[jaydig]

I apologise if I'm intruding on this thread, but just to say that last year I grew Crimson Crush, and was thrilled with the result.  Massive crops, and although they took a touch of blight, they grew through it and continued to produce until well into October.  This year, I have trialled the other blight resistant variety Mountain Magic.  Once again, massive crops of smaller tomatoes than Crimson Crush, about half as big again as a cherry tom.. Good flavour and texture and very early to ripen, even a little sooner than my greenhouse toms.  Having said this, they are now showing signs of blight.  Just a little here and there, and not many fruits affected, but I'll see if they manage to grow through it, and I'll suspend judgement until the end of the season.
I think next year I'll grow some of each.

[victoria park]

Mine are harvesting very well too, with the plants absolutely blooming, apart from the one and only leaf out of fourteen plants that showed tell tale signs, see below. Other outside varieties are still producing, but definitely showing signs of blight, but hanging on in there with a bit of management. Won't last long past another damp period.

Growster, I'm already sold on the resistance of these tomatoes from last year, but what I'm interested in is your second generation seeds you saved. Are they producing acceptable tomatoes reasonably indistinguishable from the other CC seeds purchased this year ?

[sunshineband]

The Gen2 Penguins are succumbing to blight now, whilst the F1 Crimson Crushes are going strong with lots of large fruits... sad but true.

[Growster...]

Victoria, they're turning into huge brutes, and while there are just a few trusses, some are absolutely fabulous!

There are some real cat-faced nasties as well, but as we freeze these, they get a good seeing to to chop out the black bits and also the hard insides.

I'm wondering - after a long discussion with Mrs Growster today, as I dissected a couple of pounds of the blighters, whether we should actually buy some new seed and grow them as nature intended, as some of them are so awful to look at, you wonder why we actually try all these experiments, but there you go! I probably will try and save some seed, but strangely enough, there aren't that many seeds to see amongst the stuff inside!

There are some perfectly shaped ones though, so perhaps just a few might be an idea for next year...

Maybe a dozen or two...

Perhaps this is what Heritage Growing is all about?

[Growster...]

The Gen2 Penguins are succumbing to blight now, whilst the F1 Crimson Crushes are going strong with lots of large fruits... sad but true.

Sunny, is that down on the plots, or at home?

So far, there's no sign of blight here, but that can always change of course!

[sunshineband]

The Gen2 Penguins are succumbing to blight now, whilst the F1 Crimson Crushes are going strong with lots of large fruits... sad but true.

Sunny, is that down on the plots, or at home?

So far, there's no sign of blight here, but that can always change of course!

Down on the plots  Even got it in the big tunnel too     Good test for the plants though, as if they really are blight resistant they'll show that now... or not!!

[Growster...]

Spoke too soon...

We had seven plants (not CC) of varying quality left after all the others had been found homes, and I literally plonked them in on a spare couple of yards some way from the other toms.

They started well, went mad, produced seem quite good fruit, but fell to late blight a couple of days ago...RIP... (although I did nosh a handful of OK ones on the way to the tip, so they weren't wasted...)!

So it was back to the experiment bed. I'll try and explain the pics, which aren't that clear: -

Pic 1) These are CC 'throwbacks', i.e. they're not that fantastic, but hopefully usable.
Pic 2) CC again, before I gave them a good seeing to later on... They're all about half a pound and brutish, but very usable. (Gave them to chums who do organic, as they have never been sprayed with anything).
Pic 3) More CC. Clear and thriving.
Pic 4) Blight on a sacrificial Shirley, with a similar G. Delight next to it, also looking a bit glum. They're both in the middle of a clump of about twelve CC plants.

Lousy pics I know, but recorded for the sake of research...

But the main result is that the CC seem to be doing fine, well, up to lunchtime today! The stems all divided once, and became small tree trunks. The ones at home all did OK, but this year, the greenhouse didn't like the hot June, so any shaded plants elsewhere in the garden have done well - including a CC in each location.

Tough times for 'research' aren't they!

[sunshineband]

Thanks for the pictures there Growster. That pretty much mirrors what we found too.

Our CCs are still thriving, and ripening fruit virtually daily, so next year I shall try a couple of the other resistant varieties as well I think

[Growster...]

I apologise if I'm intruding on this thread, but just to say that last year I grew Crimson Crush, and was thrilled with the result.  Massive crops, and although they took a touch of blight, they grew through it and continued to produce until well into October.  This year, I have trialled the other blight resistant variety Mountain Magic.  Once again, massive crops of smaller tomatoes than Crimson Crush, about half as big again as a cherry tom.. Good flavour and texture and very early to ripen, even a little sooner than my greenhouse toms.  Having said this, they are now showing signs of blight.  Just a little here and there, and not many fruits affected, but I'll see if they manage to grow through it, and I'll suspend judgement until the end of the season.
I think next year I'll grow some of each.

No need to apologise, Jay - you're very welcome to bring your advice!

I'd like to try Mountain Magic now! Are they still OK?

[Growster...]

Thanks for the pictures there Growster. That pretty much mirrors what we found too.

Our CCs are still thriving, and ripening fruit virtually daily, so next year I shall try a couple of the other resistant varieties as well I think

Thanks Sunny!

Just been down there today, and they're still thundering away, with one huge one which I will have to weigh on the bathroom scales (if we had any that is)!

Touch wood and whistle, no sign of blight on them, and we've had a Hutton every day this week. The others all went though...

[jaydig]

Yes, Growster, the Mountain Magic are still going great guns, and producing loads of fruit.  One of the plants did seem to be affected slight by a bit of blight, but I trimmed almost all of the leaves off it, and it now seems to be growing on with no ill effects.  I've lost count of the pounds of tomatoes I've had from the eight plants I put in.
Next year I shall grow half Crimson Crush, and half Mountain Magic, as the tomatoes are very different from each other, in that the CC fruit tends to be quite large, and the Mountain Magic fruit is smaller - something between a cherry and a normal tomato.   These two are the only tomatoes that have ever given me a crop on the plot, as everything else I tried collapsed in black, blighted heaps before I'd even seen a ripe tomato.

[victoria park]

Here's a pic of my crimson crush today. I too have had to pick a few bits off my plants to keep the blight at bay, but by and large they are doing extremely well. Lots of fruit picked and sauced away already. I think the thing I like about these blight resistant tomatoes is I know I'm going to get an outside crop whatever. There's blight all over our site and those that haven't sprayed have lost just about everything, and my outside sungolds have now succumbed.
But no blight on the CC fruit itself whatsoever and still plenty of unaffected leaves, and clean stems, which was my experience last year.

[juvenal]

Crimson Crush continued.

With half the crop ripened and harvested and the other half well on the way I'm giving the thumbs up to CC, despite a few dark patches appearing on stems. I'm removing dodgy leaves as they appear. Considering almost no one else risks tomatoes on my allotments I've had my money's worth and more.

I'll certainly be growing CC next year.

'Four quid for just ten seeds?', I cried
Way back in winter's gloom
'What are they made of - solid gold?'
My curses filled the room

Yet now, my baskets filled with fruit
I praise those folk at Sutton's
Four quid for all these tommies?
Four quid is just shirt buttons!

Crimson Crush, you've done me proud,
The blight holds no more fear
I'll be eating damn tomatoes
Until Boxing Day next year!
 

[Growster...]

Yes, Growster, the Mountain Magic are still going great guns, and producing loads of fruit.  One of the plants did seem to be affected slight by a bit of blight, but I trimmed almost all of the leaves off it, and it now seems to be growing on with no ill effects.  I've lost count of the pounds of tomatoes I've had from the eight plants I put in.
Next year I shall grow half Crimson Crush, and half Mountain Magic, as the tomatoes are very different from each other, in that the CC fruit tends to be quite large, and the Mountain Magic fruit is smaller - something between a cherry and a normal tomato.   These two are the only tomatoes that have ever given me a crop on the plot, as everything else I tried collapsed in black, blighted heaps before I'd even seen a ripe tomato.

Think we/you may have a result here, Jay.

I keep watching our mutated Ninja Crimson Crush, and they keep showing me these huge fruits on misshapen tree trunks with enormous leaves, and saying 'Help yourself'!

The flavour isn't fabulous, but the texture is great, and anyway, compare them with a bland tom from Tesco, and we're well in the lead!

[Growster...]

Crimson Crush continued.

With half the crop ripened and harvested and the other half well on the way I'm giving the thumbs up to CC, despite a few dark patches appearing on stems. I'm removing dodgy leaves as they appear. Considering almost no one else risks tomatoes on my allotments I've had my money's worth and more.

I'll certainly be growing CC next year.

'Four quid for just ten seeds?', I cried
Way back in winter's gloom
'What are they made of - solid gold?'
My curses filled the room

Yet now, my baskets filled with fruit
I praise those folk at Sutton's
Four quid for all these tommies?
Four quid is just shirt buttons!

Crimson Crush, you've done me proud,
The blight holds no more fear
I'll be eating damn tomatoes
Until Boxing Day next year!
 

I'm so pleased to see a poetic inference to our lowly tom...

Toms are great
Toms are us
Toms just grow
Toms do it for us.
Yeah.

(With apologies to Dryden, Shelley, Shakespeare, Mrs Nose-Poultice from No 13, and anyone who knows me...;0)

Juvenal, you've just started a marvellous new thread, and my rather innovative yet - maybe - conservative, thoughtful intervention has started to unleash the proactive rhymes from yesteryear, when all we ever did was...(SHADDUP GROWSTER, THAT'S ENOUGH...) Ed.