Five Star Grape Tomato Grow and Taste Report
May 17, 2018 16:42:51 GMT -5
keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) likes this
Post by meizzwang on May 17, 2018 16:42:51 GMT -5
Scoured the internet, and couldn't find any grow reports on this variety, so I thought I'd start a thread! Feel free to add your experience to this thread, good, bad, or ugly.
The following grow report was based on plants grown outdoors in Northern California (zone 9b):
GROW REPORT:
Seed germination: 10/10 (source: Johnny's seeds, 15 seeds per packet, acquired 2017) Given this small sample size, there were relatively quite a few runts, only the 2 most vigorous plants were selected to grow out. however, it's hard to judge what is a runt and what isn't unless you grow them all out, I just didn't have the space to experiment with "iffy" plants.
Vigor:Interestingly, these were very slow to start, even when "grown for Jesus" under lights and select the best of the best individuals. However, once the plants were hardened off outdoors and were established in the ground, they grew well and fast. Despite having crappy, amended gravely soil, they didn't seem to care-these plants thrived! As an aside, they certainly don't "behave" like an F1, although the packet states these are F1's. I suspect either the parents are very closely related, or this may breed true from seed. Only way to find out is to grow selfed seeds (yes, I have a lot of them saved in cold storage).
Production: Decent! Not extreme like Juliet, but consistently produced from late July all the way till December! I was harvesting once a week for several months straight, and it was an absolute joy! Indeterminate, so it keeps producing until something kills it. Speaking of which, most tomato plants were completely dead by December, but 5 star grape and the galapagos island tomato (S. cheesmanii hybrid) kept going! I suspect S. habrochaites, chilense, or peruvanium is in this line (immature fruit under extreme stress have a green line on the exterior of the fruit).
Early or late production? I'd say middle of the road. Seems to have taken forever to get the first ripe fruit (close to 120 days after planting), but that could have also been caused by environmental factors.
Disease Resistance:Excellent! Got grey mold and shook it off, whereas many heirloom and even other disease resistant varieties perished. Not sure about resistance to late blight though, I didn't see any of it when this crop was grown.
Soil: grown in very poor quality gravel-based soil that was highly amended with organic matter. Despite the crappy soil, plants did very well.
Water: Deep watered once a week, and then cut back to once every 1.2-2 weeks after production started. By end of September, the plants received no irrigation for a good 2 months until the rains started. These are relatively crack resistant, but like most tomatoes, if you over water or have a lot of rain, they will eventually crack.
Easy or Difficult to Grow? Compared to Rose or Cherokee Purple(heirlooms), this is a relatively easy variety to grow, but I can't say how these would do in climates where it rains a lot. It's practically a desert where I am (Mediterranean climate), so it doesn't rain at all during most of the grow season.
Here's 5 star grape (1st plant in the foreground) in the middle of July, when the first fruit started ripening:
Some developing fruit:
TASTE REPORT:
Appearance: like a standard red grape tomato, although maybe slightly pear shaped (see pics above)
Ripeness: Peak ripeness seems to be maybe 2-3 weeks after the fruit have turned red. You definitely want to let these hang on the vine for a seemingly long time, the quality seems to keep getting better! Of course, if you go too long, they'll get wrinkly and mushy, but that's maybe if you let them hang for more than a month.
Texture: Crunchy and juicy! Neither thick nor thin skinned, just perfect!
Sweetness: If you like sweet, this is the tomato for you! Sugar content was perceived as being very high! However, optimal sweetness was only achieved when day temperatures were approx. 78F or higher. When we had weeks of "luke cold" weather , even when the fruit hung on the vine for 2-3 weeks after turning red, the fruit weren't very sweet, but they weren't sour either...they were still pretty decent!
Acidity: Seems almost sub-acid to me. They're not crazy sour when under-ripe like most tomatoes, and at peak ripeness, they can get heavenly sweet! It doesn't seem to have much complexity to the flavor overall. If you like low acid, high sugar content, this is the variety for you!
Rating: 9.8/10! All things considered, hats off the very best tomato variety I've EVER grown so far! This may not be the case after the end of this year, but it holds true for now. The high rating also takes into account ease of growth, productivity, and many others' opinions after they sampled my tomatoes. Co-workers and multiple friends favored 5 star grape over the 9 other varieties that I grew at the same time. Only reason Sungold F1 doesn't beat this variety is because right at peak production, late blight killed the plant within a week, rendering 10-20 or so lbs of fruit inedible. 5 star grape, on the other hand, seems to have sufficient disease resistance to produce and keep on going even when the weather got cooler...I was still harvesting tomatoes in December, and they still were palatable! Maybe we got lucky on the weather, or maybe it's the variety, I don't know! However, I cloned this exact plant, over-wintered it under lights, and will put them in the ground in the next few days! Updates to come in the future!
The following grow report was based on plants grown outdoors in Northern California (zone 9b):
GROW REPORT:
Seed germination: 10/10 (source: Johnny's seeds, 15 seeds per packet, acquired 2017) Given this small sample size, there were relatively quite a few runts, only the 2 most vigorous plants were selected to grow out. however, it's hard to judge what is a runt and what isn't unless you grow them all out, I just didn't have the space to experiment with "iffy" plants.
Vigor:Interestingly, these were very slow to start, even when "grown for Jesus" under lights and select the best of the best individuals. However, once the plants were hardened off outdoors and were established in the ground, they grew well and fast. Despite having crappy, amended gravely soil, they didn't seem to care-these plants thrived! As an aside, they certainly don't "behave" like an F1, although the packet states these are F1's. I suspect either the parents are very closely related, or this may breed true from seed. Only way to find out is to grow selfed seeds (yes, I have a lot of them saved in cold storage).
Production: Decent! Not extreme like Juliet, but consistently produced from late July all the way till December! I was harvesting once a week for several months straight, and it was an absolute joy! Indeterminate, so it keeps producing until something kills it. Speaking of which, most tomato plants were completely dead by December, but 5 star grape and the galapagos island tomato (S. cheesmanii hybrid) kept going! I suspect S. habrochaites, chilense, or peruvanium is in this line (immature fruit under extreme stress have a green line on the exterior of the fruit).
Early or late production? I'd say middle of the road. Seems to have taken forever to get the first ripe fruit (close to 120 days after planting), but that could have also been caused by environmental factors.
Disease Resistance:Excellent! Got grey mold and shook it off, whereas many heirloom and even other disease resistant varieties perished. Not sure about resistance to late blight though, I didn't see any of it when this crop was grown.
Soil: grown in very poor quality gravel-based soil that was highly amended with organic matter. Despite the crappy soil, plants did very well.
Water: Deep watered once a week, and then cut back to once every 1.2-2 weeks after production started. By end of September, the plants received no irrigation for a good 2 months until the rains started. These are relatively crack resistant, but like most tomatoes, if you over water or have a lot of rain, they will eventually crack.
Easy or Difficult to Grow? Compared to Rose or Cherokee Purple(heirlooms), this is a relatively easy variety to grow, but I can't say how these would do in climates where it rains a lot. It's practically a desert where I am (Mediterranean climate), so it doesn't rain at all during most of the grow season.
Here's 5 star grape (1st plant in the foreground) in the middle of July, when the first fruit started ripening:
Some developing fruit:
TASTE REPORT:
Appearance: like a standard red grape tomato, although maybe slightly pear shaped (see pics above)
Ripeness: Peak ripeness seems to be maybe 2-3 weeks after the fruit have turned red. You definitely want to let these hang on the vine for a seemingly long time, the quality seems to keep getting better! Of course, if you go too long, they'll get wrinkly and mushy, but that's maybe if you let them hang for more than a month.
Texture: Crunchy and juicy! Neither thick nor thin skinned, just perfect!
Sweetness: If you like sweet, this is the tomato for you! Sugar content was perceived as being very high! However, optimal sweetness was only achieved when day temperatures were approx. 78F or higher. When we had weeks of "luke cold" weather , even when the fruit hung on the vine for 2-3 weeks after turning red, the fruit weren't very sweet, but they weren't sour either...they were still pretty decent!
Acidity: Seems almost sub-acid to me. They're not crazy sour when under-ripe like most tomatoes, and at peak ripeness, they can get heavenly sweet! It doesn't seem to have much complexity to the flavor overall. If you like low acid, high sugar content, this is the variety for you!
Rating: 9.8/10! All things considered, hats off the very best tomato variety I've EVER grown so far! This may not be the case after the end of this year, but it holds true for now. The high rating also takes into account ease of growth, productivity, and many others' opinions after they sampled my tomatoes. Co-workers and multiple friends favored 5 star grape over the 9 other varieties that I grew at the same time. Only reason Sungold F1 doesn't beat this variety is because right at peak production, late blight killed the plant within a week, rendering 10-20 or so lbs of fruit inedible. 5 star grape, on the other hand, seems to have sufficient disease resistance to produce and keep on going even when the weather got cooler...I was still harvesting tomatoes in December, and they still were palatable! Maybe we got lucky on the weather, or maybe it's the variety, I don't know! However, I cloned this exact plant, over-wintered it under lights, and will put them in the ground in the next few days! Updates to come in the future!