Silvery Fir Tree

[sammyqc]

Anyone have experience growing this? Just wondering if it's worth it, or is more for the novelty? I've thought about trying it, but just wanted some opinions before I use up valuable space. Maybe I should grow it in an ornamental bed, as a pretty bedding plant or has anyone gotten good production? Tasty 'maters? TIA

[jtcm05]

Definitely more of a novelty IMO sammy. Production was OK. Fruit taste was not great. The foliage was the best part of the plant, but even that got hit hard by disease the year I grew it. I've heard others comment about it's susceptibility to foliage disease as well. Did well in a 5 gallon container. Deter. 3-4' plant, 2-4 oz red, oblate fruit. I have plenty of seed if you'd like some.

[sandbar]

Small leaves ... is this a late season variety?

[sandbar]

Oh, and what about problems with sun-scald?

[jtcm05]

Sorry. Should have mentioned that. Its very early. Sun-scald i really cant comment about in my neck of the woods. Not usually a problem here.

[PapaVic]

Sammy and Sandbar,

I grew Silvery Fir Tree in 2006 and agree with JayTee ... it's a curiosity and a novelty. However, it will put on a load of tomatoes, which is a good thing as it is susceptible to blossom end rot (BER) when grown in pots or when you cultivate too close to the roots, which apparently like to spread widely and beyond the dripline.

Okay ... I grew a couple in 5-gallon containers and if you let them get the least bit dried out or they get overheated because the containers are black and exposed to the sun, you'll see a lot of BER. I also had two SFTs in the seed garden in direct sunlight all day long right in the hot shallow, clay loam soil. Yeah, it was hot and dry that summer. Again, maybe 25 - 30% BER. May have something to do with my cultivation practices, but it only affected a couple of other plants out of 60 plants.

Sunscald question: Okay ... I had two Pixie Peach plants right next to the two Silvery Fir Tree plants in the seed garden. When the Pixie Peach got loaded down, the branches spread and fell, the canopies opened up, and they got almost 75% sunscald. But the Silvery Fir Trees right next to them got zero sunscald. I attribute this to the very rigid and dense branching characteristics of SFT which in spite of the ferny leaf shapes, puts on a substantial growth of foliage overall.

Disease: Well the ones in pots went down to some sort of foliage disorder after putting on and ripening quite an impressive load of 2 - 3" diameter, very flattened, slighty scalloped tomatoes. There were still a load of greenies on the vine when the plant began looking pitiful. But then I've had the same thing happen to other dwarf determinates like Lime Green Salad, and with a little care, they will last 'til frost regardless of how pathetic they end up looking. Just one more reason to grow them in pots or ornamental beds ... so you can dispose of them in a rotation.

Bottom line: Yes I would grow SFT as a novelty, but I would put it in containers or ornamental bed as a curiosity ... certainly not a production tomato to count on for a slicer or canner. Kinda like Stick.

Bill

[jtcm05]

billpapavic said:

Kinda like Stick.

I actually LIKED the flavor of stick! Will probably grow it every year as you can just throw it in the corner of a bed. Needs no room at all. Its a better novelty than SFT in my opinion.

[PapaVic]

Let me show you a couple of SFTs in pots:
s65.photobucket.com/albums/h212/PapaVic1948/?action=view¤t=MVC-008S-1.jpg
... and this one:
s65.photobucket.com/albums/h212/PapaVic1948/?action=view¤t=MVC-007S.jpg
Come to think of it, that second picture looks more like a 3 - 4 gallon nursery pot. So if you set them on the ground, maybe you can grow an SFT in a relatively small pot if the roots can grow out the bottom.

Now, about "curiosities," here is another tomato I ran across that has foliage very similar to SFT only even more ferny or carrot top-like, but this tomato grows tall, erect, indeterminate, not extremely branching, and makes grape shaped cherries:
s65.photobucket.com/albums/h212/PapaVic1948/?action=view¤t=MVC-027S-1.jpg
... and here is the fruit size and shapes:
s65.photobucket.com/albums/h212/PapaVic1948/?action=view¤t=MVC-024S-3.jpg
I listed that tomato in the 2007 SSE Yearbook as "Queen Anne's Lace" as I tried in vain to identify it and found no other leaf shapes and growth habits that matched.

Those are the only two tomato varieties I've ever grown with those particular ferny leaf shapes. Very curious and novel.

Bill

[Alan]

Very interesting leaf shape and genetics. I grew stick last year as a curiosity, it actually did quite well planted out in the field, but really in my mind is still just a novelty.


I wonder if Tom Wagner has done any work with these leaf shapes or if he has worked with stick for example and what the segragates look like or what experience he has with them, maybe he will see this post and comment.

[sammyqc]

Hmmn, thanks for the replies. Now I really don't know if I should just give it a pass or put it in a perennial bed? Decisions, decisions!

[sandbar]

PapaVic, thanks for the input and pics. Very helpful!

[tatermater]

I wonder if Tom Wagner has done any work with these leaf shapes or if he has worked with stick for example and what the segragates look like or what experience he has with them, maybe he will see this post and comment.

Of course I have.

Silvery Fir Tree green flesh

Silvery Fir Tree Potato leaf

Silvery Fir Tree Woolly leaf

Silvery Fir Tree hybrids of all sorts

I would have to look thru too many notes to see what I have and had done.

One of things I like about Silvery Fir Tree is that some of the creations I have sure don't look like tomatoes anymore!

Tom

[Jim]

Very cool Tom.