The Yellow Perfection variety is doing very well. Multitudes of flowers and fruit is just starting to set. The plants themselves are scraggly looking, but otherwise healthy. I have 2 in pots and one in the ground. The one in the ground was chewed in half by a critter, but it just grew along the ground when I covered the stalk over with dirt. Hardy little guy. Now it has a few flowers, but think it will eventually catch up with it’s potted fellow yellows. In pots, they are gonna be hard to stake, as I think their viny nature will make them quite tall. I may have to harvest them while standing on a step ladder.
The Estiva variety is also hardy, and also scraggly looking, but producing nicely. Woodpeckers like the Estiva best, and I really don’t understand what the attraction is. The estiva is a red tomato, but it isn’t red yet. They have their reasons I guess. Must admit, I have always liked the red tomato better than yellow or orange, but if it’s home grown, I’ll eat any of them and be grateful for it. The Estiva has some characteristics that make it a comical plant to grow. It wants to “run” along the ground, which makes staking it interesting. I staked one branch that was growing straight out horizontal away from it’s main trunk, only to find a week later, it was growing horizontal from the stake. This made me think that I may have done better if I had tied it along a chain link fence, where I’d be able to tie it horizontally to keep it off the ground. Don’t you think that might look a bit like grape plants do?
Both seem healthy enough, they were both planted at the same time and are roughly the same size and both producing nicely shaped and sized fruit, but the yellow perfection has three to 4 times the flowers that the Estiva has. I planted 7 plants, (4 red and 3 yellow), thinking I might lose some. If they all reach harvest together, I’ll be in tomato heaven by Thanksgiving. My only question for now is, how many tomato recipes do I have at ready, or should I plant a bunch more lettuce?
ps. I tried to load a picture, but it took up too much room, so until I figure that out you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Last update of the year for the heirlooms. The Yellow Perfection is producing multitudes and maturing plenty every day. The potted ones didn’t do as well as the one in the ground. They fell over with the wind and were difficult to keep staked, and eventually the cold nights took their toll. I harvested everyone of them and they are all over the kitchen counter (maturing inside). They do taste great. The one in the ground puts out much larger fruit and is not so suseptible to trauma, and it is about 4′ tall…still producing.
The Estiva variety is 5′ tall, and putting out large fruit (I can only fit 1 in my hand), heavy producer, but slow maturing. It is almost January and they are maturing at the rate of about 2 per day, and they do crack, but they don’t have any disease thus far, and taste is so much better than the ones I would have to buy. I decided just this week to pinch off any flowers that haven’t made tomatoes yet, to see if that forces them to mature faster. They are gonna be good & plenty WHEN they finally ripen. I do have Christmas lights all over them and cover them when a freeze is emminent. It looks like a lighted jungle out there. It is actually my winter wonderland…..
The heirlooms were a wonderful success. Loved the Estiva the best. It was truly a heavy producer, and I still have tomaoes maturing on my kitchen counter. The slow producing thing turned out to be wonderful for our mild winter. Worth the effort of the multitude of stakes I needed to contain them. I weighed one to be 8 oz.
Pinching off the flowers did allow the plant to focus it’s energy on maturing the tomatoes. I’ll remember that for later use.
The Yello Perfection was hardy and produced well, but it was sweeter and milder than red tomatoes. I prefer the stronger flavor in the reds, but yellows have their place.