I am hoping I can actually grow some and then decide how to treat them... I was not sure how they would do in our climate but now I feel like I really need to try and get seeds as well as grow some just for people to try...

@ponyexpress Ask Tormato for the seeds. They are yours for the asking.

I am growing Prairie Star as I do every year. Here's how I got to know of this tomato. It was several years ago and I grew out some BKX from Terry at SSC. The plant produced as advertised. Nice Black Krim PL. I saved seeds. I sent seeds to Martin in a massive swap. Martin grew them out and informed me that the seeds I sent to him were producing an outstanding large Bi-Color in both RL and PL types. Martin listed the tomato in SSE under my wife's name as the seed source. I grew no bi-colors that year thus reducing the risk of a seed saving error on my part. I grew out several plants from the same batch of seeds that I had sent to Martin and got the same results as Martin. I have been growing this out for several years now, have seen some variability and I agree that the RL large fruited variant is the best. I am saving seeds again for it this year and will make them available this fall. The apparent cross is a very nice tomato indeed!

@Magic_Mike Thank you so much for sharing that fun story about Prairie Star. Martin really seemed to like that tomato and was quite proud of it too. I will look forward to your offer this coming fall.

How is everyone doing with their seeds? I planted them all and do not have any ripe tomatoes yet of course but the plants look different than what I usually grow.

The Wisconsin 55 both red and yellow have a very bushy look and the branches grow long and then curl over. Plants look healthy but short and curly.

'Swoon is very wilty looking but it keeps growing and does not seem to have any disease or insect problems. It does have small tomatoes but the plant looks very weak and wilty.

Is this normal? What is everyone else seeing?

brownrexx wrote: ↑Sat Jul 02, 2022 7:46 am How is everyone doing with their seeds? I planted them all and do not have any ripe tomatoes yet of course but the plants look different than what I usually grow.

The Wisconsin 55 both red and yellow have a very bushy look and the branches grow long and then curl over. Plants look healthy but short and curly.

'Swoon is very wilty looking but it keeps growing and does not seem to have any disease or insect problems. It does have small tomatoes but the plant looks very weak and wilty.

Is this normal? What is everyone else seeing?

Swoon should be a PL. Like the few PL hearts that I've seen, the plant is very sparse in the amount of branches and leaves. But, the PL hearts are usually not wilty/droopy like most RL heart plants.

It is a PL and very sparse like you said but I think that it seems droopy although there is no obvious disease or insect activity. It did have some aphids initially but I got rid of those with Neem. There are some nice tomatoes forming even though the plant looks weak. Time will tell with this one I guess.

@Tormato my Swoon plant still looks sparse and wilty droopy at the top of the plant but I have finally gotten some ripe tomatoes and they have a very good taste. I really like them. Thanks for the seeds!

I'll have about 300 Wisconsin 55 seeds to send for MMMM.

I picked my first Wisconsin 55 Gold last night and it is a beautiful tomato with a very nice taste. I thought of Paquebot as we tried it.

I have both Wisconsin 55 (from my old seeds) and Wisconsin 55 Gold (seeds I purchased this year from SSC) growing in the greenhouse.

Last week I picked first ripe Wisconsin 55 Gold and it was so good on a sandwich. The plants are not the most productive in the greenhouse, but the fruit are all nice size and healthy looking. Next year I may try growing it outdoors, since the plants have stayed quite short.
Two year ago Martin sent me some Martin's Heirloom garlic bulbils, which unfortunately were squished in mail. I was able to salvage some bulbils and grow those and now I have four pea size and one a bit bigger round grown from those. These are now a well guarded treasure and hopefully the big one will produce a divided bulb and more bulbils next season. The small ones will still need one more season of careful container growing to fatten them up. I promised to Martin that if I get this garlic variety growing, I will forward his gift to me and share the bulbils with other gardeners in Finland. Since many Finnish home growers like to have Finnish names for garlic, I have thought to call this garlic Martin Lahja (Martin's Gift) and ask that everyone who grows it, will give the bulbils to other growers without requiring any kind of compensation in honor of Martin.

Sari

@svalli I love your name and thoughtfulness for Martin's garlic. He would have loved that.

We liked the Wisconsin Gold better than the Red one but both were grown outside and they stayed short and very compact. I grew them in tomato cages and the Gold plant was so dense that I didn't even see the first ripe tomatoes for a while since the foliage was so full. My Gold fruits were slightly bigger than the one in your photo but they are nice and round with no blemishes or cracks.

brownrexx wrote: ↑Tue Aug 09, 2022 7:50 am My Gold fruits were slightly bigger than the one in your photo but they are nice and round with no blemishes or cracks.

That first one was smaller than the green ones on the plants. Some of them have just started to change color and I am checking them every day to get them perfectly ripe.

@svalli Your name for Martin's Garlic is very thoughtful and a nice tribute to Martin. It shows much appreciation. However one should never take it upon themselves to rename something that it's originator has already named it. This garlic is already in circulation by the name that Martin gave it. We also have the curator of Martin's collection as a member here on the forum. She is busy growing out his seeds and bulbs so that she can continue sharing them. She will not be changing any names. If you change it then there will be two names for the same variety out in circulation. The only person that should be able to change a name is the person who named it in the first place. Continuing without compensation is a wonderful tribute all on it's own!

MissS wrote: ↑Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:31 pm @svalli Your name for Martin's Garlic is very thoughtful and a nice tribute to Martin. It shows much appreciation. However one should never take it upon themselves to rename something that it's originator has already named it. This garlic is already in circulation by the name that Martin gave it. We also have the curator of Martin's collection as a member here on the forum. She is busy growing out his seeds and bulbs so that she can continue sharing them. She will not be changing any names. If you change it then there will be two names for the same variety out in circulation. The only person that should be able to change a name is the person who named it in the first place. Continuing without compensation is a wonderful tribute all on it's own!

I know your concern about renaming varieties, which happens a lot with tomatoes and also with garlic. My intention is not to make the original variety name and its history unknown. I want people who get the bulbils and possibly cloves for planting in Finland to understand that this variety was a gift and Martin personally asked me to share the variety to other gardeners in Finland. My concern is that someone will start selling the planting material and trying to profit from something, which was meant to be shared. Filaree and some other places sell the Martin's Heirloom and even getting their garlic to EU is difficult, I know that it has happened and then the person who buys those can sell his/her harvest, but I do not want the planting material grown from what Martin generously sent to me sold. I know that renaming does not prevent cunning people from trying to profit from it, because they can always use the original name or rename it totally. I do still have at least a year or two before I can share any bulbils, if I am successful with the five rounds, so I have time to think how should I make sure that the chain of sharing without any compensation is kept going.

Sari

@svalli, Sari, I too received some bulbils from Martin, as well as some bulbs and grew them the last couple of years. This year I dug up some rounds that I will plant in the Fall, as well as a bunch of cloves from the bulbs he sent. I am sure that Martin would be pleased with giving his garlic a Finnish name, which in no way would diminish interest in Martins Heirloom garlic here in the states. And if you want some more bulbils, I have quite a few that I saved this year.

And pasted below is an interesting post from the Homesteading Forum that I found when I was searching for something else. Paquebot mentions how he acquired his name that he used to post on many forums.

"Paquebot refers to mail which is posted on board a merchant ship while on the high seas. That mail would have used the postage stamps of wherever the ship was registered. When it is placed ashore at the next port, the mail is accepted and given a special Paquebot postmark or marking. It is the only time that postage of one country is legal to use in another. I collected such mail for many years and have a collection of perhaps 50,000 covers/envelopes. A friend and his wife are coming from England on 1 April carrying suitcases inside suitcases. It is hoped that they will go back home with at least 10,000 of them for disposal through the TPO & Seapost Society."
www.tpo-seapost.org.uk

I think that the Wisconsin 55 Gold is my favorite tomato this year. It started ripening later than my other tomatoes but the flavor is really good. It is slightly sweet and just a beautiful color.

DH asked me to make a pasta sauce with it because he thought that it would be pretty and it was. I posted this picture on the What's Cooking thread but I wanted to make sure that other Wisconsin 55 Gold growers saw it so I am also posting it here.

Wisconsin 55 Gold Sauce by Brownrexx, on Flickr