Gardener's Delight Tomato Seed Germination and Growing Thread

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by JWK, Mar 29, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Sheal

    Sheal Total Gardener

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2011
    Messages:
    35,546
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Beauly, Inverness-shire. Zone 9a
    Ratings:
    +52,319
    Thank you for the invite @JWK :) but under different circumstances I would be glad to give them a go. Unfortunately I don't have any older seed and I'm currently not 'geared up' to grow much at all. I'm still trying to get my new garden into something workable and I don't have a greenhouse here, sorry!

    To those who are growing the older seed may I point out (as of the Manx Marvel experiment) - that to keep the plants and fruits that you grow true to the original mother plants, they must be grown in an area away from other tomatoes to avoid cross pollination. :)
     
    • Like Like x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Sheal

      Sheal Total Gardener

      Joined:
      Feb 2, 2011
      Messages:
      35,546
      Gender:
      Female
      Location:
      Beauly, Inverness-shire. Zone 9a
      Ratings:
      +52,319
      For anyone interested in the growing of 'Manx Marvel' tomatoes, and perhaps some pointers for growing 'Gardeners Delight' - here's the original thread we ran. At the time we grew them I was living on the Isle of Man.

      A Rare Vintage Tomato
       
      • Like Like x 4
      • Agree Agree x 1
      • Informative Informative x 1
      • Redwing

        Redwing Wild Gardener

        Joined:
        Mar 22, 2009
        Messages:
        1,589
        Gender:
        Female
        Location:
        Sussex
        Ratings:
        +2,830
        If we are using commercially produced seed and not our own saved seed this will not matter for this year. The seed will be pure GD. If cross pollinated with another variety this year it will be the seed being produced in this years fruit which will not be pure GD. So conducting this experiment with pure seed this year will work for our taste testing experiment even if other varieties are grown alongside GD. But we cannot repeat this with our own saved seed next year and expect safe results. Hope I’ve explained that clearly.
         
        • Like Like x 3
        • Scrungee

          Scrungee Well known for it

          Joined:
          Dec 5, 2010
          Messages:
          16,524
          Location:
          Central England on heavy clay soil
          Ratings:
          +28,996
          Enclosing a truss with a piece of thin 'fleece' (tied with string bound around the stem) before the flowers start opening and removing after the fruits have set will eliminate any chance of cross pollination. It needn't cover the whole truss, only the first few flowers and those tomatoes are reserved for seed saving. Marking fruit by tying coloured wool around their stems helps prevent accidentally picking tomatoes intended for seed saving. Don't forget to tap the truss to assist pollination.

          P.S. To refresh my memory on the declining rates of germination using out of date tomato seeds, I sowed 2 packets of 30 Red Alert seeds, one sow by 2016 and the other sow by 2017. Pricking them out into modules this morning, I counted 24 seedlings from the use by 2017 pkt and 18 from the 2016 pkt. The older seeds also took longer to germinate and had 6 'runts' whilst the sow by 2017 seeds only had 3.
           
          • Like Like x 2
          • Informative Informative x 1
            Last edited: Mar 30, 2018
          • silu

            silu gardening easy...hmmm

            Joined:
            Oct 20, 2010
            Messages:
            3,682
            Gender:
            Female
            Location:
            Igloo
            Ratings:
            +8,083
            MY other half pinched/ate the Garden Pearl I had earmarked to save for seed last season, I was not impressed. He is now banned from picking anything in my greenhouse at all times! Luckily I had enough saved seed from the previous year for this year's sowing and they have germinated fine. If they hadn't murder might have been committed:)
             
            • Funny Funny x 4
            • Scrungee

              Scrungee Well known for it

              Joined:
              Dec 5, 2010
              Messages:
              16,524
              Location:
              Central England on heavy clay soil
              Ratings:
              +28,996
              Good news! When I opened the 2005 seeds packet there were over 200 seeds inside (amount not described on packet), later years had '75 seeds' on them but contained approx. 120 seeds. I've read that the majority of the cost of most packets of seeds is for the packet and not the contents.

              25 x 2005, 25 x 2007 and 15 x 2012 seeds sown this morning, after lunch I'll get some of each soaking overnight in weak Miracle-Gro solution.





              I'm growing the 2012 seed for that purpose.
               
              • Like Like x 4
              • Vince

                Vince Not so well known for it.

                Joined:
                Mar 10, 2008
                Messages:
                1,861
                Gender:
                Male
                Occupation:
                Retired
                Location:
                North London / Lincolnshire Fens
                Ratings:
                +3,499
                Unable to join in this year as I have no old seed but I will be interested in the results this year and hopefully join in next year.
                 
                • Like Like x 1
                • Agree Agree x 1
                • Friendly Friendly x 1
                • JWK

                  JWK Gardener Staff Member

                  Joined:
                  Jun 3, 2008
                  Messages:
                  30,696
                  Gender:
                  Male
                  Location:
                  Surrey
                  Ratings:
                  +45,659
                  An interesting article here from 2015, about Which magazine investigating the loss of flavour:

                  The Casual Gardener: The tomato that no longer delights

                  My highlighting:

                  and

                   
                  • Informative Informative x 4
                  • Useful Useful x 1
                  • JWK

                    JWK Gardener Staff Member

                    Joined:
                    Jun 3, 2008
                    Messages:
                    30,696
                    Gender:
                    Male
                    Location:
                    Surrey
                    Ratings:
                    +45,659
                    I have just emailed the original breeders "Benary" to see if they still maintain it or know why it has declined.
                     
                    • Like Like x 4
                    • Informative Informative x 1
                    • silu

                      silu gardening easy...hmmm

                      Joined:
                      Oct 20, 2010
                      Messages:
                      3,682
                      Gender:
                      Female
                      Location:
                      Igloo
                      Ratings:
                      +8,083
                      Hmm interesting to hear their response @JWK. I'll be surprised if sales of the GD seed haven't declined over the past 10 years or so. If GD didn't have such a great and memorable name it might well have disappeared completely. Certainly the last time I grew them they were neither a delight or memorable for the right reasons.
                       
                      • Like Like x 2
                      • Agree Agree x 1
                      • Scrungee

                        Scrungee Well known for it

                        Joined:
                        Dec 5, 2010
                        Messages:
                        16,524
                        Location:
                        Central England on heavy clay soil
                        Ratings:
                        +28,996
                        • Like Like x 3
                        • Informative Informative x 2
                        • Agree Agree x 1
                        • JWK

                          JWK Gardener Staff Member

                          Joined:
                          Jun 3, 2008
                          Messages:
                          30,696
                          Gender:
                          Male
                          Location:
                          Surrey
                          Ratings:
                          +45,659
                          Received your seed today thanks @Scrungee

                          I started two batches, each batch is 5 X 2005, 5 X 2007 and 5 X 2012.

                          The first batch was soaked in dilute Gro-More and Aspirin for 40 minutes, then sown into seed compost.

                          The second batch just sown as normal straight into seed compost.

                          I still have more than half left as insurance.
                           
                          • Informative Informative x 1
                          • Scrungee

                            Scrungee Well known for it

                            Joined:
                            Dec 5, 2010
                            Messages:
                            16,524
                            Location:
                            Central England on heavy clay soil
                            Ratings:
                            +28,996
                            Sowed soaked seeds this afternoon, 25 x 2005, 20 x 2007 and 15 x 2012 seeds. Only about 10 x 2005 seeds left, all others now used.

                            As floating seeds are supposed to be non-viable, I was concerned when over half the 2005 seeds initially floated, but had all sunk by the time I went to sow them. Might try a test with some other, old saved seeds, fishing out initial floaters and comparing their germination rate against initial sinkers, something for a rainy day, so might be soon.
                             
                            • Like Like x 1
                            • Informative Informative x 1
                              Last edited: Mar 31, 2018
                            • JWK

                              JWK Gardener Staff Member

                              Joined:
                              Jun 3, 2008
                              Messages:
                              30,696
                              Gender:
                              Male
                              Location:
                              Surrey
                              Ratings:
                              +45,659
                              My 2005 seed sunk straight-away as did the other two years. I only soaked 5 so maybe not a fair comparison.

                              Handling wet tomato seeds is not an easy job, they keep sticking to my fingers or whatever I tried using.
                               
                              • Informative Informative x 1
                              • Scrungee

                                Scrungee Well known for it

                                Joined:
                                Dec 5, 2010
                                Messages:
                                16,524
                                Location:
                                Central England on heavy clay soil
                                Ratings:
                                +28,996
                                I did it the same way as with seed saving, strain through a kitchen sieve, smartly tap them out onto double thickness kitchen towel and wait until dry enough to rùb off individually using a plastic plant label.
                                 
                                • Informative Informative x 2
                                  Last edited: Apr 3, 2018
                                Loading...
                                Thread Status:
                                Not open for further replies.

                                Share This Page

                                1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
                                  By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
                                  Dismiss Notice