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Post by ottawagardener on Nov 9, 2008 15:55:34 GMT -5
My usual proviso: I searched but didn't find this topic but then again, I am sometimes known to be a little blind.
OK...
So anyone want to weigh in on their favourite keeper time tomato? I have only tried 'Winter Keeper' from Mapple Farms and so far I like it. I still have quite a few from a Sept. harvest. They have strong skins, and ripen very slowly from the inside out. The flesh inside being red and the skin being an icy orange colour. They are flavourable if a bit more acidic then the usual vine ripened tomato. Then again, I did pick them pretty much green. I don't know how long they will last but so far I can see having some left in December.
Thoughts? Experiences of different 'keeper' varieties?
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Post by sandbar on Nov 9, 2008 16:14:44 GMT -5
Last year, I had some Long Keeper given to me by a friend. Ate the last one in January. It's taste is about the equivalent to what you get in the supermarket in the winter ... not very exciting, but at least you knew who grew it.
I tried some other varieties this year (would have to look up their names), but didn't have good results with them. The drought we had during July/August beat down on the plants and they were too far from the barn for irrigation. My Long Keepers produced, but the fruit isn't very high quality, so I don't expect them to last as long as last year.
I will try again last year.
I started a thread about keeper tomatoes last year, but I can't find it here ... may have been at TomatoLand. If I locate it, I'll look it up for you ... I even posted a pic of the last Long Keeper before I devoured it in late January.
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Post by PatrickW on Nov 10, 2008 4:46:06 GMT -5
Extremegardener, who just registered here a few days ago and posted on their blog a few months ago about an interesting winterkeeper variety they grow. I think they came from Peters Research originally.
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Post by canadamike on Nov 10, 2008 12:43:08 GMT -5
Grungy and Grunt have many accession of long keeping tomatoes. Yello!!! Grungy! Come in please!!  |
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Post by paquebot on Nov 10, 2008 22:23:16 GMT -5
I grew Long Keeper this year. Didn't find it all that bad when fresh. Kept some for a month and didn't get any better or worse. Last one is still sitting on a garden bench and now frozen solid. However, doesn't look any different than when it was picked 2 months ago. I'll be growing Giraffe next year for comparison.
Martin
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Post by grungy on Nov 11, 2008 1:23:43 GMT -5
Actually several tomatoes will keep for a long time if you store them in a darkened room at around 60F, so we have found. We generally have tomatoes until mid-February. Two of the longest keepers I can think of off the top of my head are Giraffe Abricot, and Red Rock.
Cheers,
Val aka grungy
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Post by ottawagardener on Nov 11, 2008 8:33:39 GMT -5
I love the name 'Giraffe' and 'Red Rock' sounds reassuringly sturdy. Maybe I should try just one other tomato variety this year... just one... I swear just ONE MORE.
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Post by grungy on Nov 11, 2008 8:52:55 GMT -5
There is still a couple of months of planning to go yet. LOL
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Post by sandbar on Nov 21, 2008 23:28:58 GMT -5
Actually, Grunt and Grungy sent me Giraffe Abricot seeds last year. It is a beautiful tomato. I can't vouch for it's storage ability, because I sold all of it at market. It was a very popular tomato with my customers. Good size and georgous appearance.
Will be growing it again this year.
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Post by grunt on Nov 22, 2008 4:49:40 GMT -5
Giraffe Abricot is an extremely good storage variety. The last time we grew them, we harvested the last of them the second week of October, and I hauled out the last of them the last week of June - - - and they had spent the winter in our living room. I can't say that they have the greatest of tastes under those circumstances, but they do store a very long time.
Cheers
Dan
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Post by extremegardener on Nov 23, 2008 11:30:28 GMT -5
Hi all! We've been growing Golden Treasure, developed by Peter's Seed Research for many years, and have had them keep until June from being picked in September. I have a post and pix at www.theextremegardener.com/blog/2008/04/14/tomatoes-for-winter-storage/ . They are less disease resistant than the other tomatoes we grow, and this past lousy wet season they were pretty devastated. We have been saving our own seed for them about 10 years, but this coming year I'm going to grow out new seed from Peters because they've been working on this variety and have far better odds at building up the disease resistance than I can in my amateur's garden. We will definitely keep growing them in spite of the disease problems. The yields are not the hugest either. This variety has some fabulous genetics and I hope more gardeners will work with it and improve it. This year we also trialed Peter's "Ruby Treasure". I'll do a post soon on The Extreme Gardener with pix and all. This is also a good one, though it's for shorter term storage - we're eating them now, and it looks like they'll keep until Solstice, (if we exercise restraint). They also had some disease problems, but we'll definitely keep growing them. |
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Post by extremegardener on Nov 23, 2008 11:41:56 GMT -5
Grunt & Grungy, and Sandbar
How are Giraffe Abricot and Red Rock for disease and yields?
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Post by grungy on Nov 23, 2008 12:12:15 GMT -5
Off hand in our area they are disease free, yield - will have to ask grunt.
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Post by grunt on Nov 23, 2008 20:38:33 GMT -5
Production in both is good, but not phenomenal. I don't recall splits, cracks or BER on either. Giraffe is classed as a determinate, and acts like one regarding branching, but gets very tall, and requires bracing to keep it erect, especially once the fruit starts to size up. Giraffe Abricot  Red Rock  Red Rock would also be a very good one for chunky salsa, as the flesh stays firm. Cheers Dan |
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Post by sandbar on Nov 23, 2008 22:30:38 GMT -5
I have very good production results with Giraffe Abricot this year. I didn't keep track of how much each plant produced, however I was very pleased with the yield from the 4-6 plants I had this year.
I hope to put out around 20 Giraffe Abricots next year.
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