Hi folks!

After spending over a YEAR trying to join Tomatoville, I found out about this community yesterday!

I'm in Zone 6b, about 41 degrees N. This is my second season of growing heirloom tomatoes in straw bales. Last year I had 17 varieties in 14 bales. This year I'm upping to 16 bales, but only planting one per bale, as my garden got really crowded last year and I believe I can equal or improve my yield based on some more judicious plant training.

My 2019 season:

• Cherokee Purple
  Black Krim
  Carbon
  Stupice
  Black Cherry
  Jaune Flamme
  Green Zebra
  Cosmonaut Volkov
  Tasty Wine (dwarf)
  Lemon Ice (dwarf)
  Radiator Charlie's ML
  Big Rainbow
  Pineapple
  Japanese Black Trifele,
  Polish (PL)
  Dr. Wyche's Yellow
  Blondkopfchen

My 2020 list, so far:

• Polish Giant (RL)
  BWS
  Cowlick's BW
  Aunt Ginny's Purple
  SOTW
  Dester
  Rebel Yell
  Anna Russian
  Marianna's Peace
  Pruden's Purple
  Kellogg's Breakfast
  Momotaro

I'm trying to pick 3 or 4 more plants for this year, and the choices are tough! I'm still considering African Queen, Oaxacan Jewel, and Gold Medal. I also have access to the following variants of ML: Halladay's, Bicolor, Mullen's, O'Driscoll's, Quisenberry's, and Yellow. What is YOUR favorite variant of Mortgage Lifter?

Looking forward to sharing my pics and experiences with all of you!

P.S. If you see something on this list that I should absolutely grow, please speak up! http://www.rockmeadowfarm.net/Vegetables.html

Welcome to the Junction heirl00m. We are glad to have you here and we have many TV members here that will be glad to help you.

My favorite Mortgage Lifter is Estler's.

Welcome to the Junction

I see in 2019 you grew 3 of my favorite tasting maters-- Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, and Japanese Black Trifele. All 3 will fair well in any blind taste test. But all 3 are crack prone, and lighter producers, than the heavies. PS.. If ya can think of it---give me a report of how Anna Russia stacks up compared to others on that list. I've came close to trying it a dozen times, just never got-yer-done. LOL. I'll be looking for ya pictures.

Welcome to the junction [mention]heirl00m[/mention] Glad you found us.

Welcome, neighbor! I am with Miss S, though, totally an Estler's ML fan.

Welcome! I’m in N. Florida now but gardened in Massachusetts for many years.
Your list looks good. Try a green-when-ripe variety. I’d suggest Emerald Evergreen, Green Bee or Green Giant.

Welcome from Pennsylvania, Heirl00m! I'm growing Stump this year, too.
We have a member here - EdieJ, who is a relative of the Estler (mortgage lifter) family.

Nan

Heirl00m, is that URL your store?

[mention]MissS[/mention], [mention]eyegrotom[/mention], [mention]TomHillbilly[/mention], [mention]AZGardener[/mention], [mention]Sue_CT[/mention], [mention]PlainJane[/mention], [mention]Nan6b[/mention], thank you all for the warm and gracious welcome. I wish I had access to an Estler's ML this season!

Nan6b wrote: ↑Thu Apr 16, 2020 3:59 pm Heirl00m, is that URL your store?

I wish! That's where I'm getting my plants this season, as White Flower Farms Tomato Celebration in mid May was cancelled.

Welcome to the Junction from Down Under

Welcome From Texas

I would add Box Car Willie, Stump of the World, and Brandywine Sudduth. Three of my favorites. Nice to know about that place. One year I had massive plant failures during hardening off and almost didn't get enough heirlooms and had to supplement with store bought plants. There is a fairly good selection there. I have Estler's ML seeds but it looks like you are interested in plants, and honestly for me it s a little late to be starting seeds considering the size I like them to be at plant out. Honestly I don't get all the ML's but not Estler's. Never heard of most of those and I suspect they are not ML at all, but what some people do is attach ML to the name of any tomato for its name recognition to boost sales.

TomHillbilly wrote: ↑Thu Apr 16, 2020 1:13 pm I see in 2019 you grew 3 of my favorite tasting maters-- Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, and Japanese Black Trifele. All 3 will fair well in any blind taste test. But all 3 are crack prone, and lighter producers, than the heavies. PS.. If ya can think of it---give me a report of how Anna Russia stacks up compared to others on that list. I've came close to trying it a dozen times, just never got-yer-done. LOL. I'll be looking for ya pictures.

Both BK and CP were exemplary specimens in terms of fruit size, taste, and vigor--with a slight edge to BK in terms of total yield. JBT had smaller fruit and the flavor profile was not as good as the first two mentioned, but it was 90% or closer. Where JBT distinguished itself was via production. It would grow in clusters of 3-5 fruits, and produced from mid-July through October. Out of all my plants grow last season, JBT was the most consistent. Like a printing press of tomatoes

Sue_CT wrote: ↑Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:09 pm I would add Box Car Willie, Stump of the World, and Brandywine Sudduth. Three of my favorites. Nice to know about that place. One year I had massive plant failures during hardening off and almost didn't get enough heirlooms and had to supplement with store bought plants. There is a fairly good selection there. I have Estler's ML seeds but it looks like you are interested in plants, and honestly for me it s a little late to be starting seeds considering the size I like them to be at plant out. Honestly I don't get all the ML's but not Estler's. Never heard of most of those and I suspect they are not ML at all, but what some people do is attach ML to the name of any tomato for its name recognition to boost sales.

BWS and Stump are on this year's list, thanks to folks like you, [mention]Tormato[/mention], and @b54red! Ya, I was quite concerned when White Flower Farm called off their big sale, so I began searching for heirloom suppliers in the state. Last year I used Carol Miller at http://www.topmostherbfarm.com/, and was pleased with the quality of her plants. However, her list is tiny compared to Rock Meadow Farm.

Next year I hope to start early enough to germinate my own seedlings, so for now I'll have to do with buying plants--I appreciate the seed offer! Fortunately, their selection is deep enough to contain some absolute gems. I am really excited about my choices this season

Edit: you know what's strange? Look at my avatar, at the cluster of small pinks in the top left part. *That's* what my ML produced last season. The taste was A+ and the plant consistently flowered and produced fruit, but they were all large golf balls. I wonder what it actually was.

I don' t know but it doesn't look anything like ML, lol!