@Uncle_Feist; you's had The Gotch at Mountain Merit and (Radiator) Charlie's Mortgage Lifter; regrettably lost one of the latter and had to replace it with a (groan!) Home Depot Bush Goliath.

The (IMO) the superficially flawless Mountain Merit*** has been a variety that's stored very well the longest for us (Mountain Pride, too), and is usually the last fresh Tomato for season-ending (~Thanksgiving) BLTs.

***Some ripening lakeside in the late summer (08/31/2021) Iron County sun:
The Gotch

@Cornelius_Gotchberg A friend of mine grows MM for market. I've been impressed with its flawlessness beauty and disease resistance for years, but this will be my first time growing it. Really looking forward to delving into its eating and canning qualities as I've only sampled a limited few fruits over the years.

I'm hoping the Radiator Charlie's might spit out a contender for the monster mater contest!

Uncle_Feist wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 9:36 amI'm hoping the Radiator Charlie's might spit out a contender for the monster mater contest!

Good luck! We never had any that were that sizable, but that there combination reddy-purply-pinkish sheen, the well-above-average taste, AND the Marshall Cletis Byles/Radiator Charlie story behind it all, catapulted it into our tough to crack permanent rotation.

How many gosh darn vines did you's plant?

The Gotch

Cornelius_Gotchberg wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 10:55 am

How many gosh darn vines did you's plant?

The Gtoch

I rarely count anything, but I know I have 4 Charlie's and there's probally 150-175 others for canning.

Those Charlie's make a dandy boloney sandwich!

I bought all my maters from the greenhouse but 5 plants.. I keep tryingmatsu express or there other lines and I’m just not happy about the production cause there ain’t any beautiful plant tiny maters that won’t make it .. I’ve decided on 2 that have given 5 tomatoes per plant but nice tomatoes and they were just testers but they gave me Whst I needed so I will put all my effort into those next year because they fruited in time and ripened when we got cold weather and rain they still kept going

maxjohnson wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 3:35 am It has been very rainy so far, but actually this could shape up to one of the best season I have since 2019. And this is planting half of the plants in reused potting mix since it has become expensive. Not sure why but disease pressure have been low so far this year despite the constant rain. One factor could be because of my use of organic bacterial fungicide on the seedlings which build up their defense, but in the past they were hit and miss.

These days I am very suspect when they use the phrase "hottest on record" and it's every year.

Same here with the rain, I think Noah would be jealous of the amount that we have had. Last year was an extremely good year for my tomatoes, so far this year we have done really well other than more foliage disease than normal. I think I can blame that on all the extra rain we have had. I staggered my plantings more than normal this year. Some of the heat tolerant determinants are just starting to bloom. None of the Dwarfs have ripened yet although the early planted ones have lots of fruit.

"Hottest on Record" is a somewhat sore subject with me also. Some weather scientists several years ago were caught manipulating their data, both on land and at sea. The on land temperature sensors are now almost all located in bigger cities or at airports. Concrete and asphalt are always warmer than rural areas. What is sad is that this has cast a cloud over all the honest competent scientists who are just trying to do their best.

The sun has entered the Solar Maximum phase of its cycle, which affects all weather on land and sea. I do worry about the coastal cities with the slowly rising sea levels and the subsiding of the land due mainly to overcrowding, too many people and buildings in too small a space. My niece, a retired airline pilot, is living in her third beachfront home in Miami. Hurricanes got the first two but that didn't dissuade her, she built right back in the same place.

Uncle_Feist wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 11:54 amThose Charlie's make a dandy boloney sandwich!

Already fulfilled yer Braunschweiger Quota for the year...? https://discover.grasslandbeef.com/blog ... schweiger/

The Gotch

I'm growing Mountain Gem and Plum Regal from Randy Gardiner's lines this year. In the circumstances (warm and wet spring with very little sunshine) they are tall and sturdy plants, just starting to branch, and much later to set than my bred on site tomatoes. Mountain Gem has 5 sets at 90 days from seed, compared to my own beefs the Rodney (24 and 21) and Kelly's Island Rumpus F4 (18). Poor old Plum Regal has not opened a flower yet!!! It's been outdoors for some weeks now and has some well formed buds, at least. Jubilee is also later than my tomatoes but has a more compact growth habit, it has 5 sets so far as well, but steadily growing those up as soon as it started to flower. Favorie de Bretagne (bred by Tom Wagner) is super compact with tons and tons of flowers, very healthy looking foliage, and about 30 sets so far, same as my salad sized earlies. Mini Rose (bred at Ottawa Research Station) is a bit of a disappointment, with fewer than 10 sets of very small sized fruit, I'm guessing from tiny flower size, on a large bush. EM Champion hated the greenhouse but is putting on some fruit since moving outdoors. A monstrous large plant with many big clusters of flowers.
Still waiting for any ripe tomatoes of any kind, and for disease conditions to fully strike....

Cornelius_Gotchberg wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2024 7:08 am
Already fulfilled yer Braunschweiger Quota for the year...? https://discover.grasslandbeef.com/blog ... schweiger/

The Gotch

Love the stuff every so often!

@bower very curious to hear how Mountain Gem does for you! It’s on my list for next year.

I've been getting small basket cherries (in my case windowbox grown) Anmore Treasures, and Tumbling Tom Yellow for almost two weeks now, about three Stupice have been picked as well. Just ate three Sungold off the vine yesterday.



My first big tomato to ripen is Flin Flon, have not grown it before, really looking forward to tasting it very soon. But it's an early single, all others on the same plant are small and far behind.



Generally, I would say it is an average to good year for tomatoes here so far. We have stayed in the 70 to mid 80 range, and not much humidity, aside from one dump of 5" rain, we have escaped most of the storms. In fact we could use more rain here. Disease has been limited to lower leaves, easily picked off anyway.

ddsack wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2024 10:18 amGenerally, I would say it is an average to good year for tomatoes here so far. We have stayed in the 70 to mid 80 range, and not much humidity, aside from one dump of 5" rain, we have escaped most of the storms. In fact we could use more rain here. Disease has been limited to lower leaves, easily picked off anyway.

Yer getting Tomatoes like THAT in Northern MN, and I just have three (3) Reddys in Zone 5a-b and @43.0731° N???

Oy gevalt!

The Gotch

Cornelius_Gotchberg wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:21 am Yer getting Tomatoes like THAT in Northern MN, and I just have three (3) Reddys in Zone 5a-b and @43.0731° N???

Oy gevalt!

The Gotch

Yes, but it's A tomato like that -- only one! Although I have a Cherokee Pineapple Pink now that looks like it is breaking color, but I have no idea what color it should end up with.