of "borrowing" going on!) but they all leave out a pirce or two of data. So if I look up a tomato three or four places I can get most of the data I want. Tatiana's TOMATObase is really helpful! The one column I have with the most blanks is plant size. Dwarfs and micros all have theirs (you guys are good!) but otherwise there are a just a few remarks like "tall" or "compact", etc.

56% done.....

[MissS]

I'm hoping that you and others can share those spreadsheets. While I may generally know what most varieties are, I don't know the details. I'll have to make room in the spreadsheet in my head, for that. What will my brain dump, 1960s TV sitcoms?

Email was sent with my spreadsheet. So look there, not in a PM.

[wykvlvr]

This single plant gave me over 70 decent sized cherry tomatoes in one growing season. It is a Pygmy that reached a huge 10 inches tall. it was sharing a 30 inch window box with 2 Baby which are a flat not upright growing micro. One of the Baby had the best flavor that in 2020 but this Pygmy was my single most productive plant in the same year.


10 inch pygmy by spindledreams, on Flickr

We had a very early snow ie Sept 9th in 2020 so my plants got stripped of tomatoes and the smalls got brought inside. This table was what I got from them. The plate at the back of the middle row was from that Pygmy, the two in front of it are also from Pygmy plants.
micro 2020 harvest by spindledreams, on Flickr

[Zenbaas]

Was going to start my own thread but this seems as appropriate a place as any.

Where is the best place to get seeds for Micros...? And "generally" which ones have good/better flavour wise...?

[GoDawgs]

Check out Bunnyhop seeds to get a look at the world of micros although I don't know if they ship to South Africa. At least you can get a good idea of what micros are about.

https://heritageseedmarket.com/index.ph ... -tomatoes/

I'm sure all of us who grow them have our favorites. I like Jochalos (gold), Pinocchio Orange, Red Robin and Lille Lise for starters but that can change as I try new ones received in the MMMM swap!

What are S. Africa's policies about incoming mail containing seeds? If not friendly,at least once you know what you're looking for you might search for seed sources locally.

[Tormahto]

Was going to start my own thread but this seems as appropriate a place as any.

Where is the best place to get seeds for Micros...? And "generally" which ones have good/better flavour wise...?

I've never sent a "greeting card" (nudge, nudge ,wink, wink) to South Africa. I'm curious as to whether it would get through customs.

In the MMMM swap, 2021 Master List tomatoes, post #15 lists the micros.

[Acer Rubrum]

Vilma is my favorite micro. It's a red with good flavor, good productivity and it stays compact under lights.

For flavor, the best is Inkspot of the ones I've tried so far. But it tries to get get a little taller than I like under lights and it isn't quite as productive as Vilma.

I'm growing Pinocchio Orange this year and it has a lot of similarities to Vilma so far. I haven't had a ripe one yet, but I've heard good things about the taste.

[Zenbaas]

Was going to start my own thread but this seems as appropriate a place as any.

Where is the best place to get seeds for Micros...? And "generally" which ones have good/better flavour wise...?

I've never sent a "greeting card" (nudge, nudge ,wink, wink) to South Africa. I'm curious as to whether it would get through customs.

In the MMMM swap, 2021 Master List tomatoes, post #15 lists the micros.

There are no issues with seeds entering SA. I participated once around 2015/16 in the MMMM swap I'll definitely go have a look and then plot from there

Vilma is my favorite micro. It's a red with good flavor, good productivity and it stays compact under lights.

For flavor, the best is Inkspot of the ones I've tried so far. But it tries to get get a little taller than I like under lights and it isn't quite as productive as Vilma.

I'm growing Pinocchio Orange this year and it has a lot of similarities to Vilma so far. I haven't had a ripe one yet, but I've heard good things about the taste.

Thank you will have a look into those. Trying to get my "hothouse" sorted as our winters do get quite cold (not snow cold but teeth are still rattling) and we get a lot of black frost which annihilates most things.

Check out Bunnyhop seeds to get a look at the world of micros although I don't know if they ship to South Africa. At least you can get a good idea of what micros are about.

https://heritageseedmarket.com/index.ph ... -tomatoes/

I'm sure all of us who grow them have our favorites. I like Jochalos (gold), Pinocchio Orange, Red Robin and Lille Lise for starters but that can change as I try new ones received in the MMMM swap!

What are S. Africa's policies about incoming mail containing seeds? If not friendly,at least once you know what you're looking for you might search for seed sources locally.

Locally Micro's aren't really a thing except for one or two perhaps. I have ordered quite a bit from overseas and generally have had no issues.

[wykvlvr]

Bunnyhop Seeds as mentioned has a large inventory of micros as does Renaissance Farms https://renaissancefarms.org/ Forgotten Heirlooms https://forgottenheirlooms.com/] has a few including some not listed with the other two. Baker Creek has a couple in stock but there is a brand new release they will be handling later this year. These companies are all in the US.

Secret Seed Cartel https://secretseedcartel.com/ is based in France and has some. Croatian Seed Cartel https://secretseedcartel.com/product-ca ... ro-dwarfs/ has a few and is in Croatia as the name implies. Not sure if either of those will ship to you but it may be worthwhile contacting them to ask. Besides the micro dwarfs both have a very nice selection of normal and dwarf project tomatoes.

[GoDawgs]

@AcerRubrum, thanks for that tip about Vilma and Inkspot. I have both of those now and they'll be next up.

I spent a lot of time today on the spread and made good progress...78% complete. I need some input on Shape vs Type. Am I correct in thinking shape would be oblate, round, globe etc and type would be cherry, beefsteak, slicer, paste, etc? Or should I add a Use column for fresh eating, canning, drying, etc? Some of the latter I have in a remarks column but maybe they need their own column and save Remarks for things like flavor characteristics, particular cultural needs, etc.

Colors... like taste, color is always in the eye of the beholder. You get four people describing the color of a particular tomato and you get four different descriptions of "red". Pinkish red, reddish pink, dusky red, brick red, etc etc etc. How should I list them so that the list can be sortable by color and yet retain the nuance of shading? Maybe something like "red, dusky" or red (dusky)? And how to translate "mahogany brown". Maybe list striped tomatoes as bicolor and put the colors in the Remarks column? Gah!

Taste, another description abyss like color. Since everyone promoting a tomato thinks their listing is outstanding, wonderful, old fashioned, rich, unique, etc I'm tempted to skip taste unless it really is something different that needs to be known like low acid, extremely sweet or very tart.

Am I opening a discussionary can of worms? LOL! I guess we'll see.

A little background. I worked at a large woody ornamental production nursery for 18 years and at times worked on updating the catalog description database so I know how hard it is to come up with original descriptive text. Everybody in the trade borrows phrases or rephrases them so that they're a bit different. I'm also a data and spreadsheet junkie so sometimes I admit needlessly obsessing over stuff like this. I just want to get it as close to right as I can. So any suggestions will be gladly received. You won't hurt my feelings any!

[MissS]

Both Secret Seed Cartel and Croatian Seeds are shipping to the USA. I have ordered from both within the past two months and seeds arrived just fine.

There was a error in the link in post #13 the link for Croatian Seeds is here: https://croatianseeds-store.com/index.php

[Tormahto]

@AcerRubrum, thanks for that tip about Vilma and Inkspot. I have both of those now and they'll be next up.

I spent a lot of time today on the spread and made good progress...78% complete. I need some input on Shape vs Type. Am I correct in thinking shape would be oblate, round, globe etc and type would be cherry, beefsteak, slicer, paste, etc? Or should I add a Use column for fresh eating, canning, drying, etc? Some of the latter I have in a remarks column but maybe they need their own column and save Remarks for things like flavor characteristics, particular cultural needs, etc.

Colors... like taste, color is always in the eye of the beholder. You get four people describing the color of a particular tomato and you get four different descriptions of "red". Pinkish red, reddish pink, dusky red, brick red, etc etc etc. How should I list them so that the list can be sortable by color and yet retain the nuance of shading? Maybe something like "red, dusky" or red (dusky)? And how to translate "mahogany brown". Maybe list striped tomatoes as bicolor and put the colors in the Remarks column? Gah!

Taste, another description abyss like color. Since everyone promoting a tomato thinks their listing is outstanding, wonderful, old fashioned, rich, unique, etc I'm tempted to skip taste unless it really is something different that needs to be known like low acid, extremely sweet or very tart.

Am I opening a discussionary can of worms? LOL! I guess we'll see.

A little background. I worked at a large woody ornamental production nursery for 18 years and at times worked on updating the catalog description database so I know how hard it is to come up with original descriptive text. Everybody in the trade borrows phrases or rephrases them so that they're a bit different. I'm also a data and spreadsheet junkie so sometimes I admit needlessly obsessing over stuff like this. I just want to get it as close to right as I can. So any suggestions will be gladly received. You won't hurt my feelings any!

Do a bit of research on how others describe tomatoes, and write all of the terms down. Then just like gardening, to get productive there needs to be some weeding. For colors, I recommend sticking with the basics for the vast majority of tomatoes, like: black, bi-color, blue, gold (between "real" yellow and orange), green, orange, pink, red, striped listing background and stripe colors (should never be confused with bi-color), white, etc...

A more detailed description of these basics can come at a later time. And, there are some unique tomatoes that likely should be described in their own way. I do not recommend ever describing a tomato as pinkish red or reddish pink, as this will confuse people as to whether it is a pink (clear skin) or red (yellow skin) variety.

Shape or type? I consider globe a type, where the largest saladette size ends, and then larger. The largest saladette will be a globe, though, to some.

Original descriptive text would be fine for taste, and for a few uniquely colored varieties.

For plant type: determinate, indeterminate, dwarf determinate, dwarf (Project) indeterminate, micro dwarf, etc...back to basics. For fruit shape, mostly basics, although pleated or ribbed, pear or piriform, are interchangeable.

Leaf type, basics.

Maybe some year I'll write all of this stuff down. For now, I keep it in my head.

I follow a formula of plant type, leaf shape, fruit color, fruit type as the beginning basics, somewhat abbreviated...

An example would be...
Ind, PL, pink, beefsteak.

Or...
Det, RL, red, saladette, 55 DTM (I generally only add DTMs for the earliest varieties)

Or...
Ind, RL, black, beefsteak, hideously foul (I rarely add flavor descriptions, as taste can change from year to year)

[GoDawgs]

@Tormato, thanks for that help. I'll do some rethinking/reorganizating.

I just did a check of the newly seeded micros and see that the first two, Mohamed and Pigmy, were born last night!

[Tormahto]

One of the MMMM participants, from a few years ago, abbreviated all descriptions, expecting me to figure them out, I guess.

Typical ones would be...

I, RL, R, H
(indeterminate, regular leaf, red, heart)

or ...

I, PL, P, BS

I don't recommend going that far.

[GoDawgs]

I've been using: regular, reg. rugose, potato, pot. rugose for foliage. And there are a couple of "reg. wispy". Also: det, semi det, indet in that column.

[GoDawgs]

Welcome to the world, Florida Petite, Monteka and Venus, who were born today! There's just one more micro I'm waiting on and that's Baby. Maybe that Baby will be delivered tonight or tomorrow!

I put two seeds in each small pot and so far both seeds germinated in two of the five that are up.