Vermont Short & Sweet Tomato Project

[AndrewB]

Very interesting. Curious if any had listed germination rate. Wonder if exerted orange and uluru ochre for example are just fresher seed or if they have a genetic advantage for vigor.

More recently bred varieties might have more genome diversity and may still have some amount of hybrid vigor. But hard to know for sure.

[Steph S]

The difference in germination rate is pretty dramatic per your photos, but I wouldn't take it to heart as a judgment on variety.
There are too many factors that can affect germination rate.  Maturity at saving time.  How dry the seeds got.  Those are the two big ones I can think of, that vary the germination rate.

Another question is seed dormancy and reluctance to germinate in specific conditions, which would be more of a genetic thing.   It is genetically advantageous for seeds to hold off germinating, if they're in an environment where late frosts could kill the young sprouts. 

So consider your seed sources and don't worry too much about variance in germination until you are working with your own saved seeds.  I always expect surprises with seeds from other, various, sources.  It really doesn't necessarily read anything into the future performance of the plant, so don't worry too much.

[William Schlegel]

The seed from me will typically say the year grown in the upper right corner of the packet. I usually don't even bother to check germination rate because once you home save it there is so much of it and germination is typically great. Also if I just want a plant I usually get away with planting only four seeds.

Seed from seed banks or seed trades can sometimes be pretty old. Commercial seed is usually pretty good but as Carol Deppe has explained can be kind of bad and worse than the seed we grow ourselves. Hard to grow bad tomato seed if you let the tomato ripen. Possible to store it too long. Even then it tends to live about 14 years according to Craig Lehoullier. I've got some older seed from 2012 I should maybe plant.

[Cathy A]

Uluru Ochre, Alaska, Glacier, and Siberian Red were bought commercially this season from Tomatofest. All are presumably seeds from 2022 crop.

Sub Arctic Plenty was purchased over the winter from Totally Tomatoes, and is probably from 2022 crop.

Wildling Panamorous was purchased from Forgotten Heirlooms in the current season.

Nevsky was purchased from Adaptive Seeds, current season.

Exserted Orange was purchased from Experimental Farm Network.

Sungold F2 is from my own saved seeds from 2022, grown from locally-purchased Sungold transplants.

Earl's Jagodka (2021), Sweet Cherriette (2021), Mission Mountain Morning x Aztek Blue F2,and Krainy Sever (2017) were supplied by William. (Thanks, William!) 

(William also supplied several other seed types that may be different strains of Jagodka, Exserted Orange, Glacier, Panamorous, etc. but those have not been planted yet.)

Overall, I am very pleased with how things are going so far.

[Cathy A]

Nevsky and Sungold F2 are off to a good start. I'm particularly happy to see that the Sungold F2 seeds, the only seeds I saved myself from last year's crop, germinated well despite my sloppy seed-cleaning techniques.

I see Nevsky as having a lot of potential for a late-season crop, which is a bit different from the core goals of Vermont Short & Sweet, but would be very useful to complement an earlier variety.

Nevsky


Sungold F2
 

[William Schlegel]

I think I grew Nevsky. I liked Krainy Sever best of the early soviet dwarfs.

[Cathy A]

William,

Krainy Sever has had low germination, possibly because it is 2017 seed, but I have one seedling that looks like it will make it to the garden. If I can get some seed from it, I'll keep some and send you some fresh 2023 seed.

[Cathy A]

Planted Olena Ukrainian, Big Hill, and Dwarf Eagle today.

Big Hill did not germinate in previous attempt, trying again.

Olena Ukrainian was not a variety I had originally planned to trial, but I was sent a free packet when I ordered the Uluru Ochre. Olena is described as indeterminate and potato-leafed.

Weather has been so good and most tomato plants started earlier were in such good shape, I was able to start hardening them off outside.

[Cathy A]

I have a few Big Hill coming along now, and a single Olena Ukranian. Dwarf Eagle had high germination and will probably need to be thinned.

Tall plants on left are Big Hill, short ones on right are Dwarf Eagle. Taken 4/28.


A single Krainy Sever is doing extremely well. I am eager to see how it performs in the garden, and compare it to other dwarves. Taken 4/28.


Sub Arctic Plenty is definitely indeterminate. I have grown it before, and I know that it produce medium fruit (larger than cherry, smaller than beefsteak) and does reasonably well here.


Glacier has an odd growth habit. In addition to being the only potato-leafed variety in the trial, it has dropped more stems and leaves than others, and left itself more open. I am used to seeing this behavior outside, but not inside before transplanting. Of course, I started it earlier than I would normally start tomatoes.
Taken 4/28.

[Cathy A]

Uluru Ochre not only has shorter stems, but each individual leaf seems a little smaller than those of most other varieties.

Left was taken on 3/31, right on 4/28.

[Cathy A]

I am watering my tomatoes about once a day, and putting the larger ones on a windowsill during the day to have more room and hopefully more light. (Lots of rainy, cloudy days this time of year.)

The dwarf plants seem to be a little more tolerant of not being watered as regularly. Perhaps they have a higher root-to-leaf ratio.

The variety that appears to be least tolerant of getting a little dry, and quickest to droop, is Exserted Orange. However, it's possible that I forgot to water it once when watering the other plants.

Have other growers noticed more drought tolerance among dwarf tomatoes?

[Cathy A]

I transplanted tomatoes of the first 10 varieties outside today.

Earl's Jagodka
Siberian Red
Glacier
Sweet Cherriette
Alaska
MMR x Aztek F2
Uluru Ochre
Exserted Orange
Nevsky
Sub Arctic Plenty

This is extremely early to transplant tomatoes out, but there is no frost in the weekly forecast, and I can cover them with a row cover if one happens the following week.

I wouldn't be disappointed if I culled a few varieties by discovering they can't handle a light May frost even under a row cover.

Even if I lose all of today's plants, I have more of all 10 varieties still growing inside.

[Cathy A]

I now have one flower on an Uluru Ochre, a Sweet Cherriette, and a Krainy Sever (this last one still inside in a pot!)

This test doesn't have enough controls to state with any certainty that these three are the earliest varieties to flower, but it is partial evidence. The Uluru Ochre were planted well before the Krainy Sever.

I am still getting occasional near-frost conditions.  Next weekend I hope to be able to plant everything out without additional frosts.

I lost one Sub Arctic to a slight frost, even though it had a row cover over it. An Exserted Orange next to it had the leaves on the upper half of the plant scorched, but the plant appears to have survived. The other eight plants took little or no damage.

This is not enough evidence to say that Sub Arctic is less frost-tolerant than other varieties, but it is a possibility. It was certainly vulnerable, even under a row cover.

[AndrewB]

I now have one flower on an Uluru Ochre

This test doesn't have enough controls to state with any certainty that these three are the earliest varieties to flower, but it is partial evidence.

I am still getting occasional near-frost conditions.  Next weekend I hope to be able to plant everything out without additional frosts.

Do you know when Ululru Ochre was planted so you can estimate DTM later?

Our official last frost date is May 20th, but most years we don't even get snow any time in early May.

Around May 10th we usually get either light snow or rain. This year it has been rain. Quite a bit of it too. It helps for tomatoes since I didn't harden them off, so the cool rainy and cloudy weather helps them to adjust a little more gradually.

A few of the early ones planted got a few leaves scorched. Some years it goes from winter to hot summer.

[Cathy A]

Do you know when Ululru Ochre was planted so you can estimate DTM later?

That Uluru Ochre with the flower was seeded 3/3, sprouted 3/8, and transplanted outside 5/5.