[shokkyy]

Sadly, I'm already planning seeds for next year. I was thinking of trying this variety of tomato, but I'm a little confused whether it's bush or cordon. T&M has it listed as determinate but Seeds of Italy has it listed as indeterminate. Can anyone help?

[Chuffy]

I've been picking huge quantities of them this year from just six plants. They really are very prolific! They are a bush variety (that's the one that doesn't need pinching out, yes?) and I'd recommend staking them as they tend to fall over as the fruit develops.

[davejg]

I was also thinking of trying these. They are advertised as THE variety for drying, did you grow them outside or under cover?

[shokkyy]

I've been picking huge quantities of them this year from just six plants. They really are very prolific! They are a bush variety (that's the one that doesn't need pinching out, yes?) and I'd recommend staking them as they tend to fall over as the fruit develops.

Where did you buy your seeds from? I'm just wondering if the ones on T&M are a slightly different variety from the ones on SoI. Are they nice to eat fresh, as well as for drying/cooking? I've tried a few Italian seed varieties now, and so far I've been very pleased with all of them. I'm now thinking of trying San Marzano Lungo and Rio Grande for cooking, and Principe plus one of their cherry varieties in baskets for eating/drying. This year I did Roma, which are nice toms that have a very good crop, but so far no sign of any of them turning red, so nothing picked yet. How early did you start yours? I've also had a problem stopping the branches from snapping under the weight of fruit with these toms.

Anyone tried Lilliput, Piccolo Dattero, Tondo Picolo or Red Cherry from SoI? If so, how do they compare to Gartenperle for productivity and taste?

[mumofstig]

I have grown Lilliput in the past and Red Cherry this year, and they make huge bushes, I don't see that they would work in baskets. Mine are in big tubs and in the g/house border
They are both great for yield and good for taste..........not exceptional but good. I can't compare with Gartenperle as I don't remember ever growing those

Personally I always take SoI's advice on whether bush or cordon, as the seeds and advice come direct from Italy  .........nuf said 

[shokkyy]

I have grown Lilliput in the past and Red Cherry this year, and they make huge bushes, I don't see that they would work in baskets. Mine are in big tubs and in the g/house border
They are both great for yield and good for taste..........not exceptional but good. I can't compare with Gartenperle as I don't remember ever growing those

Personally I always take SoI's advice on whether bush or cordon, as the seeds and advice come direct from Italy  .........nuf said 

Well SoI do say that Lilliput is good in baskets. Maybe they have bigger baskets in Italy

Red Cherry they say is for containers and balconies (huh?), but the other two they don't really say anything at all except that they're cherry toms. That's one thing I don't think is very good about SoI, actually, the info on their website is quite poor.

[shokkyy]

I have grown Lilliput in the past and Red Cherry this year, and they make huge bushes, I don't see that they would work in baskets. Mine are in big tubs and in the g/house border
They are both great for yield and good for taste..........not exceptional but good. I can't compare with Gartenperle as I don't remember ever growing those

I dropped an email to SoI about this, and got a very prompt answer. They say that Lilliput and Red Cherry are both suitable for baskets. In fact, he said he grows Red Cherry in baskets himself every year. He wasn't sure about the other two cherries and has passed that question on to Italy, but he'll let me know once he's heard from them. He passed on a very useful little info leaflet listing their tom varieties with a good description of each, plus general advice on growing them. Is there any way I can post this to this list, for other people to see? It's an rtf file.

Every Italian seed I've tried so far has produced a very vigorous, robust plant, so it doesn't surprise me too much that the cherry toms do the same. But maybe they respond to the size of the container, i.e. put them in a basket and they'll stay in it, but put them in a bed or bigger container and they'll grow to fill it. They describe Roma as smallish toms, but I grew those this year and they've produced some very big fruit, but then I bought those seeds from T&M rather than SoI, so maybe they're not exactly the same variety.

[DD.]

You can't actually post the file for others to download, but if you have permission, you could copy/paste the contents into a post.

[Chuffy]

davejg + shokkyy - mine came from the Organic Catalogue. I can't tell you when I started them because I've forgotten, but I would have followed the packet advice and I'm usually impatient, so nearer the start of the season than the end. They were started indoors and then planted outside in a raised bed under a cloche until the weather picked up.

I've been eating them fresh (quite pleasant) and drying them whole in the Aga and bottling them in olive oil. I usually put the range on to the lowest setting and let it tick over while the tomatoes go in the oven. If I'm using the oven to cook I put the tomatoes in the warming oven. They take a good day or two to dry but the flavour does intensify nicely. Lovely in salads with beans and tuna.

[shokkyy]

You can't actually post the file for others to download, but if you have permission, you could copy/paste the contents into a post.

Thanks, DD. I've emailed SoI to ask their permission for publishing.

Chuffy - thanks for that info. When you bottle them in olive oil, do you do the boiling the jar thing to pressurise it, or do you find they keep ok if you just cover in oil? And how long do they stay good for?

[Chuffy]

Chuffy - thanks for that info. When you bottle them in olive oil, do you do the boiling the jar thing to pressurise it, or do you find they keep ok if you just cover in oil? And how long do they stay good for?

Blimey, now he(?)'s getting all technical on me!   :blink:
Nah, I just bung them in a clean jar (as in, hot water and a quick blitz in the microwave) and cover with oil. I did the same last year and they kept for nearly a year and that's because I'd eaten them all, not because they went off. Oh, I do keep them in the fridge though, so the oil sets. That might make them keep a little longer perhaps.

[davejg]

Thanks Chuffy

[oldwilliam]

I grew Lilliput this year (outdoors). The most productive tomato I have ever grown. Don't know for certain whether it is the variety or the weather, but my 12 plants have produced more tomatoes than I know what to with.  (Runner Bean syndrome). Having run out of people to give them to and unable to keep up by eating them I am now converting some to passata - the last half a carrier bag picking yielded 3 litres of passata.

[shokkyy]

I grew Lilliput this year (outdoors). The most productive tomato I have ever grown. Don't know for certain whether it is the variety or the weather, but my 12 plants have produced more tomatoes than I know what to with.  (Runner Bean syndrome). Having run out of people to give them to and unable to keep up by eating them I am now converting some to passata - the last half a carrier bag picking yielded 3 litres of passata.

When you say outdoors, do you mean in a bed, basket or container? I'm assuming bed cos you'd need a lot of brackets to hang 12 baskets, but just checking

[oldwilliam]

2 rows on the end of one of my plots, sandwiched between the runner beans and the peas as I ran out of space. Only been fed once as well, they overran the "feeding" tubes I stick alongside when I plant out and I couldn't find them. Well that's my excuse, real reason is bad weather, ok ok, lazyness.